Earthlings, Angels & Aliens

Between the Merlin bird ID app and Myra's eagle-eyes, we've managed to see a number of exotic birds. Here are screenshots from the Merlin Bird ID of what we've seen so far. Beautiful to see but, a squeaky-wheel call. My Guitar The humidity here (its been raining steady for four days now) is so high that my guitar is a soggy tooth pick. High-E buzzes regardless of where my fingers are. Oh well. Its a lovely rain when you can stay dry. Ok, its starting to grate. This video is loud... Car Rentals Our original appointment with one company was cancelled because they ran out of, what they called "well-loved" cars (a.k.a. very old). A man in the restaurant had over heard us talking and asked if he could provide us a car . As the conversation unfolded: he's from Quebec, nothing wrong with that; has a car coming out of the repair shop soon, all his offerings are very old - vintage  circa 2000; and he had no business license. Thank you, we'll keep you in mind (not t...

By fluke I managed a picture of the sunrise from 37,000 feet, somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico. Our driver Kuki stopped at a road side Soda for a refreshing coconut drink. In spite of technology's ability to throw me into a frothing rant, I am thankful for Google Translate because it was nice to be able to use it to cover the major gaps in my espanol during our conversation from the airport.   Lush, and I don't meaning drunk! Everywhere we look its strong healthy vegetation. The weather here is how I remember Calgary and Newfoundland; If you don't like it, wait a minute. In under an hour you can have sultry warm sunshine, misty rain, a torrential downpour or a gentle nor-wester. Notice I didn't say snow?  We can see the lake from our Lake Gardens Villa.  The town of Nuevo Arenal has a classic Central American feel to it.  The market has great fresh produce and all sorts of staple foods: wine, cheese, rice, beans, taco chips.  The humidity must be close to ...

Today was our last ride.  The forecast was for rain between 10 a.m. through 2 p.m.  And as it turned out as we came into this small town as it started to spit and we just found a restaurant with big umbrellas before the down pour happened. We ordered a couple of espressos and drank them (dry) watching the rain from under cover. As others from our group showed up they literally rode their bikes right under the umbrellas. We asked if we could eat our bagged lunch there - no problem!  A group from B.C. knew of a brewery that was setup in a church in this same small town, so once the rain ended we rolled over to the cathedral and had a flight of their prize winning beers. When we staggered out the sun had come out and it was clear skies all the way back to the boat.   Fantastic trip. Tomorrow we find our BnB and explore Amsterdam. 

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, then here's an essay. We boarded the Fluvius and have a great room. Food is three squares a day, they provide food for a bagged lunch.  First day was 57km. 2nd Day 38 and today 38km. The rural areas of Belgium are amazing. Today we sailed into the Netherlands. I hope you enjoy the pictures :-) Our test ride. Fortunately they ride on the same side as we do. The corn, which is everywhere, is very tall. Strawberry vending machines at a strawberry farm. Delicious. Wooly cows. Moo! A street in Antwerp Countryside early morning. Greenhouse. All the plants are in their own little pot. Belgian hops. A corn harvester. Narrow road. Ferry crossing. We were excited to see the Fluvius pass locks. Perfect timing. A walk in town. A 10 story museum. The city actually owns the tower of this cathedral. They use it as a lookout. Early morning sail. Decalcium calcium duct - Y E S! Canadian War Cemetery. The Dutch used to flood the low area to defend it.  I was ...

Sitting on our WestJet flight WS18 for Heathrow I extract our SIM cards from our cellphones and gather up all our Canadian currency and place it in a ziplock bag along with our housekeys. I then pull out another ziplock bag and distribute some British pounds and our newly minted Oyster cards between Myra and I. Oyster cards are an all-in-one transportation ticket for travelling in and around London. Upon arrival we once again bypass the crowds standing around the luggage carousals as we have only carry on and stop at Sim Local, the first of many kiosks selling SIM cards. Once installed we check our phone numbers and text each other a hello.  Myra shows me the instructions on how to get to our overnight accommodations. Yikes! Like, spray painted street numbers? How rough is this neighborhood? Maybe we shouldn't have gone cheap cheap on our room. The Oyster cards are really amazing: a single tap, gates open, and on we go.  My apprehension continues to mount as the our particular...