We think San Diego is great.

Fresh from 7 weeks in Central America. Salty, sandy, mosquito bitten, done with rice and beans and looking for something other than local beer – along came fresh, hip, bright San Diego. Timing is everything and San Diego hit all the right spots.

Chosen for this trip because of it’s laid back, funky, outdoor and compact city lay out. We had two weeks to spend in and around San Diego and we’re looking forward to getting settled into local life.

We were spoilt for choice – beaches (Ocean, Pacific, Coronado, Mission, La Jolla), downtown (Gas Lamp, Old Town, Little Italy), Hipster action (North Park), more middle class (South Park) and upstate cute beach towns like Encinitas. As such we chose to hop around to try to see and experience as much as possible.

James also featured heavily in our planning for SD and we arrived with plans to visit a bunch of particularly kid friendly stuff – the very big and famous zoo, New Childrens’ museum and Legoland to name but a few #goodparents. Note that Seaworld is not included – hoop jumping killer whales or whatever is just not our cup of tea.

First stop – South Park (not that South Park). Our base for some jaunts around the city. San Diego Zoo, Coronado Island, Balboa Park and some much needed shopping. We found a gorgeous bright airy city with wide sidewalks, roads that took a month to cross and oddly limited street lighting. We also found lots of restaurants, craft breweries and other shops that would be very at home in Hackney were is not for the lack of air pollution and sense of space that made it feel very different.

Coronado Island has an amazing beach alongside a naval base and is picture postcard US of A. Stars and Stripes flags hang from houses and political poster boards are the norm alongside manicured lawns and white board churches. It’s cute, clean and made us giggle.

Keen to see more we headed seaward. Pacific beach no less. We expected surf life, sand in our toes, cool shops, taco stalls…and playgrounds. Put simply it is stunning – there is something really compelling about white sand and surf waves as far as the eye can see. A back drop of a cycle/skating/running/walking pathway and then beautiful modern double story homes with sea views. Finally, the geography in this area means you have sea in both directions on a peninsular that is only 4 blocks wide. Nice!

Our holiday home had a couple of bikes so we hired a trailer for James and set off to explore. Top of our list was La Jolla. John did an early morning dive in a kelp forest making friends underwater with sea lions and cormorants. James and I followed him up there on a ride which is a similar distance to the one we would normally ride on our commute to old work in Hastings. However I soon found out that a heavy toddler, trailer and California cruiser bike was frankly bloody hard work up any size of hill! La Jolla has a great coast line with clear cold seas and resident sea lions amongst other things. It also has nice coffee, restaurants and is just cute enough without being twee.

Despite this fun we had all been feeling under the weather for a few days. James in particular was struggling and so we decided to take a trip to the local clinic to get him some antibiotics and put our mind at rest. We always want to be honest in our blog and this was one of those moments when you would prefer to be at home amongst a familiar medical system rather than googling symptoms in the dead of the night. The back drop of Coronavirus is also not helpful. Cases are growing in California, and he definitely had some of the symptoms. I also don’t want to be dramatic – the clinic gave him the all clear for flu and we know they have very few testing kits for Coronavirus so really we are none the wiser. Either way James is now much better and enjoyed watching more TV than usual whilst he was unwell. Kids get sick everywhere and it is just a bit more challenging whilst travelling in unfamiliar places.

We only managed to stay for three nights in Pacific beach, due to a lack of planning on our side. So we hired our first car of the trip and headed north about 30 mins keeping close to the coast. We had some relaxed days there hanging around the local beaches and playgrounds limiting as much as possible James getting other people sick whilst avoiding total cabin fever. A special call out to Encinitas – we think it’s a pretty compelling area to live in – kids playing in the surf, sea swimming (for John as it’s cold!), great weather (even in February), lovely food and a cool vibe. We might be googling ‘jobs in San Diego’ whilst James is asleep later!!

We had happily postponed a trip to Legoland whilst James was ill and having now made a good recovery it was time to brave it. I was half expecting that James would for whatever not enjoy it as is so often the case with toddlers and when he refused to go on his first ride that looked all the more likely! Things picked up when he got the chance to drive a Lego car – and given his apparent lack of appreciation of other road users I am delighted that he may be of a generation where passing his driving test is never required 😂. We hit the big time in the afternoon when James went on his first two rollercoasters. The second of which John declared he was a bit scared about! We didn’t buy the theme park photos as the look on James’ face was pure terror…though he still is adamant that he loved it and was not scared at all. We had great weather, tiny queues (James still moaned) and a fun time – thanks Legoland.

