Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

Farm to island

Finished up working on the Nicaraguan farm on Tuesday morning and spent the next 26 hours traveling via 3 buses and 2 boats out to the amazing island paradise of the Corn Islands. Pretty rough travel at times, but made it through with a few new friends and am set to live the good life on a beautiful pair of islands.

Colourful Leon doorway
Leon church complete with VW transportation
Leon Cathedral
Granada city scene
Granada cathedral just down the street from the hostel

Here{s a video of the double volcano island of Ometepe, Nicaragua. Loved the time relaxing out on the island, hiking and kicking it.

Im in Leon now, the 2nd of 2 colonial cities before I head to the coffee farm. Leon is better than Granada in my opinion, easier to walk and dosent feel so cramped. Again, churches, colourful buildings and not much more. I{m looking forward to getting away from the cities and into the wild again.

Today is day one of travel to the coffee farm where Ill work for a week. The place Im going is pretty remote and the bus schedules dont match up for one day of travel sadly unless I left this morning at 5:20am. So Ill be stopping off in the mural crazy town of Esteli for a night and to relax. Check out the murals: http://www.linesofflight.net/isittravel/2005/01/estel-nicaragua-street-murals-and.html

Then farming time! Dont know much about what Ill be doing, but thats half the fun of it. Just going to show up and rock the farm for the next week or so.

Isla de Ometepe

So I just finished up a 3 day trip on the island of Ometepe, in the middle of the Lake of Nicaragua (which does have sharks), complete with 2 volcanoes on the island. Pretty much jungle and beaches and volcanoes all on one spot. Looks small til you get there. Might actually still be a small island, if it wasn´t for the buses going super slow over the bumpy roads to each village. We spent 3 nights at 3 different spots. The first with the supposed most people and best beach, had neither, but was near a crystal clear water hole called Ojo de Agua. Pretty sweet stuff there, being able to look 10 feet to the bottom no problem.

Santa Cruz was where all the backpackers went and where the best beach was. Pretty chill stuff, relaxing, floating in the water and looking at 2 volcanoes and a huge lake with sharks. I hiked some of the way up the Maderas Volcano before sunset one evening for an amazing view. Nothing like looking down at the island you´re on and seeing water surrounding another volcano, with the sun going down.
We spent the last night at the Monkey Island Hotel, mainly for the use of their free kayaks. Cruised around the local beaches as well as to a couple islands with monkeys on them. Worked up a nice couple of blisters and kept the shoulders in shape after the 4 days surfing down in San Juan del Sur.


Here are photos of the island:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.593910920884.2083143.29301533&l=ae71802421&type=1"

Loading the ferry.

Here are some pìctures from San Juan Del Sur, my first town in Nicaragua. SPent 6 days there, hanging outwith great people,getting to know thecity, andsurfing 4 of thedays. Got to hike to a huge statue ofJesus another day. A great town, and I miss it alittle bit. Leftthis morning for Ometepe, an island with 2 volcanoes onit, in themiddle of Lake Nicaragua. Took a rusty, bouncy, waterfilled ferry here and then a local chicken bus. Slow traveling, but got here andhad a nice swim. Traveling withmy Israeli mate Barak right now. Meeting some other friends tomorrow to hike on one of the waterfalls and explore.




http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.593619430034.2083014.29301533&l=a861cf2c42&type=1

Here´s a pic of what I´m traveling with on the 6 week Central American trip. Nice and light.


Here´s some pics of the grand day out hitching a ride on a horse, waterfalls and jumping off rope swings:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.593260294744.2082851.29301533&l=43e908b9c5&type=1

Horse ride part 2 and water hole action

Costa Rica Cowboy Action

Pictures from the amazing day

Riding on Millionaire, the horse who never stoppedHorses without saddles mean free rides
Me with the Costa Rican John Wayne who let us get on the horses on their return trip with the Arenal volcano behind us
Nothin like a cool waterfall after a 3 mile hike in the blazin sun
Solo me

Best day to date

Can´t believe how amazing this day has been. The start which could´ve been cool ( a bus to a boat across a lake to another jeep) was just the beginning. Entered into La Fortuna, a town in northern Costa Rica nearby the volcano Arenal. Volcano was pretty cloudy at the time so I set off to find some waterfalls.

On my way up the 5k hike to the waterfalls, I ran into 2 girls from Portland and found the traveling partners needed for the adventurous day. Sweated our tails off getting up the hills on teh side of the volcano to get to the waterfalls and played around there for a couple hours in bliss. Perfect spot, good pictures and all that.

On the hike back down, we heard cowboys yelling at us and then 2 cowboys went by, followed by about 30 horses, all saddled up with no one on them. A tour going back to the pasture. Of course we yelled that we wanted a horse and lo and behold, we were able to snag 3 horses for ourselves and hop on with the cowboys on the roundup back to the stable. Pretty unbelievable, being on a horse, not knowing how to ride, going down a steep trail with 4 Costa Rica cowboys, 2 Portland girls and 20 odd horses. The clouds went away and we had a great view of the volcano the whole ride, with the cowboys playing ¨paparazzi¨for us and loving it. Good times, sore ass. Nothing finer than hitching a ride with horses going by you. Don´t need to do a horse tour any time soon, as rode down a mountain, crossed 3 rivers and felt like John Wayne.

After that amazing adventure, we walked to a bridge out of town where you can go below the bridge to a trail to a water hole where there´s a rope swing. Swinging out past the rocks, and dropping about 20 feet down. The day keeps getting better. Met some California girls as well and jumped off 10 times.

Followed all that up with some sangria and a chicken casado (chicken, rice, beans, salad, fried plantains) to cap off an amazing day.

Off to Nicaragua at 6:30 tomorrow morning to keep the life amazing.

That´s how it´s done.

Keepin it interesting

So had a bit o' a bother last night trying to travel by bus. We took a bus to a ferry and by the time the ferry got in over on the other side in a dirty port city (Puntarenas), we found out all the buses were done for the day at 6pm. We were trying to get up to Monteverde, the town in the clouds with tree walks and such, but the direct buses were done. A taxi driver said it was possible to still get there via another couple buses. As it was just 6:30pm, we figured we could make it. Instead of taking us to the local bus station, the taxi driver took us 15 km away to the Pan-American highway where we could supposedly take a bus. So instead of a cheap ride, it was a very expensive ride.

Got pretty much left on the side of a busy small road, and found out that the buses we wanted would not work for us. So we were stuck out there, and after a while finally managed to get a bus back into town. 2 hours and too much money later, ended back up in Puntarenas at 9pm looking for a room. The town is full of overpriced rooms and we paid twice what we normally paid just for the night before catching the early morning bus up to Monteverde.

Bit of a mission to get up here, especially as the bus broke down on the way. Martijn headed off to San Jose to meet another Dutch friend on Monday, so I'm on my own, up in the clouds, surrounded by mist and rainforests. Pretty nice up here, quiet and relaxing.

Taking a jeep to a boat across a lake, to another jeep to La Fortuna, the town by the volcano Arenal. Keeping the adventure alive and having fun down in Costa Rica.

Lizard Lunch
Sweaty Tarzan in Manuel Antonio National Park
Our path through the muddy jungle. Tis the rainy season so its all a bit muddy.
I took a pill and turned into a monkey for an hour. Sexy huh?

Costa Rican monkeys gone wild

Here's a video from the Manuel Antonio park on the pacific coast in Costa Rica. Saw monkeys all over the place, along with raccoons, sloths, butterflies and loads of tourists. Pretty sweet overlooks and beaches along the way in the country's most visited park.