Tela

We are here in Tela with Jessica.

Last night we enjoyed a real hostel (Hostal Tamarindo) experience with Jamie for her last night. It was the first listing in Lonely Planet so there was a nice international mix of travelers. We lucked out and got a 4 bed dormroom and slept like logs.

This morning, we grabbed a taxi early to the bus station and got on the bus to Tela. The temperatures stayed nice as we got off the bus and headed into town to find a hotel. It did start to get hotter as we walked more but happily found a room at Hotel Mango with A/C and a TV. Then we headed out for our usual first day walk about. The beach is beautiful here and was absolutely packed with locals. There were dozens of school buses that had brought people out for the day. The sand is white, the waves were just the right size and there is a ton of shade from strategically planted palm trees. We enjoyed just walking the beach and watching the people swimming, playing soccer and playing in the sand.

Now we are back at the hotel, showered and relaxing. There is a solo Canadian girl here also that is going to join us for dinner tonight. Its funny, Jessica is getting totally inspired to do some backpacking now that we have run into some solo travelers and really experience what a true community the backpackers have here. Everyone we meet are friendly and not afraid to just invite themselves to join the group for dinner...maybe the cute boys are helping....she'll kill me when she reads that.

Tomorrow, I promise that we will take some pictures of the beach and town here.

For all those people who are thinking about Jessica, I can assure you that we are taking great care of her and that she is really happy and enjoying herself and constantly gushing about how cool this is. The last week was wonderful but this week, she is getting the real backpacking experience. She is already a pro at the buses, she can pack up in a matter of minutes (which was handy this morning when I woke up to pee at 7am and was confronted by the hostel cab driver who convinced me that the only bus to Tela left at 8....even though I read later on the bus that there are 18 buses to Tela every day). She is happy to wander aimlessly with us, sweating our butts off and just watching people and hunting for fresh pineapple. Our goal for tonight it to drink something with run out of a coconut...everyone who prayed that Jamie's travel would work out...it worked so now please say a prayer that we can find some alcohol in a coconut tonight.