So 3rd August was mostly a travel day which took us from Costa Rica up to Nicaragua, across the boarder to San Juan del Sur on the pacific coast. It was about 4 hours to the boarder, including a stop. We got to see some brightly coloured birds, which at the house behind the cafe stop but flying about from tree to tree. I think they are called macaws, like parrots. We also saw a toucan, finally I saw a toucan! At the boarder we had to exit Costa Rica by filling in forms and passport stamp, then walk 1km between the Costa Rica exit and the Nicaragua entrance. It was a pretty hot walk with all our luggage!! Our guide, Greg, went off to sort our passport stamps, etc which took a while, but could have been worse. Then we entered Nicaragua and got a mini bus to San Juan del Sur. It was quite funny, as we had to squeeze in with Greg sat between seats! I guess we arrived about 3pm, after getting our rooms and taking a quick shower (so hot, shower cold!) we walked down to the sea, only 3 blocks. Its a small town with a bay, lined with restaurants. Had a pina colada, in a massive bowl like glass and enjoyed the sunset, which was really pretty. In the evening I went out with a couple of people from the group, had a fish meal, but have to say it was not the best meal ever!

Today most people went off to a different beach to have a surf lesson, not really my thing but i have enjoyed a relaxing day on the beach here in San Juan del Sur. I had breakfast then rented a deckchair and umbrella. Had a couple of hours in the sun and just when I decided I needed to get in the shade there was a massive downpour! Luckily my umbrella kept me dry! No sun this afternoon, but I enjoyed reading a book (read a whole book today, I knew there was a reason Im carrying a rucksack of books!!), people watching and later another beautiful sunset. I had a really tasty late lunch of a fillet of fish with prawns, much better than last night, luckily! Lots of football going on at the beach in the late afternoon, two matches and what appeared to be a training session of a womens team.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Ometepe Island which is an island formed by two volcanos in Lake Nicaragua.