Reillys on Tour

Because then I wouldn't feel so bad.... 3 weeks in and we're feeling the pain of not being able to communicate. Last night we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner (in Bocas del Toro - where we've been for 3 days now). I don't think anyone in the establishment actually was Chinese but that's still what it called itself. The menu was presented and as with Chinese places the world over we were presented with a menu which was comparable in size to the complete works of Shakespeare. Not to be defeated we ordered some beers (we have at least learned the phrase "cevesa" during our travels). Further study of the menu didn't really render much hope apart from the fact that I identified "chow mein" which I thought might make a nice side dish to share. When the waitress came we decided to chance it and order with our fingers crossed.... This was a mistake. When the meal finally came we discovered we had ordered the following: Stra...

Heard that song? Well that´s me (and Lisette) right now We signed ourselves up to do some white water rafting yesterday with a dutch girl in our hostel called Petri. The people doing the organising told us that the river was somewhere between the "6th and the 9th most dangerous in the world" ..... but that due to favourable weather conditions and rainfall recently "we should be fine". A little worried but still confident we signed up and set off early the next morning. It was at this point our guide started telling us things like "if you get caught underwater you should consider whether you want to die or break a bone to get free". Marvellous. By the time we actually got in the water it was with a large number of reservations and no small amount of fear. These fears seemed quite well justified once we´d been through the first couple of rapids and come fairly close to drowning. It was at this point I noticed that the strap that was supposed to ...

After 7 hours on an overnight bus from Panama City we made it to David (pronounced Dah-veed) this morning. Slightly eerie journey - we were woken at 2am to show officers our passports. Then at 4am I had the surprise of my life when I stirred to see a golden retriever padding past me in the aisle of the coach... I can only assume that it was on some kind of unsuccessful narcotics hunt since no-one explained (even in Spanish) just what was going on. Eventually he/she was retrieved by a man in a uniform with a very big truncheon by his side. At the time I had other worries though as hypothermia was beginning to set in. The drivers response to the heat and humidity outside appeared to be setting the air-conditioning in the coach to "stun" and to hell with the passengers. So as the journey continued all that could be heard up and down the coach were muffled curses and chattering of teeth But we made it! Arrival at 5:30 am was slightly traumatic though as my wooden weddi...

Hola Amigos! Well, last time I mailed you it was from the comfy environs of Antigua where pelicans woke us each morning as they fished for food outside our villa. Times have changed! We left Antigua after a week, handed in the keys and caught a plane to Puerto Rico. Pleasant enough place, despite it being officially a "US territory" not that many people speak English (problem since that´s all we can speak!) Despite that we packed in some fun-filled adventures: we explored "Old San Juan" - a very picturesque place we hiked through a rainforest we went to the Bacardi factory where they make all the rum - essentially this was one big advert in the name of Bacardi but the drinks were free... Shame I don´t like rum Now some of you may know that Lisette and I decided not to take our wedding rings with us when we went away in case they were lost or (more worryingly) stolen. But rather than travel "ring-less" we hooked ourselves up with some wooden w...

One love people. The weather here in Antigua has yet to dip beneath 30 degrees. As a result I am pretty much a limp rag doll for much of the time but Lisette is absolutely loving it! We've been watching pelicans fish each morning and flying fish jump from the water (prior to getting eaten) as well! You'd think they'd learn but alas they don't. One surprising side affect of arriving in Antigua is that both Lisette and I have gone from not sleeping at all to developing some strange offshoot of sleeping sickness. Our favourite catchphrase of the moment is "I'll just have a little snooze" - we're averaging about 20 hours sleep a day at present Lisettes ability to make friends in all places as ever knows no limits - we got to go to a *very* lively Antiguan church with Roxanne (one of the girls that works here) as a result of one of Lisette's "friendly chats". Despite that, to our surprise the Antiguans as a bunch don't se...