Costa Rica
Facts:-
Day 103 - Thursday 20th October 2005 - arriving in Costa Rica
The border town in Costa Rica was Los Chiles, where we queued at customs, had to pay 500 colones (about $1) each to use the port and then waited almost an hour for a handful of Nicaraguans to be processed for entry into Costa Rica
We broke up our long 10-minute walk to the bus terminal with an ice cream stop and within half an hour were on a bus to Cuidad Quesada (another town locally known as San Carlos). We were shocked that the bus had no chickens on board and it didn't even look like chickens would be welcome! It was more of a coach really, our bags were stowed safely under the bus and the seats not only had headrests but also tilted back! Ian even managed to get a hour's sleep, his first on a bus for almost 2 months.
In San Carlos we were delighted when our bus driver stopped specially for us to jump off and onto a connecting bus to La Fortuna. La Fortuna is the main town at the foot of Volcán Arenal, which has been erupting "gently" (and almost daily) since 1968. From the bus, we had been able to see the volcano clearly for a couple of hours. But, as we approached La Fortuna and the mountain became increasingly shrouded in cloud, we decided that it probably wasn`t worth spending the extra cash on a hotel room with a volcano view. Despite studying the wide range of appealing accommodation options in the LP, we ended up at Cabinas Jerry, which wasn`t in the book! We had been worried that the basics, such as accommodation, would be much more expensive in Costa Rica than we had become used to in Nicaragua and so we were very pleased to get a clean comfortable room with private bathroom and HOT water!!! for only 600 colones (about $12.25).
We continued the thrifty theme with dinner at Soda El Rio, where our excellent chicken and rice dishes cost about $3 each. We were even able to buy a couple of beers at the licquor store across the street and drink them with our meal (we even got to return the bottles for a refunded deposit!)
Just as we were getting ready for bed, there was a knock on our door and Roger (the cabinas` owner) urged us to come outside. The cloud over the volcano had cleared briefly and we were able to see a little lava glowing orange at the top :-). Despite this exciting memory we fell asleep almost instantly after a very long day.
Day 104 - Friday 21st October 2005 - La Fortuna
The day started with another typico breakfast (at Soda La Parada) - perhaps we will be able to afford one or two of those expensive Costa Rican tours after all!
We explored the town a little and bought ourselves a small guide to the cloud forest birds of Costa Rica. Then, we faffed around for the rest of the morning (banking, using the internet, buying water at the supermarket and a picnic lunch from a bakery etc) and set off towards the Catarata de la Fortuna (waterfall).
It was sunny when we left town, but there were some ominous looking clouds around the mountains. It was a pleasant, if uphill, walk and after 4 or 5 kilometres, we arrived at the Casa de Hamacus Neptuno, which had a wide range of hammocks for sale, including several cat-sized ones (which came recommended by the resident little black and white cat!). After a few minutes looking around we were about to resume our hike to the waterfall. But, suddenly, some very heavy rain came lashing down and the surrounding views quickly disappeared. We waited for a while under the tin roof, before tucking into our picnic lunch (the little black cat was very greatful for our crumbs and maybe also for the company!). After nearly an hour and a half of heavy rain, we abandoned hope of reaching the waterfall and Nikki managed to flag down a passing car, which gave us a ride back to town.
We whiled away the rest of the wet afternoon writing our diary entries before treating ourselves to a Mexican meal at Las Brasitas. However, the highlight of an otherwise uninspiring meal was discovering dark Bavaria beer - probably the best beer of our trip so far! The rain continued all evening, so there was no lava viewing today.
Day 105 - Saturday 22nd October 2005 - Volcán Arenal
We had lots of plans for today and a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be an expensive day. So we started off with a cheap typico breakfast at Soda El Rio. After half an hour on the early morning bus we reached the dam forming Lake Arenal. From there it was a 3km walk uphill to the Hanging Bridges of Arenal. This was a 3km trail through the rainforest, across 6 suspension bridges and some other smaller bridges, so the route almost went through the canopy itself. Entry was pretty steep at $20 each, so we really took our time trying to spot wildlife.
Most of the birds were being elusive and we were a bit annoyed by a Russian couple folowing us who were noisily taking a guided tour. But, at least, when we let them pass us, their guides spoted a couple of strawberry poison dart frogs, which we also got to see :-). A little further on, Ian also spotted a broad-billed motmot which, although some distance away, posed for photos for ages.
