Thailand + Central America + Europe

Packing Up and Heading Home

2010-07-27T13:31:00.000-04:00

BKK to Kanchanaburi to RDU

2010-07-27T13:25:00.000-04:00

July 31, 2006 (10:28PM), Monday

Well, Jim's gone. It's just Nick and me left in Bangkok.

On the 28th, we woke up, ate breakfast at another Friends restaurant and checked out of our guest house by 11:00AM. Since our boat didn't leave until 5:30PM, we had a whole day to kill in the Haad Rin. We put our packs in the internet cafe and went down to the beach. We played ping pong and scum for about 2.5 hours and then went and took a nap on the beach. It was beautiful and we laid in the 2 ft water for a long time, while Nick and I saw how long we could hold our breath. We at lunch at Friends again and I went to get chicken schnitzels.

We went and got our packs and hopped on the boat to Koh Samui at 5:30PM. When we got there, we ate a snack and played scum again. We discovered that the airport closed at 10:00PM and our plan to sleep in the airport was ruined. We had to get a little bungalow for 500 baht. We dropped our stuff off, booked a taxi for 4:30AM and ate pizza at a nice pizza parlor. We talked, like we always do, about high school people and Halloween costumes. We decided that being "V" would be awesome if we could get lots of other people. Other ideas included:

- train
- robot
- Thai boxer
- plate
- fire ball
- tower
- Power Ranger
- naked
- underwear models

We went to bed and immediately woke up again because it was 4:30AM. Our taxi took us to the airport, which we found out wasn't sleepable at all and we hopped on the nice 1 hour flight to Bangkok. We caught the taxi to Koh San and found the Budget Guest House for 380 baht per person and 280 baht for 2 people. We ate breakfast at the corner diner and Jim wandered around because it was 8:00AM. Our next step was the weekend market which was awesome. We walked through probably 50% of it and I was dead. Nick and Jim snagged 5 + 4 silk scarves and 2 + 1 neckties. I bought the double face and we watched a man playing an ocarina of some sort.

We spent all morning there and when it was time for lunch, we wanted Hard Rock Cafe. As it turns out, not 1 taxi driver has ever heard of Hard Rock Cafe so he just took us back to Koh San. We ended up eating at Burger King and it was delicious. Jim missed home terribly at this point and whined the whole time.

- I just scored 195 in Rummy in 1 round - Nick

We came back to the room and played scum and rummy. Before the weekend market, we had the drier take us to Manhattan Suit Shop and Jim got his jacket and tie. His pants were made for a 6-year-old and he had to get them remade. We walked around Koh San after lunch and ate dinner again at BK. We plaed on the internet and Jim made a new friend. A lady IMed Jim's computer and we said, "I miss you." She wanted to video chat and Jim did. She was from England and her daughter had been over here for 5 months. Jim said bye and we all laughed.

We slept really late, all the way until 8:00AM and went to breakfast. My suit ordeal was next and I was prepared for the worst but it turned out great. The suit was nice and now I have a suit. We came back to Koh San and me and Nick booked a tour to Kanchanaburi and the WWII museum and Jim booked a bus to the airport for 100 baht. His flight left at 7:00PM but he thought it'd be a good idea to get there at 2:30PM so he left Koh San at 2:00PM. We said our goodbyes and Jim left.

Nick and I went to MBK to look for sandals, earbuds, speakers and camera stuff. We came away with two Thailand shirts and Sony earbuds. Nick ate doughnuts. We went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and got baby back ribs and watched music videos. It was expensive. We wandered back to Koh San and did internet again. When we were leaving, Nick slammed a girls head with the door.

This morning we awoke at 6:15AM to our wake-up call and went to meet our tour bus at 7:00AM. We were loners. Our bus didn't show up until 7:45AM. We stopped at the war memorial first and read about all the POW who died building the Death Railway. Then they took us to the museum and we walked across the bridge itself. Then we rode on a train on the steps for 50 baht but really we didn't need to pay. The train ride was awesome.

We ate lunch at an elephant farm where a young elephant played a harmonica and danced and picked up sandals and laid down. The waterfall was next and was really cool. We ate dinner (fish and chips and spaghetti) when we got back and did all our last minute shopping. Now it's time to sleep for the last time in Thailand.

Reggae Tour and Haad Rin

2010-07-27T12:47:00.001-04:00

July 27, 2006 (11:01PM), Thursday

This morning we check out of Big Blue and said goodbye to "T" and the beach of Haad Yuan forever. We checked in to Anan Bungalows in Haad Rin. At 11:30AM, we met up for our Reggae Tour and met Max and Charlie in the process. They were two guys our age headed for Bottle Beach and it was cheaper to take the tour. First, our tour stopped off at the waterfall. We played around and Jim found a small cave underneath the falls.

Next, we headed to snorkeling and had Coke along the way. Snorkeling involved no fins and it was extremely difficult to not hit your body on the coral. The fish and sea cucumbers were cool though. Nick hit his head on brain coral and almost on the prop. A lady cut her leg on the boat. We we headed over to Bottle Beach for "free" lunch which was fried rice. Max and Charlie stayed and Max may catch a plane with us tomorrow to BKK. After bottle beach, we rode to Haad __________ and he gave us Coke and whiskey on the way there with pineapple.

We headed back to Haad Rin, showered up and ate pizza at another Friends restaurant. We wandered around Haad Rin and mailed Caleb's letter and found Sunset Pier. We booked tickets to Koh Samui and tomorrow we're going to putz around Haad Rin until 5:30pm. We watched "Old School" and the Eagles perform "Hotel California". Me and Nick bought "V for Vendetta" and he bought "American History X". I finished reading "Charlotte Simmons" and now I'm reading "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist".

Hike to Haad Rin

2010-07-27T12:16:00.004-04:00

July 25, 2006 (9:11AM), Tuesday

Woke up and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIN!!!"

July 25, 2006 (7:16PM), Tuesday

Not a bad way to spend my 20th birthday. Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Played on the beach all day and got burned worse than I've ever been burned on my face before. We played pool and while doing so, a Thai man collapsed and stopped breathing. Nobody could do anything and they rushed him off the island in a dingy. Hope he makes it.

July 26, 2006 (12:15AM), Wednesday

We went down to watch the movies. We watched "Bruce Almighty" first and then "The Island". We played pool and drank Bacardi Breezers. When we were playing, we asked about the Thai guy that was rushed to Haad Rin. He died. She said it had to do with his brain and his heart. That's sad.

July 26, 2006 (10:46AM), Wednesday

This morning we woke up (AGAIN!!!) and ate breakfast at Big Blue (cinnamon oatmeal) and decided to hike to Haad Rin. We soon found out that this was a bad idea. The path was dense at the beginning and then, when we reached the rock, the path widened and steepened like you would not believe. I honestly thought there was a good chance I would pass out. We are bad at picking trails in Thailand and hope we never do it again. We reached Had Rin and signed up for the Reggae Cruise and ate chicken schnitzel. We took another tuk-tuk back to Haad Yuan and watched "Geisha" after talking about high school for 2 hours over dinner at Bamboo Hut.

