Day four continued:
I forgot to write about the tropical storm I thought I was in. While riding the dirt bike on the road connecting the two volcanoes (there's only one and it is on the northern coast of the island) I was exposed to some strong winds that made me ride my dirt bike at a slant. The wind got so strong it was throwing things in the air and I was hitting them at the combined speed of wind + bike mph. I started thinking I should pull over for safety reasons as the rain and wind was going against me and really hitting my face hard; thankfully I bought some sunglasses at a convenience store earlier (I had enough bugs in my eyes). I looked out at the lake and it looked like a hurricane may be coming. I checked the radar app I have but of course it didn't have any radar covering Central America so that didn't help at all. I used to ask if anyone had a forecast for the day / week but everyone laughed when I did so I stopped. I started wondering if I remembered any huge storms killing people in Nicaragua, started planning what I would do to survive and then had to bring my mind back to riding the bike, my thoughts wandered a bit far. Once I crossed the connecting strip and turned right at the second volcano the wind was non existent and it looked more like paradise than a hurricane. There was no evidence of a storm, it was tropical and sunny, the vegetation was not agitated, it was hard to believe the difference between north side and middle/south side of the volcano.
Day five:
Woke up and got some breakfast at the hostel. I decided to take off early talking to someone that worked in San Jose as I wanted to make sure I give myself enough time for a reasonable shot at making it all the way to Puerto viejo without paying for private shuttles from San Jose. It was 9:40 and I decided to pack my stuff and say goodbyes, Roman said he'd get me there in time for the ferry and called a tuk tuk taxi; it arrived almost instantly. I gave big hugs to the hostel crew, somehow they made me feel like family in two days, I already miss them.
The Tuk tuk played some good music on the way and I had a musical air drum moment with the driver, island life was good. We got to the ferry at 9:55 but the ferry was late. I met some Australian people on the ferry they sat a row in front of me and two new Dutch guys I hadn't met yet sat to my right. The Australians (I think, based off accent) were well traveled - I saw videos of niagara etc, but they didn't do any siteseeing on ometepe- they were only there for the electronic music festival, they spoke about drugs liberally and mostly kept to themselves which worked for me. I wish I had my headphones. The Dutch guys were offering a ride to San Juan del sir, and I was tempted but felt my best option was heading to San Jose.
I took a nap and the ferry ride was over- that was a good strategy. When I got off the ferry I immediately got in a taxi and took a thirty minute drive to the border. The taxi driver passed miles of semi trucks and dropped me off at the gate - pointing me in a direction where to go next. Immediately people were there bugging me and I got scammed for fifteen dollars I think... it was most likely the company being lazy and not fixing a mistake but maybe the scam artists are really elaborate for $15... who knows. Either way the ticket I bought was taken from me immediately by the bus attendant, I thought it was a little weird she took the ticket before I got on the bus, knowing I would need it to get a stamp for Costa Rica but I figured they knew what they were doing. There was 15 minutes before the bus departed so I found a duty free shop and bought headphones, I tried to buy an iPhone charger but they didn't have one (my charging cord randomly stopped working).
Once I got through the border and entered Costa Rica while in line at customs I asked the bus attendant what I would do without my ticket as I saw everyone had one, and she didn't show any sign of concern, so again I figured they knew what they were doing. When I handed the customs agent my passport he asked for my boleta (ticket) and I waved over the bus attendant. Long story short I had to buy another ticket but it wasn't that easy. The bus attendants and driver held a meeting and made me feel like I did something wrong first, and I just kept asking them what the problem was, I would happily take another bus. It took them quite a lot of talking and deliberation until they finally took me to buy another ticket for $25. I used a translator to attempt to tell them I took a taxi to the border, bought a ticket, and it was taken from me before I ever got on the taxi, but the girl just kept saying that was for the trip in Nicaragua like I was trying to get a free ride. So I am still unsure what exactly happened, maybe the company sells tickets to cross the border for $15 and then recharges everyone another $25 once across? Doesn't make sense because a ticket from Managua was only $28 and they did not need a new ticket, so I am confused and decided best to just forget about it, I was only out $15.
