Costa Rica

We saw and experienced some amazing locations in the country, and here is quick recap of the places we visited and the experiences we had:

1) La Fortuna is built for tourists. Everyone we encountered, whether at hostels, hotels, tour agencies, restaurants and even the streets spoke English. Also, outside of Antigua, we probably saw more tourists here than anywhere else on our travels. Our full day of exploring here went rather quickly, but we decided to spend it participating in new activities. We chose to try repelling, which involved repelling down several waterfalls. The area offered ATV, whitewatering rafting, bicycling, horsebackriding, all of which we have done elsewhere, and all of which were pricey to repeat on a backpacker´s budget. So repelling offered us a new experience, and boy was it sweeeet! Cascading down in the waterfalls was a rush, and the hikes through the streams, falling in and out of water brought smiles to our faces. Afterwards we went to lunch and ate some great local food on behalf of the tour agency. The restaurant was set looking out over a river, where there was a backlog of cars, SUVs, and large commerical trucks trying to drive across the river because the local bridge was shut down for repairs! When we arrived, every vehicle attempting the cross got stuck midway through and had to be towed/pulled out by a tractor. This added to the backlog, as well as vehicles from both directions had to rotate turns since both sides could not cross simultaneously. Eventually, after some large construction trucks brought in and laid out some more rocks within the river, vehicles passed much more easily. A large crowd gathered to take in the scene. Why not? It was entertaining! It was more entertaining when the vehicles got stuck.

In the evening of the same day, we traveled to Tabacon Resort, that is famous for its natural hot springs set in a rain forest setting. You can enjoy an evening session for 4 hours and kick back in any of the many many hot springs. The springs varied in temperature, but most were approximately 41 degrees celsius, or about 106 degrees fahrenheit. The springs are set below an active volcano, Arenal. The temperatures for the springs are generated by the volcano. We spent the full 4 hours at the springs before returning to our hostel. We were the very last ones out of the hot springs!

The next morning we opted to take a ´Jeep, Boat, Jeep´tour to travel from La Fortuna to Monteverde. This route took less than 3 hours, which is much shorter than traveling by road, which is around 6 to 7 hours. The jeep wasn´t a jeep, but rather a microbus, but we were only interested in saving time, which was also the purpose of the service. Once we arrived in Monteverde we found a place to stay for the night and decided what activities to partake in. We had to decide quickly, because we were leaving the next afternoon to travel to San Jose, on route to the Caribbean coast. We could have spent more time in Monteverde, but since it was Semana Santa, traveling was a little tougher when relying on public transportation. Transportation was limited on Thursday, and there was no transportation on Friday. Since we arrived in Monteverde on Tuesday, we did not want to stick around for 4 days, nor did we want to be stuck in San Jose for Friday. So, we opted for the following activities with our limited time:
- The Frog Pond: a local museum housing several species of frogs and toads
- Santa Elena Cloud Forest: Monteverde is famous for its cloud forests, so we signed up for a guided tour of this cloud forest. The area is obviously muddy and dripping wet, adding to the appeal, and of course, cloudy. We were able to witness several rare birds, such as the queztal (however only a female/the male is ordinately much more beautiful) and the bellbird.

By early afternoon on Wednesday, we were off to San Jose. On Thursday morning we caught a 6:45 am bus to Cahuita, our home for 2 nights while public transportation was shut down countrywide. Cahuita is a small town on the Caribbean coast, with not much to do other than kick back and relax. Therefore, we opted to stay at Cabinas Jenny, a hostel/hotel right on the ocean. We stayed on the upper floor with an unobstructed view of the ocean, and the sound of the water hitting the shore drowning out any other noise the small town could produce. Our room had windows that opened up out over a balcony with lounge chairs and hammock. We spent much time sitting back and soaking up the relaxed atmosphere and studying our spanish.
The town is also home to a National Reserve, set along the coast. There is an area of beach accessible to the public, but a further area stretching out into the ocean not accessible to the public. The shores were large enough to relax on, but set right up against a forest. The proximity of the ocean to a forest was a rare sight for us, and we thought it was great. There also was a pathway through the preserve which allowed you to take in the sights of local animals residing in the forest, such as slothes.

After two extremely restful days in Cahuita, we were off to Panama! We will return back to Costa Rica in order to travel back up north, and we are planning on exploring Tortuguero and Tamarindo on the way.