What?!? No Fireworks?!?

So, Independence Day turned out to be a bit of a flop. I was hoping for some crazy, colorful festivities, but we either missed them or they plain didn't happen. We got up in time to see the parade, but it was pretty dull compared to some of the impromptu parades we've just happened across on our trip. Basically, it consisted of various groups of school children marching, playing instuments, and dancing (sort of). None of them did so with much enthusiasm -- probably because it was so hot. The bands were almost entirely made up of drummers, which makes for more of a racket than anything. One of the bands had a saxophonist and a trumpeter, but we watched them pass by slowly and I didn't hear those brass instruments once. The dancers (if you could call them that)were kind of amusing though. There was one group of girls in mini-skirts, button-down long-sleeved blouses, black ties, dark sunglasses, and white knee socks that marched by very slowly, stomping only their left feet with every step. They looked like crazy robots. Sadly, after the parade, nothing else happened. No fireworks or anything at night either.

Mike and I spent the rest of the day on Saturday walking along the beach, taking photos and looking for seashells. It was nice. A little rainy, but so is every other day here.

Today we biked southeast to a town called Nicoya. We're trying to schlep our bums over to the volcanoes as speedily as possible since we want to have a bit of time left to chill in the hot springs before heading to San Jose and leaving Central America. Nicoya is more of a stop-over than a destination, but it's nice enough.

I don't have much for news since I posted just the other day, but I wanted to add a little something before tacking on these photos!



Pacific sunset viewed from a hilltop in La Cruz, Costa Rica.



One of the boys in costume, dancing in the central park of La Cruz.



And the girls, all lined-up in their pretty dresses.



Here's a contrast for you: from pretty little girls to parts of a dead cow by the side of the road. Eww!

Central American Country Numero Seis

Well, we've made it to our final destination country for this leg of our journey; Mike and I will be spending the next 2 weeks in Costa Rica before heading back to the States to visit family and friends and attend my sister's wedding (so excited!).

On Tuesday morning we left the island of Ometepe and its thigh-trashing volcanoes behind (Can you believe we're still in pain 3 days later? Pathetic.). We caught an early ferry to the mainland on the western edge of the lake and began our 40 km ride south to the border. It proved an easy crossing as usual, and we continued another 20 km to our first stop in Costa Rica: La Cruz.

La Cruz provided an excellent view of the Pacific in the distance, but it turned out to be an interesting stop for a couple of other reasons, as well. First of all, there was some kind of event at the parque central featuring dances and costumes. We saw tons of cute little kids dressed up in fancy dresses and suits. The girls all had buns and flowers in their hair and the boys wore decorated straw hats. One group we saw perform consisted of kids around 6 years old, and we also saw some older teenagers in costume, though we missed their dance. I'll try to add some photos later, but it was already quite dark outside and I don't think they turned out real well. After we returned from our stroll around the park and dinner we met a German couple staying at our hotel. They, too, are on a bike trip, but theirs has taken them around the world. They've been traveling since March 2006 and have put 39,000 kilometers on their bikes. Even crazier still, the man is 68 years old and puts me to shame! Just to name a few countries, they've been through Turkey, Iran, India, Vietnam, Australia, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Panama, and loads more. Now that's a good way to spend retirement!

Today we battled some strong crosswinds to make it to a pretty large city called Liberia. One thing that we've noticed is that Costa Rica is a lot cleaner than its Central American neighbors -- almost sterile in comparison. We haven't seen much trash or many dead animals on the road; all of the buses have been greyhound-style rather than hand-me-down school buses; and most people we've seen have been driving 4-door sedans instead of pedalling bikes, driving carts pulled by donkeys, riding horses, walking, or piling into full-to-bursting pickup trucks. The police seem to be on virtually every street corner as well. With its more American atmosphere, Costa Rica comes with U.S. prices once more too (bummer!). Perhaps it will be good in helping us transition back to the States for a bit though -- maybe we won't go into complete culture shock when we arrive back home in two weeks.

Costa Rica has certainly been beautiful so far, and we're looking forward to a range of activities in the upcoming days. We'll head to the beaches in the northwest first, then bike east toward the volcanoes and hot springs north of San Jose. We've already seen some monkeys chillin' in the trees by the highway, and Mike caught sight of an awesome bird, so we're hoping to see some neat wildlife as well.

For now, I'll give you a taste of our hike up Volcan Maderas and a few other photos from the island. Oh, and don't miss the new poll to the left!



Crazy cloud forest trees!



The monkeys are watching our progress.



Here are some more crazy vines and trees. Can you picture us swinging through these all day?



Mike's favorite plant. Remind you of anything?



Our summit shot. It's not the best photo of the two of us, but you can kind of see the crater lake behind us.



Here's a better shot of just the lake. We were told that it only has about 2 meters of water in it, but that the mud on the bottom goes much, much deeper.



Here's a view of Lake Nicaragua and Isla Ometepe below from one of the few breaks in the dense jungle vegetation.



Concepcion, the other volcano on Ometepe. This one's active and emits toxic gases, so we didn't climb it (as if that's the only reason...).



A view of Concepcion from the west.



Say, "Bacon!" Actually, we ate at a restaurant in Moyogalpa that claimed to have the only bacon available on the island. With as many pigs as there are running around, you'd think the islanders would have lots of crispy bacon for breakfast.



"Don't mind me." This is what we had to contend with on the roads of Ometepe: lots of dirt, rocks, cows, and cow patties.