So on we went to the laid-back vibe that constitutes the town of Puerto Viejo, part of the slightly notorious Limon province (after the rafting, the tour company - and this is part of the $80 deal - take you on to your chosen next destination). We pass some pretty basic homes and buildings on the way: img=http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p112/julespenk/Jules%20and%20Sofie%20in%20the%20Americas/2%20-%20Costa%20Rica/3%20-%20Rio%20Pacuare/IMG_7692.jpg img=http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p112/julespenk/Jules%20and%20Sofie%20in%20the%20Americas/2%20-%20Costa%20Rica/3%20-%20Rio%20Pacuare/IMG_7693.jpg img=http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p112/julespenk/Jules%20and%20Sofie%20in%20the%20Americas/2%20-%20Costa%20Rica/3%20-%20Rio%20Pacuare/IMG_7694.jpg Enjoying a beer. img=http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p112/julespenk/Jules%20and%20Sofie%20in%20the%20Americas/2%20... read more

We Finally Get Out of the Crumbling Cement of San Jose One must eventually get out into the sticks, musn't one - see a bit of greenery and the like. So we hit Fortuna and Volcan Arenal, some four hours west by rickety bus. It was a dash to the bus-station, in particular since we didnt know which bus-station exactly, but with some break-neck taxi'ing, we made the bus with seconds to spare. The trip soon took us out of the urban density of San Jose and into the rich and verdant Costa Rican country-side (largest percentual of national parks in any country - 25% is protected), and we got chatting with a girl who's lived some years in New York of all places before returning to her homeland to study and work. On arrival at ... read more

We tried to avoid night driving as much as possible - you miss the scenery and Americans are aggressive muthas on the road! I dont get it, they are the nicest people UNTIL they get behind the wheel, whereupon they undergo a Jekyll and Hyde-like transmogrification and try to run everyone off the road - and when it's a 50 ton truck round a bend at night, it can get a bit hairy! Even when 10 mph over the limit, like at 85, I have had so many SUV front grills filling my rear-view mirror. One time it was a middle-aged woman, who otherwise looked perfectly timid. But we had no choice on getting into San Diego from the desert, and after some hours battling multi-lane traffic flows, we stopped off at a diner - it ... read more

So we end up having to stop in this proper one-horse town called Bridgeport. It's a stop off point for truckers mainly, and we found a bar with good food and kind folks to whom Sofie and I appeared like aliens from another planet. We liked stopping at these kind of towns. You take the open highway for miles and miles, bordered either side by vast mountainscapes, then meet people in these little spots who have been pounding tarmac and moving goods from north to south of the mid/west their whole lives. Conversations were like this - Where guys from ? Denmark!! Jeez....what tha HELL y'all doin out here in BRIDGEPORT!!? And then telling them we had 5 weeks to cruise around the States was already shocking, as they never have time off.....we were careful who ... read more

After that mad 300 dollar night (not even one free bottle of champers), we went to a brilliant village called Calistoga. There was a tasting festival on and we just sat on the grass, imbibing excellent white wines and listening to a live dixie jazz style band of old codgers giving their instruments what for. The place we stayed was maybe the best bit - The Calistoga Inn is an old French design they said, all wood panelling and creaky floorboards. I felt like Huckleberry Finn. Here they had an interesting looking book on one of the shelves....something like "A painstaking work of breathtaking genius"; I read quite some pages, but didnt want to swap it with the books I had brought myself. In Calistoga we had the most exquisite meal of our lives at some ... read more