Haad Rin

2010-07-27T12:08:00.001-04:00

July 24, 2006 (10:00AM), Monday

Me and Jim are at the Bamboo Hut eating breakfast. Nick's still in bed because he doesn't feel too well. The trip to Haad Rin was a success. We uploaded pictures and sent out emails. I bought two hammocks and sunscreen. We ate lunch at a small place on the corner and ordered grilled chicken sandwiches. They were so good me and Nick got two. There was a crepe shop across the street and we all got one. Mine was banana and Nutella. Nick got lemon and chocolate and Jim had Mars and banana. Just now, as I'm writing this, there was a dog pound fight where Mike Ditka almost killed Snowpuff. The crepes were amazing and we went back to Haad Yuan and slept on the beach. We played soccer on the swim platform and played a game where we throw the ball and dive in and catch it. For "dinner" me and Jim went to watch "My Big Fat Greek Weeding" and Nick met us for "Munich". We all had 3 shakes and went to bed.

Haad Yuan

2010-07-27T11:19:00.004-04:00

July 23, 2006 (12:45PM), Sunday

Right now, Nick and Jim are asleep after a hard day of bumming around on the beach. The last two days have been extremely relaxing and we have accomplished nothing. When we wake up, we eat breakfast at The Bamboo Hut and generally get scrambled eggs and toast with a shake. Then we go to stake out 3 chairs on the beach and apply sunscreen and read our books until it's too hot to sit on the beach anymore. Then we go wade in the water for about 1-2 hours and play paddle ball, frisbee, or find-the-bottle. Then it's usually about 12:00PM or 1:00PM and we go eat lunch at Big Blue. We play pool or foosball and then head back to the beach. We reapply sunscreen and fall asleep in our respective areas. I prefer the sand or the floating platform. The heat wakes us up and we get back in the water. We putz around in the water until about 4:00PM and go take showers and naps before dinner. We head to dinner about 7:00PM to watch movies (School of Rock, Crash, Narnia) and drink shakes. Last night, we ate at Bamboo Hut and talked about high school, sports we'd played and things that scared us for about 2 hours. It started to rain and we sat on the the porch and chairs and hammocks until it subsided and we went down for shakes. Jim slipped on the stairs and smashed his shin.

We took pictures of the Dog Pound yesterday. The dogs include:

- Charlie
- Scrapster
- Piglet
- Snowpuff
- Wolfhound*
- Pupp*
- Milkmaster J*
- Ghost Like Swazye
- Sly Willy*
- Yeah Yeah
- Groucho*
- Ewok
- Hobleg
- Cow
- Mike Ditka
- Sandflea
- Curly Q

* Not pictured

The weather's been really nice and we've been burned a bit. We're heading over to Haad Rin soon for batteries, sunscreen, pictures, email and money.

Charlie

Ghost Like Swayze

Snowpuff

Curly Q

Yeah Yeah

Mike Ditka

Ewok

Cow

Piglet

Hobleg

Scrapster

Sandflea

Koh Pang Yang to Haad Yuan

2010-07-27T10:35:00.004-04:00

July 20, 2006 (11:00PM), Thursday

Last night the ferry dropped us off at the pier around 8:45PM, I think. We had a taxi waiting but he wasn't holding a sign with Nick's name like we thought. He took us to "The Beach" bungalows and we were pleasantly surprised. In the dark, our place was awesome. We really were 20 ft away from the beach with sand and palm trees surrounding us. We set our stuff down and went to eat dinner at the house restaurant. I ordered pizza but she laughed cause it took too long to cook and it was already 9:30PM. I got two fried eggs and toast instead. Nick got onion rings and french fries and Jim got garlic chicken. While we were getting ready for bed and taking showers, I found the ants. The fire ants had set up camp on the toilet and the little guys controlled the sink. I tried to spray them all, but they held strong. Nobody else seemed to care, but I didn't enjoy the unwelcomed guests when we were paying 300 baht a night. They slept with me too.

We woke up to find Jim gone, again. Me and Nick wandered the beach and were amazed at how cool southern Thailand was. We saw a man spearfishing and catching fish. We found Jim and went to breakfast down the road where I got 4 fried eggs and 4 pieces of toast. We decided to move down the island to a beach called Haad Yuan, mostly because I didn't like ants. She called us a taxi and said it would be 50 baht, but turned out to be 80 baht per person. It took us to the pier and there we caught another taxi to the main southern beach for 50 baht. We then took a taxi boat to Haad Yuan beach for 100 baht.

Me and Jim set off finding bungalows immediately and Jim found a winner. For 600 baht per night, we had an amazing view and a really nice room. There's a hammock and two chairs out front on the porch and we can see the whole beach. The weather was hot and perfect and I got burned immediately, despite two coats of sunscreen. We love it here. There's a swimming platform out in the water and the place isn't crowded at all. We ate lunch at a place up the rock steps at the left and me and Jim got cheese pizzas which were excellent. The coconut shakes had lots of real coconut meat in them and were the best so far. Me and Nick explored the rocks and swam to the platform. Jim played volleyball with new people.

Me and Nick went up to shower and I read Gideon in my karate pants while it rained a little. For dinner, we had fish and chips and a banana shake. We watched "Anger Management" and then "21 Grams". Now we're going to bed.

Koh Phi Phi to Koh Pang Yang

2010-07-27T10:19:00.007-04:00

July 19, 2006 (7:50PM), Wednesday

Right now we're on the ferry to Koh Pang Yang. We got on the boat at 6:00PM and sat on the port side facing out to the water on the top deck. We watched the sun set over a patch of small islands and took gorgeous pictures. While Nick and Jim took a nap, I listened to the Raleigh DMB concert (One Sweet World, Pig, Grey Street, American Baby Intro and Bartender) and stared at the clouds. Right now I'm a 10 out of 10. This place is beautiful. I saw a shooting star.

Turns out the tsunami didn't touch us so that's good, but on the news at breakfast we saw that 200 were dead and counting. We ate breakfast that morning and had eggs on toast kinda like V for Vendetta and it tasted great. We had to go get Jim for breakfast because he got really hot about 9:30AM and went to sit in the bay. After breakfast, we walked around the island, mostly along the big beach, and looked at tsunami damage. They've cleaned up a lot and the new resorts are going to be really nice. We wandered back to the room and Jim laid down and took a nap. While he was sleeping, Nick and I went to lunch and got two thai banana pancakes and one banana shake (total = $1.50). We walked toward the center of town and Nick was still hungry so we stopped for a pizza. While he ate, we watched the entire movie "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford and Tommy-Lee Jones. After Harrison saved the day, we went back to the room to find Jim still asleep. He was hungry and went to eat a pizza while Nick and I played scum on the beach.

