Water, water, everywhere

This email is just going to my friends who don't live in Ireland. I don't feel that a description of life in Ireland is going to be too interesting to people living here, so I'll just include them again when I start my next travelling.

Last weekend was St. Patrick's, and the pic of the week is from The Irish Times on Tuesday. It shows kids in the parade in Gort, Co. Galway.

Water water everywhere
------------------------------------------
Well, there is no shortage of water since I arrived back to Ireland. It rains almost every day, and the train line has been flooded for the past couple of months. It's completely submerged, I saw pictures of it in the paper. So if you're travelling from Dublin you have to get off in Limerick and get a bus to Ennis.

It's strange with water in such plentiful supply that you can't drink it. People imagine that the water would have been dodgy in Costa Rica, but it was perfectly fine. Then I move back to one of the wealthiest countries in Europe to find that the water here in Ennis is undrinkable, because there is cryptosporidium in it.

They had this problem before, and put in a temporary filter. But with the heavy rain they've had to by-pass it.

Light in the evening
----------------------------------
When students in Costa Rica asked me what I missed about Ireland I always said the long bright evenings in the summer. In Costa Rica the length of day varies very little over the year. But boy did I choose the wrong time to come back from that point of view. When I arrived it didn't start to get bright until about 8.15am, and then got dark just after 4. Now there's what we call 'a stretch in the evening', and it will be even more after the hour goes forward at the end of the month.

St Patrick's
-------------------
I was in Dublin last weekend, and went to a St Patrick's weekend party on Saturday. It was a great night. There were several people I hadn't seen since I'd come home and it was great to catch up. It ended up being almost a 12-hour drinking session, having started just as Ireland was being anihilated by England in the rugby, and ended up around 5am. A typical St. Patrick's.
---
So that's it for this week. I'm writing on Good Friday, and my brother, Enda, is coming down on the train from Dublin to spend the weekend with us.

So, until next week,

Slán

Éamon

Today's headline in The Irish Times: Opposition says Ahern's fitness to lead now in doubt

Ennis, Ireland

Folks,

For those of you that don't know where I am, I'm in the lovely town of Ennis, County Clare in the west of Ireland. The pic of the week (not that the mails are still weekly) shows the coastal town of Lahinch on a lovely sunny day. So what have I been doing. What am I planning to do?

Christmas
---------
It all seems very long ago, but I had a lovely Christmas here with my family. My mother had just returned from Africa shortly after I came back from Central America, and we had Christmas in my sister Sharon's, with her husband Niall. It was a lovely relaxed Christmas. It was almost a complete family, apart from my sister Clara who's in Korea.

Trips to Dublin
---------------
I've been on a few trips to Dublin. It's fantastic having the opportunity to meet up with people when I've been away so long. But it's strange going to Dublin when I don't have my own place there. My house in Rathmines is let, so I have to rely on the kindness of family and friends for accommodation. It's also very busy when I'm there. I'm out every night and it's really expensive when you're out every night in Dublin.

Ennis
------
As I said, Ennis is a lovely town, although apart from family I know nobody here. But it's nice and relaxed, and I'm getting plenty of time to work on writing, going through all my stuff I've got stored here (and throwing out half of it), and just catching up with family. The weather is incredibly wet. I know Costa Rica has a lot of rain, but never all day, and never for many days at a time. Still, it's the west of Ireland, and you expect it. I haven't found it too difficult adjusting to the climate. I had many years to get used to it before my Central American years, and you get back into the swing of it very fast. I miss being able to throw on a t-shirt and being set for the day. Now it's trying to get out between showers and donning sweater and jacket and hat to go out. I've had some friends come down to visit, and that's been great, and a much more satisfactory way of catching up than when I'm in Dublin.

Writing
-------
I've found it slow progress on the writing front. I've set up a blog www.startwritenow.com to track progress, but it's all very early days, and it's a difficult career to get started in. I've read a lot of information on the whole area of freelance writing, and most people talk about how it was slow to start, so I'm prepared to give it time.

Plans
-----
I'm going to stay here probably until the end of next month. Then I'll go to Korea, where my sister Clara is living. My plan is to stay for a few months, and then move to somewhere else in Asia. But I'm not going to tie that down, just in case I really like Korea and decide to stay.
-----
So that's a quick update for now. You can email me any time at the usual address. I may do updates on the website (irishduo.blogspot.com), but I won't be sending them by email. I'll give people to opt in to my emails again when I start my next travels.

