November 16, 2006

Hello from Belize. We have now left Mexico with some sadness in our hearts. After spending nearly two and a half months in a country that certainly grows on you. We have promised each other that we will return one day to visit the places we loved, and visit the ones that we just couldn’t get to this time. Mexico has been a great country to start with on our journey. We will always have the best memories from there.

Our entry into Belize was smooth, except that we were only given 5 days visitors permission for ourselves and just 3 days for the bikes. Go figure that!! We asked for more but were told that we would have to apply in one of the cities in Belize if we wanted to stay longer. Anyone that we have told this to has just shaken their heads at this. We will decide later if we want to stay longer or not.

We weren’t any longer than an hour into Belize stopped at a gas station and a Canadian Mennonite fellow stopped to talk to us. He spotted the Alberta license plate, which is where he was also from. It turns out that he is here in Belize on a two year mission with the church with his wife and two daughters. Gerry and Dawn live in Linden Alberta which is just 100 kms south east of Red Deer. To make this even more interesting, Kelly and I have visited Linden for years to eat at a restaurant by the name of Country Cousins. This is a restaurant that serves Mennonite food. My father was raised Mennonite so I have loved this food all my life. It turns out that Gerry’s grandfather is the owner of the Country Cousins restaurant that we have visited for all of our married life. It truly is a small world!! We had the pleasure of visiting Gerry and Dawn in their home here in Orange Walk Belize. We are certainly going to look them up when we return to Canada. (Not to mention that we will certainly go to the Country Cousins restaurant for a good feed of Mennonite food)

Today November 16, we spent the day on a tour of the ruins called Lamanai. We had to take a boat trip down the New River about 35 miles. Our tour guide was a very knowledgeable man, who has lived in Belize all of his life, and has toured people up the New River for the last 17 years. These ruins are the oldest in all of Belize. They date back as far as 1300 years before Christ. The Maya people were certainly intelligent. They were able to construct structures that could last thousands of years. It makes you wonder what has happened to modern man, we have a difficult time building a structure that will last only 200 years. The boat ride was extremely interesting. We bird watched, viewed the jungle and watched intently for the crocodiles that inhabit this river. Howler monkeys are also spotted on a regular basis. Iguanas are also seen on a regular basis too.

I was glad that we didn’t see any of the snakes, or spiders that are also common on the banks of this river. This day was well spent learning about the history of Belize.

Tomorrow we are going to ride onto Guatemala. Kelly is reading about the border crossing, just what is expected for paper work etc. We should make it to Flores Guatemala tomorrow night. We aren’t sure how long it will take us to ride through Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua so we are going to keep moving now. We are starting to count down to seeing the kids. We are at 21 right now!! But who’s counting .. ME!

We will try to post another entry from Central America.

