Las Cabanitas Resort Alajuela

... to Montezuma. I"ve never caught a bus like this before- there were a bunch of us just standing on the side of the highway, flagging buses down...seems simple enough, and I must admit, it was easy. We drove for about 2 hours until we reached the ferry, then got back on the bus for another hour or so. It's definitely different than what I'm used to here. For one there's an ocean about 100meters from where I'm staying! It's a nice small town, you can walk to everything, but ...

... with a dirt floor still keeps the rain out. The economic crisis has affected, more than many countries, Costa Rica (due to the large tourism industry supported by Americans and Europeans). Yet in my town you won’t hear a single word about it. The people here don’t have money to lose. They work the land, keep what they need and maybe sell a few crops to their neighbors. They didn’t ...

So even though the superbowl was super awesome, and watching it with a substantial crew of non Americans that have never watched a game of football in there life was hillarious (besides the chicago couple that sat next to me, standard). I still made it out of granada and later Nicaragua by 6am, apparently from the swedish photos of me, I thought it a great idea to put a nicaraguan (nico) boy on my shoulders after the game, but he had a nico on his shoulders, and he had a ...

... Friday it was an early start for the border. The only notable about the journey there was that almost the entire landscape consists of Banana farms. From very small back garden setups to large industrial size farms with factories for processing the bananas. The bananas themselves all seem to grow in side blue plastic, the reason for this I´m not sure. It certainly seemed to be the staple industry for that area.

... And really fast! The first hour I thought i was going to die. We were holding on so tight trying not to fall off. I was so glad to finally get off the horse and start walking through the rainforest up to the lava flows. We could not see much during the day, since the lava is greyish , but we saw tucans and parrots. On the way back to our cabins, the horses were a bit more tired and we had caught on a bit how to ride, so we had a better time ...

... and at the end of it (just before the hanging bridge, which was a bit scary) was a sloth in the tree. I was so happy as I have been dying to see one of these!!! It was only a baby, but what a treat to see one in real life! No pics I am afraid, it was all too dark and too far away for my camera to cope with, so you will just have to imagine!!! Off to Monteverde tomorrow, in a 4x4 and over the lake.

... time to see Central America. What ARE they thinking!! Yesterday I did my last excursion of the trip to Volcano Poas=the second largest accessible volcanic crater in the world= and also to a beautiful coffee plantation and a waterfall park. The scenery on the way was stunning. Lush green rolling hills very reminiscent of Europe with herds of jersey cows and sheep but also with large coffee and tropical fruit plantations. The ...

... besides birds, like sloths, because their would be a group of people aiming binoculars in trees. As it happened Nancy and I were the only ones to go. I had also assumed that we would be in forest most of the time, but actually we were wandering around the local lanes. It was surprising how much there was to see, even though although the sightings dried up towards the end of the morning when we were actually inside a wooded area, so we finished on a bit of a ...

... at the mid point. The second one we had to do in tandem - Sam only half joking as he squealed in terror in Frances ear!! Back in town we ate at the bakery again, and went for a long afternoon walk - deciding a visit to the Serpentarium would put our budget into dangerous territory!! Next morning was another 6 am bus, so we hit the sack early after saying goodbye to Mali, the volunteer we had caught up with in Samara. Adioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooosss!!!!

... hebt natuurlijk), hoeven we daar niet lang over na te denken. Hanny, Olivier en Kiymet (familie van Eduard) waren met vrienden op vakantie in Costa Rica in dezelfde periode dat wij er waren, en dan moet je natuurlijk iets afspreken. Ons gezamenlijke diner in een pizzaria in Santa Elena was supergezellig, en uiteindelijk zijn we de volgende dag zelfs met hen meegelift naar Manuel Antonio, waar het kleinste, populairste en dus druk bezochte nationale ...