14 Hours on the road (and river)

This time Last year

Everyone in the group decides not to paddle the Rio Toro today but instead to take a boat trip and admire the wildlife from a safe vantage point. The boat will leave Oscar's Mother's place in Boca Tapada and head north down the Rio San Carlos to the Nicaraguan border, then down the Rio San Juan to a place called Trinidad and then upstream on the Rio Sarapiqui to Puerto Viejo where we will stay for a couple of nights.

I, instead, will ride shotgun with Luis and the bus.

We go down to the riverside and wait for the boat to arrive. Once everyone is on board Luis and set off on our four hour drive. It's two hours before we leave the dirt road and it's quite a bumpy ride. We arrive in Puerto Viejo at about 1pm and get evryones luggage unloaded before we have some lunch. We are not at our usual place - apparently it is booked solid with bird-watchers! It'll be a bit cramped as Luis, Manuel, Carolyn and I are all sharing one room!

We pick them up in town at the ice-cream store about 4pm. They tell us they had a splendid lunch with camarones on the river-side somewhere and saw plenty of American Crocodiles. We don't often see these when we are paddling (just the Caymans) as they prefer bigger and slower rivers. These things can grow to about 5m.

We have a pleasant evening and share a bottle of run; Flora de Cana of course!

This Time in 2007

Today would turn out to be a very long travel day indeed.

We were up at 6am for breakfast and the boys arrived at 6.30am to cart our luggage through town to the dock. We me an Irish couple there who said that the 6am boat had failed to materialise. However the 7am boat was on time and we were soon on our way upstream to San Carlos.

We watched the green countryside speed past and looked at the dilapidated buildings that were scattered every now and then along the coast, We saw a huge Tarpon fish leap above the waves. It must have 1.5m long. after three hours or so we arrived in San Carlos and dragged ourselves round to Immigration before piling onto the boat for Costa Rica and Los Chiles.

It took and hour and a half to reach Los Chiles but as usual we were entertained by the birds and Howler Monkeys along the way. It took half and hour to get through the luggage check and then we found that the Immigration Office was closed. We missed the 2pm bus and had to wait for the 3pm Express. Express! It stopped every half an hour but at least we didn't have to change bus at San Carlos (Costa Rica).

Normally this bus ride would take about 5 hours but we got stuck behind a broken down Sugar Cane Truck and it took an hour to squeeze by as it was almost blocking the road. The bus almost became impaled on the truck but finally we got by. It was 8.30pm when we got to the airport in San Jose where we dropped off the public bus and Luis picked us up for the last hour to the San Gildar Hotel in Escazu. Here we dropped off Lee, Florence and Carlos and Luis drove me up to the Pico Blancas Hotel where Jim and Carolyn were staying. We had dinner and a couple of beers. What a long and tedious day. More than 14 hours on the road (and rivers!).

Fer de Lance

This Time Last year

It's a rest day at the Laguna del Lagarto. I watch birds before breakfast and do my laundry after.

I spend the rest of the morning reading on the deck and go for a short butterfly walk in the afternoon. Looked at the caimans in the ponds.

Usual stuff in the evening. Dinner and a couple of drinks.

This Time in 2007

After breakfast we get ready for a paddle up the Rio Bartola. For fun we decide that we will all paddle together in the traditional canoe. I'll take the bow and Carlos will take the stern and Lee and Florence will sit in the middle.

First of all we paddled over to the Ranger Station to see if the Ocelot was there. we;'d heard that they had raised an orphan and it still came out of the forest to visit from time to time. It wasn't there.

At first the river is slow and wide. It's clear too and you can see plenty of fish underneath the boat. Carlos, as usual pointed out the bird-life. The highlight was a Violaceous Trogon. We also saw plenty of Howler Monkeys in the tree-tops. It is very quiet on this river and we saw only one other boat all day. Someone fishing.

The sun beat down, and strangely we saw a Brown Pelican - wouldn't normally expect to see these on a forest river. We saw plenty of Blue Morphos glittering in the air in the dappled light along the forest's edge. At one point we saw a violet butterfly which was also iridescent but it disappeared before we could get too close.

After about an hour we came to our first obstruction as the river turned into a rock field. We pulled up onto a beach and then went exploring on foot to see if we could get any further on the river. The river widened again so Carlos and I pushed and pulled the canoe through the small rapid and everyone hopped back in to continue upstream. We did this three or four times as we continued until finally the river was becoming too narrow to continue.

As Carlos was pushing and I was pulling the canoe, with Lee and Florence still on-board, through our last rapid, I heard Lee say "is that a snake over there?". No more than 2m away was a huge snake lying on the bank. It was about 2.5m long and about as thick as your forearm in the middle. It was also unmistakably a Fer-de-Lance. One of the worlds most deadliest snakes. Apparently you have about 4 hours to live after it's bitten you!

