Canoeing!

Lex
Today we got up really early at 5 am to go and see canoe racing. It was the start of a four day race from San Ignacio to Belize City called The Ruta Maya. There were three men or women in a canoe. When the race started five canoes tipped and they kept on tipping. When the last team finally started to paddle everyone cheered and clapped. There were TV crews and radio hosts everywhere and a band played on drums.

After that we drove to Barton Creek Cave for our own canoeing trip. I got in a canoe with Dad and Elmer from the hotel. We had to manoeuvre the canoes through a tight opening to get into the cave.

When we entered I was surprised because the air was warmer than I expected but the water was freezing. We stopped and talked for five minutes while our eyes adjusted. The cave was used by Mayans for ceremonies that helped their dead get to the underworld quicker. As we paddled the guide used her flashlight to point out skulls and pots resting in ledges, untouched for thousands of years. Along the way we encountered stalactites, about 70.5 m from the roof towards the water.they were so close to the water that we had to duck down as far as we could go. It was pretty scary. We had to dodge in and out trying not to break our necks. It was like being in a maze. It was also scary when the torch died and it was really dark. This is us with Dora our guide.

Selva Negra

Lex

Wednesday
Today we left the pyramid shaped Crowne Plaza in Managua. Before we left we went swimming.It was really cold so it was nice with the hot humid air. Oscar made little paper boats that actually floated.
After that we drove up to the mountains where it was really cold. We were squashed in a tiny car for three hours. We didn't even have room for our legs. We had to cross them.
When we arrived we headed straight for the huge playground and bizarrely we met some friends from Laguna de Apoyo.
Our cabin,a two bedroomed bungalow, was nice but absolutely freezing. We had to ask for more blankets and wear our fleeces in bed. The cabin was all on its own in the trees and had a great view from the porch.

Thursday
Today we went to the restaurant for breakfast. It was the worst one so far. The pancakes tasted of lemon and the rest was really horrible too. What a rip off!
After breakfast we went on a farm tour which included a coffee factory, animals, worms and vegetables. We walked around the coffee factory talking about the process. Picking, shelling,roasting and shipping.
After lunch we went for a steep hike and I loved it because it was like doing rock climbing. We had to use roots for handholds. It was even harder on the way down but we did it! In my opinion that was the best hike we've done. This is a photo of mum and the monkey poo that hit her!

Friday
After a day in Matalgalpa we came back to Selva Negra for a night hike. We saw birds and smelt wild pigs. When we were walking we heard things rustling in the bushes. I was a bit spooked. When we were returning I saw an owl about 4 metres away on an electric cable. It was making really loud screeching noises. Seeing a wild owl so close really made my day.

Saturday
Today we set out to find a geocache. Unfortunately we didn't find it. It was hidden inside a ruined house that had crumbled everywhere. The hint was 'near the crumbled wall' but they were everywhere and we had to give up. We've only got wifi and couldn't get close enough to be accurate. Then we went on another hike. We hiked up the Mosquita trail and came down Helen and Peters trail. There was a great mirador at the top and we had to walk for hours.
These of the roots of a strangler fig. It was huge.

The Mariposa Spanish School

Lunes Oscar
Today we had our first Spanish lessons. My teacher was really nice. She took us into town to get some Chips Ahoy. The shop was tiny and there was not much to buy.
In the afternoon we went to a cooking class. The lady dumped loads of dough onto a table and we had to knead it. Se poured in lots of melted butter. Then we all had to help roll sausage shapes. It reminded me of playing with Playdoh. We made hundreds and then had to turn them into circles like doughnuts.
Then we made empanadas. We had to make flat circles about 8 cm across then dollop some cheese and sugar in. It was a really strange combination but it was delicious when hot. Then we had to fold it to make a parcel and then use cling film to mould it into triangles. I made sausage roll shapes instead.
We put them all in large trays and then took them to an outside oven. It was really hot and made of fire.
When they came out we ate some and them took some back to school in bag.

