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

Le 8 août 2022, Enfin, c'est le jour du départ! Un voyage tellement attendu après ces dures années de pandémie! Mais c'est néanmoins un drôle de départ. La situation est totalement cahotique depuis quelques semaines dans les aéroports: annulations multiples, délais interminables à la sécurité, bagages perdus, etc. Ce qui nous a amené à partir avec seulement des bagages à main... Et oui, c'est possible même en famille: 4 petites valises, 1 sac-à-dos, 3 petits sac pour enfants et la sacoche de maman. Et oui, on est pas mal champions! Aussi, j'ai fait quelques changements à nos plans de vols initiaux pour rallonger notre temps d'escale à Toronto, le tout en devançant de quelques heures notre vol initial. Afin de jouer sécuritaire et d'être vraiment, vraiment, vraiment en avance, nous dormons à l'aéroport la veille de ... read more

We got to sleep in until later this morning, but the HOWLER MONKEYS right outside the house woke up many of us. We left the house at 7:30 in order to get the kids to their surfing lesson, but then we couldn’t find the location, and the company did not answer their mobile, so we just spent the morning enjoying the beach in the national park called “Parque nacionale Bellena” – the whales tail. One of the photos will show you the whales tail from our house before it is visible at low tide. Then the center and the tail show up. The center is completely fine brown sand, and the tail flukes are rocks. David and Jean brought their goggles and snorkels (no fins) and tried to snorkel, which was supposed to be on the ... read more

Sunday the 29th We were awake VERY early – it’s 2 hours “behind” – and we were able to get in over an hour’s worth of birding before a lovely Costa Rican breakfast of “gallo pinto,” namely the spotted rooster: eggs, black beans mixed in rich, with a flour tortilla. And really good coffee. The driver Gerardo picked us up at 9:30 and we bid goodbye to Villa San Ignacio for a 4+ hour drive s.w. to the Pacific Coast. We learned that there are barely any roads except for single, and lots of hills, and scary driving, and yet we saw lots of bikers!! We stopped at a super muddy river where crocodiles abound, Tarcoles River, got to visit el bano, and bought some snacks. We are finding the various plantain snacks very tasty, esp ... read more

I heard of Bolita from other travelers who had been there. As I was considering going to Corcovado National Park, they suggested Bolita as an alternative, a hostel inside a primary rainforest, accessed from Puerto Jimenez. What attracted me to Bolita (apart from traveler reviews) was this was an individual effort at conservation and it's remoteness. To get to Bolita (and to return from it), you have to stay in Puerto Jimenez one night each way (unless you are comfortable hiking in a rainforest in the night, I met a guy who actually did that). Puerto Jimenez is mostly a transit town, but like many places in Costa Rica, it boasts of brilliant sunsets. To go to Bolita, the first thing is to pack stuff you need into a small bag (the hike is short but ... read more

In the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa is a small beach town that attracts tourists for its clean beaches and surf scene. I traveled to Santa Teresa from Samara by a shuttle (the public bus infrastructure is not good here). My hostel was on the main road (Santa Teresa has just one road where everything is available). I spent 4 days there, enjoying the beaches, the sunsets, hanging with other travelers at the hostel. And I began to realise that this trip is becoming about Chasing Sunsets. Will let the sunset pictures explain why. I also did a day trip to Tortuga Island, famous with tourists for white sand beach, Aqua Marine waters and snorkeling. You go there on a boat ride from Montezuma, another small beach town half an hour away from Santa Teresa. The boat ... read more