The Last Post (For Now)

Last Friday a big white car took us from the Hotel Tryp to Panama City's international airport. We took a four-hours-and-a-bit flight to Houston, waited around in Houston for a bit, and had dinner at the same restaurant in which we had dinner when we stopped in Houston last time. We got back to Vancouver at about 1.30am because the flight was delayed. When we got to our house we went straight to bed.

The rest of this post is pictures and a video of some of the best moments of this holiday.

This is a video of the take-off from Caracas to fly to Los Roques in a very small plane called an Islander. You could see the pilot flying the plane.

This is me having fun relaxing on the nice warm sand on some island in Los Roques while I have my body buried by my sister, Lucy.

I picked this starfish up from sea floor near one of the islands in Los Roques. It felt very sticky on the bottom. I liked diving down for it. That was fun.

This is Hermitville, a small temporary overcrowded town of hermit crabs. I made it on the last day we were in Los Roques. The island we went to was full of little hermit crabs. They're so light that they keep getting blown over by the wind.

At Willemstad in Curaçao we visited the Kura Holanda Museum and saw this skeleton which was missing its arms. That's why I liked it.
















I like this room in the museum because it had a lot of extinct animals and rifles and animal-shaped furniture.

This is the aquarium in Curaçao in which I had lots of fun looking at lots of weird and interesting fish. I also fed flamingoes, turtles, and a pelican.












One of the best things in Curaçao was the Ostrich Farm. I got feed two ostriches and there were also some crocodiles and small turtles. Most of the small turtles got eaten by the crocodiles because they were put in the same pool, except for one who gets treated as a crocodile.







My favourite thing about Aruba was the butterfly farm which has lots of foreign butterflies and a few moths. They even teach you how to get a butterfly onto your hand by rubbing fruit juice on your fingers. 

This was my favourite thing in The Gold Museum in Bogotá. I liked it because the birds look like they have platypus noses.










This was a shopping mall in Bogotá at which we went to look. I liked the decoration because it looked like dandelion seeds.

At the fort in Cartagena I liked sitting on the cannons looking at the view of the town below.

In the café at the Sofitel in Cartagena there are two toucans. One of them stole some melon. I'm giving this one a stare down.

Sometimes in Cartagena we'd go walking on the fortifications in the evenings.

This was the big train that we took back from Colón to Panama City.

Editorial Note

[This is merely to let you know, gentle readers, that the author of this blog had no sooner returned home than he went to spend a few days with his grandparents. Expect the promised Greatest Hits posting (with video!) sometime in the middle of this week. Ed.]

Last Days in Panama

Yesterday when we we woke up there was a grave problem. I wasn't feeling too well again. Mummy, Daddy, and Lucy went out to breakfast and I stayed in bed. We got in the car and drove to a nearby orchid garden. I stayed out in the café while everyone else went to look. Everyone else told me that it was the wrong season for orchids.

We drove slowly down the mountain and along the coast to Panama City and back to Hotel Tryp. We checked-in and went for a nice lunch except for me: I had vegetable soup and plain bread. For part of the afternoon Lucy and Mummy went out shopping longer than we expected. We lazed about for the afternoon and watched 'Men in Black'.

For dinner I had a bread roll with bananas and apple juice, but this morning I feel much better, so I'm going down for a buffet breakfast.

Today we will fly from Panama City to Houston, and then Houston back to Vancouver.

Tomorrow the last post will show all the best parts of the trip.

Hiking and an Irish Pub

A-hiking we will go

A great view

Yesterday we got up and left Eco Venao, and drove halfway back to Panama City. We drove up into the mountains to a place called El Valle, and found a hotel called Los Capitanes for one night. It was a small room and it had a bath shower with no plug. We went to go and see a waterfall. They had free hiking sticks and we walked across a suspension bridge. You could wade right up to the waterfall but we didn't want to get our feet wet. The area was very jungly and there were hummingbirds and other wildlife. The waterfall wasn't going completely straight. It was jagged with several strands of water going in different directions. It looked not very amazing, but interesting.

We went to an Irish pub called O'Pedro for a drink and dinner. I had fish and chips. It took a long while to come but it was tasty so it was worth the wait.

The Last Beach

Today we didn't do much and I didn't have much to eat because I ended up vomiting again in the morning. I stayed in bed because I was ill and I had to have a lot to drink including ginger ale which I didn't particularly like because my taste buds don't like any fizzy drinks.

I played cards and read my books and as time went on I started to feel better. Later, when I felt 99% well I went to the games room and had a two-on-two series of games of table football with Lucy and two Spanish-speaking children who were in the games room. It was boys versus girls and the girls won most of the games. We only won one of the games.