Having hit most of the top spots early in our time in SanDiego we headed back to the city with a light schedule. Top of the list for all of us was to visit some of the cities breweries. San Diego state has more breweries than any other US state – literally everyone here brews their own. James was particularly on board with this plan as he had figured out that when we go to breweries he gets the iPad! Highlights included an earlier out of town visit to Stone brewing in Escondido and Ballast Point in Little Italy – uber cool spaces with great food and beer.

Looking back on San Diego from the airport, as far as cities go San Diego is right up there. Very kid and adult friendly – we really recommend it.

Next stop – Las Vegas baby! Bring it on…

We’ve visited a fair chunk of Central America over the past 7 weeks. With nearly 2 months of travel in this area we wanted to share our best bits…

Best for kids:
⁃ Surfing lessons. An unexpected win though we do recommend warm seas and ensuring your little one can swim a bit first!
⁃ Zip-lining. Not for those nervous of heights but otherwise a brilliant, albeit expensive, way to spend a few hours.
⁃ Hot springs. Always a win for us.
⁃ Chaa Creek. A resort near San Ignacio in Belize. We stayed in a jungle lodge with open netted walls and no electricity. More upmarket options are definitely available. The combination of jungle, trails, butterflies, canoes, river tubing, howler monkey sounds and open camping was brilliant.
⁃ Ambergris Caye – the secret beach whilst not at all secret was amazing. A child friendly stretch of coral sand and pristine sea kept us happy all day.
⁃ Golf buggy action on Ambergris Caye. Must be driven by a responsible adult with a driving license and not a 3 year old…😉
⁃ All beaches and swimming pools are a win for us. Swimming, jumping, acrobatics, sandcastles, collecting rubbish from the sand. This all kept us very busy and happy.

Beaches:
⁃ Roatan. Everything that a Caribbean beach should be…when the cruise ship is not in town! House reef wading distance out for snorkelling.
⁃ Ambergris Caye Secret beach. Ditto re Caribbean paradise plus a child friendly depth all around, kayaks and tubes to play on.
⁃ Matapalo / Uvita. Pacific beaches backing onto the jungle. The bath warm water is clean if not clear. Lively waves are good for surfing.

Nature:
⁃ Chaa creek – see above. To be woken by howler monkeys is spectacular. We also spotted an anteater, agoutis, butterflies, iguanas, bats, a terrapin. V cool!
⁃ Costa Rica in general is a natural paradise but the highlight for us was definitely spotting the tree frogs.
⁃ Uvita / Matapalo. A real natural paradise with jungle hitting the beach. Though annoyingly we didn’t see much and I suspect the marine life with whales and dolphins would have been good.

What we wished we’d skipped:
⁃ David in Panama. Bad scheduling and a flower festival made us stuck here for 2 days. There is literally nothing to write about David.
⁃ We should have taken less time in Monteverde (Costa Rica) but in the end we had a fab time hanging out with our Canadian pals.
⁃ A lot of fuss is made over the Resplendent Quetzel (bird). We saw one. Whatever.
⁃ The free hot springs in the evening in La Fortuna. An odd 18-30 party experience cramped under graffitied bridges.
⁃ James sickness in Medellin. We got away lightly but 4 days into the trip we totally could have done without it!

What we wished we’d seen:
⁃ More of Colombia. It’s a vast country with so much more to offer and just our kind of place. But the distances involved means that It just wasn’t a good idea with a toddler.
⁃ Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Roatan and Belize were our Caribbean adventure but it still would have been nice to see the Costa Rica version.
⁃ Bocas del Torres in Panama. It’s supposed to be a spectacular beach area but tricky to get to if like us you haven’t planned for it.
⁃ Santa Catalina in Panama. In our pre James days we definitely would have hung out at this kind of place but the long journey and trade offs to visit other places meant we skipped this.
⁃ North of the Panama Canal into the jungle. Looked very cool but we were doing jungle elsewhere so we skipped this.
⁃ More sloths. They don’t do much but it would have been fab to see more of them in the wild.
⁃ Blue hole and shark alley in Belize. Given John and I both dive we would have loved to do the Blue Hole but it’s a full day trip that we would have had to do one at a time. We tried to snorkel Shark Alley but apparently they are not so keen about toddlers being bait 😂.

