My Adventures in Central America
Part 7 - Costa Rica
Welcome to Costa Rica! This is the country I have been most excited to visit! The land of sloths!
Day 32 Isla de Ometepe to Monteverde
I woke at 4am, after only 4hrs sleep, got ready and headed out. The host families had made us all a takeaway breakfast of pancakes with fruit. I had half a cup of coffee as well.
The bus was late, big surprise, so we quickly came all the luggage on the roof and set off. We had a short drive to the ferry terminal, and were the first to board. This meant we got our choice of seats! I ate my breakfast while we waited for the ferry to depart. It got quite full with local people going to work on the mainland.
The trip was a smooth 1hr and some people were able to sleep. Not me though, sitting on a metal bench for an hour is not conducive to sleep for me.
We ended up getting a private public transport van who took us an the way to the border. This was great as we didn't have to change buses in Rivas, or share with other people.
It was only a 1hr drive, and it bucketed down yet again. Stopped by the time we got to the border thankfully. We got our stuff, saw some more howler monkeys, changed money and walked to the terminal building. It is the most official looking border we have been through. Inside we had to join a queue and it was not moving. The building was very hot so we sat on the floor and rested. I had another big talk to Adrian about the activities, specifically La Fortuna this time. I spoke to Liam the night before who told me to choose what I want to do and not give in to peer pressure. He also told me to talk it out with Adrian who will help me decide. So I did. He helped me decide to do the Gravity Falls activity, which is a fancy name for jumping off waterfalls. I'm probably going to be very scared on some of them but I think it will be fun.
Finally we got to the counter and I exited Nicaragua. I had my bags scanned by a very bored looking lady. As I was first, after Adrian, I had to wait outside for ages, for everyone else. Then we had to walk a long way through no man’s land to the Costa Rican border. We had to show our passports (obviously) and proof of departure from the country. It took almost no time at all. After our bags were scanned again we loaded them into the bus.
The drive to Monteverde was 4hrs, as there was a lot of construction on the way. We drove for 1.5hrs to Liberia for lunch. We stopped at a place with lots of options (Maccas, KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King and a Costa Rican cafeteria inside a supermarket). I went to Burger King on my own.
After I ordered, Adrian turned up, so I had someone to have lunch with! He copied my order. We had a Kings Rancho burger (double beef, cheese, bacon, onion rings, mayo & BBQ sauce) with mini hash brown bites and a drink. It was a really good burger! While we were eating, it started raining again. We made a mad dash across the road to the shops near our bus and the clouds just let loose. Insanely torrential. We just stayed under the roof and waited. And waited. And waited! In the end, the bus driver had to go in the rain to open the bus and we all made the crazy dash across the carpark to the bus.
The next 2.5hrs was almost entirely in heavy rain. I’m a bit surprised by how much rain actually. The roads had rivers of dirty brown water running down them and paddocks were flooded. It is the wet season I suppose!
By the time we got to Monteverde, it was in a big storm. We had to wait undercover while the bus driver untied the luggage on the roof one hand holding an umbrella in the other hand. I'm sharing a room with the Canadian girl again, which is good. I discovered my bag got wet on the bus, despite the tarp & my rain cover, so most of my clothes, electronics etc all got wet. I'm really quite sick of being wet and having wet things!
A group of us got a taxi into town as it was still raining and storming. First stop for them was Cafe Monteverde. Both Liam and Adrian think it is the best coffee in Costa Rica so naturally I wanted some. I ended up getting a bag of medium roast to bring home. I also went to a few souvenir shops but didn't buy anything.
I headed back to the hotel on my own to get ready for the night walk. Only 4 of us were going, and we were being picked up at 5.30pm. We had sneakers, leggings and rain coats. At the location, we were assigned to a guide (lots of people who get split into small groups) with just the 4 of us. We got torches and headed into the jungle. I pre-warned the guide about my arachnophobia as tarantulas are a common sight at night. Oh and you guessed it, it was pouring with rain still!
The first thing we saw was a glass frog. A glass frog! These funny finds are transparent and you can see their heart from underneath! This one blended in so well with the green leaves. It was guarding its eggs.