Until then…

Kella

November 18, 2006

The thought of entering the country of Guatemala can conjure many images in your mind. My minds images were of mountains with deep jungles, poor highways and a lot of garbage along the sides of them, like in Mexico. Well I’m glad to report that I was wrong on all of my thoughts, except for the jungles. The highways are actually pretty good pavement with a small shoulder and there is absolutely no garbage to be found in them. The small towns are all built along the highway as they are in Mexico. The large cities are a bustling hub of street vendors and people going about their business. As far as the jungles, yes they are very much a part of the landscape of Guatemala. The vines and trees intertwine so that they all look like the same plant. Some vines grow completely over a tree giving it a ghostly image. As we rode through the mountains towards Guatemala City the views were breath taking of the country side. The mountains rolled on for many kilometers providing us with a fantastic day of riding. We entered the country with no problems, thanks to a money exchanger that also wanted to make a few extra quetzals (dollars). This gentleman was most helpful guiding us through the detailed process of leaving Belize, which we had to pay $ 22.50 American. Then get our passports stamped, and then have the bikes “imported” for a fee of $40.00 quetzals and $10.00 for each of us. After many official stamps and fees paid we were on our way into the country side. The first 20 kms were rough gravel roads. The rains had washed out much of the road in some places. We’re always grateful to have the KLR’s as our bike of choice. They are such forgiving work horses when it comes to the rough roads. Once we hit pavement it was a much smoother ride. We traveled 80 kms to a city called Flores. It was a very busy city with an amazing amount of small motorcycles. The main mode of transportation is certainly motorcycle of 125 cc. There is a ton of Honda’s, Suzuki’s and a bike called a Tornado. Entire families travel throughout the city on just one motorcycle. ( with no helmets either) After studying the map of Central America, and speaking to an awesome couple we met at dinner from Ireland, Maurice and Shivo O’Brien, we decided to find a Spanish School here in Guatemala. So we set off the next morning for the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City. Just west of Guatemala City is a town called Antigua. Our guide book says that this is the place in all of Central America to learn Spanish. We rode for 500 kms today to make it to Antigua in order to enroll for school for Monday. Well, all good plans have a glitch once in a while. We rode too late and didn’t quite make it to Antigua because of it getting too dark and getting lost. So we ended up trying to find a hotel in Guatemala City at 6 p.m. on a Saturday in rush hour traffic. This is not a good situation to be in. We stopped at a gas station to confirm that we were actually on the correct road, as it was, we weren’t. It was getting darker by the minute and the traffic was increasing too. So we took an off ramp and found a McDonald’s restaurant. Not that we were thinking of eating there, it is just a familiar place to pull in to and regroup. We asked a young fellow working at McDonalds for directions to a “good” hotel. He spiels out directions in Spanish at a pace that we weren’t able to even follow. While looking around I noticed a fleet of small motorbikes that are used for takeout delivery from the McDonalds so I asked if the fellow would escort us to the hotel or lead us there to be exact. He laughed and told us to wait 2 minutes. Well not even a minute later he comes running out with a helmet and three other guys all laughing. He jumps on the bike and waves for us to follow him. Great we figure we have an easy route to follow and we’ll be off the road for the night, safe in a “good” hotel. This is like foreshadowing to a good mystery isn’t it!! Well the hotel is a “Automotel”. Yes, you guessed it. A sex motel, which you can rent by the hour or for the entire night. Its location was in a really dark industrial subdivision and he brought us in the back way. We thought it must have been his grandmother or an older aunt running it because she gave him a big hug when he pulled up on the McDonalds bike. The price started out at $150.00 and then it rose to $200.00 after we actually talked to the correct woman running the motel. Needless to say we took in our therma-rest mats and sleeping bags to sleep in on the floor. The mirrors on the ceiling and hung right beside the bed were quite interesting to say the least. There was even a toilet paper dispenser hung beside the bed!! Many of the users must have colds or something?? J Oh, I should mention that we ordered McDonalds from the guy who showed us the motel too. We were not going to venture out in the neighborhood so we just sent him back to McDonalds for a burger for us. He delivered them back in less than twenty minutes!! Service with a smile!!

The "automotel" in Guatemalal City.

November 19, 2006

O.K. I’m sure you are all wondering how the night went!! Well we survived it with only about 2 hours of sleep. The garage doors and door bells didn’t quit ringing all night. The hotel certainly made a good profit for their Saturday night. We were up by 5:30 a.m. and on the road to find our way out of Guatemala City. We had no real problems finding our way once we had day light and much less traffic. We found out this morning that Guatemala City has 4 million people with 65% unemployed not the best place to be after dark!! We are now in Antigua and signed up in a Spanish school for 12 days. We are going to live with a local family in their home. Three meals a day, 5 hours a day of one on one Spanish lessons and a bed to sleep in at night for $62.00 US a day for the two of us. You can’t beat the price. We hopefully will be much more comfortable with our Spanish by the end of our time. For those of you that know how much Kelly enjoyed school, he is a good sport for agreeing to this venture. It will make it easier for both of us in the long run. Border crossing will be a lot easier, and much less anxiety for me.

Well it is off to school for us, we start at 8 a.m. tomorrow. As far as the sleepless night prior, well we were not hurt or harmed in any way so I guess you could say we are no less for the wear. (By the way, the food here in Guatemala is the BEST. It is delicious, so much for loosing weight here either)

We will post again in a few days to let everyone know how the Spanish school is going.

Until then… Kella

November 24, 2006

Just one month until Christmas. We hear the weather in Alberta is pretty cold. We think of all of you often. We miss our families, and friends, but NOT the weather.

