Last day in Mejico ..

Yesterday was my last day in Mexico so I decided to visit Tulum, a couple of hours south of Cancun. I took a bus and it started pouring with rain and there I was in my summer dress and sandals! Luckily as I arrived the skies cleared. My reason for coming to Tulum was to visit the much talked about ruins. The ruins in themselves are not all that impressive, it's more the location of them which is absolutely amazing. The Mayan ruins are located along some short cliffs on the beach and as you approach the coast, the jade waters and white sands come into view. It is absolutely magnificent! Something you would only see in movies! After visiting the ruins I spent an hour or so on the beach.
I made my way back to Cancun by 6pm, grabbed something to eat and relaxed in my hostel for the evening. It was pouring with rain when I woke up so hopefully I won't have any problems with my flight to New York this afternoon.

MEJICO !!

As it's time for my travels to continue for another 2 weeks, I couldn't dismiss carrying on the novel I've got going here. I left London, Monday morning. My flight was at 9am. First stop was in Atlanta, Georgia. My initial waiting time for my next flight was 4 and a half hours. I ended up having to wait 6 hours! My first flight was early and my second was late due to 'local weather' ?? I finally got onto my second flight, to Cancun and we arrived around 9pm. It was absolutely sweltering hot and humid. I wanted to catch the bus to downtown Cancun but waited 30 minutes and thought I should take a taxi to be more safe and ended getting ripped off, paying 600 pesos which is about 30pounds, for a 15 minute journey! I settled into my funky hostel, with blow up mattresses and all ??
This morning, I had to change hostel because there was no room left in the first one. The one I am in now is really laid back and the Belizean receptionist is super friendly.
I walked around Cancun for an hour or so before heading towards the docks to catch a ferry to Isla Mujeres, a tiny island off the coast of Cancun, with 14 000 inhabitants (somehow). As I was walking to catch the 'collectivo', shared taxi, I was approached by a tour guide offering the ride to the island and back, 2 hours free time in the town, snorkeling and lunch, all for 350 pesos, about 18 pounds! Of course I accepted. There was about 8 of us in the tour group. We took a small speed boat across to the island took about 20-30minutes. The water was absolutely beautiful. Blue turquoise and see through. Upon arrival on the island, we were left to visit the town of Isla Mujeres. I walked around for a about an hour and laid on the beach for the rest of the time. The sand was white and so soft. It was so pleasant. I took a dip in the ocean and sunbathed.
Then i met back up with my group and we took the boat further south on the island and further out to sea. It was so shallow in some places you could walk and so clear!! We snorkeled for a good 45 minutes and I saw some amazing fish! Blue, yellow, grey, small, huge!! One was about 60 centimeters long. We got back on the boat and headed back to the island for lunch. The tour guides grilled a big fish for us, with rice, spaghetti and salad. It was very nice. What was especially nice was the setting on the heavenly beach! I could do this everyday for the rest of my life!
I am back at my hostel now. Gonna have a nice cold shower (yes cold is good for once) and probably head to bed. Tomorrow, I'm planning on going down to Tulum. There are some ruins along the beach and it looks absolutely amazing. I can't wait!
And then thursday, off to NYC I go!!

All good things must come to an end...

On my last night in Montezuma, I hung out with Nick from LA and Daan from Holland. We had a nice dinner in a restaurant on the beach, under the palm trees, drinking Guaro, Costa Rica's national liquor. I had the bestest orange and pineapple chicken! Then we sat on the beach and watched the stars. The next morning I woke up at 5 am to see the sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful! Of course, the day I leave the beach the sun decides to come out! I took a bus at 6.30 am for San Jose and walked around the capital in the afternoon. I bought a freaking hammock! Can someone tell me why? When I already don't have space for my hair clips! But it's really pretty and would be perfect for Pignans!
I woke up this morning and of course the sun is shinning and it kind of makes me want to stay in Paradise.
But after 40 buses, 8 boats, 5 planes, 3 bikes, 3 hitch-hikes, 3 jeeps, 2 trains, 1 rented car, 1 dirt bike, 1 ATV, and 3 broken cameras, a lot of money spent and friends made for life, the adventure is coming to an end and it will be the best memories of my life!


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Ma derniere nuit a Montezuma, je suis allee manger avec Nick de LA et Daan d'Hollande. On a mange dans un super restaurant sur la plage, sous les palmiers, buvant du Guaro, la boisson du Costa Rica. J'ai mange du poulet a l'orange et a l'ananas. C'etait delicieux! Ensuite on a regarde les etoiles sur la plage. Le lendemain matin, je me suis reveillee a 5 heures pour voir le leve du soleil. C'etait magnifique! Biensur, le soleil brille le jour que je quitte la plage. J'ai pris un bus a 6.30 pour San Jose et je me suis balade en ville pendant l'apres-midi. J'ai achete un hammac! Pourquoi? Je ne sais pas vu que je n'ai plus de place dans mes sacs. Mais il est tres beau et sera parfait pour Pignans.
Je me suis reveillee ce matin et biensur le soleil brille et ca me donne envie de rester au Paradis. Mais apres 40 bus, 8 bateaux, 5 avions, 3 velos, 3 auto-stop, 3 jeeps, 2 trains, 1 voiture louee, 1 moto, 1quad, ainsi que 3 appareils photo casses, beaucoup d'argent depense et des amis fais pour la vie, l'aventure se termine et j'aurais les meilleurs souvenirs pour la vie!

