So I left Monteverde at 2PM and we gunned it down the mountain like a bat out of hell down the super sketchie roads at top speed. I made the mistakes of falling alseep and my head ended up hitting the roof of the car and almost knocked myself out back to sleep. Who needs Melatonin when you can whip down a mountain. After an hour of being shell shocked and the occastionally stop to let cows cross, we reached the base of the mountain and I had to get off. I was so out of it I left my camera [View Full Entry]

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Well it´s too hot to wait outside so I thought I blog abit and zen out and maybe give some of my No Planets Just lonely Dan tips. If you are planning on coming to CR bring money. CR has developed into a big tourist hotspot and probably the most expensive country in Central America. Average price for food is $6-$8 and that is just simple stuff now dining out. Most activities range from $40 average and up. And grocery is not that much cheaper when you try to buy can tuna it´s pretty much the same as home. It is [View Full Entry]

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Last night after the coffee tour I met up with Thomas from Holland and we had a few drinks at the Tree house restuarant. Some how they build this place around a massive tree and the restuarant sits up on the tree like a tree house. Very cool but also very expensive. Drinks were about $5 but they were good. I got the Mojito but then saw the Tree house mojito which they basically make it into a pretty lavish drink. We met these 6 girls from England and they were travelling up to Nica and Thomas had only good things [View Full Entry]

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This morning I woke up at 6am for a brisk hike into the cloud forest. The cloud forest is a protected area and it has a pretty good trail with or without a guide. I would recommend the guide because he can show you things you would not be able to find. The cost was $30 and Johnny our guide was very good. He was able to mimic all the bird and animal sounds so they would respond back. There´s a few trails here you can do so I would do the one in Santa Elena with a guide and the [View Full Entry]

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I left Puntarenas at 2pm on another local bus. The bus ride cost $2 bucks. My number system in spanish is still very new so most of the time when I am unsure how much something cost I give them a bigger bill but then this equals more change. Costa Rica change is heavy so I think I will need to practice my numbers or I am going to have to either hit the slots or carry a big mountain coop change purse. Catching the bus can be difficult because even though the sign tells you the bus stops here it [View Full Entry]

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Woke up at 5 am to catch the 6am bus out of Mal Pais and into Cabano. There I would take another bus to Tambor and to the ferry station. The ferry takes 1.5 hours but the entire trip just to get to the ferry is about 3 hours. The roads are sometimes so bad you need a 4x4 but we were lucky even with such heavy rain last night the bus made it out of Mal Pais. I arrived at the port of Puntarenas which is a transitional town. I waited at the local bus stop and the firework began. [View Full Entry]

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So we had some good news today. They called the locksmith and since we are in the middle of nowhere I have no idea how much this will cost to bring him down in this remote place to break the hotel safe because they vault key is lost during one of the surf sessions. Passport and all money is in the vault so this potentially can be bad. 4 hours later after a long hike I get back to receive some good news that they where able to get into the safe so a ding of $50. Good times, so it{s [View Full Entry]

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On Saturaday morning I ended up taking the local bus by accident. Apparently there is one bus for most of the tourist and then the other local bus for people to get to work. I thought it was odd that I was the only gringo on the bus. Nevertheless it was an adventure getting to Puntarenas to get to the Ferry. But because this was a regular bus I overshot my stop an entire half island and had to make my way back to the Ferry. The bus ride took 2.5 hours and cost $2 bucks which was sweet. Ferry takes [View Full Entry]

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They say it takes about a week before you break out of your comfort zone and really get into your trip and they are right. I have to say I have not stayed at a funkier hostel then the Tranquilo backpackers hostel. This place is probably the best hostel I had ever stayed at. The vibe is just off the charts. I arrived from Caribe bus station and made my way here. The hostel use to be an old mansion but now they are all little dorm rooms. This place is like spring break meets bob marley meets jack johnson. It{s [View Full Entry]

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So I finally met up with Marianne and John and out of no where a full on marching band was in formation on the intersection. I guess it must of been some sort of school organized event because there were 20 to 30 something kids and a conductor leading them down the street. It was pretty fun watching the little kids dance to the local music. Soon after we went over to the bus station and paid the driver $8 for a 6 hour trip to San Jose. The bus ride was uneventful except when we got stopped by the policia [View Full Entry]

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