San Jose, COSTA RICA

Hello there,

Not sure when I last did the blog - I think it was in Managua, Nicaragua. I am pleased to say that we left there as soon as possible and managed to not go back!

We went to Granada as soon as we arrived back in Managua from the hot springs, and were very pleased that we did. Granada is lovely, (not as lovely as San Cristobal or Antigua, but lovely all the same). Brightly painted houses, pretty much all one story apart from near the centre, - even the dilapidation looks pretty in the sunlight. The city has a volcano on one side, which was usually hidden by clouds, but on our last day we could see the top of it. Quite stunning.

The town has a lovely vibe, very relaxed and chilled out. We went to Masaya on the first full day we had, as there was meant to be a good artisans market. Took us quite a while to find us as we initially started walking down the local market - I think a man handling piglets wasn't the best thing for Haz to see!) The local market was very crowded and busy, and we were in constant danger of being run over by people, pigs, dogs, ice cream vans, bicycles, motorbikes, wheelbarrows... so we asked for directions. The artisans market was fine, not exceptional but certainly good enough for a little retail therapy.

Went to the Laguna de Apoyo the following day - about an hour from Granada. It was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather, and the sun made the lake so blue. The lake is formed in an old volcano crater, so we had to walk back up the crater edge to try and find a taxi afterwards... that part wasn't so good! It was stunning to see the lake completely rimmed by volcano, and the water was pristine - lovely to swim in. We chilled out for a few hours, had some lunch and lay in a few hammocks before making our way back again to Granada.

Managed to find a salon which does pedicures for TWO POUNDS! So whiled away some more time in Granada treating myself (my feet were beginning to look like hooves...) After being in Granada for a few days we decided to move on.

Yesterday we took a bus to San Jose in Costa Rica - amazed we actually arrived here as going through the border took over 2 1/2 hours! Crazy. So boring. Normally it's half an hour at the most. Then when we were in Costa Rica, we were stopped by the police and our passports checked. We were really lucky we got an entrance stamp into Costa Rica, (a few other girls travelling had had difficulties as they couldn't produce an onward ticket out of the country, so effectively they were illegal immigrants and the police could make life very difficult for them. But again, we were lucky and very grateful to hear the sound of the stamp in our passports.

In San Jose at the moment as J needs to spend a day here looking for a camera charger. It's really westernised and more expensive. It's nice enough (I want to buy some more strappy tops, and got more likelyhood here that the clothes will actually fit me...) but we are moving onto Panama, to Changuinola tomorrow (Tuesday), to try and get a ferry to take us to Isla Colon, to the town of Bocas de Toro, where I will spend my birthday on Wednesday. I have told J I am not spending my birthday in Changuinola, as it seems much worse than La Ceiba, and that wasn't great! The only hotel/hostel in the book in Changuinola is described by the Lonely Planet as being a good setting for a horror film, with a good view from the windows - a cemetery. Nice.

So mooching around today in San Jose. Hope everyone's alright in the UK,
chat soon,
Lots of love, Al xxxxxxxxx