A couple of days after my last post was may 17th, the Norwegian national day. In Norway this is a big thing, so the Norwegians in San Juan (Kjersti, Maren, Kaja, Tommy and myself) decided to celebrate as well. Despite being a bit “tired” from the pub crawl the night before, we started the day with champagne breakfast, fruit and the Norwegian flag. After breakfast we went up to Naked Tiger, a beautiful hostel in the hills overlooking the city. Word soon got out that we were celebrating, and soon everybody joined the celebration of “Norway day” as it soon got called. We had more champagne and strawberries by the pool, and to do a local twist, we had the piñatas. Three of them we got, a spiderman (for Mike), a creepy rabbit and a huge Winnie the Pooh. These were filled with candy, and later bashed to pieces with a bat. Happy Norway day indeed! The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool, and in the evening we went out and had a lobster dinner. All in all, a different, but very successful May 17th!
At this point I had stayed in San Juan longer than planned, so the next morning I went towards the Costa Rican border. On my way I caught up with Eloise, Andy and Mattie, and we all joined forces. The first part of the journey went without problems, but when we made it to the border, it turned out that there were some technical difficulties. Thus we had to wait in the sun for three hours. When we finally left, we discovered that we were too late to get our connecting bus, so we had to stay a night on our way to Monteverde. When we finally got there, it was well worth it though. It is high up in the mountains, the nature is beautiful, and it is nice and cool. It started raining the second we got there, but we all agreed that it was nice to be wet from rain instead of sweat, for once. Groce, but true.
Next morning I got up early to do zip-lining / canopying. 21 different lines back and forth across the canyon, including swings and a 1km supermanline. This was very fun, but it was only a warm-up for my next activity: bungee jumping. I was a little bit scared when the cable car started moving, but it was nothing compared to the feeling I had when I jumped off it. The first half of a second is awesome, because you are jumping off. Then you start to fall, and you look down to the river 143mts below you. That’s when the fear starts for real. Going down and up changes from being terrifying to awesome and back again, but when you stop and you are just hanging there, and its quite nice to chill in the middle of the air. All in all, bungee jumping was an awesome thrill, but I don’t know if Ill get the urge to do it again anytime soon.
After this, I left Monteverde, and a couple of days later, I made it to Bocas del Toro, an island outside Panama. Here I have been the last few days, and I haven’t done that much. I have had a couple of dives (very nice dives, but not as good as Utilla), and relaxed in a hammock. Now I'm at he airport in San JJose, Costa Rica, waiting for y flight to NYC. It will be awesome to see all my friends from NYC again, but it is so sad to leave, because it has been an amazing trip! I won’t do a summary (yet), but I must say I have really enjoyed being here, and I have seen and done so many incredible things!
Adios!
lørdag 25. mai 2013
torsdag 16. mai 2013
Nicaragua
Hello!
After my previous post I stayed a few more days at DD where I went for a couple of walks, got a massage in the garden and read a couple of books. Pretty much nothing, which is awesome.
Anyways, when I finally left, it was May 1st, workers day. I didn´t think about this, so when I came to the Hondurian/Nicaraguan border, I got stuck. No buses. Luckily I had met a nice Nicaraguan girl on the bus, and she had a friend who picked her up in a truck. She also happened to have a mother who runs a hostel in Ocotal, close to the border, where I could stay. Furthermore, this girl worked in tourism, so she gave me all the tips I needed for travelling in Nicaragua. Every cloud has a silver lining.
The next day I left for Estellí where I spent a couple of hours touring a cigar factory. I tried to make my own cigar, but that didn´t go too well... After the tour I headed down to León, a city close to the Pacific coast. Main activity: Vulcano boarding.
