We love Washington DC!

As we were in the area, we decided to pay a visit to George Dubbya. We had 2 days in Washington and were really impressed by all the amazing buildings, museums, monuments and the respect with which America's political, cultural and social history was displayed (and even more so because most sights were free of charge!). We went through the Library of Congress with beautiful ceilings, the Supreme Court which receives 10,000 appeals a year, saw the Capitol, walked "The Mall" (a mile of museums and galleries), went to the moving and very sad Holocaust Museum, explored the restaurant scene of Georgetown, tried to go up the Washington Monument (which was booked out for all of June), circled the White House (where squirrels were bounding across the lawn - seriously!), walked through Arlington Cemetery which holds 290,000 graves (and interrs 24 a day), caught up with Abraham Lincoln at night, and viewed the Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Memorials. Even though we didn't catch up with George, we really enjoyed DC and would love to go back to explore more of it one day.

A few days in Maryland, USA

From Tennessee to New York, to Maryland (via many states including New Jersey - the embroidery capital of America). We flew from Nashville to New York, hired a car and drove about 5 hours to Maryland. Under the assumption (and the advice) that America is the land of the free, where you can drive at whatever speed you like, there was a moment of pure fear for Sophia when pulled over by a State Trooper for exceeding the speed limit (which, for the record, no one was obeying), followed by a moment of pure relief to be let off with a polite warning. The highlight of our time in Maryland was not the Police pullover, but catching up with Mike and Sarah Pasalich and their friends and families for Paso's graduation from Sovereign Grace Pastors College. It was again great to meet up with some Aussie friends and especially good to be part of the graduation celebrations for Paso.

Nashvegas & the Smokies

With great excitement we arrived in Nashville and were greeted by Nathan and Cassie Tasker at the airport and chauffeured in their massively massive American van (complete with limousine style interior lights), with Nath pointing out the Nashville highlights, to their gorgeous new home in East Nashville. We enjoyed 5 days with the Taskers who were very generous and wonderful hosts. We were treated to the 'Nathan and Cassie Highlights of Nashvegas' tour which included lots of cafes and shops - plus the Cheesecake Factory, Music Row, Franklin and Green Hills Mall (and the heavenly Whole Foods store). It was great to be there for Cass' birthday and to meet their friends and see their Nashville life, which really suits the work they are doing. It was really wonderful to hang out together and have conversations in English - finally! Thanks for having us Taskers - we look forward to catching up in London in a few months.

From Nashville we hired a car and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains to stay in Pete's ex-boss' (Pearl's) cabin in the mountains. The cabin was magnificent - with cable TV, dishwasher, fabulous views and the promise of bears lurking in the thick forest around us. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on if you were inside or outside) we didn't see any bears but did enjoy an amazing array of butterflies, squirrels and turtles of all things! We ventured into the town of Gatlinburg, where we were tempted by Dolly Parton's "Dollywood" theme park, "Fanny Farkles'" foot long ogle dogs, the "Salt and Pepper Shakers Museum" and various other gimmicky attractions - but managed to restrain ourselves. We did spend a few very hot days walking in the Smokies, which really were beautiful - very green and lush forest. Whilst we chose to walk through the park, there was also the option to see the park via the 'automobile track'... in true American style.

Last stop in Central America - Mexico City

Surprisingly fantastic! Another late arrival due to a Dallas stopover and a directionally-challenged cab driver put us in Zona Roma, a ritzier area of Mexico City where we were upgraded from a smaller than 3x5m room to a suite with private bathroom, kitchen, fridge, couch and TV.

What we did not expect from Mexico City:
- To be able to walk around safely late at night
- To have a very safe, fast and efficient subway on which we could get anywhere in the city for 20 cents
- To find a number of great museums and beautiful buildings
- To be able to buy 'family size' and 'Coronita' (throw-down) coronas
- To thoroughly enjoy the open-top tourist bus

3 great day trips from Mexico City.

Teotihuacan, home of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world and our first Aztec ruin (the Aztec's are the ones who loved human sacrifices and other interesting methods of worship to deities such as 'The Hummingbird God').
Puebla, a beautiful colonial town housing 70 churches, great restaurants and currently in the throes of their own little 'Puebla Idol' competition.
Taxco, the silver capital of Mexico... ouch!The end... Flying out of Mexico City saw the end of 5 fantastic months travelling South and Central America. We were blessed with safety, amazing sites and a great time. America here we come!

Caribbean Cruising - end of May

Costa Rica
With the crystal, clear blue water and white sand of Mexico's caribbean coast still fresh in our minds, we left Guatemala City bound for Costa Rica. Despite having spent 8 hours waiting at Miami airport for our connection to Costa Rica, we arrived in San Jose late and looking forward to getting to the coast as quickly as possible. The next day saw us take a four hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo, the capital of Caribbean lounging in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the first few beaches we saw looked terrible but with a free upgrade in bungalow size and the promise of much better beaches a short bike-ride away, we were very happy. We spent a few hours in our large, private wooden bungalow (with large deck, table and hammock) before heading into to town for a bite to eat.A WORD OF WARNING: when hiring a bike in Costa Rica, take the first bike you're given and don't whinge about a little wobble on the back wheel.... Pete did. As a result of the whinge, the following events brightened the rest of our week.
- Loose handlebars meant that a little too much weight would send me into 1960s racing mode
- A broken basket frame continually rubbed against the tread on the front wheel.
- A flat tire 5 kms from home
- Dodgy tire replacement from 'the apprentice' meant that 9km from home, the chain started slipping off the back cog every 100 metres.

