Hola buenos tardes todos amigos y familia. You are probably wondering what happened to us or maybe not as you are all busy and hard at work . We can assure you (a) Louise has not been eaten alive by crocodiles or bitten by a deadly scorpion.(B) Mike has not been caught in a current and swept away never to be seen again.(C) Louise has not run off with a Guatemalan guerilla in a fight for cheaper bus fares (d) Mike has not been killed in a brutal machette fight. In fact we are fine and dandy, living in a huton stilts on the pacific coast of Costa Rica!! the coast here is stunning and reminds me of the indian ocean off w.a apart from the jungle which surrounds it full of howler monkeys, iguanas, crabs,parrots, humming birds and 20 toed dogs. oh and wont be putting anymore pictures on for a while as mike took it out into the surf to capture louise on her surf board and a wave splashed and well you can guess what happened.

Louise.
Think we last updated from xela, Guatemala, which seems so long ago. Since then we have done lots and also been apart doing our own ting for a month. Here is a brief outline of some of the places and pics. We were both staying at Largo Atitlan in different villages across the lake. i fell in love with the village of San Marcos and decided to stay there 3 weeks and take a moon course at a retreat centre called the pyramids. This was a great course which combined yoga,meditation and various classes. It really seemed like the right time for me to stop and the right settings too. It is a beautiful, green village set along the huge, blue lake with volcanoes and hills lining the sky. felt quite settled there, with the friendly locals and shared a hut with an english girl i previously met in mexico, who has exactly same bday as me and trains with my auntie in qi gong .(thats what i love about travelling, the synchronicities that unfold when there is time n space for them) i have been giving shiatsus in most places, which has helped lots with travel costs. do you like the sign? Decided to leave course week early,shame as i was looking forward to week silence and fast, honest! felt ready to move and didnt know if would be able to catch up with Mike otherwise. Couple of days before me and Anna my room mate went for a walk to next village,probably should not have taken that road as we were mugged by a guy with a shiney machette, luckily only had about 3quid. Think it was his first time as he was a bit shakey. These people are not very original with their money making schemes, anyway it sure was a lesson, Henry! Also had a weird tummy bug which i thought could be an amoeba, It made my entrance to honduras a memorable one (sorry have to tell you this) i was sick in a collectivo(mini bus) on and off for a 6hr journey. i was sat at back and thought it was a good job i had a slide window next to me but when the time came it would only open an inch. had the impossible exercise of trying to project the puke on a diagonal behind me through a one inch gap, you can imagine the outcome. To make matters worse, As i was trying to recover feeling really wobbly and dizzy the driver stopped the van and started shouting angrily at me trying to charge me a ridiculous amount. i didnt want to pay so at petrol station got a mop out and did a thoroughly good clean up job. Then tripped on some oil and slipped up. Was not a good day, really wanted my mum! Anyway got to utila, Honduras where i did my open water padi and loved it!! Then raced to Nicaragua to reunite with Miguel AKA Mike. Barely touched the soil before i was whisked off in ataxi by mike to a liitle shack on yet another beautiful lake. Went to some stunning beaches, really poor country and so much natural beauty, amazingly barely touched by tourism,did some horseriding on the island of ometeppe,where my butt and only my butt got attacked by mosquities while sleeping in my hammack! Now we are in Costa Rica and we have stopped for a week or so on a gorgeous surfey beach. There is soo much wildlife here and it is so green. Iguanas,humming birds........ and this poor little squirrel fell out the tree, was in abit of shock but after a cuddle he bounced away!

mike.
heya so yeah louise stayed in largo atitlan
and i sped towards utila in the bay islands of honduras. i did my advanced course which was alot of fun basically it consists of 5 cool dives. i got to do a 30m deep dive next to a wreck and experienced nitrogen narcosis which is like laughing gas. ialso got to do a night dive which blew me away. felt like i was on the moon covered in darkness looking over at over divers hovering above the sea bed with their torches. we came to a small wreck and discovered underneath a sleeping loggerhead turtle using thethe ship to keep him from floating away. he was as big as me with a shell of a bout a metre and a half in length. got a great look at him then he woke and swum under me so i got to swim along side and stroke him, it was something i will never forget. utila was a nice spot to dive but the locals are unfriendly. they are descendants of pirates and speak spanglish. a mixture of the two in a southern american accent that sounds like a muffled language coming through a wall. dam ugly, basically they are a bunch of pikeys. so i shot through honduras camping for a couple nights in a national park and by a lake. spent some time in hot colonial towns in nicaragua and a day by the coast on the pacific. i arrived to find that its a beach for the wealthier city folk on the weekends and during the week there is nothing. luckily a guard showed me to a house where they fed me some rice and beans and gave me some infected water which turned out not to be infected but i was convinced at the time. i had a terrible sleep in my hammock trying to dodge mosquitos and was chased out in the early hours by the gun totin security which had been the deal if i wanted to sleep the night. next i headed for largo apoyo a crater lake with a depth of 200m complete with early rainy season storms. so i met louise in Granada which was great as i was missin her pretty bad and you know the rest. santa teresa, where we are is quite a spot think we will stay a bit longer then on to a national park.