The End!

So this it. Today is my last day of my journey.

But what did I do in the last weeks?
Well, I spent 2,5 weeks in Paradise in Little Corn Island. I went diving again to a place called "Blowing Rock". It's quite far away from Little Corn, 40 min by boat. I took the camera with me again and managed to take 300 pictures in 2 dives (ca. 1,5 hours). The coolest thing there were the sharks.

I left Little Corn on Friday, June 10th. This was a very interesting experience. I hadn't changed my ticket as I did not know when I would finally leave. So on that day I took the Panga (little boat) to Big Corn and went to the airport. There I wanted to buy a new ticket. But I was told to wait till 8 (in the morning) to see if there is a no-show as the flight is full, so I waited. There was also an american couple with me, they had changed their flight, but nobody at the airport did know about that, and nobody really cared. So I felt a bit stupid that I was so honest and wanted to buy a new ticket.

About 20 min later, a new (and friendly) woman was sitting at the counter, so I tried again  (important: it was NOT 8 yet). I told her that I tried to change my ticket but have no idea if it worked as I had to call the airport again and again. And she told me that changing my ticket would cost me $15... well, that's acceptable. So my ticket was changed and I was on the flight. When we finally got on the plane, it was not even half full...

The plane then made a first stop in Bluefields. There, all the passengers in the back were asked to change their seats and take a seat further in the front. I asked the (very unmotivated) stewardess why... well, because it is necessary. We very quickly found out why. In the last row, a guy with cap, accompanied by 2 police-men was taking his seat. When we left the plane in Managua we could see that he had a towell above his hands -  to mask the handcuffs. So obviously in Nicaragua criminals are transported in normal planes.

I spent one night in Managua and then went on to Playa del Coco in Costa Rica. The beach there is not worth seeing, diving there also is not so much of a big adventure, but I can say now that I dove in the Carribean and in the Pacific. Diving there, I saw some more sharks, this time white-tipped reef sharks. I had a very nice hotel with aircondition, kitchen in the room and swimming-pool and, very important - good working internet. So I stayed quite some time there, enjoying the luxurious life and doing some of the online-trainings required for the training next week.

And then finally, I went to San Jose. And what can I say, I hated it. The city is not very nice, it was raining a lot and the taxi-drivers do not understand adresses, have no idea about numbers and all lie to you. But I had a nice hostel and could manage to book a trip to Tortuguero for the next day.

So the next day I was picked up at my hostel at 6 in the morning to go to Tortuguero. This is a nice little very laid-back village in the Carribean. It is famous for the turtles nesting there. We first went about 4 hours by bus and then 2 more hours by boat. On the way there we already did some wildlife spotting and saw many different monkey, birds and butterflies.

In Tortuguero, we had a local guide showing us the village - that took us approximately 10 minutes, as it is really VERY small. But the beach is nice, although it's very dark sand and the waves are kind of rough. In the evening I did the turtle-tour although it is still not the nesting season. But we were successfull, we saw a sea turtle covering up the eggs and making her way back to the ocean. This was really very impressive and so cool!

The next morning we first had a 2 hours boat-tour in the canals around Tortuguero and then a 1 hour "hike" through the jungle. The hike basically was more like a, come on let's go for a nice walk and the jungle was not jungly at all, but it was nice.

And then it was already time to go back to San Jose again. But I still have to tell you something, the coolest thing that happened in Tortuguero. I stayed at a nice hostel there which also has a restaurant. And there I met Wendy, who was my diving-instructor in Honduras. Right now she is travelling in Costa Rica with her husband. It was so cool to meet her there at this completely remote spot in the middle of nowhere.

Back in San Jose I got the rest of my luggage and went to the bus for Panama. It was supposed to leave at 11 pm but, of course it was late. I slept most of the busride, until we reached the border. That was at 4:30 the next morning. We were told to get out of the bus, the sun was rising and it was cool. When everybody was out of the bus we were informed that the Costa Rican border will open at 6!!! and the Panamanian border at 7!!! So we had to wait there for hours. But okay, the time passed, I left Costa Rica, I entered Panama, I went back in the bus and straight back to sleep until we were almost in Panama City.

To get into Panama City you have to cross la Puenta Americas, a big bridge over the entrance to the canal on the pacific side. And right at the time when we were crossing the bridge, a big container-ship was on its way to the Pacific. Very cool view.

I stayed here in Panama for 4 days and I did quite some sightseeing. On the first day I explored the area around my hostel. It's the banking-area and there are so many sky-skrapers, unbelievable. And I went to Casco Viejo, a somewhat ancient area in Panama. On the second day then I went to the canal to one of the locks and spent 6 hours there watching the ships passing it. This is just so impressive. If you ever come to Panama, you have to watch the canal and the locks.

Today I went on one of the worlds most beautiful trainrides - from Panama City to Colon (the city on the carribean side of the canal). And the ride really is beautiful. At the beginning it is right along the canal - I saw a HUGE ship in the locks, and then it goes along the lakes and through the jungle. It just is wonderful.

And here the adventure stops. I am in my hostel, try to relax a bit, and will soon start packing my backpack again. Tomorrow I will be on planes most of the time and then finally arrive in Chicago.

Let's see if there happens anything worth talking about.