Heading back to the UK

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was unsure what I was going to be up to for Christmas. Nicaragua is great: I’d made a nice little circle of friends that I know I’d have a good time with, the weather was good and getting better, it’s cheap, … On the other hand, I’ve not been back to the UK for about 5 months, and there’s a bunch of family stuff that I should really do, even on top of the normal Christmas drill.

Then, one Friday night I was heading out to my normal 2-for-1 G&T at Pelican Eyes when I stopped off at the ATM to get some moolah. The ATM had power, a connection and money so it started promisingly, but my “Transaction was not able to be processed at this time”. Thinking that HSBC had forgotten I’d told them (twice) that I was in Nicaragua, and it really was OK for me to use my card here, I went to Pelican Eyes and made a note to call the bank the next morning.

When I did call them, it turned out that someone had cloned my card and used it to buy $1600 worth of (probably crap) stuff in a Wal-Mart in Houston, TX. So! The card that had been on temporary hold was now cancelled, and a replacement could only be sent to San Francisco.

As I now had $5 cash to my name, and no obvious way of getting any more, I decided take the hint and go back to the UK for Christmas. Apart from anything else, the Nicaraguans have a charming tradition of “waking the baby Jesus” in the run up to navidad, which involves running through the steets at 2, 3, 4 and 5am shouting, trumpeting, drumming and beating pots and/or pans.

So! I am now back in Costa Rica, flying to LHR via Houston on Sunday morning. Will stop off in Houston and beat the shit out of the first person I see in 800 pairs of budget white socks.

Fun and Games in San Juan

The last couple of weeks have been really good. Lee and Rachel – the couple I’m staying with – have been showing me round and introducing me to lots of the ex-pats down here (of which there are loads).

Last weekend in particular was a blast: on Friday we went for 2-for-1 cocktails at Pelican Eyes, a swish hotel up on the top of the hill with a great view of the bay. It’s quite strange; to sit up there drinking G&Ts surrounded by uniformed help with an immaculate pool and bar feels more like LA than Nicaragua, but it’s definitely nice for a change.

On Saturday, we went for a walk up to the northern headland of San Juan del Sur, where they’re building an oversized statue of Jesus. At least I think he’s oversized: if not, I can see why he was such a crowd-puller back then. The view from the top was great, across San Juan and into the next bays as well – you could even see Costa Rica in the distance.

Later in the afternoon we went and said hello to some monkeys they keep in a little zoo here. I made friends with a little capucin monkey called Lucas who was teething – he was a big fan of nibbled any exposed flesh within his grasp. I’ve only ever seen primates at distance before so it was great to see them in action: their hands and prehensile tails especially.

On Monday I went surfing with Rachel’s visiting friend, Wendy, at a beach just to the north of here. We were planning on going on Sunday, but there was a cheeky little storm and the ocean was too rough. We had a one hour lesson from a leathery Peruvian called Freddie, then kept practicing till the sun came down. I can get up and stay up reasonably reliably now, but will probably do one or two more days on a long board before trying a shorter one.

I’ve put up some new pictures here but I’ve been a bit crap in taking them – I’ll do better.