Howdy all,
A quick update as we haven't written anything for a couple of weeks. The kittens are growing fast as you might expect and have nearly doubled in weight in just over a week. The cricket season has started and my team the Chiefs won the first game of the season convincingly. My first game as captain so obvioously very pleased.
The biggest thing recently though, has been the weather. The last four days it has been raining almost non stop thanks to Tropical Storm Matthew. This looks set to continue for abolut another week as hot on the heels of Matthew is another area of low pressure that is stuck over the West Caribbean and Central America. People are saying this is the wettest wet season for many a year and we are currently at Orange Alert. No stories of any bad landslides yet and hopefully it'll stay that way, but if this rain continues it's hard to see that happening.
Roll on the dry seasopn and now only 4 and a bit weeks until holidays and road trip to Belize. Can't wait.
Laters
B & S
Monday 27 September 2010
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Kittens
Simmie and I have rescued 3 kittens from certain death. Very cute and very small.
This one is called #46 Valentino Rossi Juez Cleaver or Rossi for short.
On the left is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz Juez Cleaver or Fidel for short. The one on the right is called Salvador Quebec Pablo Rodney Juez Cleaver or Salvador for short.
Sunday 12 September 2010
Weekend in Guatemala City
Greetings friends,
Well another busy week at school is over and although everyone at school is a little worried about travelling around the country click link to see why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11253408 We decided to head off to Guatemala City with Carlos from school. He grew up in Guatemala City and proved to be an excellent tour guide. It also meant we had somewhere to stay as his Mum very kindly gave us a bed for the weekend and provided food as well.
It took about 5 hours to get to Carlos' place and after a very nice dinner provided by his Mum we headed out for a few beers at a bar about 25 mins from his house. This counts as local in Guate. It's the biggest city in Central America with a population of 3.5 million and is very spread out, with lots of green spaces.
Saturday was a day of sightseeing. After breakfast in a restaurant offering a fab view of the city, we started out in the civic centre, and visited Guatemala City's now closed railway station. It hosts a museum although trains stopped running in 1995 they were still operating steam trains. Carlos had never been before although as a child he used to take an 11 hour train journey to visit his Gran, so it bought back lots of memories. We had a wander round the area and enjoyed the 1960's architecture before heading to the south of the city for a view of the Pacaya Volcano which we climbed in April and then erupted a couple of weeks later covering the city in ash.
We then headed to the National theatre which is an interesting building, built in the 1970s, which also offers some excellent views from the roof. After that it was down-town to the oldest part of the city, which has been the capital ever since an earthquake destroyed Antigua in 1773. While there a look at the cathederal which is an essential part of any Central American city plaza and the National palace, built between 1939-1943. It it also the home of the national library and on the south side Guatemala's oldest shopping mall. This now seems to consist entirely of jewellery shops selling engagement and wedding rings, and no I didn't do any shopping.
After a small early evening nap we headed out to Zone 10, Guatemala's nightlife centre and after a bite to eat ended up in a very cool bar called retro. Live music and cheap rum, what more could you ask for? Sunday was a quiet morning and after a stroll around Carlos' neighbourhood we headed home to El Sal.
More news tomorrow hopefully. Until then check out the photos by clicking here.
Well another busy week at school is over and although everyone at school is a little worried about travelling around the country click link to see why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11253408 We decided to head off to Guatemala City with Carlos from school. He grew up in Guatemala City and proved to be an excellent tour guide. It also meant we had somewhere to stay as his Mum very kindly gave us a bed for the weekend and provided food as well.
It took about 5 hours to get to Carlos' place and after a very nice dinner provided by his Mum we headed out for a few beers at a bar about 25 mins from his house. This counts as local in Guate. It's the biggest city in Central America with a population of 3.5 million and is very spread out, with lots of green spaces.
Saturday was a day of sightseeing. After breakfast in a restaurant offering a fab view of the city, we started out in the civic centre, and visited Guatemala City's now closed railway station. It hosts a museum although trains stopped running in 1995 they were still operating steam trains. Carlos had never been before although as a child he used to take an 11 hour train journey to visit his Gran, so it bought back lots of memories. We had a wander round the area and enjoyed the 1960's architecture before heading to the south of the city for a view of the Pacaya Volcano which we climbed in April and then erupted a couple of weeks later covering the city in ash.
We then headed to the National theatre which is an interesting building, built in the 1970s, which also offers some excellent views from the roof. After that it was down-town to the oldest part of the city, which has been the capital ever since an earthquake destroyed Antigua in 1773. While there a look at the cathederal which is an essential part of any Central American city plaza and the National palace, built between 1939-1943. It it also the home of the national library and on the south side Guatemala's oldest shopping mall. This now seems to consist entirely of jewellery shops selling engagement and wedding rings, and no I didn't do any shopping.
After a small early evening nap we headed out to Zone 10, Guatemala's nightlife centre and after a bite to eat ended up in a very cool bar called retro. Live music and cheap rum, what more could you ask for? Sunday was a quiet morning and after a stroll around Carlos' neighbourhood we headed home to El Sal.
More news tomorrow hopefully. Until then check out the photos by clicking here.
