Trinidad & Tobago

Day 1: 

After two full days of travel; driving to California, then flying to Houston then to Port of Spain where we arrived on a Friday night. We rented a car and drive to our Airbnb where we rented a private room for three nights. "Dr." As he went by let us into the apartment where we would be staying. He told us about the area and room we were renting. He warned us to not go out at night because it could be dangerous. I asked if we would be safe to walk to a local supermarket and he said, "50/50". Meaning 50 percent of the country is friendly and 50 percent is violent. We laughed about it later. We watched the jazz playoff game on my laptop that night then retired to bed. 

Day 2: 

We ventured to Fort George that had spectacular views of Port of Spain. As we drove there were many signs that said beware of the following:

1. Only travel in big groups
2. Make sure to stay close to the light at night
3. Don't flash any valuables

Among other things. We approached this beach but when we arrived, it apparently cost $20 t&t which is around $3 US. So we drive back to town 25 min away looking for an ATM. The two we tried were out of money and as we approached a third, an old lady warned that the ATM had been compromised. This means someone had set up a false scanning system to detect debit cards and their pins. Finally we sacrificed a $10 bill and. Ought a water at a supermarket but it cost us a 6/1 return for using  aUS bill. We finally made it back to the beach called, Macqueripe Bay where we enjoyed some sun on a pebble crowded beach front. For lunch we purchased some tuna and crackers and some apples. After lunch we drove to Port of Spain and walked around the old town district which had grand colonial houses and even a castle where a lot of the early 20th century government officials lived and worked. Across the street was a park where we watched some kids play cricket, then visited a botanical garden. It was mostly cloudy so the weather was bearable to be walking for so long. There were stray dogs everywhere and I warned amanda not to touch them but she couldn't resist and then next thing we knew, the dog followed us for the next 45 minutes. We drove to our next destination to Maracas waterfall. No one else was there and it felt amazing to stand underneath the falls after the hot and humid hike up. We tried some subway for dinner and picked up more supplies at a pharmacy near by using my debit card but still no luck finding a ATM. Oh and the water was out the first night so we could not showing after a long day of sweating. 

Fort George

Bamboo Cathedral

Maracas Falls

Day 3:

We headed to the east side of the island which was about 2 hours from where we were staying which was in a district called, Curepe near Port of Spain. Our hope was to see turtles laying eggs but nothing today. We did hike around a lighthouse and played on the beaches for quite some time. I ended up burning my entire torso. :/ Amanda just got more tan. We stopped at this massive store to get some supplies. It's Interesting how most of the stores here do not stock their supplies very well like fruit, water, bread, etc. In fact, we bought the last liter size water in stock. We ended up heading back to our home early to catch game 7 of the jazz vs clippers. Jazz did win and the water came back on and we were finally able to shower for the first time since arriving here.

• Day 4:
• Judy, the lady who's house we stayed at got home the night prior from Jamaica. She was nice but seemed ready for us to leave though we just met. Since we also ran out of water the night before, we picked some up on route to the Sri Kaarya Hencmanji Murti statue and Hindu temple. There is a lot of Hindu influence in the country. The statue was the largest on the island. After we went to another temple called, "the temple in the sea" because there was a Hindu man who came many many years ago who asked the government for some land for religious purposes, but they refused so he started packing bucket after bucket of sand and gravel and throwing it into the ocean until he had created an island where he could now build his own temple. This went on for quite some time as you can imagine. We arrived back at the airport for a 25 minute flight to Tobago in a twin propelled engine plane. The resort we stayed at was right on the beach. Dinner was salmon, veggies and rice with chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner and after the sun went down we went down a concrete staircase to a private beach, just the two of us in the dark where we went swimming. All in the meanwhile, a cat we found sat on the beach waiting for us to feed it some more pretzels we offered it earlier.

View from our Airbnb

Flight from Trinidad to Tobago

Breakfast at our resort 

Day 5:

The next morning we visited a small Fort and museum with relics of Tobago's heritage. Then we drove up the coast line to the western province where we found a hike called, Argyle Falls. Before entering we were waved down and asked if we could give the local mechanic a ride to the base of the hike. I was skeptical especially since we weren't even far from the start so I asked identifying questions like what will you be working on? Once he was in the car, he mentioned he carved things out of wood. We dropped him off with no problem. The hike itself wasn't too long, but it was humid. Once we got half way up, there was our ride along friend selling his tikis and bird feeders. The falls had three levels. We explored all three while cooling off in the pools below. It was a gorgeous site. Back to the resort we went to get lunch which consisted of a chicken wrapped tortilla and a roti which was basically Indian curry wrapped in a tortilla. Very good. We walked around the street where we were staying to visit the other resorts we had access to and watched the sunset. That night we went night swimming on our private beach where we saw an opossum. 

Fort King George

Argyle Waterfall

Day 6: 

Englishman's Bay was our first stop in the northern region of the country where we spent half the day. No one was there for the first hour. We enjoyed this beautiful sandy beach with no crowds. The water was very warm and relaxing. We had canned tuna for lunch to save money after splurging at the resort. Amanda bought a multi colored bracelet. We drove straight to the Tobago's Main Ridge Forest Reserve where we hiked a nature trail called, Gilplin Trace. As we parked some local came around the bend honking his horn trying to get us to hire him as our guide through the forest. We had to resist many times. Most locals are persistent with tours for hire on this island. As we walked through the jungle we saw many different species of bird, a snake among bugs and at the end was a tiered waterfall where we decided to turn around in worry of the guide who we turned down would break into our car. 

Arrived at our final sanctuary for the last two nights of our stay. It was an entire apartments with four large beds and a kitchen with just the two of us. 