Then we continued on the trail and our guide warned me that we were about to see a tarantula. Cue the panic! I stayed in the trail about 2 5m away from it. It was in its burrow in the dirt. It is an orange kneed tarantula, which are endemic to Costa Rica. I was shaking, but I didn't cry so that was good!
We kept going and saw a sloth, sleeping high up in the trees. The guides clearly have very good eyes for spotting the animals!
Then we came across another spider, with no warning this time. This was a hunter spider. About 10cm diameter, on the side of a post at the edge of the bridge. And we had to walk right past it! Yep, I lost it and cried. One of the girls was so good though, she stood in front of it so I could run past without seeing it, which was really nice of her. She has a severe phobia of needles (like me!) so understands how I feel.
We walked for 1.5hrs in total and saw leaf bugs, a red eyed green frog, a viper snake, a crab, a huge mesomorph butterfly, some birds including a sleeping hummingbird and a scorpion. Did you know that scorpions glow white under UV light? Well, if you go camping in Costa Rica, it is highly recommended to carry a UV light, as the venom from the scorpion can hurt a lot.
While we got drenched, we really enjoyed ourselves. The night walk is definitely a great activity in Monteverde.
The bus dropped us at a local bar in town where done of the others were. Us girls were hungry as we hadn't eaten since our early lunch. I ordered breaded chicken (aka schnitzel) with mashed potato. It was delicious.
Then we decided to head back and go to bed. We got a taxi from the bar back to the hotel. My roommate and I went straight for showers and bed.
Day 33 Monteverde
We were woken at 5am by the howler monkeys, which I think is the Latin version of roosters waking you in the morning.
Today, every single one of us chose to do the ziplining optional activity. During the night, one of the group was very sick, so he had to stay. We were all dressed and ready to go at 8am, but unfortunately the bus driver was late. We eventually got picked up and driven to the ziplining place.
We were given a short briefing before signing in, paying and stashing our stuff in the lockers. Then we got harnessed up in 2 harnesses and a helmet. I had my GoPro attached to my helmet. Then we had 2 checks and were sent to another area for a full safety briefing.
There are 10 ziplines of varying length, with the first 2 practice ones. These build up in length to the biggest zipline in Central America, a 1.5km mega zip! The facility is built in the cloud forest so you zip through the clouds and jungle. It was so much fun!
The 2 biggest ziplines, you have the option to go superman/superwoman style. The rest are done seated style. I chose to be superwoman of course! It was amazing!!
They have a professional photographer taking photos at several points so as a group, we chose to purchase the package ($5 USD, cheap!).
At the very end of the ziplines is something called the Mega Tarzan Swing. Basically, you stand on the platform, step off, free fall and swing before being lowered to the group. Here’s the important stats: 45m high with a 5 second free fall.
Naturally, I was absolutely terrified and packing myself. I was the second last in our group so there were 16 of them at the bottom waiting. I was crying as they hooked me into the harness. I was shaking, I didn't know if I could do it. In the end, the guy said he was going to push me off. Do you know how long a 5 second free fall is???? It is an eternity of thinking you're going to die, while your stomach relocates to your throat and you’re screaming. When you get to the other side, you have another free fall! By now, I was having a complete meltdown. You can hear me in my video, which I'll post on my YouTube channel.
You swing twice before they throw a rope to catch you and stop you. When I got to the ground I was shaking & crying uncontrollably. As I walked to the group they all started cheering and clapping. The crew directed me to a bench instead of waiting for my harness to be removed. Adrian and 2 girls from the group came with me and looked after me. It took me a while to calm down. That was by far the most scared I have ever been and most terrifying thing I have ever done. And I will NEVER do it again!
After the last person of our group was down, we began the walk through the forest up to the reception. I felt extremely out of sorts. They took my harness off and we collected our stuff from the lockers. We got to see all the photos, some of which were very funny.
Afterwards, we were taken back to and dropped off in town. 4 of us went with Adrian to organise our trip to the hanging bridges, then we all went to the best coffee shop in town, Café Monteverde. I had a toasted marshmallow latte, which was very good, and a beef empanadas, which was nice but spicy.
