San Juan Del Sluuuuuuuuurrrrr

I was definitely warned about how this town was a party place and well its reputation was held true. The last few nights have been about going out for free “ladies night” drinks, eating a lot of different fish (because we are in a fishing town) and shopping as it is cheaper than Costa Rica. I have also really been enjoying the big pool at our hostel. One of the nights we were here some liquor reps from Twisted came to our hostel and it was a Naked Twisted Party! Lots of play on words here, that’s what this hostel is about , well that and breakfast waffles lol. My favourite twins and I have been having a blast and planning my birthday party! Speaking of Birthdays I am wishing my little Teah a happy second birthday and of course a Happy Birthday to my amazing momma, I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you all.

My birthday we went out on a sail boat, sunset, booze cruise. It had all you can drink, a lot of fresh appetizers, loud music, fishing and a crazy Capitan. We sailed out to a deserted resort on the beach where we jumped of the boat and swam past the reef to the sand. I was given the pink flamingo floaty thing because my birthday and one of the guys made a beer raft so we could drink the beers on the swim. We partied on the boat and enjoyed the sunset but before we were finished we caught a 25 pound Jack fish. That night one of the ship guys cooked up the fish for us at a local pub. We had fish, salad, garlic bread, rice and hand cut potatoes. It was all really good and there was a live band playing while we chowed down, the fish though was a darker fish and a lot heavier than traditional style white sea bass that is usually on the menu down here. After dinner we bar hopped to a few places in town and everyone had a good time drinking and we saw a couple guys doing fire tricks at the bar. It was a great birthday full of activities and I was surrounded by amazing people who truly made me feel so special on that day J I think however though that my 200$ camera has bitten the dust so I may not have many pictures for the next while as I will have to buy a new one.

Naked Tiger

Good things do come to those who wait...... The Naked Tiger was as beautiful as I expected, the owners are two young guys who have done a lot of travelling and the hostel definitely attracts a lot of young, fun, chilled out people. It is located up in the mountains just outside of the town of San Juan del Sur, so you get the cool secution feeling, but they offer a shuttle into town every 2 hours so you can still get around.The hostel has only been open for a few weeks so not all the beds are done and there will be a lot of new attractions to come but they give you free waffles in the morning and a free beer upon arrival, that combined with the pool and the beautiful views made this stop simple amazing. Speaking of amazing I met some twins, Amanda and Brigette, from Vancouver Island when I got here and we did some shopping and ended up going to a Cock Fight with some guys from our hostel. I guess I had a Disney view of two roosters pushing each other around so when I actually saw what went down It was not very pleasant. Nicaragua was actually getting a lot of heat from animal cruelty agencies and the only way they would have been able to continue to do this sport is to make it a national sport. So they did, Cock Fighting and baseball are the offical national sports of Nicaragua! The country is also known for its really good rum, Couba libra, or somethign like that, it is so sweet and rich that you can often drink it straight. Things are definitly cheeper than Costa RIca, but in the city of San Juan del Sur it is not as cheep as other places.

Nicaragua

We had to leave our place at 6am in order to make it to the boarder, San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua and get the car back in time.  The drive was off road-ing in a sedan but the GPS and the A/C made it bearable.   On the way there was a few unexpected traffic surprises, at one time there was about 40 cows trekking down the mountain which we had to drive through. The cows were looking at us as if we were in their way lol it was pretty funny. About an hour drive away from the border was only one lane of traffic because the other lane was cargo trucks awaiting entry and most of the drivers expected this type of delay so many of them attached hammocks to their trucks and chilled on the highway, I thought it was really smart actually.

There was a crazy process for crossing the border that even though I just went through it I don’t think I could accurately explain to another person how to do it. You first had to get in a line at one shop that would give you a stamp and fill out a form for exiting the country. While you were in this line people were flashing wads of cash  in your face wanting you to exchange money, while others were begging for anything you could give and the rest were pick pocketers grabbing at your stuff. After you got the stamp you had to actually find then walk or drive through this area on a dirt road where they checked your passport for the stamp, then you had to go through another stand and another line to fill out another form and get another stamp and pay 12$ American. Then you would yet again go through another gated road that would require you to show your new stamp and pay another dollar to them for crossing the actual boarder and still you had to follow them to get a receipt for the dollar you paid??????? If you had a hard time following this, believe me so did I lol. The worse thing about it was finding the right stand in a dirt road area with 100’s of large cargo trucks blocking areas and a lack of English speaking people or signs anywhere. Costa Rica is a very English speaking country, Nicaragua not so much. After all this we did make it through and though I was unsuccessful in finding a hostel with a pool when we got to the city, I booked a special resort hostel in the mountains with a pool for the next few nights.

