mayhem

San Jose Arriving pretty late into San Jose we called Cristian who finished work at 10pm and said we should eat something then meet in a bar. Doing this we met in a sports bar and after a couple of drinks made it to his house, where the rest of his housemates were just chilling and drinking late into the evening. The next day was spent sleeping in, washing and planning things for the next couple of weeks. Eventually making it out for food at 3pm we headed to a Japanese fast food place that and then met up with Joe from Chicago and later Miska who were both friends of Cristians. We then had a late party night out in San Jose which was good fun but the club was pretty empty, and made it ... read more

Chiriqui Province Upon legally crossing the boarder with stamps in our passports, $5 for Americans but free for the British. We persuaded a coach driver to take us to David on a bus from San Jose and once there immediately took a bus up to Boquete which in the Chiriqui highland under Volcan Basu. The bus up there had the air-conditioning on full blast and not being used to this we both promptly froze as outside was in the high 20´s so we were dressed in shorts nd t-shirts. The scenery in the highland is very different, with jungles giving way to pine trees and coffee plantations, but a much more agreeable (less sweaty) climate. We caught a brief glimpse of the volcano before it was consumed by a thick blanket of thunderclouds that poured in ... read more

I arrived at San Jose airport typically tired and bedraggled, with no local currency and only the name of a hostel to stay at in Alajuela. So there I was pondering if taking 50000 Colones out of the ATM was too much or too little. When a guy (Cristian) came up and asked me if I was a certain Mr Smit, whilst declining he obviously saw the slightly lost look in my eye and asked where I staying. Producing the scrap of paper from my pocket with the hostel name on it I handed it to him. Turns out that he grew up in Alajuela and knew the hostel, so he gave them a call and then offered to drop me off as his shift was just about to finish. A hostel drop off and ... read more

We evaded the police twice, We broke the law five times (In two countries), We went through three countries (And came in sight of six), We met 10 other people travelling while still at University, They all came from Oxford, Harvard or Stanford (Oxford 5, Harvard 3, Stanford 2), We spent 257 hours on Busses (Over 26 journeys and 40 Busses), We started one company, We met two government ministers, We were on the radio once, We were interviewed for a magazine once, We travelled by Bus, Plane, Horse, Skis, Foot, Hitch-Hiking, Motor Boat, Sailing Boat, Bike and Rickshaw, The coldest we reached was -25 C, It got bloody hot, Ian had a girlfriend and stayed faithful, David didn’t and didn’t, We went to one museum (Devoted to drugs), We both read 11 books (Parradise Lost, ... read more

We Taxied into town to find a hotel, then crashed after the 34 hours of not sleeping on a bus. The following morning we went out into Cusco in search of a fat mans breakfast, this we found and devoured in a record time much to the liking or the proprietor. Next job Money, not really being sure of the exchange rate we wondered round and looked at various places, eventually finding one slightly higher than the rest. Thirdly that morning we went to SAS travel and confirmed our departure for the Inca trail on the first of September. Our hotel the last night was shocking so we checked out, (It had bare concrete floors and walls, the door didn’t lock, and the bathrooms were disgusting with no hot water). So we found a better ... read more