Hotel Villa Isabella San Juan del Sur

... something I was not expecting. We were held up by an American couple, whose papers were not in total order, the locals grumbled something about Gringos and the American couple grumbled something about bribes. And after an hour we were in Nicaragua and the military lock down of the last few days was now just a memory.



Another Day (3 days late..) Another Country

Managua cannot be avoided, unfortunately as it is the centre point for all transport and ...

... the bus terminated and then get another bus about 2 hours later to Santa Cruz. Altagracia is the town where the ferry to Granada leaves from, on route from Costa Rica. We camped out in the central park and took it in turns to see the sights around the area, namely the lovely old church opposite.

We eventually reached Santa Cruz after the best chicken bus ride I have experienced in Central America. The bus was held together by rusty pieces of metal, but it cranked the reggeaton ...

... howler monkeys on the way.

After spending a few days being really lazy Al and I decided it was time to do something and signed up to take part in a canopy tour. Da Flyin Frog is the areas zip lining company and has 17 platforms of which the highest is 70m up and the fastest is 70 km/hour. All this for a very reasonable $30. Al and I were the only two people doing it that day and it was an experience that I really enjoyed. There is something very liberating ...

... behind me, keeping her mouth closed, letting me rant.

We wandered down a few blocks until a nice older taxi driver pulled up to us. We decided to hire him for the rest of the trip to San Juan del Sur and negotiated a price of $8. For a 30 minute ride we thought it was a great deal! Without too much trouble we found a nice little brand new hotel that offered apartment-style rooms with kitchenettes for $30 per night.No air-con but otherwise perfect! We ...

... a bit high. It´s OK when you´re moving but in heavy traffic or when hunting hotels the sweat just pours out of you.
The bike is looking a bit cleaner and the gear smells sweeter for now, but for how long?

We are waiting a day for another traveler who is catching up fast and then we're off to Costa Rica. It´s been a nice break.

... morning we did a hike up the smaller of the two volcanoes which, despite not having much of a view of anything, was pretty great. The first two thirds is beautiful, lush cloud forest which rises into a cooler higher part, topped off with a not so swimmable crater lake. Quite a work out as well! My t-shirt was literally dripping sweat within 30 minutes, but so was everyone elses. Loved the cloud forest ...

... asked for... i am just happy! 24.04.09 Finally I can say that time on the Pacific, with the people I met and the fun I had with surfin will be the one of a thousand places for me... I really loved being there and by now I know that cities are not my favorite spaces... I long for sea, bonfires, tranquility, ron&coke and sleeping with the wind around your nose...definitely!

... halda eitthvad áfram. Vid vorum tharna ráfandi um og thá keyrir pallbíll upp ad okkur og thar eru 2 menn (sem voru greinilega kanar) sem spurdu okkur hvort vid vaerum ad leita okkur ad gistingu. Sogdumst vera i vandraedum thvi vid vaerum ekki med nóg pening. Annar theirra sagdi okkur ad that vaeri langt i naest hradbanka en hann gaeti hjalpad okkur med thvì ad fara kaupa bensín og ad vid myndum borga that med kredikorti og hann gaefi okkur peningin til baka. Thannig vid settumst ...

... to play a drinking game with flor de cana like a handle and two smaller bottles as well. we played a game that was a cross between kings cup and mushroom. i lost pretty bad or won, i got ****ed either way by the end of the game i was semi concious, i broke a bottle and fell over.. we consitered a coke run but i just stumbled back to my hostel barely making it there.. i had a blast good people good times