Sunday Around the World

Michael and I decided that for our last big venture to a new spot in Costa Rica we wanted to discover more about the Osa Peninsula.  We didn't know a ton going in, but we knew that it was a road less traveled and friends who had been there loved it.  We said our goodbyes to Montezuma and took a boat ---> mini bus ---> big bus ---> taxi ---> to a leeeeettle 12-person plane.  The 50 minute flight ended up being worth the entire journey already. Our very own plane Michael tried to get into the cockpit multiple times.  Good thing I could pat the pilots on the back when they had a successful takeoff.  One of my favorite parts of our trip is our "rutterless travel".  Traveling with no concrete plan which then leaves flexibility to change anything at the drop of a hat.  This proved successful as we flew above the Osa Peninsula and started chatting up a guy named Robert.  Our new friend was going to a yoga retreat at a beautiful spot right on ...

I can't believe its almost been 2 months and we have made it through Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua.  We are onto our 4th country of the trip: Costa Rica!  I had been here once with my brother and we did the tried and true route, so this time I wanted to see a part of Costa Rica that hadn't been visited by so many people and maybe was a little harder to get to so the traveler footprint wasn't as massive.  The last part wasn't hard to achieve; it is ridiculously difficult to get anywhere in Costa Rica if it isnt mapped out in Lonely Planet.  We decided to go to Montezuma, which we heard was a place travelers would venture to and then stay for months because it was so beautiful and remote.  So here we go: A truck from the beach in Nicaragua ---> a taxi to the border ---> the first bus ---> the second bus ---> a mile walk ---> a ferry ---> a third bus and then pass out upon arrival. A ferry view and a lotta hair At the border we had another quint...

Our last stop in Nicaragua was kind of up in the air when we left Isle de Ometepe.  This type of travel is what I prefer, to just go with whatever plan creates itself, but it does force a good amount of on the fly choices and flexibility.  Last minute, Michael and I thought maybe we would just jump the border into Costa Rica and forget about going to San Juan Del Sur, the beach we heard most people head and therefore we wanted nothing to do with it.  We had done our share of the backpacker trail and were ready to take the road less traveled but just had no idea where to go.   We decided last minute to take a leap and travel to a town we had heard very little about except for one dude at our last spot who said "yaaa, check out Maderas...it's coooool".  'Nuff said, here we go!  We headed down a back breaking road in a cab that had sold almost all its parts for cash.  Literally, all that was left was a steering wheel and seats, we were surprised he hadn't...

Remember the time I said, "we heard the Isle is kind of a pain to get to"...ahh, those were the days of just saying those words and not really experiencing the reality.  Here are all the types of transportation that took us from the beach to Ometepe: -horse -mini boat -taxi (equipped with the best 90's jams and booming bass) -mini bus (just a quick 4 hour trip!) -taxi -ferry (me: "what time does the ferry leave?"  ferry captain: "eh...I don't know, maybe 2pm, but maybe not with the wind, so maybe 4pm but maybe a little earlier if we are ready and the boat is working, but maybe not at all") -shuttle bus -20 minute walk up a dark, rock path  -WE MADE IT!! My horse taxi First mini-boat We had literally no plan once we got onto the ferry, we got as far as knowing we had to take the ferry, and then beyond that I guess we figured a plan would just create itself and take us somewhere amazing.  It's worked so far so why change it up?  While on our hik...

Whoa, blogging and keeping up with life in general isn't the easiest when our locations decide to take it back to 2008 when backpackers didn't come with their IPhone 5's and Ipads and there was no wifi.  But, I guess I can trade wifi for some delicious waves, sand that will never come out of my hair, and darker versions of my freckles.   The moment we got back from conquering the volcano hike, we decided to use the last moments of energy and make the move to the beach.  We thought, eh, maybe a taxi ride and then we can fall into a hammock somewhere and nurse our blisters from the hike.  Well, the route to our next hostel didn't prove to be so dreamy.  After a 45 minute taxi ride to a mystery bar somewhere, we loaded ourselves and our bags into a tiny little boat in the pitch black.  The boat ride under the stars was magic until we were dropped on another beach and told to walk 20 minutes...that way.  So after 2 days of hiking up and down volcanos I fou...

Our first real stop in Nicaragua will be Leon.  If you can believe, cause I couldn't, we hopped on another bus just a few hours off our Breaking Bad 18 hour busride.  Smashed in the back of a 14-person mini-van we took the 2 hour trip from Managua, Nicaragua to the second largest city, Leon.  The big reason we headed north to Leon is because Michael found a tour group that leads overnight camping/hiking trips.  I had decided a while back that I needed to throw myself into something uber physical and outside my comfort zone; because clearly roaches, food poisoning and caves haven't been enough.  We spent a few nights in Leon just bouncing around; it's a cute colonial city with 10 churches in a 5 block radius and its own skate park.  Skate park?? WOWWW!!  I know, its not a ton to report on, but we did enjoy a beer on a roof.  One of the churches with its historic lighting Sunset over a skate park Our hike started on the third day at 7:00am.  I ...

I would like to extend some very important thank you's: The first is to Richard Seiler (Michael's wundahful father) who allowed us to tap into his Netflix account. The second is to the creators of Breaking Bad. The third is to the genius who decided to grace the King Quality bus line with shotty, but workable wifi. Our 18-hour busride was semi-manageable because of all these factors.  We splurged for the top of the line bus to take us from Guatemala City to Managua, Nicaragua and one of the perks, besides the questionable meat dish and hot dog they served, was that our buses (there were 3) came with wifi that allowed us to watch 8 episodes of Breaking Bad while cruising through Honduras and El Salvador.  Granted, every 5 minutes we had to do the dance of pausing while it buffered, shutting down the app and stroking the IPad for good luck that our saving grace show would come back on.   Holding the IPad, praying it would stop buffering and give me Walt back. It wasn't actu...