I laughed with Jo last night that all we seem to keep hearing is ' i know it's been a long travel day but i think yesterday beat all records so far. We were collected from our hotel on Ometepe, an island in the middle of the lake in the middle of Nicaragua at 4.45, an hr to the ferry, an hour ferry journey and then an endless bus ride through both borders. I had heard how americanised Costa Ricca is so I expected to find a nice orderly border but what a nightmare. Appartently the name of the game is climb over a couple of fences, though a couple of gates and amazingly you cross from one country to another. I gathered so much muck and dirt that my faithful travelling companion to date;my case grinded to a halt, abit like a child throwing a tantrum refusing to move another inch!the guys in our group kindly helped although I always feel slightly guilty as we all know i should really have a back pack!

As we journeyed though Costa Ricca last night to the capital lots of chat arose on the bus about what we have done, what we might do differently etc. For someone who has done it all, I think it has been a good mix of sites and ruins and chill time. Maybe for those that joined half way through there has been alittle too much chill time, the pace did seem to slow as the weeks have gone on. Monday evening we all opted to suffer a group meal (I don't mean this to sound harsh but with 20 people it gets tedious) to visit a restaurant set up by an american lady in Granada where she trains boys off the street to cook and serve. Jamie Oliver Nicaguran Style! It is such one of those 'instant feel good situations' that you find yourself complimenting everything excessively and lots of positve karma abounded. The food was excellent and alot more sophiscated than the norm so all in all it was a great evening. The walls were adorned with the most wonderful expressions ' Cultivate internal peace', act so everyone wins. I took photo's of them all.

Tuesday morning we set off to catch a ferry across the lake to Ometepe. After a two hour bus packed bus journey on a chicken bus ( no chickens in sight , buses like the traditional american school buses!) with lots of locals. The aim is how many people you can fit in one seat. You just hold on to your back pack, bundle along and keep repeating to yourself ' how lucky i am to be on holiday', the journey passess as the landscape changes continually outside distracting your attention. Our guide has a tendency to sound quite aggressive, not sure if she means to with some of our bus drives so when we met our driver to take us from the bus station to the ferry port shouts began and tempers flared. The guy laughed, called her mad and drove off with other passengers! appartently he was going to come back for us but i knew straight away that a man who has just been shouted at by any women had no intention of doing anything for us , not to mind coming back!! after waiting half and hr i had a quiet word to our guide that maybe we should make alternative arrangements. she seem to be still brewing over things.Ater a frantic dash to try and catch the 12 ferry we laughed when we saw what all the fuss was about. Have a look at the photos. All I can say is that i know what illegal immigrants must feel like trying to smuggle themselves into europe from Africa.. 20 bags of cement seem to stabilise us and surprisingly the passage was reasonably smooth. Ometepe was formed from two volcanic eruptions so it is quite unusual in form and sustance. We were staying in the 'best hotel on the island' about an hour from the ferry port. The whole place had a feel that it had been windswept and it was just waking up and getting back on its feet. We were staying in sweet cabins but the wind was so strong that between that and the air conditioning unit you felt like you were sleeping in the midst of a terrible storm, not quite being able to differenciate between them both. After a slow start on Wedneday morning Jo and i headed off for a stroll down the road to a find some cold springs 2km away appartently! we found the entrance,a little old lady's house at the side of a road, pay a dollar and you can push the gate open.. down a muddy track through a banana plantation a mysterious trail to the springs we hoped! we just laughed, took some photos and hoped that anything remotely dangerous wouldn't pounce on us! the springs were lovely and very refreshing and seem to have done wonders for my back. In all the travels i have done my back has never bothered me but about 10 days ago a niggling pain started in my lower back and hasnt seem to have shifted. I woke up yesterday morning for the first time in days not conscience of my every move. What joy! Jo and I have taken to do a few pilates stretches when we remember in our room before we go to sleep. Wednesday evening we found a Latin Music Channel. We were some vision on all fours on our beds breathing in and out to Ricky Martin!

Most of a group leaves us today and 12 new people are joining us for Christmas. We leave the capital in the morning and head north again to an area called La Fortuna and onto the Cloud forest for Christmas day. I proudly or maybe more stupidly told everyone last night at dinner that I used always organise a play on Christmas day at home. One thing lead to another, one glass of wine to another and we have ourselves convinved that it is a splendid idea to organise our own very special bilingual nativity play for the all the hotel guests! Appartently i have to write it and everyone can have a part. How very gracious of us! We'll see with lucid thoughts today if the idea still prevails. Jo and I are going shopping for the afternoon. We're going to treat ourselves to a new top for Christmas day!

I can't imagine what it is going to be like to spend Christmas without my family and friends around but to all of you my warmst and happiest christmas wishes. I shall be thinking of you all as always and giving thanks to God for your continual presence in my life. May we have many more happy times together throughout 2008.