The end of our journey inescapably looms on the horizon. The clock is ticking and becomes louder every day, as we make our way south through Chile. Only two weeks after our scorching explorations of the Atacama Desert, we could not find ourselves in a more different landscape: we had to unpack all our cold weather gear to snowshoe in the winter wonderland.
Flu had not seen the ocean for ages.
I must admit that I had got quite used to it during this round-the-world trip, enjoying very different seascapes over the past 16 months and, therefore, somewhere on the way, forgetting that for Swiss people being close to the ocean was quite extraordinary. Hence, visiting the Ecuadorian coast was very high on Flu’s to-do-list for her holidays and she would not be disappointed. José and I, for our part, were equally excited about stopping on the Pacific coast, for we had heard that humpback whales frequented the waters in summer and chances at observing those impressive cetaceans were high.
Aterrizado. Landed.
Soviel verrät mir der Bildschirm am Flughafen von Quito. Flurinas Flugzeug ist sicher gelandet, sie ist bereits auf ecuadorianischem Boden und sehr bald werde ich sie endlich in die Arme schliessen können. José und ich begeben uns vor die Türe der Arribos internacionales/International arrivals und warten gespannt. Jedes Mal wenn die Türe aufgeht steht mein Herz still. Aber nein — es ist nur der Pilot. Und der Passagier aus der Business Class. Und das Kind, das von einer Stewardess begleitet wird. Und und und. Hat Flu vielleicht ihr Gepäck nicht bekommen? Oder ist etwas beim Zoll schief gelaufen (schliesslich wusste ich, dass sie Käse für uns im Gepäck hatte)? Blöde Fragen beginnt man sich zu stellen, vollkommen unrealistisch.
Die Zeit vergeht langsam, zu langsam, wenn man etwas mit so viel Vorfreude erwartet.
Aber dann endlich ging die Schiebetüre auf und da kam sie heraus, wackeren Schrittes, ihren liebsten Rucksack tragend und mit dem grössten Lachen auf dem Gesicht, das ich je bei ihr gesehen habe.
Were you afraid that we had given up our blog? Not at all (though the idea of it occured to Jose from the very first days of its existence…) and we are sorry for the lack of updating and publishing posts. We were just relaxing like this cute sloth we spotted near Isla de Bastimentos in Panama. I guess we were merely taking a huge breath in Central America before flying to South America and starting the last three months of our trip, beginning with Ecuador together with my sister Flurina. So again, I apologise in advance if we will not be frequently publishing during the next three weeks.
We are just busy travelling, enjoying life, and soak in every minute of this special time of our lives.
On our way down from Nicaragua to Panama, we stopped on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to get some sun on the beach and explore the rainforest. Though we unfortunately had little sun — this time being the rainy season of Central America — we did enjoy a day of wildlife watching in Punta Cahuita.
Many a traveler has heard of the beauty of Ometepe Island with its two volcanos, lush hills and beautiful beaches. On our way back down to Costa Rica, we made it our last destination in Nicaragua, thinking that we would finish our stay in this country with its jewel. On the morning we set over to the island, the weather was rather friendly and we therefore got a glimpse of the island’s unique beauty from the deck of the ferry. However, the following days showed us what “rainy season” meant in Central America and we often had to take refuge from the downpours. Luckily we found a room in a nice homestay in Moyogalpa, the main town and port of the island, where Doña Chilo prepared tasty asados (grilled meat) and a vitamine bomb called tutti frutti (fruit juice with pieces of many different fruits in it) — so we did not mind to stay and wait for the rain to pass. In fact, we had some of our best meals of the whole country on this island; and, on top of that, the locals were very friendly and relaxed, more so than on the mainland, creating a laid back atmosphere and slow pace that suited well our days of rest.
I guess we dreamed about that, when we were sweating in the unswerving heat of Montaña Grande: a deserted beach, a lost paradise on Earth, where we could relax and cool down in the water whenever we wanted. Though the waves of the Pacific Ocean — I still cannot fathom who named it like that — mostly raged so furiously that we would not swim in the sea, we found refuge in the pool that belonged to our hotel. No wonder we stayed for a whole week at Playa el Coco, tanning in the sun, playing frisbee on the beach and splashing in the pool. In the evenings we even had the chance to observe courageous little turtles which made their first journey into the vast deep blue, being swallowed by the waves and not returning on land until they would be old enough to lay their own eggs.
