More Photo Highlights

As promised, I've included a few more pictures taken over the last week of our travels through Nicaragua. But first, we've enjoyed our first few days in Costa Rica, including a combined hike of 15 kilometers through the wonderful Parque Rincon de la Vieja near the city of Liberia. The first hike was a loop around some cool geothermal features, including bubbling mud pots, a miniature volcano and a rather toasty lake.

The second hike took us to a great waterfall and a nice pool beneath it, which made for a welcome break after a 5 kilometer slog. Along the way, we spotted an agouti (like a giant squirrel with no tail), a coatamundi, a brown iguana, blue Morpho butterflies and two small coral snakes.

And in another rare sighting, we met up last night with a friend I hadn't seen in 18 years. Walter Cruz, who was an exchange student in Dodge Center, Minnesota, my senior year in high school, drove up with his lovely wife from their home an hour south of Liberia. It was great to catch up with Walter and meet his wife, and best of all, they didn't laugh too much at our weak Spanish. A great local story we heard from Walter, by the way, is that the people of Costa Rica jokingly refer to some missionaries as, uh, testicles. Why? They're always together and one is always bigger than the other.

OK, on to the pictures. The first is a view of Leon's cathedral from its central park.

The second is of a resident of Masaya and his faithful dog waiting for a blessing during the Magdalena Church's celebration of San Lazaro, somehow affiliated with pets.

And the third, my favorite, is of an up close and personal encounter that Geoff had with some local wildlife from the Isla de Ometepe.