San Jose > Santa Teresa > Montezuma > San Jose > Manuel Antonio > Monteverde > La Fortuna\Arenal > San Jose > Panama City > Mexico City > Acapulco
It's been a nice 2 weeks here so far. Half the time we're on the road, the other half..well, just relaxing in a new city. It's the wet season now in Costa Rica so we've seen some epic thunderstorms along with some crazy rain. But no rain was going to stop us.
We started off in San Jose, and there is really not much to do there. We left as soon as we could and headed for the peninsula. Our first destination was supposed to be Montezuma, but of course we fell asleep on our long bus ride and ended up in a small surf town called Santa Teresa. There weren't very many tourists there and we stayed at this cute little hostel owned by this French couple who lived there with their kids. It was the cutest hostel with this outside kitchen which I fell in love with. The weather was perfect and there weren't very many people at the beach. I could have stayed there much much longer.
But of course we wanted to explore Costa Rica more, so we headed to Montezuma which was just a couple hours away. We stayed at this small hostel with the beach as our backyard. It was perfect. I would lie outside on the hammock and do my online homework.
The next day in Montezuma, we went to hike up the mountains to these waterfalls. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, it was perfect. As we reach the waterfalls, there were people jumping off, and swinging off this Tarzan rope. I was really excited, but when I was ready to jump off this small waterfall, it was a little intimidating. But hey....I was in Costa Rica..Pura Vida. F*ck it.
This little pool of water we jumped in lead us to another waterfall that was about four times as big. I wanted to jump, but was a little afraid. Edrianne was crazy enough to jump...so she did. We heard the loudest splash that over powered the sound of the waterfall. Alec and I looked at each other. " That didn't sound good..."
Edrianne quickly swam to the rocks and gave us a thumbs up sign, but she looked far from good. Moving around in pain, she signaled us down after about 5 minutes. Alec took his shoes and climbed down the wet, slippery rocks to her rescue. Her back was out.
We made our way back to the hostel, but Edrianne's back was not in good shape...so what else do we do but drink the night away with tequila and meet some foreigners.
The next morning, we decided to go back to San Jose so Alec could get a new passport which he misplaced sometime earlier. We stayed there's a couple days as Edrianne tried to rest her back. It was getting really boring, so Alec convinced me to watch Prometheus for the second time..and man, that emergency surgery scene gets me every time.
Anyhoo, it was getting way to boring, so we headed out to Manuel Antonio. There was this cute little hostel owned by this lady named Solange who Alec called a gilf. She was this small lady in her 50's with a tight little body. Okay, she was a gilf. But anyways, we went to the beach the next morning we went to this beach with the biggest waves I had ever experienced. I was literally knocked over by a wave and was dragged to shore. Solange then lead us to these cascading waterfalls called Punta Mala which were amazing.
After about 2 days, we were on the road again on the way to Monteverde. Zip lining through the cloud forests was pretty amazing. The view of hundreds of miles of mountains of forests as I zip lined down was incredible.
Two days later, we started making our way to La Fortuna where Volcano Arenal is. This was the most touristy spot thus far on the trip. All these tour guides trying to sell you all these tours, but we weren't buying into it. I the morning, we decided to walk to the bottom of the volcano which was about 5 kilometers from our lodge. We were all drenched in sweat when we got there from the humidity. There was a choice between a small waterfall hike or a strenuous 3 hour hike up to the volcano's crater lake. Each cost $10 and since we were all on a budget, we could have only done one.
I decided to do the hike, but Alec and Edrianne wanted to go go the waterfall. I found another lone Canadian guy who was about to do the hike, so I joined him. It was the best hike I have done so far. I came so unprepared in flip flops and half a water bottle. People were warning me that I should have hiking shoes and that I should be careful of all the snakes. I was already there..how could I not do it?
About 10 minutes in, I decided to go barefoot through the forest. It really was hiking through the forest. It was pretty steep and by the time I got to the top, I was drenched from head to toe in sweat. You could see the crater lake from the top and it was incredible! We climbed down an even steeper trail to the lake and jumped in. It was the most rewarding thing after a tough hike. The cold refreshing water was just what we needed. I was so glad I made it....even without shoes. It was epic.
So now, we are going to enjoy a nice BBQ at some hostel, head back to San Jose tomorrow morning, take a night bus to Panama City and part our ways. I fly from Panama City to Mexico City to meet up with Paola Fe where her family will pick me up and take us to Acapulco for a week. Costa Rica, it's been nice. Pura Vida.
