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San Jose, Costa Rica
Daniel's mum (my Costa Rican friend from Geneva) showed me around the Capital - Here we are in front of the National TheatreI´ve been reading too much of my Lonely Planet guidebook - am copying their layout here 😊
HIGHLIGHTS
# Finding a lovely secluded stretch of beach at Playa Langosta in Costa Rica, but realising when we tried to return across the shallow stream we had crossed that morning that the reason why we´d had the beach to ourselves was that it had turned into a raging torrent that nearly swept us away!
#Climbing through the clouds up one of the two volcanoes which form the magnificent island in the center of Lake Nicaragua, and skipping back down in the pouring rain, singing at the top of our lungs!
#Scoring a free pineapple (they were nowhere else to be found on the island) from the owner of the hotel where we watched the Australia vs. Brazil match so we could make a pina colada cocktail with fresh coconut which we sipped on the beach under the stars with our Spanish kite-surfing friend.
#Realising we were short of money - there weren´t any ATMs on Ometepe Island as we were told - but still managing to get into the goregous water hole nearby for free by going to
Hostal in San Jose
Where I met Armando, my travelling companion for the next month! visit the owner who lived up the road, and getting a wholesome meal of beans, rice, cheese and banana when we asked if our favourite restaurant on the beach would cook us a bag of rice we planned to buy with our remaining 10 cordobas (under $1!).
#The most packed bus I´ve been on yet, moving from milk carton to milk carton until eventually I had to squeeze into a standing spot as more and more people piled in as we bumped along the unsealed road in Ometepe.... and of course the infamous old school ´chicken buses´ of Guatamala where three people squash into a seat so that the unlucky third normally only has space for one butt cheek on the seat, and the aisle becomes non-existant! (although the buses aren't as bad as I expected after Bolivia)
#Staying in the one place for more than 2 nights - luxury!
#BOTH Armando and I getting a lift on a local´s bicycle ~1km to the lakeside in Granada, Nicaragua - an effort to keep on!
#Seeing my first Mayan ruins tucked away in the lush green forest in Honduras with their incredibly ornate heiroglyphic carvings... and then
the enormous site of Tikal in Guatemala, most of which has not yet been uncovered.
#Sitting on our balcony overlooking gorgeous lake Atitlan in Nicaragua, with a backdrop of 4 volcanoes, feasting on a delectable meal prepared by my personal Mexican chef!
#Missing the ferry to return to our hostel in San Pedro on lake Atitlan and being invited by our friendly neighbour on the bus to stay in his family home, after visiting his workshop where he makes, by hand, on average 6 pairs of shoes per day valued at approx $6 each!
COSTA RICA
Sometimes the taxi drivers rob you, other times they are a godsend. Arriving in Costa Rica, I checked with my driver whether or not it was a good idea to stay in the cheapest $4 hotel in the dodgy center of town or pay twice as much for a backpackers. I was so thankful he advised the second, as it was to change my trip! Sitting on the free computers by the poolside in the hostel, the Mexican guy beside me started up a conversation - it turned out we were both headed in the same direction, with similar
plans, so he suggested we travel together. I think he nearly fell off his chair when I said yes (I was definitely up for some company after my solo Latin America trip - perfect timing!), and so began our month travelling up Central America! Monday morning at 4am, we parted ways as Armando left Antigua, Guatamala, to catch his flight back to Mexico. :´(((((
Daniel, a Costa Rican friend from Geneva, gave me the contacts of his family in San Jose and his mum kindly showed me around the leafy capital before Armando and I headed north-west to the most beautiful beaches Costa Rica has to offer - so I´m told! Using a basic but homely and cheap little hostel in Santa Cruz as our base, we explored the surrounding beaches on a few day trips - the idyllic playa Conchal, and playa Langosta near the tourist haven of Tamarindo. Apart from being stung by some type of jellyfish, it was heavenly to be on the beach again!!
