Costa Rica and Nicaragua - Party time!!!

After some problema´s with our flights out of NYC, we finally made it to San Jose, Costa Rica to meet up with our new travel buddies, Shane and Kellie! Wowzer. It had been 9 months since we´d seen anyone from home and it started off with a bang! What could we expect?


Our first night out in San Jose involved alot of rum, a burning desire to parte, and breakfast beverages at a casino! Day one complete. Shane, with the motto Í´d rather spend a hangover day on a sweaty, stench infested chicken bus, than in bed sleeping´, got us straight from the Casino onto a bus headed for the Carribean coastal town of Puerto Viejo. Everyone hated Shane.


Yay - $10 lobster!


The ladies


Cheers!

Catching up on some needed sleep, the McGang spent the next day exploring the local town of Puerto Viejo. Grungy open air bars, blaring latino street beats and a humidity that defied science were the order of this rustic little town. Oh, yeah and Jamacians. Everywhere. No need to travel to Jamacia.

The next day turned out to be New Years Eve. This day was spent relaxing and preparing for the onslaught of 2011. After a lobster lunch to comence the celebrations, we lost focus on the time and realised it was 11:55pm! We weren´t even in the street for the Costa Rican version of fireworks. Sporting our 2011 moon glasses, we sprinted to the local bar and 10, 9, 8... Happy New Year! The party began!


Pre drinks and photos!


PARTE!

After bouncing from one seedy bar to the next, we ended up at the last joint standing. We´d been told during the night that the locals can be a bit gnarley on the drink so Shane, once again leading the pack, had the insight to befriend the biggest dude in the bar and donate a pair of the 2011 moon glasses for ´protection´- It worked! After another few hours, day light approached and we were well and truly into 2011. The night continued into the day and just got blurry-er from there. We met a Scottsman, from... Scotland, a IVY League dude from Belgium and the icing on the cake... a DEA Drug Trafficking agent from Tennesee. All we´ll say is that it was certainlly the most interesting NYE we´ve ever had!


The Scotsman from Scotland!


Say ´Cheese!´

After a few days resting we decided to continue the travels to Aranal Volcanoe. There we spent a couple of days preparing our onward trip to Nicaragua and had a great night in the Baldi Hot Springs! These weren´t just normal hot springs. They had slides, tubes and about 10 pools of varying heat. And a pool bar! And a buffet! You can´t beat that!


Arenal volcanoe (not our shot)


Combined bar, pool AND toilet!

Afer the shenanigans of Costa Rica we headed across the border to Nicaragua and the Pacific Coastal town of San Juan del Sur. Bonanza! SJ was just the change of pace we were looking for with a good dose of sun, clean beaches and a relaxation. It was also where we took our first surfing lessions and tasted the unbelievable Flor de Cana rum! Cowabunga!


28 Days - Rip it up!


Cowabung X 3!!


Surf Hotties!


Jumping Hotties - It´s a bloody Nelly filmclip!

We also headed up to the big jesus on a hill statue from some top coastal views and went for amidnight walk to spot a turtle laying its eggs. Nicaragua was proving to be a loveable little place.


The north coast


hey, ladies!


Jesus big guy on the hill


This is a turtle laying its eggs at midnight!


Sunsets

After a few relaxing days in SJ we headed to the Isle de Omotepe, which is basically two volcanoes situated in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (the biggest in Central America). We set out the first day to find what we had been told was a ´beautiful waterfall´. After walking 2 hours up a hill (Kellie was the driving force for this expedition) we finally reached the waterfall. It turned out that it was more like a trickle, something a 4 year old boy would produce after too much Lemonade. In any case, the pool at the bottom was big enough for a dip to cool off from the thick heat.


Hiking


The ´waterfall´


Do the roar.


Omotepe volcano.


Hanging out.

After our waterfall excursion we headed to a local Sunday rodeo! Yee-ha! This is where all the local islanders come to relax after a hard weeks work. Now, this wasn´t the corporate rodeo version you see on TV. This was true cowboy rodeo. A one level shack stand built from sticks over a dirt pitch. The bull was roped into the middle of the ground by 3 drunk horsemen then tied to a post. Then the first drunk ring contender to jump on the bull gets to ride! He gets on, then they untie the beast and wippity-do, hold on! Whilst the melee unfolds, the local shack bars circle the ´pit´and fill up with patrons guzzling bottles of Flor de Cana and chowing down on fired chicken! It was a great night!


Rodeo time!


Shanty bars!

From Omotepe we headed to our final destination with Kel and Shane, the Spanish era colonial town of Granada. Colourfully painted posadas and tiendas, open air markets and cathedrals galore, make Granada a refreshing little town with loads of character.


Cathedral de la Granda (Shane and Kel wedding venue?)


Star City


Statue and ladies.


Dulux?


Granada´s colourful streetscape.

In Granada we smoked some of the finest Nicaraguan cigars, drank our last sips of Flor and chowed down on some well deserved steaks to send off the McLeods! We stayed in a huge mansion like double connected room and had the best pool in town to drown in Capriniha´s and mohitos!


Chlorine and cocktails


Finally!!!


Toasting!


The engagement couple - Nice!


Shane´s celebratory last night dress.


Are you talkin to me?


No! Our last night together!


Look at Ren´s gangsta face!

It was a sad day when we had to leave the McLeods - Shane and Kel make the very best of travel partners: Easy going, fun going, and damn-straight party going! Thanks guys for making this part of our trip a GIGANTOR highlight!

Cheers for reading,
John and Ren