Chris Vs the Volcano

So from Panama I had to cross the border into Costa Rica so to make things slightly easier I went with a bus company that goes through all the main cities in Central America instead of crossing the border and then getting another bus the Tica bus goes straight through. This border was extremely frustrating, we were the third or fourth bus to arrive and thus had to wait, we got there at 0630 and we did not finish until 1030. we had to have our bags checked when we left Panama for what I am not sure and when we entered Costa Rica the same check was performed. I don’t mind this if its going to be a rigorous and thorough check with humans or letting a dog smell the bag but all they did was open the top and look so if you are looking to smuggle drugs or any type of contraband into another CA country then just hide it at the bottom or 10cm from the top and you will be safe.

Four hours to go 100 meters!

Once in Costa Rica I stayed one night in San Jose the capital where I realised that this place is basically America with a Spanish accent, the city centre is thick with its malls, office towers and fried chicken chains making it undistinguishable from any modern city in the world. After six days without a shower the hot water in the hostel was like heaven on my skin. I stayed one night near the terminal before I had to catch the bus in the morning where I headed to Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua I went straight to San Juan Del Sur from Rivas where the bus dropped me off. San Juan is a surfing town with a slight hippy vibe which reminded me of Byron Bay in NSW Australia with its easy going attitude, hand crafts and amazing surf. I stayed in a popular hostel but was told that come the weekend there would be a surf competition and full moon party so with that I decided to get out before it became a massive party town and even more gringofied!






I got the local bus and a taxi to San Jorge, I shared the taxi with some other traveller’s one being this Italian women who probably was the most annoying person I have met in a long time asking questions about everything and then overpaying the taxi by $9. From San Jorge I ventured to the dock where I would take the ferry.

The ferry took around an hour to Isla De Ometepe and due to the wind was rather rough. Ometepe is the sort of place that belongs in fairytales; an island formed by twin volcanoes rising from the lake. The two large volcanoes are Conception which is a perfect cone shape and Maderas. I decided not to climb the volcano as this has already been ticked off my list and as you will read most of Central America is volcanoes, instead I took the time to do a small trek (one hour) to see some howler monkeys and the rest of the three days I just relaxed by the lake a feature that will feature regularly in the rest of my trip. Unfortunately the Italian women latched onto me like a leech on an infected wound and I found myself talking less and less not wanting to take a barrage of fifty questions from just ordering dinner. I stayed one more extra day so that I would not have to travel with her anymore.





I got the ferry back and then a local ‘chicken’ bus to Manague which is the capital where I booked a bus to Guatemala but as the borders are closed at night I would have to stay one night in El Salvador (San Salvador) after travelling and stopping in Honduras.



The night in El Salvador was one of the worst I have seen the room myself and a friend shared was sub standard but for $6 that’s what you pay for. In the night our room was visited by chickens and turkeys and also a mysterious unidentified creature that only made a noise as it climbed the wooden walls, needless to say sleep was hard to come by in this place. We stayed near to the terminal as our bus to Guatemala was meant to leave at 0600. We got to the terminal at 0525 only to discover that our bus had left without us but was stopping off at one more stop before hauling ass to Guatemala City, cue panic stopping a taxi telling him to be rapido and luckily getting there on time to catch the bus and save me buying a new ticket.

When travelling with Tim through South America we both found an equilibrium with each others photo taking ability as we had to ask each other to take the picture we wanted and 9/10 it was what we wanted but when we left the task in someone else’s hands to get a romantic picture together we found that we got complete amateurs taking the pictures, we didn’t expect a masterpiece but seriously when taking a picture of two people at a famous land mark if there is a trash can in the way move the camera! Well I have one such person travelling with me now who has no eye and even when I take a picture of someone else in the spot and show her she can not recreate it as you can see below…..can you guess which one I took.





So far I have rushed through Central America taking a handful of pictures and earning my stamp in my passport, this is mainly because most of the countries are quite expensive but I intend to spend over a month checking out Guatemala.

I currently have three blogs written but as I can not find wifi I will distribute them when I can….like my philosophy with women I don’t want to stick my USB in any old computer as it may have viruses.

Till next time…Adios.