Willits promised he would write a report, but he seems to be as lame duck as I am.  We drank all of these except for Rock Ice - sounds and looks nasty anyways.   If Willits wants to add to this…i will post it when he sends it to me.

Imperial - Most popular beer in Costa Rica and exported alot.  Not too bad - 3stars on the Opdycke scale.

Pilsen Red - almost like a red ale…but actually a pilsner.  To be honest we only had one of these while in a hurry to taste them all.   I think it was one of the last so our taste buds were beer’d out.  I remember it not being too bad at all.  Hard to find this beer - we only saw it in 1 mid-to-upscale hotel. - 2 stars because I am not that easy.

Pilsen - 2nd most popular beer in Costa Rica - Willits favorite…for 2 reasons (most alcohol % and it comes in a tally can) 3 stars

Bavaria Beers - They have a dark, a light, and a gold.  I actually liked the dark beer, but the light and the gold weren’t that good - dark gets 3 stars.  others get 2 stars. 

Imperial Light - my favorite beer in Costa Rica….but still not more than 3.5 stars on the scale.   

 Cuba Libre - yes this is Rum and Coke w/lime in a can.  Finally you don’t have to mix drinks for the girls…or the lady boys. ( they come pre-made at 8% for you)!! This gets -1.0stars

Bamboo - yet another (newer) brand of rum and coke in a can.   This one scores for the cool can, but was even nastier than the aforementioned Cubre Libre Brand.  We drank both of these on Tortuguero.  -1.5 stars

If i ever get motivated enough I will come back and write more about these drinks with research included.

later jason

So - Costa Rica on the way now!

Jason

Here is a picture of Independence Palace (or Reunification Palace).  The below gate is in it’s original form since a tank of the North Vietnamese Army hit it, ending the Vietnam War on 30 April, 1975:

We headed to the beautiful fishing village of Mui Ne for a few days.  Actually - we were about 18 km south of the village at a gorgeous beach where people come from all over to kiteboard and windsurf.  One afternoon while sitting on the beach - we saw over 30 kiteboards.  It’s something we’d seen done at Folly Beach, SC a few times and were interested in trying - but a 5 hour lesson was $300 and they said it can take anywhere from 5-10 hours to learn to do it.  Since we didn’t have the time (or money) we chose to find a chair to soak up the sun for a few days. 

One day we rented a scooter and rode up to the famous red sand dunes.  We heard there were kids there renting slides you sit on and ride down.  We paid 2 kids $1 each to rent us their slides and walked up the giant sand dunes.  One ride down and I knew I wasn’t in love with this outing.  I gave it another go - and still wasn’t convinced.  It was HOT and sand stuck to every inch of my body.  We grabbed a pepsi and headed back to the beach - and spent the rest of the afternoon boogie boarding and reading.  Nice!

The next day we headed north to the highland city of Dalat.  We’d read it was where the Vietnamese go to honeymoon and that it was a lovely town.  Well - upon first arrival, we weren’t sold.  It was a much bigger city than anticipated and nothing really to do except take a ride with the “Easy Riders”.  This is pretty much a joke.  It’s a group of older Vietnamese men in blue jackets who ride “hardley’s” (what Jason calls any Harley Davidson wannabe), except they weren’t even quite hardley’s - the bike brand was “Bonus”.  Haha! 

Anyway, we found a guy Peter who refused to pay the 10 million dong pricetag to the gov’t for a blue jacket and he calls himself a “Free Rider”.  Peter took one motorbike and Jason and I on another and we cruised around the villages above Dalat.  He took us to the crazy house (think Alice and Wonderland), a waterfall, the happy buddha, a coffee plantation, flower plantation, a place they make rice whiskey (ask Jason about how great that tasted!), and a silk factory.  We ended the day with a cable car ride.  On the way up the final hill - we started to putter and suddenly realized we were out of gas.  So Peter came to the rescue and ran and grabbed us a liter of gas (in a plastic bag, nonetheless!).   

Since we’d done all there is to do in Dalat - we headed back to the ocean to the big city of Nha Trang.  We had pulled into the city limits when yes, we ran out of gas again!  A lady on a scooter came to the rescue, but we decided it was Jason and I that put a jinx on the bus. 

It’s rainy season here in Nha Trang- but we were still determined to do some scuba diving.  It has been since July!  We walked around and found the dive company we liked best, Octopus Diving (or Sailing Club Divers - same same!), and signed up to dive.  We hit the water yesterday and found it was only about 5 meters visability.  In Utila - we were VERY spoiled with 25-30+ meters visability everyday!  At one point yesterday we lost our DM and each other!  But the coral here is beautiful and we managed to see a few fish we’d never seen before - so it wasn’t a complete waste.  As an added bonus - I was bit by a clown fish! 

However, I don’t recommend the diving here.  There were huge fishing boats everywhere around the reef and a few times I thought I was going to get hooked in.  They eat everything here from fish and seahorses to turtles and shark - and they sell the coral and seashells.  I tried to pick up some of the litter at the bottom - but I found a huge graveyard of over 10 2-liter bottles, I couldn’t bring it all up!  The fishermen and people on the island that catch swallows nests pay the gov’t approx. $10 billion USD each year - so the diving industry is put as a last priority.  Very sad. 

Today we’d booked a 4 island tour with snorkelling, lunch, and a tour of a village - but we woke up to pouring rain.  So our Thanksgiving has consisted of eating a bowl of Pho (vermicelli noodle soup with herbs, beef, bean sprouts, hot peppers….it’s divine!), and catching up online.  Luckily we have good books and a TV in our room - so we’ll be celebrating by vegging out. 

I’m extremely thankful to be here and to be able to travel around the world with Jason.  We’ve been awakened by the things we’ve seen and everyday I think about how lucky we are to come from where we do, to have amazing families and friends, a good education, and the means to travel.  Most locals we meet have never even left their towns let alone their countries.  Most locals we meet work harder than ever from sunrise to sunset.  Most don’t have an education.  Most can barely get by.  I hope everyone back home has an amazing Thanksgiving and takes the time to look around and be truly thankful.

Anyone have some leftovers they would care to bring us? 

