Nasty Nicaragua

Nicaragua is not going to be as much fun as Panama and as it is dawning on me that I have little more than four weeks left and will run out of time if I try and do everything on my itinary I`m going to head back south. Isla de Ometepe is the main attraction here, and having seen that and done my wandering about, Im going to make up time but cutting out Granada and the Corn Islands (which would have been expensiv anyway I guess). So to the bus I go, next stop San Jose!

On to Nicaragua

I will point out that getting sunburnt shins was really not my fault! I applied lots of Factor 30, but you can�t take the bottle into the one man raft with you because it�ll disappear down the river the first time the boat goes over. Which was at the first set of rapids! And as my legs spent longest in the water, they got the lotion ashed off and next thing you know…. Still it was no big deal in the end, lots of After Sun and they were fine. Anyhow, spent an extra day at La Fortuna to relax some, as the scenery was so good. Well, there aren’t going to be many days I wake up at the foot of a burbling volcano anyway. Although my extra day in the end did allow me to fully appreciate just how lucky I had been with the weather as it ended up totally enveloped in cloud once again. Which is pretty much all anyone ever sees of it

Have also discovered having chatted to some fellow travellers that everyone but me seems to get mental dreams after taking their Chloroquine tablets. I’m just gonna have to up my dose I guess! Yesterday I moved on, and spent a pretty exhausting 12 hours on buses up to the Nicaraguan border and over the other side to Rivas, where I am now. Not that theres anything in Rivas, I was just too late to get the ferry to Isla de Ometepe (and Im sure I remember that name from an Indiana Jones film!) which is my next destination. Crossing borders is pretty stressy really, and there are times I wish I hadn�t bothered and had stayed in the UK, or turned back to Montezuma to get my hammock back! Still, its all part and parcel of travelling. The one moment that lightened my mood was when being processed by Mrs Lesbian Morales. There’s no escaping that Nicaragua is a real Third World Country and from the little I have seen so far, it does seem like a bomb has hit the place. Literally. But the people have been incredibly friendly so far, and I’m looking forward to my stay here. Well thats all for today!

Volcan Arenal

Volcanos rock! Had my first view of Volcan Arenal on the boat trip across the lake en route from Monteverde, and for the first time in about 5 months there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (so Im told) and I had a perfect view of it. It is an absolutely typical volcano with its perfect cone shape, and smoke billowing out the top, and it is definitely a cool view. I’m staying in La Fortuna at the base of it, and spent yesterday afternoon/evening on a tour through the forest to a couple of viewing points, the last of which we arrived at after dark and could see the lava rolling down the sides. This was such a huge amount of luck because everyone I have spoken too who had been here previously had seen nothing but thick cloud. After that, the tour took us to the Tabacon hot springs, which is a series of pools which source their water from the grounds surrounding the volcano, and they seriously are hot. But make for a relaxing evening. Today, went white water rafting down the San Carlos river through the forests which was again a serious amount of (expensive!) fun. And I now have seriously sun burned shins. So Im off to find my trusty After Sun lotion…

In a Crater

I have now said a fond farewell to the Voyager Hostel in Panama City and have begun the journey back towards Costa Rica. The City is great but after a week there I had kinda slipped into resident mode…..Burger Kings, Cinema, Casino etc. All great fun, but a sign its time to find patures new! I am now in El Valle, 2 hours west of the city in a little town which nestles in the crater of a long extinct volcano. It is incredibly picturesque here, and famous for its handicraft markets. Which really is little more than an overpriced tourist trap!

And today I met up again with Sol the Argentine girl, now accompanied by her mum and the `nearly retired` American couple who are still so young at heart it defies all logic! Nearly 65 and with an artificial knee the guy still goes off with the missus everywhere, usually in search of a good spot to do some fishing! We were also joined by a German girl and did some shopping and a fairly long stroll up a hill to see a waterfall. All good fun, but tomorrow Im off to David. I wont be staying there, just breaking up the journey to Manuel Antonio on the Costa Rican side of the border.

Creepy Crawlies

Oh man, this place is crawling with tarantulas and scorpions! I am so outta here tomorrow! I was going to leave today but I got otherwise preoccupied and didn’t get to sleep till 4am, and there was no way I was getting up at 7am to pack! I thought yesterdays meeting with the Red Knee was a bit of luck….yeah well, it turns out the forests are full of them and they come out at night to hunt. Along with the scorpions, two of whom took a wander across the kitchen floor of the hostel last night. Soon squished them (and they are pretty poisonous…not fatal, but a couple of days in hospital feeling pretty ill is a common result) and then was told by the hostel owner that we should always check in our shoes, sheets, packs etc for unwanted guests. Great - he could have told me that yesterday when I first arrived! Still, my transport is now booked to La Fortuna where I shall go and have a look at some clouds, and will them to bugger off and give me a view of the volcano…