Jim showed up about 1 hour later and we all played on the beach. We tried to crack open fallen coconuts and knock down ripe ones (to no avail). We golfed walnuts into the water and played a game where one person describes someone and the other two guess who it is. We also talked about high school reunions and middle school and if we could have one person with us who would it be (Jim said, "My mom."). We showered up (after watching the sunset) and walked around to find postcards. We found them and were reminded of the Hippy Bar free BBQ. We went to check it out and we ended up being 1st in line. The chicken was ok and fish was bad, but it was free. We walked all around and found a back path to our guest house. We were still hungry so we ordered:

WIN: 3 banana shakes = $1.50
NICK: 1 banana shake, 1 chocolate shake, 1 lemon shake = $1.50
JIM: 2 banana shakes, 1 banana pancake = $1.50

I wrote my postcards and then went to find addresses on my email. We went to bed and she gave us another fan. Also, we found out that the night before, Jim stayed up with the guys from Singapore and got high with them, bought sugar cookies and got a massage.

This morning we woke up at 5:30AM and walked/hiked/almost died to the top of Phi Phi. We watched the sunrise with two people from California. They're teaching English for 5 months. We ate breakfast next to the place the day before and I got Pop and Peggy and Mama Nell's address. We finished breakfast and mailed the cards and rode a 1.5 hour boat to Krabi. I got burned in the face by the sun.

When we got to Krabi, we rode a 3.75 hour bus to Surat Thani and got on the boat we're on now to go to Koh Pang Yang. We just saw some morse code on a small boat. Also, on the bus ride to Surat Thani, a guy went through everyones bags while we were riding. Nothing was taken from mine.

BKK to Phuket to Koh Phi Phi

2010-07-26T19:15:00.001-04:00

July 17, 2006 (10:00PM), Monday

The plane ride to Phuket went off without a hitch. We even got a lunch which wasn't good. We landed in Phuket at 12:30PM and took a 400 baht taxi to Kata beach. We finally found a room for 500 baht at New Moon's Guest House. We put on our suits and went swimming. The waves were actually pretty big and there were lots of guys surfing. We walked down the beach and sat in chairs in the water. There were tons of people there, I thought, but apparently it wasn't too bad. We met a Swede who was snorkeling and he told us how awesome Phi Phi was. We washed off and ate dinner at a really good restaurant where I got fish and chips, lobster soup with salad. Nick and Jim got shrimp with cashews and said it was good. We booked an open boat ticket to Phi Phi for 8:00AM the next morning. That night while we were asleep, a black guy walked in our room and Jim woke up and said, "Dude, wrong room." The guy said, "Chris?" and Jim said, "Jim." He left.

We woke up at 6:00AM and walked over to our stop. The mini bus picked us up at took us to the south pier. The boat ride was packed but again we sat at the front and it was a good 1.5 hour ride. We got to Phi Phi at 10:30AM, booked a room for 300 baht at ___________ because Sacha's was closed (the Aussie girl told us to stay there) and went to eat breakfast. Eggs, sausage, and toast then we hit the beach. The bay, 50 yards from our guest house, is unbelievable. The water is so calm and so blue.

We stood in the water thinking about how great our lives were when I decided to go snorkeling. We rented snorkel gear for 250 baht for 3 people with fins. We snorkeled all the way across the bay and were headed for Monkey Beach when we got tired. Jim decided to take a "trail" which turned out to be a terrible idea. I had Jim's dry bag with my camera and wallet in it and all my snorkel gear. Everyone was barefoot and shirtless. The trail was just rocks and roots and cut our feet like steak knives. Nick and Jim's feet got pretty torn up by I wasn't too bad. Mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE and Jim got bitten all over his back. Again, I was ok. We hiked for about 1 hour and came out on the rocks next to Monkey Beach. Jim cut his butt getting into the water and I stepped in a fire ant breeding ground.

We finally made it to Monkey Beach and it was worth it. The sand felt like a mattress and the snorkeling was awesome. I saw a puffer fish and a giant fish the size of Jim. We "borrowed" a kayak and paddled out to take pictures of the cliffs. We also took pictures of us jumping and they were really funny.

The only way to get back was to snorkel. Nick's mask broke instantly and he had to choose between seeing through the mask or breathing through the snorkel. We kicked for about 1 hour and made it back to safety. After we returned the gear, we went to get our shoes and discovered that my Chacos were gone forever. I was sad but Chacos can be bought again, Monkey Beach can't. It's not too bad. We ate dinner at a Japanese Hibatchi buffet and ate a lot. We got shakes afterwards and now we're going to bed.

It's sooooo hot in our room because of no windows and the guys from Singapore just told us about the 7.5 and 8.0 earthquakes in Indonesia. Hope they're ok.

Vang Vieng to BKK

2010-07-26T17:26:00.000-04:00

July 16, 2006 (7:07AM), Sunday

We got up yesterday morning at 8:30AM to eat breakfast before the bus left. We ate at the Friends restaurant again. I got two fried eggs and bacon with a baguette. ~~We packed and rod to the bus station in a mini bus. We checked out~~. I just forgot a whole bus ride. From Vang Vieng we got on a bus to Vientiane. I sat next to a girl from the UK but I didn't get her name. She's been to South America and Australia but she didn't say much so I put my pod in and fell asleep. Jim and Nick made girl friends. We got to Vientiane at 2:30PM and immediately started looking for buses to BKK. We found a place where a ticket cost 350 baht as opposed to 650 baht like all the others. We went and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant and Jim and Nick ordered pizza. I got tortilla chips and salsa but I didn't eat one bite because I felt sick.

It poured during lunch and poor Lao kids came and ate our scraps. We walked in the rain to the internet cafe and booked 3 tickets to Phuket from BKK. We went down the street to buy the cheap 350 baht tickets and counted our money but it turns out they were 650 baht like the rest, the guy just didn't speak English too well. We bought them anyway and rode a mini bus to the border. Steven from Australia and Chloe and __________ from Australia rode with us. We checked out of Laos and into Thailand.

When our bus did show up though, it was AWESOME! Double-decker w/ speakers and two TV's and nice new chairs. We left the border at 7:00PM and our next stop was customs about 30 minutes down the road. I got sick waiting in line and then made it through. The ride was nice though. We stopped at a restaurant for free dinner but I didn't eat anything and got sick again. We got Jim's Tylenol out of his bag to make my fever go away. It worked and I felt better by the time we got to BKK. Now we're waiting to go to Phuket in the airport. They have some courtesy food and we're playing scum.

On the way to the internet cafe from lunch in Vientiane, Jim slipped in the rain and knocked over a sign and fell down. Hilarity ensued.

Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

2010-07-26T16:49:00.007-04:00

July 14, 2006 (10:15PM), Friday

The second day in Luang Prabang we woke up at 9:00AM because of the construction workers right next to our room. We ate breakfast at the bookshop. Jim and Nick got French toast and I got a banana crepe. We updated pictures and walked down the road. We saw Riley and Shannon (from Canada) from our boat and talked to them for a while. We booked a waterfall trip to Kuang Si waterfall for $2/person. We met the 4 Canadian girls, 2 Japanese guys and Jenny, Tracey and Ben. Ben was from Canada, and Tracey and Jenny were from England. We got to the waterfall and had to pay $1.50 to get in (WHAT A RIP OFF!!!). A middle eastern group gave us their ticket and nobody ever checked our ticket. The waterfall was quite a bit smaller than the picture. It was still beautiful and we took lots of pictures.

This picture was actually taken by John Stanmeyer of National Geographic, and published
in the April 2010 issue. It can be found here.

The waterfall had amazing swimming ponds. We swung on vines into the water. We jumped off of a small waterfall and took pictures with Lao girls. When we got back to Luang Prabang, Ben, Nick, Jim and me went to the temple at the top of the mountains to watch the sun set. We paid $1.00 to get in but it turns out we didn't have to. There was a back way that we went down when we left. The sunset was unbelievable though, and we talked to Ben about school in Canada. We saw Mary there too.

That night, we ate dinner at a Lao restaurant. I got beef and noodles and Nick and Jim got shrimp somethinganother. These Asians love their vegetables and put way too much on the food. Nick and Jim couldn't peel their shrimp. They were playing The Beatles and Janis Joplin on the speakers. We walked over to a bar called Hive to meet our friends (Jenny, Tracey, Ben) and it turn out the Canadians were there too. We talked to them about hockey (we won the Stanley Cup), beaches in Maine and travelers insurance because she broke her foot. We drank Hive cocktails and left. This morning we woke up at 6:30AM and ate breakfast. We caught our bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng.

The first half of the bus ride was all too terrible. We slept a lot. Then in the middle of my nap we stopped and picked up 10 Lao (2 of them kids) and two birds in a cage. The ride went downhill from there. The kids threw up instantly and it smelled like corn (the road was curvy and bumpy as we were in the mountains). When they got off, we found out the birds had pooped everywhere and they chirped the whole time they were on the bus. We got to Vang Vieng at 2:30PM and wandered around and found a room at Sisarange Guesthouse and put our stuff down.

We decided to go tubing since we were here and paid $3.50 for hours of fun. we were on the water in 20 minutes and hopped in the river. Again, the river was amazing. We topped at the first bar and Jim drank a Beer Lao while me and Nick ziplined. Jim went down and we got back in the river.

Floating was so relaxing and we saw tons of awesome bars, but didn't stop again. I had my dry bag so we took lots of pictures. After we hopped out and washed up and ate dinner at The Friends restaurant. Nick and I got pad Thai chicken and Jim got Hawaiian pizza. We watched 5 episodes of Friends and drank coconut shakes. We saw Jenny, Tracey and Ben after dinner after we booked our ticket to Vientiane. We said hey to them and told em we'd see them again, but I'm not too sure. Tomorrow we leave at 9:45AM. Night night. WOOHOO

*Bangkok to Chiang Mai Bus - 850 baht too much

* Chiang Mia to Luang Prabang Package - 4500 baht pretty good --> Speed boat better than slow boat

* tubing in Vang Vieng - $3.50 USD normal?

*Vang Vieng to Vientienne Bus = $4-6 normal

Chaing Mai to Luang Prabang

2010-07-26T16:23:00.000-04:00

July 11, 2006 (11:00AM), Tuesday

We're on a boat to

Scratch that. The boat was too bumpy. Now we're in a guest house called _____________ which is really nice. We've been on the slow boat for about 7 hours from ___________ and now we're in _____________. We left Chiang Khong at 8:30AM this morning after a nice egg and toast breakfast.

Rewind to two nights ago. The World Cup Final was tons-o-fun for everyone. The whole group, minus Calvin and Suzanne, showed up. Zidane from France head-butted an Italian and was red-carded. Italy won on PKs after going 5 for 5. Everyone had a good time and we said our goodbyes. We went to bed at 4:00AM and woke up at 10:45AM. We ate fried eggs and bacon and pancakes again. We met Mary from the Netherlands at breakfast. When we got on the bus to Chiang Khong, Mary was there too. The ride took forever but the scenery was unbelievable. We ate dinner with Mary at Chiang Khong and went out to play pool at THE bar. Raphael and Millie played with us while the Red Hot Chili Peppers played on the TV. The French bar owner smoked pot with the Thai bartender. We played 1 game of Jenga (Raphael lost) and we went to bed.

This morning we rode a bus to the boat, road a boat to Laos, rode a bus to another boat, and were then on the boat for 7+ hours. I met ____________ from Israel who was cool. Her favorite band is Depeche Mode from the UK. We're going to eat. Jim read us his poetry.

July 12, 2006 (10:46PM), Wednesday

Last night we ate dinner at a Lao restaurant and me and Nick ordered sweet and sour chicken. After dinner (which was bad) we bought Pringles and chips to ease our appetite. Nick taught us how to play oshaw and we had a good time and went to bed. In the middle of the night, I woke up because the bathroom light was on. Nick was up too and I said, "Are you going to turn the light off?" and he said, "No, I'm sick." He threw up because of sweet and sour chicken-death. That morning we ate breakfast with Raphael, which was eggs and bread. We packed and brought our stuff to the boat knowing we'd get bad seats. We didn't. We sat at the very front again. But more people kept coming and soon one guy stood up and said, "There are way too many people on this boat! We want another boat!" The Lao lady went berserk and there was chaos. In the end, about 15-20 people wanted off and were arguing on the bank. They sent a Lao kid to untie the boat and a guy wouldn't let him. We sat there for 1 hour and finally everyone got back on except 2 (pride issue). We sat with Pete on the boat and played scum. His brother and his girlfriend played too. We played for about 2 hours and then Lisa, from Germany, played too.

Now we're in Luang Prabang, Laos. This place is beautiful. We're staying at the Mekong Guest House and it's some nice digs. We had pizza for dinner. Down the road we eat coconut shakes for 5,000 kip = $0.50. We shopped at the night market. Jim and Nick bought 3 t-shirts and 7 slingshots. I got 3 shirts.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

2010-07-26T11:40:00.021-04:00

July 5, 2006 (2:15PM), Sunday

We just got out of the shower because it's hotter than Satan's armpit here. We woke up at 6:47AM this morning after going to bed at 1:30AM. We started walking & a man in yellow stopped and talked to us because he saw we were looking at a map. He talked to us about Bangkok and cautioned us about getting overcharged when hailing tuk-tuks. He got us one and our driver was named An-Kie. First, we went to Lucky Buddah. 700 years old, solid gold. We talked to the guide there who showed us all the things we should do, which was 4 temples, Thai Factory, and Siam Square. An-Kie was waiting for us when we left and took us to breakfast. It cost 230 baht and wasn't terrible. Then he took us to Black Buddah but the monks weren't in it. Then Win bought a suit, custom-fit. Then we went to the Thai Expo Center, which we learned was how tuk-tuks stay in business. It was expensive. An-Kie left us and we went to MBK. Win bought a pack and we drank free Tang. Then we hailed a tuk-tuk home. On the way we got dropped off at another suit store and here we are.