The bus ride was probably my least favorite part of this trip, because I was late from the attendants deliberating and having to go back and get a new ticket, I got the last choice in seat and took an isle seat next to an old man. I felt like I was taking a flight with southwest - everyone wanted the two seats to themselves and I had to sit somewhere - no one was welcoming me in, I don't blame them. The old man and I got along pretty well, he asked what happened and we exchanged conversation in my broken Spanish; he was very patient and pointed out sights along the way, reminding me of traveling with a dad and making me feel like a kid (in a good way). He enjoyed looking at my gps updates to how far we were from San Jose; it enabled him to know we were running behind schedule. I saw some pringles when we stopped for dinner and bought him a container because they are what my grandma always had, I rarely eat them because I think they are unhealthy but I thought he would appreciate them as I always did and I wanted to show a good gesture in appreciation of his politeness. We arrived at 2100 instead of projected time of 1800, three hours late and I had to stay in San Jose.
San Jose would end up being a pleasant surprise. I checked into my room and made friends with my roommates. I turned off the lights when I left the room and then when I came back I turned them back on to find a new roommate rummaging through his bag in the dark telling me it was rude to turn the lights on. I was a little surprised as I haven't been called rude often, normally even when I accidentally make mistakes people can see the logic behind them and kindly remind me, not call me out so directly. I kindly told him they were on and I was the one who turned them off, to be polite since no one was awake in the room when I left and now that I'm back I don't see it being rude to turn them on but if he'd like I would turn them off (he looked like he was having a hard time in the dark so who am I to need the light); he said no the light really is a big help and we left it on. He said his name was AJ and he was from jersey, going to school at the university of Michigan- third U of Mich student I've seen.
I made some friends at the restaurant in the hostel, one an Argentinian named Nelson and a Canadian couple. I asked if there was anything fun to do in San Jose and the bartender asked her friend. She said we should go check out a place that was closing and celebrating its last night being open. We went as a group of five (after chatting for an hour) and had a fun time, it was nice to get a taste of local life and life was good in San Jose.
The following day I slept in, checked out the center of the city, got a phone charger, visited an ATM, ate at some cool restaurants and chatted with a local artist named Brenda. Brenda was really interesting to talk to, and also very good at art. She and I had a lot of differences but were able to communicate through them and improve each other's perspectives.
I headed to the bus station a bit early, I would like to have been earlier but I had to wait to say goodbye to some people. Eventually I got to the bus station but they said it was the wrong one, a person wearing some sort of investigations or police uniform ended up taking me to a taxi and translating where I needed to go, I really appreciated his professionalism and like to think there was a mutual respect between professionals.
Once at the new station, I witnessed further terrible bus attendant service. Long story short the attendant caused me to be under the wrong impression and then told me they were sold out (even though I had a ticket for it) but not to worry as another bus was leaving in 20 minutes and my ticket would work. I knew another bus wasn't leaving in 20 minutes but what choice did I have. Ultimately the bus left in an hour and I arrived at puerto viejo after a two hour ride. Quickly I realized I was in the wrong puerto viejo; I was near the Nicaraguan border more than Panama. There were no buses and the hotels were terrible, there was only one option take a taxi for outrageously high prices. I talked to several drivers and finally a taxi driver that used to live in New Jersey gave me the best rate. Skipping some steps I paid a lot of money to taxi to the other puerto viejo and had some interesting conversations and stops along the way to include talking about his time in America, his two beautiful daughters, what I would do if I had two beautiful daughters (probably stress out and jokingly interrogate her boyfriends). He pointed out where his daughter worked and said she was on shift, told me about his friend that was killed driving taxis and showed me pictures of his friends obituary, crime scene (including body bag), also his self defense: mace, gun, and some sort of sharp little stabbing tool. I asked if Costa Rica was bad and he said no but, I guess like anywhere there can be problems. This ride was an interesting one.
When I got to Puerto Rico I got bit by two mosquitos while brushing my teeth, so when I checked into my room and saw an open window I had to find some way to either protect myself or switch rooms to somewhere without open air / open mosquitos attacking me all night- I know what happens when I sleep with an open window in a mosquito zone and I was not going to let it happen tonight. The receptionist was nice, easily switched me into a tent, which was actually really nice. I got my own tent with a bed in it and it zipped up entirely; I got a good nights sleep and no more bites.
