Monte Verde - Samara - San Jose

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Hola!

Over the last week I have been to Monte Verde in the hills, Samara at the beach and back to San Jose.

I finally got my bus to Monte Verde and travelled for 5 hours, arriving there at 1930. As soon as I walked in, I thought it was brilliant. I had to walk across a bridge to get to my wooden lodge and it was surrounded by the forest. I decided I needed to make sure my stay was busy in Monte Verde and booked myself on a canyoning and night walk trip.

I woke up the next morning, all excited about my canyoning trip. The trip involved me repelling down different waterfalls, with the tallest being 40metres! I met four lovely Canadian people when I was there. We had to make sure we kept our legs really wide whilst repelling down so that we wouldn´t slip. On one of the waterfalls I didn´t keep my legs wide enough apart and slid, banging my knee, then slid to the side. I had to use all of my strength to get back up again. I really enjoyed the day and got absolutely soaked! Was well worth it though. I was really worried my glasses would fall off at the beginning - as I have run out of contact lenses - so the guy that guiding us through the waterfall tied a piece of string around my glasses. The string was a good idea, but when I needed to clean them it was really hard to take them off! They kept on steaming up which wasn´t great. I was thankful for the string though on the last waterfall. I was abseiling down and suddenly looked down and realised I was going to run out of rope! I was trying to work out a way I could get down without dropping. The guy at the top kept on shouting jump but I was still working out how I would get down. He carried on shouting jump so thought- just do it! I jumped and fell into deep water! Head completely under! I totally didn´t expect it as I had only been in knee deep after every other waterfall! Such a great trip!

Afterwards, I went for tacos with two of the canadians. Delicious! We then met up later on for the night walk. A guy called Sergio, who was assocaited with the hostel, took us on a walk around the forest. Before we set off, he was explaining to us what he does. He saves injured animals and will try his best to help them back to health, then release them back into the forest. Sergio was telling us about how the temperature of the area has risen by 3 degrees over the years which is making it hard for some animals. He has worked in the area for 28 years and explained that some animals he hardly ever sees anymore but was fortunate to see an animal (I can´t remeber which one) that he hadn´t seen for 23 years! He told us he was so happy about this as it shows something positive about the area. He then started to cry as this work is his life and passion and it obviously made him so sad that the current state of the planet and how it is affecting whether animals survive.

Our walk started off with the bridge that connected our lodges. We waited in the dark with torches waited for something to appear. I heard people had seen monkeys the day before so I was really excited about what would appear. Suddenly, we heard rustling in trees and a kinkachoo appeared. I had never heard of one before, never mind never seeing one before. Apparantly, they are related to racoons but are brown in colour. Sergio fed it bananas and we got to stroke him. His fur was very thick which surprised me. I can tell why some of the animals are not coping if their fur is so thick and the outside temperature is increasing.

We carried on our walk and saw a lots of creatures; a tiny frog, scorpians, a tarantula and a porcupine up a tree! I didn´t see as much as I would have liked but I needed to remind myself I wasn´t at a zoo. Hopefully at some point in South America I will see more!

The next day, I went on a ziplining trip to Selvatura Park. There were 14 different ziplines, one tarzan swing and a superman zipline. The ziplines varied in length and speed but my favourite part was the tarzan swing and the superman zip. At the tarzan swing, I stood on a platform and was attached to a rope. I was then pushed off the platform and swung through the trees back and forth! It was so scary but so much fun at the same time. When I came down, I could hardly walk I was shaking so much! I then got suited up for the superman zip. I had to wear a long, red harness as I would be ziplining through the trees horizontally! When it was my turn, I had to hold on to the platform and raise my legs so that I could be attached in two places to the zipline. The guy strapping me up, held on to my feet and pushed me out. Whilst on the platform, my heart was thumping...as soon as I started ziplining through the trees, my heart beated normally and I felt so peaceful. The zipline was 1000m and I felt like I was literally flying high above the trees. Another magical moment on my trip! It was so amazing I wanted to do it again!

We then went out for tacos...again...and I looked at our pictures and videos from the day. I had to get up at 0330 for my bus to Samara the next morning so went to bed early.

