Costa Rica Part 2:

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April 20: From the Osa Peninsula , we took a small plane (18 seat Otter) to La Fortuna, the town nearest to Arenal National Park. Never been in a plane that has big square windows before, great views over the coast and inland Costa Rica. CR is mountainous with generally poor roads, so flying was a good option and quite cheap. 2 flights and three hours later and we had crossed a large part of the country to north of San Jose. Our digs were in a tent at Arenal Backpackers Resort, a very attractive setting with views of the volcano and a lovely pool. We were lucky, not long after we arrived, the cloud lifted and we got an amazing view of the volcano from there (it is covered in cloud or mist about 80% of the time). Arenal has been quiet since 2007, prior to that, hot lava could be seen flowing down the mountain every day! La Fortuna is very touristy, all sorts of excursions offered at big prices! Talked to a Yank running a shop, he is moving to Nicaragua as it is too expensive there! Blu came down with my bug that night, not helped by the loud music coming from the disco over road and people jumping in the pool! Maybe we are getting too old for backpackers!

April 21: Slow morning, Blu sleeping off the bug in one of the hammocks on site. Feeling better in the afternoon so we went up to the National Park. Arenal is a hard place to get around without a car, everything is very spread out, but we managed to find a shuttle to the park that was half the price of the $50 return fare by taxi! There was a couple of great walking trails in the park, we saw heaps of wildlife on the lower rainforest trail - monkeys, coatimundis, parrots, birds, toucanets and curassows. The upper trail led to the lava flow from the 1992 eruption of Arenal and a view over the lake. Locals told us that building a town underneath a volcano would never happen now, it's strange to stand in the main street of La Fortuna and see the volcano towering over you!

April 22: Left Arenal at 8.30 on the jeep-boat-jeep service through to Monteverde, a big shortcut to taking the main road which is rough and doubles back almost to San Jose. Had light rain so the trip across Lake Arenal was a bit wet, the road to Santa Elena/ Monteverde on other side was just a gravel track really, windy, steep and slow. Got to Monteverde before lunchtime and checked into Cabinas Eddy, a nice room with a balcony to sit out on, which makes quite a difference we have found. The Monteverde area is lovely, high up in the mountains, it is easier to get around than Arenal and cheaper, we took the local bus up to the national park for a few coins. Walked back down to the town, a nice 7 km walk, all downhill, with birdlife and views of the Nicoya Peninsula en route.

April 23: Had a late start, nice breakfast at the hostel of banana pancakes with coconut sauce! Yum! in C R breakfast is usually included in the average room rate of about 30-35 USD. Now for the exciting bit, I went zip lining! (basically a set of flying foxes high up above the cloud forest). Blu decided to just do the hanging bridges walk, they were high above the canopy too. He also went around the butterfly and hummingbird gardens, while I zipped around above the cloud forest! Zip lining was great fun, a bit nervous at first but no worries, there were 15 lines, the longest being 100m above the ground and 1 k long, loved it! Late afternoon we went to Refugio for the night walk tour in their forest. Our guide was good, we saw lots of insects, sleeping birds, a grey fox, frogs.... A Big day out! Stopped at a local Soda for a Tico meal on the way home, ceviche (raw marinated fish) tamales and grilled fish.

April 24: Up early to take a small group walk for 3 hours in the Monteverde Cloud Forest National Park. Alexander, our guide,had a telescope and eagle eyes, we watched monkeys - spider and white faced - fighting and showing off to us. Saw lots of birds, including toucans, couldn't find the elusive quetzal, the national bird of Costa Rica, despite our guides best efforts, including imitating his call. Blu and I then walked a couple of the great trails around the park, stopping to eat our picnic lunch en route. Walked till 3pm! Saw a quetzal! Also coatimundis climbing in the trees. On the way home, I went to the butterfly garden, was the only one on the 4pm tour with Maria, an enthusiastic volunteer who told great stories about the butterflies and insects. Blu had already visited a butterfly garden so went back to get a beer ready! Decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal at Morphos, a lovely spicy fish in coconut sauce dish and I had three leches cake for dessert which was delicious. Had our first glass of white wine since San Diego!Off to San Jose tomorrow.=

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Photos

Blue Morph Butterfly
common in Costa Rica

Leaving Puerto Jiminez
looks like an airline ad!