Bikes, beaches, bananas and boats

We have completed our time in Costa Rica, our last stop in Puerto Viejo...an old port town, now a Caribbean beach town surrounded by banana plantations. We are on the fourth and final portion of the trip, and we got to spend 3 nights in Puerto Viejo, which was amazing. We spent the first night having dinner at a soda restaurant (a small hole in the wall restaurant, Costa Rican style) having traditional, famous rice and beans. Rice and beans here are made with coconut milk and served with your choice of meat, our favorite was fish with Caribbean sauce...soooo goood! After dinner, we found a place called Bread and Chocolate. Bread and Chocolate was a dangerous place...haha, they served mint brownie sundaes to fried egg sandwiches to homemade bagels..soooo good too!
The next day we rented bikes and rode to a couple nearby beaches-Cocles and Punta Uva, both were beautiful with turquoise water and white sand. We decided to have a survivor challenge and see who could get down a coconut to drink. After some unsuccessful attempts to climb the trees, throw stones and old coconuts, a kind lifeguard lent us a ladder and a knife. We then managed to open it up with just a stone and shared in drinking coconut juice fresh from a coconut. It definitely made me have respect for those people on Survivor!
The following day, our tour leader took us to Cahuita National Park. Cahuita National Park was established in the 1970s to protect the large coral reef just off shore. Unfortantly, the reef is still dying due partially to a large earthquake in 1992, but also from pesticide run off from the large banana plantations. The pesticide causes plankton blooms that block the sunlight and poison the water. These same banana plantation use bags to protect the bananas from bugs. The bags are not properly disposed of and almost always end up in the sea. This is rapidly killing off the turtle population, as the turtles can choke on the bags. To say the least, banana plantations are having a harmful effect on the environment. Chiquita and Dole are two major companies who are taking part in the careless treatment of the environment, and it makes you think twice when buying produce at home. The park itself was beautiful, including rain forests filled with Howler and white-faced Capuchin monkeys, sloths, hawks, and leaf-cutting ants. After exploring the jungle, we visited the beaches that lined Cahuita National Park, which were similar to the beaches from the day before. After spending the day at the park, we headed back to Bread and Chocolate for a late afternoon snack before we had our last plate of rice and beans, so good but sad to have to say goodbye to Costa Rica!
In the morning we crossed our last border in Central America with GAP. We finally arrived in Panama!! Our first stop in Panama is in the district of Bocas del Toro, on Isla Colon, the most developed of the 6 islands in the area. It is an Afro Caribbean island with a small town feel. It was discovered by Columbus, who named it after himself, then left because there was no gold. A few hundred years later, immigrants from Jamiaca and England came to the island, leaving a mixed population of Afro Caribbeans, indigenous tribes, and white people from the mainland. The islands were also commercialized by the United Fruit Company (banana farms now owned by Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte) in the 1900s. Bananas remain one of the major exports of Panama, as well as most countries in Central America.
Our first and only excursion we did on the island was the Catamaran tour. We spent the day relaxing on the boat watching the dolphins swim by and snorkeled in a privately contracted part of the reef. Our first stop was amazing, the water was so clear and the reef was filled with brilliant colors of the rainbow. As for the coral reef its the best we have seen so far. After our relaxing snorkel swim I (Toriann) thought it would be fun to swim to a nearby island to get some exercise. Well in the midst of swimming I felt my body starting the sting and then realized i had swam through a spool of jelly fish. I was not just stung once but about four times. Thus, I decided to swim back. Never being stung by a jelly fish before I was shocked by how bad it hurts. My advice is if you see jelly fish don't then go for a leisurely swim because there inevitably will be more. After the jelly fish encounter, we boarded the boat had amazing sub sandwiches and boated to the second snorkeling spot. Heather and i ventured out to snorkel but still freaked out about the jelly fish I freaked out midway and swam back. Heather, on the other hand was much braver and snorkeled around the beautiful coral reef and enjoyed the colors of the reef and fish. Before we realized the day had past and we were back on the island were we spent the rest of the evening relaxing around town. The Caribbean chill feel has really grown on us and it is sad to have to say good bye.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica

Pura Vida!


