Hello, I haven’t written in quite a little, a common side affect of having too much fun.  About three weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take part in a life changing trip out of this charming little country I can call home and across the border into Nicaragua.  I exchanged my ticos with their sometimes understandable speech for the fast-whispering nicos.  Since so much greatness happened I am only going to recount some of the highlights.

We started off in Guanacaste, a large province which is popular for ticos and gringoes alike to vacation to.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort, and as great as it was the nagging voice of a recently reviewed documentary kept reminding me how this type of vacation added to the rough economy of costa rica.  Despite that we had a number of grand adventures.

We canopied.  This is a form of ziplining where you are constantly being switched over to a new zipline.  The ride may be shorter but the views were more plentiful.  It was probably one of the closest experiences I will have to flying and let me tell you I envy those tiny, winged, close descendants of dinosaurs that roam our skies.  The people who ran the tour must have a very redundant job as they stand there unclipping and reclipping people, but their high spirits were a huge part of what made the experience so great.

The next day we rode horses down to a spa.  There were no directions or waivers to be filled out like what would occur in the United States.  Instead helmets were clipped to our heads and we were boosted up onto our horses and we took off.  The horses enjoyed this freedom as much as they possibly could.  They ran when they wished and stopped when they pleased.  In my horse, Candella’s, case she wanted to stop halfway up a hill for no reason I could see and she did just that for about three minutes.  The freedom of the uncontrolled horseback riding was exhilarating for horses and humans alike. Eventually we got to the spa where we covered ourselves in mud and wore leaf crowns before we rinsed off and enjoyed the various heats of the many hot springs for the rest of the afternoon.  Then we rode back to the cabins in giant John Deere tractors.  It was quite a day to say the least.

In Nicaragua we first went to Granada.  The differences between the two bordering countries are astonishing.  We were able to enjoy a horse drawn carriage ride around the lovely, old city of Granada right away.  I was happy to be able to practice quite a bit of Spanish with our lovely driver.  The next day we boated around some private islands on Nicaragua Lake and then got to see the Masaya Volcano for a whole two minutes before we were informed that the fumes were too toxic and that we needed to leave.  At the Masaya market place a huge collection of little shops with various goods, I was entirely overwhelmed, but not too overwhelmed to by colorful flow happy pants.  Granada with it’s fantastic coffee and beautiful colorful buildings was truly magical.  I hope to return there in the future.

The last stop before returning home was in San Juan del Sur.  This funky little coastal town had a lot to offer.  The view from the balcony in the hostel showed the beautiful beach.  We got to go see a private beach and the sunset in motor boats here as well.  Then at night we took full advantage of the nightlife by practicing Spanish with the cute bouncers, downing a few tequila shots, and dancing the night away.  It was a perfect ending to an energy-filled vacation.

Pura Vida