All in all, travelling through Central America with a toddler was filled with amazing experiences and once we’d found our travelling on local buses mojo it was relatively hassle free. In fact travelling with a toddler opens up a whole new world thanks to 3 year olds abilities to break down social and cultural barriers… We also recommend travelling without one! 😮

Dazed from a very early morning get-up we reluctantly headed to the airport to leave the paradise island of Roatan for Belize.

We’d considered Belize as a travel destination in the past (pre James) but it’s not a straightforward country to fly to from the UK so we never ended up going. Known for its dense jungles, reefs and minimal tourist attractions we were unsure how many toddler friendly things we’d find to do there – But since we were going to be in that part of the world it would have been rude to miss it this time around. Plus it seemed like a good end point for the Central American part of our trip.

After we checked in at the airport in Roatan there was a bit of a surprise in store for us. There was only one aircraft on the runway and it was tiny! With only three others passengers we bagged seats directly behind the pilots. What a way to get to the next country. James however was more interested his impromptu carrot cake breakfast (the only thing available at 06:00 in the airport) and left our seats covered in crumbs… there’s no hiding the whodunnit on such a small plane 😳

Safely back on terra firma our first stop was Chaa Creek lodge near San Ignacio which is nestled in the Belizean jungle on the banks of the Macal river. Being cheapskates we opted to stay in the jungle campsite with no electricity and a shared wooden shack toilet block, rather than the posh lodge complete with spa and swimming pool. Despite the lack of luxury there’s something special about being lulled to sleep by jungle nighttime sounds under the light of a hurricane lamp. So too is a 05:30 wake up call by a troupe of howler monkeys in the trees overhead.

That said Lucy did get a reminder that we were in the jungle for real when one evening she discovered a scorpion in the campsite toilet cubicle. Thankfully both made a hasty retreat and neither were harmed.

It turns out that filling our time with toddler friendly things to do in a jungle was easier than anticipated. The camp had canoes for guests to use so we spent a morning paddling up river spotting wildlife along the way. There were even a few light rapids to test our canoeing skills but we failed at the first hurdle and had to get out and push. As you can imagine James isn’t the most helpful in such situations. We made a pleasant lunch stop at a botanical garden then it was a leisurely float back downstream to camp.

River tubing seemed to be a big tourist draw in that part of the country but came with an expensive price tag. Again, being tight northerners at heart and unsure whether James would enjoy it we found a way of trying it out for free. The posh lodge had inner tubes we could use to float our way downstream back to our campsite. An hour later we arrived with wet bums and with only a slightly bored toddler. It seems James tubing highlight was actually the al fresco wee he did at the end of the jetty!

The rest of our time at Chaa Creek was spent lazing by the posh lodge pool, walking the many jungle trails and visiting an on-site butterfly farm which James surprised us again and loved.

The local family who ran the campsite looked after us beautifully. They cooked us amazing food and helped entertain James when he was being grumpy, we couldn’t have asked for better hosts. Thank you Chaa Creek.

Our next stop was San Pedro town on the island of Ambergris Caye, one of the many small coral islands that line the Belize barrier reef. Considering that ambergris is a grey waxy substance produced by the digestive tracts of sperm whales you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s probably not really worth the 90 minute long water taxi ride from Belize City to get there. However it’s actually a beautiful tropical island surrounded by white sandy beaches, warm turquoise sea, with a friendly laidback Caribbean vibe.

The main mode of transport on the island for locals and tourists alike are golf carts. So not wanting to miss out on the fun we hired one for a day and headed north along potholed roads to the ‘secret’ beach which was touted (so clearly not secret) as being the best on the island. It didn’t disappoint and James spent the day playing in the water with his two newfound friends from North Carolina.

We’d hoped to be able to take a reef snorkelling trip whilst on the island but none of the operators would let James do the snorkelling so instead we spent our last day on the island chilling Caribbean style – checking out the local playgrounds, eating ice cream, afternoon beers, diving off jetties into the sea… at which James excelled and impressed everyone with his daredevil antics.

In the end Belize turned out to be one of the best places to entertain a toddler that we had visited yet. Mainly down to the openness/tolerance of the local kids to playing with a slightly loopy English boy.

It was sad to leave Central America but it was time to head north to San Diego in the US. Despite loving the last month and a half in the tropics we were both looking forward to some time without applying sunscreen, constant sweating and the ever present nighttime threat from mosquitoes. City life, craft beer and food that doesn’t contain rice & beans here we come….