In the meantime,

Slán,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Irish Times: EU report warns of conflict with Russia over energy issue

Journey Home

Hi. Remember me? I used to clog up your inboxes on a weekly basis!

Well, I've missed writing to you, and I also feel that I didn't finish the Costa Rica story. So today read the journey home, and next week I'll give you a little update on what I've been doing since.

The pic of the week shows a couple of surfers on Lahinch Strand, where I went for a walk in my first week home. They're a little overdressed by Costa Rican standards.

Heredia
--------
I managed to muscle my way onto the bus to San José from Panama City. I had booked it online, and confirmed by phone, because I didn't get an email acknowledgement. But still when I arrived they had no record of my booking.

Back in Heredia I stayed once again with Joaquín, and met up with the teachers from the school. It felt a little strange knowing that I was going away from these places and people that were so much a part of my life for more than 2 and a half years. On the other hand, it was about the fifth time I'd said goodbye, and so it was high time I actually went.

Leaving Costa Rica
--------------------
I left Joaquín's house, and got a taxi directly outside. As soon as it pulled over the driver said "Hello, Éamon. How are you?" He was an ex-student! I flew from San José directly to Newark. It was a beautiful morning and we flew directly over Heredia, on a little loop I'd seen countless planes do from my balcony. I could see the apartment from the plane, getting my bearings from the swimming pool and football stadium down the road.

Newark
---------
Newark is in New Jersey, but it's practically part of New York. You can see Manhattan from the airport. We arrived in a snowstorm with temperatures of -2 degrees, which was such a contrast. I arrived at lunchtime and the airport closed in the afternoon so we were delayed by few hours leaving.

I was very early to the departure gate, and was there as the Irish accents (mostly Limerick) gathered around me. They were the famous New York Christmas shoppers, and if I was looking for a parody of what modern Celtic Tiger Ireland had become I couldn't have chosen better. Everyone was talking about the malls they'd been to (Woodbury Common and Jersey Gardens), the designer gear they'd got, and how much they'd had to pay for excess baggage. It was all money, money, money.

Shannon
----------
I've only flown into Shannon once before, and it's lovely because you land in such beautiful Irish countryside. We were supposed to land in the dark, but thanks to our late start we arrived at dawn. There were cloudless skies as we approached the coast. I could clearly see the Aran Islands and Mutton Island (I didn't know it, but I looked it up on a map when I got home). I could see the lights still lighting up Lahinch and Ennsitimon. It was beautiful.

Then once inland we were into dense dense clouds. Sharon met me at the airport. We were both true to our emotional McDonagh selves and couldn't speak for about 5 minutes.

Acclimatisation (or for the Americans - Acclimation)
----------------
It's amazing how quickly you adjust to the temperatures, putting on extra clothes, and bringing a jacket everywhere, and turning on the heat. I guess I lived here for over 40 years, and I was in Costa Rica for less than 3, so it wasn't so foreign. The weather in my first week was beautiful. Cold days, but with clear cloudless blue skies. I got about five days of that, before the heavens opened, and the rain (and it's such cold rain) set in, and we've fairly much had it ever since.

Still, for now, it's good to be home.
-----
Until next week,

Slán,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Irish Times: Employers and unions split ahead of new pay deal talks

Panama City, Panama

Folks,

Well, here I am. Final week. It's hard to believe. I'm now in Panama City, and it's been so hot the last couple of days that I'm happy to be hiding away in my hotel room with the air conditioning on. The hotel is called Hotel California, and the mat outside the door actually says, Welcome to the Hotel Calfornia.

The pic of the week shows the financial district (El Cangrejo) from the old city (Casco Viejo). I'm not sure what I expected of Panama City, but it wasn't this. It's like Manhattan on the Pacific.

Leaving Ometepe
----------------
I had a really early start on Monday, taking the 5.30am ferry from Ometepe. They gave us life jackets when we got on, and I put mine by my side on the seat. Of course, the next minute I moved and off it went into the lake. A major rescue operation ensued as they scrambled about to recover the lost jacket. And they were ultimately successful.

The journey, while still a little bumpy toward the end, was a lot less rough than the way over, and I had time to enjoy watching dawn rise over the volcanoes.

