Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 10

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After another rubbish night’s sleep in the rubbish bed, we get up and go for breakfast. The toxic pineapple juice makes a return appearance. He also brings a jug. I hear ‘agua para ti’ (water for you) so attempt to dilute my juice. Apparently, he said ‘agua para té’ (water for tea) and it is boiling water, which causes the fluorescent yellow liquid to bubble alarmingly. This morning is a toss up between another cloud forest reserve and Selvatura for a 3 km treetop walkway consisting of 8 bridges, the longest being almost 200 metres long. I’m terrified of heights and very much prefer to have my feet firmly on the ground, so my choice would be the cloud forest. However, my running club is doing a series of challenges this month, and one requires other ... read more
Embarking on bridge no. 1
Still smiling
Bridge No. 4


Not the best night’s sleep as the bed is small and uncomfortable. We get up and have breakfast - which reviews describe as ‘simple but tasty’. They’re half right! It comes with ‘juice’ of some undeterminable fruit (it tastes like flat Vimto). We ask the proprietor what flavour it is. He doesn’t know either, goes and checks the packet and returns to tell us it’s ‘grape’. The old man asks for different juice and a new packet is duly opened – this time it’s ‘pineapple’ and drinking it makes my eyes water. Breakfast is scrambled eggs on toast – no plantain :( After breakfast, we head to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. It’s only 2 miles away, but a few hundred metres higher in elevation, which brings us up into the clouds. We have to park a ... read more
Sendero Nuboso
Sendero Nuboso
Sendero Nuboso


Today we have a 3 hour drive to Monteverde. First, time for a buffet breakfast at Coco Viquez; pancakes with plantain and pineapple again – yay! With a month of our trip left, I’m already starting to panic about sourcing my plantain habit when we return to Bournemouth. We take one last walk along the beach before checkout. After the chaos of the weekend and hoards of day trippers, it’s quiet today. The only evidence of the weekend crowds are the bags of garbage left behind being picked over by vultures. We join the handful of American snowbirds taking a morning constitutional. The sea is like glass this morning (a kind of greenish-black glass). It’s hard to believe I nearly got taken out by a wave yesterday. Once I have laid out yesterday’s laundry on the ... read more
Lizard
Pancakes
Mmm - garbage


Today does not start well. After waiting for an hour for a sandwich at the hotel restaurant yesterday, we opt to have breakfast elsewhere. The old man has spotted a place in the village which does a buffet breakfast. He’s very disappointed when he discovers it’s not self service. And there’s no return visits. I’m happy with my plate of pancakes, pineapple and plantain. When I planned our trip I had hoped to stay somewhat further south, close to Las Baulas National Park, where you can take a guided tour to watch leatherback turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. However, the park is 42 miles away and the tours don’t start until after dark. We don’t fancy driving such a long distance back in the dark, late at night. We decide to visit the National ... read more
Las Baulas
Las Baulas
Las Baulas


Today we are heading to the beach; to Playa Hermosa. It’s only a 20 mile drive, so there’s time for a leisurely breakfast (apart from the bit where we have to fight tooth and nail for a go on the toaster) Then I go for a swim whilst the old man crushes his candy (not a euphemism – he really does spend several hours a day playing candy crush). As the temperature hits 32 degrees, it’s time to check out and head for the Pacific coast. It should only be a 45 minute drive, but with the old man’s faffing (he left his hat in a restaurant and insists on going back, then gets lost in Liberia’s one way system) and my faffing (stops to photograph warning signs and a giant lizard) it takes twice as ... read more
Yes, really
Monkeys crossing
Hotel el Velero


I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, but 9 hours sleep and a breakfast of rice and beans (I’m beginning to feel like a contestant on I’m a Celebrity) and I’m raring to go. Today, we are going to Ricon de La Vieja volcano. It’s a 17 mile drive, which starts on Route before we have to turn off onto a smaller road. With 6 miles to go, we run out of paved road and the bouncing around in the gravel begins. A few miles later, there is a sign saying we are entering private land and must pay 700 colones each (about £1) to continue. Unexpected as we’re heading for a National Park, but the man has a gun, so we don’t argue. Our first destination is Rio Negro Hot Springs; a series of 10 pools, situated ... read more
Fauna crossing
Tree in Road
Rio Negro Hot Springs


It’s our final morning in La Fortuna and it rained heavily in the night. The volcano has disappeared completely behind a thick blanket of cloud and our last chance of seeing it in its entirety has gone. Never mind, it’s time to move on to another volcano – Rincon de la Vieja. Today’s drive is 80 miles, the first half of which skirts the shore of Lake Arenal. So, the plan is to go slow with plenty of photo stops, arriving at our hotel in Liberia around lunch time. By then, the temperature should be 32 degrees. Luckily, it has a pool! After a breakfast of fruit and gallo pinto (rice & beans) for us, whilst watching the birds eat their breakfast of bananas, we set off. The drive round the lake is underwhelming; there are ... read more
Gallo Pinto
Breakfast
Breakfast


It’s our last day in La Fortuna and there is no rain forecast for a full 6 hours. However, the volcano remains stubbornly hidden behind the clouds. I manage to sleep until gone 6 then get up to watch the hotel staff hoist bananas up a flagpole to attract the birds, and watch as group after group of different species turn up for breakfast – things get particularly fractious between the budgies and woodpeckers. My breakfast this morning is (not surprisingly) from the bakery – bread stuffed with cream cheese and pineapple. This morning’s activity is a trip to La Fortuna waterfall, which is accessed via a flight of 530 steps – a jolly sensible activity for two old codgers with dodgy knees! We drive to the top of the waterfall, pay the £25 foreigners’ entry ... read more
Catarata La Fortuna
The old man and the waterfall
Infinity pool


It rained in the night. A lot. We went to bed in a cabin surrounded by gardens and woke up surrounded by a moat. As I get older I find it harder to deal with the change in time zones so I am awake (and hungry) by 5 am. Luckily, there is some leftover pizza bread in the fridge and I sit and watch the visitors on the tree outside our room as the sun rises – so far today there have been squirrels and dozens of different birds, including woodpeckers, hummingbirds and 4 toucans. We decide to stick with our original plan to go to Volcán Arenal National Park, despite the fact that the volcano is barely visible behind the clouds. The 10 mile drive to the National Park is uneventful, apart from an emergency ... read more
Going off road
Wildlife crossing
Observation Tower


This morning is our first full day in Costa Rica. I am awake at 5 am (which is actually 11 in the UK and my stomach). 2 hours till breakfast and I’m starving. At 6 it gets light and I can brave going outside to sit in the garden without standing in anything. It’s a pretty little garden with a gazebo and plunge pool set among the shrubs. Breakfast is served in a clearing in the garden and is very tasty – fried rice and beans, omelette, sausage and plantain. Although I go off my food a bit when I see quite how often the cook fondles the shitty little dog whilst cooking. Then we take a walk to find a shop to stock up on supplies. We’re staying on the main road to the airport ... read more
Bridge over Rio Peñas Blancas
Bridge over Rio Peñas Blancas
Bridge over Rio Peñas Blancas




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