My first evening here wasn’t bad, I browsed the shops and saw that the prices are a lot cheaper than Costa, which excited me because I am more than sick of my clothes and in desperate need of products but refuse to pay 13$ for a small bottle of sunscreen.  I did however argue in Spanish with the 7 year old that was working in the farmacia, she was reluctant to get someone else to help me so before I got in trouble for bulling a child I digressed. Though I still feel too sick to shop (I know I don’t think I say that very often) I managed to drag myself out to dinner with a few people I had met from Victoria. After dinner I decided to relax in the dorm and call it an early night to try and get healthy with sleep. This sleep was definitely interrupted though because at 3am there was a city wide power outage which is actually still out 7 hours later. This meant that the little fan in our room that keep you from overheating stopped working completely, so within 20 minutes everyone in the room woke up in heated dizziness of uncertainty. Dealing with the heat was hard enough to add there was a group of about 5 very loud guys at our hostel that decided to bring the party to the backyard at 4am and yell until 6am. Then there was the guy in the bathroom outside our room that was violently ill for an hour. Oh and for those of you who have never stayed in hostels before there is no sound proofing in the walls or floors, you can hear when a person coughs down the hall.  I also learned that Nicaragua’s water system is dependent on electricity as well so there was no water and no way to flush the toilets...yuk....So clearly my first 24 hours in Nicaragua  has not been exactly what I expected but swimming in the pool in this beautiful hostel/resort in the mountains later today should hopefully lift my spirits and help me recover from this terrible cold.

The Green Mountain (Monteverde)

 The great Monteverde is famous for two things, the incredible biologically rich cloud forest and the extreme adventures with zip lining and canopy tours. After a long windy dirt road trip up tp the mountain we booked a hanging bridge tour and a canopy adventure, then found a little cabin for the four of us to stay in. The Tour started by taking us through the upper area of the cloud forest because that is where most of the life is found. The humidity in the air at such a high altitude allows for a lot of life in the tops of the trees and the hanging brides get you closer to them as opposed to viewing the forest from the floor. We saw tarantulas (which could have skipped), a lot of insects, toucans and a few forest bottom feeders, not to mention a lot of interesting plant life. We learned allot about how this forest is unique and how things grow and live in it. Our tour guides consisted of one local guy and a orange tabby cat that followed us around and almost got in a fight with the tarantula. We went over many hanging bridges and climbed inside of trees too. Then the canopy tour began. It was your basic long zip lines to start, but then it got more interesting as we belayed down a tree and got to fly superman style (on your tummy) on the longest zip line. To finish the tour off there was a Tarzan swing, which was half of a bridge where you jump 40 metres, free fall and swing. I got to the edge and decided ummm no friggen way lol. Thought I was brave but I just could bring myself to jump.

That evening I got really sick with a fever, cough, body aches and so on, I guess you can’t escape everything in tropical paradise. I was just glad I was in a private room at the time, it sucks being sleepy or sick in room with a bunch of roommates. I managed to pull myself together enough to make it through the night and make the long journey from Monteverde to Nicaragua....which is a whole new story.

Te Amo Tamarindo

We decided to stay in Tamarindo until Tuesday because Koi  the sushi restaurant had all you can eat sushi for 20$ on Mondays.  The sushi was amazing and we ate so much, while also enjoying cheep beers and good company. We all fully had intensions of going out to party after dinner but you can imagine how full we all were so bed was the best option for that night.    To feel better about stuffing our faces with sushi the next day me and a friend walked down past the point on the beach which took about 3 hours. It was really cool as every inlet brings about a new type of sand, waves and view. There were also a lot of tidal pools and a lot of coral reef which means a lot of beautiful ocean spray off of them. As we finally got to a calm place in the ocean I went for a swim and then I remembered there were salt water crocodiles or alligators (can’t remember which type) in the area, that made me get out  of the water pretty fast.

 The next day Game 7 Canucks was on and after watching them win we definitely celebrated.  It happened to be the most perfect night for it because the beers were 2$, shots of Guaro we 1$ and the table soccer was free. Not that I would recommend drinking Guaro because it is pretty terrible and it completely contributed to my hang over the next day. That being said I missed my bus to Nicaragua so I spent a few more days in Tamarindo at the beach. I think that is one of the best things about travelling alone and having so much time. I can choose to stay or go to new places whenever I feel like it. That being said my plans changed instead, Jimmy and I rented a car with another Danish couple and went directly east to Monteverde before going to the Nicaraguan border.

Guanacaste Region

Beach Bum

The last few days I have been exploring the many beaches around the Tamarindo area. I rented a skim board the second day I was here and I guess I forgot how bad I was because a 7 year old was giving me a hard time lol. Though it was the perfect beach for it and it was definitely fun and to top it off I saw two boston terriers that really made my day! Their names were Pucha and Mia, Mia wasn’t too friendly at first she was a little overprotective of her momma but Pucha was nice and cuddly. That night we just had a few drinks on the beach and listened to music.

The next day we went to another beach just outside of Tamarindo and met up with my friend from Denmark, then we all went for dinner to a little restaurant at the end of the main strip. As of midnight the alcohol band was off so we went to a club called Pacifio and danced for a few hours.  This town although it is very Americanized is friendly and brings in a lot of people from San Jose for the holidays. I have met a lot of very fun and friendly Costa Ricans in this town and am really enjoying my time here.