NICARAGUA - TRANQUILO!

So, another country experienced and enjoyed fully. As soon as we crossed the border it was clear that Nicaragua is very different to Costa Rica, despite both countries being neighbours. The landscape changed dramatically, being flatter and drier. The litter problem became immediately obvious too. Within an hour we had arrived at our first port of call, San Juan Del Sur, a strange beach town full of gringo surfers and local homeboys. We had a great time at the 'surfing' beach and hanging out with JEB, but the town had an odd atmosphere and no real character. 

After a couple of nights in the pleasant Casa Oro hostel, we made the trip to Ometepe Island on Lake Nicaragua. So many people had recommended this place to us and we weren't disappointed. Approaching the island by boat (funnily enough) offered dramatic views of its two volcanoes (one dormant and one smoking!). As luck would have it, the Italian owner of El Zopilote (The Vulture), the eco-farm we'd half-planned to stay at, sat next to JEB on the ferry and we soon found ourselves in the back of a truck headed to the base of the dormant volcano where the farm was situated. It was actually hidden within the jungle-clad slopes of the volcano (which we had to hike up to with our backpacks, but well worth the sweat). We spent 3 nights there (in a rustic thatched hut complete with 2 hammocks) and enjoyed plenty of delicious homegrown organic food and several warm beers!

The island is stunning and it was a 20 minute walk to the long, wild and windy beach at Santo Domingo, where we did a lot of exploring and wildlife spotting. However, the farm had its fair share of wildlife too, including big spiders (Emily loved that), giant toads, cockroaches, stick insects and to balance it out lots of lovely humming birds.

Anyway, we couldn't stay forever so we moved onto the most picturesque town in Nicaragua, Granada. We are writing this on our second night here (our last night in Nicaragua) in the Bearded Monkey hostel, a great, chilled out place to stay... with (thank god, finally) a fast and free wireless internet connection. We've spent a day and a half mooching around and organising our next journey (11 hour bus ride and the rest), to the Carribean coast of Honduras.

Hope y'all have been enjoying the updates. More to come soon... Hasta luego! X

NICARAGUA 10 (Granada)

NICARAGUA 9 (Granada)

NICARAGUA 8 (Granada)

NICARAGUA 7 (Granada)

NICARAGUA 6 (Ometepe Island - Didgeridoo at sunset)

NICARAGUA 5 (Ometepe Island)

NICARAGUA 4 (Ometepe Island)

NICARAGUA 3 (Ometepe Island)

NICARAGUA 2 (San Juan Del Sur)

NICARAGUA 1 (San Juan Del Sur)

COSTA RICA - PURA VIDA!

So, we've now been in Nicaragua for almost a week and have finally been able to hook up our laptop in the Bearded Monkey hostel here in Granada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Hoping to update pics & words for Nicaragua very soon, but thought we'd sum up our Costa Rican experience first...

It all started with one big night in Costa Rica Backpackers hostel in San Jose, which involved fire throwing, a crazy Icelandic long-term traveller called Nimbus (who had lost his 4 front teeth in a scuffle and severely burnt his feet after walking through a fire), and some live music jamming with a guitarist from Alaska and lots of international DIY percussion and Cuban rum. San Jose seems to be a transit stop for travellers so many interesting stories were exchanged. 

From there we headed up to La Fortuna to do the obligatory night hike to see the molten lava of Arenal Volcano. We also went horse-back riding through the rainforest and swam in the cold waterfall pools. However, the big highlight was meeting Brian 'The Dude' Lebowski, who we ended up travelling with for the rest of our time in Costa Rica. The three of us moved onto Monteverde up in the cloud forest, where we tackled the Extremo Canopy Tour. This involved flying through and way above the forest canopy on about 15 zip lines (the longest was 850m) - an amazing experience (here we briefly met Nate 'The Pothead Who Doesn't Smoke Pot' Jones & Joshua Eagle Bows (JEB), the travelling violinist, both who we bumped into again later on). 

From up in the mountains, we took the long, hot and sweaty trip across to the lazy beach town of Montezuma, where we ended up staying for a week because we loved it so much. Here we hooked up again with Nate & also JEB (who we travelled to Nicaragua with). Lots of mooching about, drinking Imperial beers & Iguana Coladas, hanging out with the monkeys, swimming and snorkelling and sitting around campfires on the beach, talking about nothing. A truly beautiful place - thanks for the recommendation Dave!

Although more expensive and more touristy than the rest of Central America (so we are told, but coming from the UK that doesn't count for much), you cannot ignore the beautiful, lush landscapes, gorgeous beaches and stunning wildlife of Costa Rica... we met some great people and made the most of the pura vida lifestyle so we can't recommend it enough. Oh, and a footnote for Simon - the Ticas (women) are gorgeous!

COSTA RICA 4 (Tortuga Island & Mango Dreams)