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Hello and welcome to the last ever travel blog of Adeles Awesome Adventures!
Hooray i made it, i finally found San Jose, singing the song " Do you know the way to San Jose´ by Dionne Warwick all the way. Its been my travelling anthem and ive finally made it, a whole 296 days later!
Do you know the way to San Jose?
I've been away so long. I may go wrong and lose my way.
Do you know the way to San Jose?
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose
So this is the final chapter, and it goes something like this......
After leaving a wet Antigua a whole 15 days ago, we headed through the border onto Honduras. What a journey that was...it was like an episode from a carry on film. There were these two bus drivers who turned up late and at 5am, it wasnt funny. So we continued onwards nearly dying several times on the roads as the famous chicken buses played chicken with us! Then as we tried to make it up round all the windey mountains, the petrol,in the bus ran out! Great, even though they had filled up about 10mins previously, they obviously didnt judge too well how much gas they needed. So we all got out the bus, waited about half an hour while they walked back to the nearest gas station, got a bucket and proceeded to suck it out the bucket with a hose to fill up the tank. Not a pleasent thing to watch as this man splutters everywhere with the petrol coming out the tube! So an hour later we were good to go. The border crossing was fine and then we had another probel with the massive chicken bus, once we arrived into Copan, the roads were to narrow for us to get around the corners, so off we all hopped and walked up the hills on the cobbled streets laddened with all our bags. Once in Copan, the rain unfortunatley didnt lay off so we spent our time dodging it, by trying out the coffee in the local cafes. We did get to see the ruins at Copan which i really enjoyed seeing. It was great to just wander round them and try and picture what a great city it must have once been. After that i went to the bird sancturay and saw heaps of toucans and parrots. They looked amazing with all their bright colours. At one point, the guide put one on my arm but suddenly, my distant memory of a parrot being put on my arm in Bali came flooding back, as that parrot bit me. So, nervously, i demanded him to remove the naughty thing as he looked like he was eyeing me up for a good biting!
Next stop was a day journey all the way up to the north coast of Honduras to a little island of Utila. It was a nice place, quite tropical and laid back. Just like all the other islands on the caribbean basically, but this one was different, as this was the place that i had the worse day of my trip. It started off with a dive trip to see the coral and marine life on the coast. But where we had been staying the waters looked super calm so i could never imagined how rough it actually was at see. By the time we got to our dive spot, the waves were 2m high and i wasnt feeling all that good at all. I may have made it into the waters in time before the sickness came, if i had put my wets suit on the right way. but as this takes its time, rocking around on the boat wasnt helping, so i had to jump straight into the water to recover. But i never did. It was just too rough for me to be able to get over the sea sickness so missed out on diving and spent the next hour looking very green and hanging off the side of the boat. So in doing this, i obviously didnt have any sun cream on as i was planning to be wearing my wetsuit. So i got burnt to a crisp. Great! At the time i didnt notice as it was overcast, but boy did i know it when i got back. There was one my dive spot before we headed back, and as i was still feeling fragile, i opted to just snorkel instead. So off i went while the others dived, exploring all the cool coral and followed a few fish, like a pufferfish and some parrotfish. Then a spotted this big fish, so i thought id follow it for a while. I realised i had been follwoing it for some time and stopped to head back, then as i looked down, as i had been so busy looking forward at this big fish, i realised i was hoovering over a over hang of rock about a metre and half below me. But underneath it was a huge shark!!!! A 6ft Nurse shark in fact. Just resting on the bottom of the sea. Oh my god, i have never swam back as fast as i did at that moment. I realised it probably wouldnt hurt me, however, if i desturbed it then who knows what it might do! Arrrgh. i was glad to get back on dry land where nothing else could happen, or so i thought. So we decided to go to this cool tree house bar, i was feeling ready for a drink after the days goings on, so was walking along the road with everyone else, then from nowhere, this girl just ran into me with her bicycle. I was run down and then blamed for walking into her!!! After she hurled a string of abuse, i picked myself up again and carried on walking to the bar, what could happen next, you may wander, well, i fell down a whole a metre deep. Part of the boardwalk wasnt lit and in a hexagon shape i put my feet on the part which was misisng and fell right down the whole. I then went back to the bar and one of the girls from the group was having some friendly banter with a guy when it all got out of control and she threw a drink over him. Except, what should happen, he ducked and it got me! I was soaked, with a bruised arm, bruised leg, sunburnt and generally feeling a little sick from the days events. So now you can see why that possibly could be the worse day ever!
