Blogs from Limón, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 3

Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00, in the vehicle at 7:00. Why did I think this would be a more relaxing tour than I usually take! Driving out of San Jose took an hour or so. The traffic was almost continuous bumper-to-bumper stop and go, regulated by either traffic lights or stop signs or both! Last night quite a few drivers ignored the red lights, and the stop signs are ignored if the light is green. Gradually the city receded, and we entered the Braulio Carrillio National Park. The highway was the single road through the park; National Parks forbid virtually all development, including camping and backpacking. The few facilities for tourism are built only at the edges. This is to preserve the delicate interconnected habitat of the animals, insects, flowers, etc. The views of the ... read more

The second week was pretty exciting. The first week of University was a big party. Free concerts all over the campus - e.g. "Malpais" or a Salsa night. After literally 10s everyone was dancing! Then I had the first classes - at the end mainly instructions and information about the courses. It seems, like there will be a lot to do during the semester, but actually pretty nice projects. I did not understand that much, but the Ticos in the class (I'm the only exchange student) helped a lot. For the weekend the whole group of exchange students went to Puerto Viejo, which is at the Caribbean coast. My weekend starts on Thursday, that why we (Aroa and me) left a little earlier and arrived Thursday afternoon in Puerto Viejo in a huge hostel named Rocking ... read more

Some images from San Jose, Monteverde, Arenal, Tortuguero, Manual Antonio - Costa Rica... read more

First full day in the jungle. There was torrential rain and what sounded like a tree falling down overnight but our guide Marcos didn't hear a thing. Apparently this is their dry season - could have fooled us! Anyway the rain eased off as we emerged sleepily at 5.45 for a boat ride down the many small channels and saw caimen , lots of heron, a two toed sloth, howler monkeys and iguanas. Back for breakfast and then we were off again for a stroll though the jungle and boy was it muddy. Marcos told us a lot of interesting stuff about the rainforest and we nodded wisely and promptly forgot it. We could do the whole thing again tomorrow and still be interested. This afternoon the Waylors went zip wiring in the jungle canopy! This ... read more

What a busy day! After breakfasting at the Crazy Lobster beach café where Malcolm met his soul mate Rasta man, we hired bikes from Café Rico and cycled down the coast until we nearly reached Panama – at least it felt like it! Lisa took us to a fabulous isolated beach on the way, where Malcolm brought out his selfie stick for the first time. If we have the technology we will show you his photo. There were coconuts and almonds on the beach and the views were idyllic. We lunched on the way back at another superb café (we have eaten well here!) where we discovered Rondon – a Caribbean fish and crab soup. Barely had we returned to Café Rico when we were up and off with Roger, Lisa and Ruthie to a nearby ... read more