My first reaction was to get a photograph - though I didn't get too close! It was laid out in the sun and didn't move at all whilst we were there. It looked calm, relaxed, confident and unperturbed and possibly full as well. Carlos said they would coil before striking.

Even so Lee said she would feel a lot happier if I got back in the canoe. Surprisingly Lee was quite calm - all holiday she'd been telling us how she loathed and feared snakes.

After turning the canoe around we paddled back past the snake and started our canoe downstream. Somehow we managed to ride through all the rapids that we had walked through on the way up which was quite tricky in a 4-man canoe. We only bumped through once and only ran aground once too. It was here that we saw a troop of Spider Monkeys.

We saw the Brown Pelican again and some more of the violet butterflies as well as a bright green Malachite Butterfly.

When we got to the mouth of the river we again dropped into the Ranger Station and this time the Ocelot Cub was there.

We then got our luggage together and got a ride back to El Castillo on the Park Rangers boat, which towed our canoes back too. We got back to the Victoria Hotel in time for a late lunch.

Steve falls into a creek

This Time Last Year

As usual it was a long drive to get out of Escondido and find our put-in on the Rio Tres Amigos. We never seem to be able to find the same spot and this time we had to slide the canoes down a very steep bank.

This is a very sweet river that runs languid and green. It was very quiet on this day and we had a very pleasant five hour paddle with a stop for lunch on a beach somewhere.

We had to pull through a couple of rapids which were blocked by strainers and Tina and John dumped twice. In the second one Carolyn and I did a mid-stream T-rescue which was unusual as we normally just pull over to a beach to empty the stricken canoe.

At the take-out we had a very long muddy walk back to the bus. When everyone was ready I walked with everyone into the nearby village whilst the bus was loaded.

Then it was another long bumpy ride to Laguna del Lagarto just outside the village of Boca Tapada. We didn't arrive until 7pm and so basically had dinner and went to bed.

This Time in 2007

Today we are to move to the Bartola Lodge at the junction of the Rio San Juan and the Rio Bartola and the entrance to the Indo-Maiz Biological Reserve.

We have a late lunch as our boatman is not arranged until 10am. In fact Lee and I decide to paddle down which is easy as it's downstream. We mostly hug the river left and look at the small-holdings along the way. Each seems to have a pig underneath a house on stilts, a clutch of chickens and the odd cow. We also pass a couple of sweetcorn and plantain plantations before arrived at the Rio Bartola. We pay a visit to the Ranger Station and Army base first just to say hello before crossing back over the Bartola to the lodge.

The staff here were amazingly indifferent. We hadn't been able to contact them before and they seemed uninterested in the fact that we wanted to stay over tonight. I tried to explain that Carlos was arriving later with Florence and that we'd all be staying.

To pass the time we lazed on the hammocks and idly watched the river go by as the colourful birds fluttered about.

Eventually Carlos arrived with Florence and a French couple in tow. Our hosts managed to rustle up some drinks but said it would be two hours until lunch was ready. Carlos discovered that they were going to charge us a hefty price to stay so we decided that one night would be enough and that we'd return to El Castillo and the Victoria on Friday.

Soon we were joined by a young couple from the USA who it transpired were paddling the whole length of the Rio San Juan all the way down to the Caribbean Ocean and a small town called San Juan del Norte. We discovered very quickly that they were seriously un-prepared and were carrying very little food. They thought they could go shopping down river! They also had very little money and almost no idea of what to expect. They couldn't afford the lunch here so we treated them. It was, after all, six dollars! Buying lunch for rich kids sucks, but buying lunch for dorks does show some kindness. The French couple disappeared back upstream before lunch.

The lunch itself was very good though the red-bean soup gave me extra power all afternoon!

After lunch we lazed again on the hammocks and the young couple finally go on their way about 3.30pm.

At 4.30pm Carlos rounded us up for a walk in the forest. The idea is that it is cooler now and the birds are a bit more lively as dusk approaches at about 6.30pm. We took our head-torches.

We didn't need wellies as the forest floor was quite dry and we enjoyed a stroll through the forest until it began to get dark. We managed to see a Rufous Motmot (a bird), a Brilliant Frog and a tiny Leaf Litter Frog.