This will be a quick posting. School is going awesome. We are learning a lot. The teachers that we both have are very good people. They are easy to talk to as well as very willing to teach us at our pace. Kelly has a man by the name of Luis. He is very funny and loves to laugh a lot. I think they talk in English more than the Spanish. They are having a very good time. My teacher is Lucy. She is very sweet. She has been teaching Spanish for 9 years now. We have a very good visit each day too. The school is located just 5 minutes from our host family’s home. We have our classes outside in the open air classrooms. The first few days were so chilly that we thought that we were in Canada in the fall. The average temperature has been in the low teens in the daytime and as cold as zero at night. The weather is all the people talk about. They are so cold that they think they are in really bad weather. We hear that December gets even colder for them. They are all wearing toques and mittens with heavy wool sweaters. Kelly is still wearing shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt. They tell us it’s because we’re Canadian that we can stand the cold. Little do they know it, but I’m freezing too. Anyone that tells you Spanish is quite easy to learn is just talking out their hat. We started with simple phrases and now have built up to all of the verbs ser,estar,tener, past tense, present tense and the masculine and feminine sides to things. It is a bit easier for me since I did take some Spanish in Canada, but Kelly has his work cut out for him. We are now making flash cards by which we are studying each night. We figure that even if we can recognize words and know what they mean that we will be somewhat ahead of the game. So our evenings are spent “flashing” each other to see who can remember the most words.

The next challenge is to put the words into proper sentences so that we don’t sound like idiots when we try to have a conversation. We have both noticed that we are hearing a lot more words that we recognize in conversations; therefore we understand what is being said better. The whole process has been both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. If it was easy I guess it wouldn’t be worth while would it?

We have booked a hotel via the internet to stay at with our kids, so that is one less task that we have to do. This also allows us some extra time to spend in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. We have been reading intently about the countries so that we know what to do and see when we ride through them.

Well I’m loosing light fast, as its 5 p.m. and the lights in the house are not great for computer work. Just 5 more days of classes and we’re off to El Salvador. We’ll post again soon.

Until then… Kella

p.s. here are some photos of the area that we are in right now. Enjoy!!

This is the clock tower on the main street in Antigua. Kelly and I "shopping" Our street to the host family home.

One of the many entrances into cafes

in Antguia

December 4, 2006

Well it’s been a few days since my last entry and a few miles are under our belt as well. We have ridden through three countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. When I write this I realize just how much we have done in a short period of time. We left Guatemala on November 30 at 1 p.m. We rode as far as we could without going to the border of El Salvador. We knew that we wouldn’t have time left in the day to complete the border crossing and find a place to sleep so we opted to stay in a little village called; Monterrigo Guatemala. In order to actually get to this village we had to load the bikes onto a small barge and be taken up a river to the village. The barge was large enough for a small car or truck. We were the only two vehicles that wanted to go “up the creek” at that time, which was good as the barge looked a little worse for wear. We headed up the small river with our captain by the name of Marco. There was other canoe like boats on the river being propelled by a person with a large pole. With the river as the only access to the village we wondered just how many people would actually be in this village. Our guide book said that there was several small, clean hotels right on the ocean. As we rode off the barge to our surprise the village was setting up a large amount of plastic chairs in the middle of the street for some sort of gathering. We maneuvered our way through the middle of the chairs to a side street where we found a very nice little motel. The motel was just $13.00 for the two of us for the night. Clean, our own bathroom, with a toilet seat and a pool just outside the door and the ocean just across the street. What more could you ask for? After a restful sleep we were up and on our way to tackle the El Salvador border crossing.

Della riding onto the barge

Notice the bottom of the boat!! No nails facing up

We arrived at the border crossing at 9:10 a.m. and after a very frustrating maze of paperwork and shuffling of people from one building to another we finally left the border at 2:15 p.m. 5 hours later, we were able to ride away. It wasn’t that we were being harassed or our lack of Spanish wasn’t a problem. It was so busy with so many people; the line ups were so long that it just took that long. Kelly watched the bikes and I stood in the lines. I’m not sure who had the more difficult job to endure. Kelly was inundated with curious bystanders. He certainly had good practice with his newly acquired Spanish skills. He also had to fend off the beggars and thieves waiting for you to let your guard down. While I practiced my Spanish with the multitude of truck drivers and border officials. The paper work and photo copies that these people deal with are unbelievable. We needed triple photocopies of our passports, bike registration, and our tourist paperwork from Guatemala. Then it’s the looks you being a female in very much a man’s world doing the speaking for us. Some of the officials wanted to know where my esposo was. Once they figured out that we were on two “motos” and he was watching them, the eye brows lowered.