Martes Oscar

Today was the best Spanish lesson ever. We played cards. It was fun. Then we went to the Vulcan Masaya. We looked around the visitor centre. I could see the volcano. When we got to the crater my throat hurt because there were poisonous gases floating around. Then we hiked to the old crater to watch the sun set.
After that we went into a lava tube. We had a torch and helmet. There were bats flying all around! i was a bit scared especially when they turned all the lights off and you couldntvtell if your eyes were open or closed.
Finally we looked into the top of the volcano. We had to put a fleece over our faces to protect ourselves from the fumes. We saw the glow of the red hot lava.


Miercoles Lex
Today we had Spanish lessons as usual but played hide and seek (Escondido). We also fed the monkeys. We accidentally made them really aggressive and they pulled Oscar's hair.

Jueves
Lex
Today we went on a trip to see handicrafts being made. The first place we went to was the basket weavers. When we arrived there was bamboo everywhere. I realised it was the basket material. One man was cutting the wood into strips but he was cutting towards himself so we all thought he was going to cut himself.fortunately he didn't. The second man wasn't so lucky. He was weaving the bamboo and cut himself. Between the three men that make 8 baskets a day and each one they hope to sell for 2 dollars.
Next we went to a potters workshop. We had a little talk about clay and watched a demonstration of how to use the potters wheel. Me and Oscar were eager to have a go. I was first. It was much harder than I expected because you had to spin the wheel AND shape the pot.
Finally we visited a stone carver. He made statues like the ones on Easter Island in Chile.

Viernes
Lex
Today after lessons we went to the zoo. I took my wildlife guide and I spotted half of the animals on it. There were macaws,ottery things,wolves, toucans,mammals,big cats, and more.They were all in tiny cages compared to their size. It surprised me that lizards seem to have bigger padlocks than the lions and both were smaller than the lock on my suitcase.They had three lions in a cage the size of a modern bedroom. There were also boys trying to feed rubbish to the monkeys despite a sign that said they could die. Around the corner I saw three owls that reminded me of the mariachi band of owls in the film " Rango". The event I remember the most from the zoo was the encounter with the tapirs. They were trying to get them to mate but the female just kept running away. Some men were chasing them in circles and had to dive to keep out of the way. It was really funny.



Sabado
Oscar
We went to Jinotepe on a minibus. There were 26 of us inside. Mum had no room for her head and I had to sit on a lady's lap. The market was crazy and I didn't really like it. We found a pizza restaurant though and the pizza was delicious. After we played in a park on concrete slides.

Domingo
Oscar
After breakfast we went on a hike. We saw thousands of pineapples and also ate some. In the afternoon we went horse riding and my horse dragged me through a bush.

Volcano!

The Ring of Fire not only produces many earthquakes but also volcanoes. We have been lucky enough to many different ones during the trip. A summary.

1. Poas, Costa Rica.
We walked to the top of this volcano. Unfortunately it was covered in cloud and we couldn't see the crater lake even though we were metres from it. The lake is really acidic . It has a pH of 0! It bubbles gases though little geysers all the time.

2. Arenal , Costa Rica.
This is a cone shaped, young volcano. It is less than 7500 years old. In 1968 it destroyed a whole town. Up until 2010 it was one of the worlds most active volcanoes but has since quietened down.
We walked up to the old lava flow. It was really hard to walk on and most of it was pumice. We walked up to a sign that said, " Danger of death . Do not pass! "

3. Turrialba, Costa Rica.
This volcano was close to Finca la Flor. When we were weeding we looked up and saw steam and smoke coming out of the top. The gases are carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrochloric acid. It last erupted in 1866.

4. Ometepe Island, Nicaragua .
The island is made up of two volcanoes , Maderas and Concepcion.
Concepcion is a stratovolcano. It's cone is almost symmetrical. It rises1610 m above sea level. It last erupted in 2007 with lots of ash deposits. It is still really active and spits out ash and smoke clouds all the time.