Later we drove for a little bit in the car and went to a white sand beach. There was a lot of dry wood lying around in various shapes and sizes and there were sand crabs, hermit crabs, and reddish crabs. I went in the water for a bit and it was nice and warm and pleasant. There were no fish to see when we went snorkelling. It was probably the last beach we are going to go to on this vacation.

He tickles Daddy's foot

Beats any famous painting (drawn by me)

When we got back we had showers and started writing this blog, and Mummy discovered a giant green grasshopper on the bed. Daddy managed to get it off by catching it in two origami paper boxes which I made.

A Day of Not Doing Much

Yesterday we went to a small nearby town called Pedasí to go get some things for meals for the next two days at Eco Venao because we're not going out to eat. We don't want to go up and down that hill in the car too often and we have a full kitchen. After shopping we went for a bun and a drink at a small café nearby. I had a chocolate croissant and some milk.

We spent part of the afternoon inside. Later I went to the games room at the lodge on foot through the green and jungly area. There are lots of howler monkeys and we heard them again over breakfast. There are also crickets, various weird bugs, house lizards, stripy lizards, parrots, and hummingbirds.

For dinner we had pasta with sardines soaked in tomato sauce.

As I went up to my bedroom I noticed that there was a giant frog hopping up the stairs beside me. When it got to the top it hid behind a potted plant and started assassinating the flies.

When I went to my room I noticed a few things. There was a house lizard sitting super still on my table, a giant moth on the ceiling, and I have my own private balcony. I got into my big red two-person bed and vomited. I didn't feel too well after that, but I finally managed to get some sleep. The house lizards were going click-click-click, and it was driving me totally bananas.

A Day of Driving

Yesterday we drove out of Panama City and onto the Panamerican Highway. Out of the window I could see lots of jungle. After a bit of driving we stopped in front of some random building for a snack and a stretch of legs. We drove on a bit more and reached a town with a shopping mall and stopped for a sandwich. I had a sandwich with brown bread, ham, and lettuce. It didn't taste very nice and the lettuce was a little dry.

We got on a country road by the sea on the Azuero Peninsula and looked at three hotels. The first was full of birds, including a parrot, emus, and a lot of little birds I can't name, but we didn't like the atmosphere. The second was more grand but too expensive. The third one we stayed in. It was called Eco Venao. We got a three-bedroomed house with a separate kitchen/dining room up on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

We went to go and look at a beach before dinner. It was the type which is really good for surfing. It had grey sand, a few crabs, and there was so much surf it looked as though someone had spilled a giant cappuccino. We went out for dinner at the Eco Venao restaurant. I had red snapper with rice. The restaurant had a terrace called the monkey deck from which we could see lots of howler monkeys making a low groaning sound. As we were driving back there were a lot of crabs trying to cross the road. I didn't see them very well but Daddy said they were bright orange.

We encountered a grave problem when we were coming home. When we were driving our car up the hill our tyres got stuck so we had to take some of the cases out and walk up the hill in the dark. It was a long walk. Then Daddy and I had to walk all the way back down to the car again in the dark and get the rest of the cases. Some of the path was smooth but some parts were very bumpy like being on a ploughed field. The only lights we had to help guide us were fireflies and the stars. There was a pretty magnificent star display. We would have seen even more only there's a nearby small village.

Rainy Day

Two days back we went to go and look at a museum. We had trouble finding it and when we did find it we found out it was closed for renovation. We caught a taxi and while we were driving back we got caught in a huge rainstorm. It was the biggest one I've ever seen in my life. It answered the question why there were such big gutters in Panama City.

Later Daddy and I went to pick up a rental car, which was  Hyundai Accent. It had a spare tyre and a huge boot able to take all the cases. We drove it back to the hotel and parked it in the upstairs parking lot.

Vital Information 3

Added Panama.

The Panama Canal

Taking everything down

We got up early because today we went on a trip halfway up the Panama Canal. We went by taxi to the dock. From there we got on a big boat. It had three decks. We got seats on the top one. After a while a while we reached the area where the ships wait until the operator gives them permission to head into the locks. Someone in a little boat has to come on board ship just to make sure you go into the locks right.

Along the way the guide said a few interesting things such as that they were going to make a bigger set of locks because some ships were too big to go throw the ones that currently exist. We also saw a giant green chopping device with a blade which was dredging the bottom of the canal so that bigger ships could go through.

Eventually we reached the first lock. Most of the big container ships have to have two trains on each side with steel cables connected to them to stop the boat from crashing into the sides of the chamber, but since our ship wasn't so big we didn't need trains. The same time we were going through there was another little fishing boat going through as well. It took approximately eight minutes for them to fill the chamber. We got through and continued on.

