TravelStream™ news feed for member pjcrus on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pjcrus en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:28:44 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/2/1221469680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/2/1221469680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/2/1221469680/tpod.html Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:28:44 -0400 Diving Diving and more Diving - A Thai diving Trip

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Hamburg, Germany

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San Salvador, El Salvador

After leaving Granada i headed north to Leon, another colonial city not as touristy as Granada. I soon found out how much i had been relying on Regina with regards to Spanish. I am alway envious of people that can speak many languages and sometimes i forgot that english was not Regina's first language and her Spanish was certainly a lot better than my. But in my own way i managed to get by and arrived in Leon in the afternoon. I checked in to the Big Foot Hostel and walked around town looking at the many churches and market stalls. I so realised that i was feeling tired and jaded. Whether it was because i was back on my own or because i had been travelling for almost 5 months or simply because i missed my german travel companion but i knew it was time to go home
The next day was going to be an effort. I wanted to get to San Salvador. This would involve 2 border crossing and i didnt really want to end up in the capital city of the El Salvador late at night. I set out early and made good progress. All in all it to 14 hours involved 7 buses and 2 hassel free borders. I was deposited at the eastern bus terminal and a helpful local planted me on the right local bus to Boulevard los Heroes where 2 cheap hostels could be found. I stayed at Xeminas GuestHouse for $6/night. It was in a quiet part of town near the largest shopping mall in Central america.
The next day i headed in to the centre of town and walked around. San Salvador is a surprising nice city. It has an excellent and easy understood bus sytem which certainly makes it a lot easier to find your way round and many parks (although unfortunately not many park benches). There are parts of the city that look like a bombs hit it but thats true in any city. The market is large mostly undercover and sells the usually pirated dvds.
The following day i headed out with an american guy to Suchitoto, a city about 47kms from the capital. When i say city thats what the books call it, i would say a very very small town. We visited a small restaurant where the owner had made sculptures from disused munitions from the civil war, we stopped by a house where an old lady rolled cigars in front of us that cost 25 cents and i tell you we got our 25 cents worth. Thet were disgusting. We then walked down to Suchitlan lake, an artifical lake formed when they dammed a river. You could hire a boat to take you round the lake but the boatman were asking for just too much money so we just sat and watched the world go past before heading back to the capital
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215548940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215548940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215548940/tpod.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:35:39 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Little Corn Island, Corn Islands, Nicaragua

Regina and i headed to the border early in the morning. This was the only land crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica and as such was a chaotic scene of trucks, buses and people. So many people in fact that the line to cross ws 3 hours long. i would have happily stood in the queue but not Regina. She dragged to a cafe near the front of the queue and told me to sneak into the line while she bought something. She had picked the wrong person, i find queue jumping difficult for some reason. After coming out of the shop and seeing that i was still on the edge of the line she took matters into her own hands and 20 minutes later we were in Nicaragua. I was impressed.
We headed to Granada and the Bearded Monkey for the night. We managed to score some airline tickets for the afternoon flight the next day. We had both wanted to take the more adventurous trip by bus/boat to bluefields and then ferry to Big corn but the ferry only ran twice weekly and we didnt have the time to wait.
We arrived at Big Corn and headed to the dock for the boat to Little Corn. The sky ws overcast and a slight rain was falling. The boat filled up quickly and soon exceeded its maximum capacity by a dozen or so. On the trip over the rain got harrder and the waves bigger and at one point the boat tipped sharply and nearly flipped over. On arrival the passengers all cheered like we were flying some cheap airline that miraclously landed unharmed
Little Corn is little, only a 5 minute walk wide and an hours walk long, it has a population of about 500, no cars or roads but plently of stray dogs. We walked to the east side of the island and rented a cabana at Grace's for $5/person/night. The cabana was basic but it opened out on to the beach and the Carribean sea and had a small porch complete with hammock. That night we went to the place next door and dined on fresh fish and hoped the diving would be good the following day.
We ended up staying on Corn Island for 7 nights. We would have stayed longer but the weather wasnt the best and was getting worse when we left. The days when the sun was out we would dive in the morning and return to our cabana in the afternoon to sit on our porch grazing out on the multi coloured sea. The diving was ok. We did see a fair few nurse sharks and there were some cool swim thrus and caves that you could explore. We also managed to score a free three course meal at one of the more up market hostels when i drained the owners dog's aural haematoma.
Little corn has it down sides - the restuarants ran out of food a lot and the food was a little pricey, electricity at our hostel was only provided between 6-10, the weather wasnt the best and there were a lot of mosquitos but despite all this it was great. It was greart watching the sun rise or a storm build up from your cabana, laze in a hammock right on the sea, have nothing to do all day except dive or just chill out on the sand as the sun went down.
The day we flew back to the mainland the sky was clearer and i tthought we should stay longer but on the boat ride back to Big Corn i could see the storm clouds building up and knew it was time to go.
We headed back to Granada and the Bearded Monkey - i stayed for 2 nights and then headed north to El Salvadour, while Regina was heading south for a flight back to South America. We spent the 2 days scouring the market stalls for pirated DVDs that were in english and only $1 (and not bad quality) and we headed to Masaya were we souvenired shopped and got claustrophobic in the narrow passages of a large undercovered market. It would be strange travelling on my own again. I had been travelling with Regina for just under a month and had enjoyed my time with her immensely and would miss her.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215214560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215214560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1215214560/tpod.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:26:38 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Liberia, Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica

