Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2016
Hola, Hallo and Hey!
Wednesday, the 27th arrived my mum in San José. So good to see her again. When we arrived at the house, she already knew, that she wouldn’t stay long in town. So we went straight to the Caribbean Coast the next morning, enjoyed the day at the beach and joined the chocolate tour of Caribeans. It was all organic grown, a lot of different types of Cocoa and at the end the best chocolate tasting ever - dark chocolate with a lots of different herbs and spices to mix. Salt and Lemongrass was my favourite combination.
Aura and Manuel, the family who saved me from getting stuck in Sixaola a few weeks ago, had invited us, to stay a night at their house in Limón. We had a lovely dinner together and they showed us Limon and the harbour. The Netherlands are extending the harbour and filling up the ocean in Moin, a massive construction site over there.
From Moin we took the boat to Tortugero for 35$. It was a nice ride, but the roof was a little broken, it was raining like hell and I got a nice shower with every turn.
In Tortugero we booked the recommended Canoe- and Turtle Tour for 45$ and relaxed until 10pm, the art of the tour. In a group of ten people and a guide we walked to the beach and waited. We saw three green sea turtles and could go near them after they started laying the eggs. It was amazing seeing this little wonder of nature, it seemed to much work for the turtle. While waiting, the night cleared up for a perfect sky full of stars, even with a few shooting stars and the milky way. Is was beautiful, a really nice experience. The only negative point, we weren’t the only group of ten people. In this section of the beach were about 8 groups and as just three turtles showed up, it was crowded. I still don’t believe the guide that this wouldn’t affect the turtles behaviour. It felt like a big tourist attraction, with low regulations, to make a lot of money.
After 4h of sleep we went on the Canoe Tour at 6am. Floating through the canals of Tortugero, watching and listening to birds and other animals. A wonderful calm morning with a guide who took his time
to show us this amazing place. Have a look at the photos. To leave Tortugero, we took the public transport this time. The boat ride is shorter but the canal isn’t that wide, so more to see and on the bus ride we passed a lot of banana plantations and farmland. In Guapiles we separated, mum went again to the Caribbean Coast and me back to SJo.
In this night was the goodbye party of Gina. It was a pleasure to meet you girl – the German power of casa mundo. Such a shame that you were leaving that early.. L
The week in the laboratory was a catastrophe, nothing really worked out like it should. I wasn’t really concentrated and kind of sick of the same extraction process over and over again, but I finished them J and the weekend came closer. Sunday I joined Hunter, Arturo and a few friends of them to the mountains. Summary of the day: Incredible new experiences, a perfect day in the nature of Ochomogo and we learned grass boarding on a piece of a barrel - a good alternative to snowboarding 😉
The following week Professor Patricia and me
started with the Analysis of the Extracts with the HPLC. It should be a week to inject and analyse them all, but it turned out to be much more as the method didn’t bring the resulted we hoped for.
By know I have met a few of the new exchange group J The Wednesday nights at Fitos were really funny.
Friday, my mum came back from Panama. She’s been in Cahuita, Manzanillo, Bocas del Toro, Panama City and the St. Blas Islands and we went directly to La Fortuna. Mainly, to leave the city to see the rain of shooting stars. That didn’t work out that good, as it was raining all night in La Fortuna. Saturday, the 13
th of August we joined a Volcano Tour, had a pretty good view from the Observatory Lodge, saw a really nice waterfall there and took a bath in the thermals. For Sunday and Monday, I planned a long bicycle tour around Lake Arenal. It was hard to find information about this tour and soon I should find out why. 80km with 60km on dirt road and 20km of hills, just for day #1 wasn’t one of my best ideas. After
40km mum was close to killing me and we ended this tour in Castillo, had a cup of coffee, a beautiful view of the lake with the volcano and Rasta, the guy from the café brought us and the bicycles back to la Fortuna. What I learned? Cycling on dirt roads is not cycling on paved roads. The Adventure without explanations is not always working. So, mum and I enjoyed the
Día de Madre with a nice breakfast in La Fortuna. By noon mum left to Monteverde and me, again back to SJo.
