Canopy Effect

It is Anna's last day in central America :( She leaves tomorrow around 4pm to fly back to the states. Sounds pretty cold if you ask me. I heard there is a bad ice-snow storm in the MO, AR, OK area... I hope everyone is making it ok. If you haven't heard, I have decided to return to Ometepe and work at Little Morgan's for a few months. I am planning on coming back to the states around April 15th.
Today, as a last adventure for Anna before she leaves, we went on a zip line tour thru the canopy of a rain forest about 1.5 hours north of San Jose. It was pretty incredible! We were strapped into what seemed like a massive amount of equipment, but really it was just standard repelling gear. At first is was a little scary flying across a jungle by the seat of your pants, but once you got use to the feeling it was really amazing. We were in a group of 6, myself, Anna, a guy from Belgium, and 3 people from South Carolina. We went across 12 zip lines the longest being 550 meters long and 100 meters high over a river. We also zipped past waterfalls and thru some crazy trees. The highlight was what they called a Tarzan swing. Basically just a giant swing that flings you out over all the trees. I have a video of me doing this which I will attempt to upload at some point.
So this is the end of the chapter, Adam and Anna's excellent adventures, but up next will be an entire new experience with me living on Ometepe. I should have more time and the ability to upload photos!
Everyone come visit for springbreak!!!

wildlife and landscape

I am currently in Tortuguero, a village on a sliver of land between the Caribbean Sea and a series of Canals in the NE corner of Costa Rica. It is adjacent to the major National Park in Costa Rica that preserves a rain forest called the "mini-amazon" and is a major eco-tourism destination for people coming to view the sea turtle nesting (not happening at the moment). The village itself is only about 800 people and survives based on tourism. It is a very remote place and is only reachable by boat or plane. We took a boat from Puerto Limon which took about 4.5 hours. It was just a very large canoe with a motor on it and we navigated thru a series of small and large canals.
I thought this was as good a time as any to talk about some nature. As you may have guessed, where we are at now is VERY tropical. I feel like I walked onto the set of LOST. Speaking of which, I haven´t seen the premier so no one ruin it for me! On the boat ride here we got to see sloths, monkeys, crabs, lots of birds, turtles, an alligator, and a few big crocodiles... pretty crazy! Today Anna and I decided to do a little hiking. We followed a public trail thru the national park. Before we left they made us rent rubber boots which was really good because we ended up walking thru up to 6" of mud and standing water. We hiked for about 6 miles. Got to see some monkeys swinging over our heads as well as a bunch of Lizards, ants, and even a baby Deer. (I didn´t know they existing in the rain forest). Of course I got pictures so you will get to see all of this later.
The Caribbean coast has been tropical with lots of rain (it has rained at least once every day here). The Pacific coast is more tame and reminds me a bit of Southwest Missouri landscape, but with palm trees! In the middle there are lots of Mountains, many of them volcano's. Nicaragua was full of volcano's.
So that is a quick summary of what it looks like down here. Obviously the pictures will do a much better job of telling he story. I forgot to mention there are a TON of mosquito's, and they LOVE me! Anyone know how to treat Malaria?
If you are wondering about the job on Ometepe... no decision yet, still waiting to hear back from the future boss.

pictures.

1 - Ometepe, Nicaragua. The double volcano (one is active) island that I am planning on going to live on for 3 months.
2 - "chicken bus" the typical mode of transport in Nicaragua when traveling between close by towns
3 - A view from the top of a hill over San Juan Del Sur. IT was a bit of a hike up there!
4 - Anna, my travel buddy, in Fort Lauderdale
5 - Our island tour group out of Granda, Nicaragua. This island was an old fortress used to protect the city from pirates

