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 the waterfall, and ride back. The attendant told me it was about 6 km to San Ramon, and would take me about 1.5 hours each way to ride. I remember thinking that I could ride ... read more

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 roads around an island. I got to my hotel in the afternoon and decided to walk the 40 minutes or so to check out the swimming hole at Ojo de Agua. This is basically a ... read more

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 quickly determined that the hotel did not sell tickets and I would have to make my way back across the highway to a small restaurant to get the tickets. I managed to make it to ... read more

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 gave me directions but told me that I needed to be very careful and always be on the lookout for 'ladrones´ - ok, will do. I made my way to the bus station and the ... read more

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 wooden steps to top. It is still dark; we can barely make out the faint outlines of the jungle canopy below us. What we can’t see we can certainly hear, the jungle is alive with ... read more