Im Back from Costa Rica

Hello blog reader! I have been away for a while now but now I am back from my trip to Costa Rica. - Lucky me!  Costa Rica is an incredible country and was perfect for the type of travelling experience myself and the girls were looking for. It was action packed but had a good dose of chill out time- plenty of reading in hammocks.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Our flight to Costa Rica was an experience in itself- we had a 24 hour journey- London to Toronto, Canada, Toronto to Houston, then Houston to San Jose Costa Rica.  

A beautiful cow on the way up to the La Fortuna Volcano.  Moo

La Fortuna

This was in Monte Verde where the weather was not fantastic.  Being up high in the mountains, we had humid rain here.  We stayed here very shortly just to do the 'Superman Zipline' and Tarzan Swing- which, by the way, was great fun. 

One of the many beautiful flowers in Costa Rica. 

This is John, one of the guys that ran a hostel in Puerto Viejo called Lazy Mon. His tatts were crazy... as you can see. 

To go into Panama you have to fill in a few forms, pay a few dollars and walk over an old wooden bridge which is missing a few wooden slats and old rusty broken rail tracks.  Whilst watching your feet so as to not fall through the holes on the bridge, you are graced with the most beautiful view of the river and green hills. 

A nutter dressed in 80s gear that ricked up into our hostel in Bocas Del Toro in Panama. We stayed in a hostel called Hosteluego which was fantastic.  I would recommend this hostel to anyone going to Panama. 

Me and Em in Bocas Del Toro

Playa Zapatilla (paradise)

Playa Zapatilla

Me on Playa Zapatilla (which means 'beach slipper')

Laura on her way to go for a cheeky snorkel in Bocas Del Toro

A Tree in the Sea 

A house on the water in Bocas Del Toro

This was a walkway to a little restaurant again in Bocas Del Toro. 

Pointers from my experience in Costa Rica:

1) Get out of San Jose as soon as possible- it is an ugly city with over priced accommodation.

2) The best hostel we stayed in the grime city that is San Jose was Hostel Pangea.  We also stayed at Rica Backpackers and that was down right disgusting and dirty. 

3) Work out the currency before you go- there are about 500 Colon to 1$.  you may get ripped off when you first arrive if they work out you don't know what you are doing with the Colon. 

4) If you are travelling in the British Summer, go as south as possible to get the best weather. 

If you are looking for an action packed holiday or even just a chill out, with good food and friendly people, head on to costa rica.  You will be pleasantly surprised. 

Im off to Costa Rica

Tomorrow morning myself and four other girls (my sister included) are off to Costa Rica for a month.  I could not be more excited.  As a result of travelling around, where internet will be sparse and costly, I have decided I am going to give myself a months break from blogging. These are some of the things I will be doing in the next month to give you an idea...  Bring on the 18 hour journey there.

Ibiza

As I informed you, last week I was on the notorious party island of Ibiza. I was apprehensive about going to Ibiza: firstly because Ibiza is a place for excessive drinking (which Im not very good at) and secondly because the trip was being organised by Erasmus. So were my apprehensions viable?  Yes and no.

Our journey getting to Ibiza was absolute hell. We were told to get to the bus stop in Valencia for threepm. After a three hour wait outside at the bus stop (waiting for the unorganised Erasmus life staff to sort out which pupils had paid) we finally left at 6 o clock. 

We then had an hour and a half bus journey to Denia (the port where our ferry was leaving from).  We then had a two hour wait (outside in the cold) before we got on our ferry at 10pm.  Our ferry was four and a half hours long which consisted of drinking and bopping around in a 'boat disco'.  To paint you a picture; imagine a group of European people (a lot of french, german and italiens) all drunk, on a swaying ferry.  The boys were wearing dodgy coloured fake raybans, plastic trilbys, tacky wife beaters and ill-matched (mainly chequered or billabong) swim shorts.  The girls were wearing those too short shorts, flip flops and a fluro boob tube that doesn't stay up.  I sound very judgemental but it was more peoples behaviour that was most shocking.  Everyone on the boat was looking for a shag or at least a bit of tonsil tennis. After an hour or two of bopping on the boat, I looked around and realised that people were either eating each others faces, grinding on one another, excessively drinking, or passed out. We finally arrived in Ibiza at 2am.  We then had to wait an hour before being lead to our hotel which was a fifteen minute walk away. We arrived at our hotel at 3am where there was one man on the reception desk waiting to check in 300 students using paperwork.  We waited our turn and was finally checked in, freezing cold, at 4am. We arrived in our room to no beds set up and one sheet to keep us warm. Sleep was only granted at 5am after we had hunted a few blankets down and made our bed. 