Sunday on the Beach

Today is the day I must decide if I will stay or go. As I mentioned before I have the opportunity to go back to Ometepe, Nicaragua and work at a small hostel for 2 or 3 months. The job would involve checking guest in and out, tending the bar, keeping track of finaces, and occasionally helping in the kitchen. It is a small place 15/20 guests maximum. The pay is zero, but I will get a free place to stay and free food and drink. The owner is Irish/American and love american football so I am going to try and get back there for the superbowl. What dish should I bring to the party?
Since I got a new passport we have traveled to Puerto Viejo, a beach town on the Carribean side of Costa Rica. Here was my day yesterday, we started out lazy and played some pingpong at the hostel, I won 2 games to 1, and then packed up our stuff and moved to a different hostel. We decided to go for a bike ride and rented bike for $4 and headed down the beach rode to the village of Manzanillo man.zan.e.yo, it was about a 12kilometer journey or 1.5 hours at a leisurly pace. It followed the beach, but also went into the jungle a bit. We shall monkey and parrots up in the trees, but you could look for long due to giant pot holes in the road! We reached Manzanillo and locked our bikes against a palm tree and jumpede into the ocean to cool off. We ate at a little rasta restuarant where we had a huge meal for $6. Then headed back. Last night we met up with 2 German girls we had met on Ometepe and listened to a cover band ruin great american songs.
Not bad for a Saturday!

I am not very good at this blog thing

My apologies for the long delay. I will just go backwards from this point to catch you up:
Things have been going extremely well... until yesterday! We left Granda, Nicaragua and were on our way to San Jose, Costa Rica. It ended up being a 4 bus and 14 hour ordeal. The worst part was that I was pick pocketed while getting off a bus in Liberia and my passport, 2 credit cards, and $100 was lost. I just got back from the embassy in San Jose and was able to get an "emergency" passport. Which is only good for 1 year, but will allow me to get back to the states. I am not sure how this will effect my potential plans to go back to Nicaragua and work for a few months, but I will have to decide by Monday. I was able to cancel my credit cards, but not before they charged something for $635! Luckily Bank of America says that I won't be liable.
Before all this craziness we were hanging out in Granda which is a beautiful colonial town on Lake Nicaragua. We took a boat tour of a bunch of different tiny islands that were formed with the largest valcano in the land, Mambacho erupted 100,000 years ago and sent massive amounts of rock into the lake. I found a really sweet private island for sale, only $450k and it comes with A/C, 5 bedrooms, boat docks, bball court, garden, electricity and septic. Anyone want to invest? We also went to Laguna De Apollo, which is a lake that has formed on the inside of Volcano crater. The water is suppose to have healing powers, and I have to say that is made the 200 mosquito's bites that I have stop itching!
If you are super jealous, life is not all fun and games down here. We do have to deal with cold showers and rickety bunk beds normally in a dorm room with 8-12 people. The cool thing is that we have some met a lot of amazing people that are also traveling.
Today we are going to try and make it to Puerto Viejo which will be our one stop on the Caribbean side. I will do my best to be more diligent in posting!

Ometepe Part 2 (I got a job!)

Back to the story...
After a 1 hour taxi ride thru the island on very, very poor roads we arrived at our hostel which was called Little Morgans (http://www.littlemorgans.com/) The place is owned by an Irish/American who loves american football. There was a really cool Australian couple helping to run the place. We were only there two nights and have an incredible time. Anna and others that were staying there decided to hike up the volcano (9 hour hike!), but I wasn't feeling it and instead when on my own (4 hour) hike to search out some petroglyphs (ancient ruins). We then got to watch the 2 NFL games which was a treat. The owner, Morgan, also has a son who was turning 2 and we got to watch a somewhat traditional Nicaraguan birthday party, complete with a pinata.
Leaving was sad, but the silver lining is that Morgan offered me a job to come back and help him run the place for a few month. Right now I am seriously considering it!

Ometepe Part 1

First thing, I know everyone wants pictures and I promise I am taking them, but it is extremly difficult to upload them down here. Most places won´t let you, and if they do it takes a very long time. I will do my best to get some up soon.
Our last night in San Juan (friday) seems ages ago! That night we went out to the local hot spot called Iquana Bar which was a 2nd story club overlooking the beach front. We did a little dancing (no Salsa for me) and made a pinky swear pack with our new friend Mike from Canada to meet in Granada on Monday to depart for the Corn Islands.
The late night meant a late depature, but we got a Taxi to San Jorge and then onto a Ferry to Ometepe. On the ferry we met to German girls and one Brazilian man and quickly became friends. The is a bus that roams the island, but it would have taken 3 hours to get to our destination so we all split a taxi which was a minivan since the roads are so bad. Cristiano (the brazilian) spoke very good Spanish and so we relied on him most of our trip.
¡¡¡¡ I am being kicked off the computer so this must be finished tomorrow.

