Hayley in Wanderlust: San Diego, Las Vegas and Sacramento

My final week saw me leave behind the chaotic beauty of Latin America and head north for a whistle stop tour of the USA's West Coast.

It has to be said, after 4 months of arriving to new places on my own, walking through arrivals at LAX and having my two childhood best friends (plus one of my surrogate Mothers and Nan) waiting for me was a pretty special feeling. Following a three hour drive, and a shower and many girly squeals of excitement dinner and cocktails at The Cheesecake Factory was the best way to kick start my final week.

On the Thursday, we headed to Pacific Beach for a day in the sun. Having been in Costa Rica for a month, my tan was coming along nicely, but my friends aren't as passionate about sunbathing as I am. So tanning quickly turned into tacos and margaritas at Fat Fish Cantina Grill. We were there during happy hour, so fish tacos were only $2 and a house margarita was something like $3.50. This set up us nicely to move on to Baja Beach Club, where Mega Margarita's were $16.50 and contained 4 margaritas in each one. We drunk three each, ended up making friends with an entire family and woke up as living proof that tequila is the original dirty, rotten scoundrel.


We were, however, unable to bask in our hangovers for too long though, as it was time for the drive to Las Vegas!
I love Vegas. We went at 16 whilst staying with Chelsea, and I was crazy about it then. Now, at 22, Vegas held so many more possibilities and I was going to get to experience them with my oldest friends in the universe. Doubly exciting was the fact that one of the guys I met in Valpariso (Chile) was also in town and I ended up bumping into him in the middle of the dance floor at Drais Nightclub, located at The Cromwell Hotel. He lives in Australia and I live in the UK and yet, through the magic of travelling, we ended up not even a metre away from each other. How I ever thought I'd make no new friends whilst away is beyond me!

We stayed at Caesars Palaces, which is just incredible. I will never cease to be awe struck by the size of Vegas hotels. Caesars is also home to Omnia nightclub, where the likes of Calvin Harris, Afrojack and Above & Beyond are residents. We caught Above & Beyond on the Sunday night and they amazing. Not that any of nightclubs put on a crap night. Drai's opens up into a large outdoor area with a pool that has a pretty mind blowing view of Caesars after dark. As much as Vegas is expensive, sourcing out the club promoters is easy and getting on the guestlists gives you free or discounted entry to the clubs themselves, which comes in handy. Especially when three jagerbombs, a long island ice tea and two vodka lemonades will set you back $106. Ouch.

Should also just mention that if you're in Vegas you should just go ahead and have a meal at Tao, in the Venetian. The food is amazing, and all things considered, not that pricey.

From Vegas, it was a short flight up to Modesto to visit my cousin and his wife, who live out there (I swear I'm not envious in the slightest). We visited what I am told is one of Modesto's only two bars, eating cheese and catching up. The following morning, we set off to Sacramento for the California State Fair. As someone who grew up in a sleepy village in South East England, I have always viewed the concept of a State Fair as a place where food is unhealthy, vegetables are the size of buildings and up and coming bands play (ie: the Jonas Brothers in 2008). To be honest, I wasn't that far off. I didn't see any giant vegetables, but there were plenty of prize winning cows and goats, stands that sold any deep fried any food item you could think of (including Oreos and cookie dough) and wine slushies. The slushies were delicious. There was also a huge fairground with rides brought in from Michael Jackson's Neverland (bit strange) and plenty of stools selling a multitude of crap.
I loved it!

My visit was a mere 36 hours long, but I got to tick another new place off my list before flying back to San Diego for my very last night.

Then, that was it. I found myself at LAX, boarding my flight back to London struggling to believe that it had all come to an end. I was not flying somewhere new, or even somewhere sunny! The 19 weeks that had once stretched endlessly infront of me had caught up to me. A blur of amazing places I'd seen and people I'd met, a long collage of  new memories.
My dream was over; but what a dream it was.

- xo

Hayley in Wanderlust: Manuel Antonio & Uvita

 

In the name of being a true 'dithery bollocks' (a term lovingly coined by my parents), I found myself heading back to Quepos and Manuel Antonio. This 'retracing of my steps' happened for a few reasons, Firstly, the weather had been so bad along the Caribbean coast that the roads were all over the place and I found myself not wanting to spend any time in the rain and the grey (a nasty side effect of being English). Secondly, Silvia and Olivia, the two girls from my G Adventure's tour, were going to be there and this was going to be our last chance to see each other before we were all back in Europe. Thirdly, I wanted to see a mother loving sloth and according to everyone I'd met, this was the place to see one.

Three Toed Sloth

So I finally made it inside the national park. Entry is $16 and we paid an extra $20 to have a certified guide take us on a tour and point out plenty of animals. WORTH. THE. DOLLAR.
Not only did I get to see Capuchin Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, various types of Grasshopper, Land Crabs, a Vine Snake and (sickeningly) a collection of Spiders, but I also got to see both type of sloth.
It was truly magical and I would just like to thank the baby Jesus and anyone who ate at the TGI Friday's in High Wycombe between August 2014 and March 2015 for the opportunity. The money you paid for your food paid my wages which created this memory for me. Amen.

