Country: Costa Rica.
City: San Jose.
Currency: 1Euro = 380 Costa Rica Colones
Elevation: m / ft

Arrival Date: Tuesday Dec 17th.
Date: Saturday the 21st, 2pm

I made it down to Costa Rica after a great trip in Miami. But I´ve been so busy cropping, resizing and uploading my photos I haven´t had time to update the diary part!! Well I got to San Jose Tuesday afternoon and almost got ripped off for the first time on my travels by a Tico (local) who looked and sounded american and told me a big long story about how he was robbed and needed the code to call his parents in the states and get them to fax a copy of his passport to him. While he was talking to me another girl Liz came up looking for the map in my travel book too and she was looking for the hostal I was going to. So I suggested we all walk together which we did until we got to a phone adn the guy "Matt" asked if he could use Liz´s call card which she gave him. Anyway in the end he said he could only get the ansering machine and if he could borrow the card and drop it back to the hostal to us in an hour!!

Liz agreed and he asked if he could eat with us too cos he had no money. I said sure come up to the hostal and we´ll meet you! In the mean time I met Al, Andres and Jason and while talking to Jason he was able to recite the entire story to me and told me that he had given this guy 15 dollars the day before to get something to eat and never saw him again!! heheeee I didn´t give him anaything!! phew! But Liz never got her call card back!! So beware!!! I just chilled that night in the hostal and went to bed after a nice dinner and chat with a few other travellers.

On Wednesday I just chilled and had a walk around San Jose. There was a pool in the hostal and so I was able to sit out in the sun for a while. That night I met Jasmin, Kerry, Hannah and Al and seeing as it was Al´s birthday I arranged for us all to go out to dinner and drinks and plenty of dancing!! Wooo Hoooo!! We met up with Jasmin´s friends and all had dinner in a Mexican restaurant before trying out the club that was listed as a good place to dance salsa!! Unfortunately when we got there it was closed!! not to be deterred, Al knew of another place called El Pueblo that had a load of different clubs and pubs so off we went!!

The place was jam packed!!! so we found a club and drank and dancing salsa and Meringue all night!! yet again the guys were impressed with the Gringo who could dance so well!! Thats me by the way!! And afterwards Jasmin was saying that the girls were scowling while the guys were like... Wow!! heheheee ahh it´s too funny here!! But I just loved the dancing so I wasn´t bothered!! We even got the DJ to play Happy Birthday in Spanish for Al so I think he had a good night too!! heheee

On thursday I went to the serpentarium which was really cool!! they had all sorts of snakes and reptiles and insects!! They were behind glass but had wooden frames on the cages and these snakes would pop up and start sticking theirs tongues out when I came near the glass!! I could tell they were smelling me and knew I was there!! kinda scary when you read that they´re venomous and they know you´re there!! Later I did some shopping and got my few errands done... bought a film for my camera, got some money from the bank, got a bus ticket for Monteverde at 6am friday. I sat in the sun for an hour or so and later after dinner I met Rob and Oliver from Canada. We all sat around talking and having a drink until 1am when I was just about to get 4 hours sleep only Oliver wanted to go dancing as I was telling him all about the clubs in El Pueblo!!

Never one to turn down an offer to dance we got changed and headed off to the clubs at 1am!! After all I dont have to work tomorrow and I can sleep some other time!! So we danced all night and I got back to the hostal in time to pack my stuff and go for the bus with Kerry to Monteverde. Friday morning with a few hours sleep on the bus we got to Monteverde but got off at Santa Elena as most of the tours leave from here and there´s more in the town!! It´s still very small though!! will fill you in on the rest in La Fortuna!! have to go get my jeep boat then another jeep!!! later!!!

Date: Sunday the 22nd, 2pm

ok So i´ll finish off the details about Santa Elena. We got there and booked into a really nice hostal around the corner from the bus stop. Then we arranged the tour of the canope for the next morning and while we were there I saw details for a few hours horse riding around the town and that so we booked that for the afternoon for two hours!! We grabbed some lunch and then got ready for some horseriding!!! wooo hooo!!

Well I thought woo hoo before I got on the horse because I thought it´d be like the easy trotting and cantering that I had done before!! But NOOOOOO!! this horse "Camanchy" just wanted to RUN!!! so after a minute or two Galloping for the first time!! I managed to get him to stop and we trotted for a while!! I realised that this was nothing like the easy trotting I had done before only twice or so in Ireland where no matter how much you kick the horse it just trotts behind the horse in front!! These horses liked to run!! so I got used to it after about 15 minutes or so and when we got to a clearing I was ready!! I gave him a kick and we were off!! yeah!!! I`ve decided that I really like Galloping now!! At the end I think I tired him out!! hehehee that`ll teach him to mess with me! But it was great fun!!

That evening we just chilled and organised our stuff for the tour in the morning!! So we were up at 7am in order to go on the sky trek! So we got to the forest and got our harnesses and helmets on and started to climb the tower and take a short trek up to the first zip line!! It was pretty windy up there which just added to the adrenaline rush at the start! The first two or three lines were pretty exciting but kinda short. You just clip on your pully to the line, then lock your rope to the pulley and click on the safety line and off you go!! Then they started to get longer and longer and when we got to the 7th line it was about 350m long and I dont know how high it was but it was damn high!!! I think it was a couple of hundred feet high too!!! You go up to 75kmph too on the fastest one!!

