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Greetings all.
I guess I am falling behind again in my emails. I am currently residing in Columbia and feel I should be clearing up Central America. So as the title makes clear, I will bore you senseless about the country of Costa Rica. The story so far sees our valiant hero leaving Nicaragua and crossing the border into Costa Rica. A bus ride or two results in him finding himself and his two remaining Canadian buddies (Zach and Lorelli) in the town of Liberia. Through superb timing (or blind luck - you pick the most likely) we have managed to arrive in town for the Guanacaste (the region Liberia is in) independence party. The locals are all preparing for a helluva party to rejoice their freedom from Nicaragua. This means that accommodation is a bit hard to find. We turn up at the local hostel and get a room for that night. The next night sees us cramped up in a tent on the hostels lawn. Oh well. The next day was fantastic. Liberia has a real love of horses and they all fancy themselves as cowboys. The festival itself consisted of a bunch of locals prancing around on horses, local bands (seemingly made up of local weirdoes on day release) playing on street corners and ice cream eating. Highlight of the horse parade was the guy who fell off his horse while trying to show of to some of the local ladies. In the evening we set out in search of the carnival. We found it. What an experience - in many ways. We did all the usual carnival stuff - rode the scary, badly put together, rides, ate noodles and drank beer. We also watched the bull ride thingy. A combination of running the bulls and bull riding. I must admit I wasn't as overjoyed by it as my Canadian friends. Seeing people hitting and kicking a bull to exhausted to move I don't find to entertaining. Each to their own I guess. While wandering around Zach and I were targeted by perhaps the most amateur pickpockets ever. They were so obvious. Some hefty pushing and shoving and we were away. Needless to say they got nothing. I guess we've come a long way since the slightly naive days in Guatemala. Our other highlight while staying in Liberia was our visit to the excellent Parque Rincon de la Veija. Lots of nice hiking, bubbling mud pits, waterfalls (some we could jump into from a fair distance up), swimming and wildlife spotting. A nice national park. Our next Costa Rican location is the tourist hotspot of Monteverde. After faffing around finding a place to stay, we end staying in the place right next to where the bus drops us off. Typical. The reason Monteverde is so popular (especially with rich Americans) is for the famous Skytrek and Skywalk. Once again it is obvious that we signed up for both and the Serpentarium (which was part of the package). Skywalk is a canopy tour through the cloud forest. 10 mts or so above the ground at times their are great opportunities to look for wildlife. The best we managed was a few monkeys. Although the mother and baby was really cute. The views were beautiful though, and many pictures were taken. Next we moved on to the Skytrek part of the day. This involves zooming across valleys in the jungle on zip lines. It really has to seen to be believed. It was lots of fun. They vary in height, speed and steepness but they all have one thing in common - they are all awesome. I'll try to get pictures on the internet - if they do the thing justice. The same afternoon we walked up to the allegedly popular cheese factory. Apparently the cheese is eaten all over Costa Rica. Big deal - I found the factory boring. Perhaps it was due to mornings excitement. At least I was able to get a nice ice-cream there. Before leaving town we headed out to the Serpentarium. That was good, lots of snakes, lizards and terrapins. We were even privileged enough to see two snakes being fed frogs. It was quite amusing watching the two snakes fighting over the same frog. Both had half of it in its mouth and both were refusing to let go. They had to be split up by one of the workers. That was pretty much it for Monteverde. Next stop was the equally touristy town of La Fortuna. This town is visited by people wanting to see one of the worlds most active volcanoes. Volcan Arenal is pretty much always erupting. At night there is often a chance to see lava really well. Unless that is it happens to be raining season when its always cloudy. Guess what? Correct, it was rainy season. Despite this we got some beautiful daytime views of the whole volcano and were even able to pick out the crashed plane on the side - which is rare for this time of year. After a morning of swimming and rope swinging into pools, we decided to go on a tour that takes you first to the jungle surrounding Arenal. It was great! Monkeys, Toucans, leaf cutter ants (I still find those little fellas amazing - despite being bitten so hard by a soldier that it drew blood). All the while we were taunted by the rumblings of Arenal although we could see nothing through the cloud. We were also treated to a good sighting of the rare White Hawk. The next stage of our tour was to natural hot springs. Unfortunately there is a hotel complex built around them but it makes it easier to enjoy. The waters range from warm to 'cooking a human' hot. It was very relaxing and much fun was had. We had a good group in our tour which added to the enjoyment. As we were leaving the hotel we were shouted at to look at the volcano. The sky had suddenly cleared and we could see lava coming out and flowing down the volcano. Mission accomplished. We jumped back in our mini-bus and zoomed off to a good vantage point. We watched for ages. Its quite something to watch a volcano erupt with your own eyes. I think the local townsfolk should be careful. As Zach pointed out I think they are living in denial. That thing could blow up big time at any moment. We left La Fortuna the next day to head back to the beach. We ran for the bus in the pouring rain (believe me - I think everyone that gets this mail probably has had better weather than me this summer) to take us some of the way to Montezuma. On the way Zach and I play Top Trumps with a couple of English kids we met in our hostel. Despite being 10 and 8 (or something like that) they certainly know their warships and supercars. They also have an amazing ability to cheat. Was I like that at their age? Probably. Maybe I still am. Anyway, they are also a good example of why it is good idea to take your kids traveling to more adventurous places than Spain or Disneyland. These kids were really quite mature for their age and have seen some amazing stuff in their short lives. They were interesting to listen to and had some good stories. The rest of the journey to Montezuma involved a ferry which was perhaps slower than the antique that took us to Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua and a rip off pickup ride. We were lied to about last buses and ended up having to pay some chap to take us. Maybe it was for the best in the end as the road the bus takes was washed out but the other road the pickup could manage. We saved ourselves about a kilometers walking. The few days spent in Montezuma were spent chilling out at the seaside. Glorious. I really prefer the Pacific to the Caribbean. The waves are a lot more fun to play in. Not for the first time during our time together Zach and I had the heck beaten out of us by the sea while we attempted to body surf (and attempted to survive!). There was one sad moment in this town though. I lost one of my beloved flip-flops. I was devastated, they had served by very well since they were purchased years ago (or so it seems) in New Zealand. A moments silence please. Thanks for that. I appreciate the sympathy. Before leaving Zach and I head off to find the local waterfalls. After hiking up a river (another thing we have done a lot of) we come across an 80 odd foot monster. We climbed a third of the way up and throw ourselves in. Fun, but not enough. We know there is another cascade behind that one. We hike up and round to find it. When we eventually get to it there is a group of people there all looking down at the pool below. This waterfall is approx 60-70ft high. We watch one guy jump off. Before I know it Zach has launched off it. What can I do? Bottle it? Hell no. Over I go. What a rush. It seems like I was falling for minutes, not the seconds it took. After climbing up I chose to do it again. What was I thinking? Lots of fun but a bit risky. There is a sign at the bottom warning that people have died there. I didn't do it again. There are a couple more stops to tell you about in Costa Rica but it will have to wait. I don't have long left in this internet place and have no more dinero on me. I'll finish it soon. As always, take care all. With love, Rob.Back to Rob's Diary