Giant green chopping device

We saw a lot of other big container ships heading the opposite way. The ships have something called a Plimsoll Line on the hull. It shows if you've put the maximum amount of containers in. Above the line the hull is one colour and below it is another. When you can only see the top colour it means the ship has been filled with the maximum amount of containers it can have. Panamax ships, the largest ships that can pass through the canal, can carry 5000 containers. The tower over the boat blocking out some of the sun and make you feel very small. But there are now bigger ships called post-Panamax ships that can carry 14,000 containers maximum, so that's why they have to make the canal deeper so the post-Panamax ships can go through.


I had a good time and it was very enjoyable. I recommend doing it. Altogether we went through three locks. The banks were very jungly. On the side of the lake you could see the train tracks for the train we took yesterday.

A Train Ride

Eek! We're going to be run over!

Today we went by bus to Colón. Panama City is on the Pacific, but Colón is on the Caribbean. The bus ride was an hour and something and for some odd reason the air-conditioning was dripping condensation on my window in particular. Probably mere coincidence.

After the long bus ride we had to take a short walk to the railway station to catch the Panama Railway Company train. The line was built a long time before the canal, in 1855. It was a big train which was yellow, red, and black. Looking at it reminded me a bit of the Belgian or German flag. We had to wait a bit before they let us board the train. The carriage we got in had a curved glass roof so you could see up. There was also a high part of the carriage and a low part. We sat in the high part but on the side away from the Panama Canal. There was lots of jungle and thick plants. The air smelled hot and moist. After a little while I went out on the observation deck at the back of the carriage. Two interesting things happened. We saw a spare piece of rail besides the track, and we unexpectedly came into a tunnel. We crossed part of a lake on a bridge and we saw two big ships heading up the canal and a few old broken houses.

When we reached the end of the journey they gave us snack packs which was weird because they're supposed to give out the snack packs on the train not after the journey's finished.

We looked round in the gift shop for a while and then caught a taxi back to the hotel. I'm not having dinner in the hotel restaurant for the first time. Tomorrow we're going on a ship up the canal.

TV Afternoon

Today we tried to find a shopping mall but we spent a long time wandering around on streets and there were a lot of polluted car fumes. Eventually we managed to get a taxi to take us to the shopping mall. We wandered around and I was very uninterested. We tried to use one of those cheap little rides and it robbed us of 50¢. (In Panama they use US dollars. They don't have their own currency.) We went and bought a few sandwiches and got a taxi back to the hotel. Mummy and Lucy went and had naps. Daddy and I stayed awake and had the sandwiches for lunch. We spent most of the afternoon watching Doctor Who and Pirates of the Caribbean. For dinner we went out to a restaurant which served traditional and non-traditional Panamanian food. I had a hamburger with French fries.

First Day in Panama

Today was the first day in Panama. We had a nice simple buffet breakfast and called a cab to take us to the old part of Panama City. There there was a lot of building going on and it was noisy from the sound of drills and people working. We went to see a few churches and a museum about the history of the Panama Canal. There were a lot of screens and surprisingly there was nothing in English. It was all in Spanish. The museum had old tools and showed how the canal was made.

Just practising

We went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I had a few dumplings, two helpings of noodles, and some broccoli. It was tasty.

Arriving in Panama

Yesterday we started off a little late since we had a plane flight at 1.25pm. We were flying with COPA airlines again. The good thing is that they leave on time, not like DAE, the worst airline ever. It was raining as we flew to Panama, but luckily no thunderstorms. When we got out of the airport we called a taxi and told it to take us to Hotel Tryp which had newly opened, but only softly. We went to see two rooms, one with two double beds, and one with a double bed and a sofa bed in a separate sitting room, each room with its own bathroom. The beds here are very comfy and soft, and also super-big (if you're my size, that is). The hotel people gave us each a free drink on arrival, with a maraschino cherry. We took the suite with the sofa bed.

Back to Cartagena for One Night

Yesterday we left Mompox and went back to Cartagena in a four-seater pick-up truck. The driver wasn't Señor Henry like last time but a different person called Señor Roberto. This time we took the short way not the long way. We drove for a while then drove on to a car ferry which went down the river for about an hour and we couldn't get out of the car. At the end we had to do a U-turn on the ferry. Our car was facing the wrong way so we had to do a U-turn around the front of the boat and drive down the other side.

We were driving for a little while but then there was a big hold-up. A blue lorry had skidded off the road and had shed its load—one of those metal containers that they use for transport overseas, and it had landed right in the other lane. So they had to call a purple lorry and three tow trucks (one at the back and two on the sides) had to lift up the container with heavy chains and place it exactly lined up with the purple lorry. We didn't reach Cartagena until very late.