The Paradise on Earth that is Costa Rica!

So we took a bus down to Quepos which is a small town on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It's just like you imagine tropical little towns, it's so humid and hot too! And I thought the jungle in Arutam was bad! The girls had booked into a hotel for the night so I stayed with them. It was so beautiful, with a pool and palm trees everywhere. And the sounds of the rain forest are insane! You can here monkeys, birds and insects. It's really cool! We went out on our first night. First we ate in a really touristy and expensive place! We should have realised because it was full of old americans playing a quiz in the restaurant. But it was fun. Then we walked around the town looking for a bar or club. We ended up going to Republika Club. Where we met up with a Texan we met in San Jose. It was a fun night. When we left at 2am, it was pooring with rain! It's rainy season here! So we walked home in the rain and got drenched! I fell at one point, flat on my face. And I grazed all around my eye, but it's fine now! The next day we took a bus to Manuel Antonio, which is not even a town. It's basically a road along the beach full of restaurants, hotels and hostels. The main reason for people to go there is for the Manuel Antonio National Park. Which we didn't go to unfortunately! I wish we did though because you walk through the rain forest and see all sorts of animals, like monkeys, sloths, birds, insects. And of course there's a heavenly beach, which we saw from the Manuel Antonio beach. We went to the beach as soon as we arrived in Manuel Antonio. The sea was so warm, it was amazing! I didn't go out that night because it was raining of course. The next day we went kayaking in the Damas estuary. We were 2 in each kayak. It was so beautiful, we kayaked in the estuary and then through the mangroves. It was also pooring with rain. I was with the Texan in the kayak and it started filling up with water because the kayaks are hollow. So he was sinking in the back and we jumped into the river to take the water out from the top of the kayak where we were sitting, we didnt realise that the kayak was hollow and full of water, so when we tried to get back in, it just sank again and we tipped over! So we started using it as a float but ended up stopping on the side again to wait for our guide who was nowhere to be seen! Apparently he sank too and almost got swept away! We emptied our kayak of water and then a boat passed with other tourists and they told us there was a 15 foot long crocodile just 50 metres down the river! The river we were just swimming in!!
That night our hostel was almost full and a big group of us went out in Quepos. We went back to Republika Club. When we left the club we went to the beach and swam in the ocean! It was so nice! And back at the hostel we went in the pool too! The next day we wanted to go to the Manuel Antonio National Park but it started raining and there was no point going because we wouldn't see any animals! I really wanted to see a sloth though so I was a bit upset but then I saw one hanging in a tree near the hostal. It just looked like a furry bag hanging in the branches!
In the morning, we took a bus to Puntarenas to catch a ferry for Paquera and then took another bus to Montezuma, where I am right now. When we got off the ferry in Paquera it was bucketing it down and we got drenched! Montezuma is a small village on the beach! It's actually nicknamed Montefuma and I bet you can guess why! It is so beautiful and really remote in the rain forest. The beach is small but so beautiful! It's like paradise. It would be even more amazing if the sun was shining!!
Today we hiked up to the waterfalls close to Montezuma, it was really beautiful, raining of course but beautiful. The water was brown too because of the rain. The people we were with jumped in but the current was pretty strong so I didn't.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading back to San Jose, because I'm flying home on Wednesday. So excited!

Where the South American adventure ends, the Central American adventure begins ...

My last few days in BA where enjoyable. Monday was spent wondering around town and the Japonese gardens (because when in Argentina, you must visit a Japonese garden right?). We wondered back to the hostel and got ready for what would be my last time at La Bomba. It wasn´t as good this week. Maybe because I´ve been 3 times now and there´s only so much you can get out of a drum show! After La Bomba, we went back to the hostel for drinks. Tuesday was my last day in BA, was spent lazing around and buying last second gifts. In the evening, we went to Voz Tango show. It was really good, we had a 3 course meal with wine and then there was a tango show with singers. Loved it! We got back to the hostal at about midnight and had drinks with everyone until I had to leave for my flight to Costa Rica. My flight was at 6.15 am so we stayed up drinking beers until 3.30am when I got a taxi. I got to the airport only to find out that due to fog, planes were not landing in the airport! Great! I couldn´t understand anything that was going on because they were speaking so fast and everybody was fighting there way forward to get answers to there many questions. I finally found out my flight would leave at midday and I was very upset! I was hungry and tired and just wanted to get on the plane! They gave us breakfast in one of the cafes, which was 2 croissants and coffee. I headed back to the check in desks to find out anymore about the flights. And managed to get booked onto another flight to Lima, Peru. From where I got a second flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. The first flight was with LAN, which was so nice, we had breakfast and our own personal screens. They have so many movies, tv shows and music. The second flight was with TACA, which was so nice but not bad. They gave us lunch (chicken curry which was really yummy) and we watched Gulliver´s Travels. I arrived in San Jose at 5pm and got a taxi to my hostel. The taxi was so expensive, it was 14000 Colones, which is about 17 pound! The hostal I stayed in was pretty cool but full of Americans! I was so tired and home sick I went to bed at 8.30 pm and slept right through to the morning! This morning, I went to the bakery close to the hostal for breakfast. I have scrambled eyes, rice and beans and plantain and a coffee (I´ve developped a tast for coffee on this trip!). It was really yummy! I also met 2 girls from California, with whom I´m going to Quepos, on the Pacific coast this afternoon.