Unfortunately we popped out the forest too early so we decided to go back in and take another trail loop. Soon we came to a point where the trail crossed a small creek on a dilapidated bridge. Carlos went first and balanced along the right-hand log. I went next and tried to balance across using both logs. Unfortunately the left log broke and I toppled into the creek. Luckily I kept my camera out of the water, though I of course was soaked from by boots to my left shoulder. Fortunately the creek contained no hidden dangers like branches to impale me or snakes to bite me! Of course everyone thought it was hilarious.

Lee and Florence managed to cross as we threw down a bunch of twigs. I pulled myself out of the quagmire and squelched on my way.

The trail was a bit more arduous than the first trail and had quite a few steep and slippery ascents and descents. As it darkened under the canopy the noise level grew and we hurried on our way. We had crossed a number of small streams but eventually we came down to a larger stream - about 6 foot wide. We couldn't see where the trail continued on the other side and even though Carlos leapt across he couldn't find the way.

So we decided to re-trace our steps as we knew at least that this would lead us back to camp. The light was fading fast now and the crepuscular noise level was rising to a crescendo. Eventually we had to put our head-lamps on so that we could at least have a chance of seeing any snakes on the trail.

I took the lead and Carlos took the tail as we toiled back the way we had come. Up and down the slippery trail. Under logs and over logs. Everything looks the same and it seemed longer now that it did on the way out. Eventually we got back to the bridge of my downfall so at least we knew we didn't have that far to go. By this time my batteries were going and it was completely dark. And then finally we stumbled out of the forest and amazingly it was still only 6.30pm. Time seemed to get all compressed in there.

We found out later that a Ranger had gone into the forest to try and find us and that when we turned back we where in fact only 300m from the exit!

Anyway we went and sat down and had a beer to celebrate our safe return before cleaning up and changing for dinner.

Dinner was very pleasant and everyone enjoyed the re-telling and embellishing of my fall. Before going to bed I tried to take some photographs of the night sky. Unbelievable amount of stars in these Nicaraguan nights.

St. Valentines Ball

Garden

Noticed the first crocuses in the garden today. It was actually quite warm in the sun.

This Time Last Year

Woke up at 5.30am to walk down to the lagoon at Cano Negro. The water is so low that we have to carry the boats down to the Rioo Negro; normally we can paddle. We have breakfast at the lodge and are back to get started on the river at 7.50am. The idea is to start early as this paddle can take 5 hours and we want to finish before it gets too hot.

As it turns out it doesn't get too hot today, but it's still hot enough for the caymans to be out sunbathing on the river banks. We see plenty of them, the largest being 3 metres or so.

During the paddle we plenty of iguanas and other lizards as well as many different types of birds. For some reason we don't see many monkeys. sometimes we see three different types along this river.

We stop for lunch at the second lagoon and get caught in a small shower and then continue for another houruntil the take-out at the bridge.

Luis is here to meet us and we get everything loaded for our drive to Escondido at Saint Therese.

This Time in 2007

After breakfast we were ready to paddle. Carlos had arranged a boat to take us and our canoes downstream to a small tributary of the Rio San Carlos. at the mouth of which we switched to our canoes. I went with Lee in the Old Town canoe and Carlos and Florence went in a traditional canoe (though not so traditional that it was a dug-out).

The stream was very narrow and strangely devoid of bird-life. This was probably because it was farmland on either side. The only things of interest were groups of boys paddling downstream in dugouts piled high with firewood. They were on the way to El Castillo to sell it. At one point we had to help push and pull one of these boats as it tried to get around a shallow corner.

Further on we came across a group of small boys swimming in the river who were accompanied by a pig and two piglets!

Eventually we ran out of river and so turned around and paddled downstream back to the Rio San Juan. We were too early for our rendezvous for our tow back upstream to El Castillo so we decided to paddle our way back instead. At first we paddled downstream alongside an island in the river and then turned around at its base to go back upstream. We kept close to the island at first and then ferried over to the far bank before creeping up the shore towards El Castillo.

This went quite well until I had to stop for Lee to get the sweat and suntan lotion out of her eyes and then we had to work quite hard on the last few hundred yards before we reached the hotel. I thought Carlos wasn't going to make it as Florence was hardly paddling at all.

After lunch we had a walk around town, finding the baseball stadium. Then we walked up to the castle and enjoyed the views up and down the river as well as learning something of the history of the place. We walked down the hill and stopped off for a coffee and a piece of cake.Here we met Holly - more about her tomorrow.

In the evening we again had camorones for dinner - this time with jalapeño sauce. Me, Carlos and Florence then went to a St. Valentines Dance just outside town. What is Spanish for gooseberry? I stayed for one beer only!

Camorones

This Time Last year

Today we paddle the Rio Arenal a long four hour canoe. We are up for breakfast at the local cafe at 7.30am and it is lashing with rain. By the time we get to the put-in at 9.30am it is fine.

