Well, I am now in the last country of my adventure. Our plans changed dramatically when we realised how expensive it was going to be to get to Columbia. So, we are now going to the states at the end of March to stay with Dave's grandmother until we can save up enough money to do south america justice. The adventure is only continuing, with unexpected twists and turns.
The last time I wrote I was writing from Laguna de Apoyo, a beautiful, peaceful crater lake created by an imploded volcano. It was only minutes from Granada and yet so few people seem to know about it. It is one of those places that is still relatively undiscovered, and it was a happy retreat from the cities that had been throwing us around like pinballs. We didn't do much - went for a walk, saw two different kinds of monkeys and some beautiful birds, and swam.
From Apoyo we went to Isla de Ometepe - an island created by two formidable volcanoes. One of them is still active and both are a challenging climb (apparently!), but this doesn't worry the locals. It is a volcano they claim likes to go off little and often, so it isn't saving up some catastrophic amount of lava which will wipe out the small population (which I am sure is now half hippy gringo). On our first full day there we decided to rent a 'moto' which is like a dirtbike as the roads are almost non-existent. When they realised neither myself nor Dave could actually function the thing, they let us go with an automatic scooter akin to the ones you see teenagers revving around on in England. As I had driven one before, I took the lead. It all started very well, and then we got to a junction. This stupid machine is deceptively bulky and I couldn't take the corner so drove it into a bush instead. A little shaken and having a policeman stare hard at our licences and our faces, he told us the man should drive. So Dave, looking a little scared, gave it a test run and I jumped on back. We were going along straight when Dave slowed down around some school children. Rule number one on a scooter - maintain a constant, decent speed. So, we wobbled, went down in front of a load of locals, and came out badly grazed, but nothing broken. The locals then charged us $2 to use a mobile phone for 30 seconds to call our hostel as we didn't want to drive the thing again. It's nice to see that in a time of need someone is always there to make money off of you. An old man came up and put some form of oil on our wounds as we waited for the scooter guy to come and pick us up. He took advantage of our shaken and shocked state and charged us $380 to fix a scooter that had nothing wrong with the engine. On the way to get the money out, the guy stopped off to buy some cable ties and a bulb for the smashed light. I appreciate that tourists and travelers are now paying back for the constant rape of their country by others, but it doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Because of this accident we ended up staying in a cool little hostel with our own casita until I was able to walk again. They cleaned and dressed my foot which was well on its way to a nasty infection and were just very good to us. If you are ever in Ometepe, stay at Little Morgans. Good people, good vibe.
After 4 days of doing nothing on the island, we finally made our way to Poste Rojo, a place I have been aiming for since I started traveling. It's a hostel in the trees, and it is beautiful. The private rooms are not very private, unless you get your own personal treehouse, but most people are there to party. We turned up a day before the free rum night and had a good night chatting and drinking. Howler monkeys were everywhere overhead, 2 kittens, and cicada season just coming to an end. This bugs are big and stupid and will fly into anything with any form of light on it. And they are deafeningly loud at certain times of day. But Dave loves to poke things, and he managed to catch himself a few cicadas which he proudly danced around with. They do seem like good insects for a rave - they make the right kind of buzzing noise and he had me in hysterics as he danced around on the porch to an invisible drum n bass beat. Unfortunately, that night, I came down with another 12 hour stomach bug leaving me useless the next day. I kept trying to gear up for free rum, but my body was pretty adamant it was a bad idea, and I had to agree. We offered to cook dinner for the hostel in return for free food, which would have been great had it not been for the owner. Instead of leaving us to our devices, he disappeared out back for a sniff of the white stuff, came out and essentially told us what to do. He kept saying I was doing the rice wrong, how to chop veg, it was ridiculous. But one of those characatures that needs to be seen to be believed, He was quite the arrogant character, saying he could run the place all by himself if he needed to blah blah blah...
We got out of there fairly promptly despite the beautiful setting. So much more could be done with the place, but it did seem like a neverending task trying to keep it going at the level it was at. So we decided to treat ourselves to a night of hot showers and TV in Granada. It was positively spiritual.
