Coming down from the 'highs' of the Extremo Canopy Tour we sadly said goodbye to Monteverde and set off for the fabled 'jeep-boat-jeep' transfer to La Fortuna - another of the pearls in Costa Rica's crown.
Despite the jeep-boat-jeep not actually involving any jeeps at all, the journey was super enjoyable - with epic views all the way on jeep ride number one (read minibus):
Costa Rica is stunning
... our first views of Volcan Arenal on the boat leg across Lake Arenal:
This volcano only stopped erupting five years ago - the locals are weirdly gutted!
And a quick, second jeep ride (yes, you guessed - another mini bus) took us all the way to our digs for three nights - Cerro Chato Ecolodge - a collection of cabins in a lush setting overlooking the volcano.
Just time on arrival for a quick explore around town and a 'casada' (typical Costa Rican lunch/dinner). This was the best yet and worthy of a photo. Chicken, rice, beans, fried plantain, coleslaw, mashed chickpeas (we think) and the best thing on the plate, mashed yukka. This stuff was the bomb!!!
Delish
Another night walk home accompanied by the dulcid tones of toads, a mini snake being attacked by a million ants (there's nothing these bad boys can't do!):
Completely defence-less against the unstoppable ant force
... and this little gem outside our room:
Matt was "maybe 90%" sure it was dead, so picked it up.
We were up bright and early the next morning for a day of hiking. The owner of our lodge had recommended hiking to Cerro Chato, a green lagoon set in a volcanic crater in the shadow of the big one. There was the minor caveat to his recommendation that it's a pretty tough steep climb. Undeterred we set off.
Sweaty after half an hour we wondered why we weren't horse riding instead
The hike to the top was, it turned out, as hard as described but well worth it for this stunner of a view
Personally I'm pleased it's not still erupting
Cooling off in the jungle
The lagoon itself was a further 20 minute hike down an even steeper path:
Tempting cool water!
Just got to get down to get in!
And relax!
A lovely refreshing swim later we headed back up and then back down to more beautiful views:
Finally emerging from the jungle
The local livestock - huge ears!
By the time we got back we were ready for another cool dip - this time in the little plunge pool where we were staying:
Fun times
The next morning we decided the one thing we needed more of was watery fun, so another hike commenced, this time to the Catarina Waterfalls. Again, you never know whether to believe the hype but these were absolutely epic:
It must rain here sometimes. A lot.
A bit more wildlife spotting near the entrance:
What a tail!
Before getting to the bottom:
Power shower extreme
Hiking the full loop:
Swing bridge time
And finally getting in!
Matt heading in for a good scrub
That afternoon we decided that yet more exercise and water was in order so we went on a run around to the other side of the volcano to one of the many hot springs resorts. This one had the added bonus of a butterfly garden, ant farm (why??) and crocodiles.
Getting up close finally to one of the beautiful butterflies we've been admiring.
The main reason for selecting this particular resort was the fact that it has slides - for adults! Combining hot pools and slides was, it turned out, a dream result. Endless fun for Matt, and a chance to soothe aching limbs for me!
SPLASH!
Only one more stop left in Costa Rica - a tiny peninsular on the Caribbean Coast - only accessible by boat. Hopefully no jeeps this time... Or swimming required, as the crocodiles will be wild this time!
With a fantastic time in Nicaragua sadly disappearing into the distance, it was time to cheer ourselves up with the famous tropical paradise of Costa Rica. Home of many green things, a welcome sight after possibly the hottest and driest three weeks of our lives. With another crazy border crossing (border officials forcing you to pay for fake entrance tickets, whilst other guards are trying to protect you from the scams!) behind us, we jumped on the highway and headed South down the PanAmericana once again. But the real beauty of Costa Rica lies in the Cloud Forests (like a rain forest is a forest in the rain, a cloud forest is, well, yes you get it). Commissioning a Jeep with a great father and daughter duo from Holland that we met, we headed into the mountains. After a good night's sleep, we jumped on the first bus of the day to take us into the huge national forest parks - here are some of the sights:
Early morning light
The Intercontinental Divide, stretching from Argentina to Canada
The centipede, stretching from here to there
A chirpy little chappy
The forest was incredible to walk around and explore all the different trails - with some great swing bridges reminiscent of NZ!
Another chirpy chappy
More birds.
Some of the birds were a bit noisier than others - this one hummed!
Dids.
And the butterflies weren't wanting to be outdone, this big fellow only let us take a photo as he was injured.
Stanna.
And some of them were just plain shy
And what's the best way to end a day walking round the forests? With a visit to the local cheesery and ice creamery.