Monday 6 September 2010
Simone's birthday!!
Hello again,
after no updates for weeks and weeks, here's another just days after the last one. Simone's birthday was on Thursday so we went out to celebrate on Thursday at a restaurant called La Ventana. Lovely food and they do some veggie stuff, had a great night although I probably should have said no when the Tequila started.
Then we went to Suchitoto for the weekend. We stayed in the suite at Los Alemendros De San Lorenzo. As usual it was awesome. We had a lovely weekend, but the highlight was a visit to a number of waterfalls about 30 mins away from the centre of Suchitoto. Absolutely brilliant day and highly recommended.
Check the video here, and the photos here.
B & S xxx
after no updates for weeks and weeks, here's another just days after the last one. Simone's birthday was on Thursday so we went out to celebrate on Thursday at a restaurant called La Ventana. Lovely food and they do some veggie stuff, had a great night although I probably should have said no when the Tequila started.
Then we went to Suchitoto for the weekend. We stayed in the suite at Los Alemendros De San Lorenzo. As usual it was awesome. We had a lovely weekend, but the highlight was a visit to a number of waterfalls about 30 mins away from the centre of Suchitoto. Absolutely brilliant day and highly recommended.
Check the video here, and the photos here.
B & S xxx
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Summer Holidays
Well the time sure has flown by and I can barely believe that nearly two months has gone by since the last post which was an all too brief note saying we were in New York. So it’s in New York that we shall begin.
Amazing place and I absolutely love it. It’s like walking around a giant movie or TV set. Even though I had never been there before it was like I had and on the first day I was like a little kid. Day 1 we spent the day walking round with Steve, who having just finished writing the Rough Guide to New York was very knowledgeable. Having arrived that morning on the night bus from Montreal the night was pretty subdued especially having walked what felt like most of lower Manhattan. Day two started by meeting Ian and Louise and going up the Empire State Building, which was just awesome. Incredible views from the top and an amazing building inside as well. After, we took in a few more famous landmarks before heading off to the museum of modern art. By this time, it was time for lunch and a trip to Central Park. We hired a couple of bikes in Central Park after all the walking we had already done we felt like it was the best way to see it. In the evening we met Ian and Lou again for cocktails before heading off to Little Italy where we went for the best pizza in New York, according to Steve. I gotta say it was pretty damn good!
Day 3 was more of the same visiting New York landmarks, of which there are many. We took a trip to Harlem, the Ghostbusters fire station, several pubs in various areas, all the while looking like I had a camera permanently stuck to my face. I took approximately 1000 photos while in New York a selection of which can be seen here. That evening we met up again with Ian and Lou and along with Steve and Tiff headed over the river to Brooklyn. On Friday evening they open Brooklyn brewery and we spent a few hours there sampling their wares. We went somewhere else after that, but in all honesty I have no recollection of the rest of that night, but by all accounts I had a great time. Saturday was not an early start, although I did go out and take some early morning (10:30) shots in Battery Park. We spent the afternoon firstly in Chinatown before heading to the meatpacking district to check out this wild garden they’ve grown on a disused bit of highline railway. In the evening we headed back to Brooklyn where I can safely say I ate the best steak I have ever eaten at Peter Luger Steakhouse.
Sunday was July 4th and as I put in the last post we headed off to Coney Island to witness the phenomenon that is the World Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was a boiling hot day so a great time to be at the beach, but it was packed as you can imagine it would be on a holiday weekend. We flew back to London the next day although we did have time in the morning to walk over Brooklyn Bridge which was, dare I say it, awesome! Our flight home was slightly delayed (4 hours) taking off after the man driving the refuelling truck drove straight into the side of the plane. Lucky I’m not a nervous flyer! If you can’t be bothered to check all the photos I put a smaller selection into this video.
London was brief but hectic as was the whole time in the UK, but it was great to catch up with friends and family even if only briefly and thanks in particular to all the people who accommodated us while we were back or put on BBQs.
We finished the hols with a couple of weeks in Spain which involved some time relaxing by the beach and reading plenty of books. The best of which was Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes, an excellent read. I also bought one of these excellent Sony e-readers, which I highly recommend. Then we went off to Madrid where I was for my 40th birthday. Simone asked what I would like to do so we spent the morning on a tour of Real Madrid’s stadium before heading off to Athletico Madrid’s stadium after lunch for the afternoon tour. Brilliant! Even though I had now reached 40 and become a grownup I didn’t let that stop me going out a getting drunk on mojitos and having a raging hangover the next day. I don’t feel like it’s been my birthday if I don’t have a hangover on the 5th August. Check out the photos from Madrid here. After a weekend back in London and a final catch up with people plus a visit to see QPR thrash Barnsley we are now back in El Salvador. I spent my $1000 return to work bonus on new mountain bike and I’ve been out several times already and I’ve carried on with the surfing although the weather has been pretty shocking. Simone’s birthday tomorrow so we going away for the weekend, report and photos to follow and hopefully quite soon I’ll try and get some video of some mountain bike action on here.
Hopefully speak to some of you soon on Skype we are normally online at about 10:30pm UK time, so keep a lookout and give us a call.
Laters
B & S xx
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