July 7, 2006 (6:30AM), Friday

Now we're in Chiang Mai, at a guesthouse called Bamboo Den. The bus ride here was 10 hours from Bangkok. We left at 5:00PM from the TAT office, which took our tuk-tuk driver 30 minutes to find. He picked us up from MBK where we at a Santa "burger". Jim was the only one that actually took a few bites and he stopped because he found a bone. Thais can't do beef. Lesson learned. We reached MBK by taxi, but not after walking well over an hour around Bangkok looking for MBK on our own. Our tuk-tuk driver had dropped us off at Patanahm, a t-shirt ghetto where we saw more clothes than we knew existed. We thought we could find out way out but instead we found the slums of Bangkok. It smelled terrible and it looked like they were cooking anything that could walk, and some things that couldn't. Before Patanahm, the tuk-tuk got a coupon off us by taking us to a jewelry shop for 15 minutes where the owner treated us like white trash, but the gems were awesome. The tuk-tuk driver had picked us up from Koh-San where we had checked out and bought rain covers for our packs and Jim knocked over the store. Chai, our favorite tuk-tuk driver, had taken us by Manhattan Suit Shop, C&J Suit Shop and Siam Bank before Koh-San. Jim bought a nice suit for $300. I fitted mine and we went by the bank because my ATM card doesn't work. I took out 7,000 baht. We went to T.A.T. first thing, after breakfast, and booked a bus ticket to Chiang Mai. We woke up that day at 7:00AM and ate a bacon omlet, banana pancake, and two pieces of toast. At 4:30 we got to the T.A.T. office. We played cards with and talked to a Dutch family who rode on our bus. There was also another Dutch couple and two girls from Canada who are staying 2 doors down from us now. Our room has hot water, two beds, a nice fan and an outlet. Nick just washed 3 shirts on the sink and everyone's clean now.

Nick Update: When we got off the bus my pack got laid down in a big puddle of water. It it wet and lots of my clothes are too. It's ok thought, I'm not sweating it. Our new digs are 1000x better than at Koh San. DONE
* 850 baht is too much for a bus ~> 300-400
* Bamboo Inn @ Chiang Mai is nice (we think)
* 2 shorts, 6 shirts, 3 boxers, one pair of sandals is all you need. Small pack too.

July 9, 2006 (11:45PM), Sunday

On Saturday we got up early (again) and had banana pancakes and fried eggs instead of the american breakfast. Wait. The afternoon after we got to Chain Mai we went to the street vendors and were awestruck by the amount of amazing cheap stuff. We bought t-shirts and Jim bought Thai boxing shorts. I bought 4 shirts (Billabong, Coke, Red Bull, Hot Tuna) and Nick bought 5 (Billabong ect.) We ate lunch at a Thai place but Nick was the only one that ate anything. We took a nap after that and slept for two hours and I listened to Swazack. We woke up and went down to snack before dinner. Jim bought us beer and it tasted like horse piss but I drank it anyway cause he bought it. I got a little buzz I think, but I'm an alcohol virgin so who knows. Then we went to take naps and slept for two hours (scratch the nap thing earlier, it's backwards). We woke up and went to dinner at a western food place and ate bacon cheeseburgers and quesadillas. They were playing REM on the big screen. We talked to an Aussie named Emily. She was with Ryan who was a Peace Core volunteer from Washington state. Emily talked to Jim about Australian things and she talked about bungee jumping and rugby. We slept after that.

The next morning banana pancakes blah blah. We got on the "bus" to the mountains which was actually a pick up truck with a cover and seats in the back. We meet Tony, our guide, and the rest of the group. Valerie and Creetje were two lesbians from Belgium. Morten and his wife Liselotte were from Denmark. Morten talked about beer non-stop and Liselotte was out of shape and probably bad the worst time of all. Kieth was from the UK and was divorced. He has been lots of places and talked about Brazil, his job and cricket. Calvin and Suzanne were from New Zealand. On the ride up, Morten just talked about beer. We drove to the first village where we saw tons of cool people and wished we had toys for the kids. They drove us to our trail next and began walking. We walked for about 3.5 hours and ended up at a village where we spent the night. Jim and Nick helped cook by cutting mushrooms and I tried to tune the guitar, to no avail. We ate chicken curry. Nick said, "Tony, what's for dinner?" and Tony said, "Don't worry, chicken curry!". He let us taste Thai moonshine made out of rice and it burned my whole body.

I was so amazed at how different everyone was. It was awesome to sit at a table with six different nationalities and talk and learn about anything. Kieth told us about his sons and pension funds. Nick told him about dentist school. Morten asked Calvin about house prices in New Zealand since LOTR and Calvin said their property value skyrocketed. A thai villager showed us a one-day-old kitten. After dinner we sat at the campfire and we found out the Belgium girls were lesbians by the way they held hands. We went to bed at 8:30PM. Out hut had mats and mosquito nets. Calvin snored like a champ and Valerie got bit (or bitten, who knows) 11 times by mosquitoes. During breakfast (eggs, toast) we saw our first elephants walk through the village. The dogs in the village slept almost in the fire to keep warm I guess.

We started walking then and crossed many rice patties. We learned the land in the national park is free and every family gets 3-4 acres. 1 rice plant makes about one handful of rice. We did a good bit of treking before we finally reached the elephants. It was amazing to see how big these 2-3 ton animals really were. Me and Jim rode on their necks because they didn't have enough elephants. When they chewed leaves and bamboo I could feel them crunching it through their skull. They were huge. We got off the elephants and kept hiking. Tony taught us two leaf tricks. One you pop the leaf and one you shoot the leaf. Tony was an amazing person. He'd been trekking almost every day for about 4 years and knew the answer to every question we had. He loved Bob Marley. We walked straight uphill for almost 1/2 a mile and we came to a river. We swam and played in the waterfall. We had raman noodles and vegetables for lunch.

*SIDE NOTE* on the way up to the mountains, we stopped at a market to buy food. We bought a pineapple and Jim's second bite produced an ant which bit his cheek. He screamed in pain and the Thai lady laughed and pointed it out to everyone. Hilarity ensued.

Then we hiked to our final stop and on the way we rated people on a scale from 1-10 and passed the time well. We stopped finally at the "7-11 Jungle" and got on the truck. We drove to the bamboo floating place. Me and Nick and Jim were on a raft. Jim got to drive and in a really tight turn, I tried to help him by swinging the back end around.

