Nicaragua and Costa Rica

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Ok, so the entry date for this blog says May 5th, today is June 2nd. I uploaded the3 photos May 5th but even that was a month late. I need to catch up and soon or I might leave out/forget some important things here!
So on my last entry, I finished with my hike to El Mirador Santa Catarina. This should bring me to my trip to Ometepe. Ometepe is a magical island in Lake Nicaragua. It was formed from 2 volcanoes (Concepción y Maderas) that rose out of the lake and are connected by a patch of land between the two. It is like something out of a fairy tale. There is one major city on the island called Mogogalpa and it is where the ferry lets you off. It is also where the only bank on the island is located. So if you go make sure to come with plenty of cash other wise you may end up taking a 4 hour round trip bus ride to get money to pay for your hotel, only to find the ATM doesnt accept MasteCard, only Visa. In wich case you have to go to a certain mini mart, make a 2000 Cordoba ($90 US) "purchase" at a 10% interest rate. You may find that this is not enough cash for the next leg of the trip you would like to do but as you can only make 1 of these purchases a day, you are forced to leave the island without being able to go down the river to say BLuefileds or the Corn Islands. Im just say'n.....
Any who, Ometepe is beautiful, I stayed in Santa Cruz which is in the center of the island between the two volcanoes. THere is not much to the town, a couple of hotels, a store that is relay the living room of someones home and a cheap comador ( diner) this isnt a place to party, its a palce to revel in Mother Nature's beauty. There is a beautiful "swimming pool" called Ojo de Agua. It is made from a cold volcanic stream. They have partially dammed up part of creating a large swimming hole. The stream still flows in and out. As it is volcanic in origin, the water is nutrient/mineral rich and not only feels cool on a hot day but is rejuvinating for your health as well. I walked about 5km to get there and man did it feel good to jump in! I decided to wait on the side of the road for the bus to get back to my hotel. Thats when I nearly got run over by a heard of cattle! A kid on a bicycle was heardind cattle down the street, as the road was small and the cattle big, I was a little nervous. The closer they got, the more I realized I was going to get run down as they took up the entire road! So I started to walk up the narrow path back to Ojo de Agua when a half dozen cows started following me up this path! Did I mention that some of the bulls had realy big horns! It took the kid a on the bike a while to get them off my path and back on to the road with the rest of their cow friends!
The next day I decided to hike to the water falls, as there are few busses heading that way, I hitched the first 6Km or so. After that not n¡much luck with cars going by so I hiked the other 6km to the trail head. Part of wich was through a tiny pueblo lined with mango trees, LUNCH!!!!!! THe 3Km hike up to the falls was beautiful, steep but beautiful. I was the only one on the trail wich was peacefull but a little scary, what if i fell or got bit by a snake? I made it almost to the falls but as I was scrambling over the rocks in the dry river bed I came upon a snake or 2. On a trail I dont mind passing a snake as you mostly see them pass by you. In a dried out river bed you never know where they are hiding! As I was there by myself I decided to turn back, I had seen a photo the day before of the falls that some friends took, it was barely a trickle. Had it have been wet season and the falls were in full force, I would have kept going, but risking snake bites alone on a trail for a trickle....no thanks!
The next day was wasted on that rediculous adventure into town to get money that I mentioned earlier. However because of the cash situation I could only stay for 1 or 2 more days. So I spent the next day at the beach and left my volcanic island the following day.
I went back to Granada for a couple days, mostly to get my shoes repaired. They have all kinds of repairmen up and down the street. The soles of my tennies were nearly all torn off from my shoe, I did my waterfall hike with my shoes ducktaped together! For less than $10 the guy hand sewed the soles back on both of tennies, and fixed the interior of my good sandles!
Next stop, San Juan del Sur, a little gringo infested surf town in southern Nicaragua. Fun town but dirty beaches. You need to take a bus to some of the outlaying beaches to truely enjoy the day there. That being said I did enjoy the 3 or 4 days, I spent there even though everything I wanted to do didnt quite happen. It was the wrong time of year for the turtle preserve and the SCUBA dive I planned got canceled as did the fishing trip. But I met some cool people, both travelers and locals. There was a lot of live music and I was out dancing every night. One night there was a big concert on the beach sponsered by a local cell phone company. They built a huge stage and had a band that played untill about 3AM! The band as well as their back up dancers all wore these awsome metalic purple outfits! Everyone was dancing on the beach all night long. And let me tell you, it is not easy to salsa on the sand no matter how good your partner is!
After a few days it was time to leave Nicaragua and head to Costa Rica! This was the worst border crossing I have ever experienced! As you enter Costa Rica, they make you show proof of onward travel. I told them I had no return ticket but if they looked at my stamps, they could see the southward pattern of my trip so far. No dice! I had to buy a fucking $40 bus ticket out of the country that I knew I would never use. ARRRGGG! At least I want alone in the futile endevor, lots of others were doing the same. THis was also the first border crossing where they insoected our luggage and the bus! It took for ever!