NICARAGUA
We moved quite quickly out of costly, touristy Costa Rica and up into Nicaragua. On one of the bus legs up to the border, a lovely Spanish guy
Ometepe, Lake Nicaragua
Waiting for the ferry to Ometepe Island offered to help Armando squash his pack on the bus rack, and offered me his seat - thus began a great friendship with Carlos who was planning to set up a kite-surfing business on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua. I didn´t know what had hit me - so used to travelling on my own, suddenly I was with two guys who treated handsomly, helping me on with my pack, opening doors... it was lovely!
We decided to follow Carlos to Ometepe, and climb the smaller of the two volcanoes which make up the island the next morning. We opted to stay in a hostel by the entrance of the trail, promising to join Carlos in his lakeside hotel the next evening. Expecting a lovely quiet place, we were disappointed to find a huge group were staying at the hostel. We weren´t that impressed with the service in the place, although I was delighted to sleep in a hammock again! The next morning the sky was overcast, and we arrived to the crater at the top of the volcano to find a misty, unattractive lake. Nonetheless, we had great fun singing in the rain, drenched to the bone, on the
way down, and the lush cloud forest was gorgeous, filled with huge exotic birds and monkeys!
We arrived at Hotel Buena Vista in the afternoon to find we had the place to ourselves! Carlos was out kite-surfing, and we soaked up the peaceful atmosphere. We spent the next day watching the footy, eating on the beach, drinking freshly made pina coladas, walking to the nearby swimming hole in a lovely forest setting, relaxing in hammocks, chatting. We couldn´t spend any more days there though as we suddenly realised how little money we had (there were no ATMs on the island) - just enough to get us back to the mainland the following morning!
After parting ways with Carlos, we headed up to Granada (gosh the distances are so much shorter in Central America!). A quick look around the old colonial town and its lake, and we moved on the next morning to Masaya, famous for its hammock making. You can actually walk around the streets and see the people at work in their homes! We loved the town - it was so cute, authentic, non-touristy, and a day trip to Catarina lookout over Apoyo Lake with the city
of Granada and Lake Nicaragua in the far distance was gorgeous!!
HONDURAS
We passed a night in the nondescript town of Esteli to save stopping in the dangerous capital, Managua, and crossed into Honduras the next day (I pleaded they stamp my passeport which held us up a bit). We didn´t spend much time in Honduras which is reputed to be expensive, Americanised, and dangerous, but made our way up to the north-eastern town of Copan Ruinas relatively quickly, spending a night in San Pedro Sula on the way. We stayed in a family hostel in the cute little town of Copan Ruinas, spent the first day relaxing as I was feeling a bit under the weather (it was nice to have someone to look after me and buy me some panadol etc 😊 ), and the second day went to see the Mayan Ruins of Copan. Tucked away in the lush green jungle, the ruins were gorgeous, pyramids elaborately decorated with pictograms - the Mayans were one of the few ancient civilizations to have mastered the art of a written script, as the Egyptians did.
GUATEMALA
We made a brief stop in Rio Dulce, an
Ometepe
Ancient rock carvings outlet of Lago de Izabal, close to the Caribbean on the east coast of Guatemala, staying one night in a Swiss owned hostel, about 10 minutes down the river by boat. From there we caught a bus the next day half an hour to an amazing waterfall on Finca El Paraiso where the water starts off as hot up the top and drops into a cold river stream!
Next we caught a bus up north to Flores, built on an island in Lago de Peten Itza, the base for visiting our second Mayan ruins, Tikal. The Tikal ruins cover a mamoth 550 square kilometers, and the majority of the ruins have not yet been uncovered! We took a four hour tour around the major sites which have been uncovered, but because we´d slept in and caught the 10am bus (the ruins are one hour´s bus ride from Flores), we caught the rain which started pouring down from about midday, and returned completely drenched! The towering pyramids and vast expanse of these ruins hidden in the thick jungle undergrowth were very impressive, but there were no pictograms on these ruins like in Copan.
