Free falling

Hello all!

First, we are safe from any tsunamis that may or may not have hit Costa Rica. We went to a view point where we could see the Pacific Ocean and we didn´t see anything coming, so we figured we were safe. Very scientific of us, eh?

Yesterday we got up early and went ziplining through the cloud forest in Monteverde. Having never done it before, I was slightly terrified, wondering how I let Shaun bamboozle me into agreeing to being trussed up like a turkey and sent speeding down a thin wire tied between two trees. It´s just like when he bamboozled me into scootering around Roatan with him. In the end I did all the lines, didn´t get stuck halfway and only almost took out one guy once. I even did the superman line where you go ¨laying down¨ instead of sitting. The worst (maybe best?) was the tarzan swing. The entire trip Marianne (our group leader) had been talking up the tarzan swing. "Oh I love it, it´s the best" for two weeks. So we get to this swing, and literally all you can see is half a suspension bridge over a.... jungle canyon. The first person to go out? A 73 year old woman who was apparently not afraid to die. They sort of hook her to two ropes and then she jumps. And then nothing. She just jumped off a bridge. That´s when Marianne was like... yeah I hate this, see you at the bottom and took off. So here we are, one by one, jumping off the bridge, some with terrified screams and some to terrified to utter a peep (I fell into the second category, in case you were wondering.) Finally, it was just Shaun and I. I decided to go first, so that I wouldn´t back out. I took a deep breath and walked as confidently as I could to the end of the bridge. "Just don´t look down." I was about 40 meters in the air in a clearing. There was no padding, just... rocks. They had graciously cleared away some trees. They hooked me onto two ropes, put the ropes in my hand. At this point, I looked at one of the guys and told him I thought I was crazy. He agreed with me. Then he opened the gate. You´re just supposed to fall off of the bridge. I jumped. I free fell for what felt like an eternity, but was no longer than maybe a second or two before the ropes caught me and I was swinging like Tarzan. One of the members of group has a video of Shaun doing the jump after me. We´ll try to get a copy of it and post it somewhere. Shaun laughs when he´s terrified. When he got to the bottom he told me that he seriously considered backing out after he watched me jump off the bridge.

We also ate some cheese (Monteverde is famous for its beef and dairy products), visited a butterfly and frog emporium (there´s a picture on the flickr website...www.shaunmcgregor.ca) and drank some coffee. Some really good coffee.

Tomorrow we are going on a safari wildlife float down a river and to the hotsprings. These hotsprings put Canadian hotsprings to shame. There are waterslides.

Ciao!
Sirina

P.S. Shaun doesn´t want to write anything. He says he´s good.

Phew!

Hello!!!

We are currently in Granada, Nicarauga and have much to report. After leaving Copan we realized that Shaun had left the beautiful G11 Canon camera in the hotel. Thus we spent much of our free time on Roatan (gorgeous island in the middle of the Carribean) trying figure out how to get it back. Luckily we figured it out and soon the camera will be on its way via DHL back to Edmonton. That left us without a camera though. Luckily we managed to procure another decent camera, though not nearly as nice as the G11.

Roatan was beautiful. On our first full day on the island we went to the beach and despite many applications of SPF 45 sunblock both still got sunburned. Our plan was to snorkel on the second day, but given the severity of the burns we decided not to risk it and rented a scooter instead (like a vespa type motor bike). Turns out to be the best $35 dollars Shaun ever spent. I´m pretty sure we have to buy one when we get home. This was nice because we got to see the rest of the island and get away from the cruise shippers that had overrun our town. We also went for dinner at a Garifuna lady´s house. The best chicken we´ve ever eaten. Holy. She´d make a kiling if she offered cooking lessons the next day. I´d pay a small fortune to learn how to make that chicken. But we did learn how to make some delicious Guatemalan food while we were in Antigua, some of you may get to taste some.

After two long travel days (and one death defying cab ride in Tegucigalpa... video is forthcoming) we finally arrived in Granada. Today we went to a cigar factory where we each go to roll a cigar and we visited La Merced church. Tonight we´ll wander down to the lake and tomorrow is an adventure up the Masaya Volcano. Then we´re off to Ometepe. Which is being considered for inclusion on the list of the 7 great natural wonders of the world. Hopefully the scorpions don´t get us.

Sirina

I can´t beleive I left a camera in a hotel room...

-Shaun

Sirina Got Attacked by a Snake Today

So, turns out because we are taking pictures in RAW (google it) we are unable to see what photos we have taken at this fine internet establishment and cannot upload them for you folks to see.

HOWEVER, we can tell you that while at the Ruins of Copan in Honduras today Sirina was walking down a path behind me when she screamed and put me in the path of danger. Turns out a large constrictor type snake was sunning itself in the grass beside the path and Sirina disturbed its rest. It was coiled and it had it head lifted and was hissing very loudly and angrily at Sirina. I then told her to take a picture (which she did) and the snake retreated to the safety of the jungle. I thought it was a neat experience but she keeps saying she is going to have nightmares.

Anyway until next time.

-Shaun

Okay folks, he does not adequately capture the fear one feels when confronted with a large hissing constrictor. Yes I screamed and yes I used him as a human shield to protect me from the snake but like any photographer worth their salt, I did take a picture of it, and a pretty damned good one at that. But seriously, that was an instinctual reaction. I didn´t even conciously register what it was I was getting away from until after I had used Shaun as a shield.

We´re headed to Roatan tomorrow, where we will spend 2 full days. We will make time to write some longer posts about the CoED trip (even if there are no pictures) but suffice to say that it was a life changing experience that ended with us crying with a 14 year old Guatemalan student in a pizza joint in Antigua, Guatemala.

That´s all for now!

Sirina

We are in Guatemala

Using the fine Central American internet we are updating this webblog before driving to Lake Atitlan. We met the co-ed group yesterday and they seem like a fine bunch of people. I´m going to be brief as we have a limited amount of internets but I´m having quite a bit of fun here and I´m very happy the words "I trust you implicitly" came out of my mouth one day in July.

-Shaun

It´s Sirina. Guatemala is a very neat place. Yesterday we went with the group to La Labor School on the outskirts of the city to see the school where Co-ed had its first textbook program. The impact has been amazing. We spent some time with the kids, reading (them in English, us in Spanish) and watching their mini-soccer tournament. Today we are off to Santiago and Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. All in all, lots of fun. Pictures when we have more internets.

Sirina

P.S. I already have a funny shaped sunburn.

It is 2:48 AM

We are just getting ready to leave.  Doing the last few chores to save the house from developing a funk while we are gone and saying good-bye to hot showers and dry skin.

Here we go!

Almost Time

Goto http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaunmcgregor/5342276096/ to
see which money belongs to which country.

We are leaving on Monday the 21st of February.  I'm just getting this setup now, but hopefully  while in Central America I'll be able to upload photos and do some blogging.

If you are wondering where I'm going check this and this out.

Also pictured above is some of the money we are taking goto http://www.shaunmcgregor.ca to see my Flickr feed where all the photos will be posted.

-Shaun