Blogs from Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 7

We had a massive day today! We had to be up at 6am so Olly naturally blasted out Troublemaker again at us! Nooooo! We had breakie included in our hotel for the next 2 days which was good for saving money as we are just burning through cash in Costa Rica cos it is so expensive! It was simple – fruit, toast and some eggs but not too bad. We all piled into the van again and drove for about 20 mins into the cloud forest to meet our guide Christian. He was another super passionate guide which was funny and also really good! We walked around for about 2.5 hours spotting birds (Ben really has turned into the next bird whisperer and spotter! - who needed a guide!) and animals. We even managed to sort ... read more

April 20: From the Osa Peninsula , we took a small plane (18 seat Otter) to La Fortuna, the town nearest to Arenal National Park. Never been in a plane that has big square windows before, great views over the coast and inland Costa Rica. CR is mountainous with generally poor roads, so flying was a good option and quite cheap. 2 flights and three hours later and we had crossed a large part of the country to north of San Jose. Our digs were in a tent at Arenal Backpackers Resort, a very attractive setting with views of the volcano and a lovely pool. We were lucky, not long after we arrived, the cloud lifted and we got an amazing view of the volcano from there (it is covered in cloud or mist about 80% ... read more

Jaco/Puntaranas/Monteverde: Jaco, as a native described to me, is like a miniature Miami. The beaches are nice, waves are good for surfing, and there's plenty of nightlife to keep party-goers busy all week. Not to mention thieving prostitutes. Not that we encountered any, just met a guy who was robbed without a happy ending. We laid low in Jaco and caught the next bus out of there in the afternoon. That bus I was telling you about, was over a half hour late! Other than the irritation of being at a bus stop for 45 minutes with uncertainty and no bench, it made us miss our connecting bus in Puntaranas. After arriving in Puntaranas I couldn't understand why this was a major connection between towns. It's a strip of land with water on both sides and ... read more

Things are great in Costa Rica and we are continuing to enjoy our G Adventure Tour!! We have found the Costa Ricans to be very friendly and seem happy and content. Most are small people so I fit right in!! It is like our summer vacation here right now. The kids have December and January off and the new school season starts Feb. 1st. Consequently we are seeing lots of kids and families around enjoying themselves. In general we are very impressed with the cleaniness of the country and the infrastructure. The highways and freeways are in good condition and modern. Costa Rica appears to be ahead of many of the Central American countries we have travelled to. Our next stop was Monteverde/Santa Elena for a couple of days. On the way we stopped at a ... read more

Dag iedereen, Onze laatste dagen in Costa Rica gaan in en we beginnen het te voelen. We worden meer moe en de heimwee wordt groter. Deze morgen zijn we naar de Don Juan Coffee tour geweest. Er werd stap voor stap uitgelegd hoe ze koffie maken: van een zaadje planten voor de koffieboom tot het verpakken van de koffie. Er werden ons ook tips gegeven hoe we de beste koffie kunnen kiezen uit de supermarkt. (interessant) We zagen ook hoe je een sugar cane kan persen tot een heerlijk drankje + hoe je van de cacaovrucht cacao kan maken. We mochten natuurlijk ook proeven van hun koffie, hun chocoladedrankje en hun pralines. Nore was vooral geïnteresseerd in de pralines. Na een rustige middag zijn we naar de frog pond gegaan. Daar kan je verschillende soorten kikkers ... read more