http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/peaches697/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from peaches697 en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:08:53 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:08:53 +0000 I notice that people are still reading my blog I want to thank everyone for there interest and make an offer to anyone who has any questions to feel free to contact me I would love to answer any questions or if you are looking for any recommendations.Anita http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-216417.html So I want to thank everyone who read my blog and came along this adventure with me. Laura and I had to come home 12 days early as I ran out of money and didnt want to borrow anymore from my family. For anyone out there wanting to travel i strongly recommend Guatemala. It is a beautiful and inspiring country. I will one day go back to Panama because I feel that I still need to explore it more. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Edmonton/blog-147697.html So what happens next is probably one of the most amazing experiences i have had in my life. Throughout our stay in panama we kept hearing other travelers talking about san blas and these amazing islands on the carribean coast. So what it is is another archipegelo of approximately 365 islands of the carribean coast of panama. All of the islands are owed by the kuna which is a tribe that lives http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Kuna-Yala/Archipielago-de-San-Blas/blog-145240.html So we were very adventurous in thinking that it would be a piece of cake to go from Bocas del Toro to panama city in one shot. We left Bocas at 2pm heading to the little town where we caught our boat from. Then from there a taxi took us to the bus station where we caught a vanbus at 4pm that took us to David. David is located in the central interior of panama its a main transportation hub t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/blog-145230.html So once again im a tad behind on blog entries but in this installment i plan to do 3 entries. First is Bocas Del Torro. The last entry left us in Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica. We met up with the two sisters from texas who we would be travelling with from that point on. oh note to everyone on malaria pills out there do not i repeat do not take the pills the day after drinking even if yo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Bocas-Del-Toro/blog-145222.html So after the excitement we met in san jose it was nice to get to a new environment and what better place to do that but in a carribean inspired beach town. Puerto Viejo is located right on the coast near the costa ricapanama border. We stayed in a hostel called Rocking Js and it was very cool and very huge. It was probably half a city block including a parking lot a huge green grass area http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Limon/Puerto-Viejo-de-Talamanca/Rockin-Js/blog-142922.html So back to the good ol capital of costa rica unfortunately anytime one wants to travel a huge distance in costa rica you have to go back to its capital to catch an adjoining bus. The bus ride to san jose took 4 hours we arrived and went back to our trusted hostel costa rica backpackers. We promised ourselves while we were here we would send our packages home until we realized that it was a sa http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/blog-141612.html So getting to Quepos is one of the most memorable travelling legs ive had on this whole trip. We decided to splurge on a shuttle bus versus taking the local bus. If we took a local bus it could take up to 11 hours the shuttle took about 5. We leave early in the morning only to find out we are the only ones on the shuttle we have it all to ourselves it was so relaxing. We heading to Paquera http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Quepos/blog-141610.html So today is March 12 and I am almost two weeks behind on this blog but I have a good excuse I was stuck in this little beach town called Tamarindo We were told by fellow travellers that once you arrive there you never want to leave or you get stuck. Well me and laura definately got stuck we spent 9 days there The thing is I dont even know where all the time went. Thus far on this trip Tam http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Guanacaste/Tamarindo/blog-137570.html Well i have to admit im lagging on my blog entries unfortunately ive been having way to much fun and to much sun to remember to make regular entries. So after the 9 days straight of partying in tamarindo we decided to head south down the pacific coast to a little place called mail pais. We took a shuttle bus with a few other fellow travellers that we had met in tamarindo. Two surfers shawn a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Mal-Pais/blog-141606.html Onward to la fortuna how do you get there well you leave monteverde and go through a nauseating rollercoaster ride through the hills and jungles of costa rica thats how We were in a little van zipping through beautiful farmlands next thing we know we pull onto the side of the road and our driver is like you are here. Our response is we are where we look around us and we are in the midd http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/La-Fortuna/blog-135324.html So we left nicuragua and ometepe island and headed for costa rica at 530 in the morning. We took a ferry to get back to the mainland and i should call it a chicken ferry we were sitting inside the boat and we were getting loaded up with animals and all the pineapples you would ever want to eat. The boat looked like it was going to sink at any minute and i truly thought that was going to happe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-135319.html So from what i had read ometepe was supposed to be an amazing island. If you can picture 2 volcanoes in your mind that had created an island and smack inbetween them was where we were staying. Sure the island was full of crazy birds that attacked your food at the table and monkeys that would swing around you trying to take you food and anorexic cows and horses. But it was super hot and dusty http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/Santo-Domingo/blog-132728.html Granada Granada how I love theeOur tour leader Rollins somehow got us a deal and we had a personal van drive us from Leon to Granada. So instead of taking a chicken bus and it taking 56 hours to get to granada the van only took us 2.5 hours. So we arrived there in the early afternoon which meant we had almost 2 full days to explore Granada. Our hotel was another beautiful building with ano http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-132723.html So we left Utila very early in the morning taking an hour long ferry back to the town of Ceiba. We travelled all day and arrived in Comaguya i think im spelling this wrong this city is the formal capital of nicuragua. It isnt pretty at all full of dust industry and crime. We were only there as a stopover for the evening. We were all glad to leave the next morning especially because there http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-132716.html So we started our tour on the 11th of february. The only word i can use at this point to describe the pace is Rollercoaster From the minute it started monday morning at 5am to today its been a constant change of scenery. Monday morning we left guatemala for the copan ruins in honduras. We drove for 7 hours on a bus we arrive in copan to a beautiful hotel we get 15 minutes to put away our thi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Utila/blog-129508.html So we spent a day in the lakeside city of panachel to go shopping in their famous market. The town was full of seniors from the united states. I cant believe how many tourists were running around that day. Busloads upon busloads on retired rich people staying in top notch hotels and flashing their pretty shiny gold jewellery everywhere. We spent about 5 hours practicing bartering in the local http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-129505.html So today is currently february 15th but we havent had a chance nor access to internet so im going to write a bunch today because we are stuck in a crappy town in honduras with nothing to do. So this is day 12.....Everyone you meet while in guatemala always talks about san pedro how its a wonderful place to stay and relax how the hippy scene is great and of course the drugs. We decided to head http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Lago-de-Atitlan/San-Pedro-La-Laguna/blog-129503.html So I thought my trip to Semuc Champey was an adventure well here is another one. From our hotel in Semuc Champey we could travel directly back to Antigua. We thought it was a fantastic and convenient idea. The hotel owner tells us the bus leaves at 5am its a tad early but we go for it anyways. So we are up around 4am waiting by the road for the bus waiting with us are 3 hungover older men w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-126389.html So the journey to get to Semuc Champey will forever be burned into my memory. Step 1 take a shitty chicken bus that should hold 12 people but packs 22 on a windy highway for a few hours step 2 on the turn off for Lanquin a town right by semuc champey it says the town is only 11km away yet it takes over an hour to get there because the van is driving on nothing that remotely resembles a road. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Coban/Semuc-Champey/blog-126386.html