Yum!
The next day, we set ourselves the task of having a completely free (but brilliantly fun) day. First step, take the advice of the locals and go down the back streets to find the woods on the hill - and keep an eye out for the "Ficus trees, you'll know them when you see them". A tough walk up the hill (mountain?!) and we later found them. They were amazing - who'd have thought a tree could be one of the greatest memories of the trip? These are parasitic vine trees, which grow on other trees, killing it and then leaving an empty cylinder inside. Great for climbing!
Going up!
The view from the inside
Thinking that tree was it, we walked aimlessly around and stumbled across this big boy. Can you see me?
Where's Wally?
The afternoon saw us climb the local TV aerial mountain - yet another steep climb with not many open views, but we were rewarded with a really inquisitive Coati at the top.
How do you do?
He could smell our lunch of rice and beans!
Get your coati, you've pulled
The definition of "free" of course doesn't involve the Costa Rican coffee fix, made the traditional way...
Pinkys out
Day 3 and it was time to get extreme, with something a quarter of the visitors to Costa Rica do - Canopy Zipline Tours. Sarah doesn't like rollercoasters at all, so this was a big deal. Shouting "Just book it!" at me, I sprinted out the room to the tour guide and got us reserved for the next day. We picked the aptly named Extremo Tours, and boy was it extremo. Consisting of 15 zip lines, a tarzan swing, rappelling and a 1.1km long superman line over a gully. Gulp. Here's a few action shots:
Nerves before the action starts
Do I have to?
Zoom zoom!
Rappelling out the tree, 30m up!
Halfway round the course - we were given the 'opportunity' to do a huge tarzan swing. So big, and so fast!
Me Jane. No, you Jane. Me Tarzan.
All too soon (two hours of adrenaline!), it was nearly over and time for the penultimate line of the day; the superman line over the width of the valley.
Completely not scared
Getting ready for launch
Bringing this blog into the 21st Century, we also took a few short videos. Filled with mild expletives and screams.
Back at HQ, the local scarlet macaw was waiting for us in the car park - happy to shout her name "LOLA!" for a quick pat on the head.
Meeting the locals
How to round a day off like that? Meet up with our Dutch friends and persuade him to take his flute, recorder, Hawaiian clarinet and tenor saxophone to the local open stage night. He'd given us a quick taster, but when he got fired up alongside the bassist and drummer - he was exceptional. And the only photo we got? Howk gently helping out a local blues singer, by using his recorder...
Your average Tico night out
This is a great, varied and odd holiday. And it just keeps getting better!
Believe it or not, we haven't spent a lot of time on the beach this trip. Which is a shame, because we got pretty good at it in NZ.
To keep our new found love of surf, sea and sand alive we booked ourselves in for a five night stay at Playa Maderas, a beautiful surf beach not far from the border with Costa Rica. Armed with enough food to keep us going for a few days and plenty of reading material we settled in for the duration.
Looking pretty settled
Our accommodation was a little wooden cabin in the woods, about a five minute walk from the beach. With plenty of communal chill out space and 30 cordoba beers in the fridge (US$1) we soon settled in.
Testing out a different kind of hammock
Our home for five nights
It turns out we shared our home, or at least the trees surrounding it, with a troop of howler monkeys. We'd heard (but not seen) these little furry friends in the jungle surrounding Tikal. This lot were even noisier. At 5am. (Click here to sample their dulcid tones for yourself). Not much else you can do but get out of bed and take some photos:
Guarding their territory
Are we checking him out, or the other way around?
The beach was stunning so we spent most of our time hanging out with belly boards (and a surf board one day for Matt) catching waves and generally being pretty rad(ical).
Heading off to find some foam
What? No waves?
Here's a good one
Time to head back...
Oh wait, this one's even bigger
A bit too big
Running scared?
You get the gist, much fun was had by both of us surfing the old fashioned way (on our bellies!)
We also spent a bit of time admiring the view, reminiscent of NZ's best surf beaches (think a mash-up of Raglan and Piha kiwi readers!)
Lion rock (with tail)
All too soon it was our last night. What better way to spend it than on the beach with a couple of cold ones for company...
Nicaragua's finest brews (and an even better view)
Nearly set
Big skies
Evening pink
Waiting for the day to end
Before bed, just time for more night time wildlife spotting - this time it was crabs. There were millions trooping about the beach, all armed with shells procured from goodness knows what shellfish. Some were a bit of a squeeze!
This one didn't like being on Matt's jandal much
Yuck
All in all a VERY successful few days, even if it did make us miss our second home a little bit. Time to move on - our final new country awaits...