Then I went souvenir shopping and got myself a nice hoodie, and fruit shopping.
We also visited the Ficus Tree, which has a very long horizontal root that is now above ground and forms a sort of bridge.
Then it was hanging bridges time. The 4 of us were driven to the forest out of town. The hanging bridges are a series of suspension bridge in the cloud forest. Very famous and popular with visitors.
First you walk uphill through the forest, which is beautiful, to get to the first bridge. There are 6 bridges of varying length & altitude. The views are absolutely incredible from the bridges. It made us feel like we were in Avatar in the forest.
The longest bridge is 236m long, and we got some group shots on this bridge. Then we headed back to the reception. We had to wait for the return transfer so we had a drink in the café and made good use of their free WiFi.
When we got back to town, we went our separate ways. I did a little more souvenir shopping, then got a taxi back to the hotel. It was 8am back home so I called my mum for a short chat. Then I had a coffee and a snack while editing photos.
At 5pm, 4 of us got a taxi back into town to meet a group already at a bar. 2 of the people I went in the taxi with, had just gotten back from bungee jumping. Crazy people! They said it was exhilarating and terrifying.
We stayed at the bar for 1.5hrs before we had to go to the brewery for dinner. We decided to walk, instead of a taxi, so it took us 20mins. I saw an armadillo!! It ran across the road and into someone's yard.
Adrian had told me the brewery has awesome burgers and great craft beer. Burgers for me, beer for the others! I ordered a Texana, which was beef, cheese, bacon, onion rings & BBQ sauce. They serve them with packet chips, not hot chips, which was different. The burger was good, although it could use more sauce. It was very filling though and I couldn't finish it.
By 9pm we were ready for bed as it had been a very exhausting day. We had to get 3 taxis back as it was a 45min walk.
Tomorrow we are off to La Fortuna so we went to bed early.
Day 34 Monteverde to La Fortuna
This morning the delightful howler monkeys woke us up super early again. How kind of them!
I got up at 6.45am as I needed to pack my bag, now that it had dried out. Here's hoping we don't get rain today!
I had some passionfruit and a coffee for breakfast and by 7.45am our bus driver had arrived and we were all ready to start loading. An early bus driver is unheard of here!
Today's travel is van-boat-van. The first drive was 1.5hrs with a toilet stop halfway. At the lake, all the vans reverse down the road as they can't turn around at the lake. There were 8 vans, either picking up or dropping off people. Or boat was waiting so we could unload the van and load straight into the boat.
Lake Arenal is very beautiful and you can see Volcan Arenal rising into the clouds. I think it was the best boat trip we have done. Calm, sheltered, cool breeze, no splashes, fresh air. Perfect!
We boarded our next van, made a quick toilet stop then drove 45mins to La Fortuna. It was a beautiful drive, very scenic.
When we got to town, our first stop was to the Desafio office to book and pay for our optional activities. They gave us a free welcome drink of pineapple juice, passionfruit and a local sugarcane based alcohol called Cacique. It was very good.
Then we drove the short distance to the hostel. We are in another Selina hostel and it is lovely. Adrian pulled me aside and said that there was a spare room and would I like it. Yes, I definitely would! At first, he thought it might be with strangers, but when the lady took me to the room, it was a private room. Winning!
We had planned to go to a local waterfall called El Salto at 2pm so we were free to get food, shop, play in the pool etc. I went out in search of water shoes and a strap to keep my glasses on my head. My activity tomorrow is called Gravity Falls. We need water shoes, and since I can't wear contact lenses but still need to see, Adrian said I could get a strap the you attach to the glasses and tighten around the head so you can see and don’t lose them.
I walked around a lot and looked in so many souvenir shops. I saw a few water shoes, very few in my size, and a huge variety of prices. Eventually, one lady suggested I go to a supermarket to check there. They had lots, and a pink/black pair! They cost me 6,500 CRC, which is about $10 USD.
I also went to the supermarket and got some red bananas and some Monteverde-made cheese. This was my lunch today.
