Advertisement
Published: November 24th 2011
Edit Blog Post
November 11, 2011
Playa Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Our first stop was Manuel Antonio. As far as the national park and beaches, I am convinced they are among the most beautiful places in the world. Walking through the park, we encountered beautiful butterflies, huge iguanas, dozens of monkeys, coatis, and a baby sloth that fell off a tree and was very curious, crawling right up to us to say hello. The people there were another story. The town seemed to be basically run by a group of men in their 20´s. Waiters and surf instructors by day, they were drug dealers and thieves by night. We did surf here one morning (though we declined instruction from a drug dealer). Although extremely tiring, once you stand up on a wave, there is no better feeling.
We took a bus to Playa Coco next. Although camping is prohibited here (like in every other beach) we walked far enough into the woods that no one bothered us and set up camp. Here we built a nice little fire and drank from the stream. Advantage of camping: we saved $20 on a hostel. Disadvantage of camping: I woke up with 19 mosquito bites on
my left leg and 36 on my right. No, seriously, I just counted.
November 15, 2011
San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
12N 411753, 3698544
SCUBA diving was a success. I didn´t see any sharks or sea turtles but the fish were bountiful. A puffer fish all puffed up is quite a sight. There were also plenty of stingrays and clownshrimp and a shipwreck. I´ve decided I need to become a divemaster to earn money...too bad I need to log 53 more dives at $80 a pop.
We´re running out of money quickly so we decided to come to Nicaragua where the food is cheap and the liquor is cheaper. Luckily, we met a couple of girls at the bus stop who are volunteers in Salinas and they brought us to their beach house. It was a trip to see how the people live in this area. The people are poor, and the rivers are constantly flooding their floorless homes during rainy season. Most kids don´t go to high school, and many don´t finish grade school. Many of the kids our age we were hanging out with can´t even read or write. They can smell money though. Like the guys
in Manuel Antonio, they sell weed for quick cash, and they date the white girls who live there, knowing that they will give them a place to sleep and some free food. I didn´t mind feeding this kid named Carlos for the weekend because he taught us a ton of Spanish while we taught him some English. We also met a couple in the city. They had both been living in the states for the past 30 years and were both deported because of some unknown crimes they committed (the husband said if he ever returns to the states, he will receive 25 years to life in prison.) Regardless of what they did in the states, they seem to be content living a crime free life in Nicaragua. You don´t need much money to survive here - youy can get a good meal for $1 and remodel your home for $1000. So now they raise chickens and turkeys and cows and help take care of a couple of poor young men. Whatever it is they did to get deported, I think they are trying to make up for it by keeping these kids alive and helping to feed other locals
with their large supply of cows. I would have been content staying there awhile,but we need to get to Chile eventually so on we went to San Juan where we went on a great fishing-snorkeling-surfing trip.
November 20, 2011
Leon, Nicaragua
16N 623230, 1244328
It´s frustrating having people be rude to you, or ignore you, or stare at you because of the color of your skin, but really, I guess I can´t blame them. I suppose most Americans they meet are self-centered nationalists who don´t give a shit about their culture or learning to speak their language. Some of them really open up if you just engage in conversation with them and are really great people. And some of them will try to rob you blind the first chance they get. It´s a shame I can´t tell the difference. When we got to Leon, I asked a group of boys, maybe about 14, if there was a hostel we could stay at. They gave me directions, and I started to head there until a man called me over to his home. He told me they were a group of glue-sniffing thugs and would try to rob us. ´They have
guns?´Jared asked. ´´No,´´ he answered, ´´they will throw rocks at your heads.´´
We went volcano boarding today at CerroNegro. It was awesome - you hike up the side of this (active) volcano and then slide down the ash on a board similar to a sled (see video).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.329s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.2526s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sandy
non-member comment
Cosat Rica Spa
Its really a beautiful locations and I wish one day I will be there and thanks for adding these awesome pics. Great http://www.spauno.com