J&K adventures

Great food,great dancing, hot girls!

120thst — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:06:00 GMT

We had dinner at the La Pirata in Utila,Honduras last Saturday. What a great dinner and romantic setting to drink and watch the sun go down. She enjoyed the sea food "catch de jour",check out our photos at http://www.lapiratbargrill.com/

Safe and Sound

120thst — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:34:00 GMT

Well, in case you haven't gotten a call (as many haven't) we made it back to the U.S. without incident on Thursday, and we're back in San Diego now.

All you New Yorkers, we really did try to get stuck there on our layover, but the rain came a little late. We even refused a generous offer in Costa Rica to take the next flight out (they over-booked), it would've only landed us in SD one hour later than planned, but the layover was in Houston, not Newark. No thanks, Jerky.

On our first day out, we managed to find a great spot to live, that not only accepts pets, but has a dishwasher (nearly a deal-breaker after 5 years of hand-washing), and, most especially, is 100 yards to the Pacific Ocean.

We really do lead charmed lives, it seems, and it has been great sharing it with you all! Stay in touch.

120thst@gmail.com is our joint email if anyone doesn't have one for us yet.

Best,

Kimberly & Jimi

Last Days

120thst — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:54:00 GMT

We last left off in Puerta Viejo... After taking in the relaxing atmosphere around town all day on Thursday, we headed to the Rio Pacure for some white water rafting. We were on the river for about 2 hours, stopped for lunch, and had about an hour and a half more of rapids and swimming in the (freezing) currents. Best part... I (Kim) only flew out of the boat once! The next day we rented some bikes and headed to a nearby town. Once there we had some beers at Soda Maxi, the best (and only) bar in town. Then we headed into the ocean for some snorkeling. Although not as cool as swimming with whale sharks (see stories from Utila) we saw some pretty neat creatures, include a hugh starfish, some crabs, and some crazy colored fish.

We headed to Tortugero the next morning via a four hour boat tour in which we saw several types of birds, a turtle, monkeys, a sloth, a croc and more (oh my). The first night we did a turtle watching tour where we were able to watch a green turtle laying her eggs (about 180 of them) in the sand. Not only was the turtle quite large, the view of the stars while out in the middle of the national park at night was great... living in New York for so long, I forgot there was such a thing as stars. The next day we took a canoe out in the national park. Again, we saw a lot of wild life, including two caiman alligators, which freaked me out, even though James insisted that they don´t attack people. They also said that sharks don´t attack in shallow water, but we all saw Jaws, right?

We are now in our last city, San Jose, and will hang around here until we head home on Thursday. We have to fly through Newark and we are hoping that we get delayed so that we can head into New York and say hello to all of our long lost friends there. Thanks for keeping up with our trip. Talk to you all soon.

Gallery: 5th Week

120thst — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:05:00 GMT

Costa Rica

120thst — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:46:00 GMT

Although our voyage was beset with long layovers, since the border officials lunch coincides with the scheduled boat arrival, we made it that night to La Fortuna (as shown on the map for a couple days). We got to do a few fun things in Fortuna, the best of which was the Baldi hot spring, at the base of the Arenal Volcano (didn´t climb it). About 15 pools of water at different temps, a waterslide, and topped off with a buffet dinner, it felt more like Vegas than Central America(thank goodness). After 2 nights we made our way to Santa Elena/Monteverde by shortcutting across a lake, it cut the 7 hour trip to about 3 hours. At this tourist trap, we did it all! We were lucky enough to arrive on the 15th, the night of the full moon, and we took a nighttime horseback ride. It was mostly cloudy, but there was a good half hour of spectacular views. We also went to a House of Snakes, Butterfly Garden, and a Frog pond, which all had some very interesting, if gross, exhibits. To top it off we went on an evening hike in the Children´s Eternal Rainforest Preserve, where we saw all of two spiders and a sleeping bird (the guide was kind enough to point out that t is the MOST common bird in Costa Rica). At least we made a donation for the kids.

We decided to have one more day of murderous long-distance travel, and went across the country to the carribean town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, just north of Panama. Here we plan to chill for a couple days, maybe do some snorkeling or some river rafting, and next head to Tortuguero and check out some nesting Turtles before heading to San Jose to catch our flight home.

More pics coming soon...

James and Kimberly

Out of Nicaragua

120thst — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:13:00 GMT

So...when we left off, we had just survived our volcano climb, I wish I could say it has been smooth sailing since then, but I can´t.

Just kidding, it has been really awesome! We left Danger Island couple days after the hike, by overnight boat, which wasn´t a highlight, but served its purpose (we slept on the deck). We landed early morning in San Carlos, and took another boat down the Rio San Juan to El Castillo, an old Spanish fort built to protect the lake and the city of Grenada (the Spanish colonial capital) from pirates. It is set up on a hill at a bend in the river near some rapids, so anyone trying to get by would´ve had real trouble, as they were in range for some time. The history of it was fascinating, and would´ve been more so if we read spanish. We only stayed one night in a little place right over the river, and then back to San Carlos for transport into Costa Rica.