The country of El Salvador is so beautiful it takes your breath away. The mountains are so lush with vegetation from bottom to the top. Village streets are lined with little tiny houses made of tin, mud and clay bricks. Oxen and carts (with wooden wheels) are still very much a part of the transportation system. The more advanced carts have old rubber wheels but are still pulled by two large oxen. The people were so friendly, a wave and a smile were given freely. We rode until dusk, which is about 5 p.m. here. We wanted to get as far into the country as possible so that the next day we could arrive at the Honduras border crossing in decent time. We made a mistake of not giving our selves more time in El Salvador. It is a country that deserves more time. The officials are working very hard to entice people to come and visit the country. It is certainly worth a look at for the future. We stayed in a brand new motel right on the beach at Playa del Sol. The people at the motel were so excited to have people stay from another country. We were the first official tourists to stay at the motel. We were treated like kings.

They were so disappointed that we weren’t going to stay a few days, so were we.

Oxen and cart at El Salvador Border

Kelly enjoying the ride!!

We have had requests to write how many kilometers we ride through each country. Here is the numbers we have so far: Canada: 822 kms US: 3,156 kms Mexico: 10,892 kms Belize: 176 kms Guatemala: 830 kms El Salvador: 427 kms Honduras: 160 kms Nicaragua: 430 kms for a total of 16,526 kms so far. The fuel costs are very similar to Canada. We are spending on average 24.00 to 25.00 dollars to fill up the bikes. The bikes are running really good. Kelly has done two oil changes, two sprockets and both chains have been replaced on each bike so far. We will be looking for tires very soon. Other wise the bikes are really good. We have seen very few other riders, but are hoping to see more in South America.

But, it is onto the Honduras border crossing. We arrived at the border at 9:20 a.m. We were met by a group of young men all wanting to “help” us through the mounds of paperwork and line ups. We had been told that Honduras is the most difficult border to cross. The procedure can take up to 6 hours with the paper work and run around you get from the officials. We decided to hire one of these young men to assist us with the procedure. He told us that if he could get us through in one hour he would charge us, a mere $5.00 US per bike. We said that we didn’t want to do anything illegal. He guaranteed us that he couldn’t do it illegal but just faster. After I followed “Ronnie” around getting all of the photocopies and proper documentation he left us to have the papers stamped and signed by the officials. The entire procedure actually took us only 2.5 hours and we paid Ronnie a little extra for his time. The extra time that he took was actually to get papers for us to pass through the Nicaraguan border a little easier.

We actually had two crossing to do each time we leave and enter a country. We must sign out of one country and sign in to another. The paper work that has to be completed for the bikes to enter each country is really what takes the most time. An interesting note is that through each border, Kelly was never present at any of the documentation signing. They never once asked to see him, it was good enough that I would quickly run out to the bikes, get his signature and reappear a few minutes later. The bikes were only checked twice by officials to make sure the VIN numbers matched the paperwork, and even then only once did a man ask Kelly if it was his bike. Guatemala was the only border that used the bar code on the passports. All of the other countries still do everything by photo copy and typing the information into a ancient computer. Any of the paperwork that we received back was printed on a dot matrix printer or by written out by hand. This can give you a much clearer picture of why it takes so much time to enter or exit these countries. The costs varied as much as the times it took in each line. Honduras was the most money, $ 43.00 US for all of the paperwork and photo copies. El Salvador didn’t cost us anything. In fact in El Salvador the officials really discouraged you from using the men at the crossing for assistance. One fellow even took me aside and said that I was not to pay anyone any money for help. They were proud that it cost nothing to enter or exit their country. It was to be free. The Honduras border was a completely different experience!!

The country of Honduras was also lush with greenery. The roads were not in as good of shape as Guatemala or El Salvador. There was a lot more garbage in the ditches and piles in the streets of the towns and villages. We stayed in the medium sized town called; Choluteca. There was a Christmas festival happening and the entire community was having a party. The fire crackers, and “bombs” didn’t stop going off the entire night. Just when you thought it might be quiet, another bomb would be set off. I should explain what a bomb is. It is a firework with no fire, just noise. They shoot them up into the sky and it sounds like a bomb going off. All you see is a puff of smoke and a big bang. Annoying to say the least, after hearing a minimum of 300 you get pretty tired of the whole deal. So with a great lack of sleep and my cold getting much worse we headed off for the Nicaraguan border. The exit from Honduras was just as much hassle as the entrance, but the entrance into Nicaragua was actually not too bad. I think the man behind the counter didn’t want me breathing or sneezing on him and he pushed the paperwork through a little faster. I guess it helps to look sick and be coughing and sneezing all over the place.

