I took a four day weekend to go to Nicaragua. I went with the two Canadians from Bagaces and we left early on Thursday morning. The border crossing didn't take too long and we made it to the beach at San Juan del Sur before one. We checked into a hostel that I had stayed before and headed out to explore the town.

We started walking north down the road looking for some nice beaches along the coast. After a lot of walking we decided to hitchhike and quickly picked up a couple of rides that took us closer to the beaches. We weren't exactly sure where the beach was, so we wandered into a group of newly constructed beach houses. The only path that we could see was behind a barbed wire and while we were looking for another way down, a guard carrying a shotgun showed up and asked what we were doing. He showed us a hole in the barbed wire and told us not to come back, emphasizing this by pointing at his shotgun. The beach itself had a few houses around but not a single person to be seen. On the way back we saw a lot of different kinds of new development and even came across a pet spider monkey whose tail was just as useful as any hand. We eventually caught a ride in a big truck that took us all the way back to the town. That evening we ate pizza and ended up crashing early.

The next morning we rented a couple of surfboards and took a taxi to a good surfing beach north of the town. The beach had some big waves and quite a lot of rocks, but there was plenty of space where beginners could practice. It was extremely tiring working my way through the surf to get out to where the waves were breaking, but it was a lot of fun catching the waves. Later in the afternoon the waves started to change and it was harder to catch the waves, but it was still fun. Later that evening, the one Canadian, Greg, ran into his tattoo artist from Canada who was there with his Nicaraguan tattoo artist friend. Greg made plans to get a new tattoo over the next couple of months from him in Managua. I also ran into a girl who had just graduated from Western in genetics and was volunteering in a hospital nearby in Nicaragua. She was born in Argentina and was a big soccer fan. She went to the U20 World Cup Argentina-Czech Republic first round game in Toronto. Those two teams played again in the final which was won by Argentina, so I imagine she was pretty happy about that.

The next day was rainy so we decided to head up to Granada. We decided to stay in the Bearded Monkey hostel which I had stayed before. However it was really full and they only had three spaces left: a mattress on the floor, a hammock and a sofa. We decided to stay regardless and I took the mattress. By a strange coincidence I was not the only Asaph in the hostel. There was another older man from Israel that had the same name as me. I talked with him and he said that my name is relatively common in Israel, but he was the first person that I have ever met with the same name. That evening we went to a very American sports bar and had wings, onion rings and hamburgers, which was a nice change from my normal fare, but seemed out of place in Granada. The whole town is undergoing a very thorough renovation geared to attract tourists and has changed quite a bit since the first time I arrived. There are cobblestoned streets being put in, lanterns and flower pots being put up, and the cathedrals have been repainted. There were even large changes since the last time I had been there in Easter.

The next day was Sunday and we had to head back to Costa Rica. The return trip was relatively uneventful except for the fact that Greg had not had a full night sleep on the sofa and fell into such a deep sleep on every bus that it was hard to wake him up.

This last picture is one of my new house in the woods. I woke up last night with a large scorpion crawling on my face. Apparently I have a new pet.

The last couple of weeks have been quite hectic. It seems that every night it's somebody's birthday or somebody is leaving or there is a soccer game or there is some other reason to stay out late and drink. In addition, I have been changing houses, so I had stuff all over the place and I was basically a nomad for a week. My landlady had her son come back to town unexpectedly and she needed my room back. She offered another room temporarily if I needed it. Luckily, I knew somebody who was moving to the San Jose area for six months and needed somebody to take care of his house for that time. However, this means that I am now living very primitively. The house is about 2 km outside of Bagaces and is hidden amid the trees and is quite isolated. The house consists of one small room with dirt floor and a tin roof and bars instead of glass for the windows. The bathroom is an outhouse about 100 meters away and the shower is outside and consists of a pipe pouring out water. There are three big friendly dogs that I am taking care of as well. I do have a comfortable bed, electricity, a fridge and running water so its not exactly like camping, but it feels like it. It does mean that I don't have to pay rent and I now have someplace to prepare food, but it also takes about twice as long to get to work. So far I'm enjoying living there, but I'm not sure how long I will be able to. I am still keeping an ear out for potential places in Bagaces.

Last weekend in between house moving I managed to find time to take a three day trip to the beaches of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. I have been to the Caribbean in Panama and Honduras, but never in Costa Rica so I was looking forward to seeing someplace new. The bus ride was not easy. I first had to take the bus to San Jose and I caught the bus from Bagaces. I had to stand but there wasn't too many people on the bus so I figured I would get a seat soon. I was wrong. I ended up standing on the bus for almost the full four hours and didn't get a seat until we were almost in San Jose. I was hoping the next bus would be a bit better because I guaranteed myself a seat by buying a ticket. Unfortunately I had the only seat in the bus with no window and a huge traffic jam lengthened the trip from 4 hours to 7 and a half hours. Luckily I had a newspaper and the American girl next to me was interesting to talk to.

I finally arrived at Puerto Viejo at 9:30 and managed to run into some friends I had made in Tamarindo. They went to a school in San Jose where they were studying Spanish and one of them had invited me to the Caribbean. I managed to find a place to stay at a nice hostel. There were dorm rooms or you could rent a tent or hammock to sleep for the night. I went back out with my friends and spent the night dancing to Caribbean reggae.

The next day I rented bikes with two of my friends and we biked 6 kilometers to a relatively calm beautiful beach outside of town. It had been raining the day before and in the morning but luckily the sun came up just as we got to the beach. The waves were quite a bit smaller than the waves at Puerto Viejo, but they were still surprisingly strong. They were also the perfect waves for body surfing, so I spent most of the day riding the waves right up to the shore. I also almost got hit by a big fish that flew out of the water right in front of me but I wasn't quick enough to catch it. That evening we went to a Asian Restaurant that had Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. They had all-you-can-eat sushi for quite cheap but I chose the freshly caught fish instead, which was delicious. The next day we went to a very nice cafe which had homemade chocolate and homemade peanut butter and served an excellent breakfast. The bus to go back didn't leave until noon so we still had time to relax on the beach. I really wanted to try surfing, but the only surf shops I could find were right next to the "Salsa Brava", one of Costa Rica's most famous waves, and it was way too advanced for me. We found another beach where the waves were slightly smaller and I tried to go body surfing again. Although I managed to catch some waves really well, the pounding I took getting back out was extremely tiring and I had to go back to the beach to rest.

I arranged to get a lift back with the private van that my friends had hired and the trip back to San Jose was a quick 3 and a half hours. I said goodbye and headed back to Bagaces. Puerto Viejo is completely different than the beaches over here on the Pacific coast. There are a lot of tourists, but it is not nearly as built up and still has the feel of a relaxed beach town. But it still managed to have many great restaurants and places to stay. Hopefully I will have a chance to get back there again.