Farewell Nicaragua, Hello Costa Rica.

At last check, we were in Granada enjoying the sites and sounds of a city more European than Central American. Currently, we´re wet and happy in Costa Rica. How did this happen I hear you ask, all will be revealed, we might even have some pictures of us in the blog! Dnnnn Dnnnn Dnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...

So, leaving Granada, we got a bus and a Ferry to Isla Ometepe which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.

We had heard that there was a hostel run by an Irish guy there and it was supposed to be pretty good craic. We decided that we´d like to hear a familiar voice and off we went in the direction of Little
Morgan´s. We shared a taxi to the place with a bunch of Dutch girls (there was to be no bus for several hours.) On arriving to Little Morgan´s we were greeted by what can only be described as a biblical plague of flies.

Saioules (sic.) are little flies the size of a midgie fly and they live for a short 24 hours and then die. Upon dying the smell like rotting fish. When they are alive, the live in huge swarms and they get in your eyes, nose, mouth. In your clothes, they´re so small they fall through mosquito nets so your bed is constantly covered in a layer of them.

So, when we get to Little Morgans, we can´t really see or anything, we´re greeted by the lovely Tess who sends us up to the Mirador. The Mirador is a viewing tower, and because its a bit higher up, we were saved the worst of the flies. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the tower. So we quickly aquainted ourselves with the owner, Morgan and some of the other guests over a few bottle of beers. There was little else you could do but drink that first day. From the tower you could see big brown clouds of the flies coming in off the lake. You also got a spectacular view of the sunset which we definately took advantage of.

After a terrible night´s sleep eating flies, we decided the best thing to do would be to get up at 6.30am and climb the volcano from the bottom. With a pair of sore heads we headed up the volcano with a group of German guys and our guide. It was the first time we climbed a volcano from the very bottom, no lift to a starting point. The starting point is across the road from the hostel, right on the lake.

For the first time, we weren´t powering ahead of everyone else all the time! It was by far the hardest hike we´ve done so far. The path was muddy and slippy, it went up then down then up and then up again. Most of the time there was only space to walk single file, and I´ve never sweated so much in my life. The heat wasn´t as bad as it had been on other hikes, but the sheer physical exersion needed to get through the mud on a uphill climb was a lot.

We walked through people´s back gardens and banana plantations, through small rivers, cow paths and small mudflows! It was gruelling. Its exactly what I´d expect from hiking through a jungle, the guide literally had a machete for clearing the path ahead of us. There were howler monkeys growling down at us and humming birds zipping around us. The climb was breathtaking. Litterally, you were very much out of breath a lot of the way up!

Once you get to the very top, you´re not actually done yet because you climb down to a lake in the middle of the volcano.

The view is quite nice, and a few people were bold enough to swim in it. Personally, I just ate my sandwich and enjoyed the view, I was too relieved to move! the view of the lake is nice, but not exactly breathtaking. Its not what you get up at 6.30 and climb for 4 hours to see. After a healthy lunch of fly sandwiches, (a rat tried to steal Ian's sandwich), we started back down the volcano. Which actually meant climbing back up to the top and then back down. We were about half way down the volcano when we came to the view that you get up at 6.30 and climb for 6 hours to see.

Its a perfect view of the second volcano on the island with Lake Nicaragua on either side. At this point myself and Ian were way ahead of the group having regained our mojo over lunch. Ian came out of the undergrowth ahead of me and all I heard was ´Oh Wow!` I was wondering what Ian was seeing when I emerged from the jungle and was caught by the sight myself. ´Oh Wow!´  is an understatement. Every single person as they came through that path had the exact same reaction, allbeit in different languages, but the sentiment was the same. We sat there admiring the view for a half an hour unable to move.

On coming closer to home we realised that the flies were still hanging around the hostel in their millions. Brushing against a banana leaf would remind hundreds of them that they were still alive and all of a sudden you were surrounded by the little bastards again. Up your nose, in your eyes and ears, I don´t even want to tell you what the toilets and showers were like, needless to say there was a layer of rotting flies an inch thick covering everything. If the billions of flies didn´t get to you, the smell certainly would.

Our newest ozzy friends (Nathan & Melanie) had had enough and moved to a hostel on higher ground. Myself and Ian toughed it out for one more night but decided we were also fed up and arranged to meet the ozzies at the 7.30 bus to head to fairer shores.

After an extremely painless trip, we arrived at San Juan del Sur, a beach town on the pacific side of Nicaragua only a half hour from the Costa Rican border. We have no pictures from San Juan because we immediately fell into a pattern of surfing during the day, and playing cards and cooking at night. For three days we surfed and cooked and played cards with Nath and Mel. On the fourth day, while the two boys went off surfing, myself and Mel had a girlie day. We ate ice cream and decided where we would go in Costa Rica the next day. That evening we did something pretty special though. We all sat in the back of a pick up for an hour down dirt roads that are really more rivers. At 9.30ish we arrived at a beach that is also a turtle reserve.

Soldiers with big guns wandered around us as we walked down the path to the beach. The soldiers weren´t there for our protection but for the turtle. This beach is where hundreds of thousands of endangered sea turtles come to nest every year. According to our guide, every species of sea turtle is currently endangered, and this particular beach is where thousands of Olive Ridley turtles nest.

