After our long stay in Playa Negra, we felt that the saltwater and sunshine was not doing our brains too good...and we decided we needed a change! It so happened that Johnny- a good family friend from home- was close by and we met up in Liberia, northern Costa Rica. The three of us spent a night together in the Parque Rincón de la Vieja in a cozy little lodge with a moutain feel to it and took a fabulous hike through the Park- sulfurous hot springs, lots of wild animalitos, and not another human soul around! The park was actually closed on that monday, so we pulled kind of a sneeky move and hiked in from the far side of the park :). We did not, unfortunately, see the volcancito that we were looking for...bad navigation and too much talking and looking for wildlife!
Johnny, it was some good times with you and a treat of a hike through that beautiful jungle. So happy you joined us!
Granada
We took the Tica Bus from Liberia to Granada- the expensive option and not really worth the money. In Granada, we stayed at "The Bearded Monkey", a colonial style backpacker hostel with a gorgeous inside courtyard with hammocks and lots of little nooks to hang out. The vibes were different in Nicaragua: more street vendors, kids begging for money and sniffing glue in the streets...But, we enjoyed the city life- making the contrast even bigger- going to nice restaurants and nice little cafes, and also getting to know the good Nica food: lots of gallo pinto (rice and beans) and maduros (fried bananas)! Philipp found the chess club- and played "Blitzschach" against 14 year-old chess wizards...Spent a day at Laguna de Apoyo, a very deep volcanic lake and clear blue water. The colonial style of downtown with the bright and colorful houses makes Granada quite memorable!
Playa Madera and San Juan del Sur
Our trip back to the Pacific was crazy- our first encounter with the real chicken buses. Almost missed the first one from Granada...and jumped on the moving bus while the locals hauled our huge boardbag on to the roof! Along with the big rice bags, vegetables and bicycles :). In Playa Madera we crashed at a surfers hostel right at the beach: no running water and 2 hours of generator electricity in the evenings...the water eventually did get fixed, luckily. The surf was ok, small and crowded. A alot of day trippers come there from San Juan del Sur to drink and party and try their luck on a soft top. Not really our thing. But the evenings and the mornings were quiet with the sound of the ocean. And the low tide was cool, looking for mussels and cucrachas del mar for sopa de mariscos.
A couple nights in San Juan del Sur, no waves and just hanging out at our "Hostal Don Wilfredo", where the local chess teacher lives and was preparing the kids for the next chess tournament :). Watched lots of telenovelas with the mamacita and ate the beast ceviche of this trip!
Hasta la proxima,
Philipp and Karo