Cheers!
Cindi

In all seriousness, we have been to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and now Vietnam in 7 days.  I don’t recommend that anyone move this fast….but I think this will be the fastest we move on the entire trip. 

 We last left you in Laos…

Laos was beautiful…I think only second to Nepal so far on this trip.  Huge sharply shaped moutains covered with greenery and limestone.  

 Beautiful eh? - took this on the side of the road on the drive from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng.  There were a couple a guys with machine guys behind us.

But for real, we all know the reason for going to Laos…the tubing!!  We tubed, we drank for the children, we played the “Whats the name of the f*cking game”, we swung, we slid, we zipped, and somehow no-one got hurt or even naked.  Thanks to the Tumbleweeds (a group of 17 rag-tag world travelers) for letting us join them throughout Laos.  They made it most memorable.  We miss you guys already! Here are some pictures of our crazy day.

Us and the Tumbleweeds

Cindi on the first big swing

Me on the HUGE swing

Cindi and I then Kayaked our way from Vang Vieng to Vientienne, the capital of Laos.  It was cool - we actually tipped our kayak on the 2nd set of rapids….er also the last set of rapids.  It was chill and fun, but the group was lame as ever.

Kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vientienne

We hung out in Vientienne for the day with the highlight being Spicy Chicken Laab, pitchers of Beer Lao and Buddha Park.

Relaxin Buddha

After leaving Laos for Thailand on night train, we stayed a night in Bangkok before heading to Cambodia.

Thai Noodles make us crazy!

The crossing from Thailand into Cambodia was a nightmare, we got screwed on our Visa prices, we couldn’t find a bus, the town of Poipet was dirty, crappy, and full of lying touts.  It was definately the roughest border we have had.  Avoid Poipet if possible.

Once in Siem Riep, we hired a tuk-tuk for the day and enjoyed the sights of Angkor Wat and the other temples.  They were beautiful…but you know my view on temples.  1 day was enough for us.  Here are 2 of the 500 pictures we took.

Tah Prom - Siem Riep - yes that’s a tree

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Then we moved on to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and this is the center of the tragedy that occurred from 1975-1979.  We visited both the killing fields and one of the prisons that is now a museum.  The communist regime under Pol Pot was responsible for killings hundreds of thousands of Cambodians and it seems that most of the population was effected.  Even our tuk-tuk driver told us his father was killed.  They killed all the educated people that spoke other languages and wore glasses.  It was a somber day, but opened our eyes to the torture that happened here only about 35 years ago. 

The Killing fields in Cambodia - that stupa is filled with 9000 human skulls from the masacre by the Khmer Rouge

A prison cell at Toul Sleng

Today we traveled from Phnom Penh to Saigon.  We haven’t had TV for awhile, so we broke down and got a room with cable tv for 12$ a night….hey big spenders!!!

We have 19-20 days in Vietnam before heading back to the south of Thailand.  More to come  - from Cindi - it’s her turn next.

Jason

It’s funny that my father, who was here nearly 40 years ago, and I have had many of the same observations of Thailand.  I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing a few….

“i think of the beautiful people and i smile
i think of their music and wonder why they call it music.
i think of their dancing, the costumes and marvel at their past.
i think of the taxi drivers and wonder how i survived.
i think of their alphabet and desire to read it.
i think of the nit-knowy amount of their language i learned and wonder if i should learn more
i think of their food and desire to eat
i think of the water festival and wish everyone in the US would go so crazy for a week — just having fun.
i think of the poverty and remember that they did not know they were poor — only loving
i think of the bugs people would eat
the beggers
clothing which was wet all of the time during the rainy season.
the mekong river
the humidity
on and on and on”

Like I said, crazy how things don’t change.  Except that Dad, even though it’s the dry season, I find my clothes to be constantly wet anyway!  Jason and I have decided we should have named our blog “sweatfest2008″ instead of ‘bubblesandbugs’.  However, I’m happy to report that Jason has tried his first bug and said it tasted like corn.  I was too much of a wuss to try it.  But I know I’ll have to muster up the courage somehow before we leave South East Asia.

We’ve really been loving Thailand and Laos.  The first night in Bangkok we went to a Muay Thai Boxing match (for Jason, since he misses watching UFC fights) - it was long, but pretty entertaining.  There were about 7 fights and each one had 5 rounds.  I decided early on I could have taken any one of these guys - they were tiny!  The heaviest was 121 pounds!

We spent a few nights in Bangkok enjoying the city and eating a ton of Pad Thai on Ko San Road.  We met Mr. Thailand and had a bucket. 

We went to the floating market in the pouring rain.  (picture won’t upload for some reason - will have to get one later)

We went north via 13 hour train ride to Chang Mai and rewarded ourselves with a 30 minute foot and leg massage for $2.50 each!  The next morning we went on a 2 day trek with about 10 other travellers.  The first day was spent walking uphill for about 3.5 hours.  It wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but once we arrived at the village it was beautiful!  We had a waterfall nearby and we all instantly ran down to rinse and cool off. 

***note: this is NOT the bug Jason ate

The next morning we got up and went on a 1 hour elephant trek, had some breakfast, and went for another short hike.  We were then driven on a muddy road (which we were afraid we were going to have to end up pushing the truck up) and went for a quick 40 minute white water rafting trip and then were transferred to a bamboo raft.  It was great and definitely a great value for a tour.  The entire trip cost us 2800 baht, which is about $85 for both of us. 

On November 4th, we headed to the Laos border.  That was voting day in the states, but we were 12 hours ahead of EST, so we couldn’t start checking the results until the next morning.  We spent the night on the border and found a room with a TV and woke up around 6 AM to see how things were going.  By 9 AM the results were just starting to come in, but unfortuntely, that is when we were to be at the dock to start our 2 day boat journey down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang.  The boat was scheduled to leave at 10, but didn’t end up leaving until 11:30 - which meant we got the news of the election before we left!  We were both ecstatic and I couldn’t help but celebrate on the boat with all our new foreign friends. 

