Our first land crossing for this trip was today as we left Costa Rica (above) and went into Nicaragua. It took about 3 hours to complete and was a bizarre contrast to air crossings. Once we had been stamped out of Costa Rica we weren’t forced to leave, we could make our way to Nicaragua as we pleased. The border was also more than a political boundary, as soon as you crossed it your surroundings are noticeably poorer. People are begging and, legitimately as it turns out, trying to sell you your immigration entry card! Buses are abandoned American school buses and the whole place has a gritty wild west feel!

It feels good after the ease and comfort of Costa Rica, this is what travelling is about, this the place where adventures are made.

We arrived to the little frequented park entrance at Santa Maria to an overwhelming welcome from… no one. The guards home was unoccupied as was the homestead used as the park office. We waited and waited and decided no one was coming. By this stage it was dark and an almighty lighting display was being strewn across the horizon and rain was thundering on the tin roof of the porch. So we sat and ate dinner and waited some more. We had been waiting to ask if we might sleep on the porch (having no tent) rather than in the car. Eventually we decided to just do it. So we strung up the mosquito net, laid down a sarong and put on our warmest clothes, bedding down in our little bastion from the jungle only metres away.

A few hours later a bright light shone in our faces. The ranger had returned from the nightly horse patrol of the park to find us, two squatters, on his porch. We told him it was drier here (pretending we had tents) and could we stay, it was no problem.

The next morning we were rewarded for our choice in coming here. Only accessible by car this part of the park is less frequented. I finally saw toucans! And another eyelash viper, but up close (above). We walked to the thermal pools (above) but unfortunately they had been flooded in the previous nights storm and were only a little warmer than the river. We made our way home stopping at the other sites including a lovely waterfall and swimming hole.

Tomorrow Nicaragua.

We met some local tico’s on the trail to Cerro Chato in Arenal who used to be park guides in another national park. They sung it’s praises so much we decided to check it out. Rincon De La Vieja (Rincon) is a volcanic national park near Liberia in Costa Rica. Our 5 year old guide book makes mention of cheapish ways to reach the park from Liberia so we head there on the morning bus.

When we arrive in Liberia we discovered that the park transfer was $20 pp plus park entrance, $10, plus private road toll, $2. On top of that the aging hotel wanted $22 for a room. We deliberated the different options including the expensive lodges walking distance from the park. We ended up getting another hire car with a plan to camp or sleep in the car.

After buying groceries for the next 2 days we headed up to national park in the evening. On the way we discovered Sol Y Verde. You can catch the bus to them and then they run a shuttle to the park each day for approx $10 per return trip (i.e. not per person). Their new cabins are in a rural setting and cost $20 per person ( a little cheaper if you have enough for the bigger ones). They also have a camp ground with lovely amenities for about $6 per person a night. We declined, figuring we could sleep in our car anywhere for free, and headed up to the national park gate. We found a place where we could drive of the road and started into a broken and cramped nights “rest”.

The next day we were rewarded with being first into the park. We did the thermal loop walk seeing volcanic mud pools, boiling water pools and other volcanic oddities all too hot to enter (i.e. deadly). We then got lunch out of the car. No sooner had we been warned about the racoons and put our bread on the table one came screeching down on us. It didn’t even slow a heartbeat in hesitation but jumped onto the table, grabbed our bag of bread and was off. The park ranger ran it down and got our bread back… a little worse for wear. We spent the afternoon walking to the waterfall which while impressive and very similar runs second place to the one at Arenal. One the way we saw a family of Spider Monkeys (completing the Central American set; Squirrel, Capuchin, Howler & Spider).

Then it was off to the other side of the national park, hopefully to camp!

La Fortuna is a little tourist town at the foot of the Volcano Arenal and is the jumping off point for the areas volcanic activities. Whilst the activities in the area are fantastic the prices here have gotten out of control! A hike to the crater lake is quoted as $65 per person ($45 with some negotiation). We did it independently and you still have to pay a private road toll of $10! We stayed at Hotel Dorothy about 200 metres out of town. It’s quiet, cheap for the area ($8 pp including breakfast) and our room had a perfect view of the volcano.

The first day we decided to see the local waterfall and hike to a crater lake next to the main volcano (Cerro Chato). Being to cheap to pay for a cab we hiked the 5kms to the waterfall and then the 1km down to it. Despite the $7 entrance fee the waterfall is remarkable. The pools are crystal clear turquoise water and the waterfall pool is fun trying to swim against the strong current and sitting in the bubbles caused by the falling water. We then hiked the 8km return to the crater lake, which was unremarkable, but we got to experience our first volcanic earth shudders and booms, half expecting molten rock to pour down on us. Thankfully we got a lift with some Spanish tourists back to our hotel, saving us from another 5kms.