Beach inside Manuel Antonio National Park

(I'm still not over it)

It's also worth noting that the beaches inside the park are absolutely gorgeous and well worth the entrance fee. Unlike a lot of the beaches along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, the waters here are perfect for swimming and terrible for surfing. Just be careful that Capuchin and Raccoons don't try to steal your sun cream/food/life.

Once I'd recovered from Sloth-mania, it was time to head further down the coast to the tiny little beach town of Uvita. By this stage of my travels, I'd overcome the fear of turning up some place new without having booked any accommodation, and wandered off in search of 'Flutterby House' hostel. You can only book three days in advance, otherwise you have to chance it and turn up, hoping they've got room for you. Thankfully (especially with it being rainy season) they had room for me. The place is incredible. All of the dorms and private rooms are up in treehouses, you sleep under mosquito nets and the place runs of eco-friendly values. It's also a mere 3 minute walk to the beautiful beaches inside the Marino Ballena National Park.The place has one of the longest whale seasons in the world, and if you have $75 spare (I didn't), you can spend the day on a boat trying to spot them.

Beach inside Marina Ballena National Park

In town, there is a bar and restaurant called 'Roadshack' and Saturday night is Reggae night, (I've leart that they love a Reggae night in Costa Rica), which is where the girls and I spent our last night. I wish I could comment on drink prices, but I can't. I was drunk.

Before I knew it, I was back on the bus and heading back to San Jose ready to catch my flight as my month in Paradise drew to a close.

I blinked, and my little Latin American dream was over.
Just one week left to go.

-xo

Hayley in Wanderlust: The Nicoya Peninsula

The Nicoya Peninsula, I have decided, is where I want to be laid to rest… You know, without getting all morbid and stuff. The place is a slice of sun drenched heaven, and I want to spend the rest of my days there. Literally, who needs the city when you can wake up in paradise?

I took the taxi boat directly from Jaco, it was pricey, at $40 and worth it for the time it saved me, but I'd still rather not discussing parting with so much of my now dwindling budget.

Montezuma is glorious. I stayed at the 'Downtown Montezuma Hostel' which is run by a lovely lady called Elena. It's $10 a night for the dorm and there's pancakes in the morning. Perfect. It's another one of those fab hostels where you get to know all of the other guests and travelling on your own is made to feel like the easiet thing in the universe. It's also a mere two minute walk from the beach, which isn't hard, since almost everywhere in Montezuma is a mere two minutes from the beach. The place isn't very big.



I stayed a week. In South America, spending a week to 10 days somewhere wasn't an issue as I had plenty of time and it didn't tend to mean giving up seeing somewhere else. Out here, where I only have four weeks and spending a week somewhere does mean compromising going somewhere else… I had really wanted to go to Nicaragua. It's cheaper than Costa Rica and would have enabled me to say that I'd been to 10 countries overall.
I'm ending on 9, so can't exactly complain. I know, I know, I was being greedy.
I don't regret it though, Montezuma is incredible and besides sunning myself on the beach there are plenty of waterfalls to visit (took me a week to visit them, mind) as well as the 35 minute beach front walk to the gorgeous Playa Grande. A beach fresh out of a catalog. The walk there takes your through jungle and little beach coves, each one different from the last. One beach in particular is named 'Red Beach' after the red coloured rocks that reside there. It is here that, if you scramble over some rocks, you can find a little set of water falls with small pools you can paddle in. It's also where I saw an entire troop of Capuchin Monkeys swing on by.


Have I mentioned that I love it here?

From Montezuma (you know, once I finally left) I made my way to Santa Teresa on the other side of the peninsula. Santa Teresa is essentially one road with lots of hostels, hotels and restaurants coming off it. I stayed at 'Hostel 7' which was friendly enough, but Lord, I have never been so sweaty at night. The rooms are sweltering. A friend had recommended that whilst here I go up to the hotel 'Vista de Olas' to use their infinity pool and watch the sunset. Sadly, on the day I went the sky was overcast, so it wasn't so much of a sunset as it was a chance to watch the sky change colour. It was amazing. The view was utterly unreal, just shoreline and jungle as far as they eye could see. It was a pricier backpacker activity, probably costing me about $25 overall. That included that $16 you have to put behind the bar on a tab upon arrival, but with that $16 I got 3 beers and a cocktail - so it was (as always) money well spent.

Despite having not really done a lot, this part of Costa Rica totally has my heart and I'll be back. It opened me up to the idea of doing a work exchange and being able to spend some real time here without worrying too heavily on how expensive it all is. Almost everyone I met was on some sort of placement and I couldn't help but be super envious.

Looks like I know how I'll be escaping the UK again once I'm back!

- xo