I woke up a little late today, I blame the beer hockey, and met Susan and Meg for breakfast. They had decided to head to San Juan del Sur today, and I was going to try to make it to the waterfall. After yesterday my legs are a little tired but supposably the hike is only 3 km so I should be able to make it. I had probably missed the 8:00 bus since it was almost 9:00, and the next one wouldn´t come until 11:00. The other option was to rent a bike from the hotel and ride there, hike [View Full Entry]

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I woke up early to catch the bus to San Ramon, where I had planned on hiking to the Cascada de San Ramon. The bus was to arrive at 8:00 am and drop me in San Ramon in about an hour or so. By 8:30 the bus had not arrived so I decided to head back to my room to get a couple of things that I forgot. As slow as that bus moves I would have been able to get to my room and back even if I saw it coming down the street. Anway on my way back out [View Full Entry]

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I´ve realized that the only reason I ever know the day of the week is because I have a job. Remove the job, and I have know idea. I like having know idea. I woke up today and decided to move on to Isla de Ometepe. It´s a quick 45 minute bus ride to Rivas, 10 minute collectivo cab to San Jorge, 60 minute boat ride to the island, and 2 hour bus ride to the hotel. Ok, so maybe not very quick, but the trip was made interesting since the majority was on this little wooden boat or on dirt [View Full Entry]

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Those damn roosters kept me up all night, well at least the one directly outside my window did, but they´re all pretty much at fault. I decided today that I was going to try and walk up to the top of the cliff on the north end of the beach and check out the view. I headed out of town and started to follow a dirt road in the general direction of the cliff. I asked a directions a couple of times and each time was told I was headed in the right direction, and that it wasn´t very far. After [View Full Entry]

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I got up early, packed, and headed to the bus stop. I had heard that if I could get to Liberia, a short 5 hour trip on the local bus, I would be able to get a bus to Nicaragua. After a very trying 5 hours I arrived in Liberia and made my way to the hotel that would sell me the ticket to Nica. It is hot. I´m wearing jeans (which apparently don´t fit me), and a heavy pack, and attempting to "frogger" my way across a 5 lane road that has no obvious traffic signals. I made it, but [View Full Entry]

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After a couple of days in La Fortuna, it became obvious that the volcano was not going to show itself, so I decided to head for the beach. I hadn´t heard many good things about Tamarindo but it is a beach, and it is (roughly) on the way to Nicaragua, so I decided to head there for a couple of days and try to do some surfing. I arrived in Tamarindo after a 6.5 hour bus ride, exhausted and hot. I was wearing jeans and sneakers, and of course a huge black backpack. To say I stood out at this beach [View Full Entry]

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When traveling, it always takes me a couple of days to get settled and comfortable in my surroundings. This is especially true when everyone you meet in those first couple of days warns you to be on the lookout for thieves... I arrived in Costa Rica around midnight, and didn´t have a hotel reservation so I would need to count on the taxi driver to provide a reccomendation. I ended up at a decent place in Alajuela, close to the airport. I woke up the next day packed, and asked for directions from the front desk to the bus station. She [View Full Entry]

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I got sick. After spending Christmas back in Antigua, I decided to head to Lago de Atitlan to spend my last days in Guatemala exploring the lake. I met a couple of girls on the bus and we decided to share a room in Panajachel, wake up early, and visit the Thursday market in Chichicastenango. We went out to dinner and went to bed early. I woke up around 3:30 am and my insides felt like they were being put through a wringer. I had terrible stomach cramps, nausea, cold sweats, muscle ache, and fever. I spent the next 20 hours [View Full Entry]

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The alarm goes off at 3:00 am, and after a quick shower we step out into the empty streets of Flores. The shuttle arrives at 3:30 am, and we begin the hour or so ride to the ancient ruins. Arriving at the park we quickly pass through the entrance and enjoy a 20 minute flashlight aided walk through the pre-dawn jungle. It’s eerily quiet, and impossible to gage the vastness of the jungle when viewed through the narrow, flickering flashlight beams. We arrive at Temple IV, at 63 meters the tallest of the temples, and begin to the climb up the [View Full Entry]

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When we returned from El Salvador on Sunday evening, I was no longer one of the housemates. There were new students in my room, and I quickly grabbed my things and checked into the hotel next door. In the morning I left in a shuttle to the small town of Lanquin, jumping off point for the tours to Semuc Champey. My shuttle came at 8 am, and the roommates met me to say goodbye. For Sacha and her father Terry, it is a final goodbye as they will be moving on - for the others it is a short goodbye. I´ve [View Full Entry]

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