We headed off early (the first bus was at 4am) for the journey back to civilisation. We were headed north up the Pacific coast. The journey took all day and 4 buses but in the early evening we reached Quepos. Quepos is a small town that for me was the sort of place i would turn around and walk out of if i could. From the dirty bar lined streets with broken neon lighting to the large impersonel, overpriced, unfriendly hostel we stayed in to the crowds of tourist crwoded round fast food restaurants, i just didnt like it
We were staying here to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, which was a short bus ride away so we would only be here 2 nights thankfully
The next day we headed to the Nationl Park, because of the ease of getting here, hordes of tourists descend on the park and with the nice wide flat paths large groups walk along pushing strollers and talking loudly and as such the wildlife tends to scatter very quickly. Despite this it wasnt a bad day out, once you got away from the entrance and on the narrower muddier trail to the further beaches. The trail wound through rin forest backed tropical beaches and rocky headlands, we saw igunas, squirrel monkeys and i sighted my first sloth ( these creatures make koala bears positively hyper)
We foud a nice secluded beach for lunch and lazed in the afternoon sun but my peace was shattered by the largest lizard id seen in a while sitting on a log just behind my head. Looking around i could see there were 4 more lizards scattered around eyeing us menacingly. With the peace shattered and the lizards not willing to budge we headed back to the entrance. It had been a good day but i was glad to be leaving Quepos
The next day we caught the bus to Punteranas, then a ferry and then another bus to Montezuma, a small town on the South Eastern coast on the Peninsula de Nicoya (you could get here a lot quicker by speedboat from Jaco but what you save in tme you lose in money). Montezuma was one of the original "destinations" in Costa Rica according to the bible and its remote location attracted hippies and artists nd even now its still a laid back village with a good vibe. We stayed at Pension Lucy, a beach side establishment with ocean views and hammocks a short walk out of town. We were here for 3 nights and spent the time lazy in the hammocks, walking along the coast to the national park on the tip of the penisula (unfortunately it was closed the day we went but the town near it, its cementary was on an island you could reach at low tide but as it was high tide we couldnt reach it ) and browsing the stalls in the main part of town. It was here also that we watched Germany lose to Spain in the European Cup which luckily didnt put a dampener on the day. I enjoyed my time in Montezuma but the weather was turning bad and we wanted to some more diving so planned to head to the north of the peninsula
Unfortunately roads on the peninsula are not that good and so to go north you have to go all the way back to Punteranus and from there head north, which we did arriving in Liberia in the early evening and catching the last bus to Playa de Coco our destination. I had heard from several people that the diving here was good. We headed to Hotel Coco Azul and were greetd by two middle-aged men wearing only shorts with no sun tans and large bellys drinking whisky. They were the owner and the manager and gave us a good deal on a cabana which was clean and had its own bathroom.
The next day we headed to a few dive shops and compared prices. We decided we wanted to go to the Bat islands as this was where their best diving was so the trip was organised for the following day
The dive trip to the Bat islands was pretty impressive, we saw 2-3 bull sharks which a not like nurse sharks or reef sharks, these guys are big and look like sharks amd when they are swimming a few feet from you you start going through air. We also saw a group of about 20 eagle rays swimming in formation as well as the usually assortment of fish. All in all it was pretty good.
Heading back to the mainland you could see large developments going on around Playa de Coco. Huge tracts of land were being cleared to make way for large condo complexes. I felt in a few years this place would become another one of those places i would want to leave. I coldnt understand why you would want a condo here. I men the diving was good but if you didnt dive the beach was at best pretty ordinary as it was all the way up the Pacific coast. It certainly wasnt the Carribean side
The next day we headed to Liberia for a night before heading into Nicaragua. It was my last night in Costa Rica. I hadnt exactly like Costa Rica, there were some good times but on the whole i felt that Costa Rica was soulless. The diving was ok but everything else i think you could find cheaper and better in neighbouring countries. Anyway what do i know except i was looking forward to being back in Nicaragua
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214613120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214613120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214613120/tpod.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:35:44 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Quepos, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214423100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214423100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214423100/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:31:02 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Drake Bay, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