We have been in Costa Rica for almost a week now and it has blown me away with how beautiful it is here! After our last stop in Nicaragua, a volcano island called Ometepe, we took a van, ferry, taxi, and bus to cross the border into Costa Rica. Our first destination was Monte Verde, a small town in the jungle filled mountains. It was originally settled in the 1950s by Quakers that escaped the Korean draft in the US. The Quakers started a cheese factory, and the mountains are now filed not only with amazingly rich natural flora and fauna, but also huge black and white dairy cows! Getting up the mountain, you drive along a rough dirt road for about 2 hours, and Toriann said multiple times, I don't know why they don't just pave this road...apparently its a controversial issue and the Quakers oppose it because of the influx of people and pollution it will bring to their area. So, it will probably be a bumpy ride for a while!
The morning after recovering from the trip, we decided to take a ´hike´-its a road, but a very steep one, to the cheese factory. We made it about half way up until it started POURING rain. We were very unprepared and left stranded at a bus stop. Luckily, one of two tuktuks drove by and drove us up the wet, dirt road the rest of the way to the factory. I definitely thought we were going to tip over a few times, but he made it there safely. We had a small tour and an ice cream treat before we realized it was still raining and we had no way down. Amazingly enough, the same tuk tuk showed up to pick up ice cream to deliver to the town, and was nice enough to take us back down the mountain.
After our adventure to the cheese factory, we zip lined in the jungle canopy's. This is a very popular thing to do in Costa Rica, and it was really fun! We zip lined down 14 different lines, the longest one was 70 meters. We also repelled down a tree and swung on the Tarzan swing. Overall, zip lining was really fun and it was a great way to see the mountains from above! It has definitely been one of our favorite activities!
Our next stop after Monte Verde was La Fortuna, a city at the base of Volcano Arenal. (If you haven't noticed, this was the volcano portion of our trip!) We did a tour of the volcano and the guide was SO informative! He told us the history of the volcano, pointed out native plants and wildlife, and was actually able to communicate to the howler monkeys. He sang the song...Who let the monkeys out?, and then we all were supposed the make our best monkey sounds...which was fairly retarded sounding but the monkeys yelled back! It was SO cool!!! Compared to other guides, hmm, the one in Guatemala that got us lost, the guide was a gem! Even though there was more water from the rain than in most of our showers, the tour through the jungle was amazing, soaking wet and all! The people of this area did not know Arenal was an active volcano until it erupted in the 1940s. It is now the most active in Costa Rica. It erupted again in the 1968, destroying the town of Arenal and killed the entire population. The volcano continues to erupt everyday since, and has created a total of 3 craters. Supposedly the volcano erupts every 5-10 minutes and we were able to see it erupt with a fair amount of lava! We went when it was dark and it was incredible to see red lava streaming down the mountain! We were glad to sit in a van and not be too close!
Other than that we had a great time in La Fortuna, we rented bikes and went to a local swimming hole, had amazing local food (Chicken and rice...one of Torianns favorites!), went to a hot spring resort with a crazy water slide and generally took in the sights of Costa Rica! From La Fortuna we ventured to Costa Rica's capital San Jose to say good bye to our third group and welcome our fourth and final group. We have a new tour leader named Micheal and a couple from England. Since being here in San Jose, my old stomping ground, I took Heather on a little adventure around the city. We rode the local buses to my old school where we had lunch with some of my teachers who still work there and chated with the some of the students. After my little reunion we headed into San Jose's main square which has two major pedestrian streets filled with shops. We had chocobananas from a little ice cream shop called POPS and then just roamed the streets. San Jose is very much a busy city, crowded with people and one could easily get lost but luckily i remembered a lot of the city and we were able to walk around without getting lost. Sadly our time here in San Jose is too short and we leave today to visit the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, a town called Puerto Viejo. It should be fun and we have been told that there are some great beaches. So until next time bye, take care and Pura Vida!!!