Monday to Friday: Laboratory, analysing the Extracts, still looking for the perfect method and the calibration curve. Wednesday was the last Fitos session with Aroa L Still no idea how to handle life here without her. At the weekend Aroa, her flatmates and me left the town and spend the weekend in Uvita. Camping was cancelled, it was raining. Laura and me walked for ages to realize that Uvita is not located at the beach and the few houses next to the beach are called Bahía Ballena. The night was crazy, we broke into the National Park, like little rebels haha – just to sit at
the beach. Making the beach a National Park is a very stupid idea but the locals told us a way to pass the guards – nevertheless, it’s a long, muddy way.
This week we made a lot of progress in the lab because we finally found a good method. Furthermore, the last dinner with Aroa, it will be a while until we meet again, in any part of the world. I will miss you! I spent most of the time writing the first part of the thesis. The 15
th of November is deadline.
Saturday I joined a Charla of an Introduction of Buddhism. Before, I didn’t have any idea, now at least a little bit more. I like the idea, as far as I understood it in Spanish and probably will join the next one too, to learn more about it. You are responsible for the results of your life. That’s what I learned in the first lesson and it sounds reasonable to me.
At the 28
th of August I joined my mum for her last 10 days in Costa Rica. The first time I left SJo for more than 5 days. We met in Manuel Antonio
in the Plinio Hostel, had a really tasty Pizza and mum a lot of amazing stories to tell. She’s been in Monteverde, Ometepe and Granada (Nicaragua) and Santa Teresa.
On Mondays, the National Park is closed (good to know :P) so we visited the Nauyaca Waterfalls near Dominical. For 8$ entry fee we’ve seen (until now) the most beautiful waterfalls of Costa Rica. If there’s any chance to see it, go there. This place is magic. Two lovely guys gave us a ride back so we didn’t have to climb the last 2km and we were happy 😉.
Tuesday we visited the Manuel Antonio National Park. Foreigners pay 16$, Residents ~ 3$ and again I haven’t got any kind discount with the Student Card as it isn’t an ID. This is just ridiculous as we’re living here, paying a lot for this stupid student visa and at the end it is just useless. Every time I get mad at them. On the way to the entrance 15 guides offered us a tour. I ignored the last one and he called me an arrogant bitch. We passed crowds and crowds of people on paved paths on the way to
a nice beach. By 9am this one was full of people, crazy monkeys and fearless Coatis. I guess this place won’t make it under my top 10 of Costa Ricas National Parks. Nevertheless, the view from the lookout was stunning. Then we went back to the hostel, changing to go to Playa Dominical. The guy from the hostel had moved my shoes to the sun to dry them faster, unfortunately they fell of the wall into the woods. So I had to get them barefoot and stepped into the house of this little tiny black ants. They weren’t that amazed and let me know it. That was worse than a whole night in the jungle without repellent and mosquito net, but I guess I’ll never get rheumatism in the feet.
Dominical was relaxing. Chilling at the beach and having dinner at Café El Sueño with an amazing “Curvina” fish. Riiico! (Recommendation #2, it’s next to the Cool Vibes Hostel.)
Thursday we took the bus to Puerto Jimenéz, where the tour through the Corcovado National Park should start on Saturday. Friday we talked to the guide. Long story short, nothing worked out as I wanted because of physical conditions,
rainy season and expensive transport possibilities in the rainy season. La Leona to La Sirena and then with the bus to Bahía Drake didn’t work for us, so we changed the plan to do it the other way, left the big backpack in PJ and went Saturday to Bahía Drake. On the bus was that tiny old lady. Halfway someone handed her a blue and yellow birthday cake through the window in a carton construction. The road there is pretty rough so a few seconds later the cake was already all over the place and the whole bus was busy trying to get this piece of art to its destination. At the end the old lady nearly forgot, that not just the cake but herself as well should get off the bus and yelled 200m later “para, para, para – yo tambíen!!” Hilarious. J
While looking for a guide we ended up at Gringo Curt’s place who told us about a place called Jaguars Jungle Hostel (Roland had already said that this is a great alternative) just at the edge of the NP and the Ocean Tours, as there is the whale season now. So 2h and the best
yellow fin tuna steak of my life (#3 !!) later we had changed all the planes again and Sunday 4am we walked along the shore about 16km to this hostel. Curt said we should ask for Leos place and everyone could show us the right direction. True.
