El Sol Verde Lodge & Campground Liberia

... of what traveling via long distance bus in Central America is like...

We boarded around 6 am Monday morning in Liberia, right in front of the McDonald's, across from the Papa Johns and BK (for real!). It was a nice bus, a luxury bus if you will, especially in comparison to previous buses we had ridden on, aka public transportation. It was pretty full, but luckily we got 2 seats together. The A/C was on full blast, but the bus attendant made sure everyone ...

... in a rocking chair right there in the middle of the sidewalk. She taught us the word for rainbow...ARCOARIS (not sure if thats how its spelled, but thats how it sounds.) So....While we were in town with our icecream cones, a group of young adults (maybe 17 or 18 yrs old)
came walking by dressed up in colorful costumes ...

In Granada we take the Tica (common words for Costa Ricans) bus to San José. The bus is comfortable and even has air conditioning. We did not except that and therefore our guide has organised us to stop in Liberia where we will stay 1 night before going to Bahia Drake in the South of Costa Rica.
At the border it is chaos. Lots ofbusess,trafficc, people trying to sell something... And again ...

... clean, double beds, very basic sheets and pillow, flush toilets and hot showers (they do run out for long showers). It rained the majority of the time we were there and temperatures were in the 70's. We could hear the rain on our metal roofs and were happy for the fans that drown out the noise. There are also cabinas where you share a bathroom but we updated. Paid $48 per night per couple.There is a bumpy road that goes by the Cerro ...

... sur la côte Caraïbe à 2 pas de la frontière avec le Panama. Libéria étant près de la frontière avec le Nicaragua et du côté pacifique, on a tout le pays à traverser en diagonale. Premier bus jusqu'à San José, la capitale, puis changement de terminal pour prendre un second bus pour Hone Creek. A l'arrivée à San José, un taxi propose de nous emmener à l'autre terminal pour 3000 colones soit 6$. On arrive péniblement à descendre le prix à 2000 colones et il ne voulait ...

... Canyoning Waterfall Adventures. There were 3 other young couples with us who were all really fun to talk to and hang out with. We especially liked talking with a young couple from London and one of the young guides. We rappeled down 4 waterfalls deep in the jungle, the longest of which was 110 feet ...

... cats that aren't easily seen in the wild. When I called them, they were thrilled to have us, and even offered to give a talk on conservation and what it means for an animal to be extinct. Perfect. And then afterwards we can go and hang out for a bit in Canas, a typical Guanacaste town very different from La Estrella. Excellent. And now to convince the parents that their children will be safe with me, and that going to Guanacaste isn't really the ends of the Earth. I don't think ...

... lucnh is more beach time until the sun goes down, then we usually cook food and just sit outside the hostel talking to everyone that is staying there. Our favorite person we have met in the hostel is Fred, a huge guy from Swizterland. He is 25 and speaks broken English, but enough that we can communicate easily with him. For the past 4 years he has traveled alone 4 months of each year...so he has great stories. Speaking of, we have an ...