the Puntarenas adventure continues

Puntarenas, for those of you who are interested, is the name of the town where I am currently languishing.

After watching 2 more movies last night (and in the process learning such useful phrases as helicopter (helicoptero) and forest fire (fuego del bosque) as was watching a particularly bad film about a helicopter pilot trying to put out a big forest fire (incase you hadn´t worked that one out!) I went to bed quite late and was then rudely awoken at 8am by some hideous workmen cutting tiles. On a sunday, grrrr. Anyhow, went to cheer myself up with a nice plate of gallo pinto (rice and beans) and chicken for brekkie along with pineapple milkshake (not to be recommended on account of the strange curdled effect from the acidic pineapple juice) before collapsing on the beach. Then had much fun watching costa ricans play on the beach adn ride banana boats (yep, they have made their way over here along with drinking beer at 10am - i could be in benidorm!) whilst trying to avoid strange spanglish conversations with all manner of costa ricans eager to try out their english

And just to complete the excitement of today, am now just about to fill out hideously tedious form to try to reclaim travellers cheques (nothing like advert on tv where man is sunbathing and is handed replacement cheques on a sliver platter. Have had to have 30min phonecall where i was interrogated about the theft and now have to fill out 6 page form in the hope that they might replace MY money. this is the last time i use travellers cheques) but am planning on having my new favourite drink - ice cold coconut juice straight from the coconut (yum) for the bargin price of 40p to make it slightly more bareable.

On a completely different note, just want to say how amazed I am that so many random people (well 3 at any rate) are reading my waffling rubbish on a regular basis and touched that you want to say hi! Had assumed that all you guys who I somehow manage to retain as friends and those who are genetically connected to me might read out of obligation but this is fab! Thank you!

Caroline was rather stupid!

On yesterday´s bus ride i was rather stupid and managed to get my bag with all my money, cards and travellers cheques in stolen! please let this be a lesson to everyone..... follow your mother´s advice and always actually WEAR your moneybelt rather than just using it as a convenient way to keep everything together in your bag!

Luckily I was with Reema and Chris who lent me money so i could survive and mastercard are sending out an emergency card, plus a v early morning call to my ever fab mum has resulted in me having cash via western union (so many firsts on this journey!). So its all going to be ok.....fingers crossed!

Anyway, this does mean that I get to spend a few days in a seemingly unpromising costa rican port town. But there is a fiesta on, it has a beach, is hot and as there are virtually no white people, the locals are soooo friendly and its really cheap. Have own room with tv for $6! such bliss after dorm living. In penance for my stupidity am going to study spanish every day (if you believe that you´ll believe anything) and have started by watching 2 movies (with spanish subtitles) this afternoon

This entry is to make all of you in cold, wintery england be glad thats exactly where you are!

sandblasted

so today after class i went to a beach a few kms up the road as i had heard it was lovely and had vague notions about learning to surf! However, when i got there thew waves were (apparently) crap for surfing, and the place lacked a surf rental shop so i resorted to (actually my preferred) option 2 of sunbathing. So found myself a nice spot on the completely deserted beach (had gone round the corner from the bar filled with disappointed surfers to avoid the girl in a fishbowl feeling) only to then spend the next 3 hours getting sandblasted periodically from the hellishly strong gusts of wind! Did managed to find a relatively shaded bit so coped (!!) and now have v exfoliated skin. Also saw hundreds and hundreds of hermit crabs for (i think) the first time in my life. It was just incredible to watch all these shells moving about on the sand, and they seem to sense vibration as whenever i got close, they would stop moving and drop down so they just looked like shells. Very cool!

studying and surfing

well, less of the surfing....just pretending to be surfer chick with my lovely tan and sun -bleached blonde hair as am now in surfer capital of nicaragua! Was going to learn to surf here but apparently the surf isn´t very good right now (cant see why not, there are waves, but apparently you need more than just waves....as you can prob tell, not doingv well on integrating into surfer lifestyle) so have enrolled myself in a spanish school for a week. 4 hours 1-1 tuition for the next 5 days---must be mad! Certainly felt less than energised when i got to school today after a horrid nights sleep c/o dorm living and after 4 hours of learning the past tense and being forced to speak spanish i just wanted to crawl into bed and never wake up. But if i am ever going to get fluent (or rather, my new goal of being not entirely incomprehensible) in spanish, i am going to have to endure the torment! And this way i get to stay put in one place for a while. My hostel even has a kitchen so stocked up on fruit and veg and indulged myself in salad and melon for lunch. now theres a phrase that doesn´t often come out of my mouth!

