http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Baggins/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Baggins en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:50:30 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:50:30 +0000 Last night I treated myself to a killer meal. To cap off an awesome day of surfing I dropped 20 at this beach side restuarant. It was perfect listen to the wave crash and watching the lighting storm in the horizon. Now back home 20 may get you an entree and maybe one drink. Here in Nicaragua it will get you Shrimp Cerviche 2 pina colada 1 whole fish fish in white sauce and a bunch of shr http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-337829.html It is good to be back in Suan Juan De Sur. It is odd returning to a place yet at the same time it is comforting. Still I always seem to get lost in this village. It must be the fung shui messing with me. So I checked into the Xamily hostel and went for a walk. As I was walking down to the market to buy some surf wax I almost bailed and slid a few feet almost into a pole. Turns out I just http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Playa-Madera/blog-337502.html Granada was very much needed. Whatever bug I had I feel much better. The evening was uneventful because I spent most of the night trying to fix my camera. It somehow got a virus on my memory card which prevented me from seeing any photos. Yup that is right you can get your memory card infected with a virus but then again maybe its just Nicaragua. None of these computers have virus scans s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-337121.html Today was abit of a write off. We took a day trip into the coastal area to the beaches of Las Penitas in a chicken bus. These chicken buses are of the worst shape you can possibly imagine yet they somehow make it work and jam a bunch of people in along with bags groceries and farm animal. The ride cost only .50 cent but you get what you pay for. When we finally got going after 3 hours of wait http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-336122.html This morning I was abit hungover from last night. We were suppose to wake up to hike up to the Volcano but I ended up vegging and licking my wounds until noon. Most of the day I wondered around Leon and explored the old cathedrals and it was fantastic. The rain finally let up so I was able to get some photos in. I sat at cathedral square which was a great place to people watch. Afterwards I m http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-335596.html So last night I moved out of my other hostel and into the center of Leon. There are two main hostels here Via Via and Big Foot and they are literally across the street from each other. These are pretty much the hostels to stay at if you are in Leon. Most people stay at one and then hang out at the other and vice versa.The first night I hung out at Big Foot and was chilling with the owner who http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-335239.html I got to bed pretty early last night booze will do that to you. It was quite odd sleeping in a room with no windows so when the light was off it was pitch black. During the night I woke up to use the lu and I smoked my head on the shower curtain and ended up causing a big ruckus. The owner knocked on the door to make sure I was okay and the one time I do have my spanish book I had no light. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-334802.html I woke up this morning and unlike back home instead of checking the stock market I check how many new mosquito bites I have. I thought I had fortified my bed with a mosquito net but still managed to receive 5 new ones. Damn why cant my stocks perform as consistent as these mosquito bites.It was a rough sleep last night. I was partying with the 3 guys from El Savatore and called it an early ni http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-334444.html I woke up today to the sounds of roosters that would not stop. I looked at my watch and its 6am. Time stands still and at times completely forgotten when you travel. So I hit the shower and the water pressure is non existence. The shower head was defective so the only water pressure was spraying against the side of the wall and not straight so I had to hump the wall and balance myself to get http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-334197.html Last night I ended up counting up all my Colones in change and wanted to spend it all before leaving for Nicaragua in the morning. It was happy hours and the bartender was my new best friend. I must of unloaded a ton of change on him and he was quite happy because he needed for the night. 6 drinks later and it was time for bed. I got too drunk and had to bail on the Volcano tour which I hea http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-333759.html So I left Monteverde at 2PM and we gunned it down the mountain like a bat out of hell down the super sketchie roads at top speed. I made the mistakes of falling alseep and my head ended up hitting the roof of the car and almost knocked myself out back to sleep. Who needs Melatonin when you can whip down a mountain.After an hour of being shell shocked and the occastionally stop to let cows cross http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/La-Fortuna/blog-333319.html Well its too hot to wait outside so I thought I blog abit and zen out and maybe give some of my No Planets Just lonely Dan tips.If you are planning on coming to CR bring money. CR has developed into a big tourist hotspot and probably the most expensive country in Central America. Average price for food is 68 and that is just simple stuff now dining out. Most activities range from 40 averag http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-333016.html Last night after the coffee tour I met up with Thomas from Holland and we had a few drinks at the Tree house restuarant. Some how they build this place around a massive tree and the restuarant sits up on the tree like a tree house. Very cool but also very expensive. Drinks were about 5 but they were good. I got the Mojito but then saw the Tree house mojito which they basically make it into a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Elena/blog-332993.html This morning I woke up at 6am for a brisk hike into the cloud forest. The cloud forest is a protected area and it has a pretty good trail with or without a guide. I would recommend the guide because he can show you things you would not be able to find. The cost was 30 and Johnny our guide was very good. He was able to mimic all the bird and animal sounds so they would respond back.Theres a fe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Elena/blog-332674.html I left Puntarenas at 2pm on another local bus. The bus ride cost 2 bucks. My number system in spanish is still very new so most of the time when I am unsure how much something cost I give them a bigger bill but then this equals more change. Costa Rica change is heavy so I think I will need to practice my numbers or I am going to have to either hit the slots or carry a big mountain coop change http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-332437.html Woke up at 5 am to catch the 6am bus out of Mal Pais and into Cabano. There I would take another bus to Tambor and to the ferry station. The ferry takes 1.5 hours but the entire trip just to get to the ferry is about 3 hours. The roads are sometimes so bad you need a 4x4 but we were lucky even with such heavy rain last night the bus made it out of Mal Pais.I arrived at the port of Puntarenas whi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Quepos/blog-332333.html So we had some good news today. They called the locksmith and since we are in the middle of nowhere I have no idea how much this will cost to bring him down in this remote place to break the hotel safe because they vault key is lost during one of the surf sessions.Passport and all money is in the vault so this potentially can be bad. 4 hours later after a long hike I get back to receive some goo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Elena/blog-332044.html On Saturaday morning I ended up taking the local bus by accident. Apparently there is one bus for most of the tourist and then the other local bus for people to get to work. I thought it was odd that I was the only gringo on the bus. Nevertheless it was an adventure getting to Puntarenas to get to the Ferry. But because this was a regular bus I overshot my stop an entire half island and had to http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Mal-Pais/blog-331179.html They say it takes about a week before you break out of your comfort zone and really get into your trip and they are right. I have to say I have not stayed at a funkier hostel then the Tranquilo backpackers hostel. This place is probably the best hostel I had ever stayed at. The vibe is just off the charts.I arrived from Caribe bus station and made my way here. The hostel use to be an old mansi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/tranquilo-backpackers/blog-330625.html So I finally met up with Marianne and John and out of no where a full on marching band was in formation on the intersection. I guess it must of been some sort of school organized event because there were 20 to 30 something kids and a conductor leading them down the street. It was pretty fun watching the little kids dance to the local music. Soon after we went over to the bus station and paid t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/tranquilo-backpackers/blog-330537.html