A little piece of paradise
Day 38
We are currently in Montezuma, a small beach town on the Nicoysa peninsular of Costa Rica. It takes approximately 2 minutes to do a lap of the town by foot, but after a fair amount of long hot journeys and big cities this is idea. We have our first cabina on the beach (yay), and this morning got up to watch the sunrise which was beautiful.
The town is perhaps a little too dominated by tourism, particularly Americans (like much of the rest of Costa Rica). For this reason we are glad to be heading to Nicaragua shortly as I am sure it will offer a more authentic experience.
However, I must say that we love Costa Rica anyway and have been amazed by the diversity of experiences we have had here. First, I must of course mention the kind hospitality of Anneli, with whom we have been staying with on and off during our stay. Aside from catching up with a good friend, it was wonderful to be able to wash our clothes properly, watch TV in English, cut costs by cooking at home and, crucially, leave half our belongings behind while we traveled around the country.
We went first to Tortuguero, in the North East of the country. It is a national park, only accessible by boat. For this reason we decided to take a tour, rather than embark on the journey alone. It also meant we saw much more wildlife and learnt so much more about the environment than we would if we traveled alone. We saw so much wildlife but I few we can recall are: howler and spider monkeys, poisonous frogs, iguanas, a Jesus Christ lizard, caymen (a bit like crocodiles), toucans, and a huge number of birds. The area is famous for the turtles which nest on the beaches, but alas we didn’t see any as it was not the right season.
We stayed in Tortuguero town which numbered no more than 200 people, but operated as an entire community with a police station, primary and secondary school, gym. It is primarily Caribbean, populated by Jamaican descendents, and the majority of people who live there make their money from tourism. It was a lovely relaxed place and made me feel the furthest away from home yet!
When leaving Tortuguero our adventurous spirit kicked in and, rather than returning with the tour we decided to take a 4hr boat ride down the length of the country to get to Puerto Viejo, a small beach town famous for its relaxed vibe and reggae.
As we sailed down the canal we laughed about how much better this was as a way to travel than sitting in a small minibus. That was, until it started to rain. The kind of rain you get in rainforest areas, i.e. torrential. Since our motto seems to be, always be prepared, we did of course have the necessary rain gear. However, I for one, seemed to get completely soaked despite this.
After another 2 rain storms we finally arrived near our destination and after a short bus ride or 2 down incredibly potholed roads we were there. We stayed in a wonderful hostel, called Rocking J´s, which was complete with rentable cabinas, tents, a hammock hotel (if you don’t mind the mozzies), and tree house. We spent one night in a tent, which was fun, particularly since it was under cover so not really like camping at all. We even had blankets, a mattress and pillows.
After a lovely weekend in San Jose, relaxing in the park, we arrived here, which brings me full circle. We leave tomorrow to visit the cloud forests in Monteverde and then on to see our first active volcano.