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Rain and Rocking Chairs
Today I saw a blind beggar meowing loud enough to be heard a block away.
I had a bit of bother getting into Costa Rica as you need an onward flight ticket when entering the country. However I managed to convince passport control that my Napper sabbatical agreement was in fact my flight ticket, fortunate that they understood no English and must of thought that Napper were a new airline. I had been warned that Costa Rica was very touristy and pricey and it didn't surprise. There are many Americans and Europeans that go to Costa Rica for 2 or 3 weeks wildlife spotting and beach relaxing which I guess drives prices up. The worst thing is that locals assume that you are a stupid American and ask silly prices for buses, food and the like making it necessary to barter, something I have not needed to do at all very much in the Americas apart from Peru maybe. You can see why Costa Rica is so popular, the wildlife that you get to see is pretty impressive; howler monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, snakes, spiders, turtles, and an array of birds. I only had 10 days in the country but managed to see a couple of places on the Caribbean side, somewhere on the Pacific side and a volcano in the middle of the country.
It was turtle egg laying season up in Tortuguero on the Caribbean side and we did a night time tour watching the turtles saunter up the beach and dig their huge holes and start laying their eggs. Costa Rica is apparently renowned for its Ecotourism but I saw nothing sympathetic about the tour that had 40 gringos trailing turtles across the beach. Felt a little awkward it has to be said. Tortuguero was a cool location though, no roads up in that corner of the country so had to get a riverboat there. One side of the town was bordered by the river and the other bordered by the beach that was thick with flies attracted to the thousands of hatching turtle eggs. Not very conducive to lying on the beach. A good kayaking session along the riverways though and got pretty close to a croc.
Cut across to the Pacific side after a few days on the Caribbean speeding through the capital San Jose which did not look like much. I got stuck in a town called Puntarenas on the Pacific after narrowly missing a boat to where I wanted to go. After having to shell out twice what I would normally pay for a blackened pit of a room I walked out of the hotel at 4pm to be welcomed by the sight of a man shamelessly s***ting on the beach. Obviously not my favourite place. I did however make the boat the next day to my favourite place in Costa Rica; Montezuma. A beachside small town popular with surfers and hippies selling their tyedyes and bracelets. Behind the beach was rich jungle where my hostel was. You were woken in the morning by Howler Monkeys and could just lie in a hammock watching Capuchino Monkeys swing past, armadillos saunter by, and huge multicoloured squirrels scamper up the trees. Had a really good group consisting of a Tico (Costa Rican), a Spaniard, and an American. Good to practice the Spanish too. Spent our days exploring waterfalls in the jungle and lazing on the beach.
Went to La Fortuna which is famous for Arenal, a lava spewing volcano but apart from a couple of good walks it somewhat disappointed as you spotted more tourists there than locals. Made the decision to get out of there pretty quick and made my way north to Nicaragua with an aussie mate, Kris, I had first met in Cartagena back in Colombia.
Decided to hit the more remote part of the country first to the southeast of huge Lake Nicaragua, an area accessed mainly by riverboats. It was so good to leave the tourist hordes behind and rock up to San Carlos with locals sat outside their houses in their wooden rocking chairs vaguely looking at you with disinterest. The pace of life decidedly different. Many of the lakeside homes are under water at the moment though which looked pretty bad, Central America is having a very wet season this year with endless bouts of torrential rain. Got a twice weekly boat over to the Solentiname Islands in the middle of the lake which was about as chilled as it gets. No other tourists there at all, no restaurants on the island we stayed on, you just had to ask a family nicely to cook for you giving them a couple of hours notice. Rice, beans, and sometimes some meat 3 times a day. We had 4 days there unable to leave any earlier due to the twice weekly boats. Spent our time exploring the dense jungle, kayaking and trying to get to know some of the locals. Although not action packed a truly memorable experience.
Got another boat to a more visited island called Omoteppe in the northern part of the lake which is actually the biggest lake island in the world. It took us 11 hours to reach the island passing through some immense storms with the piers to the ports at the same level as the lake giving the impression of people walking on water when they came to greet the boat. Omoteppe is a dumbell shaped island made from two volcanoes, one of which is still active. We did a tough 1600m climb up the active one and precariously stood on the rim looking down into it hearing the rumblings and feeling the heat, slipped our way back down to the town in more torrential rain and walked like John Wayne for a couple of days after.
Glad to get to the more lively colonial town of Granada on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. A stunning city which is probably the country's gem in tourist terms. Lots of good restaurants and some stunning buildings. More rain meant that we could not do as much as we wanted though. As it was the weekend we took this as an excuse to party it up a bit. Met a couple of Kiwi girls and an English lass and had a good couple of days with them eating and drinking too much. Sad that they were heading a different direction to me and Kris, although our livers are probably quite relieved. Into Leon today, probably the last place in Nicaragua, and guess what it is still tipping it down. Planning to do some sandboarding down a volcano tomorrow but can't see that it will work if it rains as forecast for the next week. It is I am told the fallout from Tropical Storm Matthew.
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