catch up on nicaragua

so basically i havent written for ..well forever so thought a quick cathc p would be good seeing that i have only written 3 pages in my travel journal i do need some sort of record of what i have done. so basically spent 3 weeks in grananda nicaragua. really didnt do much but not in a bad way just chilled. its a very easy place to just stay in and time can run away with you. i think i most have spent half my money on bagels with cream cheese from this great place called euro cafe, they might have gone bankrupt after i left. i also lived on orange ice lollies and chocolate ice cream cones as they were so cheap´. and some how i managed to lose weight. i think if i made a diet book on this it would really sell especially to Oprah. so in the last week in granada we went to help out everyday for 3 or so hours at a place called calita felize which means happy faces. its run by an old danish guy who we named peta as we could never remember his real name. he was typical scandanavian looking combed over white grey hair with bril cream. button up white shirt kakhi shorts and long socks up to his knees. the centre basically runs as an after school place for kids and adults where they can come and learn things for free. there are english classes, dance classes, hiphop, art, hairdressing, sewing etc. we taught a class along with a local guy. it was an adult english class. i dont know ho much we helped and how much we hindered but it was ok. not really run properly though so kind of hard to do things. my fav was this old guy in his 60s who as soooo eager to learn english and took notes all the time. we even knew a bit about south africa and managed to kind of ask me about the boer war. the kids liked that i was from south africa and the stupid wakka wakka song was played lots along with football. after 3 weeks staying in la libertad hostel with own room with a tv it was hard to leave but we had to head to panama via costa rica this turned out to be an interesting trip

laguna de apoyo

in order to save money and be a true tourist we caught the chicken bus aka the local bus to the start of the lake road. this bus wasnt too bad, we werent too squished in. worst part was the music they were playing. justin bieber fever has hit here. it was chris, me. eline (a really cool dutch girl) and a guy called robert who we named steve carrell. at the start of the dirt road to the lake there wre 4 taxis waiting. they all know that the local bus doesnt come along very often and its a far walk s they just charge whatever they want. we got the price down a but. the taxi was falling apart and i had a metal thing sticking into my back the whole way oh well it was worth it. we paid 6 usa dollars plus tax whcih half the time they just make up to go to a specific place called the monkey hut on the shore. laguna de apoyo is breathtaking and truly amazing. it is a volcanoe crater lake with clear water that stretches for miles. you can use the hamocks, kayaks and inflatable tubes. was so good to just chill in the water and swim out to the floating dock. steve carrell had to be even more typical and run and dive off a pier even though the water is super shallow. sommersaults into waist deep water. hmm not so bright. although he did tell us later he kayaked out into the middle of the lake and ´dude we like smoked some weed through and apple¨ so maybe that was why he did it. its a beautiful place to be and makes you appreciate the beauty of it. that night we went to a pub quiz at an irish bar. 5 sections, religion, biology, geography, maths and science and identify the aritist. our score got worse with each round although you do get a bonus point if you get the irish questions right.xx

nicaragua

Woke up at 3:40am to take the bus to Granda Nicaragua. last thing on earth i felt like doing but it actually went by quickly for an 8 hour bus trip. first part of the trip was 2hours along very windy roads up and over mountains. let's just say never again. at one point the driver decided to drive off the road as the road was so abd. not a problem normally.well there was about a metre of grass on the side off the road then a straigh drop down a cliff face. the joys it actually woke me up and other people on the bus were also looking worried. i fell asleep only to wake up to the slamming of breaks and i look out the window to see a guy lying on the side of the road next to his motorbike. we had either hit him or he had slid out. he lay there for a while then got up and put his bicycle back on his motorbike and drive off. changed buses at 7am and took another bus to the border. it went better then boarder crossing in zim. and only take just over an hor at both sides. the bus had leg room for a leggless midget and the short and stumpy men sitting in front of us had their seats right back so that i could almost see up their noses. the ladies behind us kept making little tut tut noises if we put our seat back. i didnt care i just did. there wa a tv on the bus which was great at first as we watched the movie taken. it then switched to really bad 80s spanish pop. the music videos were on a loop i think, i must have watched nelly furtado in spanish about 5 times!!

im already liking it beter here then costa rica. its really hot and humid i think i have showered 3 times already. the hostel is a bit run down but has 24 hour locked gate and security and a nice garden with a pet tortoise and hamocks. we close to the centre were the oldest church in central america is. also a tourist street were we will be going to the pup quiz on wednesday nights. might do volcanoe boarding here and tomorrow should be going to a volcanoe lake.
wow this blog was a borring read.xxx

Carpet

the stray dogs here are just too cute. we have befriended a lovely little one we apatley christened carpet. he is a poodle mix and stands about knee high with super shaggy black hair that hangs over his eyes. today i used one of my hair elastics and tied his hair back. he looks so cute but doesn't seem to happy with it although he can finally see. he appears here in the mornings and i give him some food if i have then we see him around in the evenings to. their is also shandy (as she looks like a puppy version of my friend amy's old dog) although she is also called sniffles. very cute but a little timid and carpet likes to steal her food. we conteplating using a sharp knife to cute carpets hair over his eyes but i said if we accidentally blind him then i got to take him home with me.

