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Published: April 13th 2006
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Once again I´ve gone awhile without updating. On the last post I was waiting in San Jose for Keturah, Kelly, and Cronburg to arrive. They´re now all back in the land of paved roads and hot showers, and I´ve just arrived in San Juan Del Sur in Southwestern Nicaragua. Heres a brief summary of what happened in between.
But first:
Congradulations to Dad and Anette, who got married on the 31st. - Excuse me for the hangup Anette - My phone card ran out.
Congradulations to Jeremy and Meagan on their upcoming wedding. I wish I could be there. Good luck getting into the bachelor party Anthony. Try groing a beard.
Keturah arrived in San Jose a couple days prior to Kelly and Cronburg. It was St. Patricks day. Keturah was exhausted from travelling so she went to bed early. I went to an Irish bar, and that was that. We took a daytrip to Volcan Poàs. The road goes all the way but about 500 meters to the top. You can look down inside. When we got there it was about 50 degrees and raining. Neither of us thought to bring warm cloths. I didn´t even
have any at that point. It felt like being back in Bellingham. The view from the lookout was of white nothingness with a faint scent of sulfer. The sky did eventually clear and we got a beautiful view of the crater. - I got a picture to post. It was really good to spend some time with my Sister as well. We haven´t hung out too much in the last 7 years. The next day we met Kelly and Cronburg at the airport. We waisted no time hanging around San Jose and went straight to Cahuita. We all bought Machettes the next day and got a good look at the properties. We all liked what we saw. The vegetation on the outside of the property is menacingly thick, but once we got inside it cleared up, though it´s still very thick. There are some beautiful laural trees covered in vines and air plants that stand over 100 feet tall throughout the property. Mostly the property is covered in small cacao and banana trees, and all the native jungle plants. We´re all certain about buying now. So it feels good to set that all into motion. For those who don´t know
Banana Man
On the property - Keturah and I are splitting about and acre and a half and Kelly is buying an ajoining piece of property. We were lucky enough to have a few days of beautiful weather. We met up with Neil, a friend of kelly, later that day. All of us spent the next day slowly walking through Cahuita Ntl Park, which is covered in picturesque swimming beaches and overly friendly monkeys. Neil, at one point, squated down in front of a large group of Capuchins, and began to open his backpack. As soon as they saw an opening in his pack there were about five monkeys with their hands in it, trying to grab whatever they could. He yanked his pack away and there was still an angry monkey swinging from it. All the other monkeys just stood there bearing there teeth at us. We spent the next four days in Puerto Viejo at Rocking J´s. That place is always good for a party and a day on the beach. Or even a rainy day reading in a hammock. After we felt like we´d spent enough time in P.V. we bussed all of the way to Montezuma, near the tip of the
Nicoya Penninsula. It took twelve hours of pure public transport. It was nice to get out of the rain of the Carribean. The climate in montezuma, and all of Nicoya, is hot and dry this time of year. We met some good people on the ferry ride over there and ended up hanging out with them quite a bit in Montezuma. There is a really nice set of waterfalls in Montezuma. The middle one is about fifty feet tall and is perfect to jump from. The first one is even taller but you have to climb a rock wall to get to a jump off point. There were a couple local guys who were crazy enough to do it, but nobody else. The beaches around Montezuma are very nice aswell. I regret not taking any pictures. I packed my camera up in Puerto Viejo and hadn´t used it since until today. None of us were very impressed with the town itself. It´s strictly a tourist town with no local scene. It´s very different from the towns on the Carribean side, which are also tourist towns, but the locals have more influence over them.
We joined up with the group we´d
Howler Monkey
Normaly Howlers are very shy, but these ones didn't seem to even notice us. met on the ferry and all of us went to Mal Pais/Snta Teresa. They´re two towns but the same place. It´s mainly a surf spot, but there is a decent little nighlife and nice beaches to hang out on. That´s all we did while we were there. K, K and C spent their last three nights there, and I spent another two. At that point there were ten of us. We were pretty much a traveling circus, and we pretty much competely occupied the hostel we stayed in. It was all of us who were originaly traveling together plus: Kim, Bonnie, Joe, Noah, and Ollie. I really enjoyed all of them and hope we cross paths again. So K, K and C went home and I think they all had a really good vacation. It got very relaxed, especially toward the end. I ran into a little problem on my trip. I lost my debit card in San Jose. I left it in a bank machine. I told the bank to send a new one to my mom. I was going to have her send it to a UPS office in Tamarindo, because it was on my my path. The bank messed up though, and it turns out I have to wait another week or so. I went to Tamarindo thinking I´d spend three or four days there while waiting for my package. I´m now glad the bank messed up because it was bad enough spending one day there. I arranged for my card to be sent to Managua, Nicaragua. It should be there on tuesday. I dont think I would of lasted in Costa Rica, and especially in Tamarindo, on the little bit of cash I have on me. The problem is, without my debit card there is no way at all for me to get money, except by transferring it into someone else´s account and having them get it from a bank or bank machine, which is a huge pain in the ass. So I decided my money would stretch out further here in Nicaragua. And there is nothing for me in Tamarindo, especially being broke. The town is an outdoor American shopping mall on the beach. I planned on being in Nicaragua this point in my trip originally. There are many places I still want to go in Costa Rica, but I have the rest of my life to go. It feels good to go to a different country. It´s my second day in Nicaragua and so far I like it alot. It feels to me, very similar to Panama. It seems to have more culture than Costa Rica. I´m in Nicaragua´s biggest expat and tourist destination, but its not half as exploited as Montezuma or Tamarindo. If you cant understand what I mean you should see for yourself. Don´t get me wrong, I love Costa Rica, but much of its culture has been lost before it´s had a chance to define itself. I do understand that some people like to stay in Best Western and eat at Burger King when they vacation, but it´s definately not my thing.
I met Neil a bus station in Liberia. He split because he didn´t want to go to Tamarindo. I thought I would run into him up here, but it turns out he met some locals and ended up spending a few days in Liberia, which is the commercial center for that region of Costa Rica. For most travelers it´s a bus transfer point. I was on a tranfer and he was waiting for the same bus. So today we´re in San Juan Del Sur propper getting our laundry done and using the internet. Tommorrow we´re going to Majagual, a little to the north, where I plan on hanging out until my card arrives in Managua. I´m not posting any pics until I get a good connection (Probably Managua). Peace-
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CeeCee
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WOW!!
I just read your journals, it's all very exciting really. meanwhile, what a huge pizza - wish we had pizzas like that in Australia. I just got back from Managua late January and went to San Juan del Sur - I cannot recommended it enough to anyone, it's a beautiful part of the world and the people are so friendly. Good luck on your journeys and take care.