The river is big and wide with huge crumbling banks. You can see that the rainy season river levels are about two metres above what it is now. The river has a lot of tree debris for us to get around and John and Tina tip over at one point whilst trying to avoid a strainer, but we quickly get them rescued and back on track.

At one point we have to line the canoes around some obstacles and then we continue paddling whilst looking for a suitable lunch spot. We find a shady beach and flip over one of canoes for use as a table.

After lunch we continue downstream until the Rio Arenal spills into the Rio San Carlos and we find our take-out on river right. Once we've loaded the canoes onto the bus and piled everyone inside we hit the road north for Cano Negro (which is a Wildlife Refuge), about a three hour drive. We stop at a supermarket for provisions and ice-cream

The last hour into Cano Negro is along a bumpy dirt road but we eventually arrive a bit shaken and stirred at the Natural Lodge. We get everyone into the hotel which is a series of chalets in a small park and then do the washing up at the bar by the swiiming pool.

After dinner Luis and I stroll into the small village to catch a couple of beers at the only bar in town.

This Time in 2007

Today we are going to El Castillo in the Rio San Juan and we want to catch the fast boat from San Carlos which leaves at about 10am. Jose Ramon is ready for us to leave after breakfast at about 7.30am. Jim is coming with us as far as San Carlos and therefater its just me and Carlos with our guest Lee. We get no coffee thi morning as Daniel and Marie, who run the Albergue, are still in a strop with Jim. This wont be resolved and Jim and Carolyn will eventually move out and leave San Fernando for the island across the water (Mancarron). Island politics - don't go there.

On our way across Lake Nicargua we take a detour around "Bird" Island. We are not allowed to disenbark so the boat idles and drifts as we watch the hige number of birds. Their are plenty of Anhingas and Egrets and Herons, but the real stars are the Wood Storks and the Roseate Spoonbills. The islands are dripping with guano!

At San Carlos Jim and Carlos and Lee disembark whilst Jose Ramon and me shoot around to the Rio San Juan jetty and unload our canoe and kayak onto the freighter which is to carry them down to El Castillo.


I run around to find everyone and see if we have tickets for the 10am boat. We do, but inexplicably Jose Ramon has disappeared without unloading our luggage onto the El Castillo fast boat. More running about. I just love the chaos and noise and confusion! Of course everything comes together just in time and we are on our way. We wave goodbye to Jim and I wont see him for another year.


It takes about two hours to get to El Castillo and we stop at three or four places along the way. Eventually we round the final corner and the castle sitting about the small town of El Castillo is revealed. The place looks simultaneaously spectacular and ramshackle. At the dockside we unload and two boys appear with a handcart to help us move our stuff. This town has no access by road and no vehicles whatsoever. Everything arrives on the river.

We climb some steps to the Hotel Albergue but we reject it has it has no rooms with en-suite bathrooms. more of a backpackers place. carlos runs off to fimd another place and eventaully comes back to lead us to the Victoria Hotel - a new place only recently opened. So we pile evything back onto the handcart and make our way along the river front lane to the hotel which sits on the river bank at the end of town.

After checking in Carlos and I walked back through town to check out a restaurant for the evening. It must have Camarones which are the local, and huge, freshwater shrimps.

In the afternoon we siesta and meet a Swiss girl, Florence, who is staying at the same hotel. It turns out that she well hang out with us for a while ... as you shall see.

Later Carlos and I walked back up to the dock to unload our canoe and kayak which had arrived on the freighter. It was almost dark but instead of carrying the boats through town we decided to paddle them through the Diablo Rapids back to the hotel. This was fun and bouncy as some of the standing waves are 2 metres and it was difficult to see! I thought I'd lost Carlos (who took the kayak) but he was just messing about in the waves.

We were joined at dinner by Florence.

Baldi Hot Springs

Gallery

Received permission today to sell prints at the Garden Fair in Hof ter Saksen on Sunday May 3rd. So now I can start preparing.

Garden

Not a lot happening in the garden at present but a few snowdrops are out and the first crocus are coming through. Yesterday I saw two turtle-doves by the bird-feeder (next to the pear tree!). This is a first.

This Time Last Year

We are up for breakfast at 7.30am and leave for the Rio Penas Blanco by 8.30am. We are to paddle the upper section today and finished where we started yesterday! carolyn will paddle with me. At the put-in we go over some paddle strokes and practise our ferrying. This is where you cross from one side of the stream to the other without going downstream. This technique is very handy when you have obstacles to avoid.

The river is very easy and pleasant and though there are not too may birds about we still have plenty to see. We stop at a couple more places to practice the ferrying. This will be important when we move onto faster and more difficult rivers.

