Blogs from Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 6

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On Wednesday, April 25th, Rebecka and I left our hostel at 8:45AM to catch the 9AM bus to Cañas. There, we had to wait half an hour for the next bus to Tilaran where we had to wait for 1h to get the bus to La Fortuna. In total, the way took to La Fortuna took us a bit more than 5 hours, but it was quite ok and only cost 5$US p.P. where a shuttle would have taken almost the same time but cost us 35$US! We arrived to La Fortuna at around 2PM and, after checking into our hostel, we directly we went for lunch because we were starving. Our hostel, the Arenal Container Hostel, was very nice even if it was a container. The furniture in the common areas was made of recycled ... read more
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Rebecka and I reached Liberia around 11AM and went straight to the hostel I had booked, just 100m away from the bus station. Rebecka hadn’t booked anything and, unfortunately, when we got there, they had no free space for her... So I changed my booking : instead of staying 2 nights, 1 person, we would stay in a different hostel the first night and both stay there the next night. That was ok with the hostel and they even called a hostel nearby to ask if they have a free space for us. Fortunately they did, Hostel Pura Vida, and so we went there. It’s a very small hostel and not so nice. It’s very clean, beds are good, but there is no real common area and there were lots of mosquitos in our room. The ... read more
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Rebecka und ich erreichten Liberia gegen 11h und sind sofort zu dem Hostel gegangen das ich reserviert hatte. Rebecka hatte nichts reserviert und leider war kein Bett mehr für sie frei als wir dort ankamen. Also haben wir meine Buchung geändert : anstatt 2 Nächte 1 Person, 1 Nacht 2 Personen, denn für den nächsten Tag hatten sie noch Platz und so musste ich meine Buchung nicht annulieren. Die vom Hostel haben dann in einem benachbarten Hostel angerufen und gefragt, ob dort noch Platz sei und, zum Glück, konnten wir dann dorthin gehen. Dieses Hostel, das Pura Vida Hostel, war ziemlich klein und nicht besonders beeindruckend. Es war aber sauber und die Betten bequem, nur gab es nicht wirklich Platz um zu chillen und es waren sehr viele Mosquitos in unserem Zimmer. Die Besitzerin des Hostels ... read more
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On Monday, 23rd of April, Rebecka and I left San Juan del Sur at 7AM with our taxi driver Dany who had brought us the day before from Rivas to San Juan del Sur. It was 1 hour to the border and cost us 25$US for both. At the border, there was a huge queue of trucks waiting and Dany said that it’s probably because the last days they were not able to leave Manágua or Granada and now all arrived to the border together. Fortunately, we could pass them all ! Just before the border, there were lots of shops and many people, but once we entered the border building, it got quiet. Since we were there very early (8AM), it was still very quiet and we might actually have been the first ones to ... read more


Montag, den 23. April, haben Rebecka und ich San Juan del Sur um 7h morgens verlassen und unser Taxifahrer der uns auch von Rivas nach San Juan del Sur gebracht hatte, Dany, hat uns für 25$US (für beide zusammen) zur Grenze gebracht. Die Fahrt dauert eine Stunde und ist ganz angenehm. An der Grenze stand eine riesige Schlange LKWs und Dany meinte, das sei wahrscheinlich weil die letzten Tage niemand aus Manágua rauskam und nun alle gleichzeitig an der Grenze ankamen. Glücklicherweise konnten wir an ihnen vorbeifahren! Genau vor der Grenze waren jede Menge Läden und Restaurants, aber sobald man im Grenzgebäude drin ist, wird es ruhig. Da wir sehr früh dort waren (8h), war es noch sehr ruhig dort und wir könnten tatsächlich die ersten gewesen sein, die die Grenze an dem Tag überquerten. Wenn ... read more


Today’s excursion (for three of us - T opted to go see La Fortuna waterfall - her take on that below) was a combo tour and volunteer at a local wildlife rescue centre, Proyecto Asis. The centre takes in injured animals or animals that were previously (illegally) kept as pets or tied up and on display at hotels/restaurants. The centre takes them in with the goal of rehabilitating them to return to the wild. If an animal cannot be rehabilitated, it has a permanent happy home with them. The property is quite big and there are also wild animals on the grounds. It was truly fascinating to learn how much goes into rehabilitating an animal. Some birds that were kept as pets never learned to fly because they were in small cages or the owners clipped ... read more
Macaw
macaw habitat
Drunk raccoon


Today we opted for another suspended bridge trek, this time at Mistico hanging bridges. We enjoyed the Monteverde one a lot, and since this was a different eco-system (tropical rainforest instead of cloud forest) we jumped right in. Our guide, Indira, was remarkably knowledgeable and brought with her a scope we could use when she spotted something. As an added bonus, she was able to take pictures through the scope with a small lense camera...which anyone with a smart phone has! Wheeee. We saw the most critters so far here. Here are the ones I can remember: sloths, howler monkeys, two kinds of bats, lots of birds (motmot, white hawk and others), leaf cutter ants and some totes adorbs hummingbirds. We also had a short detour off the main trail to see some waterfalls up close. ... read more
white lined bat - he should be asleep
Hanging bridge
two toed sloth


The geothermic activity at the Arenal Volcano means there is a plethora of naturally heated hot springs to enjoy in the area and many of the springs seem to have miraculously sprouted up on the grounds of a hotel! Amazing, I know. After a leisurely start to our day, we headed out to enjoy some and opted for one of the best reviewed that just happened to be in some pretty swank surroundings. Once inside, another miracle of nature..some of the springs had SWIM UP BARS attached to them. After testing a couple of the 25 pools on site, we settled on a quiet spot (“the Roman baths”) that had beautiful shade and water that, at 20 degrees celsius, was one of the least hot. It also had a cold plunge pool to cool down, and ... read more
Red-eyed tree frog
Jesus Christ, lizard.
Net making spider


SO lovely to leave an ice-storm behind, in British Columbia and wake to the wonderful sounds mentioned above! We'd been looking forward to our second trip to Costa Rica for months, 'though my husband was concerned about returning in 'high season', as neither of us is fond of hoardes of tourists ! After a little research, I found the small fishing village of Brasilito & we spent 10 marvellous days there. The simple hotel was in the jungle, right beside the beach, with views of the ocean from the open restaurant. Our room was reminiscent of Colonial days ~ ceiling fan, creaky wood floors & heavy furniture....and we loved it ! Great price, too. The beach was virtually deserted every day, especially the farther north we walked.... and having the waves to ourselves felt great. There ... read more
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Christmas with the whole fam 098
Christmas with the whole fam 094


We drove from Monteverde to Playa Ocotol on Sunday, traveling once again the exciting Costa Rican roads. I figured if tourist buses can do these things so can I. We arrive at Villa Casa Blanca in 90 degree temps and headed straight for the beach. Being a Sunday both Playa Ocotol and Coco were full of local families (Liberia is only about an hour from here) enjoying a day off. Fires cooking fresh fish, kids playing soccer and laughing in the waves, cold beers, just the best. We finished the day off with fish tacos and more on the beach. Then back to the Villa for another evening of cards shared with the owner of the place and her friends. John and Katelyn were the first ones out on Monday, down to the beach to rent ... read more
Playa Ocotal
Villa Casa Blanca hosts
Lunch room




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