Our original trip itinerary had us landing in Colombia, heading up to Panama, moving onto Costa Rica and then somehow arriving in Belize some weeks later. We had wanted to keep the itinerary flexible to see what we fancied and following some rapid Google action we settled on a series of flight hops to see some countries that were not originally on our radar.

I imagine lots of people have not even heard of El Salvador, indeed if it weren’t for a certain song in the 90s which I LOVED I may not have heard of it either. Its a small country bordering Honduras and Guatemala.

The capital San Salvador has the unenviable reputation of being the murder capital of the world. Things are however improving thanks to efforts from the new President. As ever we took care and blended in as much as a couple of el cheles (Salvadorean version of gringos) and an objectionable toddler can!

The decision to go to El Salvador was driven by a couple of things. When you read travel posts it feels like it might be a special place – great nature, volcanoes, friendly people (gang members aside) and it is compact meaning we can see stuff relatively easily. We also loved the idea of hopping into a new country which is still relatively unexplored by tourists.

Because El Salvador is a bit more risky we chose a four night break staying in the capital in a nice area and booked Salvadorean Tours take us out each day. That means we didn’t have any planning to do for a few days – no buses timetables to figure out, no decisions to make except where to have dinner. Result!

We got a great taste of El Salvador, touring the capital, visiting volcanoes, national parks, Mayan ruins and…churches. John’s highlight was inadvertently getting his ‘energy read’ by a Mayan Shaman (I saw him more as an old dude out for a picnic near the Mayan ruins). John sleeps easy at night now he has been told he has lots of positive energy. I didn’t rate the Shaman’s abilities much though as he missed the obvious chance to tell us we have an grumpy child 😂.

What we saw sadly was a little unremarkable. We have no regrets visiting El Salvador and seeing somewhere new, but the lack of wildlife and limited tourist attractions, aside from historical monuments (not our thing), meant it only held our attention for so long. James was sympathetic to this and helpfully suffered a bout of travel sickness putting pay to our final day’s tour. I write this from a McDonalds soft play area…and aside from the blooming cold air conditioning I’m quite happy 😆!!

We can also say that life in El Salvador is never dull – whilst in town the military stormed parliament to demand better equipment. They were fully armed, although a bit like Bogota everyone is fully armed all the time so I guess that’s not news worthy. Whilst we were warned I don’t think any of us expected to experience two earthquakes. Neither caused damage but I couldn’t have put it better myself when after the second one John suggested it was time to leave the country before it falls apart!

Leave we did and we took a short flight to Honduras. If we had doubts about the security of El Salvador then Honduras was looking even more sketchy. Serious gang crime keeping the country in poverty, foreign office guidance not to take public buses, but has a government that says it is open to tourism? The answer to all of this is Roatan island in the Caribbean. It hosts a million or so cruise ship day visitors each year and is just beautiful. 40km long and a few km wide we think we may have found our beach paradise. Life on Roatan is still not totally safe – we were warned against taking the short path around the bay we were staying at, it just isn’t safe even for locals unless in large groups.

We booked four nights next to the best beach on the island (world?), West Bay. Golden coral sand, crystal clear waters, a reef wading distance from shore. Here’s to a little bit of Caribbean paradise!

I don’t really have much more to say about Roatan. We sunbathed, swam, built sandcastles, swung in hammocks, had some beers and repeated. You’re welcome 😊.

James has been practicing his swimming wherever possible on the holiday. He apparently swims better than the guy who looks after us in our accommodation… he’s an embarrassed 18 year old living on an island and cannot swim! James also got to give snorkelling a go…and is starting to get the hang of it.

All good things come to an end. We fly on to our last country in Central America – Belize. First stop a jungle lodge with no electricity- dear god!

We’d spent a week in Costa Rica exploring the Pacific coast. Now was the time to head up country to La Fortuna and onto Monteverde, firmly on the gringo tourist trail.

Confidence was high and we were winging it on our local bus journey to La Fortuna. After a convoluted 6 hour journey over the mountains (despite what the guidebooks say booking ahead apparently helps!) we did finally arrive in La Fortuna, the town at the foot of Volcan Arenal. When I visited 10 years ago the volcano was still spitting out lava but thankfully (as Lucy still hasn’t got over our Nicaraguan live volcano climb 6 years ago) it’s calmed down and is now classified as being in a ‘resting phase’ i.e. isn’t doing much now but could kick off at any point. Whilst there are no longer any fireworks displays it still cuts an intimidating figure looming at the end of the high street.

