Con Madre (With Mom)

So, our night in Puntarenas was even more ghetto than we had expected. The hotel we were staying in was just filled with sketchy characters, one of which wished us luck for our night there...Our fan was broken, so our room was a sauna, and Nathan discovered a large rat, as well as someone apparently locked in their room. We survived in any case, and headed to Alajuela first thing on Sunday morning.
After booking a hotel, and seeing Nathan off to the hospital again (this time for a plum pit that seemed to lodge its way in his digestive tract), Jesse and I bussed to the airport to greet my mom, and Connor.
They were both very happy to be in Costa Rica and even though they said they weren't tired, they felt burned out on return to our hotel in Alajuela. That night, we wandered the town a little bit, and got some eats, then headed to bed relatively early.
This morning, we got up at 5am and got ready to catch a bus from San Jose at 6:30. The bus we hopped on was going to Heredia first, so unsure if we would make our bus in time, we got off and took a taxi to the terminal...our taxi driver wasn't even too sure of where we were going, but we did make our bus, and after all of that, the bus ended up stopping in Alajuela anyway. Meh...live and learn.
A very scenic drive up to Monteverde, and upon arrival at 11:30, we checked into Pension Santa Elena, and then booked our Zip-line Canopy tour. It was just as fun as the first time, if not more so, and worth every penny. After our adrenaline rushes of zipping over the cloud forest, we went for pizza, and then walked through the forest, and across suspension bridges.
It was an exhausting, yet fun day. We killed the rest of the day by just chilling at our cabin, reading, playing cards and making some killer nachos.
Tomorrow we are off to La Fortuna to see the most active Volcan Arenal!

Photos: Me waterfall jumping in Montezuma...Lazing in our hammocks in Peurto Jimenez...Mom and I in our zipline canopy gear...Jesse and Connor on the suspension bridge walk...Jesse Gnarlin out

Surf's Up Brah!

After our time spent down on the Osa Peninsula, we took an early bus to San Isidro. On the way, the bus bottomed out on the bumpy, dirt road and it took the bus attendants nearly an hour to fix it. In the meantime, we improved our Sudoku skills.
We spent that night in San Isidro, then made a looong journey from there all the way to Montezuma. We had just missed the 1030 bus to Puntarenas, so we chilled in our hammocks in Manuel Antonio until the 3pm bus. We caught the last ferry from Puntarenas at 8:30pm and then had to take a taxi to Montezuma, because the busses were no longer running. Our taxi drivers were chumps, and didn´t pick up the 3 girls from the ferry that were hitchiking, even though we had room for them in the taxi (van).
We got the only hotel room we could find with open reception, then headed to bar to see what was happening on Wednesday night. We once again saw the girls from the ferry, and apologized for our taxi drivers.
The following day, Thursday, we went to the campground I had stayed at last time, because of it's nice chill atmosphere and for the fact it was $8 cheaper than any hotel in town. After setting up hammock and tent, we dipped in the ocean then headed up to the waterfalls, running into the three girls again, and even Jeff! Small town eh. The fresh water was much more refreshing than the warm ocean, apart from it going in our noses from cliff jumping.
Thursday, we went out early, and after a pretty decent time in town, headed to bed before midnight.
We went to Santa Teresa for our Friday. Camping was $5 per night, per person, so we paid the $5 more and got a hostel room to ourselves. From there, we rented a couple of surf boards and went to the beach. After setting up our hammocks, we went 2 at a time to mess about in the waves! It was a tonne of fun, and super tiring, which is why our Friday night consisted of eating and passing out before 10. Today, Jesse and I went to beach in the morning, then caught a bus at 11:30 to Paquera (As the Chile girls were getting off from Montezuma). From there, we took a boat to Puntarenas where we will spend the night tonight. The boat we took, was just like the one to Ometepe, except it had railings, lifeboats and actually felt safe.
Puntarenas is the State capital, and kind of ghetto but it will be fine for one night. It is fairly cheap, and I bought some new sandals. My other ones broke, and they smelt awful. This is the last night me, Nate and Jesse are together, then I take off with Mom for 2 weeks, and they´ll take off with Connor.

Photos: Not working at the moment, so will upload some as soon as I can...