Nicaragua has a lot of vulcanoes, and a few years ago an Aussie decided to slide down one of them. After trying car doors, fridges, snowboards and a few other things, he realized that a simple board/sled was the best thing. Thus, vulcano boarding was born. Today León is famous for the this activity, partly because its the only place in the world where its possible, and partly because its fun - a lot of fun! I got a top speed of 59km/hrs (40mph), and was fastest of the boys. This got me a free night at surf turtle lodge, a nearby hostel. Here I went the next day, and it is one of those places from paradise. The lodge is at the beach on a small island off the coast. The hostel was simple, but it was surrounded by palms, and it had an awesome view of the ocean. Furthermore, the sun was shining, the hammocks were comfy, and the drinks were cold. One of the better places I have stayed on this trip!
Next stop out was Granada, a nice colonial city a bit further south. I stayed here for a few days, but my cough returned, so I didn´t do much. I went to a nice marked, got another nice massage, relaxed by the pool and went out for cofees and pub trivias. I also had a job interview, so now I just have to keep my fingers crossed.
When my cough had gotten better, I took the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. The island lies in Central Americas biggest freshwater lake, and is dominated by two massive vulcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas (approx 1600 and 1400mts). A couple of hours after I got there, I decided to climb Maderas the following day. With me was an Irish couple, Desmond and Liz. I had heard that it was the thing to do on the island, so I didn´t get scared by the prospect of an 8hour trip. The thing that sucked was that we had to get up at 4am... Anyways, we got up at four and took the bus towards the vulcano. The bus broke down twice, so we had to walk a bit further than planned. After a breakfast stop at a local finca, we started climbing. The first thing I noticed was the difference from the vulcanoes in Antigua and Leon. Unlike those dusty and barren places, this was super green and lush and there were plants everywhere. The second thing I noticed was that the guide was in a terrible shape. We walked super super slow, and he stopped every 10 or 15 minutes to explain about some plants "to teach us about the stuff". It would have been a bit more convincing if he didn´t need to catch his breath before explaining... We made it to the top, and inside the crater, there was a big forest, and an open plain with a small lake. It was exactly like the vulcano in the the movie "You only live twice", except that this lake was real, and there were no bad guys hidden inside the vulcano (that we know of...) After lunch, we went back down. And it was a looooong way. When we finally made it to the bus stop, we heard that the bus, the last bus of the day, had passed early. Two minutes later it started raining. Rotten luck. But when we sat there, sad, tired and thinking about what to do, a tourist truck passed by and gave us a ride back. The luck of the irish finally came! When we finally got back it was 6pm, so the our 8hour hike had turned into a 14hour expedition. Awesome.
Despite the hike being a bit longer than planned, we rented bikes the next morning and went to Ojo de Agua, a small lagoon. The day after we all had to leave, and after a grand pizza-lunch, we went back to the mainland. Here we had yet another encounter with sneaky taxi drivers. "No more buses, last one left. No buses, only taxi. Special price for you, only 15 dollars. Very cheap, buen priceo. No buses, only taxi". After telling them to sod of for the umpteenth time, they finally left. And 30 minutes later, the bus came. Price: 1 dollar. Fancy that.
Now I´m in San Juan Del Sur, right on the pacific coast. I had my first surfing lessons on monday, and it was great fun!
Our teacher made a film of us, and you can check that out here; http://vimeo.com/66267631
Apart from surfing, San Juan is basically beach, pool and pubs, so thats nice. There are a few Norwegians at my hostel, so tomorrow we´ll celebrate May 17th, the norwegian national day. Wuhuuu! After a couple of months of going back and forth, I´ve finally managed to meet up with Mike whom I first met back in Antigua, and thats awesome as well. Hi Mike!
Ciaoo!
After my previous post I stayed a few more days at DD where I went for a couple of walks, got a massage in the garden and read a couple of books. Pretty much nothing, which is awesome.
Anyways, when I finally left, it was May 1st, workers day. I didn´t think about this, so when I came to the Hondurian/Nicaraguan border, I got stuck. No buses. Luckily I had met a nice Nicaraguan girl on the bus, and she had a friend who picked her up in a truck. She also happened to have a mother who runs a hostel in Ocotal, close to the border, where I could stay. Furthermore, this girl worked in tourism, so she gave me all the tips I needed for travelling in Nicaragua. Every cloud has a silver lining.