For dinner we had fish and chips. It felt weird having the fries with no dip for a change since I usually put tartar sauce on my fries which some people might think is disgusting. [Local perch breaded and sea bass aux fines herbes—not your average 'fish and chips'. Ed.]

Trying New Food

Looking at this makes me feel sad I ate one

Yesterday we went to see a jewellery shop. They had cutlass earrings, silver and gold filigree work. Then we went to a fancy hotel restaurant for a juice. We went back to the hostel to have a break. At 3pm went on a three-hour boat trip on the river. There were loads of birds. We were supposed to see a lot of monkeys but I was disappointed because we only saw a few. But there were loads of giant iguanas on the banks of the river. We went to the same hotel restaurant for dinner as we did for juice. We had spaghetti and lemonade. We also got to try two traditional Momposian desserts. One was a cooked banana plantain with jelly. The other was candied lime peel. Both were very tasty and sweet. If you have the candied lime peel with cheese, which I did, it tastes sour and sweet at the same time.

The First Day in Mompox

A church near our hostel

Eek! It's a water alien invasion

Today we went walking around Mompox. It's an old town with lots of churches and on an island in a river system. My favourite of the things that we saw was a cemetery where there were lots of cats, kittens, and a dog. The reason I like cemeteries is because they are quiet. We went for a juice a little while later and then we slowly walked home. We watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the Queen parachuted out of a helicopter. In the evening we went and had traditional Italian pizza made by an Austrian who owns a restaurant nearby. He made all the furniture in his restaurant by hand and there was a real wood-fired pizza oven.

Don't blink!

Going to Mompox

The day before yesterday we expected to be driven to Mompox in a seven-seater van but instead instead we got a four-seater pick-up. It was a long drive and some of the road was quite bumpy. It took a lot more time than we expected since the driver was delivering parcels as well. We also went the long way round where you do not take the ferry. We had a small stop at a gas station to fill up the tank and get refreshments. After a lot more driving we got on a car ferry made from three canoes with some planks on top. In the river there were some bits of plants. I decided to call them weed aliens.

Me on the ferry

We checked into the hostel and went for lunch in a moto-taxi. This is a means of transport. The front part is a motorbike and the other part is a little box with a seat and a roof on top. In the hostel there's a dog called Monty. Our room has a bathroom and a big bedroom. There are a double bed and two single beds. We went and had sandwiches for dinner. When we went to go and buy some water at a convenience store there was a power black-out. Lucy's theory was that she pressed a button on an arcade bingo machine and that was the off switch for the whole village. Everyone had candles. There was a nearby thunderstorm, and glowworms helped, too. The power outage wasn't too long and when the power came back on again Lucy and I blew out all the candles in the hostel to be helpful.

Last Day in Cartagena

A view of the theatre

Today we went to see an old theatre; pretty small as theatres go. There were big cushiony red seats and a marble staircase leading up to the circle. Lucy and I did some performances on the stage since it was all empty.

Me and a toucan

Let the match begin!

We went for a snack at a café in a hotel which used to be a convent and there was a giant courtyard in the middle with statues, plants, and a well. There's a type of plant which grows wild here called mimosa which when you give it a good poke all the leaves fold up. I found some in the courtyard that also folded but did it very slowly. In the café there were two toucans. They looked a little different than the ones I saw in Brazil and Argentina a few years back. They flew round, hung on the chandeliers, and stole food from people's plates. One landed on the back of my sister's chair and my chair. I saw one of them wrestling a stuffed toy toucan.

I had a pain au chocolat and a lemonade. This is the last day in Cartagena and in the evening we went up on the roof terrace and watched the sun set over the city.

Staying Inside

Today Daddy needed to do some work so we stayed inside for most of the day. We went out to the Oh! Lá Lá restaurant for lunch. I had a chicken and sun-dried tomato sandwich, a lemonade, and a chocolate mousse for dessert. Yummy! We went shopping to stock up on supplies because on Thursday we are going away to Mompox.

A Day at the Beach

Today we took a boat out to a beach called Playa Blanca. The sand was really soft and warm. There were a lot of small waves. I went snorkelling in the murky turquoise water. I didn't go very far because you get out of your depth pretty quickly and there weren't many fish. After a while I got bored so I came out and had a snack of a few biscuits. It was very busy and there were tables shaded by tents made with tarpaulin and palm tree wood. There was a whole lot of litter around. Very frequently people would come up and try to sell you things such as little statues, necklaces, food, drinks, and massages. It was a bit boring. The speedboat rides to and from the beach were fun, though. For lunch we had a fish called mojarra, which was maybe a tilapia. It was very tasty but the skin was very hard.