Monteverde

Eventually I did drag myself away from Montezuma, hard as it was, leaving James the semi resident Loca Luna guest pretty much by himself once again. Till the next lot of tourists rumble on thru anyway. Still, there’s plenty of wildlife to keep him company….for two days running our rooms were invaded by Army Ants who decided to march on through. I have now made my way to Monteverde, high up in the hills to see some rainforest and its animal contents. It was perhaps (and hopefully!) the longest journey I will have to undertake, and was full of mishaps. I got the coach to Puntarenas ok, and caught the ferry, but my refusal to hand over a dollar for a taxi ride to the bus stop 2km’s away cost me. By the time I walked there my coach to Monteverde had long gone. No problem thought I. Hopped on a bus to Cruce on the Pan American Highway, and then got a little bit too deep into my book (My Masters, A Mad World by the BBC’s John Simpson - I’ve finished the excellent Stupid White Men by Michael Moore)and sailed way past my stop.

By the time I got back I ended up chasing the Monteverde bus down the road until I caught it up….long live traffic jams! Although the next traffic jam due to an RTA wasn’t quite so welcome. Ten hours to get here in all, when it could have taken as little as 6 hours on a good day. Still, it’s all part of the fun of independant travel I guess… Monteverde itself is reknowned for having one of the best Cloud Forests in the world (it has to be said, whilst some countries are famous for having wildlife reserves, Costa Rica is famous for being a wildlife reserve)and it hasn’t disappointed so far. I took a trek on the Sky Walk this morning, which is a series of trails and long walks down suspension bridges across the top of the forest canopy. It really was excellent, what with the bridges mesh walkways bouncing and swaying with every step, and the very very long drop to the forest floor below. And I really felt like I was in a forest, which might seem to be stating the obvious, but I have been on so many disappointing treks in other countries before that my expectations have dropped considerably.

And whilst I haven’t yet been attacked by a snake or crocodile, I did nearly tread on a huge red kneed tarantula that took a stroll across the path. Its so cool to see something like that in the wild rather than in a glass tank. I was just very annoyed that my camera settings had reset after a change of battery and I didn’t have time to set it up again to take any worthwhile photos of it. I did give it a few prods with a stick to try and make him come back and do some posing but he clearly wasn’t in the mood.

The other downside was that, being less than keen on anything with multiple legs, I spent the rest of the walk being paranoid that one of the buggers would fall off a tree onto my head, and at one stage I really had a serious heart attack when I mistook a large 12″ leaf to be another fanged beastie. Now I’m just debating what to do next. Its pretty expensive here, and I’m trying to stick to a $30 a day budget. I may leave for Volcan Arenal tomorrow on a jeep-boat-jeep trip, or maybe I’ll stay for another day and do a long trek on foot through another section of the forest. We’ll have to see…..

Isla de Taboga

Just got back from Islas Tobaga which is an hours boat ride from Panama City, where I just spent the last three days, and what a great little break it was. Its also know as the Island of Flowers (that may even be what Taboga means….I dunno!) and it really is covered in strong smelling flowers of every colour. I think the smelly ones were jasmine. The houses are old looking and colourful, and a bit quaint, and it has what is rumoured to be the second oldest church in all of the Americas. It has loads of history too, from Spanish colonisation to being a base for British pirates and more recently as a guard post for the US military to watch over the entrance to the canal.

I can also now say that I`ve sailed down the Panama canal by the way, after the boat trip there! Anyway, went on a pretty long hike up through the forest to the top of the hill (the island is basically a massive hill)checking out the wildlife and then having a sit down on a bunker at the top. I did the same trek via a different route the next day with a few tourists instead of just myself, plus a very friendly and manic Beagle that joined us as a free guide dog for the four hour trip.

Followed all that up with a long swim in the sea, and an evening chatting to an American couple, a young Argentine girl and the guy running the hostel, plus a pretty nice meal for 5 bucks at the local restaurant. Now I`m back in Panama City though and planning my route back to San Jose as I have little more than 2 weeks left. Next stop will be El Valle at the weekend to see the famous market there, and after that I will cross the border and go to Manuel Antonio national park for a wander about to catch sight of a few more animals.

Waterfalls

Yeah, Montezuma is going to be one of those places that’s hard to leave! I just handed over another 20 dollars for 2 nights more here, and that might not be the last time they see my cash coming their way! It has been a great weekend, with a good mix of company for entertainment. A trio of Canadians (one of whom came here 3 or 4 months ago and just hasn’t gotten around to leaving) were here when I arrived Thursday, and then 3 girls from the USA arrived with a cute Tica in tow, whose name should be easy to pronounce (Alejandra), but man I just can’t get it into my head to use an ‘H’ for the ‘J’s!

