San Diego

We arrived at Los Angeles airport early in the morning, safe in the knowledge that Cara's family would be at the arrivals gate to pick us up.  After an awkward and lengthy journey through customs we finally made it to the other side.  After about a minute of searching for familiar faces, Ben pointed to a little lady wearing a pink dress with her back to us.... low and behold it was Cara's mum.  After tapping her on the shoulder we were greeted with a shriek of elation (we got stares).  Apparantley this was not an over reaction as not only did Cara's mum not have our flight number, she didn't even know what country that we were flying in from, in fact the only piece of information she had was that our flight was arriving at midnight, if we had known this at the time we would of probably given a little yelp for joy too.  

We made it to San Diego after a 3 hour car journey and a 4am trip to Walmart (Cara's family are very good at shopping).  The next day we went to the mall while the rest of the family sorted out errands.  We picked ourselves up a little netbook at a bargain US price.  In the evening we met up with Cara's grandparents (Very exciting for Cara as she hadn't seen them since she was 11) and we headed to an all-you-can eat oriental restaurant for dinner. This was an introduction to what was in store for the rest of the trip.  We knew that Cara's family liked to feed guests from the reception that Ben recieves everytime we visit Reading......Cara's mum isn't satisfied unless Ben either has food in his mouth or in his hand! After the next few days of attending lavish restaurants and all-you-can eat buffetts, we both left feeling like a pair of foie gras ducks!

Aside from the food tourism, we made a trip to San Diego zoo.  We all had a great time, with the highlights being an angry silverback gorrila and three horny zebras.  We spent our last day in Los Angeles where we ate lots of interesting asain foods (at least 3 different establishments), we were treated to a massage (not for the faint hearted) wondered around Orange County and Hollywood boulavard, where we rubbed shoulders with the stars.  We were amazad at how well Michael Jackson is looking these days!  We had such a great time in California, mostly thanks to the kindest of Cara's family.  We were blown away by their generosity, it was safe to say they spoiled us rotten.  We are allready looking forward to our next trip to see them, once our waste lines have recovered.   

Nicaragua - San Juan Del Sur

It is safe to say that Costa Rican / Nicaraguan border crossing was the worst we've had yet, a sign or two would've been lovely!  We only got fleeced once, $2 each as a donation to... we don't know what.  Once we crossed the gates into Nicaragua we were mobbed by hawkers, we were polite at first, but ended with the words 'don't touch me' and 'leave me alone'. Following two chicken buses and Cara nearly falling out the back doors because it forgot to stop, we safely made it San Juan Del Sur.  So far it can be noted that Nicaragua is the most authentic Central American country that we have been to, some would call it 'edgier'.

Our first day in San Juan Del Sur was spent exploring the little town.  We spotted a monument of Jesus Christ on top of the hill (a bit like a poor man's version of Christ on the hill in Rio De Janerio), so we decided to hike up there to get a view of the bay.  After many wrong turns we made it 3/4 of the way up and saw a sign indicating that we had to pay $2 each once we got there.  Discouraged by this, we decided to give it a miss.  While out for dinner that evening we bumped into some american folk (Jessie, Matt and Alena) that we had met in Bocas Del Torro.  We told them about our 'half-a-job' trek up Christ and they proceeded to inform us that we had made a mistake and that we should go again because it is absolutley stunning.......wonderful!   We managed to make it all the way up there on a day that there was no surf and when we were particuarley hungover.  The yanks were right, it was absolultley stunning.  Beautiful emerald coves as far as the eye could see, not to mention the statue of Jesus himself.  When we made it back we immediatley informed the Yanks we had 'found Jesus', much to their amusement!

Most of our days in San Juan was spent surfing, we would catch a ride via 4x4 to near by beaches; Maderas and Ramonso, where we surfed at least 3 times a day.  The shuttle service was run by a surf shop called Arena Calante, who comprised of local surfers.  Great guys and great fun, they did not batter an eyelid when we handed them back snapped leashes or broke the bus seat, although this was defiantly not our fault, I have never seen so much rust on a vehicle that can still move! The surf was great with consistant offshore winds and some really big swell on a few days.  Most days we would come back and have to nurse wounds, or tend to some pretty bad sunburn.  Following a hard day at the beach we would relax with dinner and drinks and many games of fooseball.  We also met a lovely British couple (Michael and Kylie) who hung out with us for a few days, along with the yanks it was really cool to have a big group of us.  Between us we managed to polish off a 2 litre bottle of 'Flor de cana' a high quality bottle of rum, which we got for the bargain price of $15.

We really enjoyed our time in Nicaragua, having spent a total of 10 days there, it meant that we really got to know the place and made some good friends.  Next stop, back to Costa Rica to San Jose, not our favourite place, but needs must as we had to get our flight to Los Angeles.

Costa Rica - La Fortuna

This place has it's very own active volcano (Volcan Arene), as well as all of the awesome activities that go along with it; hot rivers, hot springs and waterfalls.  We headed straight for a hostel called Gringo Pete's, which you may have guessed was run by a white guy called Pete. Our first night consisted of the standard christening of wetting the new hostel's head, where we met a lovely couple (Amber and Steve) and Sue (Mama) from Colorado.  We spent the next three days establishing a trans-atlantic friendship.  Being from Colorado it meant that Steve had himself a great collection of guns and an amazing bushy beard to boot.

Over three days we embarked on a series of activities; the 1st was spent jumping and swinging into a fresh river, followed by a hike up to a stunning waterfall, with a some what fresher dip!  The next day we pushed the boat out and spent the day zipping through the canopies under the shadow of the volcano, followed with relaxation in the resorts hot springs.  This resort also had crocodiles , turtles, butterflys and ANTS, all of which under lock and key of course.  We got chatting to Antonio, the guy who ran the canopy zip line and it turns out the next day was his day off and so he took us to the locals natural hot river and spent the day drinking cold beer and meeting the locals. Three great days, thanks to great company and  a beautiful place.

By this point we found out first hand how expensive Costa Rica was, everything in the super market was a dollar or over; even a bar of chocolate.  So an impromtu visit to Nicaragua was in store, apparently one of the cheapest countrys in Central America.  Without a guide book, we were somewhat at the mercy of friends advice and headed for San Juan Del Sur.

Costa Rica ca ca ca ca - Puerto Viejo

Crossing the border was actually easier that we thought it would be, apart from the odd queue and dodgey bridge crossing the whole journey only took us 3 hours.  

Our first destination was Puerto Veijo.  In many ways this place was very similar to the place we had just come from; with it's reggae vibe, laid back culture and stunning beaches.  There were however some noticiable differences, one of which was the cost (we were now paying bar prices for beer from supermarkets) and the temperature, which was significantley cooler than Panama.  For the first time in our trip we weren't dying of heat exhaustion and it was possible to get a good nights sleep.  Another thing we noticed was how much more developed Costa Rica was compared to Panama, roads a little bit smoother, cars a lot flashier and bigger, and everything just that little bit more organised.  This is all likely to be due to the tourist influence, and the huge amount of Americans (US) that come on vacation here every year.  

On our first day we bumped into a Canadian couple that we met at our hostel in Bastimentos, so we spent our first evening drinking and playing cards at theri hostel. The next day they took us to a different beach, which was alot nicer than the one we had been to the day before.  Matt (the Canadian guy) was some what of gymnast, so we spent the day learning how to make Cara do a back flip, which provided hours of entertainment.   After a couple of days here, we felt it was time to move on from the Caribbean coast and head inland to La Fortuna.