I leaned hard on my pole to stop us and the water ended up being much deeper than the pole. I fell in and hit a tree with my back (not hard, don't worry I'm ok). I lost the pole in the confusion and swam back to the raft. Everyone laughed and it was good fun. Later we came to the rapids which we got to go through (not that big) and come to a cliff jump. We jumped off the cliff with the Thais and said bye. The rafting was so relaxing and was a highlight. On the drive back, Keith explained cricket and Morten talked soccer. We're going to watch the World Cup Final (France v. Italy) with them now (1:00AM).

* Meatoh and Doe Khan Kam are villages
* Last night the first 'rhea hit. I was playing pool when I felt my colon building pressure like a steam piston. I quickly pocketed the 8 ball and went for the bathroom. Pressure continued to build as I ran to the bathroom. Just as I lost control I reached the toilet. I think it was my milkshake.

Bocas del Awesome

2008-07-29T09:23:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 5:50PM

On Sunday, after pancakes, we hopped on a bus back to Boca del Drago. We needed to take a Rocking G picture for Cuzzie, so we decided on starfish. We wasted no time when we got there and we were done with in 5 minutes. We stayed until 3:00PM, lounging, tanning and talking about poker. When we got back, Mike and I cooked noodles while everyone else went to Chitre. We sat around until 7:00PM when we went to the hookah bar. It turned out to be hookah night and we blazed through mix fruit and apple hookahs in no time. We talked to Thomas from France. When we left, we posted up in our usual spot next to the sandwich shop until bed. The power went out that night and it was hot as hell for 30 minutes.

On Monday, we took a boat tour for $17. We went to Dolphin bay first and saw 0 dolphins. Then we went snorkeling over a dead reef but we saw lots of sea cucumbers and urchins. The tour ended at Red Frog Beach. Our drivers stayed behind longer than we did so David had to run back and get them. We ate at Chitre when we got back. After showers, we went back to Mondo for martini night, and then posted up in the chairs.

Now, we're back in San Jose after a long bus ride from Panama. I held the bus up at the border because I forgot to enter Costa Rica. Idiot. It's also David's birthday. Happy birthday David!

Sick

2008-07-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

Sunday, July 20, 2008, 8:20AM

We found the key. The German girls that were in our room returned it to the front desk after finding it in the door. Yesterday I was sick. I woke up with a cold and had the runs after I drank coffee. So when everyone else headed to the beach, I sat in a chair in the main room and read David Baldacci. I got better and when they came back, we sat around and talked for a while before going to dinner. Dale and I had criol fish with rice, while Mike and Nick had Carribean Burger No. 2. We went to the end of the street and sat in chairs next to the sandwich shop. Julia showed up and her and David went over to Aqua Lounge for 10 minutes and came back. We went and got some ice cream, sat in the park, watched rats and went to bed.

1 Foot of Pancakes

2008-07-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

Saturday, July 19, 2008, 7:30AM

Yesterday, I got up at 6:50AM and came straight to the kitchen. I made what I thought to be a large amount of pancake batter. For 1 hour, I cooked pancakes. I made a 1-foot-high plate for all 5 of us. Everyone had about 8. Then we rented boards from Mondo Taitu and took a water taxi to the backside of Wizard Beach. Then we hiked/slid down a path of pure mud, barefoot. Nick fell within 1 minute and Dale and I soon followed. It was funny and we were all laughing. The beach was nice and at points, it was hotter than anywhere I've ever been. The waves were crap but it was fun to paddle around. The day before, a guy drowned after being caught in the riptide. Soldiers came up and asked if we'd seen the body. The hike back was much easier and we showered up and napped after returning the boards (we dinged one). We went to happy hour at Mondo and ended up talking to Julia from New York and two people from Utah. They were with the guy that drowned and watched him float out and call for help. Our minds were blown and we kept bringing this up. For dinner, Carribean Burger No. 2 was closed so we had pizza with Martin from Holland, a girl clown from Costa Rica, Jackie, Holland and a Gypsy. Martin told us the trick to doing shrooms was to only interact with other people who are tripping. Good to know. We said goodbye and dipped to bed. We lost the key.

Granada to Bocas del Toro

2008-07-29T09:11:00.001-04:00

Thursday, July 17, 2008, 10:00PM

Wow. I haven't updated in almost 1 week. That's not good.

Well Dad and I woke up on Saturday and had a cup of coffee before packing up and hopping on a chicken bus to Rivas. From Rivas we transferred to Granada. A drunk guy came up and “talked” to me but I told him I didn't speak Spanish so he used hand motions to show that we were amigos. We found the Bearded Monkey Hostel without any problems and reunited with Nick, Dale, David and Mike. Kevin had left the day before to go to San Jose. Bye Kevo. All of Saturday was spent laying around the hostel and napping. Dad and I wandered down to the lake and watched some kids playing soccer in the street. Nick and I updated the email group and we heard some lady getting robbed at the Western Union. For dinner we went to a pizza place near the lake. On the way, a man asked David, Nick and I if we wanted to test out a 4-person bike. It was amazing and David described it as “the best experience of his adult life.” The pizza was delicious but the street performers were better. Three kids were break dancing and only the older one knew what he was doing. Then the scariest costume ever, a sheet lady with a pot for a head, twisted her arms to the beat of a drum. It was disturbing and funny. We ate with two guys from Australia. When we went to bed, they were watching “21 Grams” in the room next to us. I woke up an hour later to the credits, where a guy was screaming “JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOU!” I turned it off and went back to sleep. The next morning we hopped in a truck at 9:30AM and rode on the bumpiest road ever up into the mountains to do a canopy tour. We had lots tons of fun and took funny videos of zip-lining where David got stuck. We heard howler monkeys and saw huge ants in the trees. After rappelling down “mas rapido” we shook our way back down the trail and hung out with Dad until he took off at 2:30PM for Managua. David and I went to the worst grocery store ever to buy spaghetti, hot dogs and rum for the lake. We hopped in a taxi and rode up to the Monkey Hut at Laguna de Apoyo. The lake was in the middle of a 23,000-year-old volcano that created Lake Nicaragua. The water was a deep, clear blue. We spent the first day laying in tubes and floating out on the dock before cooking hot dogs with mac and cheese. We sat down at the water and talked about aliens, what-ifs and being fathers, before we finally went to bed.

Monday was no different. We spent the day trying to snap pictures of dock jumps and posing for cheesy pictures. Lunch was more hot dogs and then we moved our stuff to the cabana. Before it started to rain, Nick and Mike did flips and dives off of the dock. We went to bed and woke up at 5:30AM to go to San Jose. The buses were full and our day started off terribly. We caught a taxi to the Costa Rican border and sprinted through customs in 2 hours flat. We hopped on a Tica bus to San Jose. We stayed in Hostel Pangaea and ate at Wendy's for dinner. We took a 6-hour bus to the Panama border. When we left Costa Rica, we accidentally skipped border control and for 15 minutes, we were illegally in Panama, and a refugee of Costa Rica. We sorted out our confusion and took the bus the rest of the way to Chanquinola. An old taxi driver took us to the boat taxi and we scooted through canals out to Bocas del Toro. Aqua Lounge was full so we stayed at Heike Hostel in town. We ate dinner at Chitre, a Panamanian local joint and had some drinks before bed. During drinks, we talked to Jackie from British Columbia and a girl from Holland. Jackie worked at a nudist resort in Mexico called “Desires” where a few players from the Phoenix Suns and Playboy came.

