Christmas & Volcano Boarding

Our first Christmas together as husband and wife...awwww

This year for Christmas Doug and I found ourselves in beautiful Granada, Nicaragua. This little colonial town reminded us of a smaller version of Antigua, and we loved it immediately. Filled with gorgeous little shops and restaurants we could very easily fill our days window shopping and restaurant hopping. Our hostel (Oasis) was beautiful (more like a hotel really) and we were lucky to get a great room only steps away from the indoor pool. We felt truly spoiled for the holidays.

Given that we are on a pretty tight budget(not to mention not wanting to add to our backpack loads), we decided to give ourselves a $20 Christmas gift limit, and set out on our own to do our shopping. Doug left first, returning only an hour later with a huge smile, and backpack full of "perfect" gifts for me. I however was not so lucky. After a very frustrating couple of hours I finally returned feeling mediocre about my selections.

The next morning we woke early to open our gifts. The first one I brought out was a beautiful bottle of champagne to mix with our orange juice (where the majority of my $20 disappeared to). Doug quickly encouraged me to open my first gift...4 plastic cups-PERFECT!! (We often find ourselves looking for cups on our journey...very thoughtful).

The one gift that I was most excited about was a pair of Sony earphones for Doug´s I-pod. Since the orphanage we have been travelling with only one set, and as our earphones are identical, it has been an ongoing joke (battle) about which of us actually ¨misplaced¨ our pair.

Well, I was just about to hand over the package that contained my purchase when Doug beat me to the punch and with a beaming smile handed me my last gift. I opened it quickly, and what do you know...a pair of I-pod earphones!!!!!

I thanked him graciously, and handed over his last package....the earphones.
We had a good laugh at the irony of our gifts, however the real laughter followed an hour or so later. After months without earphones, Doug decided to clean out his backpack and... you guessed it... he found his long lost pair neatly tucked away in a ¨secret compartment¨. Needless to say, between our four pairs we should survive music wise for the rest of our trip. Thank Goodness I am not the type of wife to say "I told you so!!!"

Here is a gallery of pics from our time in Granada and Leon.

If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - Granada&Leon

On Boxing day we made our way out to the town of Leon which is another quaint colonial town a couple of hours from Granada. Our interest in visiting the town was mainly for one purpose though...Volcano Boarding. We had read about Volcano Cerro Negro which was not ¨too active¨, and where an Australian guy had developed a tourist attraction where one could actually sit on a flimsy piece of wood and throw hurtle down the Volcanic ash. Good times, only an Aussie would think of that.

So the next day we spent an hour climbing up some very sharp volcanic rock to the top of a very smelly (rotten egg fumes) yet stunning volcano, while our guide Darren regaled us with stories of broken bones and nasty accidents of tours from days gone by. By the time we made it to the top it is safe to say that all of us were a bit on edge!

As if the bloody stories and heights weren´t enough to grate on anyones nerves, as we were sitting getting detailed instructions on exactly how to hold our bodies as we plummet down the mountain at 60 miles an hour or die, we were all stunned to silence as a strange buzzing sound filled our ears and proceeded to get louder by the second.

Darren abruptly stopped his explanation with a casual:

¨Bee storm, nobody move!!!!!¨

...he wasn´t kidding! Within seconds we were completely surrounded by thousands of bees as they made their way over the volcano and down the other side. I have to say, as someone who has been stung numerous times and doesn´t care to have it repeated...those 30 seconds seemed the longest of my life. In the end however the buzzing died down and we all sat shocked as Darren continued on with his instructions as though nothing had happened.

Then came the scary part, Volcano boarding.

The boards that Darren provided were only a couple of rides old...which was very comforting until he told us that they only last three days at most-one ride per day. He did however provide us with wonderfully sexy orange body suits to protect us from the deadly rocks should we (inevitably) fall off our sleds. I thought that was nice of him.

