Mille millions de mille sabords!!
Y’a des endroits magnifique sur terre…
Hiking in the mud and sweat…
… to Cerro Chato, Arenal National Park
It was supposed to be a rather easy hike for a Swiss and a Japanese who are used to steep Swiss mountains. But the very humid, tropical conditions made the hike physically challenging. Philippe sweated (or rather rained) through the muddy and slippery rainforest, grumbling and unhappy…
As it is a rainforest, we got rained on during the hike (we had rain gear, of course) and it did not make our steep ascent easy. A lot of not-so-fit-looking tourists with funny equipment were also hiking up the slope.
At the top (1100 m) we saw down the green lake in the crater of this once-active volcano. At the front we got a glimpse of Mount Arenal (1900m). Due to the clouds we could not see the whole mountain but it was mystical anyway.
San José – Costa Rica’s capital city
Costa Rica – Our third country in Central America
Costa Rica is a remarkable country: it has no army. The country spends money on education and healthcare instead and it so it explains its high literacy rate (96%) and solid healthcare system.
So we arrived in San José full of curiosity. The city is not as charming as Santo Domingo’s old town or Havana’s run-down yet splendid city. It is probably because San Jose is a relatively young city and has very few historical buildings or quarters.
While doing what we always do first – walking around – we really felt a strong North American presence in the economy: KFC, McDonald, Burger-King, Subway and many other fast-food chains are present in every corner. That may attribute to the lack of personality of San José.
However, we felt that people were helpful, speaking good English, efficient, service-oriented and very friendly.
During our short stay in the city, we visited the National Museum (starting with a beautiful butterfly section where colorful butterflies are flying around you freely, with a nice breezy garden in the middle), enormous and lively Mercado Central selling from meat to coffee beans, vegetables to souvenirs). In the evening we visited an open-air traditional costa rican music concert in the National Theater garden. It was nice to see people enjoying dancing spontaneously.
Onsen, costa-rican style in La Fortuna
Costa Rica is on the Caribbean tectonic plate. It moves against the coco plate about 10cm per year. Therefore the country is cursed by many active volcanoes which brought destruction many times in history.
With the volcanoes comes the blessing of hot springs. So off we went to the one visited and recommended by locals and Lonely Planet.
The natural river hot spring located 15 min away from town of La Fortuna and is flowing down in gushing speed. It is located next to a high-end resort called Tabacon with artificial pools etc. but the public one is natural, unorganised and popular with locals and visitors alike. It is much more fun!
We walked upstream through the tropical moist forest, passing locals and foreigners here and there, to find the right pool with right temperature. Then we sat there, enjoying natural massage as the current was strong. We sat there a loooong time – almost 2 hours! Our departure was controlled by heavy rain with few windows of opportunity to change back into our clothes and get home half-way dry. It was a fun afternoon.
This reminded us of other hot spring experiences – one in Iceland with Lia and Luca last year and many more in Japan.
We love hot springs!
Fixing the Cana Roof
A cana – or palm leaf – roof is beautiful and somehow keeps the temperature inside pleasant even at very high temperatures. It is less pleasant if it leaks, though. Happend here after a day of super heavy rain. Read More
Treehouse Experience – Rancho Platón
A heavy zigzag on a rather uneven road, our 4×4 car swaying from left to right or vice versa leads all the way to Rancho Platon, our destination. Halfway to the hotel Yasuko decided to finish the journey on foot with Lia to enjoy the lush tropical forest and the mountain. They almost got lost. Nicole left to notes at crossroads to help the hikers to safely arrive at the hotel and rejoin the group. Read More
Passe-moi les jumelles
En train d’observer des flamingos dans la Lagune de Oviedo (Jaragua National Park). Read More
Outing to Oviedo Lagoon, Bahia de Aguilas and (almost) Haiti
A big outing day from Casa Bonita: a boat ride to watch elegant pink flamingos in the green-colored lake surrounded by mangroves in the Jaragua National Park. Read More
Fly, Hike & Travel. 