La Fortuna, the Arenal Volcano and the Nicoya coast.

Arrived in La Fortuna via bus, and found myself staring at this tall drink of water

Gorgeous isn't it?  Oh there's a volcano in the background too bahaha

Oh is it active you ask?  Why yes...yes it is.  Last big eruption was in 1968 when it buried 3 surrounding towns killing 75 people.  Up until 6 months ago you could sometimes see magma at night near the rim.  So I decided to hop on a tour and check it out.  Unfortunately you can't go anywhere near the top due to the dangers of it erupting, but it was cool regardless.

The locals call that range on the left the "happy indian"...can you spot him lying down?  Bonus points if you can see why they call him happy! 

The tour also included a stop at some hot springs which were pretty awesome.  The best part about them was the hot spring water slides.  Whipping around those things in pitch black, and coming flying out of the bottom into 40 degree water was pretty sweet.

I also spent an afternoon with a few people from the hostel at this local river that had a rope swing....good times had by all.

I totally stuck the landing

While in La Fortuna I stayed at a self-proclaimed 5-star hostel called Arenal Backpackers Hostel.  This thing had all the amenities of a resort including a pool, swim up bar, full restaurant and impeccably maintained landscaping.

Ya I know what you're thinking, "dude that had to have cost like $40 a night or something right"?....wrong.  This sweet hostel could be yours for only $13  night....oh ya.

From there it was off to Liberia to meet up with my 3 friends from back home, Chris, Sarah and Ross.  We figured it was cheap enough to rent a 4x4 to get around, and gave us the flexibility to do some off-roading and river crossings along the coast.



So off we went down the coast, the first town we stopped at was Tamarindo which is the most touristy city in Costa Rica.  It had a Wasaga Beach feel for all you Ontarioans, which is good for meeting people also traveling but bad for getting that authentic central american experience.  From there it was down the coast, stopping at little restaurants (called Soda's down here) and shops on the way.  I don't think this country has one piece of coast line that doesn't kick ass.  Everywhere we stopped there was gorgeous pristine beaches, palm trees and surfers catching waves.

Chris and Ross downing a few bottles of Imperial and some guac with chips....

The next town we stayed in was called Samara, where we stayed at a hostel called Casa Brian, which is run by a Canadian named Brian (crazy coincident I know!).  He lives just down the street in a modest beach house....tough life I know.

Gorgeous sunset in Samara

Right now we're in Santa Teresa which may be my favourite town yet.  It's got a great balance of tourist amenities and local flavour, mixed in with an amazing beach and some awesome little restaurants.  Yesterday we took a day trip to a neighbouring town called Montezuma which is known for it's waterfalls that you can jump off of (yes mom I checked how deep it is, and yes I had my insurance card on me, and yes I stretched before jumping and I waited 30 minutes after eating).

Ross got a great video of him jumping off which I'll try and upload to a later post, right now the internet connection here is shady at best.  Not much booked for the next few days, more surf, sand and sun I guess....:P

Jaco surfing, Manuel Antonio and buses (LOL):

View from a cliff side, Jaco beach

So I figured I may as well take some surf lessons since I’m in one of the best surf locations in Central America, I mean how hard can it be?  You just stand up on a board...it looks so easy.  So I’ll start off with what I did well, and that was getting up on the board once I was “in a wave”.  The balance part is a bit tricky, but if you've ever snowboarded or skateboarded it’s not too bad.  With my instructor spotting waves for me, positioning my board exactly where it needs to be and literally pushing me into the wave itself, I just had to stand up on my own and ride that bitch into shore.  What I still need to improve on though, is the spotting of the wave itself and getting my board into the right position, as well as learning to get out of a wave if it’s not looking so well.  But whatever, I've taken lessons it’s time to head out past the break and catch some serious waves on my own....