Then on the 9th line it´s 450m long and because it was cloudy and very windy it was pretty scary!! Basically all you see is this rope disappearing into the cloud and you cant see where the hell it`s going!! The wind was almost blowing us off the platform which was pretty high up let me tell you!! So I locked on and flew off the platform! It was just the most amazing this to be flying along above the trees inside a cloud!! You can`t see in front or behind when you`re half way through and then the other side starts to appear through the clouds!! Wow!! There were 11 in total and I managed to get a few good pictures I think!! I was even brave enough to let go and take a picture on the way across one of the lines! Hopefully it`ll come out!

Then while I was there I met a couple from Canada who had arranged a taxi/boat/taxi to La fortuna that afternoon and I was going to have to go the next morning! So I arranged to join them instead and get to the volcano sooner then I thought which was cool! On the way here we crossed the Arenal lake and I saw Lava flowing from the volcano for the first time in my life!!! It was just amazing!! Then we got in the bus on the other side and saw a huge river flow out on our way around the other side of the volcano to the town!! Unbelievable!! An active volcano!! Cool!! or well..Hot!! hehehee So I booked into a nice place a bit more expensive cos the hostal was booked out! So I got a relly nice room with a double bed anbd my own bathroom for 10 dollars! Not bad!

I met up with two girls that got the taxi across as well and they booked into the same place cos everywhere was full. So myself Susie and Carrie all went out and had dinner last night and checked out a few tours for the volcano today. I got up and had breakfast this morning before taking a trip to the Arenal Waterfall!! It`s about 65m high and just tremendous!! We took a swim in the pools at the bottom before a short walk back up the mountain to get the bus back to La Fortuna. I bumped into Jasmin and her mom Linda too so I´ll probably see them this afternoon on the volcano trek and hot springs!! I`m off to get lunch and then go see some lava!! catch ya later!!

Well I got some lunch and then took the tour to the volcano!! I was very interesting to hear the different information about the volcano and La Fortuna and walk on the Lava flow from 1996!! But most of all we got to see more boulders and lava flow from the volcano and even more impressive was the noise it made!! This thing really is Alive!! You can hear the different sounds it makes when there is a flow of lava or when it spews out rocks and boulders and that!! And it really is LOUD!! It`s like it`s breathing or something!! It`s funny cos I thought oh it`d be cool to see the volcano and the lava but never thought about Hearing it!!! hehehee At one stage there was this huge boulder that came flying down the mountain!! and it burst open and you could see the red hot lava inside!!! It was really cool!! Then I met Oliver, Jasmin and Linda on the old lava and so we said we`d meet at the hot springs later!!

After a really exciting trip to the volcano we got the bus to the hot Springs called Baldi´s Hot springs were I had a really nice dinner with Oliver, Jasmin and her mom and then we all had a nice soak in the springs for an hour or two before heading back to La Fortuna! I said goodbye to Jasmin and Linda as they were leaving at 5am the next morning but chatted with Oliver for a while. I decided to give myself an Xmas present from me to me and go white water rafting the following day seeing as there was no buses that day and I was stuck there until the 24th when I could finally get to Nicaragua!! So white water rafting here I come!!

Date: Monday the 23rd, 2pm

I got up early and had breakfast before going to the tour office with Oliver to see if I could join his tour as I hadn´t booked anything and it was last minute!! I had no problem joining in so we all got on a bus with about 15 others to go white water rafting for teh first time!! Wooo hooo So the guides checked that the river was high enough, which it was and off we went!! I got in a boat with Asri and Steve and Wanda and Liz!! We had the best guide and the best time as well!! After every rapid we all did a high five with our paddles and shouted and laughed!!! it was really funny!! The rapids were cool and I sat at the front of the boat so got plenty of water splashed at me and tipped up and down a lot too!!! But it was great fun and the guys in the boat made it better too!!

Half way down the river we stopped and had a swim and a play about in the water which was a lot of fun too! I got to swim upstream against the current and basically stay in the one spot!! eheheee Then we all got back in the boats and headed further down river until we got to the end at about 3pm in the afternoon I think!! There we all had a yummy lunch cos we were starving after all that hard work paddling!! So after a few pics we all headed back to La Fortuna for a rest. I met Oliver later at 8pm and as we were heading out to find somewhere to eat we bumped into Steve and Asri and had a lovely dinner with them. Then as we were going for ice cream and a drink we all met up again and bumped into Liz as well!! As you can tell it`s a small town!! heheee Then off to bed cos I had a long day travelling on xmas eve!!

Date: Tuesday the 24th, 2pm

I got up Tuesday morning and caught an interbus from La Fortuna to Liberia for about 3hours. From there I walked to the next bus terminal where I hoped to get a bus direct to Granada!! No such luck!! It was full! So I made my way to teh next terminal where I caught another bus to Penas Blancas which is the town just at the border into Nicaragua!! I was dreading the border crossing as I was told and had read that it can take up to 4hours to cross!! Well I got there and paid my 200 cordobas and walked across the border in 15mins!!! I dunno where everyone was but there was no queue there!! Super!! I bumped into an american guy called Jon and we both caught another bus to a town called Rivas in Nicaragua. Then FINALLY another bus from Rivas to Granada!!! I knew where I wanted to go as Rob in San Jose had recommended a place called Oasis Hotel!! Check out Nicaragua to see if I found it!! ;-)

Here are the photos!!

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