Englishman's Bay

Day 7:

We awoke early and headed to Store Bay to book our only paid tour for this trip. We dropped off two university students studying in Canada from Malaysia who asked for a ride who were staying at the same place we were. The Bay had gorgeous and soft sand. We did stay long since we had a few other destinations we wanted to pack in for our last full day but there was a stingray hat washed ashore where a guy was cutting it up presumedly to sell the meat. We visited Milford Fort that traded hands between the French and British multiple times. Robinson Crusoe's Cave was next on the list but we had no idea how to get there. It's not much of a tourist attraction. Even the tour guides knew not of it. We knew the region so we began our drive and came across "Robinson Drive" where were only a few houses remained. Amazingly enough we pulled up right above it off the coast line and after getting a confirmation from a local picking mangos, we climbed down the rocky steps and around a bend where we saw a small opening in the coast face. We climbed inside where it opened up and took a few pictures. On to Pigeon Point Beach where we spent a couple hours lounging, eating lunch, swimming and playing pool against locals. Finally our tour boat called, Sugar Lips arrived at the dock where we boarded and motored to the coral where we snorkeled. The coral was dying so it was mostly disappointing but the fish were pretty. Nylon Pool was an area where our next stop was in the middle of the ocean. The water was only 2 feet deep where we were told to rub sand on our bodies to look ten years younger. Back on land and as the sun was beginning to go down, we picked up a few more items such as, a magnet, necklace and a couple bird feeders made from coconuts. 

Robisnson Crusoe' Cave

Pigeon Point Beach

Nicaragua

2/24/17

Day 1 Arrived late into Managua, stayed the night in a pyramid shaped hotel that housed nine rooms. The proprietor of German decent, married a local and stayed put. 

Day 2 we awoke quite early accompanied by a number of bug bites. We wanted to visit Cerro Negro, a volcano you can board down so we took off in our tiny Toyota Versa. The road was treacherous and rocky. After and hour of "off roading" we decided to turn back while we still could. We drive to Leon (second largest city) where we arranged a tour for the next day. The tour that was available that day was for a volcano called, Telica. It is considered the most active volcano in Nicaragua. The road to the base was long and bumpy as we sat in the back of a land cruiser all facing each other. As we hiked, large billows of smoke arose from the mouth as the sulfur smell started to overpower us, we quickly pulled out our bandanas to filter out some of the smoke. The smoke was thick. There was even a random horse at the top who seemed lost looking for food. There was a local selling beer for $0.50 at the top which I thought was funny because our guide, roger said it is good for hydration but we quickly educated him it does the opposite. He felt like he had been living a lie his entire life haha. When we peered into the volcano we could hear what sounded like waves crashes along the shore line, which in fact was magma. The smoke was dense so it wasn't until it got dark that we could once again look into the center and see bright orange waves of lava. Very cool. 

Day 3 leaving at 8 am, the hike to Cerro Negro was windy and carrying a long board felt like we would be blown off the top. Our guide, Omar said that just two days ago there was an earthquake on that volcano and if we were to feel it, we needed to run quickly over the edge where we were supposed to hoard down. The ride down on ash and rock was swift and dirty. We had lunch which was some fried bread with goat cheese and their version of a salad, mostly thinly cut veggies with some type of vinaigrette  in the courtyard where the largest cathedral in Central America is located. After lunch we drove to Granada to check into our hotel. First time having warm water for a shower. We also swam in a the Apoya Lagoon. The water was warm. It was slightly windy outside.

Day 4 we spent the first part of the day wandering around the city of Granada visiting old sites and more cathedrals. The locals selling goods added a bit more pressure on us then previous places, but nothing a few "no's" couldn't handle. Later we drive up to Masayo Volcano. This time we drove to the top, but we were limited to only 5 minutes atop because they say the smoke from the sulfur will ruin your respiratory system. I thought, "well I probably have a week at most" after visiting Telica two days earlier. We did however see lava flowing which again was very cool. From our hotel, we walked back into town to enjoy a chicken pasta.

Day 5 After checkout, we drove to Mombacho, a nature reserve and rain forest with a number of dormant craters. We hiked the first couple kilometers at a very steep incline, then we were picked up by a tourism truck and taken the rest of the way to the top. The views were great, seeing the lake and all the islands that were created from the last eruption. We made our way to San Juan Del Sur, a beach town on the pacific end of the country. The room was more of a bungalow, but it was eighth on a private beach. That explains the rocky, dirt road we drove on to get there. Being on the coast, I wanted to try mahi mahi fish. It was good. Stray dogs and cats always come to your table begging for scraps. It's hard to say no. 

Day 6 woke up and went out our room door to find a completely empty beach. The water was a bit chilly until you got used to it. We some time walking around the town of San Juan Del Sur. This is where a lot of tourists go for the beach in Nicaragua. They have the second largest statue of Christ peering over the beach cove. It was very windy up top when viewing down on the beach. We slowing made our way to Ticuantepe, a town south of the nation's capital where we stayed the night at this large compound. They had fitness classes going on at a gym within the property. 

Day 7 we tried to make the most of this day by traveling on dirt/rocky roads to a nature reserve  where there was a waterfall at the end that supplies 20% of Managua's population. While on the trail, a grande tree fell right in our path. I mean it was huge! It was also loud like concrete shattering. This thing could have killed us if the timing was right. It was fun to explain this to the reception at the front entrance with the whole language barrier thing. Next stop was a wildlife preserve. No one visits these places because they always seem shocked to see white people and we are always the only visitors. We hiked about 6km or so and saw an owl and plenty of howler monkeys who weren't too excited we were there. We could tell by their growls. That evening we drove into the capital where we visited some shops and the lake front. We also had dinner. I ordered a chicken salad. I didn't want to chance too much since I had to fly the next day.