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Published: December 16th 2008
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Hello from the rainforest!
Eric, Joanne and I left Pangea Hostel in San Jose early on Saturday morning and caught a cab to the bus station. Arriving just before 6am, we bought the $3 tickets to Monteverde, and found a nearby store selling breads and drinks. In the cool of the morning, we waited about 45 minutes for the bus. We also met another traveller, Andrew from Washington, DC, who was going to Monteverde too.
The bus pulled out at 6:30 and was soon on its way through metro San Jose. It picked up several more passengers at stops in the city, before turning up into the hills. We made good time for the first few hours, on winding paved roads with great views towards the Nicoya peninsula and the Pacific ocean. I passed the time chatting with the young man seated beside me, Alan, who spoke excellent english. He was heading home to Monteverde to visit his mother, and he was very friendly. It kept me awake for alot of the 4 hour trip, which was good because we had heard that many thieves preyed on the tourists on this route.
Once we turned from the highway
up towards Monteverde we were on a dirt road, pitted with holes and very narrow. With about 40kms to go, the bus slowed to under 30 kilometers per hour, stopping every once and a while to let people on and off.
Higher in the mountain, the road narrowed until the bus hung over the edge of the cliff around the turns, with sheer drops of hundreds of feet. All this, and motorcylces and mini busses still honked to pass and then roared by.
The sky was brilliant blue, and clouds were blown by a strong wind, which grew stronger the higher we got. Alan said goodbye about 10 minutes from Monteverde, in a small town of 10 houses, and we waved goodbye to him as he met his mother at the gate.
One of the men from Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel met us at the bus stop, and we walked 5 minutes with him to the hostel. Its a small building, with more rooms downstairs, and the owners are very friendly. My dorm bed cost just $6 and included breakfast! Andrew had come along with us too, and he came with us to lunch at a local
place in town.
The town has roads that are a bit like cobblestone, and I found it very attractive. We also tried to get cash from the ATM, which would only take Visa credit cards, and stopped for groceries before heading back to the hostel. That night, I finally found a small spanish-english dictionary, and a good little phrasebook (I initially bought the spanish-japanese version, oops!). The evening was rainy and windy, with wind so strong in blew you sideways a bit! We had dinner with a girl from Toronto, and then tried to warm up back at the hostel. Thank goodness I had asked for an extra blanket, as the night was very cold and windy!
The next day we had a great breakfast of fruit, granola, eggs and toast, prepared by the hostel staff (not bad for a $6 hostel!!!). We caught the 8:30 shuttle to the Santa Elena rainforest, and after getting yellow wristbands, searched for gumboots ($1) to wear during the hike.
We all went our separate ways, and I enjoyed my 3.4 kilometer hike. The rain wasn´t too bad under the canopy, and there was hardly anyone else there. Let me tell
you though, its hard work to hike in gumboots!! Especially up and down stairs, across logs and through mud! I got blisters on the insides of my ankles where my skin was rubbed raw from the boots. At about kilometer 2, I think the blisters popped, because it hurt a little less! But then going down was problematic, because my feet filled the gumboots with sweat!
I was walking fast towards the end, wanting to catch the 11am shuttle back, and I trip going up some stairs, cutting my pants and knee a bit, and landing hard in a mud puddle 😞 But I made it back in time, and had a nice hot shower at the hostel. I also rinsed out my dirty clothes and hung them in the sun to dry.
I had some lunch in town, and then headed to Ranario´s from pond. There, 22 different types of frogs and toads, some endangered, are on display. The $10 ticket gets you a guided tour during the day, and then you can come back at night and see the frogs again (they are sleeping during the day, and more active at night). My guide, Arnold, was
a young man with excellent english and a passion for the frogs.
I wasn´t feeling that great - a sore throat - and a quick trip to the pharmacia and some sign language got me some menthol tablets that worked great!
That evening I made dinner, pasta with a spicy tomato sauce and fresh onions, garlic and peppers, plus corn on the side. We had leftover wine and a papaya for desert - overall a pretty good feast that averaged about $4 per person for the ingrediants and wine.
We went to bed pretty early, and got up just after 5 am on Monday morning. Eric and Joanne had originally thought to go to La Fortuna, and I wanted to head onwards to Nicaragua. They changed their plans, for a number of reasons. One reason, at least for me, is that Costa Rica is pretty expensive (compared to the rest of Central America) and you pay for everything, even hikes. Someone at the hostel called it Eco-Disneyland!
We hiked up the hill and found the bus near to the bank. It took us back down the winding hilly road, with great views. At the bottom, where
the road to Monteverde meets the Trans-American highway, we got off. After missing one of the busses going by, we switched to a second stop a bit up the road. Several went by full, and then a local bus stopped. $3 or so got us to Liberia, where we met Mackie, a Swedish surfer, in line for the chicken bus to the border. Joanne and I got cold drinks and helado (ice cream) that melted down our hands within minutes.
Mackie had tipped the bus guy extra to handle his surfboard, and we somehow got included - our packs were waiting for us, reserving seats at the back of the crowded bus. With all the seats full, another couple dozen people stood in the aisle for the 45 minute trip to the border at Peñas Blancas.
At the border we joined the long, but relatively fast moving, line to be processed out of Costa Rica, and then walked the 1 kilometer to the Nicaraguan side. Along the way, money changers flashed wads of cash, and offered to change Colones and Dollars for Cordobas.
We stood in another, shorter and slower, line on the Nicaraguan side, where our
Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel
$6 dorm bed with yummy breakfast and free internet! passports were stamped and we paid the $7 Nicaraguan entrance fee. From there, we walked another few minutes, and entered the Nicarugaun side through a small dirty gate in a wood wall, paying $1 to the gaurd.
We found a taxi that would take the four of us (Mackie and his surfboard were still with us) to San Juan del Sur, for just $16. At $4 each, that wasn´t much more than the chicken bus, and it was a much faster trip!
We left Mackie where the cab let us out at about 2pm - he was off to find some surf - and went to a number of different hostels and hotels before finding La Puerto. At $20 a night for me, and $25 for Joanne and Eric, its a bit pricier than the places I´ve stayed before, but its very clean and I have my own bathroom. Its run by a pleasant German lady. We had a late lunch, and then Joanne and Eric had a walk on the beach while I explored town and shopped for a sarong. I needed something to wear while the rest of my clothes were washed!
This morning it
rained a bit, so I had a long breakfast at Big Daves Waves and read for an hour. This afternoon seems a bit better, and I´m going to look for some more Spanish lessons, plus lay around on the beach a bit.
Tomorrow I am off to Isla de Ometepe!
Eileen
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Michael
non-member comment
Frogs!
Those frogs are wonderful! I'm enjoying your travelblog and look forward to your continued adventures!