Bad Luck with Cameras and Moving On

Every person who travels in Central America (and anywhere else in the world for that matter) knows that there is a threat of petty theft pretty much everywhere you go and that you should do everything possible to prevent falling victim to the bad people in the world who like to take other people's belongings. But sometimes, despite all the precautions you take, you still become the target of a theif and end up losing some of your possessions. A few days ago, while in a hostel in Costa Rica, our cool Guatemalan bag was stolen. In the bag was my camera. Our packs and bags where on the floor only 2 feet from Louis, Jasmine, and Keith. I went to the bathroom and asked them to watch my belongings but some guy managed to squeeze his slimy self between them and the bags and run off with our bag! Arghhh... so no more pictures from Central America and unfortunately we lost some really good photos from earlier on our trip in Panama.

Now Keith and I are in Nicaragua. We got here last night after spending a few days in Costa Rica with Louis and Jaz. It was fun to re-visit Costa Rica and to see that it was still as awesome as it was two years ago. We all went to see the infamous Volcano Arenal and were pleased when we saw impressive eruptions resulting in piles of lava rock plumeting down the South face on our first night. It was very cool. We spent the next day hiking around waterfalls and unfortunately, Lou & Jaz's camera fell from their bag into the water on this hike. We really don't seem to have good luck with cameras. We said goodbye to Lou & Jaz yesterday afternoon and after a long day of traveling finally made it to Nicaragua. Nicaragua seems very cool so far which is nice because Panama wasn't quite as cool as I had expected. It was a beautiful country but lacked the good food, culture, and wildlife that you get in many other Central America destinations. But despite this, it was really fun to explore. We will be here in Nicaragua for a little over a week and then we will go to El Salvador for a short while before returning to Guatemala. We have been traveling for 7 weeks so far and only have 3 left. This feels like a perfect amount of time to travel and while I am excited about the rest of our trip, the thought of seeing Cota again is sounding fantabulous!