Peninsula De Osa

FEBRUARY 20th, 2006

Our Valentines night was our real last party night, before heading to the Peninsula De Osa. We planned to catch the bus at 9am to Peurto Jimenez, but apparently that bus only exists in our Lonely Planets, and the next bus wasn´t until 3:30pm. We killed half the day by takin a nap at our jail-like hotel Astoria then ate and headed to the bus station. The bus was two hours late, and very full, so for 5 hours of the 6 hour ride Nathan and I stood up in the aisle. This did foot infection (from his sandal) little good.
We arrived in Peurto Jimenez at 11 o'clockish, and headed to Cabinas Oro Verde. The following day, Nathan went to the hospital where he got some antibiotics and treatment absolutely free of charge (don´t know how that works). While he was getting that sorted out, Jesse, Francois and I went to the beach. On the walk there we saw some bright red parrots and intruiging vegetation. After the tide came up and Francois got a nasty sunburn, Jesse and I headed back to our hotel room and had a pineapple and bread feast. At 5 pm Jesse played soccer with the locals while me and Nathan lazed in our hammocks on the edge of the field. Francois and the four of us booked a night up in the forest at the Rio Neuvo Lodge.
On Friday at 10am, we headed up to the lodge, driving through beautiful scenery and rivers, until we reached the gorgous tent lodge. We did a one hour hike in the heat of the day before lunch. We could hear a few howler monkeys, but the only wildlife we really saw were reptiles and insects, including the magnificent Morpho butterfly, frogs, lizards and snakes. Saturday morning, there was even a scorpion hanging out an mine and Jessse-s tent.
Our after lunch hike was pparently too late in the afternoon, because after the sun went down and we had crossed 2 rivers, we wondered if we were on the right trail, so decided to turn around to take the 'for sure' trail and hike back through the dark jungle, where we could see fireflies and the lights at Golfito across the Gulfo Dulce. Furthermore, because we were on a horsetrail, the ground was really torn up and muddy in some places and Nathan unfortunately destroyed his shoes.
It was very beautiful and very relaxing, but it was a little dissapointing how few birds and monkeys we saw. We are back in Peurto Jiminez for tonight and going to be cramming into one tent for the night. Later today we went to watch a brave little boy, Gillian, go feed some crocodiles. As soon as he started taking out meat from his big bag, there were a dozen crocs waiting in the waters infront of us.
Yesturday, we just lazed in our hammocks all day long and drank beer. Twas a good day...
Today, we went on an overpriced tour, which was really just a 1 hour walk to see a dried up waterfall and hang out with a guy and his kid, but it was nice to get out off Peurto Jiminez for a few hours and go sit on the ocean and watch surfing...wish I had done surfing, but the rocks dodging business is out of my league. Furthermore, we were able to see some monkeys and some more butterflies.

Photos: Jesse rockin out in San Isidro...Nathans shoe took a beating from our night walk in the jungle...Gillian feeding the caimans and crocodiles.

Southbound Costa Rica

Caught a 4 hour bus to Manuel Antonio from San Jose at noonish. After arriving, the hike to find accomodations commenced and being a Saturday, everything was full so we ended up camping in the place I had camped with the Mexicans.
After tents were set up, and gear safely stowed, we went for a sunset swim in the bath warm waters before beginning our big Saturday night! Went for dinner and then went to a pretty pumping party on the beach right near our campsite! It was a grand ol' time.
The following day, we decided not to go into the park, but rather count on encounters with wildlife free of charge. Instead we had a big beach day, where Nathan and Jesse got fried by the powerful summer rays (yes, it is the summer/dry season here right now). No luck finding parties on the Sunday night, we packed it in fairly early. I slept like a rock, but Nathan and Jesse were awaken by a night time theif. Their tents bottom zipper didn't work, so they were awoken by a random hand grabbing whatever it could find...including Nate's shoes and Jesse's toiletries kit. I slept through it all, but they managed to tell the guy off and get their gear back after following him down the beach and confronting him.
Monday, we headed to Dominical for some more beach time and hopefully some surf. This place was pretty, but another American project with American prices and a huge majority of American people, who claim to be Ticos. Not our choice of scenes, so after one night we decided we would carry on.
Today, we caught the bus to San Isidro, which is the Travel hub to continue south to the Peninsula Oso. As we were getting off the bus in the city, buddy Jeff was just boarding to head to Dominical for a surf competition...I've said it before, and again I shall say, "Small country, eh!"
We wandered the city streets and managed to find Nathan a hammock, and a few stores that sell machetes if we decide to do some serious rain forest hiking.
Other than just chilling out and beering it up, we are slowly buy surely making our way down through this beautiful country, in hopes to find some amazing forest and wildlife!
Happy Valentine's Day!

