Cuba

Just being there is like a dream, we had to pinch each other a few times to make sure it was true. There was some new cars, hadn't it been for those you would believe in time travelling. Lots of old cars, big Cadillacs and Chevys. I have never seen so many Ladas in my life either.. hehe... We heard that they have done a lot of restoring in Havanna, and they buildings are amazing!

The American writer Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time in Cuba, and we of course had to visit his favourite places! Talking about writers, just before we left for Cuba we came over a book by a Norwegian author, taking place in Cuba. We enjoyed recognising the names and places, as well as the differences, since this story was happening in the 70s. Fictional book, but had a lot of interesting facts.

No where else have we been at more museums. The Museo de la Revolucion is mandatory, and we also visited a museum with colonial furniture, churches and the Havanna Club rum museum! The last one gave out samples.. ;)

We visited another town in Cuba as well, Trinidad. Here we stayed in a privat house. The house was in proper colonial style, very nice - and cheap. The land lady made really nice food too. Her sister and niece went out with us one night, fun. We got to practice our Spanish as well, hardly anyone spoke English there.

Being in Cuba you have to dance salsa! so we had a two hours lesson, just for fun. but our teacher didn't do it for fun, so we were sweating big time. A lot of fun!

The beaches in Cuba are absolutely amazing, wish we had more time there...

for the third time on this trip we went horsebackriding. This time through the jungle to a waterfall. Not all that after seeing the Iguazu, but a nice trip. I got a lazy horse as usual, but the guide kept whipping it. It was also really scared of being last, so when ever Kristine tried to ride past it sped up and mad it impossble to overtake.

The thing I could really do without though, is the Cuban machoism... tsk, tsk, kiss kiss wherever you go...

Costa Rica - Pura Vida

Wherever we go, there's never enough time. In Costa Rica we did a trip to the Nationalpark of Tortugero to see the turtles and the rainforest. It was the end of the season for the big green turtle, so we were quite excited when we went to the beach at night. We were not disappointed!! We saw to huge turtles, probably around 150 kg. One of them we saw laying her eggs... While waiting for the turtle to get ready, at least 20 baby turtles hatched from their nests and ran for their lives towards the Ocean. The Caribean one it is, as Tortugero is on the east coast of Costa Rica. Baby turtles are tiny and sooo cute. I did restist the wish to pick up one of them. of course!

Was well as turtle watching we were driving around in boats, as there are no roads, but channels in the national park. We saw lots of different birds (the tucan was the definite high light, if only they weren't so shy), caymans (small crocodile), monkeys, poisonous frogs and snakes! This yellow one is just a baby, but if you get bitten and don't get the antidote within a couple of days, you'd die. There was also many different lizards.. not always easy to spot.

On the way to the national park we stopped at a banana plantation. Kristine got to hold one of the pets there.. :)

The last days we spent in Montezuma on the Pacific Coast. Stayed at a hostel with hammocks and lots of monkeys! We went snorkelling one day, but the sight wasn't the best...