Despite our best efforts, so far there were still no sloth sightings. Then on checking-in to our hotel there they were. Two in the tree right outside the hotel entrance. No kudos for spotting them though as it seems they just hang out in the same tree pretty much all the time. In all honesty, despite the anticipation it was a bit of an anticlimax seeing two grey-brown lumps doing literally nothing. James’s attention was held for about 2 seconds and he returned to trying to kick gravel off the path which is clearly more exciting.

As you do when staying in the shadow of a brooding giant volcano, we decided to head to its hotspot. Baldi hot springs is basically a series of 25 pools filled with hot water which seeps up from the depths of the volcano. James met a couple of play mates from Vancouver Island, Tucker and Mason and there was no looking back. We thought that 3 hours there would be enough…7 hours later we found ourselves trying to coax him into leaving.

The next day we opted for a guided walk through the lush rain-forested slopes of the volcano to do some wildlife spotting. Whilst the trek was a bit tame by our usual standards we did get to see coatis, leaf cutter ants, toucans, white faced monkeys, agoutis and hummingbirds aplenty.

The stars of the show though were the red eyed tree frogs which emerged at dusk. Far more interesting than sloths as they actually move. In fact Lucy may have accidentally squashed one trying to brush it off James when it jumped onto him, although the details are unclear since it was so dark 😳

The rest of our time in La Fortuna was spent enjoying some of the local cafes, restaurants and bars before heading to our next destination, Monteverde.

The journey to Monteverde has to be one of our easiest yet. To go by bus takes 9 hours to cover the 110km which gives you an idea of the terrain. Thankfully there’s a more tourist friendly way of getting there. A seamless 3.5 hour bus-boat-bus service which air conditioned busses you to the shores of lake Arenal, takes a shortcut by ferrying you across the lake, then another bus picks you up on the other side and safely deposits you right outside your hotel. Being in gringo premier tourist attraction land has its benefits.

Santa Elena is nestled just below the cloud forest of Monteverde so makes a good base for exploring the area. It also means that you frequently get a drenching when the clouds from further up the mountain get blown by. Monteverde is not only home to one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, it also has some of the best zip-lines in the world. We mentioned the idea of zip-lining to James and he was well up for it so we booked ourselves in for the biggest and the best the next day.

Selvatura Adventure Park has 13 zip-lines through the forest canopy, one of which is a whopping 1km long! Thankfully for us they are happy to take toddlers, so James was paired up with his guide Kevin and off we went.

The horizontal rain and 40 kph winds didn’t deter jungle Jim who absolutely loved it. He was even allowed to do the 45m Tarzan swing which some of the adults in our group wimped out of (good parenting?). The first thing he said when unhooked from the rope was ‘Can I do it again’. Legend!

Back at the hostel James met a couple of new playmates, Simon and Desmond from northern Canada. We all (parents and kids) spent a wonderful couple of days together romping around local playgrounds, eating ice cream, hanging out in a nearby village square, exploring forest reserves and enjoying the sunset views over the Golfo de Nicoya.

A funny story that must be told (sorry Simon) – Simon sadly got sick with a bad ear infection and had to visit a doctor. In a stupid attempt to lighten the mood Lucy retold a story of her childhood when in Spain she got sick and the doctor tried to stick a tablet us her bum. Unfortunately Simon lost this in translation as apparently his ‘tablet’ is iPad size and shaped 😱. Even more surprising… upon his visit to the doctors he did indeed get the very same treatment. Happily Simon got well quickly and quickly got back to wrestling his brother and James. Thank you Mary Jane, Shane, Simon and Desmond we had a fab time.

It was then back to San Jose for a couple of nights in a posh (relatively) hotel to scrub off the dirt from the forests and get some laundry done before flying to our next destination. We are excited to be changing countries and particular to visit one which we know so little about – see you in El Salvador.

I too often tell people that I married John for a few very good reasons. Amongst others:

#1 – Meeting Neil Cole in 2000 taught me that I should never have to pour my own wine. John does this very well.

#2 – Portion control. As I type John has this evening hidden the biscuits. Good husband!

#3 – John spent a year or so as a safari guide in Namibia so is an excellent wildlife spotter, demonstrated by finding the quetzal thingy in Panama that the US twitchers stood by us completely failed to spot.

