We got a live one! Guatemala - a country I´ve long wanted to visit and the place I´ve been looking forward to the most. And, so far, it hasn´t disappointed. We arrived at Guatemala City airport and took a bus straight to Antigua - an enchanting colonial city surrounded by volcanoes. We stayed in an hotel called San Sebastian that Dave described as being "on the right side of falling down" - very quaint, relaxing and owned by a friendly guy called ...

The lesser intrepid traveller returns It´s with a broken and weary body that I write this entry. Five days of trekking, horseriding, ziplinig and canyoneering and I have arrived back in San Jose in pieces. Have been to the cloudforest in Monteverde and the rainforest in Arenal. Had a bit of a dull night trek but did see a tarantula up close, which was cool. The horseriding was great and I got to use my best rehearsed Spanish phrase, when asked if I wanted to g...

So Rio is behind us and I must say I´m glad. The reports about violence in Rio are overhyped. It is a beautiful city viewed from afar. The sights from the top of Corcovado (where Christ the Redeemer sits) are awesome and the cityscape at night from the top of Sugar Loaf mountain is completely spell binding. (Althoguh why anyone built a city in the middle of a mountain range is beyond me, they must have been nuts, or at least had some foresight to give taxi drive...

Teresa + the tram What do in Rio when it´s raining? Search out your namesake and head to Santa Teresa. Described in the guidebook as ´a leafy suburb composed of cobbled streets with stupendous vistas of the city below. Trams run from the centre crossing the 18th century Roman-style aqueduct, high over Lapa.´ So, we dug deep, purchased our tram tickets at an extortionate 16 pence each and approached the tram. ´Shame´, we thought, ´it´s full. We´ll have t...

AM - Woke up in a bed big enough to lose each other which meant we slept well. The move from the hostel was a definite plus. Rio is overcast today and we walked for an hour or so on the beach at Copacabana. Along the way I stopped to look at the surf. The day before we were messing about in the surf which was cool. I managed to catch a couple of waves just by swimming fast. I´ve never moved so fast over 30 metres and it must have looked good ´cause even T was ...