Rest and Relaxationa

After we finished our time in Monteverde, we travelled to Santa Maria de Dota where we stayed with a local family for one night in preparation for our main trek. They were very nice and generous. The daughter, Paola, was going to be our guide for the next three days. We hired 4X4 taxis and a flatbed truck to carry our bags to the trailhead the next morning. We left at 5:30 am with Paola and her 12 year old brother to Las Rejas where we started our trek. Our first day was 9 hours of hiking. It POURED for about 5 hours. We were soaked, cold, and hungry. We slept at a little cabin without electricity in the middle of the mountains. We made mac and cheese for dinner. The next morning we started early for another day of hiking, but not as hard. It was about 6 hours of hiking, with a lot of uphill. That night we stayed at a little village called Tinamu where we met some other American travellers from the East Coast. The third day we started early again and hiked a challenging 7 hours downhill to Londres. In Londres we waited for a few hours for a bus. We said our goodbyes to Paola and her brother Chris, and took a bus to Quepos, then Manuel Antonio. We all had a much needed shower after 4 days without one. We were all horrified by how much we smelled! We had a local dish called Casado for dinner... yum!

On Thursday, we left Manuel Antonio for our Rest and Relaxation in Dominical. We´re in a hostel right by the beach in a quiet little surfing town. Internet is running out, got to go! We´re having fun... and thinking a lot about home!
-Gretchen and Caroline.

9 days already?!

After our mini fourth of July celebration, we prepared ourselves for a big travel day. We left Nicaragua on July 5th. We took a ferry off of Ometepe Island, taxis to a Ticabus and a bus ride into Costa Rica! A couple stops and ice creams later, we had crossed the border. After our Ticabus ride we moved onto a new public transportation bus that unfortunately broke down 45 minutes away from our hostel! Luckily, MadMoore phoned the owner of our hostel who sent two buses to save us and some other passengers. The buses brought us to Hostel Sloth in Monteverde Santa Elena, Costa Rica. The hostel welcomes us with pink and purple colors, butterflies and clean beds. With our travels and a good nights sleep behind us, we were ready for our first full day in Costa Rica!!

We woke up between 8:00 and 9:00 and headed off to zipline! The guides reassured us quickly before our adventure and strapped us into safety equipment. Everyone zipped on 13 lines, all increasing in height, and with some partnering, the coordinators of the ziplines led us to a surprise. At the end of all of the ziplining, they brought us to a Tarzan swing where, once again, every participated! It was a day full of adrenaline rushes and screams, but it was worth the scare.

Today, we woke up at 7:00 after a night of singing songs and making lunches to head off for a hike at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve! It was much easier than travelling and hiking in hot Nicaragua. The temperature was perfect for T-shirts and pants and the clouds covered us from direct sunlight. The group moves fluidly along the trail for about two hours and then moved on to a watch tower where we all squished together to eat our lunch and identify one another as Friend's characters!! Now, after returning home around 1:00, we are using the rest of our day to relax and to plan for the rest of our time here in Santa Elena. The teachers are surprising us with dinner tonight, so we have the rest of the day to relax and enjoy the cooler temperature. We will be at Hostel Sloth for two more nights and then onto our big trek!

Of course, we miss everyone at home but we are, without a doubt, enjoying ourselves in Central America! Thanks for reading this and for thinking of us while we are on our adventures! Much love to all:)

- Thalia

Happy 4th of July everyone
Today is our last day in Nicaragua on Ometepe Island. We are spending the day recovering from our big hike and planning for Costa Rica and the boarder crossing. To celebrate the fourth of July we are having hamburgers at a local resteraunt. Costa Rica here we come´

=Caroline and Leah

Finally An Update...

It has been a busy few days here for us! On Friday, we had a busy travel day to Ometepe Island (an island on one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world). We took a public bus, which was a very interesting, hot, cultural, and crowded experience, to the the bus station. Then another bus from the station to the ferry. Then, private mini buses from the ferry terminal on the island to the grocery store. And finally to our hostal called Chico Largo in San Jose Del Sur. A great hostal right on the coast of the lake. There was a family living there who allowed us to use their kitchen. We also got to interact with their kids in Spanish. So cute! We pitched tents at this hostal to save some money.

On Saturday, we got up early and headed out for our first hike. Our local guide was Will, who is very knowledgable in flora and fauna, and many other things. He brought a local girl our age with us - we all had a fun time speaking to her in Spanish. She wanted to know all about America. Our bus ride was very fun. The dirt roads are in horrible condition with holes and rocks everywhere. This was about a 4 hour hike round trip which brought us up to some a breathtaking waterfall. So amazingly beautiful, and a great reward after a HOT and sweaty 2+ hours of hiking. We packed up yet again and headed to a new hostal called Hostal Central closer to Volcan Concepcion. They have a deer here who loves to lick people. They also have 2 monkeys in a little caged-in courtyard who are quite fun to watch.

This morning, we got up before 5 to eat breakfast before climbing Volcan Concepcion. Mrs. Clemens was unfortuately sick, so she didn´t get to come. We had private buses to take us there. We enjoy saying hola to all the local kids on the way. We started hiking around 6:30am. It rained for awhile, but we welcomed it because it made it a whole lot cooler. We started at about 50 m above sea level I believe, and then hiked up to 1000 m. It was a long and steep hike, and took us about 5 hours to get up. The view was extremely beautiful. We could see other volcanos, the rest of the island, most of mainland Nicaragua, and many little villages below. Our guide said on a clear day, you can even see the Pacific Ocean. We didn´t have enough time to go the extra 600 feet to the summit, or crest of the volcano, but it was still amazing. We are now relaxing in hammocks and enjoying having some down time.

Tomorrow we have a day for planning and relaxing. We are hoping to find some hamburgers as we celebrate 4th of July here. We heard there is an American man in town who makes the best burger on the island!

Sorry for the long post... it was a busy few days!
We enjoy seeing the comments, so feel free to keep them coming.
Hopefully we can get some pictures loaded up soon. We are having problems getting the computers to read our camera software.
-Gretchen

Red Sox hat!At a chocolate making museum:
Caroline stirring coco beans at chocolate museum:

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