Since I got a couple emails saying they couldn't find the links to my online photo albums, I decided I would just post the links here. I'm currently on Isla de Ometepe and internet access is REALLY limited so I only have about 10 minutes and don't even have the time to really check my email. So all my great pictures I have taken over the past week and the wonderful tales that go with them will be posted tomorrow when I reach Granada....so check back soon for more pictures in the Nicaragua album!! (Nicaragua album) http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTRwzcN27kY (Panama album) http [View Full Entry]

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(Journal excerpt 8th Feb 2005) Though i had already been to Isla de Ometepe on account of it being listed among Lonely Planet's list of Central American jewels, my memories of this supposed wonderland were none too marvelous. It had been raining most of the time on my last visit, I had gotten food poisoning, and the jeep we had rented to tour the island dragged along at 5 MPH along the unpaved roads that were worse than most hiking trails I'd seen. Oh, and there were mice in our room and I was plagued with mosquito bites the whole time. [View Full Entry]

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Yikes, how time flies when there are no internet connections around. (I'm backtracking a bit and throwing some stuff in here from my real old fashioned pen and paper journal to keep this kind of up to date, so bear with me if they are kind of lengthy.) The first daytrip to Majagual lured me back for 3 more days of sun and sea, 2 nights of craziness, and 1 new hobby in the making. We ended up staying in the dorms at the EcoLodge since there were no rooms available at Matilda's and in general, the whole place was pretty [View Full Entry]

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Despite being smack in the midst of no less than 12 other travelers boasting shades of bronze that I will never ever be, I am nonetheless proud to report that I left my Babies' SPF 45 sunblock behind for a glorious day on the beach without the slightest trace of sunburn. Yesterday I spent in San Juan del Sur again since I fell asleep after breakfast and missed the ferry to Majagual, so I spent the afternoon at the local beach. I finally saw the down side to life in this quaint little town, and it is the wind. Perhaps things [View Full Entry]

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After a brief stay in Costa Rica with an open mind to staying and hiking in Corcovado, I decided I just wasn't "feeling it" and had to keep moving on. Golfito was pretty and surely a very small gem in comparison to what Peninsula de Osa would have been, but it just seems like there is something missing in Costa Rica. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but now that I am in Nicaragua it seems more evident. Everyone there seems too North American. Polite, quiet, reserved, English-speaking. Oh, and all the music sucked in the buses. [View Full Entry]

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My word I am so exhausted right now I can scarcely stay sitting up! Yesterday morning Maayan and I took the bus to David and then to Cerro Punta. We quickly realized that we had been missing out on the more beautiful side of the volcano by staying the whole week in Boquete, because Cerro Punta is truly beautiful. It is really hilly and full of neatly manicured little farms and Swiss-style houses, with tons and tons of flowers and streams and waterfalls all over. I wasn't feeling all that great so Maayan took off in search of info once we [View Full Entry]

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So Boquete is one of those towns that everyone intends on staying in for 2 or 3 days and ends up being in forever. On Sunday I headed back to Boquete to potentially meet up with Maayan and Shachar again although I didn't actually know if they would be there or not. However, David isn't really a great town to stay in, so it would have been worth it anyway to go to Boquete since it is cheap and there are nice places to stay. Little did I know it would be a huge reunion. I walked in the door at [View Full Entry]

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If there is a more beautiful place on earth than the island I holed up on for 5 days, I would be amazed to find it. Every morning I awoke to the sounds of the waves on the shore and the wind in the coconut palms; as I stepped out of the cabaña, my eyes feasted on the thousand shades of turquoise, green, and blue and at night the whole island was blanketed in the brightest moonlight I have ever seen. Never have I seen so many stars in the sky! It was absolutely incredible. After going out to a wonderful [View Full Entry]

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Panama City has been a very comfortable city to be in so far. The old city, Casco Viejo, is so charming....somewhere between the French Quarter in New Orleans and the ideas one has of the old city of Havana. Although it is kind of dangerous to walk around in, it is so lively and beautiful. The city in general is terrific; the nice walkways along the bay remind me of Naples, Italy, and the tall business buildings along the peninsulas jutting out into the water are like a mini-Manhattan. Except of course with a tropical climate. There is great shopping, nightlife, [View Full Entry]

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Well, I ended up staying a whole week in Boquete. The town was packed on Friday for the beginning of their international Feria de las Flores y del Cafe and we decided to stay and check it out. The party that night was unbelievable; the fairgrounds themselves were huge, probably as big as the town itself and there were these two nightclubs that set up openair dance parties, which, for any of you who know me, was right up my alley. There were live bands and then they also played salsa, merengue, and house music and there were little tables set [View Full Entry]

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