Darren made a request for two girls to start off the show! With hardly a nerve left I decided now or never, and stepped up to the challenge. An Australian girl named Zoe quickly followed suit and it was off to the races. As there were both Canadians and Aussies in the crowd the competition was quite intense as we heard the ¨Go Canada¨ and ¨You can do it Australia¨ chants as we prepared for our suicidal falls! the next 45 seconds were a bit of a blurr I must admit.

I remember sitting on the edge of the mountain and becoming aware of a very loud thudding sound. Upon further analysis I realized it was simply my overactive heart and than the countdown began.

5...4...3...2...1...GO!

¨Ok lyds, feeling good, keep your arm up...what did he say about foot pressure again? Where was that massive hole he warned us about?? Why am I turning???? WHY ON EARTH AM I TURNING??? Oh my gosh, I am going down...Abort, ABORT....¨
(followed by flashes of all your gorgeous faces).

A couple of seconds later I looked up and managed to spit the mouthful of ash out before recognizing that I was still in the lead. Without further delay I jumped back on, removed my breaks (i.e. feet) and flew down to the bottom of the mountain!!!

With that Ladies and Gentleman, I am proud to announce that Canada won by a landslide....literally.

None of the other rides were nearly as interesting...oh, except for Doug's of course which was...yes the fastest of them all, and yes with perfect form...and yes he was the only one who didn{t apply the brakes !!! He did however have a huge crash in the same area as everyone else did where there were a number of pocket holes. At 60kms an hour, he managed to receive a nasty arm rash injury to brag about for days to follow....

Here is a quick video of Doug flying down the mountain...


All in all a fantastic adventure! I mean who wouldn´t want to experience mouth, eyes, and ears full of volcano rocks as you desperately cling to sanity and pray that God will take you quickly should you happen to move your bum just a little too much to the left. Yep...Superfun!!!!

Heres a gallery of pics from the trip...

If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - Volcano Boarding

A Christmas message from the Vargos

Advanced Diving Certified!!! Little Corn Island

Last week was by far one of our favorites during our 6 months of travel so far!

Picture it, white sands, quaint restaurants, cute beachside cabanas....sounds pretty much like every place we have been to the past couple of months...EXCEPT for one thing....world renown diving. Little Corn Island...the place where Doug and I got our Advanced Divers Certifications.

On a whim, Doug and I decided to bypass a couple of hot spots and head straight to Little Corn Island before the Christmas Chaos. Without any flight reservations whatsoever, without accommodation, without sense (if you ask me) we headed straight to the Managua airport. Getting there was another little classic travel story. We were supposed to take two chicken buses...a short one to the nearby town of Rivas, and then another to the Capital Managua. While we were waiting for the bus in San Juan del Sur, a taxi pulled up to the bus stop and asked where we were going. When we said ´Rivas´ he came out with $20. We knew the chicken bus was about $2 each so just laughed and said ¨No, we know how much the local bus is¨. Without a second of further negotiation he said..¨Okay $5. Not $15, not $10...no haggling at all, just straight down to $5. That seems to be the way in Central America. The taxi drivers either assess you immediately as either - A) Dumb, rich American tourist (obviously their preference) or B) Hardened seasoned traveller who aren´t going to fall for their tricks (not the best financial option for them, but business none the same)....never anything in between.

When we arrived at the Airport sometime after, we were disappointed to hear that all the flights was full. Having just made up our minds to reserve a spot for the next day and find a place to stay for the night, we were surprised to be approached by a local airport worker who whispered¨...don´t worry, go have lunch, come back in an hour just before the plane is due to leave and try again¨. That´s exactly what we did and sure enough, 4 people didn´t show up for their reservation and we were on !!