Despite our crappy journey, the rest of the trip was fantastic.  Im going to go with the saying pictures speak a thousand words.  So here is the rest of our trip. 

The first day we hired cars and drove to a secluded little beach.  

Here is Laura in her cool tiger swimsuit on the beach.

Hugo passed out on the pebble beach.

A Weekend In Madrid

Last weekend my twin and I took a four and a half hour coach journey through the countryside of Spain, from Valencia to Madrid. Although both cities are Spanish, Madrid and Valencia are not similar.  Madrid is bigger, dirtier and basically a big city.  I can easily say that I prefer Valencia. The metro was confusing in Madrid, the people looked sad and everything was a bit more expensive (my generalisation). Although we had loads of fun visiting the city and supporting our friends in the Madrid Marathon, we were glad to get back to the pretty buildings, friendlier people, sweet side streets and gorgeous shops of Valencia.  The highlight of the trip was seeing friends who we hadn't seen in ages. But aside from friends there were two things that made Madrid: The Central Market and the Flamenco Show we went to.  

Here are some pictures of the market. 

The central market: Mercado De San Miguel

Big Scary Monkfish

Little Chorizo's

Laura and I

Me at the Market in front of the Mojitos and fruit juices

Off Ibiza Today

Despite my apprehension, I am off to Ibiza today.  Why am I apprehensive?  Well this is not going to be a relaxed in the sun holiday.  For starters the weather is predicted to be a bit blustery, cloudy and cold rather than the super sunny place we all think of as Ibiza. Furthermore, this holiday is a prepaid Erasmus (university year abroad) holiday.  This means we are booked to go to a few water and foam parties and are expected to get drunk, and be drunk for five solid days.  Those that know me well know this is not really my style.  I am one who gets horrendous hangovers and dreads the feeling of waking up after having a few drinks- sometimes the pain the next morning is not worth the night before.  But shut me up.  I am going to go with the mantra of keeping a positive mind set and go with the flow.  Im sure the holiday will have its moments, but its a holiday, so it should be fun.  For the rest fo the week, my posts will be scheduled. I'll let you know how the week of drinking goes after. Wish me luck! Sarah X

Mozambique

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have just got back from Mozambique. I can only describe Mozambique as the epitome of rural Africa. The beaches are untouched: white sands, crystal blue waters, perfect waves, with the backdrop of thick green tropical forestry and blue skies. We went to the beach every day. It was here where we sunbathed, drank, swam, played boule, paddle skiied and surfed. As a huge fan of the film Blue Crush, I tried my hand at being that cool surfer girl that Kate Bosworth so effortlessly played in that film. I managed to surf about two waves (whilst kneeling on the board), but after getting pulled and pushed by the strong current and dunked by a few waves I decided I preferred not to have salt water flying in every crevice of my face.

The thing that shocked me most about Mozam is the roads. The roads are sand tracks- nothing more. Only 4x4 cars are allowed into Mozambique from the South African boarder (or any boarder I presume). There is no such thing asa tar road. As a result car journeys are very slow and extremely bumpy.

Although we took all of our food with us to Mozambique, we did have to visit the shops a few times to to stock up on fresh produce or pow (bread). Shops are wood and tin huts filled with suspicious home-made chillie sauce, onions, tomatoes, and the odd coconut (the one in the picture above was one of the more substantial ones). Everything is very basic. Bread is bread- you can forget your wholemeal, or your rye if you are coming to Mozam. Food here was more pricey than Tesco's. After asking a local what they paid for their bag of tomatoes, they assured me that they pay the same price. Luckily we didn't have to buy much from these little huts. 

Sunsets in Mozam are a beautiful daily occurrence.

The bars are funded by South African students on their Summer breaks. The particular drinking shack we went to had their customer's cards nailed to the bar. The popular drink served in Mozambique is the Rum and Raspberry 'cocktail'. I can't say I was a fan of this drink. It tasted like a raspberry cough syrup- sickly sweet and dangerously alcoholic  My holiday companions took to this cough syrup. This only resulted in many an embarrassing story, dancing on the wooden tabels and making friends with the Africaaners on their Summer camping trip.

My trip to Mozambique was one of the best holidays I've ever had. It was the perfect place to let loose, relax to the max and get to know a group of my boyfriends friends, who all know how to have a good time.

Would I go back? Yes. But Mozambique is not for those who are seeking luxury. It is basic. But going back to basics is refreshing. Whilst you are there, material things are trivial. I'm sure the majority of people living in Mozambique would think the stock market is a place where you sell food, the 'Internet' is a large spider web or the word 'fashion' is another way of saying clothes. The way of life is slow, but slow is healthy. How many times have you heard how the western fast pace of life is eating into our well being? So thank you Mozam- it was a pleasure.