0330 came around quickly and I made my way up the hill to the bus stop in the pitch black! Some Costa Rican men were also waiting so I knew I must have been in the right place but didn´t feel completely comfortable that there were no women there. Finally, the bus came and I got on board. I didn´t have enough change for the driver so he let me off as he didn´t want to take my big note! I rode on the bus for 2 hours and got off at a place called La Irla. The bus driver told me where to catch my next bus from and I waited...and waited...and waited! I started to worry there would be no buses as it was the start of the Easter weekend. I asked some young people and they told me that my bus would say SAMARA on the front. I stopped worrying and looked off in the distance. I noticed black monkeys swinging through the trees. Fantastic! I hadn´t seen monkeys yet, although I wish they were closer. All of sudden, I heard a sound that can only be described as the roar of a dinosaur. My face was a picture, I didn´t know what to think. I looked at the local people around me and they didn´t even flinch. Does Costa Rica have dinosaurs?...I thought they were extinct! I found out later on the noise actually came from howling monkeys...the monkeys I had seen in the trees! Relief that they weren´t dinosaurs hanging around haha.

I waited still and...nothing. Everyone waiting at the bus stop had got their bus! A lady appeared and I asked her if she spoke English...NO! eek. She then asked me where I was going (at least that´s what I thought) and I said Samara. She kept an eye out for buses for me and suddenly the Samara bus arrive. She said quick quick and hailed the bus down for me. The Costa Ricans have been so helpful to me! I got on the bus and there was no seat. I decided to sit in the aisle but more and more people got on I thought it was probably best to just stand up! We stopped at a place called Nicoya and lots of people got off...great a seat!! The bus carried on and part way on the journey I heard smeone say ´Adios Samara´. WHAAAT! Adios means goodbye! I asked the guy did he speak English and he said no. I pointed forward and I said ´Samara´. He said ´No. Nomusa´. I pointed backwards in the direction we had just left and said ´Samara´and he said ´Si´. Oh nooo! I grabbed my stuff and went straight to the bus driver. He smacked his head and slowed down (I think he forgot about me and felt bad). He realised there was no where for him to turn around, plus he had a bus full of people, so he found someone on the bus that spoke English and told me that I should get off at Nomusa then get the next bus back to Samara. An hour and a half later, I arrived in Nomusa and waited for the next bus. I met an American girl that spoke Spanish and the bus driver explained to her where I needed to get off and that I needed to get another bus to the beach ...ANOTHER BUS grrrr 😞

On the bus back to Samara, the bus driver charged me as it was a different company which I wasn´t pleased about but I thanked the American girl for trying to explain for me. I made my stop and the bus driver pointed to other side of the road to where I needed to get my next bus. I sat on my backpack and waited. I had been travelling for 10 hours and was fed up of buses! A car from the garage opposite drove up in front of me and asked if I was going to Samara. He offered me a lift to where I was staying and I sat there and hesitated. I wasn´t sure whether it would be safe. I looked across the road and saw other people and thought it must be safe as other people will see me getting in the car. He gave me his business card and explained that he does tours around Samara. I felt the quality of the card and looked at the pictures and decided because it was quite thick and the quality wa good that I must be safe. He brought me directly to my hostel so I was really thankful after such a hectic day. Would I accept a lift from a stranger again-probably not, but you never know what may come up!

I spent the next couple of days at a hostel by the beach and rested and sunbathed. I enjoyed just having time to read my book and do nothing. The waves were a bit big to swim in but I tried. I was probably very funny to watch, being tossed everywhere. If I had a few more days there probably would have had a surfing lesson as they were quite popular. As it was Easter weekend, I couldn´t get a bus back to San Jose on the Sunday so I had to get a bus on the saturday instead, spending only a day and half in Samara. Oh well.

I paid a bit extra for a shuttle bus back to San Jose as I wanted a stress free journey! I decided to stay somewhere different in San Jose so that I could see a different part of the city. The hostel I stayed in has a pool which is nice (although I´ve spent no time there!) I met a lovely New Zealand girl in my room and spent the next day looking around at the buildings and sat in the church. I found a few more nicer places this time and a few colonial buildings.

Next stop- Ecuador! The start of my South American adventure and only 6 weeks to do it! It´s going to fly by. I need to make sure I get more organised!



Tchao!!

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