We returned to the visitors` centre and had lunch at a fabulous viewpoint, where we had a completely unimpeded view (including almost no clouds!) of Volcá Arenal. The volcano was steadily emitting smoke and fumes and even erupted on cue when Ian told it to (shame he didn`t have his camera ready!) We still got a decent picture of the cloud of smoke and ash, which was followed by a thunderous rumble echoing across the valley.
After a little rain, we caught the bus back towards La Fortuna and went to the Eco-Thermales Hot Springs (we had planned to go to the Baldi Hot Springs across the road, but inexplicably entry was $20 each, compared to the $9 or $10 each that you could book a visit for in La Fortuna!). Anyway, we were delighted with our choice as we had all 4 of the hot pools to ourselves for over an hour. As dusk fell, we enjoyed a couple of chilled dark Bavarias, while sitting in the pools and cascades, which must have been well above 40°C.
As the night was dry and clear, with the top of the volcano cloud-free, we took a taxi to Restaurante Mirador Arenal Kioro. Here, we were given front row seats of Volcán Arenal throwing red-hot lava into the air. The eruptions were not constant or dangerously large, but it was exciting to see the firework-like display of lava every now and then as well as seeing some red-hot lava tumbling down the mountainside. As if this wasn't enough, we also had some fantastic food (curried sea bass for Ian and yummy steak for Nikki). It wasn't cheap, but I guess we were also paying for the view!
What a day - no wonder it cost us about twice our daily budget and about four times our average daily expenditure in Nicaragua!
Day 106 - Sunday 23rd October 2005 - on to Santa Elena
Another early breakfast at Soda El Rio as we planned to take the early bus out of town to Santa Elena. However, as we were checking out of our cabina, Roger offered us a discounted "jeep-boat-jeep" transfer with one of his friends, that would cut the journey time in half. We bargained him down a bit more and so at 8.30am set off in the "jeep" which loooked remarkably like a minibus!
Our boat departure was delayed a bit due to the start of the Arenal triathalon. It was initially a pleasant journey across Lake Arenal, with great views back to Volcano. But as the boat and the wind changed direction, a substantial spray blew into our faces and it was actually quite chilly. On dry land again we realised that "minibus-boat-minibus" would have been a more accurate journey description and for the next hour and a half our minibus struggled along slippy and bumpy mountain roads.
In a wet and cloudy Santa Elena, we checked out a couple of accommodations (the LP`s budget choice was very disappointing) and eventually we spoke to a couple of local women handing out flyers for their cabinas and went to check them out. We were very glad we did, because Cabinas Vista al Golfo was great. With a firm double bed, a private bathroom, lots of hot water and even some shelves to unpack our stuff onto, it was definitely the best place we had stayed at so far - and all for $16 a night! It even had a communal balcony with chairs and a view to the Gulf of Nicoya - apparently.
We wanted to arrange a guide for our visit to the Monteverde cloud forest for the following day and this turned out to be as easy as going to hotel reception.
After lunch at Café Rainforest, we had a quick wander around the town which, with the fog and rain, reminded us of a ski resort in season! We then spent the rest of the afternoon sheltering from the rain in our room!
For dinner, we were the only diners at Restaurante Campesino, but were watched by about 50 cuddly toys hanging from the ceiling (Krtek felt at home!). After dinner we went for a couple of beers at Amigos Bar and watched the locals strutting their stuff on the dancefloor.
Day 107 - Monday 24th October 2005 - Monteverde cloud forest
We picked up a few pastries for breakfast before the 6am bus for Monteverde left at 6:45am. Even then, due to the boggy road conditons, the bus dropped us some way short of the preserve entrance. Our guide, Melvin, had had some problems with his bike, so was also a bit late, but as soon as he took us into the park a coati scurried past. Despite it being a cloud forest, there was not a cloud in the sky - apparently this was the first time in over a month that they had seen the sun here - maybe our luck with the weather was changing!
However, the animals and the birds must have been out enjoying the sun and, as from the forest floor we couldn't see the tree tops, we didn't see much wildlife on our guided tour. We even waited quite some time by a fruiting avocado tree for a quetzal to stop by, but to no avail.
