Costa Rica

A unique border crossing has brought us to Costa Rica. We motored down a river that snaked through the jungle, past military checkpoints and spotting lots of birds and monkeys on the riverbank. Our pulses did raise a little when the Nicaraguan army boarded our boat and instructed everyone to put on their life jackets, and Babs (true to form) insisted on questioning exactly why we should comply. After their curt response in Spanish and a glance at the automatic rifles, we quickly followed everyone else in wearing our neon safety vests. Costa Rica has fairly strict laws governing what foodstuffs can be brought into the country, so as we approached the landing point it was amusing to see quite a few people pass their contraband to the captain, who was able to bypass the normal bag search and smuggle the goods into the country. We're just assuming the jars contained spices and not heroin...

Crossing into Costa Rica

After a couple of bus journeys from the dock, we arrive in La Fortuna in the late afternoon. It's a stunningly-located town, dominated by Volcán Arenal which rises up above the town and is wreathed in mist when we arrive. The relative affluence of Costa Rica, compared to other central american countries, is also immediately apparent. Instead of dusty streets and shanty huts, every building is bricks and mortar, with well-kept lawns and lots of modern cars on the streets. We have to admit that it's great to be back to modern ways after more than a month of some pretty 'rustic' places. The return to modernity also allows us to get a replacement ipod cable and enjoy some great food: the highlight was definitely the burgers at a local soda, which were the best we've ever had. Although La Fortuna seems like a nice town to spend a few days in, we have to move on the next morning, so we set off on a jeep-boat-jeep trip over the mountains towards the west of the country, taking in some stunning landscape on the way.

Our jeep-boat-jeep scenery

After arriving in Santa Elena, we spent a bit of time shopping around for the best zip-line tours, which are set up over the top of the jungle. Each company competes to have the longest and highest zip lines, with the current leader Xtremo who offers zip lines up to a kilometre long and 200m high. We were not disappointed. The whole experience was amazing, with a combination of zip lines , swings and hiking through the jungle. Probably the scariest of the lot was the tarzan swing, which at first looked just like a regular swing from a height. It's not until after you are pushed from the platform that you realize there's a 10 foot drop before the rope takes hold and you swing 30m, narrowly avoiding branches and trees. If this wasn't bad enough, one poor girl (of slightly larger proportions) was so scared to go alone that she asked if one of the guides would hook on and swing with her, as they regularly do on the zip lines. However, on this occasion, the guide readily said yes, simulated locking his harness behind her, before pushing the great hippo off the platform alone. It seemed hilarious to all of us below, but we did feel a litlte guilty when we saw her in tears as she swung by.

Joined-up zip lining!

The highlight of the whole thing was definitely the last zip line. In this one everyone wears a double harness attaching them to the cable at the waist and chest, leaving them suspended like superman over the jungle below. It's the largest and highest line on the tour, though for most of the way people are too terrified to open their eyes and appreciate the amazing views. The really scary part is the end of the line, when you quickly realise you're travelling far too fast without any means to break. The sheer terror doesn't end until the last few seconds, when the automatic brake kicks in, as SuperBabs can ably demonstrate:

The remainder of our time in Santa Elena was spent a little more sedately. A couple of days relaxing and enjoying the cooler mountain climate were more than welcome. We also visited another of the nearby parks, where there is a series of walkways constructed over the top of the cloud forest. While we didn't see a lot of wildlife, the area is really beautiful and gives a completely different perspective on the rainforest and appreciation for its massive size.

Above the cloud forest

After so long away from the beach, we decided it was time to make a return to the Pacific coast. A couple of bus trips later and we had crossed the country and arrived in Cahuita, a chilled out town near several beaches and a national park. It's an area that is particularly famous for the numbers of sloths, and we didn't have to wait long to see one. While having dinner at a bar that evening, we noticed a furry shape shimmying along the overhead telephone cable. Sure enough, our friendly neighbourhood sloth was venturing out for a late-night stroll, much to the amusement of passers by. Deciding that we wanted a better view, we set out for a walk through the national park the following day. The range of creatures on show was fantastic, but even more impressive was how close we could come without disturbing them. We seen several species of monkeys, chased a few agoutis and spotted a heron wading in the sea. The best of the lot was another sloth, which hung lazily from a branch just a few feet above the main park walkway. He didn't seem to mind our presence at all and only moved on after he'd cleared the branch of all its leaves.

Sloth

We had been warned off Costa Rica as a very expensive place, full of American tourists on organised tours and with little excitement. While it undoubtedly has a far greater number of visitors than elsewhere, it's still a fantastic country. It has some of the best scenery we have seen, exhilirating tours and magnificent wildlife, not to mention the higher standards of living. The slightly higher prices are well worth paying for all that. But best of all was the variety of what's on offer: it had stunning mountain ranges, pristine beaches and some of the most accessible wildlife we've found so far. We're so glad to have come here, not least because we now have the opportunity to make the short trip south to Panama, the last country on our trip.