Bike rides

Life is going to seem so dull when you go for a bike ride and dont have to avoid rampaging pigs, runaway chickens and potholes......or have men try to fix your bike (when you didnt think it needed fixing) when you sit for a rest and then burst into fits of laughter when you tell them you are 26 but dont have children!

I am still alive!

So, have made my way back to civilisation and naturally head straight to the internet cafe! So after a few days lying in hammocks and eating lovely food in Granada, R and I made a break and headed over to Isla de Ometepe which is a lovely island in Lago de Nicaragua essentially made of 2 volcanoes with a flat bit in the middle! Decided to stay at this finca, which would have been lovely except for the bus load of french kids who were staying there and being very excitable. After being woken at some godforsaken hour in the morning by shrieks for the second time, R and I plus 4 other people we had met decided to decamp to a hotel by the beach which turned out to be perfect.....and with a complete absence of school children! So spent a happy day frolicking int he lake and deciding that I want to live by a fresh water lake. Its like the sea without the disadvantages of salty air and swallowing salt water! Also watched the rather dismal england v holland friendly in a bar causing the waiters to think we were all mad!

Unfortunately Rebecca then had to head back to the states due to a family emergency so i bid her a tearful fairwell before heading on to the Archipelago de Solentiname with a couple of other people from the beach. Hellish journey with lots of boats and waiting (the national pastime!) but helped by the fact that I appear to be able to sleep anywhere including under seats on ferries! Definately worth the trip though as we were the only gringos on the islands, which were absolutely idyllic. sunbathed on piers, drank rum around beach fires and went on the most amazing river trip into this reserve where the 6am start was rewarded by tons and tons of the most amazing birds, plus v close encounters with a boa (nearly stepped on this particular piece of wildlife!) and howler monkeys (am trying to think how i can import a family to the uk as am in love with their calls). Think I am in danger of becoming a bird nerd (to quote R) though as the other guys were really into it (one studies ducks for a living!) and got me v excitied. Have decided my new favourite bird is a ringed kingfisher or an egret!

Anyhow, managed to hitch a lift with a boat full of wood at 4.30 am (again, urgh) and then i carried on to what turned out to be an idyllic little town called El Castillo 3 hours up Rio San Juan. Most exciting bit was that I ended up having dinner with the ex minister for the environment!!!! He is starting a palm oil plantation near El Castillo so comes up to check on it! Think he is quite well to do as his grandfather used to live in the casa de leones (rather grand house in Granada which they donated for use as a cultural centre!) and he was asked by the PM to become the minister which he accepted as his father had been killed by the sandinista govt! Not sure about the democratic value of the pm asking his mates to be ministers, but interesting to spend time with him, especially having just come from an island with no cars, electricity or running water and a high poverty level!

Now back on Isla de Ometepe and have just done energetic bike ride to ward off the rice and beans! very low number of bonitas/guapas recently and despite not eating any tortillas, may have to start includin fried plantains into this ratio. In which case i am in desperate trouble!

The generosity of strangers

Well, our planned visit to the Flor de Cana factory on Wednesday would have been fantastic had we not chosen the town´s annual fiesta day to visit, when the factory was shut....my timing has always been fantastic! The little security guard was really sweet, however and took pity on us, taking us to see the bottling bit, but kept imploring us to come back the day after when everyone would be working. Unfortunately we definately wanted to be on our way to Masaya so that wasn´t a possibilty.....but we took our photos there and thats the most important thing about travelling surely! Then just to make the day even worse, we had the bus journey from hell to Masaya so will skip joyfully over this!