Looking at the Modern Peninsula

Yesterday (Sun 22 July) we went and walked about the modern peninsula. Most things were shut. We went into a café to have a pain au chocolat, with lemonade. Then we went to use a bank machine to withdraw some money. First thing in the morning, Daddy and I had gone out to book a trip to the Rosario Islands. It was hard because the prices weren't cheap and so Daddy bargained to reduce the prices a little. But we didn't have much money left. I didn't like the modern peninsula. It was pretty boring. All there was was modern apartments and fast food shops. So we walked to the end and looked at a beach, but it didn't look like there was much to do, but it did have some big waves. We got on a bus which was bumpy and had loud samba music playing and pieces of metal on the back of the seats so you could admire your reflection. When we got back to the old town we went to go and see the Naval Museum. There were a whole lot of bells, model ships, and a dummy of a very sick person who was still breathing.

Vital Information 2

With Curaçao, Aruba, and Colombia.

Hotels and Fireworks

Yesterday (Sat 21 July) we went to go and look at hotels in a different area called Getsemani. We need a hotel for one night here after we go to Mompox and before we go to Panama City. After a lot of looking we finally found one although it was by our apartment.

Here are the heads. But where are the bodies?

In the late afternoon we went to go and see the Museo del Oro here in Cartagena. It was a bit like the one we went to in Bogotá except it was smaller but it still had some very interesting pots and golden weaving.

For dinner we had spaghetti Bolognese with cheese made by Lina (our maid). It was delicious. We heard fireworks so we went up on the roof terrace to see them. There were a lot of Roman candles and rockets.

My New Hat

Today was a public holiday called Independence Day. The streets were a bit quieter and a lot of the shops were shut. So today we went round walking in the old town looking at the architecture and museums. The first place we visited was the San Pedro Claver Church and Monastery. There was a courtyard filled with lots of old trees and a cage with two talkative parrots. In the church there was a coffin built into the altar with a glass panel so you could see San Pedro's body.

We stopped in a little shop and Daddy bought me a Panama—a white one with a black band. In the late afternoon we went up on the roof terrace at the apartment and we took pictures of me with my Panama. What do you think of my hat?

Fort and the Inquisition

Today we went to Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the fort which was used for protection from British and other invaders. We walked for about 30 minutes across the old town to get there. It had a very complex design so that it was impossible to attack. My favourite part was some long snaking tunnels where they kept the cannon balls and gunpowder. There was a steep incline and it would have been a lot of fun to take my Trunki suitcase and ride down it. We climbed up to the top of the fort and went to go look in the sentry boxes. The Spanish could see if other forces were coming to attack. There were a lot of cannon. I sat on a cannon and pretended to blow up some car showrooms far below. My theory about firing guns is that if there's no toy shop you can blow it up.

Take aim! Fire!

A bird must have fallen out of the sky because there were a lot of people standing round and muttering.

There was a small gift shop in the castle and we stopped to have some lemonade.

In the afternoon we went to see the museum of the Spanish Inquisition. It had lots of different devices that were used to torture people if they didn't believe in what the church said. On the top floor they had the history of Cartagena. There, they had guns on display and maps which showed the ship routes across the Atlantic.

Our apartment has maid service. Our maid, Lina, came and made us a traditional Colombian dinner of rice with coconut, fish, salad, and plantain with a sweet sauce on top. There was strawberry juice to drink. It was delicious.

They also fixed the light problem in my room.

Arriving in Cartagena

Living room

Yesterday (Wed 18 July) we tried to call a taxi to the airport but the taxi company wasn't responding, so we had to go outside and wave one down, which isn't very safe. But unfortunately the taxi was a pudgy thing so we were very squashed.

We got on the plane and we flew to Cartagena. The flight was about 1.5 hours. I was reading the magazine in the seat pocket and I flipped to the section called gadgets. There was a laser pointer which you could plug into your iPhone.

View from the roof terrace

Parents' bedroom

We checked in at the apartment in the middle of the old town. We had to climb up a few flights of stairs. It's a lot bigger than any of the other apartments we've stayed in. There's a Jacuzzi upstairs, two roof terraces, and I have my own private downstairs room with its own bathroom and outside shower. There was a small problem in my room. The lights weren't working so it was dark.

We went for lunch at a French restaurant. After that we went shopping for food. Then we went for a long walk in the old town and on the old fortifications. On the way back we had a juice.

Lucy's bedroom

Last Day in Bogotá

Today we went to a more modern area of Bogotá called the Zona Rosa. We went to have a snack called chocolate con churros. It's a deep-fried doughnut with chocolate sauce on the top. It was delicious.