We rode to a city called Granada, which is situated on the largest lake in Nicaragua. It is the “next” Costa Rica. There were so many Americans around buying up land that you would think you’re in the US. There are real estate offices everywhere selling a slice of the future. We spoke to a few people that had been here two years ago and they said that the development has been crazy in the last year. Americans are now selling off their properties in Costa Rica and buying up businesses and homes here in Nicaragua. The prices have risen so much that the local people are not able to afford property here anymore. They still have a ways to go as far as amenities though, both nights we were in Granada the power was out for several hours. The entire town goes without power for several hours at a time. The last night we were without power for 4 hours.

So they have some catching up to do with the utilities before they can really provide all of the comforts. The hostel we stayed in was 180 years old. The building was amazing.

It had been converted into a hostel about ten years ago, before that it was a hacienda owned by a Nicaraguan family. A German fellow bought it and converted it into the hostel it is now. We were able to store our bikes right in the hostel as there is no parking on any street in Granada, they’re far to narrow for that!! (and really not safe)

Well this update brings us up to just a few days before we meet Kane and Nicole in Costa Rica. Kelly and I are counting the hours until we get to spend time with our kids. Our journey has been so interesting so far that we sometimes have to pinch each other just to remember that we are actually living our dream. Central America has been a challenge, interesting and very thought provoking for us. Reading about the history and all of the challenges these people have faced really brings back the reality of just how fortunate we are to live in Canada. The one thing that always stands out for us when we interact with most Central American people are their warm smiles, kindness towards us as tourists, and their pride in their country. We are so glad that we took the challenge and visited each of these countries. We have so many memories and photos we will never forget Central America or the people.

December 17 2006

How do you have the perfect holiday? You meet your wonderful kids in a beautiful country, stay at a nice resort and eat, drink and enjoy every moment that you have with each other. We had the BEST time ever with Kane and Nicole. I would describe it as having the most delicious piece of fruit given to you. You want to eat the entire thing in one sitting but you know that if you eat it slowly you’ll enjoy it longer, so you savor every bite, knowing that at one point it will be gone. Left with only the memories of how good it was. If I could have kidnapped them and taken them with us, I would have.

We did so many fun and exciting things. From the volcano tour at Arenal to the zip lines through the jungle at Monteverte. I have to mention the Tarzan jump. Three out to the four of us actually did it twice!! Bet you can guess which three!! I chickened out after the guide pushed me off the tower the first time. I was just about to say, “ I don’t think”… and he pushed me!!

10 meters high and I screamed all the way!! The kids had a good laugh at me. They certainly had no hesitation when they were asked if they wanted to jump again. The second jump was standing backwards and free falling, way too much fun. We saw howler monkeys with babies and the highlight was the tarantula spider, which one of the park workers had everyone hold. Kane even let it crawl up his neck. Notice the look on Kelly’s face. He wasn’t as excited as the kids to touch the thing. I didn’t even try. Yuck!

Brave, Brave Girl!! Or would you say that Kane is more brave?? NO, Kelly is the "brave" one, just look at this expression!!

Our family Christmas Photo!! Here is Nicole swinging from the Tarzan rope Kelly dropping off backwards, YIKES

Kane on the zip line!! Man could he move!! Ready for the next zip line This was so much fun!! A smile never left our faces!!

Well, Okay, Kane didn't want to leave when we were done

We spent a day boogie boarding and surfing in Tamarindo. Nicole actually got up on the surf board. She has the bruises to prove it. Any part of her body with no meat on it has a bruise. She was tossed and turned upside down so many times that she looked like someone had beaten her up. Kane caught onto the boogie board quickly, and then gave me a lesson on how to catch the wave. Way too much fun!!

Kane and Kelly ready for the boogie boards Nicole waiting for the next big wave!! Kelly giving the surf board a work out, or is it giving him one??