Nicaragua

From Los Naranjos in Honduras to León in Nicaragua is around 450km. For us, this would be a mammoth day-long trek, beginning at 6am and taking in 5 buses, 2 taxis and a border crossing, before finally arriving at 7.30PM exhausted and hungry. After a good night's sleep, we set about exploring León. It's an interesting city and the guidebook description of 'faded grandeur' probably sums it up best. There are churches aplenty, many of them colourful and bright, but all of the buildings are in the early stages of decay, with crumbling plaster and flaking paintwork. After spending a morning wandering the streets, we are left with the sense that this was once a really beautiful city, but it's definitely in dire need of some work today.

Faded León

By far the best thing we did in Nicaragua was volcano boarding. It's a simple idea: take a wooden sledge, carry it up a volcano and slide it back down. What they don't tell you during the sales pitch is the searing heat during the 2-hour climb, the fact that the slope runs at a 41° angle and includes a vertical drop, or that it's made up of tiny volcanic rocks, which are liable to hurt you when you career off your sledge at high speed. Nevertheless, it was fantastic fun. Ali, despite a wipeout halfway down, clocked a respectable 35mph during his descent, while Babs quite possible broke the record for the slowest finish, though she blames that on a faulty board. Women drivers, eh? And to make the whole experience that little bit more exciting, there are drinking games throughout. In fact, one of Nicaragua's enduring lessons will be how to win a game of 'tip cup'.

Speed demon!

After a fairly action-packed day and night, we were in need of a little relaxation, so the following morning we hopped on a bus to Las Peñitas, a sleepy fishing village about an hour from León on the Pacific coast. It's a lovely little place with a small collection of bars and restaurants along the beachfront. We spent the day here sunbathing, relaxing in hammocks and collecting some of the shells scattered down the beach. After watching a stunning sunset from one of the bars, we caught the last bus back to León and went for one last meal before leaving the next day. We felt like treating ourselves a little, so went to a highly-recommended italian, which was absolutely amazing. Even Ali, who is as fussy as they come about italian food, was impressed. It was a great way to end our stay in León.

Las Peñitas

The following day we caught the 2-hour bus journey to Granada, another old city located further inland on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Granada is a lot like León in terms of architecture and atmosphere, but here a lot of effort has been invested to restore a lot of the old buildings. The result is a much more impressive city, where lots of cafes, bars and restaurants are housed in grand colonial buildings. The best example we found is the aptly-named Garden Cafe. It's a great little place with a back courtyard of little tables and hammocks arranged around a lush garden. The sandwiches here were amazing too and, with a little library in another room, it's easy to see why we kept going back! Our hostel in Granada was a somewhat odd place. It had lots of good points, like a large kitchen, free PCs with internet and even a small pool to cool off in. But it also attracted more than a few weirdos, including one vet who claimed to have contracted almost every known disease and a young American with a fear of everything foreign (which begs the question, why come to Nicaragua?!).

Tip Cup carnage

After a few days of sightseeing and avoiding the weirdos, we decided to catch the weekly boat across Lake Nicaragua. The fact that this boat takes 14 hours to cross the lake should give you some sense of its size. It was a reasonably comfortable journey, punctuated by 2 unexpected events: first, the screening of a horror film about killer farmyard animals - it was a serious gore-fest, like The Evil Dead meets Emmerdale - and a little strange for an overnight ferry; second, the theft of our ipod cable after loaning it to another passenger to let him charge his ipod - it would mean $10 for a replacement but, more than that, left a poor impression of Nicaraguan honesty.

Granada

The ferry took us to San Carlos on the opposite side of the lake, but we waited only a couple of hours before catching another boat to our final destination, El Castillo, a tiny village 2 hours down the Rio San Juan from San Carlos. It's a tiny little place made up of one main street and an old Spanish fort on the hill overlooking the village. We only stayed one night here, mostly because we could see all the place had to offer within a few hours. We also had one of our 'lost in translation' moments when ordering a meal, which left us with a $17 bill for a whole chicken. The young girl serving clearly thought we were millionaires by ordering such an extravagant dish, though perhaps the presence of the family 'vampire-cat' during our meal was intended to make sure we didn't do a runner. We did have a lovely room overlooking the river though, where we spent the remainder of the evening on the balcony with a few beers, digesting the meat and the bill.