For 2 days we sat in a crammed boat with about 100-130 others (we were told the max. on this boat should be 70), sitting on crappy wooden bench seats, and trying to keep ourselves entertained.  But we finally made it and this city is beautiful.  It’s clean and reminds me of Antigua, Guatemala or Granada, Nicaragua - very coloniel. 

Yesterday we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the Xuang Si Waterfalls.  Here is a shot of Jason jumping off into the cold swimming pools:

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Tomorrow we head south to Vang Vieng with the “Tumbleweeds” to do some tubing and maybe some river rafting.  Then we’ll head to Vientiene and continue south to Cambodia.  Hopefully we’ll be better at updates!

Cheers!
Cindi

Let me start first by saying Nepal is one of our favorite places so far on the trip.  It is definately the most beautiful place I have been on the planet.  The people are nice and genuine, the food is good, and beer has been the best we have had on the trip.  The one thing I have learned in the past 2 weeks in Nepal is that 2 weeks is not enough.  We will definately come back one day.

When we last left off, we were in Chitwan National Park relaxing by the river and bathing with elephants.  It was a great relief from India and I would highly recommend the elephant safari, and jungle walk.  We were lucky enough to spot wild rhinos on both adventures.  Check us out on the  elephants…this 20 minutes of fun cost us 5 bucks each…if that.

Us on the back of an elephant on safari

After a 5 hour drive to Kathmandu, we explored the sub-city area of Thamel and greater Kathmandu for several days.  Thamel is the central backpacker hub of Kathmandu and is where the trekkers gear up at the many fake Northface, and Columbia shops, eat great american and continental food, drink beer, and enjoy nightly Bob Marley and reggae cover bands. 

Kathmandu has plenty to offer by way of sightseeing, including lots of temples, and cultural sights.  To be honest, I am over the temples and now prefer the adventure activities.  Here is a shot of the Bodnath Stupa, the largest stupa in Nepal.  It is of course Buddhist.  We took this shot with our Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens from the roof top cafe while drinking an Everest beer and eating Veg and Chicken momos.  What better way to spend the day? 

One to the extreme part.  We booked a 2 day canyoning excursion in Thamel which would take us to the beautiful Borderlands resort a short 4 hour van ride outsite of Kathmandu.  Propped on the banks of the Bhote Kosi River, this place was amazing.  They put us up in Safari style luxury tents and fed us well….but the real show was the canyoning.  –Willits - this was waaaaay better than what we did in Interlocken Switzerland. –

For those that don’t know canyoning is the act of abseiling (rapelling), jumping, sliding, and hiking your way down a water-cut canyon.  Most of the way is steep, slippery, sharp, and wrought with danger.  It was excellent!!  If you come to Nepal, and you like to be scared witless but safe, be sure you go Canyoning.  The first day was only abseiling….9 or 10 rappells in all, the biggest being about 75 feet.  The 2nd day we spent more time jumping and sliding…and to be honest, jumping is the hardest part about canyoning.  This is because most of the take off points are at a steep angle, usually about 1 sq foot in size, and slippery as hell.  Half the battle is being able to stand without falling before you make the leap.  Not to mention that the water is 15-20 feet down and the spot you are supposed to land in is about 3 feet wide and only 6 feet deep.  Sometimes you can’t even see the water! - haha

Cindi broke the #1 rule…”Once your feet are set, don’t move them”  She took a step, slipped and bit it hard into the 15 foot jump.  You can see below that she is covering her face in fear, and in a last ditch effort to save herself, she grabbed a handful of weeds on the way down! hahahaha - We laughed our asses off when we saw this picture…but only because she was ok.   After the fall she was laughing with a few tears mixed in because she was scared.  Oh yeah, she bit it on the next jump too! - haha

The biggest rappell on the 2nd day was a steap 100 ft with water and rocks being hurled down while the 7 of us hunched together clipped into the wall on a tiny ledge below.   Here are a few more shots of us in the canyon…

Jason Abseiling

Jason abseiling 100ft wall

 Canyoneer Cindi

 Our next adventure was to be whitewater rafting.  The goal was simple…give us the biggest rapids Nepal has to offer.  The Marsyangdi river did not disappoint.  We booked with Ultimate Descents Nepal and would highly recommend this 3-4 day trip to anyone looking for great crew, food, camping, gear, service, and of course the harriest rafting you have ever seen.  Most were 4-5 class rapids and they were ripping…almost flipping us on the first day.   On the second day, we had to portage around a few un-runnable rapids (one known as the Boateater).  Our guides insisted on running this rapid alone.  The 2 of them in the 9 man raft alone heading towards the Boateater is a fun thing to watch.  Especially when they get hung up, jump off to save their lives while the raft flips upside down and heads down river….crazy!

We are now back in Kathmandu, excited and sad at the same time to be flying to Bangkok tomorrow.  I think it will be nice to get away from the India, Nepal style of food and get ready for some spicy noodles on Koh San road.  Nepal has been great and I highly recommend coming here.  Next time we trek….or unicyle from Lhasa, China to Kathmandu, or raft the Karnali river on a 10 day trip, or head to Everest base camp, - you get the point - tons to do here.

Here are a few more pictures we thought were good…

A holy man (Sadhu) at Pashu Patinath

A kid paddling in a coffin while the previous occupant is being cremated 30 feet away at the riverside.

Tonight’s dinner at a local butcher.  We had a better day than he did. I love lamb brains!!

Some Prayer flags at Bodnath Stupa 

Cindi’s Blackeye…from a paddle t-grip

view from the top of canyon 95 

Later Jason

That is what driving in India is like.  It’s frightening, insane, entertaining, and I’m happy to report, quite safe!  For the 3 weeks we were in India, I saw only 1 minor accident.  And thank goodness for that, because I also only saw 1 ambulance. 

I’m not quite sure how I felt about India.  I still am trying to wrap my brain around the places we went and the huge amount of the country we covered in 3 short weeks.  Definitely not enough time to take it all in.  I know people that have returned again and again and love it here.  Me?  I’m not so sure.  I saw things I never thought I’d see.  I saw more people sleeping on the streets and beggers than I ever knew existed.  People sleeping in homes that we in the U.S. wouldn’t even park our cars in our let our dogs call home.  There is garbage piled up everywhere - and on a 2 hour train ride from Delhi to Agra - I saw over 200 hundred people taking their morning poops.  I had people constantly staring at me - and I mean constantly.  And then there were the ‘Indian style toilets’. 