All in all, i was glad to leave that little piece of paradise after the string of events that had happened there, so we travelled onto Granada. It took two whole days on a bus, stopping over night in a little town called Comayagua, where the locals were hooked on watching the football. There was another border crossing to get into Nicaragua, which went ok and then finally, Granada was a welcome relief. It was pretty compact and hot, with no rain still. Great. We arranged a day out on the boat and saw the monkeys whicj live on these little islands in the lake. Then went up the top of a volcano, saw all the dried up lava and all the steam, then went on to the markets and bought some essential goodies. Next day we caught the boat over to the little island of Ometepe which was fab. We chilled out some more, read our books in hammocks and had a little dip in the springs.
Next stop was onwards to Costa Rica. This was quite different to the other countries we had recently been in as it was so green and lush, very tropical with its rain forests, or Cloud forests as they are known and more obvious signs of westernisation. We stayed in a little town called Monteverde, which was really sweet and right up in the mountains. It took 3hrs of travelling along dirt bumpy tracks to get there from the border, but was worth it. We visited the local coffee plantations and tried all the various local food they had to offer and even had a go at making this dulce sweet of theirs.
After Monteverde, we travelled by bus, boat and bus again for 5hrs along more windey roads to La Fortuna. This is another little town at the bottom of a volcano which although it is active, wasnt really very big on lava at the moment as a few weeks ago it had had a big eruption, so i missed out! I just took it easy really. I had come down with a cold and decided that at the end of my trip i needed some pampering. I attempted to get my haircut, but as the lady didnt speak very good english, i decided to keep it basic. I got a cut and colour for $20. It was cheap but wasnt that great. Oh well, you get what you pay for. Then it was time for a 3hr massage of chocolate exfoilater, wrap and facial plus allover sedish massage and reflexology. It was just what the doctor ordered and im still aching from the massage now! That night, it was our last official night on tour so a awards ceremony had been arranged by our tou guide and our very own ex ibizan 18-30s rep. It was really great and we all got dressed up ready for the awards, i had been nominated for two awards, best dressed, which i narrowly missed out on, and motion sickness. Funnily enough, i went home ill from my cold so missed out on picking up my motionsickness award from my day at Utila! But i still earned the title! Great, 10months of travelling and i still suffer from it!
So we set off from La Fortuna, expecting an easy ride of two buses. But as usaul, things dont go to plan and as we got off the bus to swap onto the next one, trouble started! We had the usual tussle with gettting all 18bags, backpacks, extras sleeping bags off the coach, but as one of the girls put her day bag down with all her belongings in it, it was swiped from right underneath her. As all this commotion went on, i stood guarding the bags and a bus nearly tried to run me over. So i fell into the bags and the next thing i knew, my bag with my passport had been taken! Fortunatly, one of the girls saw and screamed at him and he handed it back but i was lucky! Thank goodness someone saw!
So several hours later we all arrived into San Jose, tired and ready to finsh our tour. For me it had been a long 46 days of travelling though Mexico and Central America. But it had been an amazing experience. I have seen all sorts from ancient ruins, to swimming in Cenotes, diving in the caribbean and eating more tortillas thani ever dreamed of.
The past 10months have been amazing. I dont think it will really sink in until i get home, everything that i have seen, done and all the things i have learnt. It has had its ups and downs but it has been the best experience of my life and would recommend everyone to do it at some point in their life. I have learnt so much about myself and of others, espcially of other cultures. It has taught me not to take things for granted as there are so many people out there a lot worse off. Generally i think im a much better person round that i have seen the world.
So with that in mind, im going to combat world peace. Or at least try to make an effort too. Im so excited about going home and getting on with the next chapter of my life now. That i cant wait to just get on with it. Ive made so many plans after all those hours sat on buses, planes, trains, boats and anything else, that its time to do it!
Yeah. So hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs as much as i have enjoyed writing them.
Good bye and good luck!
Adele x
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