Transit through Costa Rica
---------------------------
My bus took me to San José, where I had an evening in the city before getting the 11pm bus to Panama City. It was great to be back in San José and knowing where everything was. I was able to go to a good restaurant and then pop out to a cinema. Having started on Monday at 5.30am, I arrived into Panama City at 3pm on Tuesday.

Panama City
------------
As the bus comes in through the city it looks really beautiful, and unlike any other place I've been in Central America. There are big architected buildings with columns and lawns. And the financial district is full of high-rise banks and apartments. There are a lot of banks.

Just as I arrived news broke of the John and Anne Darwin case, the canoeist who faked his death. She had just moved here, and I was never so aware of the city in the news.

However, now I'm here a while and have had a chance to explore I have to say that there are extremes. In the wealthy areas I saw more Lexus cars than anywhere else I've ever been. But in the poorer districts you could be anywhere in Central America, and the wealth doesn't seem to have made any transfer.

The Canal
----------
Of course, the centre of the whole Panamanian economy is the canal. You cross it on the Puente del Las Américas when you come into the city, and although I saw ships out in the ocean there were none in the canal. I thought it would be choc-a-bloc all the time.

But they actually have the flow of traffic north (Pacific to Atlantic) in the morning, then let it clear out, then route the southern traffic in the afternoon. At night smaller vessels go in both directions.

I went to see the operation of the Miraflores locks on Thursday. To build the Canal they created a large artificial lake that stretches from the pacific side to the centre of the country, which is 84 feet above sea level. Then they they cut through the mountains (The Culeba Cut) between the lake and the Pacific. Three massive locks near each coast bring the massive ships up the 84 feet and back down again.

Because of the shape of Panama (like an S on it's side) the canal actually runs from the northwest (Atlantic) to the southeast (Pacific). So the Pacific entrance is actually east of the Atlantic!

The Canal was only handed over by the Americans to Panama on 31 Dec 1999. There was concern that Panama wouldn't be able to run it. But in the 7 years they've increased the transit rate, and have begun construction of new locks which will almost double the capacity and allow much larger ships use it. This extension was approved by referendum last year.

The size of the ships going through is amazing. The largest are called Panamax, and are built to exactly the maximum dimensions of the Canal locks. And they're massive. They pay around $250,000 to cross. And the extension will allow a whole new generation of even larger ships to use it.

Mother's Day
-------------
I dropped my clothes to the laundry on Friday, and they were to be ready Saturday. However, when I went to collect them the whole centre was closed. It turned out 8 December is Mother's Day, a Bank Holiday. Although what bright spark came up with the idea of celebrating Mother's Day on the feast of the immaculate conception I don't know!
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I take the 11pm bus overnight to San José. I'm in Heredia for a couple of days, and then fly to Shannon through Newark on Thursday, arriving Friday morning.

So, until next week,

Slán go fhoil,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Prensa: 'Obedience due' in Institutional Protection Service regulation (I haven't a clue what it's about either)

Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua

Folks,

I'm now on Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua. I have come to realise that I do seem to be drawn to little islands. Maybe it's because I'm from one.

The pic of the week shows some kids in the town of Altagracia on the north of the island that insisted I take their photograph.

León
------
There was no direct bus from Tegucigalpa to León, so I had the driver drop me off at the crossroads, where I got a hugely overcrowded bus for the last few hours travel. Lots of the local buses in Central America, often called chicken buses, are old US school buses. This one even had a sign up telling us to protect our riding privileges by observing the same conduct as in the classroom.

I had been told that León was perhaps the most beautiful colonial city in Central America. But, for me, it didn't beat Granada which I love. However, it does have a magnificent cathedral, which is the largest in Central America.

Granada
----------
I had been in Granada before, back in March. You may remember that it's where I lost my wallet. As I walked down to the lake I remembered the last time I'd taken that walk, and I could recall so clearly the rising sense of panic as I realised it was gone. And when I got to the bench I had last sat on before I realised the wallet was gone I could remember that the book I had been reading was 'The Secret Life of Bees'.

It's a beautiful colonial city, and I was delighted to have the chance to get back there before leaving Central America. There were processions and bands every night while I was there, because it's the festival of La Purisma, the 10 days leading up to Immaculate Conception.

Ometepe
---------
Lake Nicaragua is huge. When you're on the shore it stretches beyond the horizon, and it feels like you're on the coast. In fact, before the Panama Canal was built many people preferred Nicaragua as a location. Because the Río San Juan is navigable and links the Caribbean with the lake, and then there is just a narrow stretch of land between the lake and the Pacific.

