Greetings
Elsie had yet another hiccup we had to attend to so we will only be entering Belize today, Thursday
More later on updates
Take care
Paul & Angelika
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Trundling along in Elsie
Greetings from Guatemala City,
This Sunday finds us here for two meetings and then on to Peten in the north before entering Belize on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The past few days have been so hectic and we have covered a lot of ground.
Antigua is a really pretty city, old and with a lot of cool old buildings and a ton of character even though it is a total tourist trap.
There is also a huge volcano looming over the city but then I think Guatemala makes and exports volcanoes as there are so many of those awesome mountains here.
Yesterday we met with a wonderful lady who own a beautiful coffee plantation in the SW of the country - she wanted to see us about starting a luxury tented lodge on the property.
She is a biologist herself so she has made a remarkable effort in combining and integrating the plantation with the natural forest.
After walking the plantation and visiting with her we headed towards Guatemala City, getting here in the late afternoon tired of the insane traffic of the highway and unsure of how we were going to wade through the big city.
We muddled our way along fine until we were unsure of of whereabouts, that I called through the window to a cop passing us on the road, as to where the main Avenue Reforma was?
He pulled away indicating that we follow them and before we knew it we had the blue lights flashing and we were getting the "Royal Escort" into town.
They left us close to the hotel we were looking for but before long we were lost again but soon found our way and was happy to finally be out of the city traffic.
At the hotel we had another dilemma as Elsie would not fit into their secure parking garage (we never stop at any hotel unless it has vehicle security) so I told the manager I would park her right in front of the hotel and his security guards will just have to watch over her but this he did not like so we compromised and parked her across the road. As soon as he left the hotel the security dudes called me to come and move her to the front of the hotel as suggested.
When I went to check on her this morning she was the main center of attention with an admiring crowd around her who all had tons of questions about Elsie, us and our expedition.
Wherever we are she is quite the crowd collector :)
Sorry about the no pics but I cannot find the cable to pull the pics off my camera but hope I find it in Elsie a little later and will hopefully get more pics up soon.
Enjoy what is left of the weekend and have a great new week.
Paul and Angelika
.
This Sunday finds us here for two meetings and then on to Peten in the north before entering Belize on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The past few days have been so hectic and we have covered a lot of ground.
Antigua is a really pretty city, old and with a lot of cool old buildings and a ton of character even though it is a total tourist trap.
There is also a huge volcano looming over the city but then I think Guatemala makes and exports volcanoes as there are so many of those awesome mountains here.
Yesterday we met with a wonderful lady who own a beautiful coffee plantation in the SW of the country - she wanted to see us about starting a luxury tented lodge on the property.
She is a biologist herself so she has made a remarkable effort in combining and integrating the plantation with the natural forest.
After walking the plantation and visiting with her we headed towards Guatemala City, getting here in the late afternoon tired of the insane traffic of the highway and unsure of how we were going to wade through the big city.
We muddled our way along fine until we were unsure of of whereabouts, that I called through the window to a cop passing us on the road, as to where the main Avenue Reforma was?
He pulled away indicating that we follow them and before we knew it we had the blue lights flashing and we were getting the "Royal Escort" into town.
They left us close to the hotel we were looking for but before long we were lost again but soon found our way and was happy to finally be out of the city traffic.
At the hotel we had another dilemma as Elsie would not fit into their secure parking garage (we never stop at any hotel unless it has vehicle security) so I told the manager I would park her right in front of the hotel and his security guards will just have to watch over her but this he did not like so we compromised and parked her across the road. As soon as he left the hotel the security dudes called me to come and move her to the front of the hotel as suggested.
When I went to check on her this morning she was the main center of attention with an admiring crowd around her who all had tons of questions about Elsie, us and our expedition.
Wherever we are she is quite the crowd collector :)
Sorry about the no pics but I cannot find the cable to pull the pics off my camera but hope I find it in Elsie a little later and will hopefully get more pics up soon.
Enjoy what is left of the weekend and have a great new week.
Paul and Angelika
.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Guatemala et al
Greetings tonight from Antigua, Guatemala.
Yesterday we got stood up by our client so we enjoyed a fantastic lunch right over the ocean in La Libertad and last night we spent our last night in a quaint room in the tiny fishing village of Los Cabanos still in El Salvador and were treated to a great storm with amazing lightning that made daylight of the ocean as we sipped on some cheap wine.
Getting through the border this morning took quite some time but it was refreshing to see that we had to stand in line with the rest and not have to go through the bribe thing and all we have experienced in Guatemala so far is friendliness with cops and all.
Guatemala is so beautiful and even though Antigua is a 'gringo' tourist trap, it is beautiful in it's own way with a lot of very old buildings and cobbled streets with a huge volcano looming up over the city.
Tomorrow we head to the Western part of the country and then to the North East to meet up with a number of clients and then hopefully by the end of next week we shall enter into Belize where we have a lot of work to do.
Lastly, for those of you keeping up on 'Elsie' she is doing so well now and trundling along like a trooper, though she does not like climbing mountains.