Photos: Our campsite amongst Banana trees in Manuel Antonio...Monkey for an Anonymous request...Dominical (the rip is very strong, and probably safest to be with a surf board when in the water)

Hangin' with the Hombres

After Tikal, I hung out in Flores for a few hours, waiting for my bus. It ia s beauty little island, only 300m wide. Wasn't there long, but it was long enough to see a concert in central park. They were a group from Holland, playing Yeddish music, and some of the lyrics were in Spanish...was a bit odd, but very entertaingin nonetheless.
After another long over night bus to Guatemala city, I waited in the bus station for my shuttle to Antigua. My driver was shouting my name for a while, but pronounced it so poorly I hadn't realized. He shuttled me back to Casa Sandra in Antigua (where I had been staying for my Spanish lessons) at 6 in the morning. Everyone was asleep, so I just sat on the roof and watched the sunrise for a while. Pretty gorgeous when the distant volcanoes turn pink and the sun creeps down the forested hillside.
At about 7, I woke Shane up for breakfast, and said the last goodbye. After that, picked up my airplane ticket and a Gallo T-shirt, then caught the 11 o'clock shuttle to the Airport from my 1:20 flight to Costa Rica!
It was a nice quick flight with one 30 minute stop in Managua, but round 2 with San Jose airport went much more smoothly then December 20. Jesse and Nathan were hanging out as I walked out of the doors, and from there we caught a bus into Alajuela so they could pick up their bags at their hotel.
From there, we missioned to bank and watied for a good 30 minutes before I was able to get some money out. From there we caught a bus into San Jose just to hang out for the night, and party a little bit. It was a pretty fun night...but yet again, way too many prostitutes roaming the streets.
And today, we are off to the coast...Manuel Antonio to be exact. Check out the beach and the park (and pick up my lost but found camera) and then from there...who knows!

Photos: Ot Azol Klezmerband concert in Central Park Flores...Nathan and Jesse at dinner last night

'Ruin'ing my Holidays

Despite how expensive and out of the way Tikal is, The Mother of Mayan Ruins here is very magical. Yesturday, Jeff, myself and a Canadian couple had a 3 and a half hour tour of the Ruins, which is near mandatory if you want to understand what all the rocks mean. I recommend putting it on your To See list if you ever get that chance to visit Guatemala. The ruins are pretty incredible, protruding out of the Jungle with hundreds of monkeys and birds playing in the treetops, and leaf cutter ants working hard on their super ant highways through the park. After our tour and climbing as many temples as we could, Jeff and I ventured a bit more and then hung around for the sunset. It was a little cloudy, but still worth seeing. This morning I got up at 4:30 so I could sit atop temple IV to listen to the jungle come alive, and watch the sun rise up and shine down upon the Gran Plaza. Our bus back to Flores left without us and both being broke, used the last of our cash to hop on a bigger bus. 20 minutes into the ride, a tire popped, so the bus stopped to put on the spare...which wasn´t even in that much better of condition then the popped tire. Jeff took off to Rio Dulce just a little while ago, and I will hang out in Flores and Santa Elena until my overnight bus back to Antigua. Also!, there is a series of ponds at Tikal with Crocs! Tame, except very territorial amongst eachother. Photos: Mayan Sun God...Acrópolis del Norte in the Gran Plaza...Sunrise view from Temple IV (Star Wars fans might recognize this as the rebel base...and that it is. The 40 seconds it was in the movie cost $1 million. A fun fact)

San Pedro y Lago d'Atílan

Jeff and I had a good trip to the lake. We JUST caught the 12:30 shuttle to Panajachel, walked to the dock and JUST caught the speed boat to San Pedro, where we easily found a 2nd floor room for uber cheap. After that, we headed to the big sports bar for the Superbowl...food was decent, the officials weren't very good.
The following day we went for a horse back ride. First off we zig zagged through narrow alleyways, down cobblestone roads, and finally onto a horesback trail around Volcan San Pedro. An hour of riding and we arrived to a beautiful beach with crystal clear water. Lago d'Atilan is an old volcano crater, and the steep cliffs surrounding are a give away. A couple beer and a quick dip, and we were hopped on the horses back to San pedro. The horses were getting anxious to get home and were competing for whom was to lead,which gave me and Jeff some fun horseback racing.
That night we met up with some brothers from Toronto and went to a place called Tacos + Tacos...it was pretty pathetic, or we just go ripped off being 'an obnoxious group of Gringos'. Afterwards, we played pool for a good couple of hours with a German, Norweigan and Swedish dude, before heading to another party at the Gran Manzana. A very chill, hippyish town where it would be easy to spend a week, but unfortunatley don't have the time, so Tuesday was a big travel day to go clear across the country.
We hopped on the 8:30pm 'economical' bus from Guatemala City and arrived in Flores at 5:30 this morning. A quick pitstop and some simple breakfast before we found a shuttle to the greatest of Mayan Ruins...Tikal! Wildlife everywhere as we set up camp. Jeff is sleeping right now after a rough night being sick into a gallan milk jug (economical bus aka no bathrooms, and not the comfiest of seats). When he wakes up we'll go tour around the ruins. I'll post the pics in a couple days, but in the meantime here are some of the lake.