I’m convinced that anyone who comes here and truly loves it either:
A:  only come to stay at an ashram and avoid any big city
B:  come on their companies bill and stay in nice hotels and have their own drivers
C:  have family or friends here to show them where to REALLY go

We left India Saturday after taking a 16 hour train ride (which was under 300 miles, by the way).  I’m definitely glad I had the chance to come experience India and see all the wonderful sites it has to offer (the Taj was just as amazing as I’d always imagined!) - however, I’m not exactly sure I’d recommend it as a place to visit.  If you’ve been here and loved it - tell me why, I’d love to hear!

We have been in Nepal enjoying Royal Chitwan National Park.  The internet here is extremely slow, so hopefully when we arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow - we can get some pictures uploaded.  But so far, while here we’ve helped bathe elephants, gone to the elephant breeding center and pet a 4 month old elephant, we took an elephant safari and walk through the jungle yesterday and saw rhinos and monkeys, we rented bikes and cruised around the town - and all I can say is that I’m loving it here.  It’s clean, people are kind and honest, the food is great (they even have mexican food here, which I’ve been loving!), and it gets a little chilly at night. 

Tomorrow we head to Kathmandu for some site seeing and then we’ll be on a 4 day rafting and canyoning excursion up north.  I can’t wait!

Cheers!
Cindi

Jason and I headed on a day train to Amritsar last week.  I was hoping that because the population there is only 1 million vs. the 12 million living in Delhi - it would be a bit more chill.  But it’s definitely not.  The city is crazy!  There are Sikh’s walking to their Golden Temple at all hours.  I’ve never seen so many turbans in one place.  But, with all the people and traffic - we really enjoyed Amritsar.  The Golden Temple is beautiful!  We went there the first night we arrived to see it lit up - isn’t it lovely?

When you go there, you are required to keep your head covered as well as walk through a pool to wash your feet.  We waited for almost an hour (with a wool scarf over my head!) to get inside the temple.  When you make your way in, there are men playing the instruments and chanting - which is heard on loud speakers all over the grounds of the temple.  People make offerings and had no problems shoving us aside.  But since this is their temple - we just let them and figured we were inside less than 30 seconds before being shoved out. 

The next day we headed back to the temple to get some pictures with our 40D.  The temple is surrounded by holy water and men bathing in it, so the water somewhat cooled the marble ground.  On the way in - I made Jason purchase his own bandana, because there was no way I could make it with a wool scarf over my head in such hot tempuratures.  I’m not so sure our gangster bandanas helped us to blend in.  It probably doesn’t matter.  We get stares from everyone constantly.  It’s entertaining how many people ask us to take their picture. 

Around noon - we headed to the langar hall to partake of the community meal.  Sikh’s don’t believe in the caste system like the Hindus - so to show just how serious they are about this - they serve a free meal to nearly 40,000 people daily.  We made a small donation and sat on the ground with our trays.  Volunteers come around and serve up dahl (lentils), a potato curry, and freshly made chipathis.  It looked like prison slop coming onto our trays, but really tasted good!  I had to made quite an effort to eat only with my right hand (I’m a lefty and that hand it only used for bathroom duties here) - and am happy to report I only spilled on myself twice. 

Here are some pictures of the volunteers doing all the thousands of dishes, as well as a picture of the dishes they pass out. It’s unreal!

After enjoying the temple and learning more about the Sikh’s - we grabbed a cab with 2 Israeli’s to the India/Pakistan border closing in Attari, India. Jason loved this. I couldn’t tell if I was entertained or depressed about the whole thing. India and Pakistan truly hate one another and they put on quite a show when the border crosses. The have stands set up for audiences to watch on both sides - the India side was packed, while the Pakistan side was nearly empty. The guards huff and puff and stomp around and give each other dirty glares while lowering their country flags and closing the gates. Jason took a bunch of great pictures that we haven’t uploaded yet - so enjoy this video:

We left Amritsar to Dharmasala by bus Wednesday. We took a cab to McLeod Ganj, found a room and headed for dinner. That night I started feeling pretty sick and spent the night near the toilet. The next day I was hoping I would feel better, so after sleeping in - I went with Jason to town to grab some lunch. I sat there watching him eat and tried to drink something and suddenly started feeling sweaty and clamy. I got up and ran outside and puked in the street. I had my mouth covered in a napkin and it was spurting everywhere. I’m sure it was hilarious. So I ended up going back to the room to be near a toilet and try to relax. The next day I was feeling better, but by then it had hit Jason. So we ended up laying around 2 more days in our room. We each read 2 books and saw about nothing here. We heard the Dalai Lama was in town, as McLeod Ganj is where he makes his home in India. In fact, this town is filled with refugees from Tibet. We tried to get tickets to see him speak, but had no luck. It’s probably for the best because we both felt terrible.

Yesterday for the first time in days we left the room and walked around. We visited a Buddhist temple and took some pictures around town. We are slowly but surely feeling a bit better. We hope to survive the night bus back to Delhi tonight - because it’s going to be a 12 hour ride and we are out of Immodium! Wish us luck!

Tomorrow we will see the Red Fort and then Wednesday we’ll head to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal before making our way to Nepal by the weekend. It’s been a quick couple weeks in India and there are still many places we’d like to visit here - but it’s time to move on. I just finished the book, “Holy Cow!” by Sarah McDonald which in the first 40 pages she pretty much sums up India perfectly. If you get a chance, you should pick up a copy.

Cheers!
Cindi

First off, we wanted to let everyone know that although we are in New Delhi and there was a bombing yesterday, we are safe and sound. We arrived in New Delhi after the bombing occurred and we are staying away from main markets until we head north to Amritsar tomorrow.

Also, wanted to provide a rundown on what we have been doing the last week:

- Cindi found out that there really are camels on the busy streets of Bangalore

- We visited our first temple in Hampi, India.  Yes…we were both very uncomfortable wearing the red dot.  It was still fun

- Cindi helped to bless the royal elephant of Hampi after we watched him bathe in the local river.  For 5 rupees, the elephant will even kiss you.