From Granada we made our way to Costa Rica with every intention of just flying through. Didn't happen that way though. We quite liked San Jose despite what other travelers had told us. But this might just be because it is so Americanised it is just familiar. We stayed in a cool little hostel which we followed other people from our bus to. We ended up there for 2 nights and explored the various parks in San Jose, one of which had a little lake/pond which had people zooming around in jet skis and power boats. We decided to treat ourselves to a Subway - a treat which cost us $16. No Subway is worth that much. So we started to learn that it is as expensive as everyone said it was.
From there we decided to go to the pacific coast town of Montezuma. We turned up with no reservations and checked in to the cheapest place we could find. It may have had its own bathroom, but it felt like a prison cell. It had a hole in the wall for a window which had metal bars covering it for 'security.' As we walked along the beach we noticed that the entire ocean was red. A deep red that frothed up on the beach leaving behind a trail of dead and tortured looking fish. We were told that red tide had come in about a month previous and still hadn't left. Red tide is basically red algae which starves the sea of oxygen. Some people are safe to swim in it and others come out in a rash. Knowing my skin, I didn't risk it. Instead, a local gringo showed us the way to the beautiful waterfalls in the area. It was a bit of a walk over rocks and rivers, but was a lovely little swimming place. As my foot was, and still is, healing, I didn't swim very much. I can now say i've seen my muscle once, I don't want to see it again! We moved hostels to a place on the beach and just took it easy. Unfortunately I can't put hiking boots on as the area is still tender, so our activities were limited.
From there we went over to Puerto Viejo which has a reputation for partying. As I don't like enforced partying, I was reticent. But as it turns out, we met a group of amazing Oregonians who were welcoming and generous and had an excellent sense of party. We probably partied a bit too much, but it was worth it. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and the rip tides were intense, so swimming was minimal. It may have been on the Caribbean coast, but it looked more like the pacific with ominous waves and sky. But the hostel we stayed in was called Rockin J's and our bed was up a ladder with a mirror on the ceiling and mosaics everywhere.
We then moved on to Bocas del Toro in Panama, which is where we are now. It's an archipelago and another party town. We stayed 2 nights in a party hostel in which our room was just on the other side of the bar. We slept through the first day recovering from our party at Puerto Viejo. Again, the weather was terrible but we took a bike ride none the less out to La Gruta, a little cave guarded by a statue of Mary. On the ride back the heavens opened and we got drenched, much to the amusement of passers by. We decided to make our way over to one of the other islands - Isla Bastimentos, and stayed in a hostel with hot water and air conditioning for only $20. Heaven. But again, it was pouring with rain the first day. The second day we had the morning to go down to a lovely beach where tiny red frogs populate the beach. But I have a feeling that they are not long for that habitat because of the tourism being built up around it. After 2 nights we moved to another island - Isla Caranero and stayed at a hostel built entirely over the water. Another party hostel, it is more a place to spend the day and evening than to stay. But stay we did and enjoyed the water trampoline and water swings. To tide our budget over and have a nice dinner, we drank through lunch and went to a restaurant over the water where we were eaten alive by sand flies, but it was a great setting. Since the staff were not all that accommodating, we left after one night and are now in a hotel room with its own laptop, hot water and flat screen TV for $5 more than the shack room we were in before.We have given up the party ghost and are pretty much just sitting in AC and watching TV. It may be a Saturday, but eh, I can party back at home. Hopefully on Monday we will be taking a snorkel trip out to a dolphin breeding area as the weather is slowly clearing up. As for the unique, local experience, I've had enough. I've done the chicken buses crammed with sweaty locals who fall asleep the moment the bus starts moving, I've stayed in local villages, I've stayed in dumps of hostels and had an amazing time, but every now and again I like to be reminded of the creature comforts I took for granted. A hot shower now fills me with unspeakable joy, a bed that actually fits in the room is luxury. We are now approaching spring break and the smell of hormones, cocaine and latex are in the air. Good luck to them. I hope they have a great time and remember almost nothing about it. I've been there, done that, and do look on them with a certain amount of envy. But the other side of me loves the fact that I can enjoy other things now without tequila to oil the cogs. Although, don't get me wrong, tequila is still the perfect way to kick start any evening.