The flight was just over an hour to Big Corn Island followed by a 40 minute boat ride to Little Corn....and what a ride!! For $5 we got the sort of wild boat ride that people would pay close to $100 for in some gorge in New Zealand. We´d thankfully received some pre-boat advice to sit at the back of the boat because it can get ´a little rough´ -DING,DING,DING ...understatement !!! 2 minutes in, we discovered that the life jackets handed around were not to save our lives but more to save our tushes. With 2x200horsepower engines on the back, our 50 person lancha literally flew and bounced through the massive swells between the Islands. One wave was so big we had a good few seconds of freefall before bouncing back onto the bench. An unforgettable ride.

When we got there, despite many of the hotels, hostels and Cabana sites being sold out (it´s high season), we managed to secure ourselves a wonderful little hut on the beach at ´Elsa´s Place¨. The first night was a bit shabby (it was a $5 room), however the next day we were able to move to a much more attractive room next door at ¨Grace´s Place¨. It had a full shower and bathroom with running water(quite the luxury on the Island we later discovered)...not too bad for two spontaneous travellers.

It took us all of 1.36 seconds to decide that we wanted to take our diving to the next level. We quickly signed up with Dive Little Corn for two intensive days of specialized diver training. To become an advanced diver there are a couple of obligatory dives you must do (navigation and a deep diving- where incidentally we got to peel a raw egg and discovered how the pressure at depth keeps the whole thing intact...eggwhites and all), and then choose 3 other dive types to specialize in.

Ideally we had hoped to do a wreck dive which is a dream of ours, however sadly no ships have gone down in the area so that option was lost to us. Instead we chose, fish identification, a night dive (spooky...although playing Starwars with our torches 20 meters under water is superfun!) and buoyancy. All the dives were fantastic and we both are becoming much more comfortable and knowledgeable in the underwater world.

The following couple of days were spent relaxing in the sun, hanging with two great couples we met on the island, a few fun dives here and there, and chasing the local pastie (meat pies) man around the island, who for 25c each made the most mouth watering savoury pastries (...some of you may notice that Doug is slowly putting on a few more pounds).

What we saw on our dives: (which we can now ID, thanks to our Advanced diving certification)...
Miles of beautiful coral
Grunts
Scampers
Triggerfish
Parrotfish
Angelfish
Surgeon fish
Lizard fish
A goat fish...(very bizarre looking)
Lobsters/shrimp/crabs
Stingrays (Southern mainly)
an Octopus tentacle (it was shy)
Eels
Turtles (one of whom nearly high fived my husband...seriously)
and...get ready for it...LOTS of SHARKS...da dah...da dah: (K, they were nurse sharks who don´t really have teeth and are very docile, but they were still pretty cool!!!)

All in all a fabulous week on Little Corn island...a place we hope to someday return to.


Here´s a short gallery of pics from our time in Little corn Island.


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - Little corn Island.

Back......to Nicaragua

Well after spending the required time out of the country to get a new Visa, we have finally returned to enjoy and experience all that Nicaragua has to offer. Who would have thought that just getting into the country would be so much fun !!

The journey started when we left Playa del Coco in Costa Rica at 6am, expecting a long day of travel with a long border crossing awaiting us. We took a local ¨Chicken Bus¨ for the 2 hour journey to the border. For those of you who aren´t familar with this form of transport, just imagine one of those big yellow American school buses...and then re-imagine that the same bus was retired after 20 years or hard service, sent to Central America, and then served another 10 years or so before it stopped to pick us up...Despite all that it´s always an economical option, and you can´t beat the price. For our travels up till now, we´ve usually been faced with a $30 shuttle/private bus OR...a local ride on the other hand costs us a whole $1. From a financial point of view...not a hard choice.

Of course for that price you do sacrifice a little comfort. Imagine...3 adults stuffed into a bench seat designed for 2 children; absolutely no leg room for anyone over 4 feet tall; add at least another 30 people in the aisle; and then....just when you thought the bus couldn´t get any fuller, stop along the highway every kilometre to pick up more people and ensure that there are at least a few who are hanging out the doors and windows...Still, it works and is such a great part of the whole travelling experience.

