Blogs from La Fortuna, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 5

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We said our fond farewells to San Jose (even though we'll be unfortunately back next week) and jumped into some waiting cabs at 8am. We arrived at the bus station and found our public bus that would take us the 4.5 hour journey north to La Fortuna. Looking at the map, its unfortunate that we even had to go all the way down to San Jose, to just turn around and hike back up from where we came from 2 days ago. Anyway, the public bus was ok, not a lot of leg room but the weather was kind of coolish and we could open the windows to let the fresh air flow in. It was a great opportunity for Rach and I to catch up on 2 episodes of Game of Thrones and now we ... read more
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Nature is a temple in which living columns sometimes emit confused words. Man approaches it through forests of symbols, which observe him with familiar glances. Charles Baudelaire French Poet We left the turtles and the frogs behind in Tortegedo and traveled by water and road to the town of La Fortuna. Our hotel , in the shadow of the volcano is just 1500 meters from the base and as luck would have it we have clear days. The locals say sometime they go a week without being able to see the top. To kick off our volcanic adventure we went to the hot springs in Los Lagos a resort that has rainforest springs heated by the volcano designed into a hot springs playground. There was a water slide, cocktails and pools of hot water perfect for ... read more
ready to rappel
Hot Springs
Tortilla demo


As soon as the bank opened Dan walked over and quite easily got his card back, the woman had a stack of cards the ATM had eaten. We were so happy that he got his card back quickly. We however were not able to leave as planned since we had to wait for the bank to open so we had a relaxing day of reading and doing stuff on the internet. We booked the "Jeep Boat Jeep" tour for the following day. That night we walked around looking for a restaurant and saw one in the upstairs of a building, we walked up and discovered we went up the wrong stairs and were in a hostel . We were about to leave when we spotted Marta & Steve, a couple that we had met in Guatemala ... read more


Dag iedereen, Eerst en vooral: GELUKKIGE VERJAARDAG PAPA/OPA. Bij ons is het nog 10 december maar in België is het al 3uur 11 december. Dus bij deze een zeer gelukkige verjaardag gewenst van ons alle 3! Het was weer een zeer warme dag in La Fortuna maar er waren meer wolken dus het was draaglijker. Na ons ontbijt heb ik getelefoneerd met de hoteleigenaar en de situatie van gisteren uitgelegd, we krijgen uiteindelijk een 35USD korting per persoon, dat is toch al een mooie compensatie voor onze teleurstelling van gisteren. Vandaag zijn we eerst naar de Arenal Hanging Bridges gegaan. Dit zijn zeer hoge bruggen die tussen of boven het regenwoud geïnstaleerd zijn. Het is zoals altijd zeer mooi om door het regenwoud te gaan. Je hoort al het leven maar jammer genoeg kan je niet ... read more
Vogel
Uil
Boom


Dag iedereen, Vandaag was het broeierig warm. Het was zeker over de 30 graden. In de ochtend hebben we het rustig aan gedaan omdat het zo warm was en omdat we wisten dat we een zwaarder programma hadden in de latere namiddag tot 'savonds. We hebben genoten van ons ontbijt en we mogen van het hotel ook hun keuken gebruiken voor Nore. Nore bezorgt ons overal een speciale behandeling :) De bus van de tour heeft ons opgepikt om 14u45. We reden eerst naar de Volcan Arenal. De gids zou ons meer uitleg geven over de vulkaan en het leven rond de vulkaan. Echter moesten we nog wat volk ophalen en arriveerden we pas rond 16u aan de vulkaan. De tocht zou 1u30 duren maar ze duurde in totaal 3u30 en we hebben niks gezien. Ik ... read more
Vulkaan close-up
Vanuit onze tuin
In de tuin


Dag iedereen, Vandaag was een zeer vermoeiende dag. Nore was al heel erg vroeg wakker waardoor we eigenlijk om 6u al gepakt en gezakt stonden maar onze bus kwam maar om 7u15. :) Vervolgens stond ons een rit van 5u lang te wachten. Rond 12u30 zijn we toegekomen in ons hotel Jardines Arenal in La Fortuna. We hebben een kamer met 1 dubbelbed, 1 enkelbed en een privé-badkamer. Ontbijt is inbegrepen maar er is voor deze 2 dagen geen keuken. Als we een beetje onze kamer op orde hadden, zijn we naar het centrum van La Fortuna gegaan. Daar hebben we even in het parkje gezeten en hebben we als avondeten een pizza gegeten. We hebben ook onze volgende 2 dagen vastgelegd. Morgen doen we een begeleide tour naar de vulkaan hier die niet meer actief ... read more
Wandelend blad
Nore on the road
La Fortuna


This weekend was quite eventful and productive. Friday, after my Spanish exam a few girls and I went to the orphanage in San Ramon. It was heartbreaking. They have 13 kids, 2 of which are infants, a 1 year old and a range of other kids up to 10. The one year old can’t walk yet or even pull himself up in anyway. One volunteer there we talked to thinks/said it is because no one has enough time to teach him how to walk; he just sits in his crib 24/7. We brought them all gifts, it was amazing to see their faces light up and be so excited to have something of their own. I can’t believe no one has taken this children home, they were all so sweet. Saturday morning I woke up at ... read more
horse back riding
repelling
repellling


I woke up around 5:15 am and went out to see the volcano and see what I might be able to shoot, I love the first light in the morning it is so soft and provides interesting contrast. When I found that the volcano was virtually cloud free I asked Sophie if she wanted to go for a drive. “Sure.” She jumped up and started getting ready. Tripod in hand we were on our way before 5:30 am. Alvaro had asked what time we would like to take breakfast the day before, so we had a breakfast date at 8:00, two and a half hours to explore. We drove around the volcano, ... read more
Lizard at the cabin
Eclipse walking towards us
Frog!  Blue Jeans Frog


Puntarenas is in the upper middle section of the central Pacific coast; in the center of many things, but a drive to get anywhere. As I was researching things to do in Costa Rica I decided that the two and a half hour drive to Arenal may not be worth it if we didn’t stay a night. So that is what I decided to do, I actually found a really cool tree house style hotel, unfortunately they were booked up. I decided on a place called Racho Cerra Azul in La Fortuna. I chose this place because I was looking for something a little different. We were doing the resort thing already and I wanted a change of pace. This place had great reviews on TripAdvisor and looked perfect. Little cabins with few amenities. A mile ... read more
Heliconia Pendula
Sophie on the Hammock
The gate to the trail


Before getting in to what we´ve been up to in Costa Rica so far, allow me to say a quick something about airline food. Now I realise we have been conditioned by years of repetitive stand-up comedy to believe that any food served in a plane must be some rotting box of soggy mould, but I just haven’t had the same experience in Latin America. On our flight from Lima to San Jose we were given chicken with herby mashed potatoes and a tomato sauce, with a potato/lettuce/tuna salad, bread rolls and biscuits. Perhaps it’s just my childlike amusement at compartmentalised food, but that meal left me craving seconds to the point where I almost ate the leftovers of the sleeping person sitting next to me. Anyways, on to our various gallivants around Costa Rica. We ... read more




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