It was not all sunshine and roses. We almost died more than once, got sick from too much, too little, and just plain bad food, took a lot of horrid bus rides, and lost all our photographs but what was probably the worst was seeing many of the cultures of CA clammering to adopt the westeren overly capitalist and self indulgent mentality that we so dislike from home.

We will for sure be back, you can count on that!

Favorite moments:

• The overall fantastic people
• Gallo Pinto
• Bus rides through the countryside
• Diving in Honduras
• Making lots of new friends from all over the world
• Truck bed rides
• Motorcycle Rides
• Poking Lava
• Volcano Hiking
• Snorkeling in Honduras
• Antigua

Not so great:

• Trash everywhere
• Getting Robbed
• Costa Rican food
• Tourist prices

Total Money Spent Per Person: $1809

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $6.50
• Food: $9.50
• Transportation: $6.06
• Misc: $11.44 (Beer, Trips to the store, Padi, Park entrance, Guide Fees, etc.)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $33.50 (includes Padi course in Honduras)

Number of Days: 54

There were high points for sure: we fell in love with the (free) beach in Uvita, hiked through the jungles around Arenal Volcano without the trappings of a guide, met many fantastic people, and had an overall great time in La Fortuna. We think that Costa Rica is just not for us, but that certainly doesn´t mean it´s not for you!

On a side note, while we did get robbed in CR this can happen anywhere and we do not in anyway cast CR in a different light because of it. Our general dislike of the country stems from all our other experiences here collectively.

Favorite moments:

• Cheap bus rides
• Beautiful Countryside
• Hiking in the jungle
• The beaches at Uvita
• Hitchhiking
• Baldi Hot Springs

Not so great:

• The food
• Crazy inflated tourist prices for everything
• Dealing with the Brazilian embassy
• Getting robbed
• Taking a long walk across the border

Total Money Spent Per Person: $495

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $8.50
• Food: $9.50
• Transportation: $1.75
• Misc: $2.75 (Beer, Trips to the store, Park entrance, Guide Fees, etc.)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $22.50

Number of Days: 22

After a thousand and 2 phone calls to wrap up some loose ends from the robbery last night, we grabbed a taxi to the airport and waited around for our flight to Brazil via Lima, Peru. We were starving but didn´t have very many colones left so we could only afford to buy a $6 fast food chicken meal to share. It wasn´t even too bad! Flight was uneventful as it should be.

Sunset from the plane

Then came the long 4 hour wait in the Lima airport for our flight to Rio. We were still pretty peeved about the whole deal so we just sat around and sulked. Not that there is much else to do trapped in the airport…

You know how last post we wrote that Alajuela is a pretty sketchy place and that overall, it really sucks? Well, let´s revisit that for a moment. It´s our last day in Central America, after a (mostly)very lovely time, and we were just trying to get our things in order and ready to fly to Brazil for Carnival tomorrow afternoon.

It was a pretty bad start anyway with some minor food poisoning from that horrid Chinese food last night (yeah yeah, it should´ve been obvious right?). We spent the day organizing lodging for Carnival and getting our paperwork straight, etc. Nothing terribly exciting to report anyway.

We were at the hostel (unnamed because we do not want to taint an otherwise ok hostel) doing some work and decided to head out for dinner before coming back and turning in for the night.  We were gone for 1-2 hours at the most. Got back to our bunks and our room and bags had been completely ransacked, stuff lying all over the place.

We surveyed the room and immediately realized that we were missing both our laptops and our electricity converters and Lin was also missing her camera, mp3 player, and her bag of electronics cables, and extra memory cards.

Seconds after fully realizing what had happened, we rushed out to the hostel owner and spanglished what we had just found and tried to figure out who did this and where that bastard was now. We spent the next 5 hours dealing with the police and OJI (a separate investigation unit kind of like the FBI) through the hostel owner who spoke no English and his very helpful daughter who spoke some. Neither police officers spoke any English and our Spanish is poorly equipped for dealing with police reports and robberies.

What ensued was the hostel owner repeatedly explaining to the police that he had no idea how it could´ve happened but it was a dorm and people are in and out of rooms all the time and we should´ve told him we had expensive electronics so he could´ve put them away and blah blah blah. It was 2 hours of covering his own ass which monstrously hindered us from getting the police (who were busy telling stories and jokes most of the time they were at the hostel) to actually do something to help us.

By 11pm, we´d accomplished nothing more than massive headaches and severally mounting anger with probably life threateningly high blood pressure. Later, one of the officers told us that we were lucky we didn´t come back while the robber was in our room. Actually, we would´ve both been ecstatically insanely happy to have met face to face with the asshole who robbed us. But, we would also be in prison now for the horrible things we would´ve done.

What´s worse is that earlier that morning, some fat bastard opened our door and started to come in with an air of purpose while we were in there and acted like “Oops, wrong room.“ There were only a couple of other guests who were staying at this particular hostel. And, this particular fat bastard had booked two nights and only given a driver´s license as ID at check-in and the hostel owner hadn´t bothered to get his travel companion´s ID at all! The thieving bastard left just an hour before we returned with his backpack, telling the hostel owner that he was going to do laundry.

Of course when the police arrived and heard about the suspect, they opened his room and saw everything was gone. I can not put into words the amount of anger we experienced at being robbed. It wasn´t so much the stuff as it was all the photos we took over the course on 2 months in all of Central America. Overall not a great way to end an otherwise great time in Central America.

