I’m stuck in Costa Rica waiting for my new bank card to arrive. Sadly, it’s a small country and not one I’m particularly interested in.
However, I can definitively report at this point in time that if you cook for yourself and camp it is not an expensive place to visit. A pineapple, a butternut squash, a cucumber, a lime and two tomatoes cost slightly less than two dollars.
Tagged costa ricaI know it’s de riguer to complain about how expensive and inauthentic Costa Rica is but, after a grand total of three days, I have to say I’m liking it so far.
It is full of birds and they have names like the shining honeycreeper.
I bought a papaya, a head of garlic, three sweet potatoes and a couple of limes for the equivilent of two dollars. That doesn’t seem that expensive to me.
And if there are less women in indigenous dress hauling heavy loads about on their backs and fewer school age children running errands on mules or working in the fields to add local colour… well, I guess I don’t really need my Masters in International and Community Development to understand why that’s not an altogether bad thing.
Tagged costa ricaTwo linked volcanoes rising up in the middle of Lake Nicaragua form a infinity symbol that you could spiral around endlessly. Ometepe is lush and tropical and very enticing – a host of resident ex-pats engaged in lots of inspiring projects are ample testament to that – but my stay here is marked by a sudden crisis of purpose — is that the infinite making itself felt?
(A blog without photos is very impoverished thing.)
Tagged nicaraguaI’m still alive and well on Little Corn Island off the coast of Nicaragua and I’ve been discovering the endless mysteries of the ocean – diving with hammerheads, eagle rays, giant turtles and a myriad of other underwater beasts.
Unfortunately until I get a new computer there are going to be no more photos.
Tagged nicaragua, the seaI’m still in La Meskitia but back on the road system and safe and sound, thus far.
UPDATE: As luck would have it, the bi-monthly cargo boat to the Corn Islands is running a day late and happens to still be in the port and I am about to jump on it. This piece of serendipity means that not only do I get to visit the Corn Islands but I avoid riding a rough 560 kilometre stretch of road that comes with more than the usual barrage of warnings of robbery, assault and murder. Feels like my lucky day.
Oh, and I spent the afternoon with a computer fixit man, discussing the state of the world and dismantling and reassembling my computer. It still doesn’t work but he assures me that it may just be ‘assustado’, which translates roughly as ‘frightened’ or ’shocked’ and if I let it rest undisturbed for a few days (free of its battery and any other power source) it may well recover of its own accord.
For this piece of wisdom and two and half hours of his time he charged me exactly nothing and even provided refreshments.
People are nice.
Tagged nicaraguaMy computer has finally sucumbed – to what I’m not exactly sure but it no longer springs to life. Zilch, nada. This means that I have no practical way to process my photos and work on the blog.
Tagged things breakI’m off to the depths of La Moskitia so I’ll be out of touch for a few weeks. In the meantime there are a few retro posts below.
Tagged hondurasI’ve been lagging on the blogging front, for some time, I know. It’s not that I don’t want to keep it up to date but the further into Central America I go the harder it is to find good internet connections.
Right now I’m heading into the back country of Honduras so there may be some longish lapses but I’ll do my best to post occasionally.
Tagged hondurasI whizz into Santa Ana, El Salvador’s second largest city, slightly ahead of schedule and spend most a of day waiting for Lindsey to turn up on the bus. It’s a hot humid place of bustling markets. The next morning we explore the centre a little.
Santa Ana's municipal building reminds of the opening of a James Bond movie for some reason.
...
Hanging out with friend always seems to invovle a lot of eating – which is a very fine pastime.
I love a fish.
(Photo: Lindsey Elms)
Lindsey has somehow wrangled free accommodation by Lake Coatepeque in a government run worker’s resort.
Lake Coatepeque is not quite as impressive as Lake Atitlan but it's still a pretty nice place to while away a few days.
The lake is close to El Salvador's two largest cities but is nonetheless a fairly sleepy relaxed kind of place.
We have our own little cabana - absolutely free of charge - ...
...which we quickly fill to the brim with our sundry belongings.
My tent fits almost perfectly on the bed. (Photo: Lindsey Elms)
The insects are diverse...
...and extravagantly large.
The flowers lush and tropical:...
...constructed out of strange components.
There are odd structures by the lake.
A bottle of Slivovice reminds us of Prague.
...
On the weekend the place fills up, presumably with workers, and our antics are viewed by an ever present audience. (Photo: Lindsey Elms)
A strange vegetable entertains us for several days...
...with its pathetic attempts to escape from our makeshift vegetable receptacle.
...
I haven’t really been intending to go to El Salvador but a dear friend of mine who usually lives in Prague is currently travelling in Central America and she manages to convince me to pedal in that direction to see her. We agree to meet in Santa Ana and spend a few days by the nearby lake of Coatepeque.
El Salvador, link everywhere else I've been is full of hospitable folk. This woman and her family let me camp by their shack on my first night in El Salvador.
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The twins...
...are two of eight children.
Their father makes nets:...
...each one takes about two weeks to complete.
Hammocks look like they grow a little bit faster...
...but they are still a lot of work.