Finca Las Nubes San Juan del Sur

... for your personal belongings unless they have been stowed under the bus"... Anyway, again, we thought how lucky our day was turning out

We got to the border, there was a huge queue but it was an easy crossing, we got chatting to an American girl, HEather and her friend. She was working in Nicaragua and was just doing a border run to renew her visa, so we chatted about where to go etc in Nicaragua... she was nice - its a shame you seem to meet really nice people in ...

... and we had to say goodbye. Though who
knows, we'll probs see them tmrw.

We woke up early this morning, showered, and got a really good typico
breakfast. We just made the bus to Rivas, which was about an hour and a
half away. Here, we took a quick taxi to San Jorge, where we caught the
hour long ferry to the Isla de Ometepe. (All the legs of our trip were
about $1.) Ometepe is an island formed by two giant and beautiful
volcanoes ...

... guy, and a couple that we had met originally on the boat to the Corn Islands. After hanging out with them on the islands for several days, we re-met them wandering the streets of San Juan del Sur. Between the five of us, we had four poles hanging off the boat, and after about an hour and a half of chasing birds around (hoping they might know where the fish were -- apparently the fish-tracker on the boat was busted) we eventually got ...

... its drawback, as you have to be a bit organised. To every positive there is a counter. Minutes blurred, events became continuous except for when I walked down the path early one morning to be confronted by a huge fat snake lying across the path. It must have been well beyond 2 – 3 metres and about 15 centimetres in diameter, although I didn’t really hang around to take exact measurements, having a healthy respect for serpents. I think from its markings and ...

... that Charco Verde is famous for. Unfortunately it started raining quite heavily and we had to turn back a way in, but what we did see was quite beautiful and very tranquil. We had decided to head to Santa Cruz, a bit closer to Volcan Maderas so that we could do some Kayaking and maybe see some petroglyphs in the area. We packed our things and headed down the dusty road to get a chicken bus. We met the nicest local on the bus who informed us that we would have to go to Altagracia ...

... with a private bathroom. I was not going to have to endure something like that again! Julian went off with some new friends to Maderas beach and Al and I walked around town, taking in the festivities of Independance Day. The marching bands marched and played their drums, the majorettes shook their booties and waved their batons, the crowds cheered. The smell of hot dogs and hamburgers filled the air. The Latin Americans have taken a leaf out of the United States ...

... thanks for that, dude) and were immediately swarmed by the requisite taxi drivers jostling for us and reaching to grab our bags. But today was not their day. I was done getting taken advantage of. Enough! I told Mom we would WALK 30 miles to San Juan del Sur before I'd get ripped off again. I grabbed our bags and set off down the street, away from the taxi drivers. A block later I started asking everyone we passed where the bus station was. Poor Mom was just ...

... Turns out we were completely lost, but eventually made it back to town!
Once we got back to the hotel we jumped in the lake, showered and went out for girls for dinner. Turns out they ended up climbing the smaller volcano and doing some pretty good stuff on there day.
I flaked out after tea in a hammock as I was so sore before heading to bed early as we were going to leave for Costa Rica in the morning.

... at this point that we have officially seen EVERY accomadation in SJdS). It took five minutes to decide after Tracy talked to the owner and found out that the a/c didnt work because he was doing his laundry and it wouldnt be on until later. So Tracy (God I love her for this) grabbed her bag and the key, walked downstairs, dropped the key in front of the owner while he was having a business meeting at a table, said "we've changed our minds, we're leaving ...

... attraction" they wanted to start, and after the video they would give us a free "tubbing trip". The video camera was not usable at the moment and Amelia could not help them, but anyhow we got the trip. You can see the picture down. I have to say I falled down...ok, I think I would have been able to keep hold to the thing...but my bikini was alredy in my knees and falling down...and I love this bikini more than the proudness of not falling down : ( The day after we ...