Ometepe island is created by two volcanoes that rise up in the middle of the lake and are connected by an isthmus between them. It takes an hour to sail over, and it was a really rough crossing. In a lake!

It's beautiful here, but most of the activities centre around hiking up volcanoes, or horse-riding. So way too energetic for me. I've been taking it easy, and exploring just by taking the local buses.

Mobile
--------
I still have my mobile phone from Ireland. It's my calendar, organiser and alarm. But in my two and half years plus in Costa Rica it never operated as a phone; it never connected to the cellular network because there was no roaming agreement. I was quite surprised when I turned it on in Guatemala at the beginning of my travels and it leapt into life and delivered me a text message. I was then able to use it throughout Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Belize and Honduras, but after crossing the border to Nicaragua it lost the Honduran signal and I've had no coverage.

So I was amazed on the boat to Ometepe for it to beep with a text message received with a special offer from O2. I wondered where it was getting the signal from, and saw that the network was none other than ICE, the Costa Rican phone company. So just as I'm about to leave they've obviously started allowing roaming!
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I'm going into my last full week in Central America, and I have my ticket to get a bus directly through Costa Rica and into Panama for 5 days, before returning to Heredia next week for my last few days before flying home.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Wednesday's Headline in La Tribuna: Ortega gives Assembly an ultimatum.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Folks,

I've enjoyed my time in Honduras. I am travelling to Nicaragua tomorrow, and I have just three weeks left before I'm home. I've shaken off my cold, and I'm all set for the final few weeks.

The pic of the week shows one of the two wrecks in the harbour of the wonderfully-named town of Coxenhole in Roatán. Which is quite a worrying sight as you arrive on the ferry.

Roatán to Copán Ruinas
---------------------------
It was an early morning start to get the ferry from Roatán, and then I got an up-market bus to Copán Ruinas. We were served with soft drinks and crisps, and we had two films to occupy us on the journey.

The security was much stronger than I've had on a bus before. They checked our tickets against our passports, took individual photographs with a digital camera as we got on the bus, searched our bags, and even cigarette lighters had to travel in the hold.

Copán Ruinas
-----------------
The town of Copán is a lovely little cobbled town, and you can walk out to the ruins, which are just a kilometer away. The weather was really beautiful.

The ruins themselves are less dramatic than either Tikal or Chichén Itzá, because they're on a smaller scale. But they have very rich carvings on the stones and that's impressive. There is a large hieroglyphic stairway, where the steps have hieroglyphs telling the entire history of Copán. However, it's covered with a canvas roof to protect it from the elements, which diminishes the impact.

There are a number of tunnels which run under the ruins. They cost the same amount again as entry to the ruins (€10), and my guidebook said that they weren't worth it. But when I was going around, I found an unguarded door, and nipped in and had a good wander around. I could hear the footsteps of the guard trying to find me, and I pleaded ignorance when he did.

Tegucigalpa
-----------
I stuck with the same bus company and again had two films for the
journey to Tegucigalpa. As we left Copán they showed 'Apocalypto', which was very appropriate having just visited my third and final Mayan site. It did make me wonder when I saw decapitated heads rolling down the steps I'd sat on.

Tegucigalpa isn't really on the tourist map. Even the taxi driver was amazed that I planned to stay a day. He'd assumed I was heading straight to Nicaragua in the morning.

My hotel strategy is the same in every location at this stage. I choose one from my book, and head there by foot or taxi. I pretend I have a booking, which stops taxi drivers or touts plaguing me about other hotels. If I like it, I check in. If I don't I wander around to find a better one. I was arriving later than usual in Tegucigalpa, it was after 7pm.

The hotel I'd chosen was booked out, and they redirected me to another. They showed me two rooms, both with bathrooms infested by cockroaches. I told her I didn't like them. 'But they're everywhere,' the girl replied. I could see that. So I was back out on the street trying to find somewhere else. It took a while.

My book is 'The Lonely Planet Guide to Central America on a Shoestring'. It's great for finding cheap places. The only problem is that it only has basic places, so if you decide to go a bit more upmarket, which I was prepared to do wandering around he dark streets of a strange city at night, they don't list them. It's strange to find yourself asking 'You don't have anything a little more expensive?'