When we finally got to the border, we braced ourselves for the expected 3 hour wait. There is only one land border between the 2 countries and it takes a notoriously long time to get through, especially this time of year. NOT this time though. To our surprise and blessed fortunes, we were approached by a local as soon as we got of the bus who offered to take us to our intended destination (San Juan de Sur) for only $20. It was 2 more buses and 2 hours away, so $20 was more than reasonable. However the true value add was in what came next. Our new ´mejor amigo´ - Alberto, proceeded to shove us in front of about 50 waiting people at the Costa Rican border and shunt us straight to the front of the line. Nice. Stamp, bang, thankyou maam.

THEN, he escorted us the next 400 metres to the Nicaraguan border where we encountered another massive 2 hour line up in the blazing sun...that is..for everyone else I mean. Alberto gave us a wink, proceeded to show himself through the door of the Immigration office, and after a short whisper in the ear of the nearest Immigration official, he grabbed our passports, hinted a little dollar or two (actually $4) wouldn´t go astray, and before we knew it, we had offically bribed our first customs officer, and were stamped and out of there in 10 minutes !!

A 45 minute cab ride later and we were sipping cold beers on the beach of San Juan del Sur. The ride itself wasn´t without its adventure however. The road to San Juan was probably the WORST paved road in the World, with arguably more craters in it than the moon. For most of the trip the car was weaving from one side of the road to the other at 60kms an hour and above, while dodging the countless holes. Still, we arrived in one piece and that´s what counts.

San Juan itself is a mellow little beach town which we were under the impression was a Surf beach. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that San Juan is merely the ´gateway´ to the Surf beaches which were a few kilometres North and South of town. We quickly decided it was going to be too much hassle renting boards, taking buses to the beaches etc., so we just spent the next couple of days relaxing on the beach, watching beautiful sunsets, reading on our hostel balcony and having the most incredible meals at the restaurant next door - Jerry´s Pizza !! A lazy but enjoyable few days.

Here´s a short gallery of pics from our time in San Juan..


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - San Juan Del Sur

Playa Del Coco, Costa Rica

Well it´s been an incredible 10 days that saw Doug and I finally return to Nicaragua after our little detour into Costa Rica. Before we left Costa Rica however, we spent a final couple of days in a little town called Playa del Coco in the Northeast corner of the country.

We´d heard the town was good for diving, and were both keen to get in some more scuba experience after a few months off. The town itself was nothing to write home about, however we did find a few cute spots to frequent for some good food, a great happy hour and the odd NFL football game.

The highlight of the trip however was most definitely the diving. Although the visibility under the water was not great, we did manage to have some wonderful sightings including a couple of turtles, sting rays...and...wait for it....A FROG FISH!!!! Yes that´s right, you read it right...a frog fish!!!



Now some of you may be reading this and wondering ¨what on earth is a frog fish, and why should we care??¨ This is exactly what Doug and I were thinking as we saw our guide and a couple of other more experienced divers high-fiving each other, and doing funny dances under the water. It wasn´t until we had all returned to the boat, and discovered that two of the guys (despite easily 100+ dives each) had never seen one, that we began to understand just how special a frogfish sighting actually is. Perhaps some day, and with 100 dives or so under our weightbelts without seeing another one, we will fully appreciate the significance.

We ended up becoming friends with the other couple we were diving with (James & Rebecca), and luckily James had an underwater camera and was able to take some great photos of the fish....as well as the attractive underwater couple they were diving with. (LOL)



Here are a few pics from our couple of days at Playa del Coco.


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - Playa del Coco

Our hostel - Coco Azul

Run by a lively old American bloke called - Ray, Coco Azul was a nice little hostel off the main drag of Playa Del Coco. The town itself is a bit crappy with limited accomodation options so we were lucky to snag his last room when we got there. The place was nothing particularly special, but the room was comfortable and clean and Ray was certainly very helpful with local tips on things to see and places to eat. He also offered to do our washing for free which was more than appreciated by us !!