Today, we woke up at 8:30AM and wanted to make pancakes. But the dirty dishes were stacked head-high and the lady who cleans them was working and muttering to herself. So we waited but eventually got around to it at 11:14AM and I cranked out about 18 pancakes before the bus showed up. We hopped on a really crowded bus, without David because he felt terrible, and rode for an hour to Boca del Drago. We walked around a point and discovered starfish heaven. There were starfish everywhere and they entertained up for hours. We set them upside down to see how fast they flipped over. The bus ride back was long and we picked up David to go to dinner. We had pizza down the street and updated afterwards. Before bed, we didn't shower because the water was turned off. Oh well.

The Return to Camping Matilda's

2008-07-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 11, 2008, 4:15PM

Thursday morning, after coffee and a breakfast bagel, Dad and I checked out of Posada Puesta del Mar. We tried to call Hector but he didn't answer. So after we rented boards, we took a taxi to Camping Matilda's. After she set up our room, we went surfing. The tide was going out but we caught some good rides. After we were worn out, we walked back to eat some lunch and nap. We went back out at 3:30PM. It was more crowded but still not too bad. Out of nowhere, 3 huge sets rolled in. Those waves were big. We both had a great time and were dead tired. We showered up and had spaghetti at the only restaurant. We were asleep by 8:30PM.

This morning, Dad woke up at 5:30AM on his own accord. I followed soon after and we went out for a morning session. I saw a sea turtle nest on the walk out there. We both ended the week with a few good rides. Dad had 6 good lefts and 1 right. We called Hector to pick us up and take us back to San Juan. We munched on arroz con pollo with a Tona for lunch and a nap followed very soon after. We woke up at 1:00PM and checked email for an hour. After a long walk down the beach, we're going to shower up and take advantage of Happy Hour at Pelican Eyes.

Yankee Beach

2008-07-29T09:06:00.000-04:00

Thursday, July 10, 2008, 6:50AM

Yesterday, Dad and I woke up around 8:00AM and grabbed some breakfast at Iguana. He had talked to Brent and got us on a truck to Yankee Beach at 11:00AM. After checking email, we made our way over and sat around for about an hour waiting on the truck. The ride to Yankee took about 1 hour but when we got there only three guys were in the water. The tide was going out so we hopped in the water with Paco, three guys from L.A. and our driver. The waves were more frequent than at Ramanso but I caught three really good rides before the tide went out. Then the waves started closing out and getting really hollow. We went up to the car to get some food but we couldn't find the keys. We sat in the shade with some guys from NC and Brent came along to tell a story about kicking some guys out of Arenal Caliente. We got back in the water and after 1 good ride, I was worn out. 30 minutes later everyone was packed and we headed home. The Asian guy to my right fell asleep and slammed his head on the window several times.

We showered and went up to Pelican Eyes for Happy Hour. The power went out for a while and George came by to say hey. Dinner was seafood chowder and chicken rice. I slept like a champ again last night. Mason is headed to Europe today and I hope he has a good time.

2 Nights In Hell

2008-07-29T09:05:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 6:00PM

We left Pelican Eyes at 12:00PM on Sunday, after a hearty breakfast and 3 sets of the Wimbledon final. We said goodbye to Cuzzie and hopped in a taxi to Maderas. We thought about walking but that would have been a terrible idea. The eco-lodge that we were going to stay at has since been destroyed so we stayed at Camping Matildas, right on the beach. There were only two real beds and 6 of us. So we drew cards to find out who had to sleep in the doghouse. These things were no more than 4 feet high and smelled exactly like cat pee. David and I drew the high cards and got lucky for night one. We played on the beach and explored the rocks. I got smashed by a wave and cut my fingers, legs, foot and lost a flipflop. Mike saved the flop and I recovered, a little shaken. We crossed another rushing channel and peeked around the corner at Morgan's Rock and Playa Majagual. Dale and I hiked 20 minutes in the other direction to Maderas surf break and watched about 15 guys catch some waves. We ate dinner at the only restaurant in town. David ordered fried fish skeleton, Mike got a rubber hamburger patty and the rest of us got pollo frito. Mine was delicious. Dale got diarrhea. The rest of the night, Dale spent in and out of our room with baby wipes.

In the morning, Dale and I called Hector to run us back to San Juan. We were supposed to pick up Dad but disaster struck when I checked my email and found out that his flight had been delayed for 1 day in Atlanta. We made plans to pick him up the next day at the same time and went to eat lunch. We had pizza near the beach and watched “Twister”. We treated ourselves to an ice cream cone and made our way back to the campsite. The rest of the day was spent playing on the beach. Kevin and Dale got the beds for night two, so after a big dinner of chicken spaghetti, David and I ordered 5 beers and went to bed. I woke up every 30 minutes, hot and sweaty, but it was just like sleeping on the boat so I was OK.

We made our way back to San Juan early the next morning. I said goodbye to the group and went down to Hotel Estrella. I wasn't there for 5 minutes when Dad pulled up in a taxi. I was so relieved and excited to see him. We searched for a place to sleep and finally found a nice room at Posada Puesta del Mar. After a big meal of garlic fish and Tonas, we went and talked to Brent at Arenal Caliente. He told us about some good breaks at Yankee Beach, Maderas and Ramanso. We rented boards and met up with Hector to run us over to Ramanso. The waves were much better than I'd thought. Dad and I caught the first wave together. We stayed out until 5:00PM when it got a little crowded and headed back. After showers, we emailed mom to tell her we were alright and went to eat dinner. My chicken and rice filled me up and I slept much better last night.

3 Days In Heaven

2008-07-29T09:03:00.001-04:00

Saturday, July 5, 2008, 11:30AM

Mike and David got in right at 8:30PM. We were siked to see them and we gave them some of our sausage pasta that we'd made for dinner. We tried to buy some drinks at the store but they closed at 8:00PM and we got to the store at 8:07PM. So we went to the bar instead and played “Asshole”. We woke up at 6:00AM to catch the bus at 7:00AM to the border. The bus ride was bumpy but fun because our driver was nice. We were all pretty tired and we slept for a bit. When we got to the border, David immediately exchanged all his money to Cordobas without counting it and got ripped off for sure. We stood in line for about 30 minutes to get out of the country. When we finally got to Nicaragua, we hopped back in a line for 1.5 hours. A guy gave me a piece of paper to fill out for customs and then asked for a tip. I refused and he punished me by following me around for an hour. There were also two grimy, dirty girls who made palm leaves into souvenirs. We didn't give them anything and they called us “ugly” and “fat”. We paid our $7.00 to get into the country and hopped in a taxi to San Juan del Sur. Our taxi driver had a CD of love ballads and we rocked out to “Yellow Brick Road” all the way down there. When we got to San Juan, our driver pulled up to Pelican Eyes, Piedras y Olas Hotel and Resort. He thought we were going to pay $10/person but we had agreed to pay $20 total. David kept throwing money at him until he was happy. The resort was unbelievable. Our house, Trinitaria, was near the top of the hill in Fase II and it was amazing. A/C, TV, two floors, full kitchen, four beds, two baths. We were in heaven. After we were done marveling at the house, we walked down to the beach. Dale, Mike Kevin and I swam while Nick and David ate. The beach break got to be pretty good and we watched some kids tear up the waves. We bought some sausage and noodles for dinner.