A was suppose to be headed from David south to Panama City where i would then turn around and head up the Pacific coast back to Guatemala, but as always happens in travelling plans can change. Regina was heading into Costa Rica to the Osa Peninsula, a remote national park where the diving was meant to be good. The long shot of it was i decided to join her. The reasons were many. Frstly the trip down to Panama City was a good 16 hours return all to see the canal, secondly the money i saved would be used to get out to the Corn islands in Nicaragua for a weeks diving, thirdly i had justified in my mind that if i travelled to South america i could start in Panama and get a boat down to Colombia that travelled thru the San Blas islands ( i must everyone had told me) and thus see the canal then, and finally i had enjoyed travelling with Regina.
So off we headed to this remote corner of Costa rica. Most people fly here or take a boat but we decided to do it by road and i could see why people didnt take this option. After an easy border crossing back into Costa rica and 2 buses we were 35km short, this 35kms was to take us three hours in an old schoolbus, in the rain, in the dark, thru small rivers and around hug potholes
But eventually we made it to Drake and found accommodation at Cabanas Monolo for $10/night.
The following day we headed out to find a dive shop and organised our dives for the next day. We then walked along the beach towards Corcovado National Park, the only tropical lowland forest in the world. We passed thru ecolodge after ecolodge until we got to a quiet beach where scarlet macaws flew over head. The ocassional rainstorm slowed our journey meaning we didnt have time to get all the way to the park entrance but i had seen enough to really enjoy this part of Costa Rica, it was so far removed from crowded tourist areas.
The next day was even better. We were diving off the Isla del Cano, which were located 20 kms of the coast. This was to date the best diving i had done in Central america. In one dive i saw more fish than 5 weeks of diving in Utila. There were huge schools of various types of fish numbering in the hundreds, half a dozen or so white tipped reef sharks, more moray eels than you could poke a stick at. It was brilliant. the second dive was just as good. After lunch on the island we headed back. We were leaving tommorrow to head north up the coast and we had an early start. The bus left at 4am

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214163720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214163720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214163720/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:00:51 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Chiriqui, Panama

We caught the boat to the mainland the next morning and then a Bus towards David. We had a vague idea where this hostel was and were assured that the driver knew. As it turned out he did and he dropped us off on the side of the road beside a step path leading up to the hostel. I suppose i should have known that a cloud forest would be high up and as such any hostel in the cloud forest would also be high up. After a 30 minute or so uphill walk in the light rain that was falling, we arrived drenched in sweat at Lost and Found Ecolodge. Beds were $10/night in the dorm but they were all huge beds and the bunks were 4 tiers high with the top bunks a good 8 metres of the ground. We were the only people staying here except for 3 post grad biology students (who were camping). We met them just as they euthanised a small gecko (all in the name of science i suppose).
We realised that we hadnt bought any food and there was no conviently close restaurant but luckily the hostel provides basc food and beer for a reasonable price. Also the owners family was up from David and would cook meals for you a very reasonable prices. All in all it was a pretty good place to stay and i was glad i had come. They even had hot water showers which were needed as once over the initial trek in, i realised it was cold.
That evening we hiked out into the forest to see if we could see any wildlife. I suppose you just have to know where to look because we didnt find any except mosquitos. Luckily we got back just before a massive thunderstorm arrived.
The following day we hiked up to a look out where you could on a clear day to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts but unfortunately the cloud forest was living up to its name and it was cloudy. We continued our walk down to a river and spent the afternoon lazying by the cool water (actually the water was bloody cold). On arriving back at the hostel we soon discovered that our peace and quiet had been shattered by the arrival of 10 or so Irish travellers who by the sound of it had started drinking at breakfast time.
The next day we said farewell to an apologetic owner and headed to David. It was here i had a big decision to make
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214088840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214088840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1214088840/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:40:55 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Bocas Town, Bocas del Toro, Panama

