After laying up for another night in Leon we took off with our first ever van passenger to Managua! Leah, whom we had met at the beach house, was heading to the airport in Managua, as were we to pick up none other than our amigo Chip, aka the HP, aka The Sweltering Thighs of Madness, aka the other half of the Space Hucking Design Team Extraordinaire! We all had a blast hanging out as passengers and planes were shuffled.
Chip, Niccole, and I had hatched a plan that involved not telling anyone he was coming to visit and then having him subtly photo bomb pics of us traveling around that we would then post on Facebook to see how long, if at all, it took someone to notice! We had a blast setting up the photos and it took several days and a pretty obvious one before anyone started to catch on. Here’s a few of the seemingly random FB pics and some others that didn’t get posted for one reason or another!
Our first stop was San Juan del Sur, specifically El Madera, a beach with some surfing a bit North. Good times. From there we decided to cross over to Costa Rica where we’d hang for a bit before dropping Chip off at the airport near San Juan for his return voyage.
Both the Costa Rican border and the Panamanian border were unique in the amount of ink they required be stamped on various forms in order for one to enter. It was a governmental stampathon, practically a stamping festivus. I was trying to imagine how such a ridiculous, convoluted, and poorly organized system could have evolved, and I imagined it went a little something like this:
“Hey there cousin who happens to work at the border, I need a job. Can you help me out?”
“No problem! We have an empty office in a building a few blocks from here. Just stop by the rubber stamp store and get yourself one, you’ll definitely need one of those. We’ll put the word out that your initials are now on the ‘official’ required list.”
“Perfect! … the office has air conditioning and internet right?”
“Of course.”
Who knows, but it was fun having Chip along for a crossing even if it was one of the more bureaucratic ones.
In Coasta Rica we stopped for a night in Liberia before gaining quite a bit of elevation and arriving in Monte Verde. Once there, we wasted no time signing up for one of the famed zip line canopy tours that included a rope jump at the end! Considering all of the jumps we had set up together over the years we were both amused to find ourselves in Central America with an opportunity to jump one we had nothing to do with!
Much to both Chip’s and my surprise, we were fortunate enough (after literally years of watching and waiting) to see Niccole actually huck herself into space! After soaring over the canopy of the cloud forest on several long zip lines hundreds of feet above the ground (really not scary, just fun and beautiful views), came what the tour operators dubbed The Tarzan Swing. Chip and I sized it up pretty quickly as about a 100 foot rope swing. It was surprisingly similar to some of the smaller ones we had set up in the past. So Chip and I were waiting in line when up comes Niccole… with her harness still on!
The nice thing about the tour operators is that they rig you up, open the gate, and if after a second or two you don’t jump they just push you. Lucky them, I’ve wanted to give Niccole that little nudge many times – the ultimate helping hand! Really, who hasn’t wanted to push their wife off a cliff… AND have it result in awesome? Anyways, in a matter of a few seconds I suddenly hear Niccole shrieking as she goes flying through the air on her first rope jump ever! Congrats Niccole! She’ll be doing gainers at Freemont next summer no doubt!
Then, something interesting happened to me. Having built up a pretty high tolerance to this sort of activity, I’m just looking forward to it and sitting there helplessly while they rig me up. Quite a change of pace actually. I double checked that they clipped my harness in correctly and well, that’s about it. They told me to put my hands on the rope (not the wisest thing to do on big ones but whatever), and opened the gate. Being tied in, and having the gate open, I wasted no time in jumping. As I jumped forward, the tour guide suddenly yells, “NO NO NO NO NO.” I’m, of course, already flying through the air by this point. I really didn’t even get to enjoy the jump because the whole way down all I could wonder was why he didn’t want me to jump all of the sudden and if I was actually going to hit the ground. Its funny how long that brief moment can seem. I feel like it gets longer the more I get used to it too. The ground proceeded to whoosh by me as the rope caught and I was pleased to immediately know I would be able to jump another day. I still have no idea what the deal was. Niccole and Chip both heard it from the ground and I have it on video – no doubt he did not want me to jump. It really messed up my huck! Oh well. Moving forward, I think I’d prefer to continue rigging them myself and jumping on my own systems 🙂
The next morning we all forwent our morning coffee because we had signed up for a coffee tour! Bad idea. We were served a few ounces of coffee around noon when the tour ended – didn’t see that coming. But the tour, despite its lack of actual coffee serving, was really cool. Besides learning about coffee we also learned about sugar cane and cocoa. It was very informative and we even got to see a large clump of fur high in a canopy tree that we were informed was a sloth.
We spent one more night in Monte Verde and then our last night together in Alajuela before Chip caught an early flight back to the states. If you are ever in Alajuela, go to Jalepeno Central and order a chimichanga. You can thank me later.
It was absolutely great getting to see and hang out with one of our closest friends. We miss our crew and were beyond stoked that he was able to swing it. See you somewhere rad soon Chip!
We’re in Panama right now. I was greeted to a nice, long sunset beach run with miles of coastline all to myself on night one which was a great way to counter the stress of the battery issues we’re currently experiencing. Hopefully I’ll have it resolved soon – the fan and the fridge are much needed in this humid, hot neck of the woods. Maybe we’ll head to the high country to sort things out in a more forgiving climate!
STATS UPDATE!
Some stats for us:
Countries visited: 7
Number of (mostly unintentional) Sunday border crossings: 8 (100%)
Some personal stats:
Miles driven: 9074
Different species of wasp stung by: 3
Number of wasp stings while driving: 2
Number of things I’ve hucked myself off of: 10
So awesome. The video of Niccole and the personal stats are great! What’s with all the wasps??
Apparently they’re attracted to awesomeness? I really have no idea, just driving along and all of the sudden, PAIN… followed by trying not to crash whilst wasp killing! Apparently I’m not allergic – there’s an upside to everything no?