After seeing the prices of the tours and the set transport rates to the sights we decided to rent our first car of the trip. We hired a car for 24 hours costing us $50 (should have been $40, but we our hotel got a $10 commission) and saved money by combing the remaining sights into 24 hours.

First we headed out to the Baldi hot springs to make the most of the $20 entrance fee. It’s nice enough, getting a little old and they blast horrible 70’s music into most of the pools (whilst posting signs not to disturb the tranquil nature of the hot springs). They have two waterslides which are amazingly fast and could easily injure you. The biggest down side was they charged $5 for a coke, $7 for a beer, so sitting in the warm water sipping drinks all day wasn’t an option for us. The other problem was 40 degree water when it’s 35 degrees out isn’t that pleasant especially when there are no cold water pools or showers! The whole complex is much more enjoyable at night, when the air is cool and you have a chance at seeing the volcano spew forth some lava (we saw it although its rare and the lava is better viewed on the other side of the volcano)

We left Baldi to eat dinner and drive around to see the lava spewing out of the volcano. Unfortunately there is that much lava, but we did get to see an explosive eruption and ground shaking grumble. Despite the lack of lava it’s still an amazing sight and has the same addictive properties as staring into a fire.

The next day we went to the Hanging bridges and walked their set 3km nature walk. We were lucky enough to see an eyelash viper. This snake is entirely bright yellow, it’s head is the size of Kahlia’s thumb at the eyes have a cartoon shaped eyelash flap of skin above them. Besides this the walk didn’t really live up to it’s pricey entrance fee.

During our driving we also got to see a family of Mapache (Central American Racoon) and an ant-eater.

We decided to raft the world-renowned (in rafting circles) Rio Pacure. I was told you combine the more challenging upper section with the more scenic lower section and make a 2 day trip of it. If you can, we couldn’t find it. So we settled on the lower section. It is very scenic but the rapids are a little mundane for us experienced novices (they were apparently more technical rapids than long and exhilarating, so you need more understanding of rafting than we have).

Things changed a little after lunch as a huge storm came in from nowhere. The guides were worried about lighting, understandably so, and the little side streams became angry torrents of brown water filling the river with logs and debris. The flooding of the rapids made the river infinitely more dangerous but the rapids… less rapidy.

We hit a big hole towards the end that flipped the boat and threw everyone into the water. I was underwater before I even knew the boat was flipping. We had apparently got suck back into the hole. The guys at Rainforest World had 3 safety crafts in the water and everyone was safe pretty quickly.

A fun day was had by all in the end, a small cut on my knee and our guides pride the only injuries.

The first night of beach patrols was a keen little beaver. Eagerly looking for turtles and tracks in the darkness, admiring the stars and watching the beautiful displays of lighting arc and dance on the horizon. As we made our way up the beach and rounded the point it became apparent that an unseen storm was almost on top of us. Apparently having been hiding and waiting to ambush us it started releasing it’s fury all around us.

With the small amount of Spanish I had at the time I understood that our guide was petrified for our safety as he believed the lighting was striking near us because it was attracted to the water in the coconuts (we were next to a plantation). With an expression of pure dubium I pointed out that the much larger expanse of water to our left, the ocean, may actually be the cause if lighting was indeed attracted to water. We turned for home.

Sure enough, proving my point in a brilliant and adamant fashion, lighting started striking behind the breakers not 100 metres from us. It’s truly an amazing sight to see up close, the flash leaves little firework flares to the sides of the strike. We quickened our pace. It did us little good. Seconds later the air started to hum, hairs stood on end and there was an amazing crackling energy above us that you could feel pulsating uncomfortably, but not painfully, through you. An almighty boom that you could feel and a flash of daylight signaled the lighting strike not more than 20 metres from us! I’m not sure if the discharged or our sense of danger threw everyone to the ground.

We collected our selves and hurried even more to the safety of our camp. The storm passed after that. It was a truly awesome experience (having survived) but one that I don’t need repeated.

Hatchery patrol is a little mundane for me and we seem to get a lot of it. You spend the nights checking the nests to see if any have hatched and killing marauding crabs in fifteen minute intervals. But when it’s raining and there aren’t any babies or crabs to chase it can get boring. Last night it all paid off! Kahlia and I were all alone (our ever attentive local assistant had gone to the bush bar early) and a nest hatched.