The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes
Marcel Proust

Honduras

Copan Ruinas
Copan was such a cute, small city in the midst of the Hondurean mountains. We stopped here for only 1 night, mostly so we could see the last of the major Mayan ruins. But, we have seen so many ruins and we liked the city so much we decided to skip the ruins and spend the afternoon in the city. It was nothing exciting, just fruit smoothies, internet, and a nap, but it was awesome. We are on the go so much on this tour, everyday traveling or going on some adventure and it was great to have a relaxing afternoon! In the evening we walked up to an old jail where we could overlook the whole city and watch the sunset.
A Very Long Day of Traveling to Utila
The next morning we left at 5:45 on a bus to the city of Ceiba, where we would catch a ferry to the island of Utila. The bus made it about 6 hours into the trip and then the engine blew. That left us stranded on the side of the road for about an hour until another bus (mostly full bus!) rescued us. We spend the last 2 hours standing in the isles of that bus until we finally arrived in Ceiba. At the ferry terminal, we learned that they had given away 10 of our 16 ferry tickets. But, our skillful leader hired 2 private boats that whisked us across the sea while the sun was setting-it was SO beautiful! When we were about 100 ft from shore however, we ran over a rope (it was dark at this point), and the boat stuttered to a stop. So there we were, so close, after such a long day, but stuck! We had to have the other boat unload and come and rescue us! It was quite fitting to have a day with a broken bus and a broken boat! But the journey was worth it, the island of Utila was beautiful! The island feels more Caribbean than Honduran, its English speaking, and only a small percentage of the population are actually from Honduras. While most of the group spent their days at the pool or snorkeling, Toriann and I spent a full 2 days getting our PADI certification to scuba dive! It was a time well spent and the dives were amazing, so wished we had an underwater camera to capture all the cool fish, snake, and coral we saw.
Leaving Utila...Entering Nicaragua!
After two full days on the island we sadly left and embarked on two VERY long travel days. The first day was about 12 hours on a boat and bus which got us to Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras. The second day was only 10 hours but by the end we were all ecstatic to be off the bus and in Granada, Nicaragua. Granada is a colonial town and is surrounded by four or five volcanos and Nicaragua's two major lakes. Excited to be here, the next day we decided to do an all day tour around Granada. The day was long but we saw so many famous things in Nicaragua. First we stopped at a small local pottery factory, visited a lookout point were we saw Lake Apoyo, and then proceeded to drive down to the lake to have a little swim and cool off. After we took a dip in the lake, we drove to Masaya market which is Nicaragua's heart of arts and crafts and had lunch and did a bit of shopping. Energized from lunch we visited one of, I'm sure, many prisons Somoza (Nicaraguan dictator) had during his rule. The El Coyotepe jail was built in 1893 and was used to hold political prisoners where they were held in inhuman conditions, tortured and possibly electrical shock. Although it was interesting to see and hearing stories its hard to think that there are individuals who can commit such harsh behaviors, and think that its right and for a good cause. After we left the prison, we ended our day visiting the Masaya Volcano (another active volcanoe!). Our excursion up to Masaya Volcano was much more relaxed then our first one we did in Antigua. We climbed up the mountain side to see the loads of sulfer gas steaming from the active crater. Once it was dark, we could see the glow of the lava at the bottom. The sight from the top was really nice, and once the clouds shifted we could see Lake Managua and Ometepe Island, where we are heading tomorrow. We also trekked into caves, created by flowing lava that hardened. The caves were home to 3 types of bats, all which were flying above our heads.
Independence day in Granada
Today was the celebration of the Central American independence from the Spanish in 1821. The city was pretty dead for being a holiday, we heard there was supposed to be a parade and street parties, but we have yet to see them! Maybe we should leave the internet cafe and go find some holiday festivities...;)
Lots of love from Nicaragua....