When we reach the take-out Carolyn and I prepare the lunch whilst Manuel and Luis get the boats out and loaded onto the bus.

After lunch we got to the Arenal National Park for a walk across the volcanic outflow from 1997. Unfortunately the weather is cloudy and we don't get to see much. On the way back to the car though we see a whole troop of Coatis, maybe 15 of them!

In the evening we go to Baldi Hot Springs and chill (!) out.

This Time in 2007

Today we took the boat around Mancarroncita which is smallest of the inhabited islands. We saw the usual array of birds and noticed in particular the Oropendula nests habging from the trees.

On the way back we stopped off at Mancarron Island to visit the church and the library and the small village. We saw a computer class too - whis is a new project which Jim and Carolyn are getting off the ground. Ernesto was at home too so we said hello.

After the usual lunch and siesta on San Fernando I went off for a butterfly hunt. Later Carlos and I paddled the canoes down to Jose Ramons place so they could be picked up by the Collectivo in the morning. We would be going to San Carlos tomorrow and then down the Rio San Juan.

In the evening Scott and Serena came by for a chat and then Jim came home from his computer class and put us straight about our schedule for the next few days. carlos and I would be on our own with Lee!

Honesty, the best policy

Lighting

Did some practise with lighting today and took shots of dried Honesty. Used two main lamps shot through umbrellas and two smaller lights with coloured gels. One red and one green.


This Time Last Year

Up at 7am to meet Luis with the bus. Drive up to the San Gildar and pick up the guests and Manuel. We hit the road but also plenty of traffic and it takes a while to get out of the city. Finally we leave the highway and head over the hills. We stop off at Zarcera for breakfast. Somewhere beyond San Carlos we stop at a supermarket to get stuff for lunch. We also manage to buy a cooler and some ice.

We arrive at our put-in but find no-one there so we hop back into the bus and drive into Fortuna (under the shadow of the Arenal Volcano) and onto Oscar's place at Canoe Adventura. Here we pick up three canoes and all the paraphernalia. Then it's back to the put-in on the Rio Penas Blanco (White Rock River). I set up the lunch whilst Luis and Manuel unload the canoes and get everything ready.

After a pleasant lunch we finally get down to the river. I do the usual safety talk. It's important here as the rivers can often have a lot of debris. Especially strainers - which are fallen trees. We also have a quick re-cap on paddling strokes. It's 2.30pm when we get going.

Our first day on the water is an easy paddle and when our river spills out into the Rio San Carlos we soon see Carolyn on the bank at our take-out. She has arrived from Solentiname to lead the group with me and Manuel. We get everyone out of the water and the canoes loaded before the short drive to the hotel in Fortuna. On the way we stop off at Iguana bridge at Muelle.

In the evening we walk into the small town for dinner and begin to get to know each other.

This Time In 2007

We were up at 5am this morning as we were crossing Lake Nicargua to the Rio Papaturro; Jose Ramones turned up with his boat and we loaded our canoes and a kayak on-board. As we crossed the lake we watched the sunrise. It took about an hour to reach the river mouth and from there we slowly chugged upstream looking at the bird-life. We stopped for a breakfast of cereals and coffee - but stayed on the boat. We spent some time watching Howler Monkeys and noticed a troop of White-Faced Capuchins who came right down to the water's edge to drink.

Eventually we came to the tiny village of Papaturro and hopped off the boat to the Pulperia (small shop) and sat down to a second breakfast of coffee and love-eggs. Love-eggs are free-range eggs!

After that it's back in the boat for the short ride to the Research Station which is part of the Los Guatuzos Wildlife Refuge. There is an Army Post here too and we see three soldiers standing about. This river is an illegal route between Costa Rica and Nicaragua and we have in the past seen boatloads of immigrants coming out of Costa Rica. No-one seems that bothered.

At the Research Station we put on some wellies and go for a tramp around the place. We visit the Orchids and the Butterfly House (a bit run-down) and then the place where they have a turtle and cayman breeding program. Then it's into the forest itself where we take a canopy walk high above the forest floor. Unfortunately we didn't see much on our traipse and just enjoyed the gloopy mud and the insects that were biting us.

After that we unloaded the canoes and had a slow paddle down the Papaturro to the Lake. This is the best way to see the wild-life. At the mouth of the river we loaded the canoes onto the boat and re-crossed the Lake back to Solentiname. This time the crossing was a bit bouncier!