We went to look in a few shops, then we went to a Cuban restaurant for lunch. Outside one of the shopping malls there was a bunch of umbrellas suspended by invisible string. They looked a bit like dandelion seeds. One of the best things I saw in the shops was a Lego notebook. The cover had a piece of Lego on it so that you could put a mini-figure on top of it. It also came with stickers for customising the figure.

We took the bus for four stops to go home.

Going Up a Mountain and Looking at Pots

Yesterday (Mon 16 July) we went up a mountain on a funicular railway. The mountain is called Cerro de Monserrate and it is 3152m above sea level. There are lots of excellent views down at Bogotá. The funicular ride was very steep and very short. At one point we went through a tunnel which was very dark except for a few lights in pairs on each side. After we came out of the tunnel we were at the top except for a short climb on foot.

We went to the same pasta and pizza restaurant again for lunch. You have to go through the kitchen and up some stairs to get to the dining room which only has about five or six tables. I had tagliatelle with sauce made from three mushrooms and fresh lemonade to drink.

Looks like these pots didn't eat their vegetables.

After lunch we walked to the archaeological museum which had lots of funny pots. Then we went to see the people who were at the restaurant we'd been to nearby, but they weren't home so we left a note.

Going to an Art Museum

Today (Sun 15 July) we went to a modern art museum. It wasn't very interesting for me. I'm not always very interested in art but there are a few art museums that I enjoy, such as the Musée Guimet, the Orangerie, and a big exhibition of sculpture by Miró I once saw in Paris.

We went to a Italian pasta and pizza restaurant for lunch. They made all the pasta by hand. It had a friendly atmosphere and everyone there was really kind. It was a house that had been converted into a restaurant.

No Internet for Three Days—Catching Up

We leave Aruba

Today (Thurs 12 July) we woke up and went to the butterfly farm again. Then we went to a Belgian restaurant for lunch. After that we went to get our bags and drove to the airport. When we got there we found that the plane was on time, and when we got on it took off early.

On the plane they give us a small dinner.

There were very long lines for everything when we landed. We were worried we wouldn’t make it in time because the people at the apartment were only staying until 9pm. Luckily we got there on time, half squashed to bits in a micro-sized taxi.

First day in Colombia

In the morning (Fri 13 July) we went shopping at a big Carrefour in a mall near the apartment.

They don’t have a metro system yet in Bogota. Instead they have a bus system which runs very much like a metro. There are two different types of bus. There are those that stop at every stop and there are express buses that miss out a few stops. The buses have their own special road so you go a lot faster than the average traffic does. It is called Tranmilenio.

We took the bus for ten stops to go and see the Gold Museum in Bogotá. They had a gold shell, gold breastplates used for rituals, little gold figures that looked like space invaders and bronze and copper artefacts. 

We went and bought a hat for Lucy because she lost her old one in the harbour in Willemstad in Curaçao.

The Old Part of Bogotá

We spent the day (Sat 14 July) looking at museums and old houses in Candalaria in the middle of Bogotá. First we went to see a museum that was about all the different clothes that people from this region of South America used to wear. Then we went to see a museum of colonial art. In one of the pictures there was a lady who looked like she was holding an iPad which was turned off. There was a chart that showed how Chinese and Japanese ideas passed through Europe to South America and got muddled so they were entirely different from the originals. Another chart showed which empires had which parts of South and North America. The empire that the most was the Spanish Empire and the part that had the least was France. It also showed which things were getting imported where. 

Next we went to the Military Museum. There they had all sort of different weapons and uniforms from different times. They had cutlasses, old pistols, missile launchers, and mortars. They also had cabinets full of medals including some very rare ones that only get given to people if they do something extremely brave. There were a lot of Chinese medals. 

After that we went to a restaurant for lunch. The family who owned the restaurant said that in a short time they would be flying to Calgary to live the mother’s sister. There was a boy who was nine years old like me. He was learning English and he was doing very well. We talked for a long while because he and I like a lot of the same things including chocolate, Club Penguin, and Cartoon Network. After a long time talking and playing about we finally left. Daddy was a little annoyed because there wasn’t enough time left to go to the Pre-Columbian Museum so instead we went to a church. 

Can't Think of a Title

Today after breakfast we went to the beach. At the beach I went to the sea to go snorkelling. There weren't many fish in the shallow water, but in the deeper water there were lots more fish. After that we had lunch. We had grouper fish with chips. Then we went for ice cream. We went to see a movie called 'Brave'. The movie was funny, plus there were a lot of fight scenes. Most of the people were not very smart.

I Go to Visit a Butterfly Farm

Today we went to the Aruba Butterfly Farm. They had one big netted cage garden with all the butterflies in it. They don't have local butterflies. They breed butterflies from all over the world. They have two categories of butterflies. There are those that eat nectar from small flowers, and ones that get sugar from fruit. The fruit-eating types live in the jungle where there are no small flowers. Butterflies prefer small flowers because they are easier to get into.