Surf´s Up

Our plan was to leave on the 5:30am bus out of Liberia to get to Nicaragua early, when the alarm went off however, we decided to catch the 8:30am bus :) We made our way to the bus station and there was no 8:30 bus, but one at 9am and they wouldn´t let us buy tickets (and no one spoke english). We weren´t sure if we had to buy tickets on the bus, or if it was sold out. Luckily we were suppose to buy on the bus which saved us paying a "taxi" $20 to drive us to the border... the bus was on $1.50.
THE BORDER:
The first real ordeal came at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. We were dropped off and had to get an "exit" stamp. Then we had to walk with our pack 1KM to the border show our passports to men with large guns and the walk another 1KM to immigration in Nicaragua. It was a complete zoo! We walked around for 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do. Many people wanted to "help" us... but for a fee. Finally we figured out where to go and then decided to negotiate a taxi because we were ready to get to the beach!
We arrived in San Juan Del Sor yesterday at noon and found a bare bones hostel for $8 a night (www.casaeloro.com). We proceeded to the beach for lunch with a view. I found a place with Octopus which I had been craving and had an amazing fresh seafood lunch. Then we did some sun bathing and went to a beach front cantina to watch the sunset over the bay. We didn´t inteed to stay long, but ended up meeting 3 guys from Taos and stayed there until 11:30 sampling the local rums... they were very smooth! At one point the power went out and a local told us that it happens ofter. Apparently the government will black out certain regions to send power elsewhere. The also turn off the water sometimes too! But our hostel has its own well.
Today was a big day... our first adventure, surfing! We paid $20 for a 2 hour long surf lesson and day long surf board rental. We were in a group of 6 with one instructor. It went pretty well, the instructor was really good and the morning waves were perfect for learning. I was able to stand up a few times, but I don´t think it will become one of my hobbys. The afternoon was super crowded and really big waves so I mostly watched. I managed some pretty good wipe outs and got hit in the head with a board, but I didn´t hurt myself. I did break the fin under the surf board and had to pay another $20 to fix it... so I guess was a $40 surf lesson.
Now I am worn out and ready to chill out. We are going to stay here another day and then head to the Isle of Ompetempe. A double Volcano island in Lake Nicaragua!

getting there...

I made it to Costa Rica in one piece. The trip here was ridiculously smooth and hassle free! It was like they were trying to get us out of the country! We had to buy two separate tickets (one from KC to DFW to Fort Lauderdale and the other from Fort Lauderdale to San Jose) We had a small layover in Fort Lauderdale and I was worried we would have to get our bags and go to another terminal with international security etc... Turns out they were able to combine the tickets and check the bags all the way. The only glitch was that Anna´s shampoo exploded inflight in her bag.

Our first stop was San Jose, the capitol of Costa Rica. It has about a million or so people. We were staying at the Costa Rica Backpackers hostel (costaricabackpackers.com) in ¨nice¨part of town. It was a very chill place with a pool, hammocks, small restaurant and cool people. We shared a room of 4 bunk beds with an English Couple, Australian couple, and a girl from Germany. All was good except a noise and the next door baño woke us up often. Our plan was to stay another night and figure out the first part of our trip. We abandoned that plan after speaking with a KU grad this morning. He had just spent months in Central America and was leaving for the States today. He gave us some suggestions on where on how to go to Nicaragua (which is the country we are most excited about visiting) and we decided to get on with it! Some we took a noon bus to Liberia, Costa Riace which took 4 hours and are staying at the Hotel Liberia (nothing to speak about). In the morning we are going to try and catch a 5:30am bus to the border. Our first stop will be San Juan Del Sur a beach town in Nicaragua near Rivas. I hope to write more from there... and post pictures.

farwell note

Most of you already know that I am leaving for Central America tomorrow. For those that do not, I am going to be backpacking in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama for the next 3 1/2 weeks with a friend of mine (Anna O'connor). This will primarily be a adventure/relaxation trip with a very rough itinerary that involves beaches, surfing, snorkeling, climbing volcanoes, zip lining, etc... The best way to get a hold of me will be via e-mail. I will try to write from time to time with updates and a few pictures. I will also try to set up a place to post pictures and longer stories for those that are interested. I will be back before you know it with a tan!