San José is as ugly as everyone says. But that’s where my journey started. Stepping out of the airport I felt so lost and insecure by all the men screaming `TAXI´ in your face. I can tell that this wasn’t the nicest start in a new adventure. Walking around not being able to communicate a word in Spanish I was happy to have had an offline map and a hot German model by my side who got the full attention on the street. After looking at some lonely planet routes I decided to head north to have some jungle experiences before going to the coast. I had only two weeks anyways before my volunteering at this eco-community started.

So there I was sitting the first time in one of those shabby buses. Next to me a really good looking English boy. With him I travelled the next two weeks actually, through this magical and stunning country. We really had a good time, a perfect combo between alone time and shared moments together. We visited La Fortuna and saw the first perfectly shaped Volcano, took a swim under a 60 Meter high waterfall and climbed up to a crater lake.

To the Mountains

After that, we went to Monteverde where I jumped down 40 meters with a Tarzan swing at a zip line tour. There were so many moments at that point of my journey where life offered me to go out of my comfort zone and I was so willing to face a lot of new challenges. We had pretty amazing sunsets overlooking the hills of Costa Rica too. Highly recommended if you want to have an authentic village experience in a foggy cloud forest. It was there where I also met a fantastic human being – Luis – who encouraged me to follow my dreams and be strong enough to fight for them.

Due to him I started making jewellery. He also encouraged me to change my name which I always wanted to do but never did. Until that day. Thats why I love traveling so much – because you can have life changing experiences on a daily basis! So yeah, hey you guys, I’m Witta! Soon 21 years old, dropped out of university after a year of studying economics and fully passionate to become a better human being every day.

Anyways, after Monteverde we went to the half island Nicoya. We spent some days in Tamarindo but that place is way too touristic for me and prettier beaches are waiting down the coast so why would you ever spend more than two days in the gringo town?! Sámara – halleluja – is THE place to be. It’s a remote fisherman town, quiet but still partyish. The waves are perfect to learn surfing (that’s what I did and daaaamn the girl balanced it out lol). I spent a week there and enjoyed every single minute cause everything is just really gorgeous.

Than I moved to the community Pacha Mama and experienced seven weeks with beautiful people, howler monkeys and vegan food in an amazing jungle. This time was so intense, I learned loads and grew a lot. That’s why I don’t wanna write more about it cause it’s a long text by itself. Let’s say that: my inner journey was immensely pushed forward. Since Costa Rica is so expensive – and believe me it really really is – I decided to go to Nicaragua right after my time in the jungle was over. 

After seeing San Juan del Sur for two days, I found myself enjoying the magical island of Ometepe pretty quickly. The vibe there is hard to describe. It’s an extremely laid back island, with only one big road, two volcanos and loads of cool people. For me, this island has an energy which no words can describe. Maybe the two volcanos, one active (fire) and the other one inactive (water on top) facing each other on this small island is the reason why you feel like in another universe. It felt healing just being in this energy.

The situation in Nicaragua is really bad since April 2018 so the tourism decreased enormously. Even this small island, on the biggest fresh water lake in Central America btw, felt the political instability. Now it’s getting better but when I arrived there, I was the only guest at a BnB – which is really creepy when you start having dinner with the security man.

Anyways, I walked into this absolute awesome permaculture farm ‚Zopilote‘ two days before Christmas and stayed for two months. There I met so many amazing people, saw fire shows two times a week at pizza night, ran a hippie shop in an old American school bus, met my soulmate, got really sick, got actually some new tattoos too (from Saru – go follow her on IG she’s simply AMAZING!), went to my first cacao ceremony and ended up falling in love with a London boy with whom I started traveling afterwards. I had the best time OF MY LIFE. The only reason why I left was because every other volunteer left so it was kind of obvious for me to do the same. What is a beautiful place without its people? I cried hard saying goodbye to all the stunning souls I met there.

Adios Vulcano Island

But at the same time I couldn’t wait to have some ‚vacation‘ in Manuel Antonio / Costa Rica (highly recommended!) for a few days with my new travel buddy. Back in Nicaragua we stayed in Granada and Leon for a while, enjoyed the colonial parts of the city, went on a lava tour on top of volcano Masaya and enjoyed the cheap supermarket prices since we were traumatised by Costa Rica. Actually, we mastered fries with Guacamole. Just that you know.

From Leon we shared a taxi to go to a beach party in Las Peñitas, which signifies ‚Small Rocks‘ and that shows pretty well how rocky the whole way was until we got there. If I’m honest: I’m not a big fan of Nicaragua. It’s not like the country isn’t beautiful or I haven’t made friends with some Nicos. It’s more the general vibe I got. I don’t feel any of their love to nature, to touristic sights or to any activity offered in this country. It’s like they do a volcano tour to earn money and not to show us travellers proudly their country with its amazing nature. But that’s maybe a side effect of the politics as well. Back in Leon we took a shuttle to El Salvador.