The guys at the hot springs in the jungle The girls enjoying the warm water Everyone enjoying the relaxing setting

Kane showing how big the roots were of this tree!! Someone's paying attention, NOT Nicole!! Getting ready for our rain forest walk!! IT WAS RAINING

This was a grasshopper that was on the wall Here are some photos underwater. Schlumberger Kane blowing bubbles, great shot!!

one morning when Kane walked out of his gave Kelly a beautiful camera when he left work

room at the resort. An US dollar is 6 inches

long. It was REALLY BIG

The resort was really nice. The food was excellent, with lots of it. Kane certainly was able to fill his enormous appetite each meal. What really made the resort as good as it was was the staff. Each and every one of them was more than willing to go the extra mile to make our stay the best. Nicole was even proposed to by the bartender, Freddie. Too bad he didn’t want to live in Canada with the cold weather. J (thank goodness)

One of our goals was to set the next place we want to meet the kids. We have decided that Europe is the place. Which part you ask? We have some ideas but no definite plan as to where, just when. July of 2007. It sounds like such a long time. 6 months to be exact. I promise that I won’t do the count down on the journal until a bit closer to the date. Kane is doing the research as to which countries we will tour together. I think he is swaying towards Germany, Switzerland etc. We will decide in the next few months.Nicole has now decided to start her plans of travel too. She is setting the goal of the summer to be in Europe on her own tour. It will be easy for her to meet up with us.

Kelly’s Mom and Dad have talked about meeting us in Ireland too. Now it’s said hopefully they’ll fly over and we’ll see where Kelly’s family history all started. We have been in touch with our travel friends Ken and Heather. They are still in Panama waiting to fly to Columbia. We will try to meet up with them for Christmas and then head to South America after Christmas.

I have now updated the "photo gallery" All of these photos are from Costa Rica. Enjoy

Until then… Kella

December 22, 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our families and friends!!

We are spending our Christmas in Panama City at the Hotel Montreal.

Ken and Heather Gassman are with us. We are booked to fly to Bogotá Columbia on December 28^th. Our bikes will fly out on the 26^th. South America here we come!!

Kelly will celebrate his 45^th Birthday in Bogotá.

. The border crossing into Panama was the easiest one so far. The immigration was very straight forward and honest. When we rode just 5 kms into the country we were checked by another immigration stop. There we were welcomed to the country by Francisco a Panama Policeman who wanted to practice his English. He was so excited to talk to us we weren’t sure exactly why we were stopped there. He even posed for a photo with us. This was just the introduction to an extremely friendly country.

This was certainly a awesome "Panama Welcome" What a guy!!

The people were so gracious, inviting and willing to help. The Peninsula de Azuero was breath taking. We met Ken and Heather Gassman (our riding friends from British Columbia) in a town called Chitre for a couple of days. We rode from the town of Chitre out to the ocean over the little mountain ranges. This area is a farming area. There are many cattle farms situated throughout the Peninsula. We stayed in a hotel called the El Prado. It is located just down the street from the main church and the park central. The owner, Carlos was incredible to us. He extended his hospitality far beyond what we ever expected. We would highly recommend staying at this newly renovated hotel with Carlos and his wife. You won’t be disappointed. Even the specialized police were so friendly that they got a ride on my motorcycle. This is a great story. We were in the grocery store picking up some items for our picnic on the beach. These two police were also in the store, they asked what size our bikes were and where we were from. They showed a lot of interest in our helmets too (They actually tried to trade me their helmet for mine!! When we were ready to leave the two police came out of the store at the same time. We were checking out their Suzuki 250 dual purpose bike they were riding two up, just one seat on it the second guy was sitting on a metal rack you would strap a bag to. Crazy! They came over to have a closer look at our bikes. Kelly and I were riding two up on my bike. The one guy was just dying to even sit on my bike, so I said for him to go ahead. The key was in it and before I knew it he had started it and was taking it for a ride across the parking lot. He got it into third gear with the biggest smile pasted on his face ever. As he came back towards us Ken prompted him to pop a wheelie. He just smiled bigger and did a perfect turn around and rolled up so smooth to us. His smile was even bigger. You should know that these are the police that ride around with a shot gun, two pistols, combat like vests, and shin guards. They look like paramilitary members. We were told later by Carlos that they generally don’t socialize with anyone. They are very serious police, with little contact with the public. They even posed for a photo for us. AND Ken went and stuck a Canadian Flag sticker on their motorcycle. What a hoot!! This is another example of the Panamanian peoples way of welcoming you into their country.

