31st December – Our travels in a nut shell!!

New Years Eve 2007!!

Here's a quick Year in review.

On the 19th May, I asked Tan if she would like to take my hand in marriage and share the rest of our lives together. She said "Yes!!"
After a call from a mate, Brendo, we took the plunge to move overseas. Tania and I both finished up with our long term employers for a change of scenery in Canada.

We have visited another six new countries (not including Panama) on this years adventures. We have experienced some amazing things and wild weather. We have had a ball and so glad we started this North American adventure (which has now extended into Central America!)

Here is some video highlights!!

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada - the Maid of the Mist tour at the foot of Niagara Falls. An absolute must!


Cape St Marys, Newfoundland, Canada - the most foggiest place we have visited to date and the wind was so strong!

Points North, Saskatchewan, Canada - first time in a massive helicopter, a Bell 205 or Iriquois (ex-Vietnam chopper) with Jimbo. A fantastic day!!

Points North, Saskatchewan, Canada - Tan got to see her first snow fall. After that we were the only people out in it watching the big fluffy flakes falling from the sky. Oh yeah, we lived at an airport for a while.

Points North, Saskatchewan, Canada - first time driving in a snow storm!

Raven Camp, Saskatchewan, Canada - watching the lakes freeze over from nothing to 5cm thick in three days. I'm in a t-shirt in -8 degrees throwing rocks onto the ice! We lived in a tent by this lake.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA - one thing we weren't expecting to see in 2007. Breath taking!

Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico - I convinced Tan to parasail. It was so tranquil floating 100m in the air over the aqua blue waters of the Carribean.

Volcano Pakaya, Guatemala - standing at the toe of a slow moving, active lava flow watching new crust being made in fromt of my eyes. A geologist's dream!

These are some of our favourite vids of 2007 and we look forward to sharing more adventures in 2008. Happy New Year!!

11th December – Antigua, Guatemala

A lazy morning and a group of us headed back to our favourite courtyard café for a great breakfast. Walking back to the hotel, one of the four volcanoes surrounding Antigua, Fuego Volcano (Fire Volcano) had a mini eruption with smoke, steam and ash spouting from the cone. This morning we headed out for visit a women’s local project. Our transportation arrived in the form of an old ute. Like true locals we climbed in the back and standing, held on tight for the 20 minute ride to the project, wind ripping through our hair.

The project itself involved a number of women (35 initially, 12 now) who started locally selling their weavings to tourists. Part of the money goes directly back to the women and the rest of the money goes back to the community to fund education and health. The women work incredibly hard spend time making table runners, table cloths, clothes and mats.

The best thing about the Planeterra womens’ project was that it is interactive. First up, one lady told the story of how the people lost their land to a wealthy man in the neighbouring village. An interesting story, part fable and some truth. Tan and Sandia got to make tortillas. The aim is to grab a golf ball sized piece of dough and flatten it between your hands in clapping and rolling motion. The tortillas were embarrassing!! The women made thin, perfectly round ones and the girls were scraggy Mr Squiggle style. Once cooked, the over thick tortillas were doughy inside. At least they gave it a shot. We had some lunch prepared by the women, a mix of rice, red soup/salsa and lemonade. Very tasty! A weaving demonstration followed, painstaking labour intensive work but beautiful. Two other women prepared a mat and a fan from long strands of reed. The were very quick and in no time had the completed products ready for us to inspect. I had a go of grind local coffee grown on the hills around the town and I was slow and the quality of the grind was not so good.

We ended up purchasing some goods and we didn’t barter. The money goes back into the community so it was worthwhile. Our ute took us back to Antigua which again was a lot of fun.

Tan was keen to miss the volcano trip but me, the geologist, wouldn’t miss it for the world. We boarded our bus and ended up picking up some more passengers. The bus had 15 seats but the guy managed to fit 19 in. A little squeezy. One of the two girls in the front (single) seat got a bit freaked out when the guy’s pump action pistol grip shot gun slipped down and touched her on the foot. It’s a fact of life that in more remote parts of Guatemala, tourists are targeted for robberies, so the tour operators add some safe guards which include guns. It didn’t matter as we felt safe.

Volcano Pakaya has been active for about three years in this eruption event and it is probably the one of the most group oriented “see the volcano” experiences in Guatemala. We arrived safely and immediately started our 440m ascent over 2km. Locally the track was steep with the occasional small plain. The climb was a somewhat tough as I hadn’t done much strenuous exercise for a while. I spoke with the guide in part English and part Spanish, and gained a greater appreciation for the volcano. The track passed the obligatory maize field and through tropical forest. When we got to the grassy ridge we could see, two red ribbons of lava flowing down the side of the volcano. Pretty good! The northern face has a new dome half way up the volcano, the new eruption centre and the source of the recent flows. From the ridge you could see Guatemala City off in the distance with it’s 4.5 million inhabitants.

We climbed down a slippery ash laden track and onto a 15 month basalt flow complete with aa (rope like) textures. As we approached the lava flows, the guide indicated some small fumaroles. I placed my stick in one which produced embers and a small flame (hot!). Walking over the fresh lava was great as the warmth coming off the lava warmed the skin.

From the distance there were two distinct flows, one more like a traditional lava flow slowly progressing downhill as a red and orange tongue. The other was slower with hot boulders escaping out of the eruption face and rolling down the hill turning from orange to black. The latter was noisy and everyone kept on looking up when the large boulders started rolling.
We approached closer and closer over blocky unconsolidated lava to a slow moving lobe of lava. This flow was amazing. Red hot boulders were spitting out of the lava front with variable size and intensity. I took a photo of Claudio and Sara, the Italian couple, 10m from the flow face just as an orange boulder spat out which gave them a fright.

Standing 10m from a lava flow for a geologist was special. All of the years of training and looking at the solidified versions of this rock and climbing so many dormant volcanoes come down to this. It was excellent.

Some younger guys on the trip got really close, 2 – 3m away, occasionally retreating with the occasional rolling boulder spewing out. Me, more cautious sat and observed thinking “Nope, I don’t think so!”. The guide didn’t seem to fussed and started rallying the group back to a more serene and safer position. We retreat back and the sunset with clouds in the valley and the volcanoes to the north around Antigua off in the distant.

Back on top of the ridge, Guatemala City, was shimmering in the distance, the lava flows more apparent in the twilight with the red glow on the underside of the passing clouds. I followed (under the guides instructions) the white horse back down the meandering and multiple tracks down the mountain. After about 5 minutes the horse disappeared so I led the group down the mountain. Our guide was at the end of the long group making the remainder got back safely. The track wasn’t the best with rocks, tree roots and steps but we finally made it incident free to the bottom. The Lonely Planet guide mentions this area is often a great track for robberies too!! Lucky for us, this didn’t occur.

We drove back to Antigua like sardines and backed it up with a German beer and some Italian food. This one guy on the violin had a repertoire of one song and wouldn’t go away. I kindly said “Gracias, adios!” after our food turned up. Everyone thought I said it was a bit quick but he got the message.

Another highlight filled day.