Whew what a crazy day we had yesterday getting here to Nicaragua, but first an update of what we have done since.
The Santa Elena Reserve
This forest reserve is located in the secondary rainforest but is nonetheless still teaming with life. Life that we had great difficulty seeing. After a 4 km treck through a muddy, rainy cloud forest we had seen two different birds and five mosquitos. However the trip still was well worth the 6 dollar entry fee, in the rainforest we were able to see some incredible plant life, the cloud forests of CR are teeming with diverse Flora. One speific family, phylum or genus, not sure, is the hepophites that use other plants as a host in a none parasdic manner, these include various orchid, mosses and bromediads that offered some great vistas.
After the treck we decided to do a much needed load of laundry b.c our cloths had gotten so muddy from ziplinning and rainforest hiking.
We then came across a group of america travelers, one from V tech and another from Georgia. The V tech folks were good poeple where as the Georgians were no so much, fat ignorant, dumb southern reds. Anyway we ended up having a few adult beverages at the hostel and playing some cards, then once the sun had set we, at the recomendation of Ronnie the hostel owner, went to the Monteverde frod pond. There we walked through dark zoo lit by only floor runners and the guides flashlight. While we observed a wide range of frog and toad attributes the georgians continuded taking pulls from their JW Red Label bottle and asking terribly stupid questions.
After the frogs the rest of the group went to eat and Dan and I went back to the room to pack and prepare for our outgoing buss at 6 am the next morning.
When are newfound friends returned we recomenced the enbibbing and sociallizing. Once all were ready we headed to a local watering hole stayed for a few hours and took off. Outside the bar one of the southern bells fell down and caught herself with her face. I didn't see the event occur but I did see the aftermath, a split lip and an immd\ediatly bruised face...to me it looked like she had broken her cheek bone. So Dan and another guy helped carry her back to the hostel much to her schgrin, sp? Eeek, dont worry parents we are being leauges more responsible than that.
Next morning we woke up and headed off to the bus. Two hours later we were down the mt and at our first stop, we transfered buses and headed up the Pan Am line to \liberia where we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us the last 40 miles to the border for 10 bucks. Then the insanity began.
Never in my life have i been acausted as much as I was in the international territory between Nic and CR. First we were surrounded by people trying to get us to change our colones for cordobas, once we had walked far enough away from their homebase the gave up, next a man showed us where to go through customs, which was actually fairly confusing, waiting for a tip I gave him a dollar and said we dont need help. Then at custom we dished ouy another 7 bucks for our tourist card, then after much debate and conflict info from the locals we decided to take a taxi. After negotiating with the cab driver we settled on 60 percent of his initail price which seemed like a good deal becasue he was unhappy with the final price.
Then we needed to dish out another dollar just to cross the border, and the guy who showed us to the taxi then awaited a tip...good grief, after that hour of insanity it felt good to be on the road heading to the small beach town of San Juan del Sur, which is where I now sit. After arriving we checked into our room went out for some lunch and headed to the beach. we soaked up some rays and headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed cable TV and AC in our private room for just 12 per person. We ended up asleep by probably 8 o clock exausted from a long day of travel and little sleep the night before.
Today we must decide what we will do, our options are to stay here another night or head for our intended destination of the island of Ometepe.
-Jumpin Joe
The Santa Elena Reserve
This forest reserve is located in the secondary rainforest but is nonetheless still teaming with life. Life that we had great difficulty seeing. After a 4 km treck through a muddy, rainy cloud forest we had seen two different birds and five mosquitos. However the trip still was well worth the 6 dollar entry fee, in the rainforest we were able to see some incredible plant life, the cloud forests of CR are teeming with diverse Flora. One speific family, phylum or genus, not sure, is the hepophites that use other plants as a host in a none parasdic manner, these include various orchid, mosses and bromediads that offered some great vistas.
After the treck we decided to do a much needed load of laundry b.c our cloths had gotten so muddy from ziplinning and rainforest hiking.
We then came across a group of america travelers, one from V tech and another from Georgia. The V tech folks were good poeple where as the Georgians were no so much, fat ignorant, dumb southern reds. Anyway we ended up having a few adult beverages at the hostel and playing some cards, then once the sun had set we, at the recomendation of Ronnie the hostel owner, went to the Monteverde frod pond. There we walked through dark zoo lit by only floor runners and the guides flashlight. While we observed a wide range of frog and toad attributes the georgians continuded taking pulls from their JW Red Label bottle and asking terribly stupid questions.
After the frogs the rest of the group went to eat and Dan and I went back to the room to pack and prepare for our outgoing buss at 6 am the next morning.
When are newfound friends returned we recomenced the enbibbing and sociallizing. Once all were ready we headed to a local watering hole stayed for a few hours and took off. Outside the bar one of the southern bells fell down and caught herself with her face. I didn't see the event occur but I did see the aftermath, a split lip and an immd\ediatly bruised face...to me it looked like she had broken her cheek bone. So Dan and another guy helped carry her back to the hostel much to her schgrin, sp? Eeek, dont worry parents we are being leauges more responsible than that.
Next morning we woke up and headed off to the bus. Two hours later we were down the mt and at our first stop, we transfered buses and headed up the Pan Am line to \liberia where we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us the last 40 miles to the border for 10 bucks. Then the insanity began.
Never in my life have i been acausted as much as I was in the international territory between Nic and CR. First we were surrounded by people trying to get us to change our colones for cordobas, once we had walked far enough away from their homebase the gave up, next a man showed us where to go through customs, which was actually fairly confusing, waiting for a tip I gave him a dollar and said we dont need help. Then at custom we dished ouy another 7 bucks for our tourist card, then after much debate and conflict info from the locals we decided to take a taxi. After negotiating with the cab driver we settled on 60 percent of his initail price which seemed like a good deal becasue he was unhappy with the final price.
Then we needed to dish out another dollar just to cross the border, and the guy who showed us to the taxi then awaited a tip...good grief, after that hour of insanity it felt good to be on the road heading to the small beach town of San Juan del Sur, which is where I now sit. After arriving we checked into our room went out for some lunch and headed to the beach. we soaked up some rays and headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed cable TV and AC in our private room for just 12 per person. We ended up asleep by probably 8 o clock exausted from a long day of travel and little sleep the night before.
Today we must decide what we will do, our options are to stay here another night or head for our intended destination of the island of Ometepe.
-Jumpin Joe
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