- We gazed at the beautiful temples and boulders of Hampi.  We have tons of pictures, and can’t wait to share the beauty of this place with all of you.   The top of this temple was built on that boulder.

- We have taken 2 overnight trains….upper berth is the place to be.  Needless to say, I am larger than the average Indian, so I am a walking Ambien commercial.  “Ambien…best for overnight trains in India”

- We enjoyed the beautiful beaches of Goa, Inida at Arombol

Here are some other thoughts Cindi and I have had while in India:

- Indian food is GOOD…waaaaaay better than Central America.  I don’t even miss eating meat…we have been a  hearty diet of Veggie Currie, Naan Bread, and some (very little) chicken.  Nothing in the South of India has been too spice…in fact we have to beg them to get it hot.

- Beware of touts in New Delhi.  They will lie, cheat, and lie some more in order to earn a hefty commision.  They lie about train tickets, tourism offices, auto rickshaw rides and everything else.  It took us 2 hours to book train tickets this morning.  Without these assholes, it would have taken 10 minutes.

- India is smelly…damn smelly.  Shit, Urine, Bums, burning trash, and anything else you can think of fill the air all in the same breath. 

- Cindi doesn’t like sh*tting in a hole in the ground…those were her exact words just 5 seconds ago - hahaha

- yes camels, elephants, and cows roam the road freely

- it is cheap here.  room for the night is around 6$, we both eat a good meal for around 5$, standard autorickshaw ride around the city is 1-3$

- cindi saw her first cobra (snake charmer) today…but he ran quickly when the cops came cruising by.

- most people are nice as long as you are not talking about price or money…then all bets are off.  But when not bargaining, the people are very curious as to where we are from, and what we are doing here.  The restaurant owners have all been great too.

- most hotels don’t have a real shower.  we often bathe by puring buckets of water over our bodies.  wierd…and toilet paper is never included.

- we are still sweating…just like the rest of our trip.

We have plenty more where these came from.  Today we saw the Memorial to Gandi at Rajghat, as well as the Lotus temple.  Tomorrow we take our first day train(hooray for scenery) headed for Amritsar where we will visit the Golden Temple of the Sihk, witness the changing of the guard at the Pakistan border, eat a free lunchtime meal with 40,000 others, and hang out in the Tibetan rich town of Dharmasala and McLeod Ganj.

Hope you are all having as much fun as we are!  Also, congrats to Randy and Jill, they are the proud new parents of a beautiful baby Girl name Kaelyn Turner.  We wish we were there to celebrate this grand occasion.

Later
Jason

I remember initially not liking the beer so much as we first triend them with the nastiest cheeseburger I think I ever ate.  But as we ended our time in Panama on Red Frog Beach drinking Panama Lager from the tiny green glass bottle, I remember now that the beer was pretty damn good.

The beer here is built like most other central american beers…light ales and lagers that make for a great beer when it is hot as hell.  There are 2 main brewers in Panama…Cerveceria National Panama and Cerveceria Baru.  They share the market at numbers around 70%/30% with Cerveceria National Panama beating out the competition.  I frankly and not sure why this is…we preferred the Baru by far. 

Cerveceria National Panama was established in 1909 and I don’t have a clue as to when Baru was founded. 

Balboa…from my experience is the main beer in Panama.  It is the one that is always available on every street corner and beach shanty.  Served in both bottle and can it runs at 3.8% .  It is a very light colored pale lager leaving alot to be desired.  Definately not enough hoppiness.  To be honest, it would be hard for me to choke down enough of these to get tipsy, but the local bums and travel commission crooks didn’t think so.  I must saw however, they were much better when it was blistering hot, on a tiny unamed island of Bocas Del Toro, fresh out of the water snorkeling,  served ice cold, and cheaper than list price thanks to Willits and his cunning cheapness.  Cindi, Willits, Trevor, Kaye, and I built a byramid of cans.  Brewed by Cerveceria Natl Panama.  I give it 2 stars on the Opdycke 5 point scale.

Atlas…aslo from Cerveceria Natl Panama was my least favorite of the 3 sampled.  I only drank a sip of this nasty from Cindi’s bottle and vowed to never try this pale lager again.  You too should heed my advice.  Not even good enought to research.  1 star on the Opdycke scale.

Panama…aha…a halfway good one finally.  I think up to this point on our journey, this was the beer that I have preferred the most.  But I am afraid still does not qualify for more than 3.5 stars on the Opdycke scale.   At 4.5% alcohol this beer was a natural choice for Willits who most often shuns taste and enjoyment for raw drunk-delivering power.  At first glance, we couldn’t stop teasing about the puny bottle…makes you feel like a giant…or a teenage girl.  Cerveceria Baru did a decent job with this brew.  I usually hate green glass beers like Rolling Rock, but this beer…light as it may be had more character and hoppieness that I yearn for.  This one is worth trying if you can seek it out. 

Trevor liked it too.

I wanted to include some other pictures as we passed by the beer cooler in the grocery store.  Below is a pre-mixed rum and coke that I don’t really care for.  They are usually around 8 % alcohol and at first they are a novelty that we don’t get in the states.  Once you taste the cheap white rum and sam’s choice quality coke, you realize that you might as well buy that bottle of Flor De Cana.  2 stars on the Opdycke scale…it would be a 1 except for the convenience of a pre-mixed drink in a can.

I failed to try Soberana before, mostly because when buying a beer, the hinting of the word sober is usually last on your mind.  We also ran out of time.  A few other reviews told us this beer tasted like a corona light in a can.  Somebody please send me their opinion of this beer and I will add to this report.

Hope you enjoyed-
Jason

We went back to the room where ‘Euro Trip’ was on the TV so we watched that, followed by “Wild Hogs” and ended up going back to sleep around midnight.  Jason was up by 4 and read for a couple hours while I managed to sleep until 6.  As I mentioned before, our room didn’t have a shower, but they provided a nozel with hot water and buckets.  So we “showered” and headed to the train station to purchase overnight tickets to Hampi for tonight.  We dropped our bags in the train station cloak room and went to the Lalbagh Botanical Garden.  It wasn’t that great, but gave us a great place to relax on some benches in the shade and take some pictures. 