Two out of eight butterflies that landed on me.

At the Butterfly Farm they teach you how to get butterflies to land on your finger. What you do is you get a bit of nectar or fruit juice on your fingers. Then you have to stay very still while the butterflies come to drink. Then very slowly you put your fingers under the butterfly and lift it up. You have to do it very slowly or the butterflies will get scared. I managed to get eight butterflies to land on me in various places. Three landed on my hat. One landed near my foot. One landed on my back. Two landed on my finger. But not all at the same time.

Butterflies have a special mating dance. They chase after each other.

Also at the Butterfly Farm they had loads of chrysalises and different kinds of caterpillars. Some of the caterpillars blended in with the leaves so that they wouldn't be eaten. Some had hairs on their bodies which looked liked spikes to frighten away the birds. Others had big bright bold colours to tell the birds to stay away.

Immediately after the caterpillars grow they eat lots and lots. Some grow to be really big and some grown to be not as big. When we were in the butterfly cage it started raining a few times. I don't think the butterflies minded but Daddy and Mummy did.

We looked around at the shop and they gave us pineapple and orange juice, and then we left for lunch. After that we went to the beach. I went to look at fish for a bit with Daddy and then I got bored of that so I got out. There weren't so many fish as at Los Roques and it was a lot bumpier and a lot murkier, but I didn't mind too much. When I got out I dried off a bit and then went to look around for creatures in the tide pools. I found a hermit crab. Unfortunately this was not hermit crab paradise. I went and filled my bucket with sand and put him in for a while, then I sent him back to the wild.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Hard Rock where they had clothes and guitars and CDs from all different rock bands, and TVs everywhere showing rock band videos. I had a cheeseburger and fries.

We Leave Curaçao and Arrive in Aruba

Today we woke up earlier to have breakfast. We drove to the airport and returned the little blue car. Once again the pesky airline had made the flight late. They made us stand in the heat for 20 minutes because they forgot to put the crew on board first. Eventually the plane took off. The flight to lasted 20 minutes. We were going to Aruba, another small island.

At the airport we got a rental car and drove to our private house. Aruba looked a bit like Curaçao in landscape but a lot different in houses. The people who owned the house were there to meet us. We went out to have lunch after we put our suitcases inside. For lunch we had fish and salad. Then we went to a big supermarket called Super Foods and shopped for bread, ham, cheese, and fruit. On the way back to the house we went to look at the beaches, which were big and sandy with clear turquoise water. There were lots of boats and people swimming.

After that we stayed in for the rest of the day.

The Last Day In Curaçao

Today we went out for a drive in the car, as usual. We went to the other end of the island. We stopped at a museum about how people used to live called Landhuis Savonet. It was a big old yellow house that used to be owned by the plantation owner. They had bits of broken pottery from the age of Indian ceramics, and a whole urn that had been pieced together. There were straw hats in the middle of being made, and all sorts of different old things.

Out at the back, Daddy went to take a picture of the view, but his hat blew off. We went down the steps and I went through the brambles to get the hat. We went for a walk on paths through the thick undergrowth and there were different types of birds singing in the trees, and loads and loads of lizards. It was probably lizard paradise.

We drove to have lunch. They didn't have menus at the restaurant. Instead the boss came over and told you the entire menu. I had grouper and rice. Also I decided to try a bit of iguana. The iguana tasted like chicken except it was a lot more chewy. A few people came with guitars and a metal instrument which looked like the surface of a can except that it was a lot longer, played by rubbing a spoon up and down the rough edges. It made a pleasant clanking sound.

They also had free ice-cream sandwiches. It was delicious.

After lunch we went to another landhuis called Knip. It had all sorts of different things about the history of Curaçao including dolls, medicine, and instruments. I was worried that the stairs were so steep that eventually someone would break a leg and the whole place would close down.

I'm sitting on a swimming pool deckchair writing this. Next we'll have dinner and tomorrow we leave for Aruba. And the worst part is we have to fly with that pesky airline called Dutch Antilles Express again, and it's not going to be pleasant.

A Day of Feeding Animals

Oy! Don't be a hog.

Yesterday I woke up and had breakfast. After that we went to Curaçao Ostrich Farm. There I fed ostriches and stood on an ostrich egg. It didn't even crack. After that we went to an aquarium. We saw sharks and dolphins, we fed turtles, a pelican, and flamingoes, and we saw lots of different fish. So basically I had a fun day feeding animals.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Larry's. I said, 'The chips taste like construction paper.'

