After 3 long flights stopping off at Taipai and LA we eventually arrived in San Jose. Feeling surprisingly chirpy we met up with our shuttle service and headed to our backpackers hostel. It was so strange being in a Spanish speaking country and experiencing a whole different culture within just 2 days of travelling. After settling into our room we started to feel really ill. James had been feeling very poorly the night before our first flight, and I think we both has caught it by now. We pretty much spent 2 days catching up with our sleep and getting over the jetlagg.
Day 2 we hopped in a taxi to the bus station, as apparently you pretty much should avoid walking around San Jose due to drug and theft problems. Our taxi man seemed really nice and I was practising my Spanish with him the whole way. He told us to stop off at the ATM because where we were headed only dealt with local currency, not dollars. Stupidly we believed him and off we trotted to get out money. We got back in the car and after 20 minute ride (being told it was only 5 minutes away) we were started to freak out a little. We arrived at the bus station with relief. He told us the wrong time and said to run to catch our bus else we would miss it. He basically took a wad of colones the local currency from James hand and said that was the amount. Not really working out the currency conversion we said thanks and went to catch our bus. Later we discovered he took about 60 dollars. Bad start!
After a rather depressing 4 hour windy local bus journey, we were en route to our first stop. La Fortuna. This was a beautiful area which the town looked over Arenal Volcano, the most active volcano in the world. We stayed in a tent with a double bed in for 4 nights. However for most the time there we had picked up colds/chest infections. We now realise it probs wasn´t the best idea to fly across the world and not rest properly! However we did have a memorable day whilst staying there. We headed to somewhere called Baldi Hot Springs. It was set right below the volcano surrounding greenery and rocks and there were about 20 different pools of mostly hot and warm temperature. It was divine!! We spend the day chilling there and we discovered some of the most dangerous water slides ever! Photo evidence to follow...
That evening we ended up at this local bull fighting festival and fare. It was full of local families coming to watch this traditional sport. It was really good fun and so spanish.
After La fortuna we headed to Monteverde Cloud Forest. We decided to arrive in style...by horseback! It was the most amazing experience. We got a minibus from our hostel which looks after your bags and takes you to this boat. The boat drives you 15 mins away to this rainforest in the middle of nowhere. There was 2 really sweet Peruvian men there awaiting with 2 dogs and 8 horses for the 8 people in our group! We got on our horses and rode for 3 hours amongst the greenery. Alongside was beautiful views of the Lake Arenal and the volcano in the background. It was perfect weather (unlike the previous few days where we had rain). James managed to not fall off the horse, which I think in itself is a win! After arriving at the minibus with very sore but now toned bums and legs we got back on the minibus which drove us straight to our next hostel.
Monteverde is a gorgeous place, I recommend googleing it to see how stunning it is! We stayed in a tiny hostel with a lovely costa rican family who we often chatted to. The activity we did whilst staying in this place was Extreme Canopy. Mother I do NOT recommend reading this part! haha. It was the scariest experience of my life. It has 15 ziplines, some as long as 1km. The views were really nice overlooking the cloud forests. But oh my word you are so high up and the harnesses really didn´t seem that safe! One part was this tarzan swing where you literally jump off this platform into mid air and throw yourself until your harness kicks in and your swinging high up into the trees. I was screaming so hard and the guys working there had to literally push me to do it! Thats not the worst of it...James was crying! (Ok so I joke! He was surpringly relaxed!) The last zipline you do for 1km horizontally with your arms out like Superman and your only attached to the wire above you by your harness on your back. That was so scary I only enjoyed it once I had landed the other end! We made friends with a really nice Canadian couple that day, and because we didnt take our cameras they are going to send us the pictures so you will get an idea of the experience!
After 3 nights stay there we got a private shuttle with these 2 rather loud American lads we met and headed to Tamarindo where I am typing this from now. Its a place which contains what´s described as ´gringos´ or to us, Americans on holiday looking for sun surf and drugs. Its a touristy built up place but the beach is pretty nice, but its not really our scene. We are also finding getting around CR is pretty pricey so were budgeting here by not eating out and getting supermarket food to cook in our communal kitchen. We are heading to Mal Pais in 2 days then Manuel Antonio (which is supposed to be stunning). Thats about all the news.
Pura Vida, as they always say out here!
xxxx
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