Nicaragua and a taste of Costa Rica

Oct 19:
Once in Nicaragua and finally off that forever long bus ride we got in a taxi and stopped at McDonalds so they could get some food since we hadn't really eaten all day. I still wouldn't give into McDonalds but settled for an iced coffee. 


Oct 20:

Woke up the next morning in Grenada and Jason and Clara weren't feeling well at all. 99% sure it was the McDonald's since I was feeling just fine. 

We walked around the city- very pretty. Reminds me of Antigua in Guatemala. As I'm tying this now, Samantha Brown episode aired of Grenada Nicaragua! So ironic and I recognized so many places of course! 

Very soon we are going to take the bus to the jungle to stay in a tree top hostel!! Can't wait! 

What an experience. Got picked up at the hostel and went into the jungle- literally. But before arriving, we were following this police truck with people caged in the back!

Going off to jail!

Once in the jungle we had to hike up quite a way to our place! 

Time to relax

All our backpacks

Definitely in the jungle!

Jason and Clara weren't feeling so hot- still sick from food poisoning. So I took the time to explore a bit and meet others in this tree top hostel!

This platform will soon become a hooka lounge!

The kitchen table!

Under the lookout area

A lot of caterpillars!

The main building

Bird of paradise?

Wild monkeys! I was so excited!! They kept staring at me!

Everywhere!

We were definitely out in the wild. I saw monkeys, birds, frogs, everything!

An actual authentic jungle experience. The owner Chad was quite the character too. He has a lot of more plans for expansion which I'm sure is going to be amazing!

Out on the bridge!

We caught this frog in a tree!

Absolutely most amazing frog I've ever seen! Look at all those colors!

Ready for some dinner!

Hanging out

We all had dinner altogether- spaghetti, great salad, and garlic bread. All the people staying there were pretty cool. 

So after a fun night we decided to go down to our room, brush our teeth, get ready for bed right? Well literally as Jason was about to turn off the lights and we were all in bed, he spotted the last thing you would want to see in your room! A GIANT spider on the ceiling!! We freaked out obviously! Jason got the attention of the security guard who only spoke spanish. He assured us in spanish that it wouldn't bite and it was not a tarantula!

Insanity!! This was real!!!

Needless to say, I don't really care what it was, I didn't want it in there! Right as the security guard was about to leave, he said there were probably about 3 or four in the room! I took the duty of shining the flashlight on the ceiling every five minutes so we could be assured it was still there. Unfortunately, we woke up the next morning and it was nowhere to be seen...

Oct 21st.

A new day and Happy Birthday Jeremy!!

Our room the next morning, ready to head out.

Waking up in the jungle was really cool. During the night I heard screaming howler monkeys!! What an experience.

We checked out of the hostel and walked out of the jungle down the mountain and found the street. We got a Tuk Tuk to take us to the bus stop. All three of us in the back of the tuk tuk! It was VERY packed but fun for sure!

After just a few minutes of waiting, we got on a Chicken Bus!!! Wow!!! What an experience. Definitely a cultural experience. Packed in there like no other. Jumped on the back, had to stand up part of the time. People selling food on there, the Ayudante (guy helping people get on and off and situated with bags was insane! He would climb out of the chicken bus while it was moving, go up the ladder and get stuff off the top! So crazy!!) Was such an interesting bus ride and only 1 us dollar to go where we needed to go! Highly suggest taking a chicken bus at least once while you are there!

Made it to the coast to take the ferry to Ometepe which is an island inside the giant lake inside Nicaragua. It was formed by two volcanoes!

On the oldest ferry you could imagine.

Met two great Finish girls- Josefine and Patricia. Been hanging out with them ever since! Took a taxi to The Little Morgan hostel which is absoulutely amazing. Wait until you see the photos.

Gorgeous

Very lush

Right on the lake, amazing accomodation, we are pretty much in a bamboo tree house. Three levels, with hammocks and an AMAZING view of one of the two volcanos on the island. Had veggie lasagna here for dinner and are waking up early for an 8 hour hike to the volcano!! There is a lagoon at the top too! Going to be an exhausting day! Looking forward to it!

Oct 22.

Hiking the volcano! First of all- let me say that I was not feeling well this day at all. My stomach kept churning and it felt like I had done an intense ab workout the day before and not in a good way! Regardless I was not passing up an opportunity to be with friends and hike up the volcano! It was advertised as a normal hike- just somewhat longer than the others.

No warning on difficulty, lots of mud, crazy terrain, none of that.

The before picture!

Amazing history

A bit muddy huh?

Walking through rice fields

Still hiking up and up

Not even close to being there

Within the first hour, we were already having difficulty. We eventually made it up to a place that overlooked the other volcano on the island with an amazing amazing view. Little did we know what was still to come. If we were smart we would have just stopped here and returned back down. Probably the best view we saw that entire time anyway. We had to go to the top though! How could we not!

Much needed break with a breathtaking view

Overlooking the other volcano while hiking this volcano!

Numerous slips and falls. Narrow paths. Climbing over logs. You don't realize what we went through. Sweated so much too! Not many photos were taken since we were so busy keeping our footage so we wouldn't fall in a giant thing of mud!

By the time we go to the top, our shoes were COMPLETELY covered in mud. I fell numerous times. Kept pushing through it and couldn't stop comparing it to the last volcano I hiked. This one was very different to say the least. Very lush with monkeys climbing on trees overhead. 