These two policemen were so funny, they just wanted to have a ride on a "big" bike. Notice the gun in the one guy's hand.

The beautiful Panama countryside Santa is on the roof top, but there is no snow!!

While we were out riding along the ocean, we came across these fishermen with their catch. Boy it smelled, but grande fish

We rode into Panama City on the 20^th of December. The skyline of this city is amazing. You could think that you’re in New York or some other mega city in the US, or Canada. The bridge of Americas is really cool gateway to enter this city of over one million people. Panama City is known for its banking, expensive cars and crazy bus drivers. Oh, of course the famous Canal too. Of course the Panama Canal. (That’s later)

Ken and Heather had been given the tip of staying at the Hotel Montreal from their friend Ralph who had stayed there in the past. Juan Carlos is the manager, he too is a avid rider. He rides the new RS 1200 BMW. He welcomes all RWT travelers with great hospitality too. The hotel is a hub of world travelers with many interesting stories of their lives, and travels.

While in the city we have visited some of the best restaurants that the locals frequent,(that doesn’t mean expensive, just really good) the beautiful water front, and the largest mall in all of Central America. I promised the one cafe that we ate at more than once, as it was soo good, that I would mention their name and address on the website with hope that other travelers would enjoy a meal there. It is called "City Girll Area Bancaria, Edif. Dilido Telephono: 223-0023 They had the best pizza we have had in a very long time.

Our Christmas Dinner. "The Panama Canal" in all of its glory!! It is truly amazing to see!!

Christmas Day was great; we called our families to wish them a great day and then went for a ride around the city. We went to a park located on the water front. Ken had seen some really large caterpillars there earlier and wanted to show us. We hadn’t been off the bikes more than 10 minutes and the rain started, this isn’t just a sprinkle either, it came down in buckets with very close thunder and lightening to match. We had no were to take shelter, so Ken spied a bus and checked to see if the door was able to be opened. Thank goodness it was, so we climbed aboard and waited out the storm. The driver came along about a hour after we had did our break and enter, he gave us a pretty strange look at first, then realizing that we were a group of middle aged white people standing there completely soaked and our bikes just parked a few meters away he was much more open to us sitting on his bus. He just took a seat and sat with us until the rain had eased enough for us to even think of heading out. This is just another example of the incredible kindness of the Panamanian people. He acted like he had no where to be, but as soon as we left the bus he started it up and went off to find his family. We found a beautiful turkey buffet to attend on Christmas night. The Marriott Hotel was hosting a grande buffet. We ate until we just about couldn’t walk. The turkey was excellent, along with the vast amount of sea food, salads and yummy deserts. It was a great way to end our Christmas adventure. Good Food, Good Company!!

As we say our good byes to Central America here are a few observations that we have made as we traveled the seven countries that make up this beautiful region of our world. Each country has its own flavor. Even though they are similar in many ways, each country lends its own touch to its land, people and cultures.

From the multicultural population of Belize, to the strong Mayan history of Guatemala, the pride and kindness of the El Salvadorian people, who have rebuilt their beautiful country after so many years of hardships.

The Hondurans with their bold and determined ways, and very corrupt border crossing. (This is a story only to tell in person) The Nicaraguans, who are trying to hold onto their own rich history and culture, while the North Americans are moving in. To the Cost Ricans who continue to thrive on their ecotourism while graciously accepting the multitudes of North Americans inhabiting their country. Panama certainly has a history of Americans living in it also. I guess we are really all Americans aren’t we? We just have different histories, some much more difficult than others. Again, this journey has made us appreciate Canada and all of the opportunities that we are presented as its citizens.

If I had to pick my favorite I would choose Panama for its beauty and the sincere hospitality of its people. Kelly would say it was Costa Rica. He

It’s now onto South America. We are all excited to be on the move once again. We will travel through Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and finally into Brazil. We’re not sure of how long we are going to spend in South America. I guess the answer to that question would be this; How long will it take to see everything we want to see? We really have no answer for that. We are just going to travel each day and enjoy the journey. Once again we really have no destination, so we will just enjoy the journey.

Happy New Year to all!! May you continue to enjoy good health, your families and all the very best to each and everyone in 2007

Until then…

Kella