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Published: February 21st 2008
Well, our time was up in Nicaragua, and while it had been a blast it was time to head to Costa Rica...
First stop was hoping to be Monteverde; we had dropped the rental car off and were now on foot without really knowing how to get there. After a long and stinking hot 4 hour wait at the border (1 on the Nica side, 3 on the Costa) we boarded a bus to Liberia hoping to find a connection there. Fortunately along the way we met an American family who were spending a year in Nicaragua and visiting Liberia for the weekend...as they were fluent in Spanish they were gracious enough to make some enquiries at the Liberia bus station and got us pointed in the right direction, and we were off to Canas... From there it got tricky, because of the delay at the border it was now about 5 pm and we still had a ways to go. Due to the time of day the taxis weren't willing to hump it all the way to Monteverde, there was only one more later bus going to Tilaran so we decided to grab a cab to Tilaran in hopes
And here we go...
...on to Costa Rica...of finding more transport on to Monteverde. Cab driver got us to Tilaran around 6 pm, and we mentioned we still needed to get to Monteverde so after some negotiating we settled on a price and we were on our way...and it was then pretty obvious that he had never been there; the roads were atrocious (more potholes!), we were climbing steep hills and plunging into valleys on the other side...it was now dark, he was lost, kept mentioning he had a family, had to stop for directions a few times...but in the twelfth hour of travel that day we found Santa Elena (just outside Monteverde) and finally pulled up to our hotel, the Tree House...no one was more relieved than the cabbie! He was tipped very well as we felt bad for the drive...haha...
Cool hotel, built around this 45 year old fig tree planted by the owner. Pilar, the gal running the place was amazing, she absolutely bent over backwards helping us out; everything from booking tours to making reservations in other towns, thanks Pilar! Monteverde (and Santa Elena where we were) are both pretty gringoish but cool all the same; tons of tours to be had
Tarantula!
At the Insectarium... and shops to poke around in, definitely a fun stop to get all your adventurin' in...
We had a couple of days here and the first priority was Zip Lining! Oh man, what a blast...we opted to go with Seveltura as their lines were through the original growth of rain forest. After a quick demo we were fastened to the lines and hurtling over the canopy, absolutely amazing! After a couple of hours of adrenaline we then took a 3 km hike through the rainforest, crossing some cool suspension bridges and seeing and breathing in the sights. Probably one of the few times I saw rain the entire time I was in Central America as well...haha....
That took care of much of the day, then it was time to hit the bar around the corner called Amigos and watch the Super Bowl! Huge dance place, absolutely overwhelmed by gringos trying to catch the game...we got there a little early and scooped a great seat, greased the waiter so he totally took care of us once the pandemonium started and had a fantastic time watching the game, tossing back cervezas and meeting cool people from all over the world...good
At the border...
Ken and I humping our gear across the Nica/CR border... (KS) times!
Following day started off a little slow but after a late breaky we decided to tour around the town a little...and on our travels we first stopped at a frog pond to check out all the local species... Guide was great, showed us around all the habitats with the frogs and we actually learned a lot...as it was daytime most of the frogs were sleeping but still managed to see some of them... Then it was off to the Insectarium, very cool! Guide was awesome, very funny and again we learned a ton about all sorts of bugs... I was able to handle a Praying Mantis and Rhino Beetle, but balked when offered the Tarantula, just couldn't do it...haha...
Split up with my friends for the afternoon; they wanted to continue exploring the town and I was jones'ing to do some ATV'ing...not the most eco-friendly thing going but a lot of fun...got to see a whole bunch of the countryside via the unbeaten path and saw some beautiful vistas and trails...also got to see the gal in front of me totally lose control of her ATV and ram herself (and her son) full speed into an embankment...holy
Monteverde
The main drag in Santa Elena... shmokes that was nuts...shook them up pretty bad and I think they were hurt to a certain degree but after a bit they both got back on the bike and we made it home...hope they're okay!
After another fantastic meal (many, many great restaurants in this town) we readied ourselves for our early morning departure to El Castillo and the Arenal Volcano...we came back to Santa Elena after El Castillo for a day before heading back to Liberia and home, and managed to squeeze in another zip line run...haha... This time we went with Sky Trek, which is apparently the highest, longest and fastest in the area... Wow! One run was a half mile long, we got up to speeds of 50-60 kms/hr supposedly and at times it seemed like we were hundreds of feet over the canopy...what a way to finish off the trip!
(Some photos copyright of Kim S., denoted by (KS)...used with kind permission)
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cjkmundo
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where are beaches (if any) on nicoya or...
should we go directly to manuel antonio. we are coming from nicaragua