We did see some more coatis and a grey fox near the visitors' centre, as well as an orange and black tarantula hiding in a hole and a couple of praying mantis. We then went down to the Hummingbird Gallery for virtually guaranteed views of humming birds. We spent a while taking photos before wandering back into the preserve to walk some more of the trails on our own.
The forest was very pretty - we heard lots of birds and we saw some small ones close up. We almost seemed to have the preserve to ourselves - only bumping into 3 other people. Back at the visitors' centre we saw 2 coatis fighting noisily while we took photos from only a few feet away. Ian wanted to spent longer photographing humming birds, so after a second visit to the Hummingbird Gallery, we began to walk back down to catch the bus.
In the end, we decided to walk all 6km back to Santa Elena and we thought we deserved some filling food, so we went for dinner at D'Pepe Pizzeria. The pizza was adequate and the beer terrible (they didn't have any!), but Nikki enjoyed a couple of glasses of quaffable and yet affordable red wine.
Day 108 - Tuesday 25th October 2005 - Finca Ecologica, near Santa Elena
One of the guides we had spoken to in the Monteverde preserve had receommended going to Finca Ecologica to see more wildlife. So, after a typico breakfast at Soda Vista al Golfo, we walked there. Once again we hoped to see lots of wildlife, and once again we didn't!
However, Nikki was very excited to spot a blue-crowned motmot, which posed for Ian to take photos. We also saw an agouti and a coati surry across the trail. After a lot more hiking, somehow Nikki also spotted a Laughing Falcon perched on top of a dead tree in the valley several hundred metres away. Even with bincoluars it took us a few minutes to confirm it was a bird at all (it was huge)! (Of course, we actually had no idea it was a Laughing Falcon until later when we looked it up in a book!).
On our way back to town we grabbed a snack in a local coffee shop, before keeping warm and sheltering from the rain and strong winds in our room for the rest of the afternoon.
We had planned a cheap dinner at a typical local restaurant, but had failed to notice hat it had changed hands since the LP write-up and was now a slightly more expensive joint. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a couple of tasty rice dishes and at least they had our favourite Bavaria beer!
Day 109 - Wednesday 26th October 2005 - Santa Elena cloud forest
Another early start, picking up pastries before catching the bus to the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve. Unfortunately, it had been raining and windy all night and, although the wind had eased a little, the rain hadn't.
The forest itself was shrouded in thick fog and as we walked some of the trails for about 2 and a half hours, we saw only glimpses of a few small brown birds. Eventually, Nikki did spot a hummingbird, but even after a warming hot chocolate back at the visitors' centre and with the rain lessening, our next trail yielded no more wildlife sightings.
In fact, we saw many more coulourful (if small) birds in the car park, while waiting for our transfer back to town.
The weather had encouraged us to leave town, and so we booked ourselves on the early morning bus to San José for the following day. On the way back to the hotel, we passed a tourist staring, up into a tree by the roadside. We had noticed this before, so had a look for ourselves. As luck would have it, there was a sloth in the tree - we'd been looking for one all morning in the cloud forest! The sloth was even moving around and so we were able to get some decent photos.
We heated up some soup for lunch and sheltered from the wind and cold on the hotel balcony. We killed time playing Scrabble and polishing off a few cans of beer. We finally suceeded in having a cheap casado (typical meal) for dinner at Soda Maravilla, which was also very tasty. There was even time for one more game of Scrabble, which Nikki won, before bed.
Day 110 - Thursday 27th October 2005 - on to San José
We grabbed a quick breakfast back at Soda Maravilla. This enabled us to ensure that we wouldn't miss the busas it left from just across the street. We even had reserved seats - our first for about 3 months!
The road from Santa Elena to the highway was long and bumpy, but we arrived in San José before noon and were able to check into Hotel Aranjuez (this was a "splurge" option highlighted in the LP).
Unfortunately, the LP "cheap eat" recomendation (Nuestra Tierra) wasn't so cheap (especially with the 23% added for "tax" and "service"!), but at least we did get a very filling lunch.
We were down to our last Lariam tablet and had been to inumerable pharmacies in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, unsuccessfully looking for more. So, to work off lunch, we made one last try and toured San José's pharmacies. After a few more negative responses, we struck gold (or Mefloquine!) at a pharmacy next to a private hospital and then cleaned out all the other local pharmacies of their supplies too!
Whilst in San José, we also needed to buy flights to South America and guidebooks to help us when we were there! However, we were somewhat less successful in finding these (at least at prices we were willing to pay!).
