Our Vietnam photos are up (the few we took). We are off to North Sulawesi, Indonesia for some diving before we head home and call it a year!

A year has past since Kahlia & I got married at Kapalai. On this, our paper anniversary, my mum & Shane Boeson got married. The ceremony was brief yet fun. Mum arrived first, with long time friend Fran Shirley as her bridesmaid. Shane arrived untraditionally second with his best man John Dawson in a rickshaw, dressed in tails and pith helmet. The week was a resounding success with the only difficulty being a large restriction in the allowed number of people on Sipidan per day. We overcome this to get everyone out there for at least 2 snorkelling trips.

A quick set of photos are here. (We will sort the mass of photos eventually and put up a proper album)

Kahlia had us bus 18 hours across Honduras and Guatemala so we could volunteer a week at an Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation project, ARCAS. Whilst a lot more work than the turtle project we did, ARCAS provides a much more interactive environment with the animals. Our primary jobs being to feed them, wash and clean their cages or enclosures.

If you can commit to longer (and your female or they are desperate) you could be a monkey mother. Which means you carry and feed the babies all day, and if you get the Howler monkeys you also get to play with them! (They die with out contact).

We were responsible for feeding and cleaning the parrot cages for the first half of our stay. The job is pretty repetitive, but the parrots make it interesting. Volunteers work in quarantine were new animals are put indefinitely to learn to socialise and become less dependant on human contact. Some of the parrots have bee abused at the hands of humans and some are just angry at being ignored. So being in the cage you always have to be on the look out for rogue birds. In one instance my wedding ring being the only reason I still have a finger!

Our other problem in the parrot cages was Toucan Sam (above). It turns out Toucans are carnivores and territorial. If we didn’t feed it first or do what it wanted it would follow us around tapping us on the head and making noises like the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park. At the end of the week we were put on adult Howler Monkeys. They left us entirely alone, so the job was easier but less fun.

The place is full of Tarantulas, snakes and scorpions (which we think is cool), as well as biting insects. On the last night I had my first ever allergic reaction. Whether it was insects or wearing the same clothes for a week and being covered in animal germs, I broke out in hives everywhere! Kahlia was skeptical initially (I can be a little hypochondriac, apparently) but when I couldn’t handle it anymore we turned on the lights, uh oh. Luckily Kahlia was carrying anti-allergics… for horses it seems, I couldn’t feel my tongue for hours.

ARACAS is really cool if you like animals and don’t mind being dirty (ie them crapping on you). Besides Monkeys and Parrots they have cats (Jaguar, Ocelots, Margay’s), pigs, Micoleon (a cute possum thing), crocs and other random jungle animals.

Photos are here.

Again we raced through Honduras, stopping in the Bay Islands for a dive and Copan Ruinas for some … er … ruins. So we can’t really lay claim to knowing Honduras well. Here are our pics.

Nicaragua was, unfortunately, no more than a blur in the rear view. In our rush to see the few big things on our list in the remaining time we skipped through Nicaragua far too quickly. It seems like a place where adventures can be had and for cheap! We met some awesome locals our age who we hung out with at Ometepe and Granada which always adds to the experience of a country.

Our meager photos are here.

Costa Rica was a fabulous stop after Costa Rica. It is a mini-America, consumerism galore, easy easy travelling and plenty of natural beauty. We had a great time at the parks and the beaches, but it  eats into your budget. Costa Rica has moved more into the mid-range travel category, but it provides some amazing sights for people who aren’t as interested in roughing it or going to countries where it is more of a challenge to get around. It’s also a great place to get your feet wet in Central America before moving on.

Like always, photos are here.

Cuba was a truly interesting and challenging experience, however we were eager to move on when the time came. Our aim was to see Fidel’s Cuba before it changed forever.

A glimpse into the daily workings of one of the most successful modern day socialist countries was really interesting and a big part of what we came to see. Whilst the system doesn’t seem to be working, most everyone is equally poor and the variety that capitalism appears to breed is sorely lacking (my personal opinions of my observations), what they have achieved in their isolation is remarkable.  The self-sufficiency of the nation is amazing. Whilst a lot of the infrastructure are nationalised assets from the revolution they manage to maintain them in some semblance  of working order and provide a limited taste to the population of the everyday products we use in the west. All in the face of the current world super power. My Australian nature applauds the underdog in this situation for their tenacity to survive, their way.

The socialist fabric is starting to visibly fray however. There is a rich/poor divide readily visible already in Cuba surrounding the tourist areas. The two tier currency system means that any one in contact with tourists is able to earn multiples more than their fellow citizens. They can then spend this tourist currency at tourist shops gaining access to a wide variety of products that the rest of Cuba can’t afford.

Having better Spanish would have meant that we could have gained a much greater insight into the real workings of modern day Cuba. With or without Spanish, Casa’s are an essential way to experience Cuba. They can also make or break your stay. We have a very fast and loose travel style which got us into trouble in Cuba (especially because it was super high season). My opinion would be two weeks is plenty and plan those two weeks. Get Casa recommendations and book them in advance (not that booking always means anything).

The Casa’s in the smaller towns will also dictate your diet, get a bad cook and you’ll be paying more for less in state run restaurants or if your luckier a Paladar. We had some lovely food at our Casa’s, but in general food is average and variety is really limited. The little snack stalls seems to sell very fatty, fast food like deep fried chicken or little pizzas.

If you speak Spanish, like to Salsa/Rumba or are a history and culture buff then Cuba will be your bag. There are churches, museums and relics galore in Cuba. Unfortunately the natural landscape doesn’t come close to it’s neighbouring countries and so outdoorsy people like us were left feeling that 4 weeks was two too many.

Photos are here.

 

Matt graciously hosted us for 2 weeks as we didn’t bother pre-booking flights. Being peak period they were all full for another week. There are definitely worse places to be stuck! Matt had a busy week at work and we spent our time around the pool and at the beach. Cayman is not as pretty as some of her Caribbean sisters but it has the infrastructure and jobs to make it a great place to live and work for awhile. Tax free helps! as does weekends filled with surfing, diving and boating. Photos are here.

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Seattle was a blast. The outdoorsy vibe, cool bars, Rogue (a dog) and Kahlia’s old friends gave us a great stay. A big thank you to everyone who took us around and hosted us. Dan & Amy, Katie, Alyssa, Shawn Nikki & Rogue, Corrinda & her mum , Linnea, Jason, Ashley you guys made our stay.

Our last few days were with Shawn & Nikki who we talked into coming to Kapalai in November! With them we hit up the Solstice Parade. An excuse to close off town and watch people parade down the street in various stages of undress celebrating summer (with weather like theirs the summer is a big deal). Celebrated Katies birthday, Raw Food Style, and took Rogue for one last walk to the dog park.

Our last day was spent satisfying my cravings at the Wing Dome and watching Corrinda eat. Before Linnea had left she had bet Corrinda that Corrinda couldn’t eat 35 wings. The stakes were set and a week later 2 hours of chicken wing debauchery ensued. Corrinda painstakingly ate the 35 wings to thunderous applause from the crowd (us and the waitress) and one the new nickname “Majesty”.

Photos are here.

We finally have got a selection of our wedding photos online!
It only took 6 months

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Chambills/Wedding