As soon as we walked down the beach we could see an odd track in the sand that came from the sea and stopped at a big dark thing that we couldn´t really see properly. Following our guide, we came upon a turtle building her nest and laying her eggs. We sat there with her until she had finshed and watched as she closed in the nest and patted it down. That part was actually my favourite, she does a little dance on the top of the nest to make sure its well and truely covered and then does a dance around it to hide the nest a bit. Then she turns right around and heads back to the sea. Sea Turtles are surprisingly quick on the land, I mean, they´re completely helpless, but they´re a  lot faster than you´d imagine!

I don´t know how many people get to see turtles nesting, but I´m very lucky to be one of them. That night we watched two turtles nesting, and all in all, it was one of the coolest things I´ve ever seen. It wasn´t adrenaline pumping like some of the other things we´ve done. I think you might have to see it to understand what it feels like, its difficult to explain. In any case, although it was quite the expensive trip (30USD), it was worth every penny.

Here we say goodbye to Nicaragua and hello to Costa Rica. We walked the kilometer across the border, with the Nicaraguan governement wishing us well. As Mel pointed out, they´re probably obliged to wish you well at this point given the amount of money they take off you in immigration fees!

On arriving in Costa Rica, we headed straight for the beach town called Samara. I should also mention that by now we´ve adopted Nath and Mel as travelling companions. They´re headed the same way as us for the next while and they share the same love of cheap and cheerful travelling as well as card games.

When we fnially get to Samara after one taxi and three buses we all sit down for a well desereved break in a coffee shop. This is where we met the lovely ladies. The two ladies working at this coffee shop were the friendliest women you could ever meet, they were really concerned about where we were going to stay. When the two boys came back from scouting out all the local accommodation, they let us know that it was a good safe place to stay.

We ended up on a beach front dorm with our own balcony overlooking the bay. We spent the next few days in a familiar routine, surfing, cooking and playing cards. Although, the one night we broke out the catchphrase, things got out of hand, there was celebratory table dancing when Team Wo-Man kicked Team Man´s Ass twice in a row.

Ian and Nath were surfing constantly. I preferred playing in the waves being photographer to the surfers. I think the results were pretty good given that my camera is so rubbish that I was in the waves up to my waist to get a decent picture of surf pro O`Gorman.

Ian´s poor attempt at Surf Photography.

When we realised that the weather was not really holding up for us, we decided to head inland to Monte Verde. (Which incidentally means Green Hill in Spanish).

So as you may or may not realise, normally they way myself and Ian decide where to go is we talk to everyone we met and see what they say about a place. If we hear good things, we check out the guidebook and make our way there. The plan is very loose really, and we more or less go off of people´s suggestions. When we talked to people about Costa Rica, we heard two things. One, Costa Rica is very expensive and more importantly, every single person we talked to recommended was Zip Lining in Monte Verde. We have not been disappointed.

When we got to Monte Verde, we were greeted off the bus by the lovely Ronny who took us to his hostel ´Sleepers Sleep Cheaper´. Don´t be fooled by the name, its the best place we´ve stayed at so far, and definately the best value. We´ve been getting free breakfast, brilliant kitchen, free internet, television, blankets. And best of all, HOT SHOWERS! Travelling around, I´ve come to realise that the two things I take for granted the most at home are probably hot showers and washing machines.

Anyway, once in Monte Verde, not happy with your usual zip lining tours, we signed up for the Extremo Canopy tour. Extremo is not an exaggeration. Ian reckons its the single most fun thing we´ve done. So we got up early and headed to Extremo base camp and got all kitted up.


Anna and Ian kitted up.

Team Man kitted up.

Team Man on return.

Ian and Anna on return.

To say we got wet and muddy is something of an understatement. We went across 15 zipline cables, 1 tarzan swing, 1 rapel and one of those cables was in the fashion of superman. For those who don´t know what zip lining is, its basically attaching yourself to a cable with a complicated system of levers and pulleys and hurtling through the jungle very fast.  A tarzan swing is literally swinging like tarzan from a cable. A rapel is just jumping off a platform with a rope, and superman is where you go on the cables headfirst.

Why would you pay to do this to yourself I hear you ask? Well to be honest I asked myself that a fair few times too. There were times when I´ve never been so scared in my entire life, (Even more so than the wasp attack) and I literally had to be pused off a few of the ledges. I had a mantra that got me through some of the scarier zip lines `I´m very well tied in, I´m very well tied in, I´m very well tied in`.

Going along the zip lines, the mist was so heavy that you couldn´t see the ground or the cable, and when you were getting to the end of the cable, the ground would just come up out of nowhere at you very very fast! The best one was the superman. I can only describe it as flying. You literally feel like you´re soaring through the clouds flying. The superman cable is a kilometer long and its incredible. The adrenaline rush at the end left me somewhere between a fit of laghter and tears and definately all limbs shaking. It was a truely strange experience.

So that´s us for the moment. We´re heading to the Carribean side of Costa Rica tomorrow and from there we´ll be making our way to Panama. We´re sticking with the wonderful travel companions Nath and Mel for the next while, hopefully they´re not sick of us yet.