Our final days were spent in this city just outside of San Jose (which we avoided like the plague). We met a guy in our hostel wanting to see the same volcanic crater and we split a taxi to the top. We spent some last minute time by the pool and then we were off to the airport at the crack of dawn to head back to land of hot showers, paved roads and blankets! A trip well done xo [View Full Entry]

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Hurray for the 5 star backpackers resort that we had read all about with a fabulous pool and paradise for backpakcers at a cheap price. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that 3 days earlier they had decided to go for more money and turned the communal kitchen into a restaurant so we checked out and went somewhere else. We spent 3 days relaxing and cruising the town at the foot of the volcano. And it was here that we went to THE most beautiful hot springs resort imaginable! This is where movie stars must go! The Baldi Hot Springs Resort [View Full Entry]

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Into the cold mountains we go... The high hilltops are constantly in the clouds and it is wet all the time. I actually requested a second blanket, so much for my tan. The scenery was phenomenal, we drove over rolling country side and through lush green fields and rocked the best zip lines in the country! EXTREMO Zip lines has 20 mountain to mountain zips and boasts the longest zip ever, 3/4 of a mile! It also had drop rappelling and a tarzan swing that started of with 15 foot free fall, that the guys decided I should do backwards after [View Full Entry]

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A ferry over lake Nicaragua took us to the two volcanoes that make up Isla Ometepe. We stayed one night in charco verde with the killer geese and another night in santo domingo were we ran into some fellow smithereens. I knew it would happen on this trip, you can't seem to escape them where ever you go. We visited the local Ojo de Agua (Eye of the Water) with Alec and Aaron and hit the sack for the longest day on earth beginning at 5 am the next morning full of multiple buses, ferries and border crossings for 12.5 hours [View Full Entry]

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Into the big city we went, and getting off the bus were not impressed with our filthy surroundings and touchy beggers. But further travel led us to a nice hotel with cheap rooms on a clean street out of the way from the chaos. We stayed a night before heading up to the volcanic crater lake Laguna de Apoyo. We stayed 2 nights at the Craters Edge Hostel were we swam and drank away the days. We also went down to the nearby town known for its market called Masaya and did some shopping. Then it was back to Granada for [View Full Entry]

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After the most excruciating bus ride to date, we made it through the border and into Nicaragua at our first stop - San Juan del Sur. Fortunately for us there was also a Harley Davidson Convention on the same weekend and rooms were scarce. We stayed two nights, biked to town, ate some food and went on my late Valentines day present, a baby turtle tour! We were given a short intro to what we were about to experience and then put on an outside seated army truck to 4x4 an hour to the reserve that we would witness the hatchings [View Full Entry]

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We arrive in the much over talked Tamarindo, where we were expecting it to be LA. It was nice, pricier than everywhere else but we scored a good deal. As Ross and I went to check out a hostel, we sent Danny and Barbara to a hotel it recommended in our book (they don´t do hostels) and when we met back they had no rooms only apartments and she let them have the apartment for the price of a room. So while they have a two story flat of luxury with a full kitchen and living room, we stay the night [View Full Entry]

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We only spent a couple of days in Samara because again we travelled on a Saturday because that was when our ride was and there were no accomodations. The 4 of us stayed at an OK hostel 3 kms out of town and had to taxi back and forth. The little town was nice and our hostel was down the beach far enough it was infront of a large reef and when the tide went out you could snorkel in the few feet of water for hours and we saw a lot of really cool things here. Really colorful coral, fish, [View Full Entry]

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If we had only known the things we know now BEFORE we went over here! The little town was great but once your there you pay dearly to get out. We bused hours up from Jaco to Puntarenas (one ugly town full of garbage) to take the ferry over to the Penninsula and take another bus down to Montezuma. It was possible to take a one hour jet boat strait from Jaco to Montezuma but it cost $35 EACH which is our days budget so we opted for the cheap LONG way around and down. We did get lucky a couple [View Full Entry]

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And once again another bus further North to Jaco. We arrived and discovered that we landed on the Friday night of the weekend of the 2008 Jaco Beach Music Festival and had no chance finding a place to stay. We ended up renting a tent and sleeping on the balcony of a hostel 20 minutes out of town. The hostel was great, it had a pool and great people but the tent was something else... We stuck it out for the 2 days to get us through the weekend and then got a room for our last night. Jaco is one [View Full Entry]

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