Costa Rica (Northbound)

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We´re actually in Nicaragua now but I´m going to tell you about our time in Costa Rica.
We arrived dazed and shattered after a horrendous journey through the USA. It took us 5 days to get here which all passed in a bit of a jetlagged blur! We did get 800pounds worth of free flights though as we swapped flights - though getting on more planes doesn´t really appeal right now.

We flew into the capital San Jose which didn´t feel very safe! Costa Rica was a bit of a culture shock after SE Asia. We were so jetlagged that it took over a week to remember how to sleep at night! It is just so different. We were used to wondering around whenever we wanted but it doesn´t seem that safe here and it´s not advised to go out after dark. The climate as well - we haven´t seen rain for 6 months (none at all) and we were hopelessly under prepared (Neil threw his waterproof away and mine folds out of it´s own pocket which gives you some idea of the quality!) as the weather can change very quickly here as we move through different altitudes.

Costa Rica was an amazing experience of high excitement. It´s like an adult adventure playground! The tourist infrastructure is well established and the country is very small and easy to move through and there is so much to do! We started in La Fortuna, a small town sat at the base of one of the worlds most active Volcanoes. It supposed to spew out lava every day but it was unwilling to perform whilst we were there and it just spat out some rocks and made very ominous booming noises. Still very impressive though. We then relaxed in the hot springs (though I got sunstroke and had to go home - the sun here is ridiculously strong!).

By far the most amazing thing about Costa Rica was the animals. Costa Rica is tiny - only twice the size of Wales but it boasts more species of wildlife than all of North America. You are guaranteed to see animals. This was a bit of a shock after Laos as most of the animal had been shot there (on one walk I asked the guide what we might see and he said ´maybe a chicken´!). David Attenborough-esque we set off with a laminated wildlife guide and a pair of rented binoculars determined to see some good stuff and we weren’t disappointed! We saw white faced Capuchin monkeys who formed a kind of totem pole with their heads on top of each other to scare us, spider monkeys swinging through to trees and shaking branches at us, howler monkeys making menacing noises, a postcard perfect toucan, a lizard fighting with a scorpion (the lizard won), huge iguanas, caimans, and the best spot of all, the very very rare tapir which is the size of a cow with a long nose and was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen! We also did a night walk and saw a tarantula! Most of these were spotted on a river tour near the Nicaraguan border and in Rincon de la Vieja national park in the north.

In the Monteverde cloud forest we turned into a pair of twitchers and managed to spot a stunning Resplendent Quetzal, some coatis and an anthill bird did an odd dance for us. The cloud forest was beautiful and very wet and we were both complete wimps and wouldn’t do the zip wire tours, instead we did the more sedentary tour of suspended bridges through the tree tops.

All those amazing animals but no sloth! They hardly move how hard can it be to find one?! We’ll keep looking ...

Next week we are doing an intensive Spanish course and living with a Nicaraguan family...
Can’t believe there´s only 6 weeks left!

Happy Easter and Adios!

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Comments

[Annette]

Brilliant Blog
Great to read your latest news and i still can't believe that the end of your most amazing adventure, thanks for taking us with you, is so nearly at an end. Enjoy every minute. All too soon you will be asking yourselves the question, 'Was it all a dream, did we actually travel.' If you ever watched Dallas, probably not, just showing my age, you'll wake up in the shower and it will have all been a dream and your name will be Bobby Ewing! I'm rambling, been out for lunch and had two large glasses of wine, yummy. Take care. Lots of love Annette xx