Guatemala-Tikal, Swamp Island, Chichicastenango and Antigua

Rise and shine, time to see the sunrise at the top of temple four. When we last left you all we mentioned that we were going to see the Tikal ruins, and we did. We got up at 2:30 am and headed out in to the jungle to climb temple four and watch the sunrise. Sadly there wasn't much of a sunrise but we did here the jungle waking up. Spider monkeys swinging, howler monkeys howling like wild cats, and toucans squawking. It was pretty amazing. After we saw the sunrise or the sun razes peaking through the clouds we started our four hour tour through the ruins. The tour was long and we were all very tired but nevertheless, it was beautiful and mysterious being deep into the jungle. Tikal spreads out about 16sq km and has about 4000 structures, however not all of them have been restored. We saw the five major temples and climbed up temple four and temple two. What makes these ruins so fascinating is how they tower over the jungle. Once you make it up the steep temples you over look the whole jungle. This was quite a sight.
From Flores, a small town outside of the Tikal ruins, we left for what Heather and I liked to call the swamp island, really we were on a small island outside of Rio Dulce. There wasn't much to do on the swamp island other then lounge at the pool which was nice to have a day to rest and recover. But when it was time to leave swamp island we were both excited to see more of Guatemala. We had a long day of travel but finally arrived in Antigua. We only spent the evening roaming the city before we headed out the next morning on some chicken buses to visit Chichicastenango. Well you all might be wondering what chicken buses are and they are quite a treat. Central American chicken buses are their version of American greyhounds. They are old school buses that have been brought down form the states and painted to be used as town to town transportation. Fortunately we didn't have any chickens on our three buses but lets just say were were packed in like sardines. After our three chicken buses we finally arrived in Chichicastenango to spend the day shopping. Chichicastenango is famous for its markets and its blend of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. This is one of Guatemala's biggest markets and people walk for many hours to set up there stand for the two big market days which are Thursday and Sunday. You can buy anything and everything here; fruits, vegetables, spices, meats, and gifts, you name it they probably have it. The streets are just filled with people and at times you feel a little overwhelmed but it is quite fun.
After a long afternoon of shopping we ended our day in Panajachel, a city overlooking the beautiful volcanic Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by three volcanoes, which makes it stunningly beautiful! Despite the constant rain, we took a boat tour that traveled to several cities on the lake. It was the chilliest we had been on the trip thus far, and was a nice break from the heat! We ran into our old tour leader the evening after the boat tour and had a nice dinner with everyone before going to see some live music!
After Panajachel, we returned to Antigua for the weekend. It was the completion of our 2nd past of the trip, so we lost 4 people and gained 5 new ones! Antigua is a really nice, quiet city with cobblestone streets, markets, and beautiful churches. Saturday we went to a local coffee plantation, or so we thought! It ended up being a tour of Mayan music and instruments. While informative, it was a lot of the information we have already heard along the way at the ruin sites! We were like, what does this have to do with coffee? When that part of the tour was finished though, we went to the other side of the museum and had a quick tour of a small coffee plantation!
On Sunday we had our biggest adventure yet. We climbed the active volcano Pacaya, an hour outside of Antigua. Toriann and I had the idea in our head that it was a sort of day hike and at the top we were told you could roast marshmallows! The first half of the hike was strenuous, but definitly ok. Then, our guide, who had no idea where the path was exactly, took us the 'long' way up loose volcanic rock for about an hour. It was like a scene from Lord of the Rings, we were in the clouds, on steep sharp rocks following a guide that kept leaving us in the dust. We eventually reached a slope that was close enough to the lava that you could see it and feel the heat! It was amazing to see the lava rivers flowing down the mountain, but a little scary when the guide takes you so close to it, it could fall on top of you! There was definitly no way that we were getting any closer to 'roast marshmallows'! It was definitly an adventure and our feet are a bit rough from the rocks, but we survived and it was an awesome site!