Volcano Trail Day 13: Monteverde, Costa Rica We left Ometepe early in the morning, this time catching a proper ferry to the mainland. Crossed with ease into Costa Rica. As soon as you enter Costa Rica the differences in standard of living are profound - nicely paved roads, better built homes, cars in better condition, better clothing... it is apparent that Costa Rica is indeed the wealthiest of the Central American nations. We passed numerous volcanoes and had some great views. Monteverde was originally founded by American Quakers who wanted to start up a new life away from the issues [View Full Entry]

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Bij de grens met Costa Rica kwamen we een backpackster tegen die Nica in wou en 5 uur had moeten wachten in haar bus want iemand anders had blijkbaar cocaine meegesmokkeld en werd ontdekt.. Leuk. We staken zonder probleem te voet de grens over op een modderig weggetje, bij het checkpoint in CR stond er echter een gigantische wachtrij, dus het enige wat we konden doen was wachten en schuifelen. Gelukkig had mijn gsm weer bereik dus kon ik een telefoontje plegen met Diego. Daarna namen we een bus naar Liberia, waar we een stevige lunch aten om vervolgens onze eigen [View Full Entry]

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Hallo allemaal, Sorry, sorry sorry, het duurde even, maar hier dan weer een berichtje van mij. Ok, we waren gebleven bij mijn aankomst in Montezuma, alweer een heel tijdje geleden dus inmiddels… En er is ook een en ander veranderd aan m´n reisschema…. Die aankomstdag uiteindelijk niet zo veel bijzonders meer gedaan. Wel nog een drankje gedaan in de plaatselijke bar en daar aan de praat gekomen met een ¨local¨ die ook vaak gids is. Hij wilde me wel gratis (of voor een zelf te beslissen tip) meenemen de volgende dag naar de watervallen. Easy trip volgens hem.. jaja, dat he [View Full Entry]

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In Liberia, Costa Rica after picking up the rental SUV we stopped for a greasy hangover cure at McDonald’s, which was packed crowded with Costa Ricans. Surprising how popular Mickey D’s seemed to be there - super crowded… we could barely walk in the place. People were very friendly and smiled when looking at us... quite a contrast to the stern faces of the Nicas in Nicaragua. Liberia is modern and very clean compared to everything we saw in Nicaragua. In some respects it is disappointing to see McDonald's (as well as Burger King, KFC, and Little Ceaser's pizza) in Cent [View Full Entry]

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I now know what it feels like to be inside a blender! As you can imagine - it wasnt a pleasant experience I was up for another long travel day to get to Monteverde. It was on a bus - on a ferry - on a bus - on another bus.....Then quick as a flash, I was dropped off in Monteverde. Monteverde is the complete opposite of Costa Rica's Pacific coastline. Set up in the hills in a cloud forest - it was nowhere near as warm as the coast during the day and cold & windy at night. The [View Full Entry]

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It took us around a 10 hour of bus ride to get to the mountain town of santa elena - a tourist town really, primarily americans, - but it seems worth it. The mountains are covered in dense rain forest, and there is a nice breeze cooling us down. A big change from the relentless heat of manuel antonio. Ellie is still suffering from the sun burns inflicted upon her by the pacific coast sunshine... I am fine. Today we took a bus to the local national park, with the hope of seeing the constantly erupting Volcano Arenal after 3 hours [View Full Entry]

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The weather in Monteverde made me homesick - constant drizzle and gusts of wind that chilled through to the bone. Real rain jacket weather - zip up, hood up. It was like being in a cloud. This is not how I imagined Costa Rica to be. The area´s name really should have given it away though, but my brain must have focused more on the word ´forest´ than ´cloud´when we decided to head to Monteverde Cloud Forest. Doh. Not ones to let the weather get us down, we donned our unflattering waterproofs (as we saw on other tourists, all waterproofs seem [View Full Entry]

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hey so yesterday i finally made it to la fortuna, hoping to see the famous volcano arenal. arriving it was kind of raining and the first guy who harrassed me off the bus was kind of nice. i used the internet first and then we walked around while he tried to sell me some tours. i eventually made it to the backpackers hostel. TOTAL RIP OFF!! broke the bank here. they did have a nice but freezing pool and since it was raining i took a nice shower dip. have been wearing the same clothes for 4 days cause laudry is [View Full Entry]

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We catch the bus up to Monteverde National park and hike the trails of the Cloud Forest. The 2 hour walk, the park ranger suggests, only takes us one hour to complete. We need to wait an hour before we can catch the bus back to town, so, we check out the humming bird gallery. The colours on those humming birds are really amazing and the birds are very fast. It's almost impossible to get a good picture of them while they are flying. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures of them. We pop into [View Full Entry]

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We go zip lining early in the morning. It's great even though we had to do it in light rain with a bit of wind. One of the highlights of the zip lining is the Tarzan swing. The guide attaches you to a rope as you stand on a platform. The guide then ask you to step off the platform. I'm the first one up . The guide sets me up, tells me to step off, and then pushes me off before I get a chance to step off. Shit! It's Awesome! I love it! Too bad we only get to [View Full Entry]

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