We arrived back in time for lunch and afterwards had a siesta in the hammocks. In the late afternoon we took the boat over to La Venada to visit the Arellano family who paint. In fcat I believe they have for generations of painters. The head of the family is Rodolfo who I have met before. He is looking a lot thinner this year and I hear he has not been well. He seems in a good mood today though and I take a few photographs. Lee and Jim buy a painting and then we motor back in the fading light.

After dinner we while away the evening drinking rum.

Circumnavigating San Fernando

This Time in 2007

Get up early for a dawn shoot on the beach. This is the best time of day as it gets far too hot to do anything later and by the time evening comes the heat has made you completely enervated.

Lee and I go for a walk before breakfast along the lake-shore trail. We say hello to several people as we go and meet Serena and Scott who are here from the USA and running English Language Classes. They are staying in a ramshackle place on the beach but seem to be enjoying themselves. We return to the Albergue in time for breakfast with Jim. We have heard that Carlos has managed to cross into Nicaragua but was forced to spend the night in San Carlos. We hope to see him later.

After breakfast Lee and I take a canoe out and decide to circumnavigate San Fernando. It took us about 2 and a quarter hours. The water was a bit choppy off the north coast and it seemed to take an age to cross the bay opposite La Venada. We see plenty of bird life but not may islanders except for the occasional woman doing the laundry. They have scrubbing stations set into the lake for this.

In the afternoon I made some butterfly lures from the netting I'd bought and filled them with fruit scraps left-over from breakfast. They worked too as they attracted several Caligos and a Archaeoprepona over the next few days.

Later Lee and I walked down to the museum and art gallery for a look around. Many years ago Ernesto Cardinal had introduced the islanders to prinitivist painting and many families still had a tradition of painting. Many also continued with the balsa wood carving introduced at the same time.

Returning to the Albergue we lazed around in the hammocks waiting for the day to cool off. Eventually I decided to go for another paddle around the small island opposite and stayed out until almost dark watching the sun go down. When I got back I found that Carlos had finally managed to cadge a ride from San Carlos.

After dinner we spent the evening drinking beer and discussing plans for tomorrow.

This Time Last Year

A rest day with a few odd jobs to do. Meet the new guests at the San Gildar Hotel in the evening. Take some panorama shots from the Pico Blanco Hotel.

Back and Forth

This Time Last Year

Today was our transfer day to San Jose in Costa Rica. That meant a ride upstream on the Rio San Juan, then upstream on the Rio Negra to Los Chiles and a numbing five hour bus ride to San Jose. A long day.

We were up at 5am and ready to leave at 6pm. We saw our canoes going past on the slow cargo boat back to San Carlos. We sped up the river and arrived in San Carlos at 7.30am and had breakfast in the Mirador. Jim turned up having arrived on his new boat from Solentiname. We said goodbye to Pat and Dorothy who were flying out to Manugua and home to the USA that way.

The rest of us went through customs and got back on our boat to Los Chiles. Luiz was here with the bus and after customs we were on our way by 11am. We had lunch somewhere past Zarcero and arrived in San Jose at 4.30pm.

Manuel and I were going to stay in Santa Ana with friends but it turned out all the rooms were let so Luiz drove us up to the Pico Blanco Hotel in Escazu which is a strangely opulent place in an obscure part of town. It's always empty too. You get superb views though.

In the evening we had our farewell dinner with our guests at a Peruvian restaurant. And the taxi got lost taking us home!

This Time in 2007

This was also a transfer day as we left San Jose in Costa Rica to get to Solentiname in Nicaragua.

I was up at 4.45am but Luis was late picking me up (as usual!). We then went to the San Gildar Hotel in Escazu to pick up my co-guide Carlos and our only guest Lee. This is the first time we run a trip with a single guest. It's going to get strange! Jim was also with us as he was returning to Solentiname. Carolyn was staying behind to recuperate from her back operation.

We left San Jose at dawn and were soon out of the suburbs and climbing the hills. We took a break at Zarcero and looked at the topiary gardens and the amazing pink church. A bit later we stopped for a pancake breakfast. After crossing the mountains we dropped down into Santa Rosa for another stop. We needed cash and peanut butter (for Lee).

Luis got us to Los Chiles in plenty of time for the Collectivo (the public boat), which will take us into San Carlos, Nicaragua. We all negotiate customs successfully except for Carlos who can't get his visa signed. Some cross-border nonsense is going on between Costa Rica and Nicaragua and making life difficult. In fact it takes three days for Carlos to get this sorted out and we have to leave him behind.

At Oscars cafe we had some pineapple juice before wandering down to the dock. the Collectivo doesn't leave at any particular time it leaves when it is full. You can pay extra if you want to ask the driver to leave now! It wasn't going to leave any time soon so we went back to Oscar's for an early lunch. In fact Jim went off to find a private boat as he feared if we waited for this Collectivo then we would miss the Collectivo at San Carlos which is to take us out to the Solentiname Islands. This latter Collectivo only goes twice a week!

