Keith's travelogue

Dear ALl,

Greetings from Montreal in Canada. Having a rainly old time fo it but it is a lovely place to wander around.

After leaving Panama, I made my way to San jose in Costa Rica, and after three days enjoying the sites, started on my way north through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras to Antigua in Guatemala, where I had been some 16 months ago.

Highlights on the way were:

+ Costa Rica: Monteverde cloud forest, night - time walk in the spooky jungle, and a walk on the active volcano near La Fortuna.
+ Nicaragua: Ometepe island, volcano climb, pre-Columbian petroglyphs, and Granada's colonial ambience.
+ Honduras: Roatan Island, a couple of days of beach time, and Copan's Mayan ruins

Landing in New York was quite exciting, although the trip was uneventfual, and via Atlanta. I only had a day so had to choose a few special highlights as there was far too much to see and experience. So, it was: Untied Nations tour, Empire State Building, Museum of Natural History, viewing the Statue of Liberty, cruising around Downtown Manhattan, a walk in Times Square at night, a walk through Central Park, Ground Zero, and the night-time Manhattan skyline on a cruise around the bay/rvier areas.

After that it was up early and off to visit the Finger Lakes, an area of glacial lakes created by the last Ice Age. And on to Niagara Falls and the Maid of the Mist boat ride on the way to Toronto. there I checked out the First Peoples exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum, very interesting to see the technologies and artifacts.

Next was a visit to a National PArk so we could partake of a traditional Canadian canoe trip. Two people managed to fall in and had to get rescued, so it was an interesting afternoon. The water was very cold so they were lucky not even to get a cold. Then it was on to Ottawa, where of all people, John Howard was visiting, so there were more Aussie Flags on display than I saw when I visited Canberra!

Montreal is built on an island and well managed so it isn't crowded, and the architecture is very interesting, with few big towers and skyscrapers, so it has a nice feel. I have another day here, so will be exploring more.

Regards,
Keith