Now we are killing time until our train.  There isn’t a whole lot to do in Bangalore on a Sunday, and quiite frankly, we are too tired to do much anyway.  But we are here and very excited to explore India!

Cheers-
Cindi

September 20th - October 11th: India - we’ll work our way from the south to the north

October 12th - November 1st: Nepal - still hoping to do a trek, possibly to Everest base camp.  Any ideas of how to do this without spending a fortune???

November 2nd - January 6th: Southeast Asia - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and possibly Malaysia and Indonesia

January 7th - March 8th:  Africa - our Aussie friends Kaye and Trevor highly recommended a company called Absolute Africa which will take us on a camping safari through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.  We’ll end the trip in Capetown with a cage dive with some Great White Sharks, recommended by our Danish buddy Mike

March 9th - 30th:  Australia - we’ll most likely fly into Sydney and work our way north to Cairns

April 1st - 20th:  New Zealand

April 21st:  Home

As always, we appreciate any recommendations to these places we’re going.  We will try to keep our “Where Are We?” page better updated.  We also hope to keep postings and pictures up more regularly.  We skipped taking the Canon 40D on the first leg, but will take it along with the newest member of our Canon family collection, the Canon 10-22mm, with us on the rest of the trip. 

I’ve been having a fabulous time in Salt Lake catching up with wonderful family and friends.  I haven’t been able to spend much time with my girlfriends since I moved to Charlotte in late 2004 - but this week we’ve gotten together nearly everyday.  I’m very sad I missed my BFF Laura’s wedding while I was in Costa Rica, but I wanted to let she and Erik know how happy I am for them.  And seriously, it’s about damned time!  ;-) 
 

I’m heading back to Missouri tomorrow, where Jason has been working away at his dad’s shop all week, and where Willits will also be joining us for a few days on a business trip.  We’ll be at the Mizzou game Saturday and enjoying the weekend and then Jason and I have a ton to do before we fly to India Thursday.  So let this be a warning, you may not hear from us again until we have arrived in Bangalore.  Which, by the way, won’t be until the 20th.  Yes, that’s right….it will take us over 24 hours of flying time to get to India.  Thanks to Dr. Rogers for the ambien.  Haha. 

Cheers!
Cindi

If you are interested, we have new pics up on Flickr.  Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandindigo/collections/72157604360580057/

Also, check out the new Nicaragua beer report.

Later
Jason

The other is that the beer is only 75 cents to a 1$.

In Nicaragua they have one major brewer called Cerveceria de Nicaragua.  Apparently the company dates back to the 1920’s and they employ a German brewmaster classically trained at Weihenstephan brewing school.  I bet he is proud of producing millions of gallons of “beer”…that most people wouldn’t bathe their dogs in.

Here they are…looking rather delicious as Cindi and I snapped pictures just before checking out at a small pulperia in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.  

People… don’t let those glistening bottles, shiny labels, or our superp photography skills fool you.  These beers also follow the standard theme of Central American beer. 

The Tona on the left is a “Lager Especial” that is a ultra pale golden color that carries a 4.6 alcohol by volume.  According to the Tona website, it is produced… “using only the finest North American and European malts and hops, certified by world renowned laboratories (Siebel Institute of Technology, Chicago and Brautechnische Prüf- und Versuchsanstalt, Munich-Weihenstephan).”

Their marketing department could sell shit to pigs.  It is terrible, horrible and after a hot day hiking Volcan Mombacho, sweating bullets, Tona only tastes good because it is cold.  If you never drink this beer consider yourselves lucky.   1/2 star on the Opdycke beer scale.

The Victoria on the right is labeled a “Pisen Especial”. This is definately the best of the Nicaraguan beer line, but still only pulls 1 star on the Opdycke beer scale.  I would say that this is the most popular and most widely available beer in Nicaragua.

Later All…Costa Rica and Panama to follow!

jason

The 5 Be´s:

*  BE PREPARED - Jason is an eagle scout, so he has this one down.  While you´re on those long bus or train rides….try to figure out your next step before your exit.  Try to read up on the area you´re going to and know how much to expect to pay for a cab, or a piece of jewerly.  If you are getting let off the bus at night, have a headlamp or flashlight handy, know where a close hostel or hotel is, and Jason and I have found we feel more safe carrying a pocket knife.  Thank goodness we haven´t had to use it!

*  BE FLEXIBLE - it might rain, the hostel you had hoped to stay at could be booked up, the bus might be full….it´s helpful to have a sense of humor and creativity when this happens.  Usually a full hostel might have a recommendation for somewhere nearby, just because a bus is full doesn´t mean you can´t sit in the isle, and don´t let rain ruin your day.  Take a day to relax, regroup and try again tomorrow. 

*  BE A STUDENT - while it´s tempting to sleep on those long bus rides (in one day we travelled from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to Managua, Nicuragua…..over 16 hours of travel time!), try to be alert and awake and spend time looking out the window.  Find a phrase book or flash cards and learn at least the basic phrases for the country you are in and try to practice these with the person on the bus next to you, the lady at the local soda or supermarket, the man on the park bench.  Read (at the very least) the history section in the countries Lonely Planet guide.  Know about the culture, the food, the people…….and you will enjoy yourself a whole lot more.

*  BE EARLY - my advice is if you have a travel day planned, always take the first bus available.  There are days that had we taken the 5 or 6 AM bus vs. the 6 or 7 AM bus, we could have made our entire route in one day, instead of spending nights in random towns like Nicoya.  There are days that if we hadn´t woken at 4:50 AM and taken a bus, we would have missed the transfer ferry.  You get it.  Wake up and get going!

*  BE PATIENT - ordering food, for instance, is not like ordering food in the good ol USA.  Down here, they have a much slower pace of life and they don´t rush anything.  Also, don´t sit around for an hour after your meal wondering when the check is coming.  You have to ask for it.  Stores will be open and closed at hours we aren´t used to.  Learn to relax, appreciate their lifestyle and you will see how a slower pace isn´t such a bad thing!