The next morning I woke up in time to check out the tours they offered, decided to rent some bikes, see the beaches and do the jaguar center. The beaches were alright, nothing like Cancun, Greece or TelAviv, so I wasn't super impressed. It was nice to sit on the beach where you could see for miles up and down the beach that the coast was beautiful, I wondered about foreigners that found this place hundreds of years ago and what they thought when they landed. I wondered where this place would be in 20 or 50 years as there is a lot of property for sale. I just took in the sunset and thought for a while about how Costa Rica is. All day I've been checking out beaches and talking to locals, taking in the culture and forming my opinion about this place. I think that Europe agrees with me the most, I hope Australia is awesome, I have some hopes for South America, and Asia is not too bad, the Middle East wasn't so bad; Africa was terrible and Central America isn't by any means my favorite, Canada is one of my favorites but rated highest in the west then goes down to actually be not too great as you get further east in my opinion. Mexico is its own little thing and my trip with Rachel was quite special in my memory so Mexico rates pretty highly. The reason I write all this is to kind of put into perspective the feeling of this trip as I'm thinking about it- but it doesn't matter what I think, I knew I had to check these places out, and I'm doing it. I am also having fun while doing it and I am thankful for that.
Tonight live music is playing and I am meeting a lot of people, I love meeting people. I hung out with a Swiss army guy (kind of like a Swiss Army knife?) and an Argentinian. The two were very different as I conversed back and forth between Jiu Jitsu and talking to the Swiss army guy about how he is wired a certain way (trying to introduce him to some things I went through as I feel like he is very much like I was when I was younger (I don't know his age though and he speaks five languages)). I met a guy from Sweden named Hassan and talked about my experience with Islam and we came to several agreements about things, I really appreciated that his family let him decide what he wanted to be and he is atheist as much as Islamic, he likes how atheist Norway is.
I can't remember everything that happened as I'm trying to write about three days in a hurry because I'm being rude not talking to anyone the last couple hours while writing this blog. I'm tired, but I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get to know these travelers a little better, our group is growing fast like it usually does. I will make a comment that I've been sick to my stomach pretty much since I got here; I knew I was going to be, I've been like this before - can't wait until it ends, it's annoying using the bathroom four times a day (to be expected).
Tomorrow I will make my way to boca del toro, and I hope the third time is a charm for the Central American bus system :(
Good night from puerto viejo, with live music playing, mosquitos aggressively biting, and the beach in the background.
No time to proofread so apologies for errors in advance.
I forgot to write about the tropical storm I thought I was in. While riding the dirt bike on the road connecting the two volcanoes (there's only one and it is on the northern coast of the island) I was exposed to some strong winds that made me ride my dirt bike at a slant. The wind got so strong it was throwing things in the air and I was hitting them at the combined speed of wind + bike mph. I started thinking I should pull over for safety reasons as the rain and wind was going against me and really hitting my face hard; thankfully I bought some sunglasses at a convenience store earlier (I had enough bugs in my eyes). I looked out at the lake and it looked like a hurricane may be coming. I checked the radar app I have but of course it didn't have any radar covering Central America so that didn't help at all. I used to ask if anyone had a forecast for the day / week but everyone laughed when I did so I stopped. I started wondering if I remembered any huge storms killing people in Nicaragua, started planning what I would do to survive and then had to bring my mind back to riding the bike, my thoughts wandered a bit far. Once I crossed the connecting strip and turned right at the second volcano the wind was non existent and it looked more like paradise than a hurricane. There was no evidence of a storm, it was tropical and sunny, the vegetation was not agitated, it was hard to believe the difference between north side and middle/south side of the volcano.
Day five:
Woke up and got some breakfast at the hostel. I decided to take off early talking to someone that worked in San Jose as I wanted to make sure I give myself enough time for a reasonable shot at making it all the way to Puerto viejo without paying for private shuttles from San Jose. It was 9:40 and I decided to pack my stuff and say goodbyes, Roman said he'd get me there in time for the ferry and called a tuk tuk taxi; it arrived almost instantly. I gave big hugs to the hostel crew, somehow they made me feel like family in two days, I already miss them.
The Tuk tuk played some good music on the way and I had a musical air drum moment with the driver, island life was good. We got to the ferry at 9:55 but the ferry was late. I met some Australian people on the ferry they sat a row in front of me and two new Dutch guys I hadn't met yet sat to my right. The Australians (I think, based off accent) were well traveled - I saw videos of niagara etc, but they didn't do any siteseeing on ometepe- they were only there for the electronic music festival, they spoke about drugs liberally and mostly kept to themselves which worked for me. I wish I had my headphones. The Dutch guys were offering a ride to San Juan del sir, and I was tempted but felt my best option was heading to San Jose.