Adventures in MonteVerde

After a great week and a half on the Pacific beaches of Costa Rica, Lyds and I decided to mix it up and head inland to the lush green mountainous region of Santa Elena/Monteverde. From the coast it took a few hours to get up there with the last 30kms of the journey taking a long, slow 2 hours along a spectacular yet bumpy and gut wrenching dirt track that went up and up and up.

Monteverde is a great little mountain town that prides itself as the Adventure Capital of the Country. There are a tonne of activites to do from Ziptrekking, ATV tours, Cloud Forest Hikes, Night forest tours, Suspension bridge walks, & Horseback riding to name a few. There is even a Reptile ´World´, Insect´World´ and Frog Park. We stayed in a great and cheap hostel called...Sleepers Sleep Cheaper (see below). Owner Ronny was fantastic in giving us some great unbias advice in the area and steering us into the best tours.

We settled on doing some Ziptrekking. The World´s first ziptrek company actually started here in MonteVerde many years ago and of course now it has continued to expand. We had at least 6 companies to choose from. Ronny recommended the group we finally settled with called ´Extremo Canopy tours´. They are the newest company and as such had the nenefit of seeing how it is done and distiguishing themselves out by building the longest and biggest lines. They were also the cheapest...Perfect for us, and with ´EXTREMO´ in their name, how could anything compare?

It didn´t dissapoint. The rainforest location was beautiful, the guides were a great bunch of guys and we got lucky by only having 4 of us in our group. The tour not only included 14 lines but a huge Tarzan swing and some rappeling down one of the massive rainforest trees.

Here´s a great vid of Lyd´s doing the Tarzan swing (you just have to tilt your head to the right)...


The final line was a massive 2,400 feet over a huge valley. Due to the small group size, the guides let Lyds and I do the last line together so we managed to take this awesome little vid. Actually its not that little and goes for over a minute because it really was a HUGE line...


Here´s some pics from our time in MonteVerde, Costa Rica...


We left Monteverde the next day bound for the nearby town of La Fortuna at the base of Arenal Volcano. We could of just caught a long boring bus there but decided to continue the adventures. Over the last few months we´ve been to a lot of places that have been offering horseback riding so we decided that seeing as neither of us had done it for a long time, now was as good a time as any.

From MonteVerde we took another long slow shuttle down the mountain to the valley where our guide Rodrigo was waiting for us. We were soon on our mounts - Admonte (for me) and Lyds saddled up on a horse that was suprisingly called ´Canadien´. For the next 2.5 hours we strolled along a quiet little dirt track through the local lush hillside with regular views of Volcano Arenal, and surrounding countryside. We even trekked through quite a few little mountain streams.

Of course throughout the trip Lyds and I probably would have spent a lot of time jockeying for front position or the best line through the mud and rocks, but wouldn´t you know it....our horses were more competitive than us and did it all themselves !!
Good times, good times.

After the ride we enjoyed a leisurely 30 minute boat cruise across Lago Arenal before another short shuttle ride into the small town of La Fortuna to rest our weary backsides. A great day had that´s for sure !!

Here´s some pics from our trip to La Fortuna...


Hostel Reviews...
Our Hostel in MonteVerde... Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel

In Monteverde we stayed at a great little hostel called.Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel, and you know what, we did Sleep cheaper. This was actually one of the nicest hostels we´ve stayed in and at $12 per night with free breakfast, internet, private room it was an amazing deal consaidering so far in Costa Rica we´d never paid less than $20 a night (for a lot less). What made the hostel too was owner Ronny and his wife and kids who were fantastic, and Ronny was a world of local information regarding tours, buses, places to eat etc. etc. If only all our hostels were this good.

Our Hostel in La Fortuna... Gringo Pete´s (Too) Hostel

We´ll we´ve quickly found out that hostel´s in the interior of Costa Rica are CHEAP. This one was only $10 a night..but no brekkie. We had it recommended by some people we met in Monteverde and it was worth it. They offer super cheap tours but we´d done what we wanted in Monteverde so we really just used this as a moving through hostel.

