Blogs from Jaco, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Today, is the day after returning from San Jose; and as the title intimates, I don't care to know the way to San Jose. I just really wanted to get the hell out of there safely. Clive went home yesterday morning very early so we thought it best to go into the city the day before and stay over, which was a great idea as there really is only one good highway into the city. (You can take the old highway but it is very windy with steep curves and only used if necessary, at least by the people I know here.) As there is only the one highway, and with all the large semi trucks sharing the road, traffic can easily get backed up and it can take a considerable amount of time to go ... read more

Big decisions had to be made...should we go to the Caribbean side of CR - likely Limon or go on a day cruise to Tortuga Island which is an island in the Gulf of Nicoya. We eventually decided on the cruise which included b'fast, non-alcoholic drinks on the catamaran, an amazing lunch on the beach, snorkeling and banana boat rides. They also had a traditional band that played for us prior to boarding for the island and when we were on the island itself. The service was impeccable, the fish beautiful, the sand the nicest we have seen and the company quite good. We even met some people from Saskatoon if you can imagine. Unfortunately I will not post any pictures of this trip as I took limited pictures and none of them are particularly post ... read more

Two days ago we decided that we would go for an adventure to another rain forest - and if we got lost - well so be it. Then we changed our mind and decided that we would leave our car at the Hilton in Puntarenas, where it would be safe, and take a bus. However, when we arrived at the Hilton the young lady assured me that it would be a much better idea to drive ourselves - so that we could stop and take pictures etc. that you would need to go slow on some parts but no problem - BIG MISTAKE. Firstly, the bus only cost about 5.00 round trip so based on that alone we, or should I say, I should have not co-erced CC into taking the car and we should have ... read more

I hired Francisco to take me on a volcano tour and I am so glad I did. Driving in San Jose itself would not be much fun - too many cars, too few roads. I've driven in LA and had less problems then I think I would encounter in San Jose. As for getting to the volcano itself you must travel on very narrow roads that wind their way through farm land and forest - like there is a LOT of forest here people! The volanco stands 8,659 feet and the crater is the second largest in the world and more than a mile across. It also spews steam and muddy water making it the largest geyser in th world. Francisco and I took a hiking trail that left us breathless for a bit because of ... read more

Francisco and his family were going to zoo and asked if we wanted to join them for the day yesterday, and we thought, why wouldn't we experience everything we can - so away we went. What a great day we had! There were lots of very interesting birds, monkeys, and other animals native to the country but the hit for me was the iguanas who were SO big and in quite a few places. Of course I have seen iguanas before but still I like to keep my distance as a rule but with a lot of people around you tend to get a bit braver than usual. When we were finished walking through the zoo there was an open park like area where you could sit on the grass, there was a gift shop and ... read more