Poas and Irazu Volcanoes

Poas

Irazu

I Know the Way to San Jose

tbc

Quepos and Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio National Park

Where it all began, the oldest NP in Costa Rica.

There are pretty large numbers at the NP.  Howler Monkeys are playing in the trees.

Big lizard close-up

Scarier than a big lizard.  Yours truly on a quiet beach within the NP

Montezuma

It is not the easiest place to get, requiring a fair bit of traveling.  There isn’t much waiting for you when you get here either.  It’s lovely though.  The guidebooks say it has been on the hippie trail for a good deal of time - referring to it as Montefuma.  Usual story, people turn up for a day or two and stay a week, then a month and some just never leave.

My personal trip from up in the cool damp cloud forest of Monteverde involved a bus either side of a ferry across to the Peninsula of Nicoya.  Ferry is the best bet as the roads on the peninsula aren’t up to too much.  While a trip of beautiful contrasts from the mountains to the Pacific coast, it was a long journey starting at 6am and ending at the hotel at 3:30pm.

As for what to do and see here, well there is the National Park of Cabo Blanco, a few waterfalls, a butterfly park and the general lovely area of beaches and forest.  I was staying at the Mariposario (butterfly reserve) so that got ticked off quickly, with a very informative tour with one of the American students (Renee) staying here.  The waterfalls were beneath the road up to the Mariposario too; very handy.

So I did two of the main sights then just kicked back and did what most people do here.  Relax. Read. Drink some Imperial - usually at Chico's bar. People watch.  And wonder why life can’t be like this most of the time.

My trip away from here was to be equally adventurous - the quick boat across to the almost American surf resort of Jaco - before heading on to Manuel Antonio National Park - and on the way managing to take in a big group of playful dolphins performing around our boat and seeing turtles swimming past us up north to do their egg laying thing.  Boy are they big too!  Weird seeing them swimming slowly inexorably across the straits to northern Nicoya.  All part of the ferry trip too - not a wildlife trip. Excellente!

Monteverde

To be completed.. err, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday...

La Fortuna and Arenal

The bus arrived at the terminus and before you have stepped off the bus the touts are accosting the tourists.  Have you a place to stay?  Where are you staying?  Have you paid anything yet?  What tours do you want to go on?  Come with me.

A couple of shoulder barges, quick feet and a shoulder dummy and I was away to my hotel around the corner.  La Fortuna is a small place, so unless you booked a place out of town, all hotels are really only around one corner or another.

The hotel was a pretty average mid-range affair. Nice enough, clean, good service, a neat breakfast area and even a small pool.  But I was so lucky to get the best room in the hotel, on the top and south of the hotel such that it was the only room with an uninterrupted view of the Arenal volcano.  The only aberration to the view was a slender red painted communication tower, which seemed to be set in a location to help frame the view.  My camera was straight out of the bag.

After an hour’s break resting on the cool white sheets, letting the air-con do it’s magic, it was time to wander into ‘town’.  Fifteen minutes wandering and you’ve pretty much seen it all.  A good mix of restaurants, sodas, small supermarkets, hotels and lots of travel agencies - advertising their tours to the same places: Hot Springs Baldi or Tabacon; zip-lining; the volcano; the Pacific Coast; Tortuga Island; the Atlantic Coast; Monteverde transfer the ‘Jeep-Boat-Jeep’.

The towns essentials are almost exclusively along the one main road, with just a few more eateries on the opposite side of the main square, which is dominated by the Catholic church.  Facing the front of the church, it in turn is dominated by Arenal, looming over the building ominously in the not-so-background.

My evening meal was in the Lava Lounge, opposite my hotel, which had a video permanently playing a DVD showing the eruptions of lava and falling debris, rolling rocks down the slopes of the volcano.  I would have loved to see such a fireworks display whilst here, but the volcano which has been happily plopping along since it’s surprising departure from dormancy in 1968 ceased it’s Strombolian behaviour nine months ago.  Now the only emissions are gasses.  For now anyway.

I was to stay in La Fortuna for three nights so decided to do Arenal on the last day and go to the waterfalls and nature reserve the day before.  My breakfast of pinto gallo and scrambled egg was as fine as it always is.  It is what it is and you really need to add sauces to give some flavour to the rice and beans.

The Book (Lonely Planet) said the nature reserve Danaus was about 3km out of town to the east.  It was half right, it was out of town to the east, but it was more like three miles.  Took me a deal of time to get there walking along the main road, which involved dodging some big vehicles which seemed not to see me much of the time.

The guide at the park was surprised to see me, looking over my shoulder for where I’d parked.

‘You walked from Fortuna?’, he said with surprise, ‘You sit down here for a while and I’ll put a banana out for the birds.’  I was the only person in the reserve.

