Home Sweet Home

I had lots of fun seeing more of the world. Coming back home was a little strange.  It was nice to see my friends again but I will miss exploring new places. I look forward to one day traveling again. Thanks for following along on our trip. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Nicaragua was great! We stayed on the island of Ometepe which was made up of two volcanoes. We ended up renting scooters and driving around the island which was a lot of fun! One day we went to a huge natural spring pool for the morning which had a rope swing across the water. I had lots of fun swinging from it into the pool. There was also a nature sanctuary on the island where we went for a walk and saw Howler Monkeys feeding. Ian the owner of our hotel had supper with us one night and told us lots of stories about when he was a young Sandinista fighter. The next day his friend Nery was kind enough to give us a ride all the way to Granada. We were very well taken care of by the workers at Hotel Nicaraus and really enjoyed our time living under Volcan Concepcion in Ometepe.

Granada was Gregg! We got to stay at an AirBnB that was just outside of Granada with a wonderful host Gregg and his family. I made friends with two of his three daughters Emma and Mae who had a zoo in their compound of turkeys, ducks, chickens, dogs, a guinea pig, and a rabbit that they couldn't catch. I also got to know Dylan and Pepe who were traveling with their parents to Argentina the slow way (a whole year)! We had lots of fun swimming together in their pool. We went on a boat ride through a whole bunch of islands where we saw lots of mansions and even two monkey islands. One had spider monkeys and one had gibbons. I got to feed one of the monkeys a banana. The city of Granada was very colourful and fun to walk around in (even though it was soooo hot). Dad and I went to the top of Volcan Mombacho and could see for miles to Granada and even Volcan Masaya which is active. Ours was not. We went ziplining down the volcano and I even got to go upside down. Next day we went to a town near Masaya to look at amazing pottery. The town overlooked Lagoon de Apoyo which is a lake inside a volcano crater. We had fun swimming in the 'volcano pool'. Marlo was our driver for the day and took good care of us. We always felt safe traveling with him. Staying with Gregg was never boring!

Our last stop on our Nicaragua trip was Gran Pacifica. It was on the coast and we walked up and down it every day looking for seashells. We stayed for a week and every day we would go down the beach to the Mind The Gap hostel. Donald Green from Australia taught me how to surf. It was exhilarating and I have never drunk so much saltwater in my life! I got to meet some really nice guys from all over the world who were staying in the hostel and just relaxing. It was a very very laid back hostel. (It could be the heat!) We also swam every day in the hotel pool and one day I even found a hermit crab in it! Every day we watched the sun set over the ocean until finally it was time to go home. Kelly Mcinturff helped us get around Gran Pacifica and even took us to the airport. We said goodbye to his son Stellar and our hot adventure was over. I'll miss Nicaragua because I actually enjoyed the heat. Hopefully one day I can come back to Central America and visit all the beaches again. I'm not done surfing yet!

Welcome To Sloth Country

Costa Rica was lots of fun since my uncle John and aunt Linda were there with us. We started in Quepos and spent several days swimming in the ocean. Their largest beach is next to Manuel Antonio National Park where we went for a nature walk. We saw many different lizards and bats but best of all we got to see a three toed sloth and a two toed sloth with a baby. I love sloths! The park also had a private beach that you could swim in when you finished your walk but you had to be careful because there were monkeys and raccoons everywhere! We signed up to go snorkeling and had a blast feeding pineapple pieces to the fish. There was one spot that was very deep so you had to dive down to see the fish. There also was a crack in the coral that was full of parrotfish nibbling coral off the rocks.

Our second stop was Monteverde high up in the mountains. We signed up for a night tour and saw some sleeping birds and lizards but best of all we saw another two toed sloth! It was climbing down the tree to relieve itself but with all the lights and people it shot back up the tree. I guess going to the bathroom could wait! It rained the day we went on the canopy tour and we did not see any animals except for a few birds. I had lots of fun climbing up the inside of the most humongous ficus tree.

Our final stop in Costa Rica with John and Linda was in La Fortuna in the middle of the rainforest next to Volcan Arenal. We met Alex and Mel from Australia who joined us in going to swim by a waterfall. There was a small nature park close to town where we went for a walk and saw toucans, skinks, more sloths, and an armadillo. Our hotel was near the volcano and there was a hiking trail across the frozen lava flow that gave us an amazing view of the volcano and the surrounding area.

I loved Costa Rica and it was even more special because I got to spend it with my aunt and uncle!