Costa Rica
Crossing into Costa Rica from Nicaragua by Tica bus was time consuming but problem free. We didn´t have our bags searched like everyone else (the customs official is probably sick of smelly backpacker clothes), and we didn´t even get asked for an onward ticket which is just as well as we didn´t have one. Over the border we took several connections to get up to the cloud forests of Monteverde. The road up was windy and the scenery stunning. The farms we passed looked prosperous and well cared for, which was a refreshing change from the íf it functions don´t touch it´ approach that Central America lives by. Occasionaly we had glimpses out to the Pacific Coast over hills and small plains. As always, it felt good to be in the mountains again.
In Monteverde we checked into the Pension Santa Helena with friendly English speaking staff. On their recommendation we had dinner at a pizzeria around the corner and had a great night talking to an American couple on holiday as well as meeting another fellow Australian, Graham, who we hiked the cloud forest with the next day.
To see the cloud forest it was recommended we take the first 6am bus up and get a guide at 7am. We did this and arrived before the park staff so sat around trying desperately to wake up. Finally someone arrived to open the coffee shop were we where able to sample some of the local products (cheeses, meats and coffee) before joining a guided group. Our guide was great - he pointed out a lot we would have missed from humming bird nests to orchids so small you almost need a magnifying glass to see them. Later Graham and a pilot named Nachelle from Canada hiked with us through the forest. We saw monkeys and wierd bugs. It was surreal to have cloud settle down around us as we hiked.
Back in town Nachelle and I went and did a tour of an orchid garden which was beautiful and extremely interesting. Orchids are trecherous flowers that lure insects in to pollinate them but give the insect nothing in return. I finally got to see what a Lady´s Slipper looks like and find out all sorts of interesting facts and bits of history like in the 1800s ladies weren´t even allowed to look at orchids because of the sexual connotations they denote. This tour, which lasted about an hour or 2, was the longest Marty and I have been apart since we began our journey. That night Marty cooked gnocchi for dinner then we joined Graham and Nachelle to watch Red October up in a cafe a few minutes walk from the hostel.
The next morning we said goodbye to our new friends and took a jeep-boat-jeep trip to La Fortuna, a small town dwarfed by the Mt Arenal Volcano. Our jeep turned out to be a mini-van packed with travellers. On the way to the lake we had to cross we stopped at a tea shop where a pet parrot kept us entertained - spinning around it´s perch and climbing all over Marty. Our boat ride across the lake was in a small open skiff and afforded us a good view of the cloud covered volcano. That afternoon we joined a tour that walked us up through some rain forest to a lookout of the volcano where, just on dark, we could see tongues of red lava stream down from under the clouded top. We saw a sloth for the first time as well as more howler monkeys. We then went and sampled one of the local hot spring resorts that feed from Arenal. The spring we went to had about 20 pools, one hot enough it would have burnt the skin off you if you made the mistake of going in. We spent most of our time in one of the coolest pools. It was a fun night, but a little disappointing the cloud never cleared to give us a view of the glowing top.
Originally our plan had been to go south of San Jose and hike up Cerro Chirripo for one night but we had some communication difficulties with our reservation - even with the help of a bilingual speaker calling for us - so we flagged that idea and headed for Panama City instead.