With the first sunlight, the rain stopped and accompanied by the sound of waves and birds we passed lots of lonely beaches, one more beautiful than the other. My highlight was a group of Ara Macao. On the way a Dutch guy invited us for a coffee and we had another one at Ricardos place, who is saving turtle eggs for the last 30 years. He always needs volunteers, to help him save the eggs, in case anyone is interested (Facebook: Life for Life Turtles).
At 3pm we arrived at the Jungla del Jaguar Hostel. Leo said welcome with a coconut, we must have looked pretty done 😉. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with a few volunteers, bird and horses we enjoyed the rest of the day. Mum was really surprised to see that this Leo isn’t an old man with white beard, but a pretty young one. At 8pm
we already fell asleep with the sound of the forest. At 5am we left for a walk through the primary rainforest at the boarder of the National Park and it was true, it looked exactly the same at the left and the right side of the track (left, Corcovado NP - right just forest) It’s impossible to show with a photo what it’s like to walk there, the humidity and heat, the smell and sounds of this place and all the eyes who might be watching you. By 9.30am we’ve been back and relaxed the rest of the day. Leo showed me a natural Jacuzzi with small corals, we jumped off cliffs and climbed small waterfalls. Paradise. After dinner and a dancing/Yoga session Leo took us all for a midnight swim at new moon. The further we swam out, the more the water turned sparkling neon blue when we moved. Bioluminescence and the little wonders of nature.
At 6am mum woke me up, on the tree outside the window was a Toucan. I didn’t even have to leave my bed to see it!
Then it was time for the sea. The Isla de Caño Tour wasn’t going today,
so we had the Whale and Dolphin Option or Leos offer to go out with his little boat, including a little bit of fishing. We choose the 2
nd one. In this little boat, it could have been the experience of my life, getting in touch with the whales that close. Could, not a single whale or dolphin showed up in 7h boat ride between Isla de Caño and the mainland. It was still a nice day with a little bit of snorkling along the coast, spearfishing and crystal clear turquoise water, but nevertheless probably the most expensive sunburn of my life.
The time there was already over, Red Snapper, Leo shot 30min before, for Lunch and with the boat back to Bahía Drake. We left the big backpack in Puerto Jimenez because of the first plan, so we had to take the bus a 4am to leave and pick it up. It’s the only one which leaves BD so it was full. Full, that there was absolutely no more room for anyone else.
By 3pm we arrived in Uvita, got thrown out by the Cabinas Bahía Uvita because we asked for clean sheets. 40$ for black hair and
insects in the bed – he considered this clean and asked us to leave if we had a problem with this. Thanks, what an awful place. Cabinas Punta Uvita saved the villages reputation and we had a good time there. Just, that mum wasn’t that amused by the muddy track through the forest to avoid the entrance fee to the Beach National Park.
Then it was time to go. 6 weeks of mum’s holiday in Central America were coming to its end. One more night in San José and yesterday I brought her to the airport. Her summary of this time: In Germany we have a really weird and incorrect view of Central America and I’m happy to get that straight know. It was an amazing time in Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
And I’m really proud of her to come here on her own, knowing that I couldn’t go with her all the time and, being brave to go travelling alone. It was possible and proved one more time – “No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.” – Chuck Thompson
By the way – Happy Birthday on more time!
It was so good to see you, best mum ever.
In a few hours she should arrive in Germany and me at the desk to finally start writing the thesis.
Saludos a todos, Antonia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.117s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0513s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