I left early in the morning for the border. I had heard that you needed to pay $30 to leave Costa Rica and was pleasantly surprised when it was free (it was free to enter Panama as well which was a bonus). A collectivo was waiting at the border to ferry backpackers to where the boat would take you down the old plantation canals and then out to the island of Bocas del Toro for $5. On arriving at Bocas and met up with 2 travellers who i had overheard were going to do some diving (That was why i had come here). Lyall an american and Regina a german. We headed to Hostel Heike where for $9/night you got a dorm bed, unfortnately mine was at the front which would prove to be not the best place.
After some food we headed out to discover the night life - Bocas del Toro is full of travellers who mainly come here for the surf and as such there are many bars all offering happy hours at staggered times and each night one would hold ladies night wherer the woman can drink cheap rum or vodka free. Tonight it was the turn of Aqua Lounge, a short boat trip across the water. However after a few beers, a long days travel and an early morning to go diving i headed back to the dorm for what i thought would be a good nights sleep. Unfortunately at 1am after all the bars had closed the only place for people to congregate at the hostel was on the veranda outside my room. Its fummy how in a crowd of drunken noisy people one voice always stands out and it is usually the most irritating.
The next day the 3 of us went diving. The conditions were pretty good although visibility was a bit down due to large amount of recent rain but there were plenty of fish, sharks, lobsters, squid and crabs to be seen. In the afternoon we watched Germany v Portugal in the football and in the evening followed the crowds to that nights lady night bar.
I had switched rooms so managed to get a good night sleep after staggering in in the wee hours. The wooden carved dolphin i found on my bed was a complete mystery though, suppose it just like finding a traffic cone after a big night out back home.
We did another 2 dives this time stopping off at Red Frog beach for a few hours to lazy in the sun and watch a nasty shore break that people were trying to catch unsucessfully.
Tommorrow i was headed inland. Regina had found a pamplet on a eco hostel that was in a cloud forest and sounded interesting. It was in the general direction i was headed so i decided to tag along.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213733640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213733640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213733640/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:29:30 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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Puerto Viejo, Province of Limon, Costa Rica

We left La Fortuna in the rain with the supposed Volcano covered in mist and headed to the capital. The bus journey was uneventful and we headed to one of the 2 hostels advertised in Gringo Pete's - Hostel Tranquilo. It was a short walk from the bus station but at $10 per night was more than we had paid for a while. The hostel was big and impersonal and i didnt like the vibe from the start but decided to stick it out for one night
San Jose has a lot of traffic, especially after coming from Nicaragua and after nearly being hit by numerous cars (they will drive on the wrong side of the road) i decided to stick to the pedestrian areas. This is where we saw our first cow statue - a pole dancing cow complete with g string and false eyelashes. Further up the road was another colourfully pained cow, and then a statue of 2 cows dancing. I still dont know what was going on.
On the way back to the hostel we tried to find the other hostel to check it out. We eventually found it in a yellow building behind a tall steel gate covered in razor wire. A small hatch opened and we asked the guard in our best spanish if we could come in and have a look around but he was having none of it. We obviously didnt look enough like backpackers.
The next day we checked out and went to the "inviting" hostel - Hostel Panguia. This tme we got inside. It looked nice but looks can be deceiving. After a lazy day we went to the cinema to see the lastest Indiana Jones film - this can be summed up in 3 words - dont see it. It was bad,really bad.
Back at the hostel i was expecting something for the extra $2 this hostel was costing but no. You couldnt upload photos on the computers, you couldnt bring food or drink into the hostel, the food they served was overpriced and wouldnt feed a small child and despite being busy the bar shut at midnight.
It was my last night travelling with Dan. It had been a fun 2 weeks but i was headed to the coast and he to South America
The 4 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo on the coast passed banana plantations and more banana plantations. Every spare acre on the Caribean side of CostaRica was devoted to growing bananas.
On arriving i went to Rocking J's Hostel. For $5 a night you could stay in the hammock hotel - an open air structure housing dozens of hammocks. But just a word of advice. Hammocks are great for dozing in but sleeping they are not the most comfortable.
The town was full ofamericans for better or worse and most of them were young. It was like a mini spring break with beer drinking going on to the early hours and as it was right outside the hammock hotel i thought it best to join in. I actually thought if i had enough beers the hammock might seem more comfortable
I got up early and saw the sun for the first time in a while. I was going diving. Diving in Costa Rica is not cheap. Almost double the price of other countries i had dived and i really couldnt understand why because the diving here was poor to say the least.
After another restless night in my hammock, i hired a bike and rode 12 or so kilometres to the end of the road past sandy beaches, dense jungle and small comunities. I rode back along the beach to the hostel for my last night in the hammock. Although by now i was getting use to it. Tommorrow i was headed to Panama, the last country on my trip south and where i would have to turn around and head all the way back to Guatemala.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213420740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213420740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pjcrus/1/1213420740/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:14:24 -0400 A Gringo's Guide to Central America

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San Jose, Province of San Jose, Costa Rica


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