John had also been to Costa Rica a decade ish ago and always talked about the amazing wildlife that you can see – sloths around every corner! Confidence was therefore high as we hit Costa Rica. We were going sloth spotting!!

The southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica is a bit more off the tourist map until you get to Manuel Antonio national park. It’s hot and humid with jungle mixed amongst the terrifying palm oil plantations that are typical around here. Palm oil is part of most processed foods amongst other things and a major cause of deforestation. It’s so sad to see what it is doing to countries like Costa Rica. Borneo was the worst example we ever saw with orangutans condemned to a thin strip of natural jungle only. The native jungle in this part of Costa Rica is thriving more so than Borneo and runs along the coast right down to the beaches which are long, gorgeous dark sandy strips that stretch on for miles and miles.

We settled for a few days in Uvita and the Ballena National Marine Park, hanging around the beach keeping our eyes peeled for sloths and monkeys.

Each morning I headed to the local deserted beach for one of my most memorable runs ever. Miles of empty clean idyllic sand, lovely waves hitting the shore and the famous whale tale sand/rock spit out towards sea all with the backdrop of jungle. Gorgeous!!

This was the first time in the trip we hit our winning combination of ‘holiday stuff’. A sociable guesthouse with some other gringos, local cool eating places, wildlife, beaches and the newest entrant…a playground. Happy days!

Local beer update – we had enjoyed Club Colombia and Balboa (Panama) so far but Imperial in Costa Rica has now taken the lead.

We seemed to have hit our travelling groove and on a recommendation from a fellow gringo we decided to head just slightly up the coast to Matapalo. We stopped in a guest house called Mi Vida, thanks Anja and Federico for having us (especially for the packed lunch for the bus journey north). Should you find yourself in this part of the world we really recommend it.

Jet lag firmly behind us we were having more relaxing evenings and in Matapalo James saw his first holiday sunset. Happily playing in the surf with his local pals he was super excited to see the ‘sun go for a swim’ in the Pacific Ocean. These are the special family times that I hope we all remember when we are back in Blighty. I won’t for a minute suggest that travelling with a toddler is simple but there are magical moments too.

The following morning we had a brilliant impromptu bike ride on a dirt track along the coast and back down the beach. Annoyingly the bike we found with a child seat was too small for John so I got the pleasure of the headwind, sand sinking ride back to the guesthouse. It was hard work!

Time to move on we contemplated our next move. A decade ago John visited Manuel Antonio National Park, which is a little further along the coast. The Lonely Planet suggests it has now become very developed but still really recommends a visit. We however chose to preserve John’s memories and head straight on to San Jose.

San Jose is an unremarkable capital but was the overnight stop-off for Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal. Coincidentally it was also the first place we stopped where there was a Crossfit box…it would have been rude not to visit after nearly a month without seeing a barbell 😂. Thank you Crossfit Baruk – you were fab!

Next stop Volcán Arenal. Current sloth count = 0.

Panama, it holds an air of mystery and intrigue. A place where misfits go to disappear or hide their fortune from the inland revenue. It’s hot, humid and sticky. The sort of place where a wave of heat hits you as soon as you step off the aeroplane.

Panama City is slick, clean (relatively) and expensive. We spent a couple of nights there, just enough time to buzz around the city on an open top bus, visit the Panama Canal, hang out at a very cool rooftop bar complete with swimming pool, and hide from the searing midday heat in an air conditioned shopping mall.

From the city we headed up to the cooler highland climes of El Valle De Anton for a few days (see previous post). Then it was back down to sea level to San Carlos on the Pacific coast as a stepping stone for heading further west. San Carlos quite unexpectedly turned out to be a whole load of fun. After a morning of playing on the beach with James we decided that afternoon family surf lessons were in order… No one wants to hit the beaches of Hawaii looking like a complete novice. We all had the most amazing time but is was James who was the star of the show. It only took him a few attempts at body boarding with his instructor Rodriguez before he was up standing unaided. Legend! In James’ own words “The next time we go surfing I will be able to do it on my own”.