From Flores we caught a night
Ometepe, Lake Nicaragua
At the Magic Lagoon on top of the volcano - not quite the view we were expecting! bus to Antigua - unfortunately we hadn´t made the check out time for our hotel, so we had to pay an extra night anyway! We arrived in Antigua, and found a lovely hostel 'Los Encuentros' by chatting to the American/Nicaraguan father and son beside us on the bus. We left our main backpack in the hostel (free of charge), and went by chicken bus (old school buses which squash 3 to a seat - very packed with people) to San Pedro, Lake Atitlan. Three or so hours later we arrived to find the town was in the middle of celebrating its annual festival! Sounds great, but not when your hostel looks over the main street!! Apart from the music which went on all night (!!!), we couldn´t complain about the accommodation - we had our own private bathroom (although pretty shitty, it´s nice to have your own!), and a balcony (shared with our neighbours) overlooking the lake! We arrived to rain again, had a quick look around the festival street, and went to bed... zzzzz....
The next day we caught a boat across to the main town on Lake Atitlan of Panajachel from where we caught more chicken buses
Ometepe
Waiting for the bus to the famous Thursday market at Chichicastenango. Beautiful vibrant colours and a multitude of stands greeted us. By the time we had done the rounds, and bought what we wanted though, we were quite exhausted, and tired of the incessent 'amigo, comprame amigo' (friend, buy something from me, friend). And again, because we hadn't left San Pedro till after lunch, we didn't get back to Panajachel till after 7pm when the last boat left. Chatting to the man behind us on the bus, we discovered we would be unable to return that night to our hostel, and I half heartedly asked if the man wouldn't let us stay at his home. We couldn't believe it when he said yes! So we followed him to his humble abode, then went to see his workshop where he makes shoes - a piddling 6 pairs a day (12 with his helpers) selling at under $4 each! We treated him and his wife to dinner, and farewelled them the next morning to catch the boat back to San Pedro.
We decided we both needed a rest, so we passed on climbing the volcano (also because we had to pay 100 quetzales for the
Ometepe
Waiting for the bus to Buena Vista Hostal - we ate lunch across the road priviledge!), and had a nice relaxing day Friday, complete with a delicious taste of Armando's cooking (he is a chef by trade). Saturday morning we hired a canoe for the day, and discovered a lovely beach, not polluted with rubbish like the waterfront near the towns, where we swam and enjoyed a bit of sun. Armando introduced me to tostadas - similar to our tacos, only flat and round, and you can put almost anything as a topping... yum! Sunday we returned to 'Los Encuentros' in Antigua and spent the afternoon looking around the town.
As I write, I am currently back in Flores. I had originally planned to catch a bus directly north of Antigua to San Cristobal, Mexico, however there had been a landslide on the highway, so, rather than wait a day, I decided to go to the east coast of Mexico via Belize. Well, my night bus from Guatemala City was held up by roadworks and arrived at 7.30am instead of the scheduled 5.30am (how unusual!!), so I of course missed the connecting bus which leaves daily at 6am. Nevertheless, it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I spent all yesterday
Ometepe, Buena Vista
View from the Hostel where we joined Carlos in bed with diarrhoea and a fever which seems to have abated somewhat today, so I'm planning to continue to Mexico tomorrow... How funny the way things work out - when Armando and I stayed here we went for a walk around the island and saw a hostel which looked fantastic called 'Los Amigos', but we had already got accommodation. Now, here I am in that very same hostel!
(NB. I think something strange has happened to the photos I downloaded on Monday, so will try to download them again soon!)
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Marcelo
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Hermoso viaje
QUERIDA CATY: Nos inquietamos un poco cuando pasaron varios dias sin que escribas algo nuevo de tu viaje. Nos alegramos que estés bien y te deseamos que sigas disfrutando mucho de tu viaje. Te enviamos un fuerte abrazo y te recordamos siempre. Saludos de Laura y también del pequeño Lorenzo que está cada día más grande. MARCELO Y NEGRITA