We first got a glimpse of Concepcion from the ferry and it looked like it was rising out of the lake. It was huge and a perfect volcano shape. We were really scared when we found out it was still active. We actually drove along the volcano evacuation route that would take us to the other part of the island ( a dormant volcano) to safety.

5. Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua.
This is a 200 m deep, 20,000 year old crater lake. We swam in this and it was quite warm because there are still hot gases bubbling up. It is supposed to have healing properties. We hiked uphill from our lodge to a mirador on the rim of the crater. Then we really could see that we were inside a volcano. The water looked really clear and blue. We were surprised that the lake had waves.

Kayaking in the crater lake.

6. Masaya , Nicaragua.
Masaya is a shield volcano. It was Nicaragua's first and largest National Park. It has lots of calderas and craters. The sides are covered in AA lava. Sulphur dioxide is emitted continuously from this volcano.

This was the best volcano ever! After looking round the visitor centre we were transported to the rim of the crater. We could see deep into the crater but we could only stay for 5 minutes because the poisonous gases made it hard to breathe. Any longer they would have got into our lungs. We hiked up higher and saw gas and smoke plumes all over the landscape. We watched the sun setting over the volcano.
Next we walked into a lava tube. We braved the bats as we entered. The tube was formed by flowing lava. As the lava hit the air the top cooled but the inner part kept moving. This created a tunnel hundreds of feet long big enough to stand inside. There was bat poo everywhere.
Now it was really dark and time for my favourite part. We drove to another part of the crater rim,as close as we could to the crater and had to wait in the bus with the windows closed. At the signal we had to run out using our jumpers as gas masks and had to look down into the heart of the crater. It was glowing red. We could actually see the red hot lava. It was fantastico!

Interesting volcano facts.

There are two types of volcano; explosive ( ash explodes into the air) and effusive ( the lava kind).
There are three main volcano shapes; cinder cone,shield and strato volcanoes.
Pumice is a volcanic rock. It floats and is used al over the world to scrub feet!
There are 1500 active volcanoes in the world. Most of them are in Central America.
Volcanoes are born, grow old, then die.
The planet Mars has the tallest volcano.
If a volcano erupts you should stay inside so the ash does not overwhelm you.
Volcanoes are named after Vulcan , the roman god of fire.
The loudest sound ever recorded was from a volcano.
Inside the volcano the hot red liquid is called magma. When it reaches the surface it becomes lava.

Technical terms.
Caldera - a cauldron like feature due to the collapse of the cone.
Aa lava - stony rough lava that blazed when it was hot.

Earthquake!

Lex

At first I thought the wall had been hit by a truck then realised that we were two floors up so that couldn't be true. Then the bed moved forward then backwards and the headboard slammed into the wall angrily. The time was 7:00pm and we had just experienced our first earthquake.

We jumped up and ran out to the balcony to see what had happened. The pool guy Randall was already on his phone to find out details. He told us in Spanish that it had been a ' terremoto' (earthquake). We shouted the news to all the other inhabitants of the apartments. He told us that if it was stronger later we had to go and wait in the street. I started to shake and had to lie down to stop myself going into shock. I felt sick and panicky. I packed my bag and laid out clothes in case of emergency. I survived the night.

The second earthquake felt slightly different. It was a bit bigger 4.3 on the Richter scale , the other was 3.7. We were in the apartment when the chairs started to move and the windows seemed to wobble in their frames.

The third and fourth earthquakes did not phase us at all!

Fact File

Did you know some of these facts?

80% of all earthquakes occur round the ring of fire .

The ring of fire is around the rim of the pacific coast.

Costa Rica is on the ring of fire .

Each earthquake is given a number depending on its strength and duration .
3-5minor.
5-7moderate.
7-8major.
8 or more is great.
To measure these geologists use a seismometer and it is also called The Richter Scale.