We basically walked further with the bike than we rode it.
Despite the above hiccups, it was fantastic jumping on the bikes every morning and heading to Punta Uva (Grape Point) beach where we found the beautiful water and sand that we were looking for. We spent a very relaxing 5 days here before heading back to San Jose to take a flight to Mexico City (via Dallas, TX).

Hello Central America!

MEXICO

We arrived in the super touristy Cancun (Mexico) and were faced with not just thousands of tourists and fancy hotels, but the heat! We were glad (and needed) to abandon our jeans, boots and polar fleeces and soak up the humidity! We stayed just 1 night in Cancun before heading to Valladolid, a couple of hours inland from Cancun. In Valladolid we went to an underground watering hole, called a cenote, and headed to the magnificent Mayan ruins of Chitzen Itza. We spent a great day exploring the ruins, which were quite different from the Inca ruins we had seen in South America - smaller stones, more pyramid style temples.

From Valladolid we headed back to the coast to Tulum. Oh my word, Tulum has possibly the nicest beaches we have ever encountered! Beautiful fine white sand and absolutely crystal clear warm water. The second largest barrier reef sits just off the coast of Tulum, so the water was calm and amazing. Apart from relaxing on the beach here, we went to see the ruins which are right on the coast line. The location of the ruins was more impressive than the ruins themselves, but what the Mayans built and when is quite amazing.

From Tulum we headed off to Palenque - right in the jungle and the site of more Mayan ruins. Again, the ruins were great, the humidity was thick and the mosquitoes hungry from some Aussie blood we think! We also visited some lovely waterfalls and lakes in this area. On our way to Flores, Guatemala, we visited another 2 Mayan ruins - Yaxchilan and Bonampak - much less visited than the first lot and much less restored - the jungle has covered up a lot of the old buildings, so it is quite mystical.

Some observations from Mexico:
- we have seen our first speed camera in almost 4 months!
- you can buy cigarettes in pharmacy stores
- Coronas only cost $1.70 - just $0.20 more than a bottle of water!!!


GUATEMALA
We arrived in Flores and decided to visit the famed site of Tikal for sunrise, which meant being picked up at 3:30am!!! Unfortunately the sun didn't rise in any spectacular fashion, but at least we missed the heat of the day. Again, we really enjoyed exploring the hidden villages and temples of Tikal which were almost all covered in jungle until about the 1850s when restoration started, but there is still much more to uncover. In Tikal we had quite the nature experience, seeing tarantulas, tucans, parrots, jay birds, howler and spider monkeys and racoons.


Needing a break from the Mayan ruins (!!!) we headed to Rio Dulce and spent 4 days by the river - relaxing, taking river cruises, visiting the fort to protect the area from Pirates of the Carribean back in the day and bathing in thermal waterfalls. From Rio Dulce we have arrived in Antigua which is a gorgeous colonial town, unlike anything we have seen in Guatemala. It is renowned for its great coffee and culinary scene which has been poorly timed by Sophia getting some sort of food poisoning and being unable to relish in the goodness!

To see more photos of our trip, follow these links: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49184&l=5bd10&id=688115638 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50792&l=f5ce7&id=688115638

Farewell South America!

Since leaving Bolivia, we have covered a fair bit of territory - in fact 2 whole countries! We are currently in Ecuador and only have 3 days left of our time in South America, before we head into Central America.

Since La Paz, in summary the highlights have been:

• Whirlwind trip to Cusco, Peru and Machu Picchu - had a fabulous time cruising through the Sacred Valley on motorbike.


• A 4-day hike in the Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range in the Peruvian Andes. We staggered in the falling snow to our summit at 4750m. We were accompanied by a guide, a cook, 2 French-Canadian friends and 3 pack-carrying donkeys.


• Spending some well-deserved beach time on the Peruvian coast at Huanchaco - the beach didn´t compare to Sydney, but our accommodation was first rate (pool, mini-bar, TV in room - these are REAL luxuries over here), the seafood was delicious and drinking sangria by the beach sunsets went down a treat.


• Back to reality - we had an interesting border crossing into Ecuador (closely escaping an encounter with a dodgey cab driver at 5am), passed through the banana capìtal of the world in Machala (sorry Coffs Harbour) and arrived back up in the altitude (2530m) of Cuenca. Here we visited some local/indigenous markets, perused the beautiful colonial town and discovered the most amazing ice cream parlour..... it's never too cold for ice cream.


• Enough of the cold and the altitude, we travelled to the Ecuadorian coast and arrived in Puerto Lopez. We had fabulous accommodation at Hosteria Mandala - loved the individual bungalows on the beach, a hoard of board games (we HAVE spent 3 months together, so agruing over words in Scrabble was actually fun!!!) , sunsets and amazing pancakes at the Whale Cafe (yes, food again....)


• In need of a bit more beach, we went a bit futher south to Salango and stayed in cabañas perched right on the peninsula - it was just gorgeous. The beaches again weren't a patch on Sydney, but the hammocks heavenly and the serenity sublime.


• Out last stop in Ecuador is Quito. 1.4 million people and altitude of 2800m. The Old Town of Quito is very colonial and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 - lots of old buildings and churches. We took a cable-car above the incoming aeroplanes to 4100m to see the whole of Quito from on-high. Tomorrow we shall stand on the Equator and then we're off!