Granada and Alajuela

Feliz año nuevo amigos!

Lots of love, happiness, health and travel adventures for all of you! In 2017 and all coming years. I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve. I had! In Granada.

When I arrived in Granada, after a boat - walk - plane - bus - taxi - bus - walk - adventure, I felt directly like coming home. I knew the city, I knew the hostel, and I knew some amazing friends I met in Panama, who were waiting for me. What a great reunion! 4 Dutch girls, an Englishman and me, a weird combination of all solo travellers, were ready for some great days together. Relaxing, walking through the city, playing cards and eating good food. Doing yoga, hanging at a beautiful pool and I even got the first pedicure of my whole life. Sjoukje in zen-mode.

Then suddenly it was december 31th. The last day of 2017. It was 35degrees Celsius and the sky was cloudless. And of course I (we :) ) had to climb the only volcano I hadn't done yet in that region: Volcan Mombacho. A great old year's hike. The first 5km were steep, physically challenging and a bit boring. But once at the top, a cute 1150m, the beauty began. We were rewarded with an amazing view over region Granada, including lake Nicaragua and its islands, lake Apollo, dozens of volcanoes and Granada itself.
The evening was even better. First of all we drunk a beer at 17 o'clock (Dutch new year) and 18 o'clock (English new year). To introduce our Englishman to our Dutch traditions, we celebrated Sinterklaas. Including poems and presents. On New Year's Eve. In Nicaragua. It couldn't be better. The fun of making and reading poems, the effort everybody put into it... I was traveling with amazing people. The night was celebrated by dancing in the street together with a mix of locals and tourist, the ambiance created by an enthusiastic live band. Barely fireworks (luckily) but happy and sweaty people everywhere.
The next morning was a bit less pleasant... :P

On January 2th, 3 days before departure, I left Nicaragua again. The bus drive and border crossing were quite exiting. We had to give our passport to the bus driver; they would take care of the exit stamp from Nicaragua. Luckily my European passport was perfectly recognisable between the other nica/tica passports, so I could check once in a while if it was still there. However, before I reached the border, the police obliged us to leave the bus, nobody knew why -or was able to explain me- and after waiting for half an hour and some luggage checks, we continued. This happened once more at the border. Entering Costa Rica was a challenge from another level. The border crossing took 3.5h. The line was more than 500m, with a width of 5persons, standing in the burning sun. But finally I got the stamp, got dropped of at the airport near San Jose, took a cap and arrived 11hours later in Alajuela. The really last stage of my trip. I planned three nights there, which felt really weird. Nice actives to do, but my mind was already partly home.

Despite that, I absolutely enjoyed the rafting trip the next day. River Pacuare is a beauty, with its blue water, canyons and pebble beaches, surrounded by untouched rain forest. And the rafting itself..? A pussy variant of white water kayaking!
To end my trip in style, I "climbed" my last (9th? I don't even know anymore!) volcano; volcano Poas. Super lucky with the cloudless sky, I had an amazing view over the rocky crater with its white-grey-blue lake. The smell of sulphur, the signs of acid rain, the neighbouring craters and their lakes, again stunning! I walked with really funny Austrian couple, in their sixties, which like hiking with my parents -a positive feeling!-. What a perfect ending of 3 months of exploring, hiking and traveling.

And now? I'm ready to fly home in a couple of hours. The original plan was San Jose-Madrid-London-Amsterdam. Of course nothing goes against plan. Companies love to change their flight schedule, to support my (hopefully) final travel challenge... I would have been stranded in London without the amazing support from back home (met een eervolle vermelding voor Joyce). I can do a sight seeing in Madrid ànd I will actually arrive in Amsterdam (January 6th).

Now I know, the combination of a happy and sad feeling at the same time, is possible. Bye Latin-America, bye amazing nature and great people, hallo home, parents, family, friends and comfort zone!

Nos vemos!