How can you sum up a whole country? I´ve gotten you as far as the Honduras-Nicaragua border...and we are now in Costa Rica.

It’s not that they don’t have the internet in Nicaragua, as I´ve said, it’s more that the places we like to go don’t have the internet. Or we go to a place that has internet but access is very spotty, affected by weather and not nearly strong enough to post text and pictures. Friends in rural areas will understand this completely.

We spent 3 weeks in Nicaragua and stayed in some incredible places. We camped in canyons on (nearly) dry river beds, we camped by waterfalls that we used for our showers in the morning, we camped in a park that protects the Managua water supply (more waterfalls), and we stayed along the shores of a lagoon in an extinct volcano. Most of our accommodations were pretty secluded and in places not often visited by gringo tourists. We love interacting with the locals in places where they are not burned out on travelers.

 

Mike eying the Estanzuela Waterfall, under which we showered while camping there

Trish, Chettie and the girls at Chocoyero El Brujo Park

Then the pendulum swings and we seek out places where we can interact with fellow travelers. For us this has worked out to be at youth hostels, where the owners are open to letting us park on their property and use the showers. We meet other people and share info on great places to go. We find the change from speaking only Spanish to speaking only English at first welcomed but eventually tiresome and the pendulum swings again.

 

While Nicaragua is beautiful, I believe we suffered a bit of traveler fatigue there. Mike’s line of “After this no more volcanoes for a while”, on the boat ride to Ometepe, the largest lake island in the world, made from two volcanos, spoke volumes. Are we that jaded? 

 Ometepe from the ferry across Lago de Nicaragua (btw, on the ferry we met Patrick Murphy´s Law School roommate and his family. Small world.)

Well, we also have the looming task of vehicle shipping on our minds. There are a lot of details to work out on this and they are best done in person, on site. That may be from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, or more likely, Panama City and Colon, Panama.

So we opted to enter Costa Rica and be one step closer. We’ve been here twice before and have hit all the highlights, some more than once. We are traveling down the spine of the mountains that divide the north east from the south west of the country, staying in the highlands as much as possible to soak up the cool mountain air.

Immediately upon entering Costa Rica we noticed a higher standard of living than we have seen for some time. I didn’t realize that the poverty in some of the countries we’ve been in was affecting me until we were away from it. We are still in relatively remote areas, clearly off the tour company itinerary; but there is a strong sense of prosperity nearly everywhere we go.

Along with the sense of prosperity comes a higher cost of living. Things are much more expensive here. But, there are more things to buy.

We continue to stay in outrageously beautiful places and our activities include hiking, scouting around towns to get a sense of place and people and getting Chettie her play time which usually involves a hike, a swim or some ball retrieving. Sometimes the main activity is relaxation;others we are busy with the tasks of life: grocery shopping, van maintenance, internet, etc. When we find a place that is chill we hang out for a few days. 

 Chettie with Volcan Tenorio from Bijagua CR

 

 Burly Beast at Catarata Albergue campsite