Costa Rica

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Costa Rica - by Jo

We flew from Lima to San Jose on the 21st April and the first hurdle we came across was getting money out at the airport. The currency is one of those confusing ones where everything is in the thousands and as a result, we ended up getting out the equivalent of about 2 English pounds. Trying to get a taxi with that was the source of much amusement and eventually we managed to get a decent amount out! We arrived at our hostel in the pouring rain which didn´t really matter because everything was shut anyway for Easter weekend. So we took the opportunity to plan our itinerary around Costa Rica as we really had no idea what we were doing, and as luck would have it there was a really good travel agency attached to the hostel where we ended up booking everything up. Once that was done we really wanted some dinner and a glass of wine, but we found out at that point that it was illegal to sell alcohol during the Holy Weekend. So that was absolutely wonderful news! Luckily though we met a Canadian guy in the hostel restaurant who told us that a lot of them had gone out the day before to stock up on alcohol and we were more than welcome to join them in the bar. So after getting all packed and ready for our 6am start the next day we went out to the garden to join them for drinks. The garden was lovely, it had a pool and lots of hammocks, and the whole atmosphere was really nice. Gradually more and more people joined us and brought drinks - we ended up with wine, rum and vodka which resulted in an eventful night involving me nearly being thrown into the pool, dancing to Beyonce and then going to bed at 2am, meaning that getting up the next morning was traumatic!

We were off to a place called Tortuguero, famous for its turtles but also for many other types of wildlife. We stopped off for a typical Costa Rican breakfast of rice mixed with black beans along with scrambled egg, toast and coffee, which was surprisingly a very nice combination! After that we carried on driving, past banana plantations and through the forest until we reached the boat dock, where we then set off down the river to our lodge, which turned out to be incredible! We were welcomed with fruit cocktails and shown to our private rooms, which overlooked the swimming pool that was in the shape of a turtle! After lunch we got back on the boat to be taken over to the village of Tortuguero where we strolled along the beach and saw how the locals there lived - basically with nothing but all in complete happiness regardless, which I loved.

The next day we went on a relaxing boat trip down the river where we saw spider monkeys swinging from the trees, colourful iguanas and a caiman, which is similar to a crocodile. Then we were told to put our very sexy wellies on as we were going on a hike through the forest. It wasn't a difficult hike but the heat made it harder, plus we had to cover ourselves in mosquito repellent so as to avoid being eaten alive. We had a nice afternoon relaxing by the pool before having to make the epic journey back to San Jose, back to the same hostel as we'd been staying in before. That night was excellent - we met up with one of the Costa Rican guys who we'd met before and he took us to a local salsa bar. It had an amazing vibe and we headed straight for the dance floor where Rachael and I showed off our fantastic salsa skills (!). I even ended up trying to participate in the national dance of Costa Rica and even though I stuck out like a sore thumb, it was really good fun!

The next day we once again had to get up hideously early to go on another excursion, this time to a lodge called "Lands in Love" where we were going to go horseriding and hiking. It was all slightly disorganised and we ended up setting off on our hike having had nothing to eat, which in the heat was not a good idea! But again it was a nice easy hike, just the two of us and our guide Gerardo who showed us a lot of interesting things, like the type of tree with the reeds hanging off it that Tarzan used to swing through the jungle! Plus we got to talk the entire time in Spanish which was good. Later that day we went horseriding, which I was slightly dreading as I hadn´t ridden a horse for about ten years and when I did, I got thrown off it... To make it worse the other people in our group seemed to be not far off professional horseriders and jumped up onto their horses with ease. I on the other hand heaved myself up and nearly fell back off again, but once I was up there I felt more confident and we set off slowly on the nice flat roads. It was much better than I´d expected until we reached the steep rocky slopes, which my horse Princesa seemed to have real trouble with as she kept nearly slipping over! But despite all that I enjoyed it and I´m glad Rachael made me do it! If I've learned anything from this trip it's to try new things and not be scared because you'll probably end up having a lot of fun! It was the most bizarre Easter Day I've ever had!

Our next stop was La Fortuna where the Arenal volcano is situated. Only on arrival did we learn that the volcano is in fact active and we were in the 15 minute zone, i.e. if it erupted we would have 15 minutes to run as fast as we could away from it! The hostel was lovely - it had a pool which we immediately made full use of although we were so tired that we pretty much just bobbed around. The next morning we did the same again and we couldn´t believe how hot it was. We sat down to drink some smoothies when suddenly Rachael put her head down on the table and started shaking. It was so scary - I ran to get her some water and she wasn´t responding to me. Then she slid off her stool onto the floor at which point me and another girl lifted her onto the sofa and tried to get some sense out of her. Eventually she came round but was obviously in no fit state to go on the tour to the volcano which we had planned, so instead she went upstairs for a nap and I ventured into the town to buy bottles and bottles of water. So that day was a bit of a write off, but we did meet the girls in our dorm who we ended up becoming good friends with!

The next day we both felt ill and decided against the volcano again, instead spending the day lying by the pool and eating nothing but bread and bananas. In the evening we were having a nice drink (of water) in the bar, enjoying the tropical storm outside when suddenly there were three loud bangs and all the lights went out. We were plunged into darkness, which was espècially funny since Rachael was in the toilet at the time. She came out looking slightly traumatised! It ended up being quite fun, we all sat in the dark chatting until eventually the lights came back on again. The next day we finally went on the volcano tour, even though we weren´t feeling 100%. We got on a minibus to the Arenal Observatory Lodge, where there was a deck overlooking the volcano and we could see the smoke billowing out of the top. It was very dramatic! Our guide told us that in 1968 the volcano erupted and killed 87 people, and wiped out an entire town. It was quite scary to think that that could happen again at any moment! We then began our two hour hike in which took us to a waterfall and then back up through the jungle, where we saw lots of birds including a wild turkey! When we arrived back at the Observatory Deck we were able to watch the sunset over the volcano which was absolutely beautiful. The last part of the day was a trip to the hotsprings. We had been expecting a man-made group of jacuzzis but what we actually got was very different... it was entirely natural and heated by the heat of the volcano. We had to make our way down to the springs in the pitch dark with nothing on but our bikinis, leaving all our belongings behind on the bus. The water was so nice and warm but to get in we had to hold the guide´s hand and slide down a small waterfall! Once in we were surrounded by locals all drinking beer - it was so surreal but really incredible. After getting out by scrambling up some rocks we walked back, very nearly stepping on a poisonous snake which can cause you to lose a limb or die if it bites you! But the day in general was really interesting and we were so glad that we'd finally managed to do it.

On our last day in Costa Rica we had one of the best experiences of the trip so far. Along with three of the people that we´d met in our hostel we went to a place called "Ecoglide" to go zipwiring! It involved us having to hold onto a wire with a safety glove and then leap off a platform, cross your legs and glide through the trees. The views were amazing and we could see for miles, I loved it! After about 11 wires we reached the Tarzan swing - a huge rope hanging from a tree which you had to grab before free-falling off a platform and swinging really high up into the sky. Standing on that platform I'd never been so scared in my life! The guide counted down, 3...2...1 and then I fell... I've never felt anything like it in my whole life! I suppose that must be what it feels like to do a bungy jump. To stop the guide then had to grab our feet and pull us to a halt - I didn't want to stop so I purposely didn't let him grab my feet! Then it was Rachael's turn and her scream was amazing, I wish I could have filmed it! We would have given anything to do it again and Rachael has now decided that she can do anything, so wants to do a skydive!

Costa Rica was great, we had such a variety of experiences. We did hikes, horserides, swung through trees and met loads of really nice people and it's definitely a place we would like to go back to in the future.

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