Next came our first real test of travelling long distance on local buses with James. It didn’t start well. It turns out that trying to flag down a David bound bus from the side of the Inter American Highway in the searing heat isn’t as easy as the guidebook suggests. Two hours and several full buses later even the local guy who was trying to get to David gave up. To cut a long story short, just as we were starting to discuss evacuation plans a bus stopped. With a quick change of buses in Santiago (a nondescript town about half way) we finally made it to David nearly seven hours later. David is just an overgrown agricultural town so the plan was to stay one night then head up to Boquete on the slopes of Volcan Baru first thing the next morning. However our plans were scuppered by a flower festival being held in Boquete which meant all the accommodation was fully booked until after the weekend. So another day and night in drab David it was.

When we finally got there, Boquete was kind to us. A spring like climate in a beautiful setting surrounded by jungle clad mountains and of course, flowers. Our time there was spent doing a coffee tour at Finca Dos Jefes which was just delightful. James spent the time playing with some of the farm workers’ kids, so everyone had a fab time.

We also headed out on another waterfall hike up into the surrounding cloud forest. Whilst the waterfall itself was nothing special the trail was stunning and we even spotted a Resplendent Quetzal (not massively resplendent to be honest) and a small troupe of Howler monkeys. Once again James was a legend and walked a good 2km to the waterfall, but being a cloud forest it rained on our way back down. Who would have thought that having to put on a rain jacket to stay dry and warm would cause a meltdown?… 3 year old logic!

On our final day Lucy and James went horseback riding whilst I spent the morning chilling by doing my own coffee research tour of the cafes in town.

Since we are planning to hit the islands of Belize later in the trip we decided to skip the paradise islands of Bocas del Toro and head north in to Costa Rica. A decision we found out later was a good one when we met someone who had just spent 5 days there sat looking out from her hostel at the pouring rain. So buoyed by our newfound confidence doing long distance journeys we decided to make a dash for the border by bus.

Overland border crossings can be a bit tricky and time consuming but by usual standards this one was relatively smooth. Passports stamped, next stop Uvita in Costa Rica. Pura Vida!

Once upon a time (pre James) we would have enjoyed hiking up a mountain, earning ourselves cold beers and a good lunch. Post James we had assumed that it was not realistic – James loved walking when he was younger but now he can’t go 20 metres without declaring he has tired legs!

Nevertheless temptation got the better of us in El Valle de Anton where we are now. It’s a town a couple of hours west of Panama City, 600m above sea level and in a massive dormant (or at least inactive for a long time!!) volcano crater.

We did a short walk to a waterfall yesterday, which went well, so we started eyeing up the main hike in town – La India Dormida. Squint slightly and the peaks look like a sleeping Indian, apparently. Google says 45 mins up, a 3 hour round trip??! Reviews suggested it was only for fit people, there was lots of scrambling, it was hard to find the path etc. But then we saw a blog from a woman who took her 6 year old up and therefore assumed everyone else was just being a bit dramatic.

We sold it to James last night. Something about climbing a mountain like Pepper Pig, although apparently Pepper always goes in a car!

We woke excited however it was blowing a gale, apparently not as bad as the U.K. has had this week but still enough to make us reflect on whether this was sensible. We decided to crack on.

Our essential hiking pack list has changed from the good old days. This time it included a Lego digger truck, a teddy bear and wet wipes. We even packed rain coats – good parents 👍.

Now, admittedly we did carry James from our hostel to the start point in the jungle, but we figured he’d soon get bored walking along the road and we’d save his legs for the main climb.

First stop…bakery. We’re not idiots and this boy would need an incentive. It seemed like this would be a good occasion to offer James his first doughnut. Again – good parents!

We were off and soon enough climbing up the mountain through the jungle over rocks, tree roots and some pretty steep sections. The ascent went well, he took his time – 90 mins for us to get up but he walked (and scrambled) nearly all of it. Waterfalls and bridges were good milestones and the doughnut was a winner!!

The trail was supposed to be a loop so when we hit the first peak, which was a bit blowy, we pressed on to the second and third peaks which were less visible. Less obvious however were the high winds and near vertical ‘paths’ down the other side. We had shunned the idea of a guide – seemed like a waste of money and now we are not so sure.

This was obviously the perfect point for James to get a bit tired, grumpy and attempt to push his Dad off the mountain. Brilliant. We pushed on and edged our way down the mountainside on our bums and happily found someone with a good OS style map who helped us out. Just a little more bum shuffling and we could take a right turn to circle back to the original trail. Much better than the alternative – scaling higher up the mountain in high winds with an annoyed toddler… and increasingly annoyed parents since we weren’t even treated to a doughnut!!