The next day I left for Estellí where I spent a couple of hours touring a cigar factory. I tried to make my own cigar, but that didn´t go too well... After the tour I headed down to León, a city close to the Pacific coast. Main activity: Vulcano boarding.
Nicaragua has a lot of vulcanoes, and a few years ago an Aussie decided to slide down one of them. After trying car doors, fridges, snowboards and a few other things, he realized that a simple board/sled was the best thing. Thus, vulcano boarding was born. Today León is famous for the this activity, partly because its the only place in the world where its possible, and partly because its fun - a lot of fun! I got a top speed of 59km/hrs (40mph), and was fastest of the boys. This got me a free night at surf turtle lodge, a nearby hostel. Here I went the next day, and it is one of those places from paradise. The lodge is at the beach on a small island off the coast. The hostel was simple, but it was surrounded by palms, and it had an awesome view of the ocean. Furthermore, the sun was shining, the hammocks were comfy, and the drinks were cold. One of the better places I have stayed on this trip!
Next stop out was Granada, a nice colonial city a bit further south. I stayed here for a few days, but my cough returned, so I didn´t do much. I went to a nice marked, got another nice massage, relaxed by the pool and went out for cofees and pub trivias. I also had a job interview, so now I just have to keep my fingers crossed.
When my cough had gotten better, I took the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. The island lies in Central Americas biggest freshwater lake, and is dominated by two massive vulcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas (approx 1600 and 1400mts). A couple of hours after I got there, I decided to climb Maderas the following day. With me was an Irish couple, Desmond and Liz. I had heard that it was the thing to do on the island, so I didn´t get scared by the prospect of an 8hour trip. The thing that sucked was that we had to get up at 4am... Anyways, we got up at four and took the bus towards the vulcano. The bus broke down twice, so we had to walk a bit further than planned. After a breakfast stop at a local finca, we started climbing. The first thing I noticed was the difference from the vulcanoes in Antigua and Leon. Unlike those dusty and barren places, this was super green and lush and there were plants everywhere. The second thing I noticed was that the guide was in a terrible shape. We walked super super slow, and he stopped every 10 or 15 minutes to explain about some plants "to teach us about the stuff". It would have been a bit more convincing if he didn´t need to catch his breath before explaining... We made it to the top, and inside the crater, there was a big forest, and an open plain with a small lake. It was exactly like the vulcano in the the movie "You only live twice", except that this lake was real, and there were no bad guys hidden inside the vulcano (that we know of...) After lunch, we went back down. And it was a looooong way. When we finally made it to the bus stop, we heard that the bus, the last bus of the day, had passed early. Two minutes later it started raining. Rotten luck. But when we sat there, sad, tired and thinking about what to do, a tourist truck passed by and gave us a ride back. The luck of the irish finally came! When we finally got back it was 6pm, so the our 8hour hike had turned into a 14hour expedition. Awesome.
Despite the hike being a bit longer than planned, we rented bikes the next morning and went to Ojo de Agua, a small lagoon. The day after we all had to leave, and after a grand pizza-lunch, we went back to the mainland. Here we had yet another encounter with sneaky taxi drivers. "No more buses, last one left. No buses, only taxi. Special price for you, only 15 dollars. Very cheap, buen priceo. No buses, only taxi". After telling them to sod of for the umpteenth time, they finally left. And 30 minutes later, the bus came. Price: 1 dollar. Fancy that.
Now I´m in San Juan Del Sur, right on the pacific coast. I had my first surfing lessons on monday, and it was great fun!
Our teacher made a film of us, and you can check that out here; http://vimeo.com/66267631
Apart from surfing, San Juan is basically beach, pool and pubs, so thats nice. There are a few Norwegians at my hostel, so tomorrow we´ll celebrate May 17th, the norwegian national day. Wuhuuu! After a couple of months of going back and forth, I´ve finally managed to meet up with Mike whom I first met back in Antigua, and thats awesome as well. Hi Mike!
Ciaoo!
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