It got ugly real quick folks let me tell you, surfing is not easy.  I wasn’t spotting the right part of the wave at all, I was simply seeing a wave, turning around and paddling like crazy trying to catch it, only to have the peak of the wave crest right on me.  It’s tough to explain the feeling of looking over your shoulder to see a wave crash on you, although these were only 4-5 foot waves, it’s still daunting looking up at this wall of water that’s laughing at you and you’re stupid rental board and sunburned face.  I’m pretty sure I heard Posiedon yell at one point (in a Samuel L Jackson voice) “THIS IS MY HOUSE SON, WHAT YOU DOIN’ IN MY HOUSE” and wave his trident around like Mutumbo would after a block.  But I’m a persistant mofo so I’d get back on my board, paddle out and try it again.   I got better at spotting waves, but I definitely need practice.  Let me tell you when you do get up, and actually ride a wave, it’s a pretty amazing feeling....and at the same time you’re getting excerise and a suntan so win/win.

Dog catching the sunset

Jaco is a great town for surfing, chilling and hooker dodging...but it was time to move on, so on Wednesday I caught a bus down the coast to Manuel Antonio.  Manuel Antonio is prodominately known for it’s national park which is chaulk full of birds, monkeys, sloths and other things that can kill you if you don’t bring their sister back by midnight.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but the highlight definitely was the monkeys.  Our guide was amazing at spotting everything, and did a great job at spotting and calling down 3 monkeys from up in the trees.

3 toed sloth

Who ordered the banana daiquiri

After the guided tour a few of us went down to the private beaches inside the park, and we’re glad we did.

Jake (Philly), Steve (UK), Chantelle (NY), and me

Playing an invisible Saxophone or brushing up on my Thriller impersonation?

Quite the contrast from the beaches of Jaco, these beaches have fluffy white sand and crystal blue waters.  So the group of us took the opportunity to chill out for the afternoon in paradise.

From there it was back to the hostel to grab a bus into San Jose, where I would depart the next morning for La Fortuna which is a quant little town that sits at the base of Arenal Volcano.  The hostel I stayed at in Manuel Antonio had stunning views, free breakfast and air conditioning....all for $12 a night!  Oh and the movie of the night was Sniper 2 “starring” Tom Berenger.  You put war paint on his face and a rifle in his hands, and that man makes dream comes true people let me tell you.

So anyways, here I am waiting for the bus for La Fortuna and looking forward to some volcano action.  Oh I almost forgot to talk about the buses here in Costa Rica, what a delightful experience this is.  For example, to catch the bus out of San Jose to La Fortuna my guide book (updated in Dec 2010) says 12:30pm departure time.  The cab driver on the way over assured me there wasn’t one until 4:30pm, and the guy at the ticket booth just printed me off a ticket for an 11:30am bus (40 mins from now).  I’ve had this same experience with pretty much every bus I’ve taken.  Luckily I’ve found someone who speaks decent english to make sense of it for me, but be forwarned and try not to have a tight schedule to accompany these “changes” in bus times.  But once you’re on these busses it’s a comfortable ride, and cheap (about $1 per hour).

I'm meeting up with my friends on Sunday, and then it's back to the coast!  Until then keep fit and have fun folks.

Jaco - Costa Rica

First blog on the road....here we go!  Arrived in San Jose around 2pm and made a quick stop at the foreign exchange booth (440 Costa Rica Colones to 1 CAD!) then I was off to my first hostel.  I hopped in a cab and took the 20 minute white-knuckled, Fast and the Furious inspired trip to the bus station in central San Jose.  From there I snagged an expensive ($4 dollar) and short (3 hour) bus ride to the west coast surfer town of Jaco.  After trying not to look like the lost gringo who just arrived (I failed miserably), I wandered town until finding my hostel, Beds on Bohio. 

This place is full of laid back surfers, hammocks and amazing coffee.  Sharing a bedroom with 3 other strangers only a few feet away is interesting, but everybody's attitude is so laid back and accepting it's tough not to think of them as good friends.

I've met people from Australia, Switzerland, Bolivia as well as all over the US and Canada.  The local beer here is delicious, it's called Imperial and it comes in various size including a 1L size bottle for only $2!  I had some real good fish tacos down on the beach as well as gallo pinto, which is a typical Costa Rican dish comprised of rice, beans and sometimes meat and vegetables.

As for my plans over these next few days, I'm going to hike up to a local ocean side cliff which has amazing views of the area and take some pics, and I've booked in some surf lessons with a guy who came down here for a week, and has been here for 6 years (which is common down here).

Happy Mothers day Mom!