Next day (Thurs) was far better though and one of those lovely random days that makes travelling/being on holiday so much fun. An early start was dictated by rebecca to ensure we weren´t at the volcano in the heat of the midday sun but for some reason we decided to get there by bus and foot rather than the taxi (the road is paved all the way to the top of the volcano) all the way......why do we not learn? Suffice it to say that the 7km walk and 400m height gain was not fun and as it took so long, we ended up doing it in the heat of the sun! Just had to keep thinking thighs, stomach, all that ice cream i ate, etc. And to make matters worse, all the cars were coming the other way so we couldn´t hitch a lift

But then, just as we were going to give up, our knights in shining armour (or a shiny 4x4 at least) came out of no-where and picked us up.....for the literally 2 mins left we had to walk (cunningly just round a bend so we didn´t realise!) Luckily they didn´t think we were mad and we ended up spending the next 24hrs with them. Peter´s brothers both lived in Nica (making a lot of money by the looks of it) so he was visiting with his friend çKevin and took pity on us and our poor backpacker ways so invited us to hang out with them for the day sightseeing.....and we got the luxury version thanks to his brothers wealth! So we got shown around, then taken for a v lovely meal in Granada (all paid for by them much to my horror/delight) and then we went back to his brothers house for a relaxing couple of hours......and this house was gorgeous. High up overlooking the lake with views to die for and acres of glass. It was heaven! And there we were in our sweaty hiking clothes, lowering the tone somewhat.

Anyway, we were then safely deposited back to Masaya for the Thurs fiesta (which in the end wasn´t that great, but an experience as it seemed to be totally for nicaraguans and the dancing was pretty cool) which the guys joined us for. To cut a long story short, they then took pity on us again when they saw our hostel and insisted we stay at their house.....to which we gladly said yes. Was slightly worried about motives at this point but my gut instinct said I would be ok (plus i had their business case to show police!) and in the end they were perfect gentlemen. We had a lovely evening, had the most comfortable bed, a hot shower (bliss) and even got breakfast made for us in the morning which we ate on the huge balcony watching wild howler monkeys play in the trees below. It was all just too amazing to believe. I have to say, my faith in human nature was ratcheted up a couple of notches and was ashamed I had ever thought dubious thoughts! So have promised whatever higher power is out there that when i am rich and famous, and travelling in style, I will similarly treat a couple of random backpackers to free food and hot showers in a pay it forward kind of way.

Now having to adjust back to dorm living and cheap meals after our 24hrs of luxury but to make up for it, we are staying in the most amazing hostel in Granada (www.nicaraguahostel.com) and have swung in hammocks all afternoon! Its a hard life this backpacking malarky

And today I forded streams...

So in celebration of our massive hike yesterday we went to this amazing resturant we had heard about and, by chance, bumped into everyone else from the hike! So despite every bone in my body wanting to rest, the rum dictated otherwise and we ended up closing both resturant and the bar we went on to afterwards!!! This meant that this morning our plans were somewhat altered due to not being able to move until about 11! So instead we all just opted for going to the beach in the afternoon for some relaxing in the sun....if only it had been that simple!

So the beach was lovely and we saw a great spit which was easily accesible by walking through a bit of sea. So off we went for 3ish hours of sunbathing, shell collecting and playing in the sea not noticing that the tide was rapidly coming in. Can you see where this is going yet? So when the sun begins to set, we start to walk back only to be confronted by a rather large body of water with a v strong current blocking our way back. R and I tried to walk across a bit that was shallower but ended up having to be rescued from the current by the others so gave up on that idea and in the end had to be rescued by a local with a "boat" which looked suspiciously like a hollowed out tree trunk! Have never been so glad to see a road before but like to think we have given the locals plenty to talk about tonight!!! This is what i love about being away, even when you think you are going to have a quiet day it turns into an adventure!