We have been spending the past couple days in Monteverde enjoying the cloud forest, walking around, and trying to prepare for the next leg of our trip.  We´re heading to San Jose tomorrow and hope to go to Volcano Poas Thursday or Friday and then it´s off to the States Saturday for a couple of weeks.  Postings may be slow, but we hope to have completed beer reports, pictures recovered and posted and an updated packing list and itinerary changes! 

If anyone wants to get ahold of us while we´re in the States (since we are both cell phone less!), shoot us an email and we´ll get you our parents phone numbers.  We´ll be in Missouri and Utah, so hopefully we´ll be able to catch up! 

Cheers!
Cindi

• After Jaco, we went to Quepos and Manuel Antonio
• Willits missed the park because it is closed Mondays. We tried to sneak in through the crocodile reserve but were promptly kicked out
• Cindi and I went back to the national park Tuesday. It was cool …but not that cool willits!! haha . We were lucky enough to see about 10 white faced monkeys for about 20 minutes. The closest one was about 6 ft from us. Looked like the monkey from Friends. Also saw a sloth and hung out on the beautiful beaches where racoons were stealing peoples stuff.
• We then worked our way to Tamarindo beach..with a stopover in Nicoya. We had to take the ferry from PuntaRenas to Playa Naranjo…then busses to Tamarindo
• Right when we got to Tamrindo, we tried to fix our pictures. Not sure what is wrong…but we will wait a week until we get home to recover them….we hope.
• While waiting for the pics, cindi pulled up an article about the fecal pollution in Tamarindo. There are supposed to be 400 parts of fecal matter in 3.3 oz for it to be safe. Tamrindo has 3.3 million parts of fecal matter. Good thing our hotel has a pool.
• Last night we went to Witches Rock Surf Camp and ate Nachos ¨as big as your ass¨

Last but not least, We have booked our Tickets to India. We leave on Sept 18th for 5 weeks of India, Nepal, Tibet, and hopefully Everest base camp.

To all the readers waiting for beer reports…i have them ready…just waiting to get our pictures ready. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama beer reports will come in the first few days of Sept.

Can´t wait to be home for a few weeks, while getting India Visas. Planning on hitting a Mizzou tigers football game and hanging out with Sawyer and Ben.

Later

jason

Since we last left off, we headed out of Tortuguero and on to Puerto Viejo to celebrate Julia´s 30th birthday!  On the way there, we got stuck behind 2 semi´s and tried for almost 30 minutes to pass them.  Finally there was a break in traffic and Jason floored it.  Unfortuntely we didn´t see the cop with the speedometer on the side of the road and we were pulled over.  To make a long story short, Jason didn´t get hauled off to Costa Rican prison, but was issued a $50 ticket and was told he can no longer drive in Costa Rica.  Julia took the wheel and we all made it in one piece. 

We spent a couple days on the beach just relaxing and enjoying our amazing rooms at Banana Azul.  Jason and Willits took some surfing lessons and Julia and Travis headed to the Sloth Sanctuary.  We were so pooped from playing in the waves all day on Julia´s birthday that we ended up just ordering pizza and playing cards until the late hour of about 8 PM when Jules passed out in the hammock and Jason passed out in the room.  Julia and Travis headed to San Jose Monday to catch their flight Tuesday - we were sad to see them go.  I love seeing Julia and it was great meeting Travis.  Julia found us amazing places to stay while they were here, it was nice to have a break from hostels and dormatories!  Thanks Julia!

When we parted ways; Jason, Willits and I crossed the border and headed to Bocas del Toro, Panama.  While we were in Puerto Viejo we ran into some great Aussie friends, Trevor and Kay that we met in Utila, so we ended up spending most of our time in Bocas catching up with them.  We took a $20 tour which included 2 snorkeling spots, watching wild dolphins swim, and some swimming on a beautiful beach called Red Frog beach.  I highly recommend this to anyone in Bocas.  I went to Bocas with my girlfriends 5 years prior and spent our nights at Pargo Rojo, which unfortuntely is closed now (Bernard and his coconut cheesecake have never been forgotten!) so we ended up staying at a new hostel called Gran Kahuna.  It sucked.  It was loud and the fans hardly worked so we ended up sweating all night.  Plus, the last night there I was attacked by something and now have a huge red bite\bump area on my body we have named Africa, due to its shape.  Awesome. 

Willits only has a few days left here, so we decided to head back through San Jose, Costa Rica and spend some time on the Pacific coast in a town called Jaco.  Again, I was here 5 years ago and boy has this place changed.  It reminds me more of Waikiki or some resort beach city more than Costa Rica.  But we found a decent hostel, Cabinas Jaco Mar, with a fridge and tv - so we´ve ended up staying here 4 nights.  The first day here we took a long walk on Playa Hermosa and watched the surfers and realized the waves were too big for the guys to attempt to ride, so we headed back to Jaco and rented some boards and spent the afternoon at the beach.  We went back the next day for more surfing - I tried it and have decided it´s not my thing, so I bought a sarong and laid on the beach watching the guys. 

Today we decided to spend the day deep sea fishing.  It was so much fun!  The day started out full of rain and no bites….but we did spot 3 hump back whales and 2 turtles.  Our trip was from 7:30 until 12:30 and by 10:30 I was pretty freaking bored.  We were 24 miles off the coast and decided to head back.  And then……a bite…..and 2……….Jason immediately jumped up and took one rod while the captain grabbed the other.  Capt´n lost his fish, but Jason continued to reel in.  After about 10 minutes of reeling, and one extremely sore hip, the fish was caught!  We estimated it to be about 25 pounds of yellowfin tuna!  AHHHHH yeah!!!!  We cut some up on deck and partook of it right away.  I didn´t love it as I´m used to my shashimi being really cold…but the capt´n fileted it for us and we´ve found a local restaurant to clean and cook it up for us tonight.  I can´t wait!

Tomorrow we´ll head to Quepos and Manuel Antonio until Willits leaves Tuesday morning and then we´ll decide where to go from there.  We´re in Costa Rica for 2 more weeks and then will head back to the states until Sept. 18th when we fly to Bangalore, India.  