The biggest earthquake ever recorded was in Chile in 1960 it was 9.5.

The earths upper layer is made up of giant rock slabs called tectonic plates.

An earthquake happens when plates pull apart or collide.

Tsunami are huge waves caused by earth quakes or volcanoes at sea.

The epicentre of an earthquake is the point on the surface directly above the origin of the rocks below.

Tortugero National Park

Oscar and Lex

After an arduous journey involving buses, flooded rivers, and boats we arrived in Tortugero National Park. Translated this means " region of turtles". It is located on the north eastern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and we were staying at Laguna Lodge.

On our first evening we walked along the beach dragging driftwood to create fake snake trails. We paddled in the water that was absolutely freezing. The waves crashed against the shore and we could hear them all night from our cabin. We arrived in Tortugero town and wandered along Main Street ( the only street) looking at the different styles of buildings. We bought a fresh green coconut from a man with a machete who chopped the top off it and we drank it with a straw. It did not taste as we thought it would. It did not taste very coconutty at all. Then we scooped out the flesh that was a bit rubbery and very wet not like the dry coconuts at home.

Tortugero national park was established in 1959 to help the endangered turtle species survive. The locals had been killing the turtles and harvesting their eggs for food. This region is the main nesting area for both leatherback and green turtles. The turtles crawl up the beach desperately grabbing the sand to find a place to lay their eggs. They dig a hole with their flippers in the driest sand near the trees and lay their eggs. The eggs are covered up with sand and left to their own devices. The mother heads back to the ocean, never looking back. The holes in the sand were enormous like mini volcanic craters. The eggs take approximately 60 days to hatch. The babies use a special egg tooth called a 'caruncle' to break themselves free from the prison of their egg. As a group during the night or a rainstorm they climb out and head as fast as they can to the ocean.

Our guide told us that despite being the end of the season there were still eggs hatching. We immediately left the village in the dark and headed out along the beach again turtle hunting. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see any turtles but had the best experience walking along the moonlit beach.

We found out that only 1 in 1000 baby turtles survive to adulthood. The obstacles to survival include natural disasters such as shark and seagull attacks, but also the turtles are eating human waste such as plastic and tar balls. Please stop throwing rubbish into the sea and help save the turtles.

To find out more about sea turtles....
http://www.conserveturtles.org/

Ecoglide

Lex
Today we went on an exciting tour in the canopy of the rainforest in Costa Rica. We went zip lining with Ecoglide. I was a bit scared when the guide started putting safety harnesses and a helmet on. There were 13 wires, one Tarzan swing and 15 platforms.One of the wires was 400 m long. There were two parts to the course. The experience was brilliant, fantastic,fabulous and one of the best things this week...actually in my life! The wires went zip when we went down them and the vibrations were like a generator.

Top tip...if you ever do this the heavier you are the higher you go on the Tarzan swing.

Oscar
I felt nervous and scared then proud and happy.

Thank you to Ecoglide for a safe and brilliant experience.

http://www.anywherecostarica.com/destinations/arenal-costa-rica/tours/ecoglide-canopy-tour

White Water Rafting Adventure.

Oscar and Lex

We jumped out of the bus as we parked. When we put our helmets on I was wondering what they were for. There were three rafts and the red raft was ours. They were inflatable not wood, bumpy and soft. We wedged our foot in the side. Our family was the first to start and we were surprised when the we looked at the bottom of the raft and it wasn't sealed up. There were holes in it and when we went over a bump all the water rushed in.

The guide told us to paddle then stop in Spanish. Adelante and alto.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boqueteoutdooradventures/8286757174/

It's called white water rafting because when the water goes over the rocks it makes bubbles like a jacuzzi. I felt a bit scared when we went over our first rapid. (Oscar) Soon I was jumping off rocks though! It was much more fun than a roller coaster ride.

Along the way we saw a snake,sloth,monkey,vultures and a kingfisher.