We had also heard a rumour that another tropical storm was heading for us, so Nikki checked out the NHC website for more details - we would have to keep an eye on this as it could cause problems for our proposed trip to Tortuguera and possibly our plans to white-water raft the Rio Sarapiqui.
For dinner we went to Mariscas for some "traditional Costa Rican / Chinese food. Ian was delighted with his chow mein choice, although Nikki's oyster sauce tasted suspiciously like Bisto (she did have a cold, but didn't think that her tastebuds were that far off!)
Day 111 - Friday 28th October 2005 - San José
One of the main reasons for staying at Hotel Aranjuez was the inclusive buffet breakfast. It turned out to be pretty good and we certainly ate more food than if we'd been at a restaurante / soda. The second main reason for staying here was the inclusive internet access, which we made use of for the whole morning (unfortunately we also had to change rooms, as ours had been pre-booked - the concept of needing to book rooms had completely escaped us over the last 4 months or so!)
We had lunch at La Vasconia, and ate a really good typico meal. However, when it came to paying the bill, Ian used all his loose change and underpaid the tip by 5 colones (about $0.01), however the waitress wanted full payment and when it came to giving change for the additional large note, neglected to remember the full amount of cash handed over! Given that this "error" virtually doubled the price of the meal, Ian persisted in broken Spanish to try and receive the correct change - and after a while actually did :-)
We were so far behind our tentative schedule that we had decided to skip our planned trip to Venezuela and fly straight to Ecuador. The best online price we could find required either paper tickets (issued in the UK) or credit cards registered in the US. So we went to see what San José's high street travel agents had to offer us. En route we also bought a LP South America on a Shoestring and in our third flight centre we were offered flights at only a fraction more than the best online prices - we didn't hesitate any longer!
On the way back to the hotel, Nikki really started to suffer with ankle pains and was soon barely able to walk, so we found a taxi back to the hotel, where we rested.
Nikki was in no fit state to venture far for dinner, so we ate just a couple of blocks away at a chinese restaurant. Unfortunately the food was awful. It was so bad that we left lots of it, which was a first! A great way to celebrate 5 months' of marriage! Back at the hotel we eagerly awaited another buffet breakfast in the morning!
Day 112 - Saturday 29th October 2005 - Crocs
As Hurrican Beta was expected to make landfall on the Caribbean coast tonight, we decided to head west to visit Parque Nacional Carara, near the Pacific coast. The LP only mentioned one nearby budget accommodation - the Restaurante Ecologico Cocodrilos - and after about two and a half hours, our bus from San José dropped us right outside.
The rooms appeared to have been recently re-furbished and for our $20 we even got air-conditioning (our first since Isla Mujeres in Mexico!) The restaurant even served reasonably good and reasonably priced food - lucky really as there was nowhere else to eat!
After lunch, we walked along the bridge over the Rio Tarcoles (right next to the restaurant) looking for some of the resident crocodiles. They weren't hard to spot, with many of them basking in the sun on a sandbank in the middle of the river right next to the bridge. We counted 21 crocs, a couple of which were enourmous. Due to the attention from tourists and their guides (throwing meat and / or bread into the water) the crocs were much more active than any we had previously seen in Africa.
There was nothing much else to de except read and play a game of Scrabble over a beer back in the restaurant. Later, we shared a couple of tasty pasta dishes for dinner, before bed.
Day 113 - Sunday 30th October 2005 - Parque Nacional Carara
A typico breakfast, a quick look at the crocs and a 3km walk found us at the Parque Nacional Carara before 8am. We had come here as there was a high chance of seeing scarlet macaws and sure enough, even before we had paid for our tickets, the ranger pointed out a pair flying high overhead.
We started walking along some interlinked trails leading from the visitors' centre and soon spotted a monkey high in the canopy and an agouti scurrying across the trail in front of us. We also heard lots of macaws squawking high overhead in the tree tops, but didn't see any. All the other wildlife seemed to be avoiding us as well, although we did catch a glimpse of some coatis as they ran away from us.
At the farthest end of the trail, we did spot a black-headed trogon and a [yet to be identified] eagle. After a short rest back at the visitors' centre we decided to walk the shortest loop trail again and were delighted that we did as we came across a group of about 25 white-faced capuchin monkeys. We watched them for some while as they made their way across the trail, feeding on berries and fruits as they went.