After showers and unpacking, Dale and I started boiling water and frying sausage on the glass cover on top of the stove. It looked right but we were never 100% certain that was the way it worked. Nick asked us if it was alright to do that and we all shrugged and said, “Sure.” 30 minutes later, disaster struck. The glass exploded like a bomb when I lifted the lid to the pasta, and shards flew everywhere. Nobody moved for 30 seconds and Nick reminded us to turn the flames off. We were ruined and the mood went from happy to sad/mad/pissed in 1 second. We didn't now what to do so we cleaned up the glass a little bit and ate a quiet dinner. After dinner, Nick went down to tell reception what we'd done and the cleaning crew came by and swept up our mess. We went to bed sad.

Yesterday was kicked off with a killer breakfast of eggs Benedict and English muffins. We hit the pool hard and read and listened to iPods all day. We're really good at being bums and we showed off all day. We hung out at the waterfall of the infinity pool and then showered. Dinner was a hot dog to celebrate the 4^th of July and we shared drinks with Cuzzie and George. They told us about their investments and how they ended up in Nicaragua. Then we hit Iguana Bar and got there in George's truck. Mike, David and I chatted while Nick, Dale and Kevin ate dinner.

Today was a repeat of yesterday except that we switched houses. We had dinner in town for Dale's birthday. Now we're watching Star Wars and we're about to cook hot dogs.

"Hi, I'm Jamiroquai"

2008-07-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 1:00PM

Yesterday and today have been pretty easy, as if the whole trip was “hard” up until now. We hopped on the “Jeep”, which was really a van, at 2:30PM and rode about 45 minutes to Lago de Fortuna, or something like that (for the purpose of record-keeping, it's actually Lago de Arenal). They transferred us to the boat which ferried us across this beautiful lake to the last leg of the journey. We rode for about an hour over bumpy, unpaved roads. The landscape was unbelievable. For as far as we could see, there were steep, rolling hills covered in green pastures, with small forests scattered throughout. I think it would be fun to, one day, come back and hike through that area for a week or so. We ended our ride in Monteverde, but only after we picked up two girls who's van had died. The Indian girl from Toronto ripped on Americans and the deaf girl from D.C. ripped on NC State, even though she went there, calling UNC “...the better school in North Carolina.” I hope her trip sucks. We hung out in the hostel last night and drank 40's while playing “Scum”. We laughed so hard at the ridiculous stuff Nick and Kevin made us do. It was some girls birthday so we wore masks all night in honor of her. I had to go outside without my shirt on and introduce myself to everyone as “Jamiroquai”. Mike and David are supposed to get in at 7:30PM tonight...we'll see about that.

Volcano Arenal

2008-07-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 10:40AM

Yesterday started at 8:00AM-ish when we got up and munched on some frosted flakes. Dale did not feel good and got cramps while watching Wimbledon. We went to get some money and paid for another night in the room. Our tour started at 3:00PM so we grabbed lunch at Burger King around 2:00PM. Our tour bus picked us up and we started at a hike near the volcano Arenal. This thing was seriously impressive. We also had the perfect day for hiking and there weren't many clouds in the sky at all. We walked through a secondary forest and peeped at spider monkeys, howler monkeys, ants and parrots. Then they took us over to a river where we could see the “lava” flow down the side. I thought it'd be a bit more impressive but we did see the volcano cough up some ash and heard an explosion. The best part about the tour took place at Bali Hot Springs. This place was huge and there were pools where the temperature ranged from really cold to 152F. We never found that one but we did touch one that said 119F and it scalded our skin. We all got so tired and hungry from lounging around the pools. When it was time to go, a guy from our hostel (we called him Massachusetts) asked us to wait for him while he got his shoes. We tried to wait but the driver said we had to go and we left him there. Dale skipped dinner when we got back but Nick, Kevin and I ate at a pizzeria and got lots of good food. I slept really well after that.

La Fortuna Falls

2008-07-29T08:57:00.001-04:00

Monday, June 30, 2008, 10:42AM

Yesterday we woke up early because we went to bed early. We headed over to the grocery store and snagged some frosted flakes, leche and peanut butter bread. After breakfast, we took a taxi to La Fortuna Falls. It cost $7 to get in but we definitely got our money's worth by the end of the day. After snappin' some pictures of the falls, we made our way down the 1,000,000 stairs to the pool. The agua was muy frio but it was fun. We tried to swim as hard as we could into the falls but we never came close. We chilled there for a few hours and then went downstream to explore. I lost a Chaco and Kevin saved it. We moved back upstream to each lunch. The tortilla chips were delicious and we were quite full after the peanut butter sandwiches. With our fresh energy, we hiked up a trail that lead to zip line tours. It poured while we were in the jungle but the rain felt good. After the hike we dipped in the water one more time and a dumb kid asked us if there was a current. Idiot. We didn't pay the $1.50 for the cab ride back and I got blisters on the walk back to the hostel. After a shower and rest, we hit up Las Brasitas again for another mega burrito.

Canas Is the Worst

2008-07-29T08:55:00.001-04:00

Friday, June 28, 2008, 8:52PM

Since we used up all of the fun in Tamarindo, we caught a bus at 11:30AM to Liberia. We thought we'd never see that city again but there we were, listening to an old man yell, “COCO! COCO!”. The bus ride from Liberia to Canas was worse. It got really packed and when we thought nobody else could fit, they'd stop and snag some more. Then the day took a turn for the worst. When I got off the bus at the station, I set the Scrambler down to get our packs out of the bus. As I was lifting the hatch, a guy came up and talked to me and “helped” me with the bags. I turned around and saw that the Scrambler was gone. I jumped up and spotted the jerk who took it. I sprinted after him and grabbed the back of his shirt and my bag at the same time. My heart was racing but I didn't think to hit him. I should have.

We hopped on the next bus to Tilaran. This but was hell. We stood for an hour and it was moving up the mountain at 4 MPH. When we finally got off, we caught a 2-hour taxi to La Fortuna. The taxi driver made a comment about some lady we saw on the side of the road who gets drunk and has sex. We found a hostel with our own room and ate the best dinner of the trip. Mega burritos and stories about middle school put us in good spirits. We're hittin the sack early...again.