We got to the top where the crater begins- then we had to hike down quite a way to get inside the crater where there is now a lagoon! Very unique. After a lot of energy exerted, the Finnish girls and I jumped into the water! Very refreshing. 

Finally!

The Crater Lagoon!!

We made it!

HAD to jump in! A crater full of water- yes please!

Notice our shoes please!

 

They were once white!

Had our lunch at the top that we packed and then it was back down from there. Just as difficult as we kept slipping quite a lot. I fell more times on the way down and completely smacked my head on the ground too. Not what I signed up for!! 

Another amazing view on the way down!

Most perfect looking volcano in my opinion!

After all was over, let's just say we were MORE than relieved. Glad to have done it, but not for thousands of dollars would I have done it the next day! Complete insanity.

Oct 23:

Much needed rest!! We decided to stay on the island another day since we loved where we were staying at Little Morgans. Had another delicious breakfast and we went swimming in the lake after. We took a surfboard down there and had a blast. All four of us on there trying to balance stand up flip over, everything you could imagine. There are bull sharks in that lake too, which is quite nerve racking- the most aggressive shark out there! Thankfully we didn't see any! 

So luscious

Flowers everywhere

Path to our little hut!

Butterfly

Love this pic

Where we slept!

Dissecting a snake..gross

Rented bikes later on in the day which was fun! It was like a dollar an hour to rent a bike. We all rode into "town" and had lunch at a hotel there. Really great chicken kebabs! 

Bike Ride!

HILARIOUS!

 On our way back we stopped and had watermelon liquados! Delicioso.

Oh Josie!

So delicious!

Back at the hotel relaxing and hanging out before dinner. Amazing views from the top.

Perfect view from the top of our room!

The volcano was definitely smoking!

Sunset

Can't get over this volcano

Earlier that morning I talked to the kitchen staff to have a cake made for Jason since his birthday was the next day and we would be traveling most of the next day to Costa Rica! After dinner was all over, they came out with the cake and surprised Jason! Success!! What an amazing cake too- papaya, pineapple, coconut and some crazy icing! All made from scratch too! Was so fun to be hanging out with my best friend again!

Josie and Pattycakes and I!

Birthday boy!

Drinking game!

After a fun evening we got some rest for our travel day!

Oct 24:

Happy Birthday Jason!! Our taxi arrived to head back to the port to catch our ferry back to the mainland! All our friends were leaving the same day, Josephine, Patty Cakes, and Keri and Paul! 

On a much nicer ferry on the way back!

We were apparently taking bananas off the island too!

Jason's birthday!

Once on the mainland, we all went different directions, Jason and I took a taxi to the border of NIcaragua/Costa Rica. 

Waving goodbye to great friends!

Windmills!

Got our stamps and caught a bus all the way to our destination: Alejulua Costa Rica, where we would be flying out two days later.

 Alejulua Costa Rica:

Stayed in a really nice hostel- most expensive and most comfortable we had stayed at yet. Was great to finally relax and not have to think about what we should do the next day or where we needed to be. Our hostel overlooked the airport so we could see planes taking off and landing! We were in heaven. 

There was a bar on the fourth floor serving food and drinks. We got a giant pizza, had drinks, and hung out up there for a little birthday celebration. When he left to go back to the room to grab something, I talked to the bartender to have him make Jason a birthday shot so got him a little surprise again!

Oct 25:

Our last full day in Central America. So crazy how quickly a trip goes by! Time flies when you are having fun! Spent the whole day exploring the city, eating at restaurants, going to shops, all the typical things. Not the most amazing city we had been in, but good feeling knowing we didn't have to spend that day traveling to the city so we could catch our flight the next day. We were already exactly where we needed to be. We ate at the same restaurant twice in a day- Cafe Delicas. We enjoyed it to say the least! 

Also went on a hunt for lemonade or some type of juice to mix with our little bottle of vodka we had purchased. This was an experience in itself! I asked the guy if they sold lemonada (in spanish of course) and he didn't understand so I explained how lemonade was made and at the end of explaining all of this he looks at me and says... "Ohh!! Lemonada!" The exact word I had asked to begin with! Must be my accent- Jason and I were cracking up!

Oct 26:

Day of departure! Woke up super early after we had gone to bed around 10pm! Went back to our restaurant for breakfast and headed back to the hostel to pack up and head to the airport. Once in the airport we walked around for a bit since we had about an hour to spare. When we were looking at a random shop at one end of the airport we ran into the Austrians we hung out with and shared a bus from El Salvador to Honduras!! I had met both of these guys back in Guatemala too at the beginning of my trip! So funny how you can run into people again- it's a small world! They were flying down to Lima Peru to start their South America trip!

My flight was an hour delayed which made me nervous for my layover in Miami as I know how long customs seems to take when arriving back in America. I had about 15 minutes to spare by the time I had finally arrived at my gate to catch my final flight. Once walking to the gate area I heard a page saying, "Would passenger Matt Hendrix on Flight 3541 please meet up at Gate 2, once again Matt Hendrix gate 2 please." My first thought was I had dropped something in the airport somewhere so I walked up to the lady and she told me my seat I had randomly chosen weeks prior was broken and out of order. Thankfully there was extra seats on the flight and she put me in the exit row! 

That ended my Central American adventure which was another great trip backpacking and meeting others pursuing their passion and rewarding themselves for working so hard, graduating college, etc! Looking forward to my next adventures!