We sadly said goodbye to Lucy in New York about 3 weeks ago and set off on our Central American adventure. We finally flew into San Jose, Costa Rica, after Spirit Airlines realised that we probs wouldn't make our connecting flight with a transfer time of 25 mins and moved us to another flight. We Couchsurfed with Joey in Alajuela, a small town outside of San Jose. She had 3 gorgeous rescue dogs, cooked us an amazing 'pinto' (rice, beans, onion, coriander, red capsicum, fried plantains, cheese etc... fantastic!) and took us to a Couchsurfing pot luck BBQ. We met some great people at the BBQ, which was in some fancy compound in upscale San Jose, and still managed to crack a smile after 24 hours with no sleep.
 |
| Couchsurfing with Joey in Alajuela, Costa Rica - best pinto ever! |
 |
| Joey's three rescue dogs trying their hardest to be allowed inside |
We filled in our time in San Jose checking out the San Jose National Museum, which was a massive dud. The museum had conveniently decided that Costa Rican history actually ended when the Spanish invaded and that no further exhibits were required. We ate some sketchy pinto in the markets (and didn't get food poisoning... woo!) and Tom did his first ever bungee jump off an equally sketchy bridge (and it didn't collapse... woo!). We also headed up our first volcano, Volcan Poas, and Tom had a small Costa Rican child tug on his mother's sleeve and point to the first giant ranga he had ever seen.
 |
| Getting strapped in for bungee jumping near San Jose, Costa Rica |
 |
| Thomas Temple - a picture of elegance and grace |
 |
| Volcan Poas, near San Jose |
We then started our whirlwind tour with G Adventures. We had an awesome group and made some great friends over the 17 day trip, and saw some amazing stuff. In Costa Rica we went ziplining across valleys, canyoneering down 75 ft waterfalls, and whitewater rafting. Much to KG's delight, Tom managed to fall out of the raft and had to be hauled back in by the guide. Tom also did another bungee jump, this time 150m out of a cable car - effing crazy. KG held the bags and took photos, of course. Oh and we spotted a sloth!
 |
| A sloth! |
 |
| Some random Costa Rican mammals safely distracted from chewing off KG's foot |
 |
| Tom about to jump from this super sturdy cable car to his certain death... |
We then headed into Nicaragua where we caught a boat that resembled a floating door across to Ometepe Island. Here we stayed with a local family who were absolutely lovely. Didn't speak a lick of English but our rather poor Spanish was enough to get by. It was on Ometepe that we made the rather silly decision to climb Volcan Concepcion. It was the hardest but most rewarding thing we have done on our trip so far - 10 hours, of very very rough hiking, with the last half up the crater just crawling on volcanic rock and scree with sulfur and bits of volcano blowing in your face. The volcano is still active so we could feel the heat through the rocks. The climb ensured we couldn't walk for the next 4 days and were complete wrecks in general.
 |
| At the top of Volcan Concepcion - finally! |
 |
| On the descent - Volcan Concepcion |
 |
| Getting some protein before the climb - eating termites |
 |
| Admiring all the safety rails on our ferry to Ometepe |
 |
| Our 'ferry' to Ometepe - I would have felt safer in a floating esky |
 |
| Some cute local kiddies from Ometepe |
 |
| Our tiny host mum! |
We recovered in Granada, Nicaragua for a while, where KG put a veto on further activities until a) her legs stopped itching like a bastard from the mozzies that assaulted her on Ometepe and b) she could walk again. Granada was a very cool and colourful old colonial city, and the highlight for KG was definitely the massage she got at 'Seeing Hands', where all the masseurs are blind.
 |
| G Adventures group shot - swinging around in Granada's biggest hammock |
 |
| Granada, Nicaragua |
We then headed off the Poneloya to a secluded little beach and chilled out for a couple of days. On the way we decided we didn't get enough volcano action on Ometepe and decided we would climb yet another volcano and sandboard down it. Tom managed to come off doing 75 km/hr and half skin himself, but it was great fun! Once at the beach we a dodgy French hippie offered us 'free' flights to Cuba just for carrying a backpack full of 'clothes' - we politely declined his offer.
 |
| Stud... |
 |
| Poneloya, Nicaragua |
 |
| Transport Nicaraguan style - back of an open tray truck going 100km/hr drinking rum. Just in case we didn't get close enough to killing ourselves sandboarding down a volcano |
It was then off to El Salvador where we hiked around El Impossible National Park and relaxed on yet another awesome beach. We stayed in some lovely little arty towns and KG got inspired to use some of the high tech colour settings on the camera (see below). Whilst in El Salvador, Manolo, our guide for the day gave us a tempting business proposition. His plan was to set up a fake church and have Tom come an appear as Jesus and pretend to heal people - for his services Tom would receive a %20 cut... tough decision to let that idea go.
 |
| About to hike El Impossible National Park, with our photo bombing guide Manolo |
 |
| Heather (awesome Canadian on our tour) trying to scare some local children in El Impossible |
 |
| Tom with his 'chicas' - Michelle and Heather from Canada |
 |
| Letting ourselves go... |
We headed into Honduras for one day to see the Copan Mayan ruins, which were incredible. Honduras is Central America's most violent country, which we soon realised when we went into a restaurant for dinner and it kindly requested no guns.
So far Central America has been amazing - friendly people, super cheap, great food, plenty to see and great weather. Off to Guatemala next!