We also decided to walk back up the highway to the other accessible trail. We had been warned that it was very muddy and sure enough, after avoiding some large muddy sections, we came to one that seemed too large to cross - at least we had already seen a group of about a dozen coatis bound across the trail. We had plenty of time on our hands, so we retraced our steps very slowly. At one point, Ian stopped to watch some parrots and Nikki to watch some monkeys, both high in the tree tops. After a minute or so, they all seemd to converge on the same tree. As we watched, 3 toucans joined the party. There must have been something good to eat up there but the monkeys wanted it all to themselves and after about 20 minutes managed to "re-claim" the tree for themselves.
We later identified the toucans as chestnut-mandibled toucans, not the more highly coloured rainbow-billed ones, but nevertheless we were thrilled to have seen more than just a glimpse of toucans in the wild after so long. We even saw some more scarlet macaws flying overhead - close enough to see they were definitely scarlet, but not close enough to see them well, or for a photo. We also saw a slaty-tailed trogon, which posed for photos on a branch right above the trail.
We caught a bus from right outside the restaurant straight back to San José, where we checked in to Tranquilo Backpackers without even checking the room out first - that must be a first! We couldn't find the Mexican restaurant listed in the LP so ended up back at Mariscas for some more (much better!) chinese food.
Day 114 - Monday 31st October 2005 - on to Sarapiqui
We didn't quite know how the complimentary pancake breakfast worked at Tranquilo - it turned out you just cooked for yourselves from the vat of batter mix provided.
After that, it was a short walk to the bus terminal for Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where we hoped to arrange some rafting. On our bus, we were immediately hassled by an old guy who tried to persuade us to stay at his house in Sarapiqui. But as we didn't know where we needed to be to book rafting we declined and, as it turned out, we almost immediately took another bus to La Virgen de Sarapiqui, where we understood most of the rafting trips actually departed from.
We got off that bus in what looked like the centre of the village, before realising we had to go a little further along the road. However, we made it only a few yards before sheltering from a tropical downpour that lasted for over an hour. Eventually, we made it to Restaurante & Cabinas Tia Rosita. Lunch was simple, tasty and cheap and our cabin room large and clean.
We checked out a few rafting companies before a spaghetti dinner. Then just enough time for Ian to thrash Nikki at Scrabble and cards!
Day 115 - Tuesday 1st November 2005 - Sarapiqui Activity Day
After breakfast, we headed to Pozo Azul to do the "Super Combo" package. For our $80, we got to do a bit of horse riding, a zip-line canopy tour, and rafting.
The whole set up seemed very professional. The horses were certainly well groomed, saddles very comfy and the stirrups adjustable - Ian had no idea that horse riding could be this comfortable! We even got helmets (our third time horse-riding on the trip and the first sight of one!). The trail took us through the forest, along the Rio Sarapiqui and into a field where Nikki got her horse, Peperoni, up to a gallop without much persuasion. Ian didn?t push Satanus that far (as you might guess, with horse names like these, the staff didn?t want to scare us and so didn?t tell us their correct names until well into the ride!)./p>
Next it was off to the canopy tour - we?d been wondering whether to do one of these for a few weeks now, as they were advertised all over Costa Rica. We were harnessed up and, with helmets donned, it was just a short minibus ride to our safety briefing at the first zip-line. We were both a little apprehensive, but it turned out to be great! Although we were in the forest again, it wasn?t a time for wildlife watching although we did get good views from a couple of the longer cables. The ninth and last cable was a little way away from the rest and took us about 300m across the Rio Sarapiqui back to the centre in time for lunch.
We had expected a simple casado or sandwich for our inclusive lunch, but instead got a lovely home-made heart of palm soup, a tasty chargrilled steak and a delicious lime torte to finish! The view was also great - we were on the balcony overlooking the river watching hummingbirds and a huge iguana lounging in a tree./p>
We didn?t really have enough time to digest so much food, before we were having our rafting safety briefing, but that didn?t matter too much as this middle part of the river was relatively tame. However, we did have to cope with our fellow "rafters", at least 2 of whom didn?t seem to understand any of the instructions we had been given. Unfortunately they were at the front of the raft and consequently, to begin with, the raft was not under much control./p>
One of the guys soon started paying more attention after Ian "accidentally" hit him "firmly" in the lower back whilst he was completely out of time with everyone else. Nikki didn?t resort to such tactics with the rather large guy in front of her, but perhaps she should have. Certainly, when Nikki and the guy behind her ended up in the river at one rapid, it didn?t seem entirely their own fault, as the big guy flailed around in the front! The rafting was actually quite short, but towards the end, we did achieve a few periods of synchronised paddling!
