Magnificant Monteverde
Left La Fortuna and the smoking Arenal volcano behind (altho can still see it from here)... had to cross Lake (man made) Arenal and then drive 2.5hrs. We had 2 vans to take us... we got a dodgy one that started spluttering about 1/2way there... they decided they would keep driving it (only in 1st gear) til it conked and then they would send another van back to collect us... so going slowly, slowly thru across the mtn... as we are going up a hill a motorbike comes speeding along in the middle of the dirt road straight for us - was awful to see - it swerved and skidded and there was an awful clunk on the passenger side of the van as the rer end (and passenger) of the bike collided with us... amazingly the passenger (both riders only 15y boys) was ´ok´ - he managed to make a running leap from the bike to prevent bashing the ground - he hurt his leg but wasnt going to show how much in front of a bus load of tourists (you could see from his face that he was in pain) - but apparently because there was no blood it was all good.
Monteverde is a nice little town (very little) has a few nice offee shops... and oyu get surrounded in cloud and drizzle by mid-afternoon (I suppose that is why it is a cloud forest hehe) but it is al good... Did the ziplining and canopy walk with Salvatur... cant say that zip-lining was my favourite thing - scared of heights and all - was petrified before the first one... but did ok... and was starting to get into it until saw the 800m cable - got scared all over again! But i did it... but ended up doing a bit of twisting and turning along the way which I did NOT enjoy... - same again for the next long cable... (had a couple of short cables in between) so for 3 out of the 15 cables we did I had a 'taxi' meaning that i guide came with cos i hated doing those long ones by myself (all over 600m long) and got to enjoy it more as they were worrying about doing all the stuff I just got zoomed along and enjoyed the scenery... and then when i did the canopy walk on the swinging bridges it so didnt worry me so that was good... saw some beautiful parrots - incl a toucan and hummingbird, heard howler monkeys and of course lots of pretty plants etc...
Then the next day we had private transport (lucky us) to the border crossing... it was then i was SO glad to be on a tour - there was no way i could have crossed that border by myself looking cool, calm and together - would have had no idea which way to head thru the mud in between all the trucks waiting around and all the money changers approaching you talking rapidly in spanish... but, although it was a bit of a wait, it was a relatively painless border crossing (thanks to our guide able to bulk process all ur passports for us). We then caught our first 'chicken bus' and then another to catch the ferry to Ometepe Island.
Ometepe Island is in Lake Nicaragua - which was the home to the only species of freshwater shark until the president allowed the japanese to come in and fish the shark - and now it is extinct (only happened relatively recently)... Stayed at Ometepe for 2 nights... was pretty relaxing and quite pretty... very poor. Sarah and I hired bicycles and rode round for a couple of hours to check out some of the petroglyphs and nearby villages - all the people were really friendly. Tried some of the famous Nicaraguan rum that nite - had a few bottles between the group...
Then had to catch a boat back across the lake the next day - noone had told us we caught the luxury ferry across with the top desk with railing and a/c cabin (altho it did leak profusely) and even an old 80s movie playing... on the way back our luggage went at the top, us underneath - with water coming in at the sides... and the water was rough - wasnt overly pleasant... then had to catch a few chicken buses, with a bit of a wait in between on the crowded bus while the bus driver waited until it was full squishing 3 people onto a seat... but it was all good and we made it to Granada... we all piled into the back of an old ute with our luggage to the hotel... definitely staying in 'simpler' places here in central american then south... be ok but have little ants running round the bed with me and a leak in our roof somewhere that is crating a river in our room - hate to see it now... as we are caught in the middle of hurricane Alma and it has pouring rain all morning... nothing else to scary or anything - just a whole lot of rain.
Yep that is right - in the middle of a hurrican (wasnt bad enough that it was the beginning of rainy season) and apparently we are going to be following its course (we have another day here in Granada before heading towards the Hondarian border and then going to the Bay Islands - not sure the island are going to be as great as i'd hoped if it is a hurricane...)
Ziplining (Sarah and I)
Carl the catipillar
Hot chocs @ Monteverde
First chicken bus...
Petroglyph at Ometepe
Fireshow at Ometepe
happy times at Ometepe 
The ferry that we caught back to the 'mainland' from Ometepe