Just before our shift an over eager assistant had dug a little ways into a previously hatched nest to ensure no turtles were left trying to escape. So when I saw a head sticking out I thought it was a dead turtle that had been uncovered. I poked to make sure (with gloves on of course) and it moved slightly, it was alive!. Hatched turtles are little balls of energy and a slow moving one may not be ready to hatch yet so I covered it with sand to give it more time. A minute later the head poked through the sand again, this time it’s turtle face was set in a scowl warning me not to do that again.

After the solitary baby turtle was released another nest erupted with life as 22 babies made their way to the surface. Kahlia and I collected them, measured and recorded their details and released them to the sea. We released them 15 metres from the water as they need to strengthen their flippers for the 10 mile swim to the currents that will be there home for the next 10 years.

The photos are from an excavation, our babies hatched at night and are sensitive to white lights.

We had planned to do at least a month of volunteer work as part of our trip. Kahlia was really interested in doing a turtle project and we had moved to the advanced stages of booking through a “volunteer” agency. They wanted a $500 admin fee plus $40 a day per person for meals and accommodation. The more we thought on it the more we felt that it was overpriced (we were living on less for a higher standard) and we were concerned where the money was really going. So we decided to pull out and see what came up when we were in Costa Rica. (Other people we met had paid similar amounts to what were going to, the project never saw the extra money! One girl from the UK even paid a company $2800 for a months stay that should have cost $450)

When we got to Costa Rica we discovered La Tortuga Feliz (The Happy Turtle). For $15 per person per day you get 3 square meals, dormitory accommodation, a chance to help the dwindling turtle population and a fantastic time. Our duties rotated through patrolling the beaches for turtles at night; the turtles eggs are collected and moved to the “hatchery” for protection from poachers and to improve the hatchlings chances of making it to the sea, watching the hatchery and releasing baby turtles to general maintenance and kitchen duties. Most days we were our own to swim, learn Spanish, catch up on sleep, relax in the hammocks or to wander the jungle in search of animals.

It’s a great place and if you are looking for something like this we highly recommend it!

Well we arrived in better time than we had been told. The 44km trip only took 2.5 hours! When we arrived I was surprised to see that this was still a little sleepy town. Dirt roads and extremely green. They obviously get a big surfing crowd as the prices here don’t reflect the quality of the rooms or the size of the town.

Kahlia had come down with the flu, so it was up to me to find accommodation. I asked at almost every place in town and the cheapest I could find for a double was 8,000 colones ($16) at Cabinas ….. for a cement cell, the Iguanas living in our roof didn’t cost anything extra though.

The beach is rugged with brown silt sand washed into the ocean from the rivers. The rainforest comes down to the sand so the beach is really pretty in it’s own way. The surf was amazing even in the off season. I hired a board from Cabinas Piranha (the northern most hostel) for $10 a day and proceeded to attempt the waves that were way out of my league. The boards were a bit crappy and the leashes even crappier! Both days I snapped a leash and was left stranded in the 6ft sets with a river rip trying to prevent me from seeing the shore again.

If you aren’t a surfer there isn’t much for you to see here.

While Costa Rica is a little more expensive, so far $25 doesn’t buy you much more than a bed, fan and shared bathroom, it’s our bag. Anywhere that has daily monkey raiding parties is ok in my book As soon as we stepped of the bus with our bags a troop of the allegedly rare squirrel monkeys greeted us! (These are my favourite monkeys, the little one above with the bananas)

We are currently just outside Manuel National Park, a tiny 680 hectare park on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Due to it’s small size wildlife can be spotted everywhere! We saw 5 sloths, howler monkeys, Capuchins, giant butterflies, deer, raccoons, and a rare crazy water walking lizard and much much more.

The Capuchins (White Faced Monkey) were freaky. They always had a scowl on their faces (above) and their role in the movie “Outbreak” was always in my mind (they infected everyone with Ebola). To make matters worse, we were sitting under a tree when an Iguana jaw bone fell next to us. We looked up to see one munching on an Iguana carcass!

Manuel Antonio is a 15 minute, 210 colon bus ride from the town of Quepos. We found a hostel (not in any of the guides), Costa Linda actually at Manuel Antonio. It’s $19 a night for a really basic double room. The rooms upstairs are way better and less noisy. It also has the cheapest food in the otherwise mid-range town.

I went a bit nuts with the photos in this post but hey save me writing the words

p.s. I didn’t feed the monkeys, I just took advantage of the situation. Not that I see a problem with bananas, they are growing everywhere, the monkeys could easily find their own.

Tomorrow it’s off to the sleepy surf town of Dominical. 44km away the road is so bad and the bus stops so much it’s quoted as a 4 hour bus ride!!