I went back to the hostel to get ready and then waited. And waited. And waited. At 2.30pm Adrian & the sushi people (they went to sushi for lunch) were still not back so 7 of us walked to El Salto on our own. It is 20mins from the hostel and is a river, with a small waterfall and a big rope swing. It is free and a very popular locals hangout. It was indeed very busy when we got there. I didn't want to leave it bags unsupervised so I stayed with them for a while before one of the girls came to relieve me. I then jumped off the rocks into the waterfall pool! It wasn’t very high, maybe 2-3m but that was high enough for now. The water was refreshing (Latin for cold) and the rocks were very slippery. Very pretty though.
Eventually the sushi people arrived and half the group did the rope swing. That would be a good 10m high I reckon. No thank you.
I started to feel a bit unwell from all the cheese I ate earlier so I walked back to town on my own. I was lucky to witness the clouds disappearing from the top of Arenal so I could see the steam coming out of the volcano!
I got changed into dry clothes and went back to the outdoor store. I decided I had to bite the bullet and buy the straps, even though they were quite expensive. They cost me $20 USD. I’ll have to use it for my sunglasses when I get home to make it worthwhile!
At 5pm, all the people who checked in today were invited to the fire pit for a welcome drink. It was very similar to the one at Desafio. Then we had to introduce ourselves to the group. There were 4 Canadians and 2 Italians, other than our group.
I didn't know what to do so Adrian offered to take me to his friend's shop to maybe buy some souvenirs. His best friend was working and it gave him an excuse to see her as well. A group of people also came and he dropped them off at a rooftop bar to watch the sunset. Here is one I took off the sunset from the street.
On the way, we stopped at a small shop to buy a bevvy. Adrian's friend loves volcano sunsets and beer, so he bought both him and her a beer and I chose a premix daiquiri can.
Then we walked to the shop and I walked around while he caught up with his friend. The shop has products from all local artisans. Tshirts, bathers, chocolate, honey, drawings, jewellery, body products. So much nice stuff.
Then we headed back to the rooftop bar to join the others. It was happy hour so for $8 USD I got 2 mango daiquiris. Here is another photo of the sunset from the bar.
Most people left and a small group of us decided to stay and have dinner. I really wanted proper Costa Rican food, so I ordered a castado. This is a plate with rice, beans, meat (chicken for me), salad, a tortilla and a fried egg. It was very good!
Then we headed back to the hotel. Yesterday, 4 people did a bungee jump and their videos came through today so they booked the cinema room so we could all watch them. Each person has 2 videos: 1 taken by the professional who stays in the cable car and films them from above, the other is from a GoPro that is attached to the helmets facing the person, to capture the reactions. They were hilarious and terrifying. The 2 boys had to be pushed off the ledge while the 2 girls jumped on their own. They are crazy. I will not, and could not, ever do that. John was as terrified as I was in the Tarzan swing!
I went and had a shower after this and boy is it an amazing shower! After some of the cold & crappy one we have had, this hot, high pressure one is awesome.
Then 4 of us went to a bar that Adrian was at with his friend. We played Jenga and had a drink. Unfortunately, the live music stopped after we arrived so it wasn't very exciting. By 10.30pm we left and went back to the hostel.
I went back to my nice cold, beautiful room and got ready for bed. I'm not packed for tomorrow, but it won't take long. We are going to be picked up at 6.35am so I have to be up at 6am. My room is nice and cold and I'm snug as a bug in a rug under my doona. First time all trip that I have been cold at night! It feels wonderful!
Day 35 La Fortuna
Today a small group of us (8) were going to Gravity Falls. We were going to abseil down waterfalls, climb up waterfalls and jump off waterfalls.
We drove for about 40mins and stopped at a small supermarket with some toilets to meet the rest of the crew, gear up and get ready. Then we got into 4x4s for the drive to the mountain.
From the top we had to walk through a paddock and through the jungle to the first abseil point. It was 40m high! I've done abseiling as a kid on school camp so I wasn't nervous about this. At the bottom though, the guide pulled the rope away from the wall and told us to let go so we dropped into the water. That was a little scary.
Next was a jump off the waterfall. It was about 5m high. That was definitely scary and I inhaled a lot of water as I stopped holding my nose. Oops!