Hours later, I make it to San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica) where I catch a taxi to my friend's appartment. I had met Maude in language school in Guatemala months ago. She is from Holland but is studying for a year at the university in Coata Rica. I spent a couple of nights with her and her room mates, both of whom are also Dutch exchange students. I had a good time there. It was my first time in a big city after months of small towns. My first night we went to a bar with her roomate's boy friend and his friends to watch a football match. Lots of fun. The next evening we met up with David, another former student of our school who is teaching math in San Jose. We had an amazing diner at this great Asian resturant. I had Pad Thai!!!!! It had been many many moths since I ate Pad Thai!
After a few days in the city it was time to head to the beach to meet up with Cher and Forest in Santa Theresa! So after a bus, a taxi, another bus, another taxi, a 2 hour wait, a ferry, and another bus, I made it to Santa Theresa! Cher and Forest were waiting for me at the cabana with a frosty beverage!! So good to see some of the pham!
We spent the evening walking around town, catching up and enjoying a few drinks. The next morning we chilled on the beach and walked some more. The next day Forest rented a car and we went o Montezuma to eat at this vegan resturant they loved last time they were out there. Montezuma is a cute little town full of hippy, gypsy, yogi, fire spinning travelers and locals. An interesting mix but it works.
This is why I need to be better about this blog, I cant seem to remember everything we did. I know we spent alot of time laughing, talking, playing in the water, watching the sunset and eating good food. We hiked to a pretty waterfall and visited a small butterfly garden. What I do know is that it was great to spend time with some familiar peeps from home.
After a few days, I left the my friends and beautiful beaches of Santa Theresa to explore the cloud forest for a few days. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! I zip lined over the trees and hiked through the forrest! I only had a few days there so I figured Id make the most of it. Zip lining was scary but amazing! Talk about a birds eye view of the forest! The hike through Monte Verde Preserve was breath taking. So many palnts, trees, flowers and birds! I saw a quetzal there and passed over the continental divide! Then it was time to zip back to Santa Theresa to spend a few more days with Forest and Cher. By this time they had made friends with some of the "local" expats and we all spent some good sunsets chatting on the beach.
Pretty soon it was time for them to fly home and for me to move to Montezuma (another beach town on the Nokoya coast, n hour or so from Santa Therea.)This where I was going to be holed up for Semana Santa. For those of you who dont know, Semana Santa is a Central Americal phenominon. It starts on Palm Sunday and lasts till Easter Sunday. Hotels are booked everywhere, especialy at the beaches. As all the Ticos leave the cities and head to the beaches, it is a giant party week! I was lucky to get a room, not only were all the hotels filled, the beach itself was full of Ticos in tents! That being said, Thursday and Friday, alcohol is not allowed to be sold anywhere in the country. However people were selling it out of coolers on the beach and you could buy it at some stores with a wink and a smile.
Semana Santa was a lot of fun. I met a lot of cool travelers as well as Ticos and we all played in the ocean all day and danced the nights away. There was even a Ska infused pit in the dance club one night ( started by flip flop wearing Ticos)! In the middle of Semana Santa, my mom was passing through Costa Rica on a cruise of the PAnama Canal, so we met up for a couple of hours in Puntarenas. It was good to see her. I wish we could have spent more time together but as it was Wednesday of Semana Santa and there is no transport on Thurday and Friday of that week and all transport stopped early on Wednesday, I had to make sure I could get back to Montezuma.
After Montezuma I moved to another beach town called Manuel Antonio on the Caribean side. I spent a few days there just chilling on the beach, salsa dancing and hiking. My friend Barbara from Ventura has a cousin who lives there so we huing out one night as well.
Next it was time to head back to San Jose and visit my firends. I was informed that it was Queens day ( A Dutch holiday where they celebrate the former queen´s birthday) and that I needed to wear orange to celebrate. So I bought a cute new orange dress and celebrated Queens day in Costa Rica with 3 Dutch, 2 Germans, 2 other Americans and 3 or so Ticos! Lots of fun!
My last stop in Costa Rica was Puerto Viejo, a crazt party town on the southern Carrebian side of Costa Rica. It would me my last spot before crossing into Panama. I spent about 5 days living in a hammock at a realy cool hostel called Rocking Jays. As per my norm, I spent those days, dancing and kicking it on the beach. I also went scuba diving one day but it was not nearly as impressive as the diving in Honduras. Puerto Viejo is where I spent the start of rainy season. My last 2 days it rained cats and dogs! Wich was fine because I needed a couple of days to relax and do nothing.
Soon it was time to cross into Panama and meet up with my friend Anna. But that is a story for my next blog entry.

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Photos

Ojo de Agua, Ometepe, Nicaragua
Beautiful swimming pool/river