Within seconds a variety of birds were queuing up to tuck in to the partially rotten banana.  A couple of large agoutis came out of the undergrowth at the same time.  These rodents were as big as a small dog.  They were not skittish but managed to stand in deep undergrowth whenever I raised my camera.

After a brief rest and a bottle of lemon Fanta I was ready to walk around my park.  It’s not a large one and was largely on stone or wooden chip pathways, which were neatly arranged to take in different plant types.  Small and medium sized birds of every hue were everywhere.  Yellow and green seemed to be the local fashion favourite.

In a small tent for frogs I had to wander around several times to find just one.  The tiny poison dart frog may be small, but it doesn’t try to hide with it’s bright orange and lurid blue colouring.  I doubt it was 2cm long.

After the tiny frog excitement I wandered around the reserve with my eyes mostly on the canopy looking for the large iguanas (basilisks) and sloths.  Forests like this are a nightmare to look for wildlife because it is both everywhere, but also more often as not hidden by the damn vegetation!  When you look up, you don’t know what your missing at eye level, or on the ground - be it trip hazards or snakes!

At the lake I saw a couple of large Boat Billed Herons, but couldn’t see the caiman which were purported to be in the lake.  Shortly afterwards I heard visitors, the park was no longer mine.  A large group of Germans were being shown around the park, walking in the opposite direction.  On the positive side I heard their cries when they saw the caiman, and I followed them to see the small caiman floating in the centre of the lake, looking more like a log than the nearby log also floating there.  They are definitely well adapted to being invisible in plain sight.

Past a butterfly garden I met a Californian woman with her young lad.  He was slightly interested in seeing the caiman, but was predominantly obsessed with seeing a basilisk.  The two were scouring the ground for them, which surprised me given the guide had said they spent their time in the canopy.  Other than a large squirrel and the agoutis I had failed to see any mammals or big reptiles.  But that is nature for you.

Back at the entrance I thanked the guide and said what a good place it was.  

‘Did you see the sloths?’ he asked.

‘No, and I didn’t catch the basilisks either,’ I replied, with a little disappointment.

‘Really? You didn’t look hard enough!’ he said, ‘Hold on let’s see.’

Within five minutes he had found me a two toed sloth, a three toed sloth and a massive basilisk sitting high in the canopy.  Fantastic stuff, and shows the benefit of taking a guide with you if you get the opportunity.  I took a couple of pictures and was away back down the road at midday.  Englishman and the midday sun.

A mile or so down the road and I stopped for a Fanta and a rest before heading into town.  After five or six miles in the day I decided a further six miles up and down Cerro Chato to the waterfall was not going to happen.  So I took it easy in town with my Kindle and a few cold drinks.

The walk up to the waterfall the next day was easy enough for most of the way, being a gentle slope for the majority of the way, until there were two steep sections on the road.  I saw no-one else walking, and was overtaken only by mini-buses and a large group of tourists making their way up on horse back.

At the top after paying the $10 a sign with all the does and don’ts suggests not walking down the 450 steps to the base of the waterfall if you have high blood pressure.  Such advice makes my blood boil.  After a recovery with juice at the view point overlooking the long white veil of the waterfall cutting a swath through the jungle green I decided damn discretion time to take the steps.  The waterfall had a massive blue-green plunge pool and was quite busy with swimmers on the edge of the water - after driving or riding up here I am not sure they deserved the reward, but hey.  It was an impressive sight, and as with most waterfalls the dynamism means that photographs can’t really do it justice.  One stop on the way down, two on the way back up.  No problems, my blood pressure must be fine then.  

In the afternoon I had the trip to Arenal volcano and the Baldi Hot Springs.  I was picked up right on time and after picking up five Americans on the way we went to the base of the 1968 lava flow - stopping only to see an un-energetic sloth doing it’s best to entertain - by doing nothing.


The guide was good explaining about the volcano and the plants and fauna, though I had to put him right on some of his geology!  The Americans to a man (and woman) were completely unaware about the volcanoes history, and were genuinely shocked to hear that it had been erupting as recently as nine months ago.  Does nobody read the guidebooks?  I assume they were here for zip-lining or rafting and springs, but still some basic knowledge - the only reason the town is there is to serve the tourists who have been coming here to see the erupting volcano.  I won’t use the word despair (but I did).

We were lucky to avoid any rain in the afternoon, but it was my turn to get wet down at the Baldi Springs, one of the older, cheaper and naffer hot springs on the edge of the volcano.  Three of the Americans were dropped off at Tabacon, the newer, expensive ($50 dearer), less naff but still gaudy entry to the hot springs market.