I took a nap and the ferry ride was over- that was a good strategy. When I got off the ferry I immediately got in a taxi and took a thirty minute drive to the border. The taxi driver passed miles of semi trucks and dropped me off at the gate - pointing me in a direction where to go next. Immediately people were there bugging me and I got scammed for fifteen dollars I think... it was most likely the company being lazy and not fixing a mistake but maybe the scam artists are really elaborate for $15... who knows. Either way the ticket I bought was taken from me immediately by the bus attendant, I thought it was a little weird she took the ticket before I got on the bus, knowing I would need it to get a stamp for Costa Rica but I figured they knew what they were doing. There was 15 minutes before the bus departed so I found a duty free shop and bought headphones, I tried to buy an iPhone charger but they didn't have one (my charging cord randomly stopped working).
Once I got through the border and entered Costa Rica while in line at customs I asked the bus attendant what I would do without my ticket as I saw everyone had one, and she didn't show any sign of concern, so again I figured they knew what they were doing. When I handed the customs agent my passport he asked for my boleta (ticket) and I waved over the bus attendant. Long story short I had to buy another ticket but it wasn't that easy. The bus attendants and driver held a meeting and made me feel like I did something wrong first, and I just kept asking them what the problem was, I would happily take another bus. It took them quite a lot of talking and deliberation until they finally took me to buy another ticket for $25. I used a translator to attempt to tell them I took a taxi to the border, bought a ticket, and it was taken from me before I ever got on the taxi, but the girl just kept saying that was for the trip in Nicaragua like I was trying to get a free ride. So I am still unsure what exactly happened, maybe the company sells tickets to cross the border for $15 and then recharges everyone another $25 once across? Doesn't make sense because a ticket from Managua was only $28 and they did not need a new ticket, so I am confused and decided best to just forget about it, I was only out $15.
The bus ride was probably my least favorite part of this trip, because I was late from the attendants deliberating and having to go back and get a new ticket, I got the last choice in seat and took an isle seat next to an old man. I felt like I was taking a flight with southwest - everyone wanted the two seats to themselves and I had to sit somewhere - no one was welcoming me in, I don't blame them. The old man and I got along pretty well, he asked what happened and we exchanged conversation in my broken Spanish; he was very patient and pointed out sights along the way, reminding me of traveling with a dad and making me feel like a kid (in a good way). He enjoyed looking at my gps updates to how far we were from San Jose; it enabled him to know we were running behind schedule. I saw some pringles when we stopped for dinner and bought him a container because they are what my grandma always had, I rarely eat them because I think they are unhealthy but I thought he would appreciate them as I always did and I wanted to show a good gesture in appreciation of his politeness. We arrived at 2100 instead of projected time of 1800, three hours late and I had to stay in San Jose.
San Jose would end up being a pleasant surprise. I checked into my room and made friends with my roommates. I turned off the lights when I left the room and then when I came back I turned them back on to find a new roommate rummaging through his bag in the dark telling me it was rude to turn the lights on. I was a little surprised as I haven't been called rude often, normally even when I accidentally make mistakes people can see the logic behind them and kindly remind me, not call me out so directly. I kindly told him they were on and I was the one who turned them off, to be polite since no one was awake in the room when I left and now that I'm back I don't see it being rude to turn them on but if he'd like I would turn them off (he looked like he was having a hard time in the dark so who am I to need the light); he said no the light really is a big help and we left it on. He said his name was AJ and he was from jersey, going to school at the university of Michigan- third U of Mich student I've seen.
I made some friends at the restaurant in the hostel, one an Argentinian named Nelson and a Canadian couple. I asked if there was anything fun to do in San Jose and the bartender asked her friend. She said we should go check out a place that was closing and celebrating its last night being open. We went as a group of five (after chatting for an hour) and had a fun time, it was nice to get a taste of local life and life was good in San Jose.
The following day I slept in, checked out the center of the city, got a phone charger, visited an ATM, ate at some cool restaurants and chatted with a local artist named Brenda. Brenda was really interesting to talk to, and also very good at art. She and I had a lot of differences but were able to communicate through them and improve each other's perspectives.