Chips and Shelbys

We left San Jose on friday and had to endure a 4 and half hour bus trip to Monteverde. The bus driving stopping so often to let on locals who didn't pay, the seats that were made for midgets with a lovely metal bar as a head rest and barely any leg room. 2hours in and i got car(bus) sick.. well almost, i got that lovely salty taste in my mouth and had a paper bag in hand. the road for the last hour and half was a dirt road up a mountain pass with a drop on the other side. chris's words of comfort were "if a bus had gone over and people had died we would have read about it in lonely planet". hmmm. we made friends with a french couple who also came here from san jose and were staying at the same hostel as us there. she told us about a good hostel she had stayed at here so we were going to stay there. as soon as we got off the bus we were surrounded by men all shoving pamphlets at us and trying to get us to stay at there hostel. tony won the fight. 7 usa dollars a night each in a private room,free internet and free breakfast(although the pancake mix was only there the first day). friday we started out late as chris was feeling ill and weak. we took a walk to the ecological sanctuary and did a short hike there. 9 dollars enterance fee and well sign posted trails. we went to the 3 look out points but skipped the waterfalls as it was a steep climb back up. at the one look out post we were so busy looking at the view we almost didn't notice a coati! the basically these cute looking animals that are a mixture of a racoon, opossum and anteater. their tails are held extremely high and when the digging for grubs in the long grass you just see the tails standing up. every hostel we stay in seems to have the token american couple . we have named the men chip and the women have all sorts of names from shelby to kelsey. we are up to about chip number 5 now. my personal favourite quote is from a young couple from san diego "wow the hike was like so super steep and muddy, but when we got up there it was awesome and like you could see the volcanoe and a bunch of other things. we like played hacky sack and ate some mango then these awesome costarican guys came and talked to us and like gave us some avocado with this like spicey stuff and lemon it was awesome!". there is also a possibly gay older american couple who are so scared of the water they cooked pasta in about 2 litres of kindof expensicve bottled mineral water. our second night we missplaced the key well i left it by the computer and chris didn't know so he didnt pick it up. we then realised this at 9ish and it was too late as porkticia (the not so friendly young lady at reception) knocks off the moment it hits 9 and closes up the lounge area., computers, tv and kitchen. so we had to break into the room by removing window pains and me getting thrown in! at least we got in even if i have a few bruises! yesterday we just chilled as i have the squirts but not too badly yet. today is sunny and nice so not sure what we will do. we leave here tomorrow at 4 20am and head to granada nicaragua.xx

film noir

San Jose... is a seedy film noir city. i don't except cape town like cities here and i don't mind rural and dirty but this city takes things a step further. its gritty and grimmy. it feels like all the dodgy back stabbing drug dealers live here. i don't mind cities with hobos and poor people thats life in durban, but here i don't know it's a different breed almost mafia feel to it. dim lighting and shakey shots all filmed in black and white with a girl walking past in a red dress. and you have san jose.

mommy can i buy a puppy

day two in costa rica well 3 if u count the entire day spent at an airport sitting outside on the street. haven done much so far. the weather sucks its raining all the time or almost raining, its like being in the uk. worst thing about this country is that you can not i mean you are not allowed and no 1 does... put ur toilet paper in the toilet. u hav to put in in a bin. so u end up having a bin fill of over flowing stinky poo toilet paper. yesterday we slept in and then went down town. took a walk around, it reminds me a lot of korea with funky smells and people selling stuff on the street, the only difference is i can read the spanish signs as they are similar to english.. wait some words are even similar to afrikaans. gratis means free!! same as afrikaans yet said wihtout the deep clearing of the phelm in ur throat. we have learnt some interesting lessons like slush puppies come with condense milk and a wipped cream like stuff in them. so not yummy. so far i have managed to only get stuff without meat and we made a vegetable pasta last night for dinner. we walked around down town which is very seedy and gritty with people selling lotto scratch cards and all sorts of crap. went to the town square and fed the pigeons. its like durban beach front back in the day, very mangy looking pigeons some with hair feet and others with no toes at all just scabby stumps. went and chilled in what is apparently a park but looks more like a traffic circle. then walked down to the dodygiest area of down town to by a bus ticket to habana (a beach town) the people there were very scummy. the one man or women i couldnt tell its hair was one big giant dreadlock. we saw one dead rat but lots of puppies!! there is a pet shop and they were so cute. proper purebred schnauzers puppies so little and cute. then two sad looking runny eyed older poodles and a cute little mini chichuaua puppy. however they were 200 usa dollars each. its really really expensive here esp for food. eatting at an american restaurant is the thing to do and its like us going out to a 5 star place. people dress up and go for fancy dinners there. hence a large hawiaan pizza at a pizza hut costs wait for it....... 20 dollars!! that is like 140 rand!! chris has been up all night with a dodgy tummy so we not going to habana today im not sure what will do,.xx