Vampire cat

The next morning we set off on the return journey up the Rio San Juan to San Carlos. We left in darkness and, as the light dawned, we were enveloped in a deep mist. It was errie to see trees, huts and small wooden jettys drift into focus and back out again as we motored by. Three hundred years before us, Horatio Nelson made a similar journey up the river to conquer the fort at El Castillo. Like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean, it's easy to imagine his ship quietly sailing towards the unsuspecting village, shrouded in mist, before launching a surprise attack. Thankfully, our particular voyage was free from pirates and we reached safe harbour back in San Carlos. A quick and pleasant breakfast followed before we moved on to the dock, where we wait looking forward to the river crossing to Costa Rica.

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Bocas is a collection off islands off the north coast of Panama, jam-packed with pristine beaches and laid-back bars, and where the main mode of transport is by cheap water-taxis between the islands. We decided to stay on the biggest island, where we had the best choice of accommodation and food, and make day trips to the surrounding area. It was a great choice, as we realised later that we could reach any of the other islands by paying only a few dollars to a local fisherman.

Crossing the final frontier

One of the beaches we visited was on the other side of Bocas Island, only a short (and bumpy) bus ride away. We crammed in along with an amusing mix of locals, their shopping, schoolkids and a couple of fellow travellers, and arrived at the other side of the island around 40 minutes later. Starfish beach itself was another 30 minute walk away, along the mangrove coast where we later saw a stingray and lots of crabs running around our feet. When we arrived at the beach we realised why it was so popular: just a few feet from the shoreline there are loads of massive starfish clearly visible from the surface. So we stuck on our snorkel gear and lay on the water watching them slowly move across the seabed. The savvy locals have also set up a few food and drink stalls, which happily sell you ice cold beers. We’re confident there’s little better than laying in a warm sea under the sun with a nice cold beer (or two) in hand.

Squawk!

After a day of starfish gazing and beer drinking, we made the short trip back along the coast and hopped on the last bus back to town. We had already experienced a mediocre meal in the town so we were starting to wonder if Panamanian food wasn’t so great. In order to make a more informed choice tonight, we consulted TripAdvisor and found that there were a few very highly rated places. We chose one at the other side of town, and were not disappointed! Our food here was stunning. Ali’s Mahi Mahi fillet in a passion fruit sauce was to die for, but SuperBabs hit the jackpot with her Grouper fillet in a soy and ginger marinade and coconut rice. It may have been at this point that we fell in love with Panama! Most of our days here were spent laying on the beaches, swimming in the warm, calm sea, with the occasional cocktail to cool down.The highlight of the bars was a little place called Bocas Book Store, which is run by a crazy American and has one of the best set ups we've seen: a book shop in a bar with a ping pong table in the middle. With that mix of activties and plenty of local regulars, it was a great place to relax.

Our very own desert island

We had heard that the best beach was at a placed called ‘Red Frog’, named after the bright amphibian who makes the place his home. We jumped aboard a water taxi and made the 20min boat trip across to the other island. When we arrived at the dock, we noticed lots of soldiers with guns surrounding one of the boats. While talking to one of the Captains at the bar later, we heard that they had discovered cocaine on board and had it all stacked up on a crate on the dock earlier in the day. The beach itself was great and the bar had an all-day happy hour and a great band playing calypso and caribbean rythms. After indulging in some of the potent rum punch, we got the shoulder shaking on the go and tried to join the locals in their grooving. I'm pretty sure there were a few raised eyebrows at the sight of casper having an epileptic fit.

After returning to our own island, we felt like keeping the party going, so we decided to check out Ladies Night at Aqua Lounge. It's a great bar set over the water, full of swings and pools to dive into, as well as free drinks for all the ladies. We took special advantage of it as SuperBabs spent the evening ordering the drinks, which got stronger and stronger as the night went on (ending up with 3/4 rum to 1/4 juice). The result was carnage. To the extent that we believed Gangnam style had come to Panama, and riding imaginary horses was acceptable behaviour.
 

Water Taxi

After a fairly delicate next morning, we had just one thing left to plan: a snorkelling trip to [name of twin islands?], which are a stunningly picturesque pair of uninhabited islands at the outskirts of the Bocas archipelago. It took us around an hour to get there (and some good haggling) with one of the water taxi companies, who left us to explore for as long as we wished. We had brought some lunch, so we really felt like we had our very own desert island for a day. After our return, we had one final meal in Panama at a place we’d heard a lot about during our time here. ‘Bibi’s on the Beach’ pretty much does what it says: it’s a lovely little restaurant set over the beach and affords the best view of the sunset from anywhere in the Bocas. We arrived early to help the place get rid of their cocktails and stayed on for dinner. More great seafood followed, but the best was probably the ceviche with pineapple and passion fruit served with banana chips. Yum!

Bocas Islands perfection

We loved Panama. It was the ideal country to finish our travelling in, with the perfect mix of beach life, great food and nightlife. Ali even managed to get his ‘genuine Panama hat’ that he had been insisting on for weeks. While we only saw a small corner of the country, we are hooked and will definitely be back here to see more – maybe we’ll even start here on our next trip!