Bocas del Toro, Isla Bastimentos + Isla Colon

Jessica and Kalifa, really fun girls I met in San Jose who were on my rafting tour and I continued to travel together from Puerto Viejo in CR onto Bocas del Toro in Panama. I really liked this place. Chilled vibe, friendly locals. So much nicer than Utila! Although no whale sharks. We stayed at the party hostel Mondo Taitu on Isla Colon - the main island for 3 nights and then onto Bocas Bound on Isla Bastimentos. That was quite isolated and we had to walk 2 hrs thru knee deep mud trails and beaches to get to town but it was fun and really beautiful. There is a cool organic farm in Bastimentos called Up on the Hill which we really liked. Selling lots of organic stuff and the best truffles in the world.

After 2 days on the more tranquil Bastimentos we went back to Colon and met up with Federico, a friend from London for the day. Had an 80's night party and then next day went to a gorgeous beach. There is loads to do here, and probably my favourite place so far.

Beach in Tulum still better though, maybe!

Granada - I think I missed you out?

It's a quite unremarkable city, made worse by the fact that when I was there there was no water or electricity and I was still ill. The bathrooms were overflowing with shit, so I left to be stuck on a bus that was packed and clearly noone had showered as there was no water....I was glad to get away. However, I think I took some nice pics so here they are:

Jaguar Rescue Centre, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

This was a cool place quite near our hostel. They rescue animals and try to put them back into the wild if possible. Obviously loved the monkeys, the sloths not so much!

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

It's quite a hippy town, with lots of foreign investment, but in a nice way.

I arrived in San Jose the day before - and it's a pretty horrible place. I tried to go to the cinema, but it was full. Rafting down the Pacuare river was absolutely awesome and I got transferred from there to Puerto Viejo and met two girls from Arizona who are pretty cool and I've been hanging out with since.

Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua

I stayed at Finca Magdalena, an organic farm. It was a cool place, with a cooperative of farmers who started work loudly at 5am. The island is remote, and the finca even more so. It has two beautiful volcanoes: Concepcion and Maderas. I was going to climb one, but realised that I was still a bit sick from the bug that got me in Leon, so basically spent about 10 hrs getting somewhere to lie in a hammock and look at the volcano, before spending about 13 hrs getting out of there and into Costa Rica. Not sure it was the best choice of my trip so far!

Anyway here are the pics.

Motorbike ride

So the day before yesterday I met two guys in my hostel who are from California, Gabriel and Jason. They're both doing the same journey as me (plus USA bit) but by motorbike. Jason is heading north and Gabriel south.

So yesterday Jason took me out on his bike to go to Poneloya/ Las Penitas beaches. I absolutely loved it. It was everything I love about road biking but so much faster, bigger and more powerful. It was so much fun and I can totally see the appeal of doing the trip on a motorbike. Maybe next time!

When we got to Barca del Oro we rented a two man kayak. There were no near death experiences either so one up on Halong Bay. We kayaked down a mangrove river and stopped at the beach - in the photo - but we couldn't get in the water as it was too rough. Got back and had an early night for the impending hike up Telica Volcano - I realise the blog entries are in the wrong order.

So I LOVED the motorbike. If I weren't so tired I'd be jumping around about how much I've had a fab time since being in Leon.

Let's hope the rest of Nica is this good. Off to Granada tomorrow but really worried about being mugged in Managua on the way. I don't think I have a choice about going through it. It's not unfounded....a woman I met in Honduras emailed me to say that she had everything taken off her and was dumped in a rubbish dump - where she had to ask for a ride in a dumster to the police station. I must find out the details! She is ok now.

Telica Volcano - 8 hr hike. 25k and 1.2k up!

Needless to say I'm writing this absolutely exhausted. Far more hardcore than my olympic tri! We sat and had lunch right at the edge of the crater. It's a pretty active volcano. It took us 8 hours. I think people usually camp overnight. I'm glad we didn't as a Nica storm has started now! I know it's a hideous pic of me, but I thought that me sitting by it gives more of an idea of the size. The diameter of the crater is 900m.

It is beautiful and definitely the most impressive views i've seen on this trip.

Does this second picture give a proper idea of how far we climbed? I hope so. I have my feet up now and don't think they'll move for a few hours!

The guide also was lovely. Had a real sense of humour too. Have I mentioned that I LOVE NICARAGUA!!!