When we stopped for lunch me and dad (Lex) floated down the river on our backs . It hurt our bottoms when we went over rocks. When we came out of the water the rocks were so hot on my feet I felt that I was walking on hot coals on a game show.

I (Oscar) made a sandcastle. It was smooth around the edges and the rocks were boiling.

When we landed on the shore and had some sodas me (Lex) and Dad went into the bushes and tried to pull some berries out of a tree. I didn't realise it was an ants nest until the ants were swarming all over my hand and biting me. I looked at my arm and it was like a scene from a scary horror movie.

Thanks to Boquete Outdoor Adventures for a fantastic day out.

Living in Boquete

Lex

Good morning to all you folks around the world. I'm here to tell you about what we have been doing in Boquete.

After a short hop on a plane from Panama City to David our taxi dropped us off at the host family's house. It appeared to be the biggest house in the street. The others were run down, patched up,leaking and they reminded me of Charlie Buckets house in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They had a porch full of wind chimes and rocking chairs that looked like my grandad's old people's home. The family were a bit lacking in enthusiasm except my mate Alberto. He's 13 and lives here. There are people coming and going here all the time and a week later I'm still not sure who actually lives here!

Let me describe the house. Well the bathroom ! Here we go! First the toilet, they have a rule that you cannot put any paper in the toilet. It's really hard to remember after a number 2! Mum has had to fish out quite a bit of forgotten paper. The shower is also a bit crazy because the water seems straight from a glacier. It's freezing! Abuela thinks hot water is bad for the bones!

Abuela cooks breakfast and dinner for us. We usually have egg something for breakfast with the most delicious juice. One morning though abuela thought we needed vitamins and we had a rice nutrient drink that I didn't really like. I felt like I was a contestant from 'I'm a celebrity ' and struggled to keep it down.
For dinner we usually have rice, beans and unidentifiable meat of some kind. One day as a treat we had McDonald's style sandwiches . They tasted exactly the same as a Big Mac. Incredible!

The noise in the house is driving me mad! Aaahhh! The dogs bark continuously day and night, the cockerels crow in stereo constantly from every house and the TV blares rubbish all day long.

This photo of us is was taken outside the shop where we wait for a taxi in the morning although today we had to take a 15 seater bus but there were more like 30 people on it! School starts at 8 but its only until 10 . Me and Oscar have our own teacher called Mitzilla. The lessons have been fun and we have learnt a lot of Spanish eg. the days of the week , the colours and occupations.

When we were at school we met a family from Texas and enjoyed playing chess and chase after classes.

It's now the end of the week and school is out! Do I hear the cockerel crowing ha ha ha

Hot Springs!

Oscar

Today I went to Spanish school. We learnt the days of the week and months of the year. After that we had a picnic with strawberries, grapes,Oreos and Pringles.

We climbed into the bus and a guide drove us away. The first thing he did was run out of petrol! We stopped to have a swim in a river with big fish. It was hot and we jumped off the rocks. There was a horse having a bath in the water. All the boys were throwing oranges at the girls.

Then we drove off to the hot springs. It was 40 degrees Celsius and smelt like rotten eggs. The pool was heated by volcanic heat. There were bubbles in the pool like a jacuzzi and we were a bit scared in case they were biting creatures. Afterwards we had to jump in the river to cool ourselves down.I covered myself in mud and threw some at Lex. There was a monkey that liked children. He was wild but was treated like a pet. The guide draped it round his neck.

We had a brilliant day out.

The Panama Canal

Fact file: The Panama Canal

The first ship went through the canal in 1914.

The canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The average cost for a ship to travel through the canal is $100,000.

The most expensive passage was $419,000.

The canal cuts off thousands of miles for ships.

The canal drops 85 feet on total.

There are three sets of locks. Miraflores, Gatun and Pedro Miguel

Richard Halliburton swum the canal in 1926.

The photos show the gates closing and the water draining out to the next level.