Anyways, Friday was spent swimming, going for a couple of walks, and a long stroll to one of the waterfalls. Its a great trek, basically involving a walk up river stepping on the numerous rocks sticking out of the water, sometimes along the steep banks at the foot of the surronding canyon, and more often than not using both hands to grab onto tree roots to climb across sections of the bank. The waterfall itself was pretty impressive, set amidst all consuming forest, a good 60 or 70 foot high, with a large, cool and very deep pool to swim in. On Saturday, pretty much everyone at the hostel went to the waterfall in the morning, but this time we went straight past the first waterfall and took a seriously hard trail up the face of the canyon using rocks and tree roots to help climb what was at times a vertical wall.

All worth it though, as at the top we found another huge cool pool high up in the canyon overlooking another waterfall, with another huge pool at the bottom. Stayed there all day in the end, to have the pool to ourselves as one by one everyone took off back to town, and got to see the sunsetting on the water, and watch the lizards and birds come back to life before I walked back with Ale. Who, along with all but two of the guests, went onto new places on Sunday morning. And I have since been dedicating myself to some serious hammock time! The view off the gazebo at the hostel really is fantastic and being so high up we get cooling sea breezes to turn down the temperature after a hard day’s lazing.

Montezuma

Have now left La Fortuna hotel and San Jose well and truly behind me. Having checked out of the hotel I took a cab journey to the bus station. I was going to walk it, but the woman at the front desk of the hotel looked a bit horrified and kept repeating “go taxi - mucho dangeruss” so I parted with a dollar for the fare to be on the safe side! Good thing too. The map I had suggested it was only only a 10 minute walk, but it turned out to be about that long by car.

Anyway, I was pretty pleased to find that Costa Rica�s coaches are pretty efficient as well as cheap (the most you can pay is about $9 for a cross country trip) and I even found myself a guide to help me find my ferry from Puntarenas to Pacquera, and to share a beer with while waiting for it, and who also happened to be pretty damn good looking! Shame she had to catch a different ferry.

Anyway, here I am in Montezuma, and it is as spectacular as I had hoped. The forest is green and filled with wildlife, the sun is warm, the sea shimmering and to top it off I have found a great hostel. It is on top of a hill over the town with fantastic views and is clean, with a few other backpackers for company. And all for $10 dollars, which includes breakfast! When I first arrived I was greeted by this deafening gutteral grunting which sounded very much like it was coming from some monstrous great gibbon, but turned out to be a troupe of howler monkeys warning off a bird of prey of some sort that was circling overhead.

There are also white faced monkeys which I am told make their way through the hostel once every day or so. Add in a few iguanas, plenty of geckos, pelicans, birds of all types, sloths and god knows what else. Plenty to look at and go hunting for. There are some great waterfalls around here too that I shall be off to find sooner or later, which have some great pools for swimming in, and can be jumped off. Although I might wait and see someone else do it first…. And best thing of all….no poxy dumb assed British Uni students here!

Destination Central America

Made it! In the end…. Not the most pleasant journey ever, not least because my flight was late into New York, which left me running for dear life to catch my connection to Miami, which in turn was in the air over Miami for an extra 90 minutes because a lighting storm shut the airport. I now also know just how sadly addicted to cigarettes I am. At Heathrow I gave away virtually an entire pack of smokes and my lighter to a Belgian tourist who asked if she could borrow one (she was pretty..!) and resolved to make the cig in my gob my last.

Once at New York I changed my mind and decided that not even the risk of missing my connection was reason enough not to run the length of the airport to the exit, pay an extortionate 10 dollars for a pack of Marlboro Lights and furiously drain two of the buggers before going in search of my Miami plane. It was easy enough to find. Just run towards the loudspeaker calling my name… Anyway, arrived at Juan Santamaria International in San Jose at about 7.30pm, found hostel as planned, then went in search of new hostels that weren’t fully booked! So Hotel Fortuna is now home! Have had a good nights sleep and now have a day to kill in San Jose before I trundle off to the coast tomorrow. There’s not a lot to say about San Jose really. Its not really a destination in itself, just somewhere you’d pass through. At least it’s sunny, hot and full of J-Lo look a likes!

And to add to the above (as I have now returned to the cool sanctuary of the Internet Cafe to continue todays post) I can confirm than there really is nothing to say about San Jose! I have walked every last inch of the downtown area and found nothing worth writing about (and yet here I am, writing plenty about all this nothingness…!) Not that this is any surprise. It is exactly as described in the Lonely Planet guidebook. I hope their chapters are just as accurate as far as the rest of the country is concerned - I will be having a great holiday if so!

Not that there is anything terribly wrong with San Jose. Its civilized, clean, friendly enough and has plenty for the locals to do entertainment wise. But, just like Guadalajara in Mexico last year, I just haven’t seen anything that has come even close to tempting me to get my camera out. I was even reduced to visiting the Museo del Jade, to view a huge selection of Mesoamerican jade jewellery, tools and other bits and bobs, some of which might just have been worthy of a quick snap or two if cameras were allowed inside!