We did a few more jumps, 3 more abseils and we climbed up 2 waterfalls. At one point, we got to do a little swim through some rapids. That was probably my favourite part of the whole trip!
At the very end was an optional 12m jump. I did NOT do that. Only half our group did that.
Then we walked back through the jungle and saw a blue jeans poison dart frog. It is named that because the blue legs make it look like it is wearing blue jeans.
We headed back to the supermarket to change into dry clothes, then were taken to the Desafio centre for lunch, which was included. We had rice, beans, chicken, potatoes and a salad bar. It was really good!
On the way back to La Fortuna, the van pulled over on the side of the road, which confused us. Then they said there is a sloth in the tree. That got us going! Out the front of the market on the side of the road was a big sloth in the tree! It was very exciting! We took lots of photos and videos. Here my best photo:
After we got back to the hostel, I showed and then headed to the Bogarin sloth trail. This is located at a small patch of forest on the outskirts of town, which houses sloths. Unfortunately, I saw only 1 which was far too high up for a photo or any definition other than an outline.
I headed back into town and went to the chocolate café shop. I got an iced chocolate, an eclair and a block of pineapple banana chocolate to take home. It is very dark (70%) so I may not like it. The iced chocolate was amazing though. Exactly what I needed.
I went back to my room and showered all the sunscreen off. I just chilled and added photos to my blog for a while.
At 7pm we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I had al pastor tacos, which were good but not amazing. The ones in Mexico were better.
When we got back, I started adding more photos to the blog but I was so sleepy I fell asleep at 9.45pm!
Day 36 La Fortuna to San José
Today is our last full day of the tour. We are going white water rafting on the Sarapiqui River, before heading to San José.
We were collected by Desafio at 8.30am and driven to the location where we could change and get geared up.
We were served coffee and juice while we changed, then boarded the bus and drove 15mins (clearly a Latino 15mins, it was about 30mins!) to the rafting spot. Once there, we were given a life jacket, helmet and paddle. Everyone divided up into groups, and Adrian said he would be with me as I was scared of falling in. We also ended up with the Aussie guy, and the rafting guide.
Adrian and Wian sat at the front, me towards the back and the guide right at the back. We had to wedge our feet under the inflatable seats to help us stay in the raft. I didn't want to fall in for 2 reasons: I was wearing my contacts, and I was scared of hitting a rock and getting hurt. The rapids are rated class 3 & 4, which is pretty high up for tourist level.
I wasn’t nervous at all as Adrian had promised he would do everything he could to keep me safe (as long as I followed instructions), and I really enjoyed the rafting. Some of the rapids were big and several times the guide grabbed my life jacket to make sure I didn't fall out.
At several points, 1 of us was allowed to sit on the front of the raft while we went down some rapids. When Wian was in the front, I was sitting closer to the front and we went down a huge rapid. Adrian had to grab me as I nearly fell out! When it was my turn on the front, I had so much fun, although I nearly fell backwards into the raft.
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On several other rapids, the guide told me to sit inside the raft while the boys did all the work.
We rafted down the river for about 1.5hrs. It was low, so in parts we were scrapping the rocks and once we got completely wedged on a big rock and the guide had to get out to free us.
We eventually reached a rocky beach where the rafting finished. We boarded the bus and headed back to the Desafio centre. We got changed into dry clothes and had lunch. I had a pork chop, rice, beans and salad. It was good.
It was then time to begin the drive to San José. It was about 2.5hrs, depending on traffic. We spoke for most of the drive, and Adrian had us do an activity. A rose, a bud and a thorn. The rose is your highlights of the trip, the thorn is the negatives/improvements, and the bud is what you are going to take away from the trip/what will stay with you. There were some common responses: highlights were the activities, especially high adrenalin ones, lowlights were the awful boat ride between El Salvador and Nicaragua where we got drenched, the lake covered in plastic in Suchitoto and cold showers, and the buds were things like food, surprising safety of Honduras and El Salvador, and friendships.