It is a nice experience just soaking in the different pools, which were all at different temperatures.  The one with a bar in was particularly nice, until the bill came - boy do they overcharge.  Yes, yes they do.  $9.50 for two soft drinks.  The buffet was to die for.  No, sorry to die from, it was not good, but the coffee was spot on.

So having done the hot springs, the volcano, the waterfalls and a nature reserve that was La Fortuna pretty much done (not being interested in the canopy zip-lining nonsense) and it was off to the cloud-forest of Monteverde the next day for more nature, less volcano.

San Jose to Arenal

San Jose is neither a sleepy latino town or one of its most manic cities, but it is indeed the capital of Costa Rica. It is sat roughly in the middle of the country just on the western side of the Cordillera spine of the country.

It has plenty of small green parks and some lovely old colonial buildings dotted around, but it is not a pretty place. Very few old buildings remain in the city, and while it is on a traditional grid layout the road numbering takes a bit of getting used to, and isn’t helped by the lack of signage. There has been an apparent lack of planners and architects in the city for some time.

On Saturday heavy rain was not long in making an appearance and then lasted most of the day. Walking the streets looking for signs (or just attempting to count) was hampered by the tempestuous seas of jousting umbrellas which filled the city centre streets. Safety glasses should be worn.

My sore knee occasionally gave me gip when trying to stride over some cavernous gulleys from the road to the elevated kerbs.

The Museum of Jade apparently houses the best collection of jade in the world. Not for me to say, but some interesting stuff in their including none jade items of gold and pottery.

I visited the National Museum on Sunday, which was also well worth the effort. The most interesting items for me were the mysterious stone spheres of south west Costa Rica. These were made by extra-terrestrials apparently, as I read in an Erich Von Daniken book in the 1980s. It is possible that they were fashioned by some clever Costa Ricans who unfortunately forgot to leave a Post-It note listing their purpose for Mr Daniken to find.

Before the afternoon torrent arrived I walked across town to Sabana Park and took in the new national football stadium.

After deciding that my knee had improved enough for me to go for the volcano rather than the beach next I booked a hotel in La Fortuna, a town that sits in the shadow of Volcan Arenal - the most active volcano in Central America and one of Costa Rica’s star attractions.

Being a night owl I opted for the last of the three buses, which left at 11:30 am on Monday, buying the tickets straight after breakfast to remove the fear of turning up with all my gear to find I had no destination to go to.

I returned to the bus station with my bags by taxi. I got ripped off by the man, which has only happened to me a few times but is always hard to deal with... deep breath and carry on.

The bus was cramped and I was told to get on with both my rucksack and daypack even though it would take up another seat. I was a bit surprised and uncomfortable to find that as we drove on up through the mountains the bus was soon full so that there people stood up for miles. Still, my embarrassment was somewhat assuaged by knowing I would get all my stuff to the next town.

The journey was lovely through the mountains, and all the coffee and palm plantations, up through the high passes into the cloud on the eastern side, but all this was soon misty memory too once we approached San Carlos and I could see the distinctive cone of Arenal in the distance for the first time.




I just like volcanoes, alright!

Arenal Volcano

Blow me, but my knee seems almost completely better even after a five hour cramped up in a bus from San Jose to La Fortuna.  The bus ride was through several towns and some stunning passes.  Clear views gave way to sudden fog as we hit the clouds on the eastern side of the Central Cordillera.  View after view of valleys, towns, coffee and palm plantations were all very beautiful, but it wasn't until we hit the floor at the base of the mountains by San Pedro. that I caught my first real breathtaking moment - a view of Volcan Arenal.

Looking just like a volcano as you expect as a kid the andesitic cone rises up steeply from the plateau below.  I'd love to see it spewing some lava, which it does more often than not - at least since the volcano sprang to life in 1968 (a bit like me).  But (again, a little like me) it has been going through a quiet period and hasn't erupted lava for the last eight months.  It is still gassing constantly (umm, a bit like me again before the antibiotics!), and the lava can start again at any time... hold on what's that I can hear?

On the positive side even when Arenal is erupting there is a less than 50% chance of finding the volcano viewable because of clouds.  The views I had as we came in and then as I got to my room were worth the journey in itself.  I truly think I have the best view from my hotel room (Room 10, Hotel Jireh) that I have ever had.

For those interested the eruptions have mostly been of the Stromboli type.  Go on, look on Wikipedia.

Plans: well a walk up to a fab waterfall (70m drop), a walk to the 1968 lava flow, then a soak in the hot springs, and a walk around a small nearby nature reserve.  Hope the view can repeat itself again tomorrow and the day after, even for just a short time.