Jason is working on recovering our pictures………..keep your fingers crossed!  All of our pictures from the last of Utila until now are on this memory card and if we can´t get the computer to read them…….it´s a sad sad day at bubblesandbugs.com.

Ciao for now!

This place was beautiful and Cesar at the front desk took good care of us. And the free breakfast was SO good! The volcano put on quite a show for us too - when we first arrived we heard a few rumbles and soon figured out that it was not thunder. At night we could watch the lava flowing from the comfort of our rooms. It was crazy!  (or as Jason says, ¨Nutty!¨)

The first day in La Fortuna, we decided to just relax by the pool and hot tub and decide our plans. Monday we took the Sky Treks Canopy Tour. This was by far the best canopy tour I’ve done. The longest line was over 2400 feet and we were over 600 feet above ground. We soared through clouds and trees and our guides were fantastic. I highly recommend this.

The next day we went with Wave Expeditions and did the Class IV white water rafting trip down the River Toro. It was one of the mose fun rafting trips I’ve taken. We were fed pineapple and watermelon on our morning break and then Jason, Willits, and Travis decided to take the next rapid without the boat. They went down (helmets and PFD’s) with only a few scrapes and bruises, but seemed to have a great time. Unfortunetly I don’t have any pictures of the river. But Travis bought the CD of about 75 pictures from the rafting company, so hopefully he’ll share a few.

That evening we went to Baldi Hot Springs. We decided on this one because it was about $40 less than Tabacon….but it was still great. We were entertained watching people being thrown around like rag dolls on the waterslide and we hopped around to the different pools that ranged from about 90-117 degrees. It was a perfect end to a few busy days.

Yesterday we made the trek down the 8 km bumpy road from our hotel for the last time and headed to Tortuguero. We drove to La Pavona, parked the car and took an hour boat ride through the canals to arrive at Casa Marbella B&B. We walked around for a bit, grabbed some caribbean dinner at Miriam’s and then headed to the beach from 8-10 pm to watch a GIANT green turtle lay her eggs on the beach. This was one of the coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. These turtles lay eggs 5 times per year and they are all over the beach. We were put in groups, because apparently about 700 people were viewing this last night. So we just watched one turtle during the entire 2 hour process. Taking pictures is illegal, as it disturbs the turtles, but if you google ¨Tortuguero green turtle eggs¨ and look at the images, you’ll get an idea of what we saw.

This morning we woke up at 5:30 to go on a canal tour of the Tortuguero National Park. It started our a little slow (and rainy!) but we ended up spotting howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, spider monkeys, parrots, toucans, a caymen, an otter and a whole lot of other birds that i don’t remember. Now we are just hanging out today (in the rain!) and tomorrow we head to Puerto Viejo for the next 4 days.

Here is a picture of the sunset we saw last night from our hotel dock:

It´s pouring rain and we all just took a 3 hour nap. Now it’s time to kick the boys butts in spades.  Have I mentioned the RAIN???

Cheers!

That being said,  I wanted to give everyone an update on where things stand:

• we have just arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica
• It took about 11 hours by bus from San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
• We had zero trouble at the border and were welcomed very warmly into Costa Rica
• We spent the last week in Nicaragua…Granada, Laguna De Apoyo, and San Juan Del Sur.
• Our readers were right, Laguna De Apoyo was great.  We went totally blind based on a comment from a reader.  Thanks Sean!!
• If you are ever in Granada, make a stop at Crater´s Edge resort.  Most comfortable we have been on the entire trip.
• The beach in San Juan Del Sur proper is very pretty, but pretty much sucks.
• We finally figured out where everyone goes.  Maderas beach (just took the shuttle from Casa Oro).  Maderas was amazing.  Huge cliffs, clear water, fun waves, and lots of surfers (of all skill levels) to watch.   We went to the beach 2 days in a row.
• we slept like crap the last 2 nights in San Juan Del Sur.  we learned our lesson in staying for cheap next to a bar.  The first night was ok, but the 2nd they had a loud metal band playing and last night a poker tourney that sounded like Armageddon.  I swear there were 40 surfer guys singing Bob Marley at the top of their lungs for like an hour.
• We still can´t upload pictures.  The computer I am on now is locked in a huge Military grade cage, so I can´t plug in the USB reader.  More to come, I promise
• We are picking up Willits, Julia, and Travis at the airport tomorrow.  Can´t wait guys!!
• Then we are off to La Fortuna and Volcano Arenal for some zip lines, whitewater rafting, hot springs, and maybe a beer or 2…haha

Later

jason

First off, a huge shout out to my friend Jenny @ www.jen-and-steve.com for creating a lovely, new banner for our site. If you don’t see it, just hit refresh. Jenny has offered her services to keep our banner fresh as we travel throughout the world. And if you are in need of a graphic designer, check our her site www.pumpkinjuice.com. She’s amazing!

Today Jason and I woke up at 6 AM and headed to Volcano Mombacho. We paid 190 Cordobas ($1 is about 20 Cordoba) for entry to the park and a ride to the top. At the top we hiked 1.5 kilometers around one of the craters and then stood on a platform for an amazing view of Granada, Lake Nicaragua, Laguna de Apoyo, and Volcano Masaya.

We decided to do the Canopy Tour on the way back down the mountain. It was only $28 for 16 zip lines, and Jason had never done one, so we went for it. It was awesome! However, the guides kept insisting we give them our camera and we kept insisting on taking our own. I finally agreed to let him take a picture of Jason and together on a bridge near the end of the trip - and the guy took off with our camera. He kept saying he was going to take a video of us at the end and I told him about 9 times, very forcefully, to give me back the camera. He didn’t. We did however get the camera back with some videos, but the guys lost their tip for being such jerks about taking our camera. We are a little over protective, but I think we have the right to be. The afternoon ended on a high note when we spotted about 7 howler monkeys in the trees above.

We are heading to Laguna Apoyo tomorrow, hopefully to stay a night if we can get a room. Then it’s off to the beach and some surf lessons!