The Second Day In Curaçao

Yesterday evening Daddy was too busy gibbering [I was in a meeting with Hyatt staff—Ed] and so we went to dinner late and there was no time for blogging.

Compare the teeth of prehistoric monsters to the teeth
of the living.

I started the day with a big breakfast. There was a giant buffet. For breakfast I had scrambled eggs, small sausages with pork, bacon, and cake. After breakfast we went back to our room to pick up some water and other things. Then we headed out to the car and drove to the capital city called Willemstad. We went to go and see a museum about the slave trade called the Kura Hulanda. They had model ships and uniforms, and lots of things used for torturing slaves. There were also lots of big masks, musical instruments, and other things from Africa. There were also human and dinosaur skulls. I went and stood by one and showed my teeth.

After that we went to a synagogue where they they made us wear small black hats called called skullcaps. For lunch we had french fries dipped in peanut butter like they eat them in the Netherlands, except I had mayonnaise. It was tasty but unhealthy. Then when we went back to the hotel and went to the swimming pool.

The hotel is called the Hyatt Regency. Our room is big and the beds are big and cosy. There's lots of space to put everything. We have a balcony with a view of the ocean and other parts of the hotel.

Why I Didn't Post Yesterday

This nuisance airline named Dutch Antilles Express held us up because the flight was delayed overnight, and they never told us the proper departure time. We had to keep moving around to different gates and eventually we slept on some old metal chairs in the airport. It was utterly uncomfortable.

Here is some good advice: I do not recommend travelling with Dutch Antilles Express ever. Eventually we got on the plane, but the plane was broken so we all got off the plane again. There were a lot of people who kept shouting and there was a big argument amongst all the Spanish-speaking people about the delays. Eventually they had to bring over another plane from Curaçao, and this plane actually got us to where we wanted to go (also Curaçao), more than 15 hours late. The flight was only 25 minutes long.

This is me holding my prize starfish.

Now let's take it back to the beginning. I woke up in the Posada Movida back in Los Roques. We went to the main place for breakfast. There was croissants, toast, scrambled eggs, and a new type of fruit juice. After that we went back to our room to change, as usual. We met the people with the cool boxes by the main building and we walked down to the speedboat with twin engines.

The boat took us to a sandbar where we saw lots of starfish. The water was very shallow and clear. Some of the starfish were orange-red, and some were light yellow. I dived down and picked one up. It felt weird on the bottom, a bit like holding seaweed. My mum and dad took pictures of me holding a starfish. There were also lots of big conch shells and I would like to have taken one home as a souvenir, but they were all inhabited.

After a little while everyone got back in the boat, the captain roared the engines, and we sped off towards another sandbar. This one had a lot of fish in a lagoon around big lumps of scaly-patterned coral. We saw a lobster hiding from us underneath some coral. There were loads of different fish including a flat sandfish. The sandfishes lay down in the sand and eventually they pop up. Both their eyes and their mouth are on one side of their body. So if other fish wanted to tease them they could hide on the side with no eyes (see Finding Nemo).

After than we got back in the speedboat and sped off to the third and last place, for lunch. It was another sandbar wit lots of dead coral disintegrating into sand. Lunch was wraps with ham, cheese, and lettuce. There was water to drink and Oreo cookies for desert.

This is Hermitville. An overpopulated town of hermit crabs.

One of the things you really should know is that it was overrun by crabs. There was a big crab that we saw pop out of its hole. It ran away from us sideways of course. There were also swarms of tiny hermit crabs running everywhere. There was so many that I ran and got my bucket and started looking around for hermit crabs. It was pretty easy to find them. I put a little sand in my bucket and when I found a hermit crab I put it into the bucket. I decided to call it Hermitville, which I know is a little strange because hermits are people who live by themselves, but I couldn't think of any other name at the time. I found all different sizes and they all had different shells.

When it was time to go I real eased them all back into the wild. When we left we said goodbye to Greta, an Italian girl and her parents, packed up our things and headed back to the boat. Everyone was waving to us and shouting 'Ciao', although it was hard to hear over the engines. The motorboat took us back to land. We went back to our room, we showered and changed back into our regular clothes. Then we packed up our suitcases and went to the airport, about a five minute walk. We watched the planes landing. There were a lot of planes for such a tiny airport. Eventually our plane arrived. It had 16 seats—a little bigger than the one we came on. It took about 40 minutes to fly to Caracas, and then the problems started.

Los Roques was a very interesting place. It made me feel happy. The waters were the perfect temperature and shallow. There were loads of fish and other sea creatures to look at.


Now were are in a big resort hotel call the Hyatt Regency in Curaçao. We are spending four nights here before we fly with that pesky airline again.