Costa Rica - Becoming Planned

After so many hours on the planes from Manchester to Atlanta, then Atlanta to San Jose, I was unfortunate to find my right knee was beginning to swell and by the time I got off the plane in Costa Rica was really struggling with the pain and movement.  I had anti-inflammatories and painkillers, but off course in my baggage, so I had no way to cut it off at the pass.

After struggling to get into the taxi I had a painful and slow exit from it, as I arrived at my hotel on Friday night.  Needless to say I was given a room on the top floor, no lift just two sets of stairs.  It was a painful process getting up them.  On the positive side the room was a free upgrade.

By 9:30pm I was in bed having taken my pills.  While 9:30 on a Friday sounds bad, to be fair that would be 4.30am UK time, and I had left home at 7am (thanks for the lift Tony!).

Not wanting to travel on a Sunday in particular, and wanting to give my knee a bit of rest time I decided to stay in San Jose until Monday before moving on.  But to where?  On the Sunday morning I was thinking I would have to go to the beaches on the Pacific coast, to avoid the walking and difficult terrain from visits to volcanoes and National Parks - not ideal, as it would surely make more sense to have a beach visit after some of the sweaty stuff.

By Sunday afternoon, despite pounding the streets of San Jose for much of the day from the hotel to the National Museum, then on to west to see the new National Stadium (March 2011) - where Costa Rica now play their football games - I found my knee holding up well.  I decided to go for the more obvious route and so now I have the basis of a plan:

• Tomorrow I go to La Fortuna for the Volcan Arenal, then;
• to Monteverde for the National Parks and cloud forest, from there;
• off to Liberia, a nice colonial city in the north, then;
• well, not sure but maybe Montezuma (aka Montefuma because of the hippies there);
• before returning to San Jose or Alajuela to pick up tours to Volcan Poas, and the forest cable cars AND the first football game of the season for Saprissa (the Champions, who have just sold a star striker (?) to Arsenal.

I get back to England on 5th August, hopefully having:

• seen Volcanoes doing there stuff (or at least just looking like volcanoes); 
• seen sloths and other mammals (highly unlikely to see any tapirs or cats like jaguars - but fingers crossed); 
• quetzals would be good but again unlikely so a toucan or two will do!; 
• snakes from distance would be okay, from distance please... 
• oh and a football game too.

I'd love it if a plan comes together.  Bring it on...

Costa Rica Unplanned

My trips this year have largely been undertaken without blogging commentary.  Not totally sure why after quite a lot of blog last year, although my Open University work probably took my writing concentration in some places and driving as well ate into a lot of time when doing the US west coast trip.  I did write some of the US trip up as an OU marked piece - perhaps I will post it up at some point.

Anyhoo, I am off to Costa Rica for three weeks tomorrow and I am intending - internet permitting - to keep a bit of a travelogue going in order that some peeps (like my folks) can keep tabs of where I am (or where I am going) and also so I keep on with my writing.

My plan so far is pretty basic.  In so much as it is: get up tomorrow, fly to San Jose (the Capital of Costa Rica) and stay there for two nights before moving on to.... err, well that is as far as the plan goes at the moment!  I have long flights and airport time tomorrow, so a possible framework could be worked on then, or while in a San Jose bar on Friday night!

Tardiness

Well, I haven't been good writing my trip up on here yet have I? That be rhetorical.

I have been putting stuff down on paper, so should be able to put something readable together sometime soon... err over the weekend perhaps. Driving a lot certainly eats in to Blogging time, unlike airports or trains it is not the safest practice to type up my thoughts on the Pacific Coast Highway, at least when I am driving. Have covered over 2200 miles so far with about 250 to go by Sunday.

To type up? The trip has taken in the following night stops:

San Francisco

Three Rivers

Ridgecrest

Las Vegas

Gardena (LA)

Santa Monica

Santa Barbara, and

San Luis Obispo (SLO)

To go? Just:

Monterey, then back to

Frisco!

To those of you interested there are loads of photos (over 230 so far!) on: gallery.me.com/zevonesque

Best regards to all!

Cali-forn-i-A

Bit like India I never really wanted to go to the USA that much. There are of course things I'd like to see like New York, the Grand Canyon, New Orleans, Yellowstone etc. But in general not much grabbed me as essential. After years of traveling to 'developing' countries it will be interesting to pop over to the ultimate developed country. I am sure the contradictions of the place will be fascinating, not to mention seeing how my preconceptions are confirmed or (as usual) shot to pieces.

The Plan: Well, I am flying to San Francisco and staying there for a while for Alcatraz and micro-breweries and all that before heading off toward Yosemite (snow dependent) then down to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Then it will be west to LA before taking my time passing up north back to SF along Highway 1 or the Pacific Road Highway via Big Sur and Castle Hearst et al.

Should be fun. Will keep you posted...