Thanks to Michael and Julia Dukes for funding this fun packed day - it was great
We had thought about trying one of the other restaurants nearby, but in the end went back to Tia Rosita for chicken casados. It was good food and cheap, after all.
Day 116 - Wednesday 2nd November 2005 - on to Tortuguero
It was rainng as we waited for the 8am bus to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, and as we jumped off the bus in the town, we almost forgot to pay. We just had enough time for breakfast, so went looking for a soda. As we breakfasted at Restaurante La Terraza, the rain got much heavier - it looked like we had chosen a good day for our horse riding / rafting the previous day! With a change of buses in Guapiles we found orselves in Cariari, looking for blue collared bananas (!) - the LP described it as a blue collared banana town! From there it was another bus connecting with a boat to Tortuguero.
We didn?t really know where the bus was taking us and we hadn?t paid for our tickets, but after a little more than an hour bumping slowly along the terrible roads, we arrived at Pavona (actually just a small hut), where the bus terminated. We were immediately bustled off and given ponchos. This was the first indication we had that our boat might not have a roof! For good measure we put the ponchos on on top of our own waterproofs, before going down to the boat. Once on board, with our bags safely stowed at the front, under black plastic sheeting, we were surprised to see a fridge added to the pile of luggage!
Consequently, we were treated to a sedate journey through the rivers / canals to Tortuguero village. We seemed to be the only tourists on board and got a running commentary of where we were and what we could see from the guy who had "sold" us the bus-boat combo - we did eventually have to pay - although it was much cheaper than we had originally been expecting :-).
Once we reached Tortuguero village, we were introduced to Albert, who showed us a selection of cabins - we decided to stay at Cabinas Princesa. We also aranged for Albert to take us on a canoe trip / safari in the morning.
Ian was a bit grumpy as it was after 2:30pm and he hadn?t eaten since breakfast, so we looked around the village and had a couple of tacos. As it was raining again, we played Scrabble in our room - livened up by the intermittent power failures - before popping across the soccer field for a very enjoyable dinner (by candlelight!) at Miss Miriam?s.
Day 117 - Thursday 3rd November 2005 - Parque Nacional Tortuguero
Albert picked us up from our room at 6am and by 6:10am we were on the water. "Canoe tour" turned out to be an Albert-powered canoe all to ourselves. There was only one spare paddle, which Ian used from time to time - meanwhile, Nikki didn?t look too disappointed at having to sit lazily in the front just looking at the passing scenery! We both turned out to be very poor at spotting wildlife that day, but Albert knew his stuff! He pointed out tiger herons, other birds including a pair of toucans high in the canopy and three types of monkey (spider, capuchin and howler). He even found a baby croc (about 1.5m long) in shallow water and a slightly smaller caiman, as well as a huge spider in a scary looking yellow web right by the river.
Back on land, we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast before going back to bed for a couple of hours. We grabbed a chicken pie and carrot cake / banana bread at Darling?s bakery for lunch before exploring the village a bit more. It didn?t take long! But Nikki did buy herself a vest top from a souvenier shop. And, we earmarked a return to the turtle conservation exhibit for when the power was back and we had a chance of seeing anything!
The rain saw us confined to our room again until an early casado dinner at Soda Lapa Verde. We returned and met up with Coco there who took us on a rapid "2-hour" walk along the beach by (some) moonlight looking for turtles. It was past the end of the main turtle nesting season, so the national park wasn?t running tours, so Coco took us north away from the park itself. Apart from a couple of crabs, all we saw was some turtle tracks from the previous night - but at least the rain wasn?t too heavy.
We rounded off the evening with a couple beers and games of pool - only one of the balls was missing.
Day 118 - Friday 4th November 2005 - Parque Nacional Tortuguero
We had decided to walk the short trail in the national park early and were there by 6:15am. Pretty much immediately, Ian spotted something high in the trees. It turned out to be 2 spider monkeys cuddling each other to keep warm. Unfortunately, we didn?t see much more wildlife, but the trail soon became somewhat (occasionally completely) submerged, which made for an interesting walk! Several groups of howler monkeys provided our soundtrack although we didn?t actually see any of them, we did see another spider monkey and baby.