Photos: The morning view from our budget hotel...Dusty and Chuck taking a break while we head to the beach...Jeff and I enjoying a couple on Lago d'Atilan with Volcan Toliman in the background

Fiesta Fiesta Fiesta!!!

Thursday was the Festival of the Candles...and by candles I mean fireworks EVERYWHERE! It is not a holiday celebrated by many, but a Catholic group large enough to have fireworks going off in every quadrant of town. We grabbed some deck chairs and sat on the roof of our dorms and enjoyed the show(s).
On Friday I finished up with Spanish classes early, because not only was I too lazy and tired to withstand more than 3 hours, my teacher was even lazier than I was. Played memory for a good hour...woot, and then she looked at my pics on the cam. Had a bit of a party in our room before going out and celebrating the finish of school. We didn´t leave til about 11pm, and all the bars close at 1am, so not too much partying in. There is always an after party, but they try to charge gringos...that and the fact that there was no music was reason enough to NOT pay, so just walked back home with Jeff, Ross, Otto and Brinne.
Saturday booked my flight to Costa Rica, and checked out the market. Thursdays and Saturdays are official market days, but going there wasn´t too fun. Picked up some portable speakers, but shopping really doesn´t excite me.
We had dinner, a nap, and then headed out to the bars...this time at 11:30, but after the bars closed, we met up with a local and he got us into the afterparty free of charge. It was quite a lot of fun, with a fire, music, beers and a lot of Guatemalas eager to practice their english with us. After that ended at about 4, we got a ride back to our place with some friendlies from the city, and exchanged numbers so might party again on Tuesday or Thursday.
Jeff dissappeared last night, and just reappeared 5 minutes ago. He had some crazy adventure of going into the city for even more partying...but thats another story. We're going to head to the lake in about 30 minutes and probably spend a couple of nights there.
Adios Gentes!
-Mitchell-

Photos: Sunset view from our dorm roof...Fireworks from Festival of the Candles...Gong show pre party on Friday

Escuela d'Espagnol (Spanish School)

School has begun, and 4 hours of one on one instruction is very exhausting. Definately glad I decided to do the afternoon classes vs the 8am ones. The meals are delicious and filling, and no risk of gettin parasites like at the market. Plenty of Tortillas with every meal guarantee you'll be full after each. At the market they just leave giant pots of food sittin on the stove for God knows how long, and serve you as soon as you order...pretty sketchy, hence the illness the last few days.
Apart from takin a break from the booze and studying up on Spanish, I've been hanging with Shane and Jeff lots, listening to tuneskies and sipping on Gallo (Guatemalan beer...and beer isn´t booze). My Spanish instructor, Sandra, doesn´t speak very much English, and what little she does speaks is pretty terrible. Better for me I guess, because I try to talk in only Spanish for the duration. First day was alright because I felt I knew it pretty well, but day 2 she threw 14 verbs my way AND more...my brain was fried. Day 3 today, and I´m hoping to mainly have conversation instead of writing down and conjugating verbs for the whole time. I figure after the week, I'm not going to be super fluent of course, but will finally be able to hold a decent conversation in the Latin language.
Mondays and Wednesdays are the do nothing nights here in Antigua, but last night was a big salsa night at La Sin Ventura discoteque, and I learned some Salsa dancing for my own. It was similar to learning Spanish after knowing french, because I know swing/jive...but they are different dances, yet equally fun and incredible looking.
Last night, we decided to go to Cinema Bistro, which is less of a theatre and more a cafe with 3 living rooms; each with a fairly big TV and rows of couches. We watched the enjoyable, and informing "The Lord of War" with Nicolas Cage. I recommend it.
Today, after breakfast, went back to sleep for a couple hours then got up and studied Spanish...I remembered why I'm not in school right now...in no mood to study. Two more days of class then the travelling shall continue, yipee! Take care everyone!
-Mitchell-

Photos: Living quarters (comfiest bed I've had in Central America)....Shane, Jeff and Ross in the back row of the "cinema"