Gallery: 4th Week

120thst — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:10:00 GMT

Granada and Isla de Ometepe

120thst — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:58:00 GMT

As you read, we finally made it to Granada, Nica. We stayed at a hostel called the Beared Monkey, where they had great food, hammocks to ´hang´ out in around the open courtyard, and 75 cent beers. We spent our first day there going to a town nearby called Masaya, known for its crafts. We did our souvioner shopping there, but if you are over the age of 18, or not Kimberly or Jimi, you didn´t get anything. When we returned to Granada, we vistited an old catherdral and climbed up the bell tower for some amazing views of the city. Pictures to follow later... when we can find a computer that doesn´t threaten causing the whole island computer failure if we attempt to upload pictures (although I am tempted to see if they are bluffing or not). The next day we took a riduculously bumpy truck ride out to a coffee plantation to go on a canapy tour. For those not familar, these are zip lines hung up in trees which you whiz along in a harness. At the end, they have a repel, or as they called it, freefall (Jimi was a bit concerned about that one), which made Jimi scream like a girl. I did, too, but I am a girl, so...

Later that day, we took a boat ride across the lake to Isla de Ometepe. This island was formed by two volcanoes, either of which you can climb.

We decided to climb Concepcion, the larger of the two, on the north side of the island. We arranged our guide ath the hotel and went to sleep to get an early start on the climb. As they say, the early bird gets the worm, well, we opened a huge can of ´em that day. We´re not sure what the other two trails up this volcano are like, but ours was more like a climb than a hike. The ´trail´is basically 5 hours up muddy, loose, sharp volcanic rock, to a height of 1610meters, or just over 5000ft. And it looked suprisingly like the path water might take down a mountain after a storm. Nothing was meant to go up that way, ever(in 9 hours up and down, we saw not one other person).

It´s all worth it in the end, though, where this trail hits the top, there is about a 5 foot wide area you can sit without sliding down, if you are careful, and you are greeted almost insatntly by HUNDREDS of insects that swarm all over you (our guide assured us they dont bite as he squatted and ate a bug-covered mango, and they didn´t). And the view...well the clouds cover the view most of the way up, and the last hour is so thick with volcanic fumes it smells like a fart while you scramble on all fours for the 3rd straight hour, but your hands don´t get cold from the altitude, as all the rocks are blazing hot.

So we prepared to tumble to our deaths, I mean climb down safely, after only 5 minutes at the top. We somehow made it down alive and not well, and got the next bus out of town.

A Trip-n-a-half in a day-n-a-half (I love dashes)

120thst — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 09:18:00 GMT

So we awoke at 5 a.m. on Friday in Utila to catch the 6:20 ferry to La Ceiba on mainland Honduras, thinking we were pretty smart and pretty prepared (we bought our tickets the day before). As we approached the docks however, it seemed like something was amiss, the only boats boarding weere a couple scuba boats we´d seen around. As it turns out, a regular occurence to substitute these for the ferry. By the time we realized what was up the first had pulled away, and the second boat had begun boarding. Not good, since the next scheduled ¨ferry¨ was 8 hours later, and our tix were supposedly non-transferable. We shoved up to the front of the crowd, ticketed passengers and cash-holders alike, and were the LAST two people on the boat, nobody without a ticket had a chance. During the hour ride, we stood on deck and considered our luck, when we went ashore we caught a cab quickly, and at the bus station, where we literally got a bus to San Pedro Sula that was pulling away as we arrived. Our next transfer, 4 hours later left after giving us juist enough time to eat a decent lunch first...AWESOME!!

Unfortunatley, our luck seemed to run out on us when our driver ground out our gears and stranded us about an hour before we got to Tegucigalpa, our next transfer. We forsook any chance at a refund and hopped a passing bus, putting us in an hour behind schedule. No problem, right? WRONG. The last bus to continue was gonna leave about an hour later, just about 7km away...in the rain...in rush hour...in a city with two rivers and three bridges. We got to the next bus station about 6:40, after our cabby assured us there was no chance after 6:30 to find our bus. Luckily (for once) time is a bit flexible here, and with help from a local, we were able to cajole the ticket guy into selling us a ticket standing up on the overfull bus(why he refused us at first, I don´t know, but he was steadfast that we were too late until this random guy spoke up). We made it all the way to El Páraiso, the last stop of that or any bus at 9 p.m. and got a hotel, a snack, and a Salva Vida! In the morning, we continued to the border by bus, caught two more running transfers in a row, and were in Managua, Nicaragua by about 2p.m. Got one last cab across town, and one last bus to Grenada, where we are currently sitting at our hotel, sipping Toña beer and Nica-libres. Salud!

Scuba-ing in Utila

120thst — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 03:46:00 GMT

Utila has been a great break from all the fast-paced moving around we've been doing up to now, after about a week here, there are two things that seem like universal truths about this island:

1. Everyone here taught english in Korea at some point

2. If you can't get out in a week or so,you become a scuba instructor/bartender(both)

But it's easy to see why, it's fun, with a good flow of travellers from all over the world, the weather is great, and the beers are cheap. If Kim hadn't managed to get over a dozen bug bites on one hand, she wouldn't have anything bad to say at all. It's a bit small for me, but diving and hanging out here have been the best seven dayswe've had on the trip.