I headed to the bus station a bit early, I would like to have been earlier but I had to wait to say goodbye to some people. Eventually I got to the bus station but they said it was the wrong one, a person wearing some sort of investigations or police uniform ended up taking me to a taxi and translating where I needed to go, I really appreciated his professionalism and like to think there was a mutual respect between professionals.
Once at the new station, I witnessed further terrible bus attendant service. Long story short the attendant caused me to be under the wrong impression and then told me they were sold out (even though I had a ticket for it) but not to worry as another bus was leaving in 20 minutes and my ticket would work. I knew another bus wasn't leaving in 20 minutes but what choice did I have. Ultimately the bus left in an hour and I arrived at puerto viejo after a two hour ride. Quickly I realized I was in the wrong puerto viejo; I was near the Nicaraguan border more than Panama. There were no buses and the hotels were terrible, there was only one option take a taxi for outrageously high prices. I talked to several drivers and finally a taxi driver that used to live in New Jersey gave me the best rate. Skipping some steps I paid a lot of money to taxi to the other puerto viejo and had some interesting conversations and stops along the way to include talking about his time in America, his two beautiful daughters, what I would do if I had two beautiful daughters (probably stress out and jokingly interrogate her boyfriends). He pointed out where his daughter worked and said she was on shift, told me about his friend that was killed driving taxis and showed me pictures of his friends obituary, crime scene (including body bag), also his self defense: mace, gun, and some sort of sharp little stabbing tool. I asked if Costa Rica was bad and he said no but, I guess like anywhere there can be problems. This ride was an interesting one.
When I got to Puerto Rico I got bit by two mosquitos while brushing my teeth, so when I checked into my room and saw an open window I had to find some way to either protect myself or switch rooms to somewhere without open air / open mosquitos attacking me all night- I know what happens when I sleep with an open window in a mosquito zone and I was not going to let it happen tonight. The receptionist was nice, easily switched me into a tent, which was actually really nice. I got my own tent with a bed in it and it zipped up entirely; I got a good nights sleep and no more bites.
The next morning I woke up in time to check out the tours they offered, decided to rent some bikes, see the beaches and do the jaguar center. The beaches were alright, nothing like Cancun, Greece or TelAviv, so I wasn't super impressed. It was nice to sit on the beach where you could see for miles up and down the beach that the coast was beautiful, I wondered about foreigners that found this place hundreds of years ago and what they thought when they landed. I wondered where this place would be in 20 or 50 years as there is a lot of property for sale. I just took in the sunset and thought for a while about how Costa Rica is. All day I've been checking out beaches and talking to locals, taking in the culture and forming my opinion about this place. I think that Europe agrees with me the most, I hope Australia is awesome, I have some hopes for South America, and Asia is not too bad, the Middle East wasn't so bad; Africa was terrible and Central America isn't by any means my favorite, Canada is one of my favorites but rated highest in the west then goes down to actually be not too great as you get further east in my opinion. Mexico is its own little thing and my trip with Rachel was quite special in my memory so Mexico rates pretty highly. The reason I write all this is to kind of put into perspective the feeling of this trip as I'm thinking about it- but it doesn't matter what I think, I knew I had to check these places out, and I'm doing it. I am also having fun while doing it and I am thankful for that.
Tonight live music is playing and I am meeting a lot of people, I love meeting people. I hung out with a Swiss army guy (kind of like a Swiss Army knife?) and an Argentinian. The two were very different as I conversed back and forth between Jiu Jitsu and talking to the Swiss army guy about how he is wired a certain way (trying to introduce him to some things I went through as I feel like he is very much like I was when I was younger (I don't know his age though and he speaks five languages)). I met a guy from Sweden named Hassan and talked about my experience with Islam and we came to several agreements about things, I really appreciated that his family let him decide what he wanted to be and he is atheist as much as Islamic, he likes how atheist Norway is.
I can't remember everything that happened as I'm trying to write about three days in a hurry because I'm being rude not talking to anyone the last couple hours while writing this blog. I'm tired, but I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get to know these travelers a little better, our group is growing fast like it usually does. I will make a comment that I've been sick to my stomach pretty much since I got here; I knew I was going to be, I've been like this before - can't wait until it ends, it's annoying using the bathroom four times a day (to be expected).
Tomorrow I will make my way to boca del toro, and I hope the third time is a charm for the Central American bus system :(
Good night from puerto viejo, with live music playing, mosquitos aggressively biting, and the beach in the background.
No time to proofread so apologies for errors in advance.
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