Adventures of "Diego the Daihatsu Bego" in Costa Rica

After picking up our rental car in the town of Liberia, our first adventure was a misty, muddy hike at Rio Celeste through the rainforest where we saw aqua pools, a beautiful waterfall, and hot springs. Here's the car and the waterfall (and our Belgian friends, Flo & Britt!):

From Rio Celeste we drove to Monteverde, which didn't look very far on the map but ended up taking hours on the winding, pothole-filled dirt roads. We were surprised when we arrived to a chilly, bustling town in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had heard fantastic reviews about the Canopy tours here and went on a ziplining excursion which definitely lived up to the hype. What a rush - and a VIEW! (Jenn2E - Jody wore the orange Fernie shirt just for you)

The chilly weather in Monteverde left us craving the sun & sand so we headed for Playa Samara, which really is 'paradise on the Pacific' (apparently Mel Gibson owns a beach 15 minutes from here). We stayed in relative luxury and cooked up some delicious meals while trying to beat the extreme heat in the ocean and hotel pool. Wanting to ensure we took full advantage of having the car we went exploring down the coast and stumbled across Playa Carrillo a.k.a. Heaven. Jody was testing out the panoramic photo setting on my camera and captured this beauty of Carrillo beach (that's Britt & I reading on the beach just before sunset):

We drove down the Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula until the dirt road turned into a river that our little Bego couldn't cross :( We ended up in a little town called Jicaral where we were the only foreigners at the local rodeo & fair. Needless to say, I loved it! After riding the bumper cars like 5 year old kids, we watched the rodeo which consisted solely of bull riding the night we were there; it was ridiculous - guys were riding 'no-handed' and it took an average of 20 minutes with a combination of man and horse power to get the bull out of the arena after each ride. Ten riders took about 2.5 hours... it was definitely no Calgary Stampede but entertaining all the same

The next day we drove down to Quepos, the gateway to Manuel Antonio National Park. It was extremely hot so we didn't last very long in the park but were able to see loads of monkies, swim and make lunch on the pretty beaches, and hike to a 'Mirador' overlooking the Pacific coastline. It was also St. Patrick's day so afterward we put on all of our collective green clothing and enjoyed some beverages at the closest thing to an Irish pub we could find - oh ya, and Jody's now sporting a handlebar mustache...

 A lovely sunset in Quepos capped off a fantastic week of cruising around Costa Rica.

We're now in San Jose attempting to get our Brazilian Visa's at the embassy (to no avail) and catching up with our families on Skype. Tomorrow we're heading to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica for a few days before heading down to Panama. Hopefully everyone had a great St. Patty's Day weekend :)

A Windy Week in San Juan del Sur

We capped off a great time in Nicaragua with 5 days in San Juan del Sur. Known for being a party town, we indulged in the fun, just a little :) It was an extremely windy week, with the power coming and going in the whole town on a daily basis. Our hostel here was run by a sweet Nicaraguan woman called Mamma Sara who made it feel like a home with her unmatched hospitality. From the warm greetings everytime we came or went, to serving us typical Nicaraguan lunches & lemonade every day, to the great people we met staying there, we really enjoyed our last week in Nicaragua. Here's a summary:
The beach lined with boats in the water and thatch huts on the sand:

A very windy hike up to the Jesus statue on the cliff overlooking San Juan del Sur:

Sweet Mama Sara:

A fun night out at the "Black Whale" where there was a great live band and good dance music:

Walking across the border was a bit of a gongshow: pay to leave Nicaragua, walk 1km with all our gear in tow, wait in an hour long line-up to get our stamp for Costa Rica - all in the stifling afternoon heat. A sweaty bus ride brought us to the town of Liberia, where we are picking up our rental 4x4 "Daihatsu Bego" and hitting the open 'road' for a week with our Belgian friends... this should be an adventure!

Granada, Apoyo, Ometepe

We're still in Nicaragua and we're still loving it! Despite a few minor set backs including my throat infection and Jody's stitches, we've been covering a lot of ground. From Leon we passed through Managua to get to Granada. It is a very pretty colonial city, right on Lake Nicaragua with a volcanic view. One of my favorite things about Granada was the newly opened gelato shop - their dark chocolate gelato is heavenly :) I think Jody's favorite part was watching the little leaguers play baseball for hours on a Sunday afternoon. I love this photo from Granada of an old church after sunset where a young couple had just been married:

We took an overnight trip to the Apoyo Lagoon, which was beautiful and a welcome escape from the city heat! We had a few Tona's on our hostel's floating dock, napped in the hammocks and played cards with a nice guy we met from Vancouver.

After Granada we headed for Ometepe Island which involved a bus, a cab and a rough ride on a ferry, but it was well worth it once we arrived. We've stayed in a few different locations on the island and have been exploring it for about 5 days now. Some highlights: 

The treehouse view from Little Morgan's hostel & the exentric family on vacation from the States that we had a lot of laughs with over dinner & drinks

Ojo de Agua (Eye of the Water) - crystal clear mineral springs on the island, very refreshing! We spent almost a full day here

 We rented a scooter one day and toured around the island, checking out a few cool spots along the way including "Punta Jesus Maria", a sand bar jutting out into the lake where we saw some local fishermen casting out their nets and swimming them back to shore; went to "Charco Verde" lagoon and "Playa Bancon"; had lunch in the town of Altagracia; and took in the volcano & lake views. Jody was known as Lloyd for the day (Dumb & Dumber) and I waved to all the locals as we beeped our little scooter horn. Here's some photos:

 We've seen some amazing sunsets from our Hostel in Santa Cruz

We were planning to leave the island today but apparently the buses don't run on Sundays here so we're "stuck" for another day :) Cheers to maxin' and relaxin' on this beautiful Sunday (and getting caught up on my Emailing)!