That all worked out so we finally left to follow the Rio Negra downstream to Lake Nicaragua. We waved to Carlos as we left him behind! Our private boat was very fast and only took 45 minutes to get to San Carlos. The Collectivo can sometimes take 2 hours!

We get through customs with no problem and the local boys pitch up with a wheelbarrow to help us carry our stuff through the small town to the dock at the other end whre the boats to the islands leave. I notice that the main high street is now paved. It was just dirt a couple of years ago. The Solentiname Collectivo is ready and waiting and so we load our stuff onboard and say hello to those people we recognise. As usual the boat will not be leaving at any specific time so we wander back into town to buy some supplies. We go to the market to get fruit and vegetavles and a dry good store to get water and beer! I get some netting to make butterflky traps!

Eventually the boat gets under way and we have a two and a half hour ride out to the islands. At San Fernando island we unload at the dock of the Albergue Celentiname. I notice that half the dock has slipped into the lake since I was here last. I wonder how long it will take Daniel to repair it?

I have the same cabin I had last time and of course I should be sharing it with Carlos. I wonder what he is doing. Probably having a Kafkaesque experience in getting his visa signed.

After dinner we laze around in the hammocks before knocking off for an early night.

Paddle Steamer

This Time Last Year

I was up at 5.30am for a paddle upstream on the Bartola. a lot of bird noise, but not a lot to see.


Everyone packed after breakfast before embarking on a paddle downstream on the Rio San Juan. I was teamed up with Pat in an old wooden canoe and everything went fine until we came to a rapid and shipped some water. I decided enough was enough (Pat is 80 years old!) and decided to be rescued by the San Miguel who was escorting us.

At a tributary junction (I can't remember the name of this river), Pat and I swapped canoes and paddled upstream. We pushed over three rapids and spent some time watching and photographing dragonflies. Everyone had lunch on the riverbank before paddling back downstream to the San Miguel.


At this point we all got on board the San Miguel for a ride back to El Castillo, whilst a smaller boat, Bob, was charged to tow all our canoes back. We stopped off on the way to examine the ruins of an old Paddle Steamer which had sunk in the 19C. This was part of the Vanderbilt service from New York to San Francisco in the Californian Gold Rush, and apparently quicker and safer than going across country!


We disembarked at El Castillo and walked through the town, whilst the San Miguel rode the Diablo Rapids. We re-embarked upstream of the rapids. The Vanderbilt's route did this too and built a small railway through the town for carrying the passengers and their luggage. The town has no visible remains of this, but the town has no access by road either. Everything arrives by boat.

We continued upstream to the Rio Sabalos and stayed the night at the Hotel Sabolos right on the river front. In the evening we sat on the deck drinking and watching the stars.

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Finished calculating print prices, which now include postage and packing world-wide.

Rio Bartola

This Time Last Year

Today we leave El Castillo for the Bartola Lodge which is at the confluence of the Rio San Juan and the Rio Bartola. It takes us about an hour to paddle down as the Rio San Juan runs quite fast here.

On the opposite side of the Rio Bartola from the Lodge is the offices of the Indo-Maiz Reserve. After we disembarked most of the group were happy to rest in the hammocks and read or bird-watch. Pat I paddled up the Rio Bartola enojoying the silence. We pushed and pulled our way up over seven small rapids before finally deciding that the river was too narrow to go any further. We rode the rapids on the way back and arrived just in time for lunch.

After a brief siesta I took M for a paddle back up the river. It was even quieter this time although we still saw a few monkeys about.

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The price list is now uploaded and the portfolios tidied up. Next I have to figure out how to get more hits on the site.

Photo Restoration

Family

It's Kristines Mother's birthday tomorrow and I've promised to restore and print some old photographs from the 1920s and 1930s. They are not too damaged but some of them are very small so it will take a little bit of work. I wonder how large they want them printed!

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Have decided not to use the store/printing facilities attached to my Smugmug website. I had a couple of test prints made and I wasn't that impressed. Largely too dark. A b/w shot had a greenish cast too. I am going to print everything myself. At least this way I have control of the way they look and can also choose the paper. I think that'll be best even though it'll be more work for me. I have to improve my printing and matting skills in any case. I shall still have to deal with both imperial and metric sizes both for the prints and the mattes themselves. This is a pain.

This also means that I must post my "Warranty" page on the site and put up a price list.


This Time Last Year

I was up at 5am to take a walk. Surprisingly three guests came with me. A thin crescent moon sits over La Venada Island.