Oh, yeah, while diving, the captain was able to spot dolphins one day and we jumped in with them and watched them frolic around for about 10 minutes. The next day we got to see a true rarity that Utila is known for...the whale shark. We jumped in expecting to see it from a distance, like the dolphins. WRONG! It was at least 30 feet long and right there, about 20 feet away. A bit of a shock at first, but awe-inspiring for sure. The big guy (or girl) didn't stick around for long, just swan down out of sight after a minute or so. We jumped in with two more of these that day, but none so close as that.

Gallery: Utila pics

120thst — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 03:41:00 GMT

our pics from the 3rd week

The last few days

120thst — Mon, 1 Sep 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Sorry we have been out of contact for a few days... we have been staying on an island that doesn´t have internet.

We went to the Mayn ruins in Palenque and headed out of Mexico the next day. We crossed the border into Guatemala via boat... it was pretty cool. We ended up staying on a little island called Flores. It took about two minutes to walk across the whole thing. We woke up the next morning at 2:30 a.m. to go to the last of our ruin sites for the trip - Tikal. We arrived at the site at around 5:00 and hiked up the tallest of teh temples there to watch the sunrise. It was raining and cloudy, so we didn´t get to see much sun, but it was still a great view. Luckly, the hotel we were staying at had a roof top patio and some hammocks, so we were able to relax the rest of the day and take in the local beer - Salva Vida, meaning Lifesaver. Not sure if it actually saves lives, but we aren´t taking any chances, so we are takng in a heathly diet of it.

Then it was off to Utila, Honduras. We had to take 11 hours of buses and spend the night in La Ceiba, but we finally made it. Utila is a little island in Honduras which is located in the Carribean. We decided to stop here for a few days and do some scuba diving. Since neither of us had been before, we had to sign up for a course to get certified. We jsut finished the second of our three days. James is amazing, like he is at everything. Kimberly is having a few more problems, but hasn´t been eaten by anything yet. We have been joking that James will have to take the rescue diver course just so that we can go without an instructor. While we are taking the course, the school has put up us up in accomodations on a nearby caye.

We will probably stay here for a couple more days and then head to La Ceiba to do some white water rafting.

Gallery: 2nd Week

120thst — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:11:00 GMT

Palenque Ruins, Mexico

120thst — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:38:00 GMT

We arrived in Palenque last night and took a cab to a town called El Pachan. More of a piece of jungle annexed by the EU really, there are hammocks for rent, bungalows, and the kind of bugs you see on PBS. But mostly, it´s a bunch of europeans camping out for cheap. Don´t get us wrong, we like it here a lot, very relaxed place.

The ruins are only a couple km from the cabana we stayed at, so we decided to walk instead of pay the van $1...oops, it is hot and the whole site is on a hugh-mangous hill. We were drenched before we got inside the park. The ruins are awesome, with some you can even go inside (you go first, Indy) bats and all. Pics soon...

We Now Have Pics

120thst — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:20:00 GMT

We bought a cable for the camera, now look in photos for the pics.

Gallery: First week

120thst — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:30:00 GMT

El Salv., Honduras, Guatemala

Out of touch

120thst — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:34:00 GMT

We may be out of touch for a bit as we will be heading to some more remote spots. Just to let you know, so you don´t think we got eaten by chickens on a chicken bus.

Antigua, Guatemala

120thst — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:46:00 GMT

We arrived in Antigua on Thursday. We took a shuttle (read: minivan), during the ride, two of the seat-backs broke, including the ONE we were sharing. People got out along the way, though, so it wasn´t as bad as the ride from Chiquimula.

Antigua is a beautiful town. It used to be the colonial capital of all of Central America. It sits in between three volcanoes, one of which is active... lava flows everyday. We are not going to climb it as our tour book says that people have died recently from the sulfur and rocks being spewed at them. Doesn´t sound all that fun to us. Instead, we are hanging around the town and making arrangements for the next leg of our jouney. More later.

Copan, Honduras

120thst — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:14:00 GMT

Arrived in Copan after five buses, two border crossings and a death march through Chiquimula, Guatemala (we won´t be retuning there). Today we went to the Mayan ruins in the town, they were amazing. Much of it has been restored and there is a great museum to view the sculptures and stelae. Tomorrow we will be heading to a bird sanctuary. We got a glimpse of some beautiful macaws today at the ruins. It has been raining a lot, but it hasn´t caught us off guard, as we came here during the rainy season. Still having a good time.

Chiqui-frickin-mula

120thst — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:27:00 GMT

This town is a crossroads for travel to much of western Honduras and eastern Guatemala, but it has the negative aspect of the hustling people tring to get everyone on THEIR bus, van, or taxi. We couldnt even get out of the bus we rode in on before we were asked where we were going in 3 languages (broken english IS a language)by several different people. It seems every bus in town was going to the same place as us. We got on a bus that seemed ok until a minute after we asked the price, and it was double what it should have been. We two gringos stopped the bus to get off and pull our packs from the roof in anger. We were treated fairly at the bus station, but the bus ride made the crowded subway in new york look like a first class seat...believe me.