I tried another place which was full. They directed me to another which only had room in a shared dorm. They told me that there was another hotel, but that they charged 300 lempira a night, as if this was extortion and I couldn't possibly afford it (€10.60).

It's ok, the bathroom is spotless, and remarkably cockroach-free. I had a wander around the city today, and there isn't much to see. But it was nice to take it easy, and organise my bus to Nicaragua for the morning.
-----
So that's it for this week. I've been travelling for eight weeks now, and I really miss having a base. I feel like I'm just wandering from hotel to hotel, and I'd love to have an apartment that I could just go back to for a week. It makes me look forward to getting back to Ireland all the more.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in El Triunfo: Premium petrol to rise by 6 lempira

Roatán, Honduras

Folks,

And so now it's four Caribbean islands in four weeks, given that four weeks ago I was still on Isla Mujeres.

The pic of the week shows sunset on my last evening on Caye Caulker.

Journey from Belize
---------------------
It was an early start to get the 7.30 boat to Belize City, and then the bus to Punta Gorda in the very south of Belize. I arrived about 6pm, and stayed overnight.

The next morning, I was down to the ferry to get the small boat that would take us to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. The crossing was quite rough. It was a small fast boat, so it thumped over the heavy waves, and I could see my rucksack up front going into freefall every now and then. There was a group of six American Christians, clad in Missionaries of John Paul II and pro-life t-shirts. So I figured there would be enough prayers going on to keep us all safe.

Two borders
--------------
At the dock we were met by lots of taxi and minivan drivers, offering to take us across the border. A guy on the boat had told me that I could go with him and his cousin for 75 quetzales (I can't remember the rate, but about €6.50). He told me it would be relaxed and comfortable. But when I got to the clapped out car it looked like it didn't even have springs. So I headed over to the Christians who were negotiating a 50 quetzales fare on a minivan, so I joined with them.

We had to go through Guatemalan immigration, drive 20 minutes, Guatemalan emigration, drive 10 minutes, Honduran immigration. From there we picked up a bus going to San Pedro Sula, the next big city.

From San Pedro Sula, I got another bus to La Ceiba, the port where boats go for the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras. That completed two days of quite hectic travel.

Currency confusion
---------------------
I didn't know the rate of the Honduran Lempira, so I asked one of the Christian group, and she told me the rate to the dollar was 18.80. I knew that the dollar was €0.68, so I calculated a rate.

When I got to La Ceiba, my hotel was €15.60 a night. But it was a dive. I tried the hotel next door, which was €38.60, and out of my price range. So I stayed in the cheaper one.

I had dinner in a fairly ordinary restaurant, and again it wasn't cheap. I was surprised, because according to my guidebook, Honduras was to be one of the cheaper countries I'm visiting.

Later, I was in an internet café (which was also a bit pricey!) and I looked up the actual euro/lempira rate. It was more than double the lempiras per euro rate I'd calculated. I had multiplied by the 0.68 euro/dollar rate, instead of divided.

So now, my hotel was only €7.15 and matched it's dive status. I moved to the more expensive one, which was now only €17.60 and was perfect.

Roatán
--------
The Bay Islands are a group of 3 islands off the north coast of Honduras. They're former pirate islands, and, like Belize, have more of a Caribbean than a latino feel to them. In fact, from Belize down to Costa Rica, the places I've been on the Caribbean seem to have much more in common with each other than with their own countries. The experience feels more like, I imagine, Jamaica than anything Spanish.

Roatán has quite an international feel. There are people of all nationalities, some of them living here. There is a huge range of restaurants, Indian, Thai, Swiss, Vietnamese and Mexican. With real Mexican food. Not like the type you get in Mexico.

It's beautiful here, and I have a really nice room in a lovely hotel right on the beach. I had come here to dive, but I've picked up a fairly nasty headcold, and you're not supposed to dive with one. I've taken the chance on it before, but I'm pretty bunged up, and if it's still the same tomorrow I'll skip the diving.

The weather this week hasn't been great. From Sunday, when I left Belize, to today, Friday, it's been overcast and rainy, with just a little bit of sun. It doesn't bother me, but some people who are on short holidays are not too happy.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I think I'm heading back to the mainland on Sunday, then heading to the Mayan ruins at Copán, before heading on down through the capital, Tegucigalpa, to Nicaragua.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Prensa: Strong warning from Chavez to the United States at OPEC summit