The never ending beaches of Costa Rica

So we now find ourselves in Samara, Costa Rica where we are cursing ourselves for not coming earlier. Samara really is a surfers and travellers paradise. The beach is spectacular, the restaurants quaint, the people friendly, and the accommodation is of fantastic value.

Our first day here was simply spent exploring the little town and walking & relaxing on the beach. The next day we hit the waves, and might I say that we are both coming along nicely. I have certainly improved alot since that first El Salvador weekend, Doug of course is a natural! We ended the day deciding to hit all the little bars along the beach. So many of these restaurants have their own little special signature..ie everything is BBQ's, table tennis, or our personal favorite...dinner on beachbeds. Yes, beds on the beach! Very comfortable after a long day of surfing.

Unfortunately we didn't quite make it to ALL the hotspots, as we encountered a great place half way down the beach that had a pool table. Anyone who knows Doug and I well, also know that we can't pass up a pool game. And with our competitive natures, one game usually turns into ten!!! I won't tell you who won the tournament, because well...it wasn't me.

Today was one of my favorite days so far. We got up early and rented a couple of bikes so that we could explore some of the nearby beaches. After 3.5 hrs, and a couple of wrong turns, we finally found our way to a beautiful deserted beach named Buena Vista Playa. After our long, uphill, dusty journey, we were very happy to hit the waves and cool off.

We later found a quiet little restaurant where we ate some delicious sandwiches and were soon back on the road. The trip back was much faster, and with some pretty fantastic monkey sightings.

All in all a great few days!

Here´s some quick pics from our time in Playa Samara and Playa Buena Vista, Costa Rica...


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - PlayaSamara&BuenaVista

Surfing in El Salvador to surfing in Costa Rica in 2 days...

A bit of a turn of events has lead Doug and I to now find ourselves in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

Our expected weeks in Nicaragua were cut short when we entered the country only to discover that Nicaragua is now one of the countries under the Visa umbrella with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador (new since our lonely planet had been printed). Seeing as our visa for those countries was about to expire (2 days later), we had to quickly leave the country in order to avoid a fine. As a result, Nicaragua is on the back burner (for now) as we have to stay out of the country for at least 72 hours. So begrudgingly´, we now find ourselves enjoying leisurely days of sunshine and surf in Costa Rica.

Tamarindo is a bit more developed than what we would ideally like, however the surf here is perfect for beginners, and we just cant get enough. Getting here was a bit of an adventure, as the beach town is about a 2-3 hour chicken bus from where the Nicaragua bus dropped us off. Luckily for us, as we stood at the bus stop looking hot and bothered, a young guy drove up and offered us a lift to the beach if we would just pay for the gas. We happily accepted and enjoyed a 1 hour car trip with a great new Costa Rican amigo, the wind in our hair, and singing 70´s and 80´s songs at the top of our lungs (which he apparently loved). The best part was speeding by the chicken buses (that we were meant to be on), and seeing them chock full with travellers, bumping along uncomfortably, and stopping every km or so. Ahhh....simple blessings.

As mentioned, the surfing here is fantastic and perfect to help build our confidence on the board. Unfortunately we have both sustained some pretty bad injuries since taking up the sport. Doug lost a battle with his board and ended up with a huge bruise across his inner thigh, while I managed to scrape a couple of layers of skin off my stomach. Even though the bruise is gone, I still manage to look like I was dragged under a car from knees to tummy for a block of so.

I did enjoy a morning off surfing today due to a foot injury, which gave me an opportunity to play with our new camera and take some good action shots of Doug in the water. Not too shabby for a beginner!...and later he returned the favour by taking some of me.

Our plan is to stay here for another couple of days before moving onto our next location....something different perhaps...like a little beach town where we can surf and enjoy the sun...

Here´s some quick pics from the first few days of our time in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica...


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - PlayaTamarindo