It takes us half an hour to walk to the look-out point but clouds have formed on the horizon and spoilt the sunrise. We wait a few minutes and manage a few shots.

We stroll back past the school and over the hill and along the shore on the track back to our Albergue Celentiname.

After breakfast we get the boat loaded with everyones luggage and finally leave Solentiname. Before arriving at San Carlos we take a detour to Bird Island (I can't remember its proper name). We watch hosts of Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills.

At San Carlos we change onto a public boat for the trip down the Rio San Juan to El Castillo. We take the fast boat which takes about 3 hours whilst our canoes come on the freighter which will arrive this evening. We stop at a river-side lodge for lunch before continuing to the Victoria Hotel in El Castillo.

Rio Papaturro, Nicaragua

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Originally uploaded by stevenhouse

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Spent a lot of time today converting all the calendars to start from March 09. These are all stored on Lulu, but I shant be using them next year. The calendar design software sucks and I really can't be bothered to go into the details. "The Lulu Studio™ is a revolutionary web application that makes creating your calendar as easy as point and click. There's no software to download and you can use it through your browser." Thats what they say. And this is the future of software. I despair.

Family

Heard from Kristian today who has just got back from spring training in Majorca. He's cycling for Rapha Condor Recycling

This time last year

Manuel and I are up are 5.20am to tandem the canoe with three of our guests in kayaks as we paddle up the Rio Papaturro. We don't see a lot of wildlife at this time and paddle right up to the Costa Rican border which is marked by a log across the river.

This route is used by illegal immigrants going into Costa Rica for work - usually picking in the plantations. There is an Army Outpost next to the Reserve but they don't seem interested in much.

After breakfast I take another group up the river. This time I share a sit-up double kayak with Pat. It's not very comfortable. We see some White-Faced Capuchin monkeys and a Slaty-tailed Trogon (a bird).


After that we pile into Juans boat and cruise slowly downstream towards Lake Nicaragua. It's warmer now and we see plenty of river birds.

Our crossing of the lake is calm and we tour around the back of Mancarroncita Island before stopping for lunch on a premonitory of Mancarron Island. the family that entertains us all have built a shaded picnic area for us. The food is fabulous. We see a Ctenosaur in a tree - this is a type of black iguana.

Afterwards we walk over the hill, past a fabulous look-out, down to a local school. From here the boat picks us up and we cruise around to Mancarron Pueblo. This is the small village which is the main place on the island. Our guests go shopping for T-shirts and balsa carvings whilst I have a beer.

It's then back in the boat for a short ride to San Fernando and the usual evening procedure. That is dinner and hanging about. Manuel and I have been bounced from our nice room to the back cupboard!

Kick-Off

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Finally got around to sending pdf portfolios to Copper Canyon and Baja today. These were both places I visited in Mexico last year. I had a reply from Doug at Paraiso del Oso These were the outfitters who organised out 10 day trek around the Copper Canyon and the small towns of Batopilas and Urique. Highly recommended. They do Horse Treks too.

Doug told me that times were hard as people weren't travelling. The economic slide was one factor but a certain amount of political turmoil in Mexico was dissuading many too.

Two books arrived today. This one The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers and this one The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

As you can see they are both by Scott Kelby. He has a wittering and irritating style, but he tells you the business. I am a member of NAPP and as such am entitled to a discount on these books. But it's no cheaper as they wack a huge shipping cost to post them to Europe. Looks like I'll only be a member for a year at this rate.

I shall be moving my photographic workflow to a Lightroom basis instead of Bridge. I'm using CS4 now and a bit miffed that some functionality has been lost. For example I used to be able to upload to Flickr and Smugmug directly from Bridge. Now I can't. That's called progress and, of course, you don't get told whats missing ... only whats new. Great. I shall start this Lightroom thing when I can get a new external hard-drive. Can't get enough of these.

Also a CD arrived (how old-fashioned). Vampire Weekend - an outfit from New York. Liked it straight off the bat. Light jangly guitars with a West African sound.

This Time Last Year




I was in Nicaragua, staying at Daniels and Marie's place on San Fernando Island in the Solentiname Archipelago.

I got up early to walk down the trail, past the petroglyphs, and up to the overlook. They've built some new stuff since I was here last year. the petroglyphs used to be in the middle of a field and hard to find. Now they have a new trail to them and a shelter over them and a bench. The outlook also has a shelter and bench. very nice.

Family

Heard yesterday that I am a Great-Uncle. My niece Jodanna has a baby Henry Graham. I had a mail from my mother with photos ... except the photos were missing! Also had some photos of snow in the village at home. Our snow came and went yesterday!