At San José, we checked into our final hotel of the trip. I got my own room again which is awesome. It is a very brown room. Brown wall, brown floor, brown door, brown furniture, brown bedspread.
Then I headed straight out to the supermarket and the shopping centre. It was only 10mins walk to the mall so very close. I got money out of the ATM and walked around. Then I went back to my room to chill before getting ready for our final dinner.
We had decided to go to a place that has a variety of food outlets and open seating. I chose a goat cheese burger (beef, caramelised onion and goat cheese) with garlic fries, and a strawberry daiquiri. It was very good! Others had pizza, sushi, a meat bowl, ramen etc. I must have been hungry because I apparently didn't take a photo!
After dinner, we said thank you to Adrian, then set off for a bar. It was a Monday night, Mother's Day and a public holiday so it was 50/50 on whether it would be busy or quiet. Turns out it was quiet. In fact, the bar was completely empty when we went in. The music was good, but some of the group wanted to play drinking games and it was too loud, so they went around the corner to a heavy metal bar. The rest of us went and joined them when we finished our drinks. The music was terrible! I’m not a fan of metal. At 11pm, I decided that I had had enough and went back to the hotel with a few others.
I was exhausted so I went straight to bed.
Day 37 San José
This morning, instead of howler monkeys at 5am, I was written by a train that goes right past the back of the hotel and shook my windows. I feel like there were so many trains because I didn't sleep again all morning.
At 8am I met 2 other girls and we went for breakfast at a nearby restaurant. I ordered a breakfast bun, which was a bacon, egg, avocado and cheese burger. It was delicious!
I headed back to the hotel to get my stuff and ordered an Uber to pick me up. I had a date with some sloths!
My Uber took me to the Toucan Rescue Ranch, just outside San José. I had booked a tour of the property. We were served coffee, juice and pastries, then given an introduction to the property. They started off rescuing toucans and birds, and then started rescuing sloths as there was no facility in the central valley who were helping sloths. The primary aim of rescuing all animals is to rehabilitate and release, but they do have some permanent residents who cannot be released into the wild. Most are due to human induced harm. Many of the birds have had one of their wings amputated due to car accidents or people intentionally cutting wings to stop them flying or keeping them in cages too small. They also have a few sloths who can't be released for several reasons.
There are some macaws who are permanent residents. They are extremely chatty and attention seeking. The toucans were my favourite birds though. So bright and colourful!
They actually have sloth school for the sloths to learn to be a wild sloth. They progress from nursery to university and by the time they graduate from university, they are released into the wild.
After a big chat about the sloths, watching Millie hang from the branches, we took a 2hr tour of the facility. It was really interesting and heartbreaking to hear the stories of how the permanent residents ended up there. Humans are so unbelievably cruel to animals sometimes.
After the tour, I got another Uber and went to the centre of San José. I walked around the pedestrian mall for a bit. I was very surpassed to see the amount of homeless people digging through trash bags, eating any and all food they could find. Very sad to see. There was a lot of police presence though, so I didn't feel unsafe.
Then I went to the artisan market for a walk around. Loads of souvenirs but I didn't buy anything.
Next was food time. I chose Taco Bell as they were advertising a delicious looking cheese & bacon quesadilla. It was alright, but not amazing.
After lunch I went to the Pre-Colombian Gold Museum. It is located underground and filled with thousands of ancient gold pieces. Many of them are in the shape of animals, such as frogs, crocodiles and birds. While the are a lot of pieces, it isn't a very big museum.
Then I walked back to my hotel. I have decided that I don't much like San José. It is dirty, full of icky pigeons, rubbish everywhere and lots of homeless people who need help. I would rather be in Monteverde or La Fortuna. I pretty much stayed in my room for the rest of the night. I completely repacked all my bags in preparation for my flight tomorrow.
And that brings me to the end of my time in Costa Rica and my 38 days in Central America. I have actually loved almost every moment of my time in Central America, which has surprised me a bit. I have felt completely safe in every place we have been, I've enjoyed the food (except the poisoned pasta!) and the people have been super friendly. I especially enjoyed the jungles/rainforests as they are so beautiful.
Central America is an amazing region so if you are thinking about coming here, definitely do it!