Unlike the rest of the day we don’t have any photos of these moments, which tells you everything you need to know about how much we were focused on getting down the mountain in one piece!

Off we set on the return leg. James sat happily on our shoulders with us trying to make our way down a mountain. Actually it wasn’t that bad, easier than climbing up with him on our shoulders but we both had shaky legs by the time we stopped for a waterfall paddle which perked us all up.

Shoes back on we finished the descent and headed as quick as possible for lunch and a Panamanian Balboa – cheers!

It’s our last day in El Valle so after lunch we headed to the volcanic hot springs, for some much needed relaxing.

We were surprised we made it to the top and happy that it means a hike is not off limits for this trip. James has since declared that ‘it was terrible’ but he says that about most things most days so we’re ignoring that for now.

Tomorrow it’s back down to sea level for some beach time!

I know…let’s start the trip in Colombia, Bogota in fact. Geographically sensible but probably one of the more challenging or downright dangerous (according to a certain pal of ours) locations to kick off our trip.

The first 36 hours were spent cocooned in hotel luxury. Even the whopping 2600m altitude (nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis) didn’t bother us there – maybe the grand club lounge was exempt from such things?

Keen to feel, see and taste the real Bogota we moved into La Candelaria – the oldest quarters in Bogota. Within a few hours we had been scammed by a taxi driver and realised that our hotel was overlooked by 3 friendly armed police. Our hotel wasn’t special it seems – many blocks in this part of town are guarded. Robbery is the main risk so we were very careful and left our Rolex and diamonds in the safe at our 3 star hotel 😂.

Despite the visual drama the city felt pretty safe. We enjoyed a fab food tour, James made friends at the local market and we went up the funicular to Monserrate. The city is pretty hip in places…like us!? Craft brewed beer, dry ice G&Ts and artisan brewed coffee were all readily available. Thanks for having us Bogota – you were fun!

Feeling more settled we jetted off to Medellín excited to be heading to Narcos country. Medellín was hot, but fresh and almost spring like, we were excited, James was…sick. Yup we had our first tummy bug less than a week after departure. James was a trouper but as you do we bunkered down in our (thankfully nice) apartment, with the odd trip to our local coffee shop and waited it out.

We solved the issue by watching reruns of Narcos on Netflix and John did make it out to Comuna 13, formerly the most dangerous barrio in the city run by narcos and guerrillas – Now transformed thanks to the guerrillas’ truce with the government and various community led initiatives.

Onto the Caribbean in Cartagena. Don’t get too excited people…this was a Colombian city version of the Caribbean.

We had a revelation in Cartagena, stupid really as we should have considered this already. If you do exactly what a toddler wants he is much nicer 😆. We therefore spent a few days riding buses, looking in tunnels, sitting beside soft play, eating pancakes, trying out chocolate making, playing on the beach and finally a whole load of swimming pool action. One small error was made with a hot trip to a castle…it wasn’t pretty.

We still had fun – great food, a fab run around the city walls for me and John found loads of stuff to take photos of!

As for our ability to speak Spanish – we managed. The effort to learn paid off even though it was limited!

Next stop Panama City. I think John wants a linen suit and a hat…

Gracias Colombia, hasta luego.

Xx

We made a deal in Hong Kong 3 years ago that we would travel again before James went to school.

For that reason our move to Hastings was always temporary and yet looking back over 3 years at the seaside we have warm hearts and in many ways it would have been easier to stay put.

As we pack up our house and spend December saying goodbye it’s impossible not to think about the things we have loved about the last 3 years in Hastings. In no particular order we as a family will miss Lisa and family, Di Di, the Old Town, East Hill, Hanoushka coffee, The Stag, our teams at work, the friends we have from Hastings Direct, Crossfit 1066, Trojan training, all our workout buddies particularly Dr Mo, PT legend Ads, Sunday morning training sessions, sea swimming, our seafront cycle commute, the occasional beer bike crawl with cycle buddy Nick, Bay Spice curry Fridays, fresh air in general.

Like last time we will miss seeing our friends and family for these 6 months. The recent farewell gatherings and good wishes remind us of what and who we are leaving behind. In particular we apologise to James’ Grandparents for taking him away yet again. And yes we do realise that it is James you miss not your children 😂. We will take very good care of him and each other.

In the words a of legend – we are doing this for many reasons, some of which we don’t fully understand. That there is an inner urge is undeniable.

Happy New Year peeps and we’ll see you in Bogota! Xx