On the beach section of the trail, we did see a fresh set of turtle tracks, clearly evidence of a nesting visit the previous night.
Back in the village we went to the Buddha Café for an excellent Italian lunch in the sun (!) - in fact we had to move into the shade as it was so hot! A number of iguanas kept us entertained - wandering around the lawn and climbing the trees looking for food - one in particular seemed to have a taste for the pink flowers high in one of the trees! Then we popped back to the Caribbean Conservation Corporation exhibit and watched a short DVD about their turtle conservation efforts in Tortugeuro.
Funnily enough, by the time we left it was raining again. We had time for a couple of games of scrabble and to finish the last of our Nicaraguan rum before venturing out in the rain to La Casona for dinner. The specials of red snapper and river shrimp were too tempting and turned out to be excellent choices - we had eaten well today!
Day 119 - Saturday 5th November 2005 - back to San José
We decided to go for an early morning walk along he beach hoping to see some turtle hatchlings scurryng down to the ocean. We were on our way by 5:15am and walked for about an hour looking in and around the depressions in the sand where turtles had nested. Unfortunately, although only just after dawn, we were too late. The only evidence of baby turtles we saw were numerous light-flippered tracks - but we couldn?t be sure how fresh they really were.
After breakfast we booked ourselves on the 11:30 boat departure and waited for a while with a couple of giant feathered frinds (see photos). This time it wasn?t raining, so (of course) our boat had a roof! At least it was useful to shelter from the blazing hot sun.
In Pavona, we waited about an hour for our bus connection, but in Cariari, we only just had time to buy some pastries for lunch before boarding the bus to San Jose. We thought we would be in plenty of time to find somewhere to stay, but long traffic jams - aparently due to crashes on the high foggy road across the mountains - meant we just got the last available room at Costa Rica Backpackers. The room itself had only just been repainted so we had to cope with fumes and as it was also in the basement it was a bit of a dungeon - but otherwise fine!
We thought we would get a quick dinner at one of the local restaurants advertised on the hostel?s map (we were in a different part of the city from our previous visits), but none of them were open, so we ended up back at Mariscal?s. This might have been our third visit, but it was the first time that we worked out that most of the beers were 2 for 1 (during happy "hour" - all day every day), but not our favourite "Bavaria". Nevertheless, Ian thought this was an offer worth making some use of!
Day 120 - Sunday 6th November 2005 - San José again
Ian got up early to write up some of this diary before a hostel breakfast. We wandered into the city centre and discovered that our credit cards didn?t work on Sundays! - apparently something to do with the banking system being "closed". We then headed out to the nearby suburb of San Pedro to investigate the shopping mall, where we had lunch but otherwise didn?t buy anything. As it had just started raining we caught the bus back to the hostel, where we made use of the inclusive internet for a while. For dinner, we headed to Il Pomodoro, a pizzeria back in San Pedro that we had checked out earlier. Not only did we enjoy a decent pizza, but we had some decent red wine too and even cheesecake for dessert!
Day 121 - Monday 7th November 2005 - San José still
Another early start for Ian, this time editing our large collection of digital photos from Costa Rica and Nicaragua (who said digital was the way forward?) We fuelled ourselves with a pancake breakfast at the hostel and then set out to finish a load of chores before the day was out.
After some souvenir shopping, guidebook buying and a late lunch, we just had time to burn our photos onto CD and make it to the post office before it shut. We celebrated the end of this tiresome day and our last night in Central America with a couple of beers by the pool in the hostel.
We followed by a return to our old favourite restaurante - Mariscal?s. Ian certainly recommends the dry chop suey special, which he ordered on each of our 4 visits! We kept ourselves awake for a few hours until after midnight updating this diary, so that we could call Ian?s mum and wish her a happy birthday.
Day 122 - Tuesday 8th November 2005 - leaving Central America
We had thought that we were on a very early flight today, but fortunately had checked our tickets the day before and in fact were not, so we had a "lie-in" until 7am! It was a now familiar (if a little long) walk back into town where we caught a bus to the airport.
After being relieved of $52 in departure taxes, we killed a couple of hours in the departure lounge, before boarding our flight to Bogotá.
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