We will post a few more pics tomorrow.
Take care and stay well
Paul and Angelika
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Nica/Honduras/El Salvador
Greetings all
Wow, so much has happened in this last short while since entering Nicaragua – we met Stacy and Mike at the second “end of the road” destinations since starting the expedition and we were so amazed and impressed by this out of the way remote resort with the most pristine and beautiful beaches and one of Central America’s largest estuaries that is about 10 “Elsie” miles down the beach – check it out at www.redwoodbeachresort.com
Anyone wanting to adventure to such a remote but truly beautiful and comfortable resort and be treated to Stacy and Mike’s spontaneous hospitality, should make the effort to go, just don’t expect to leave in any hurry as time means nothing there.
We worked on them setting up a few tents up there that will be rather unique if they decide to proceed.
This destination is truly also a fisherman’s paradise for those who care to get on the ocean and catch those underwater critters.
After bidding our farewell’s we headed to
After just a short distance in Honduras, we were constantly harassed by the cops and fined for the most incredulous things that I started to get a real uneasy feeling in Honduras and by the next morning, I was not at ease and was not able to reach any of our clients that we were to meet in the north of the country that we decided to trust my instincts and get out of the country.
So early the next day we boogied across the border into
El Salvador has welcomed us and we are happy to be here, so much so that Elsie got her first wash today and is looking better that the two of us for now…..
We are unable to upload images, so they will have to wait for another day - so sorry as they are cool pics.
We expect to be entering
Life is beautiful and then you can marry it and all is good.
Paul and Angelika
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Now Nica...
Now Nicaragua,
We got through the border crossing with much ado about how much 'bucks' each person needed in 'permits' etc. and headed without knowing in the wrong direction to meet a client and spend the night.
Only after chasing Elsie's tail to get there by dark, did we only first realize that we were totally in the wrong part of the country.
The whole atmosphere here is different but the countryside is very beautiful and everyone so far has been really friendly to us.
After arriving here and checking with the cops that no one here knows the people or the resort we were looking for, we found ourselves parked at the beach wondering what next to do as we do not drive at night, when I noticed a small hotel on the beach.
It is not much but we got a cool room with balcony only 15 meters from the beach and a cold shower and they kindly let me park Elsie on the patio amongst the diners because of my concern of leaving her on the road - most unusual looking sight indeed.
After checking in I went to get a local brew and the owners asked where I came from and after telling them I was born and raised in Africa, we all discovered that I was their forst guest from the dark continent.
The next thig all the cell phones were out and I had to do a photo session with everyone here :-)
As soon as we get moving this morning we will be heading to Managua which is not too far from here, so those of you in Managua waiting to meet with us, we will be there today and be calling you from the road.
Sorry we missed you Stacy but you will see us soon and I will try to contact you tonight again
Take care
Paul and Angelika
We got through the border crossing with much ado about how much 'bucks' each person needed in 'permits' etc. and headed without knowing in the wrong direction to meet a client and spend the night.
Only after chasing Elsie's tail to get there by dark, did we only first realize that we were totally in the wrong part of the country.
The whole atmosphere here is different but the countryside is very beautiful and everyone so far has been really friendly to us.
After arriving here and checking with the cops that no one here knows the people or the resort we were looking for, we found ourselves parked at the beach wondering what next to do as we do not drive at night, when I noticed a small hotel on the beach.
It is not much but we got a cool room with balcony only 15 meters from the beach and a cold shower and they kindly let me park Elsie on the patio amongst the diners because of my concern of leaving her on the road - most unusual looking sight indeed.
After checking in I went to get a local brew and the owners asked where I came from and after telling them I was born and raised in Africa, we all discovered that I was their forst guest from the dark continent.
The next thig all the cell phones were out and I had to do a photo session with everyone here :-)
As soon as we get moving this morning we will be heading to Managua which is not too far from here, so those of you in Managua waiting to meet with us, we will be there today and be calling you from the road.
Sorry we missed you Stacy but you will see us soon and I will try to contact you tonight again
Take care
Paul and Angelika
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Nicaragua here we come!!
Greetings all,
Tonight we find ourselves back in Liberia after visiting the St Elena Peninsula yesterday and camping in our rooftop tent in a little isolated campground on the beach of a very tranquil bay with waves the got to a mere 6" high.
On the way in to the campsite we met up with a few monkeys who did not like our presence and kept chucking sticks and foliage at us from way above in their safe zone.
After watching a very beautiful sunset, we walked back to Elsie to find that a bunch of the cute little raccoon "bastards" had munched on our mango's and took off with our rare multi grain bread but the rest of our goods was secured enough to keep them at bay but they did try all night to get to Angelika's left over soup.
This morning we went to check out the small Junquillal bay north of the peninsula that is just across from Nicaragua.
We had a few ales and made some sandwiches in the rain and and then headed back to Liberia.
I must say that Elsie is finally really running well now and we get the last few things patched up early tomorrow, Nicaragua here we come, the place will never be the same again :-)
Take care
Paul & Angelika
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