Blogs from Santa Elena, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Tuesday Nice sunny morning, but very windy. We had our usual good breakfast here. I asked the host when the parakeets would be here in his tree, and he said they were there at 5am. Missed them! They may be back about 4pm, but sometimes they don't show up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Our original plan was to go to the Santa Elena Reserve, but since we were in Monteverde yesterday, we decided to pass on this one. This reserve is smaller than Monteverde. However, ten percent of the species here aren't found in Monteverde, which is on the other side of the continental divide. Spent the morning making online reservations for stops later in our trip. We had an easy, relaxed day today, but we did spend quite a bit of time walking around ... read more

Sunday Quiet here in La Fortuna except for the 5am rooster! Got a little more sleep, packed up, said good-bye to the cat, and walked to the bus station to catch the 8am bus to Tilaran, heading for our final destination of Santa Elena. Tilaran is a small town on the SW end of the lake, Laguna de Arenal. It is known as a regional ranching center. The ride from La Fortuna to Tilaran took about three hours, leaving exactly on time. Tickets cost $11 total. The bus goes around Laguna de Arenal, which is supposed to be one of the best wind-surfing places in the world. We drove past several metal structures, as well as some fancy hot springs, expensive hotels, and near-manions. The greenery was lush, with many horses and cattle. Then drove through ... read more

Monteverde was one of Costa Rica’s top attractions. Its cloud forests formed an otherworldly landscape of misty forest vistas and rolling mountains that are home to a stunning array of wildlife. It is a bird-watchers’ paradise that draws people from all over the world who come hoping to get a glimpse of its most famous avian resident the emerald green and red resplendent quetzal. The main town in the region is Santa Elena, a compact tourist town with a laid-back feeling about it. We arrived in Santa Elena at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Our journey from Bijagua had been long, but enjoyable. The majority of the drive was on paved roads and, with the exception of a one-lane construction zone where I got to carry the red flag signifying that I was the last car ... read more

"Pura Vida" (pure life) is the slogan of the Costa Rican people and that's what you hear a lot and how they live their life: relax and enjoy, everything will be ok! As we told you, we were planning to visit the Marino Ballena national park last sunday. After we woke up with the shouting of the howler monkeys (brulapen, our hotel was close to the forest), we took a boat trip. The guide told us we would see dolphins, but no whales, unless we would be very lucky. After about half an hour, the guide received a phonecall: another boat spotted a whale (yeah that's how it works a few kilometres away from the coast on the Pacific Ocean...). So we turned to another direction and went full speed to the place to be. And ... read more

Disclaimer: The Spanish may not be correct but I tried hard! After the Spanish is a more detailed account in English of the past 4 days! Enjoy. Hint: You can enlarge the photos! I suggest doing this with the ones of the monkeys so you can actually see them! Tengo mucho para escribir y no tengo mucho tiempo. Después de escribiendo mi blog, necesito hacer mi tarea y ya son las nueve y media de la noche. Clase empiece a las ocho de la mañana y si quiero comer, necesito levantarme a las seis y media de la mañana por lo menos. Han sido cuatro días desde la última vez que escribió por mi blog. Tengo que hablar sobre sábado, domingo, lunes, y hoy, martes. Primero sábado. Sábado miré el partido de fútbol americano de los ... read more