Another 4-5 hour bus ride from La Fortuna to Alajuela, a dirty grungy city near the airport just outside San Jose, and our day has been totally shot. That`s the big bummer about daytime travel.

We arrived and walked to a hostel we had heard about that provided free breakfast and, more importantly, free airport transport. They were full but directed us to another hostel (that will remain unnamed for reasons outlined in the following post). We checked into our 4 bed dorm and were informed that there would be one other guest joining us later that night before we headed out to find some dinner. Always on the lookout for Chinese food, we stumbled upon Restaurante Moderna, a dirty but extraordinarily cheap place ($3/plate but to be honest, it was awful food).

Took a very short walk before heading back to the room for some website post preparing before bed. We would advise against being out at night in Alajuela. It`s pretty sketchy, though we`ve definitely been in some far more sketchy places at night. So err on the side of caution and try to get your stuff done in the daytime. It`s also a little bit sketchy then too. Not a great place overall, really.

Feeling like kings after we stepped out of the shuttle van and onto resort premises, we walked into Baldi unsure of what we might find.

There are tons and tons of hot pools, a few cooler pools, a garden, and a modern art inspired artificial waterfall. Most pools are relatively small and swimming is not allowed (after all, it is very hot and the resort is catering to health and relaxation, not splashing fun). They are all clearly marked with signs indicating the water`s temperature and the idea is to start at a low temperature and work your way up to the hotter ones only staying 10-20 minutes in each. There is also a sauna but it`s poorly made so not as hot as it should be. There are a few restaurants, some changing rooms, lockers, spa area for massages, pedicures, etc and a few wet bars as well. It`s a nice resort full of predominately German and American tourists and lots of families as well since there are 2 waterslides and a third one in progress.

Wet bar at Baldi (photo taken by US!!!)

Lin by the pool

Anyway, we made our way around the resort, dipping here and there into pools feeling more like well-financed tourists instead of budget backpackers. But being the budget backpackers we are, we came fully prepaired for the resorts exorbident prices and found a nice spot to be stared at while we ate our peanut butter sandwiches.

In case you forgot what we look like!

We had fun but were definitely ready to go after several hours. We cooled off by taking a walk in the gardens before calling Mr. Lava Lava to come pick us up (actually the hotel staff called for us).

All the hot water made us really tired and hungry so when we got back to town, we feasted on a massive greasy pizza before calling it a night.

We can`t stand being hounded for a stupid tour anymore! We`re checking out of Cabinas Jerry and into the ´´old´´ Gringo Pete´s, that is, The Sleep Inn. It`s a tiny place, kinda grimey but decent enough for another night or two in La Fortuna ($7/person for a double room shared bath). Today we`re getting some errands and administrative things done so nothing terribly exciting for posting.

Main Square Park and view of church (photo courtesty ofhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jaiso)

We`ve booked transportation to Baldi Hot Springs tomorrow with Mr. Lava Lava, the guy who runs Gringo Pete`s, very nice guy. His ´´tour´´ for Baldi includes to/from transport (go at a certain time but call him when you are ready to come back and he comes to pick up) and the entrance ticket to the Baldi resort at a discounted rate (cheaper than buying at the door and anywhere else in town, about $18 total/person). Looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow where the most difficult decision we will face is what temperature of water do we prefer to be in.

Travel Tip:

La Fortuna is a very safe town during the day and at night. You will see when you arrive. It`s a very small, laid back place with a slow pace. There are supermarkets, gift shops, and restaurants all over the place. It`s a rather touristy town but offers lots of outdoors activities like zip lining, volcano hiking, going to the waterfall, and visiting the hot springs. There are 2 resorts, Baldi and Tabacon, but there is also a natural hot springs that is free but is, of course, not as nice as the resort. Tour operators offer packages to both resorts and several of the volcano tour packages offer stops at the natural hot springs before going to the volcano.

Also, the main square in town has a really lovely garden and pathways centered around a fountain in front of the church, as pictured above. The city sponsors free wifi in the park so you can sit on one of the benches and surf the internet free of charge (ICE wireless network). As mentioned earlier, it`s a pretty safe town and we didn`t get hassled at all. Of course, remember to use common sense and don`t flaunt your money, electronics, etc. But it`s not the fastest wireless ever but the cafe across the square that we`ve been going to has free wifi. Just buy a drink or pastry and you can sit in there for a while as you slowly sip your milkshake or coffee. They have amazing coffee drinks, hot and cold (look out Starbucks!).

Happy Valentine`s Day! (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/27784972@N07)

As a Valentine`s Day gift, we booked a couple of insanely cheap massages ($25/hour, expensive for budget rtw travelers but we don`t do this, well, ever!) for early afternoon. We lazed about most of the morning and did a bit of website work at that little cafe with the most delicious coffees and milkshakes until time for our massages. We signed in and were directed to a room with two tables by a woman who only spoke Spanish. After deliberating several minutes on how much to undress and if there might be any cultural differences for massage etiquette, we decided to just go for it.

 Trying to make up for lost time, we hurried onto the tables and threw the towels over ourselves just in time before the massuers came in. First thing they did was rearrange our towels to cover up more skin, haha. But they didn`t seem put off so it must have been alright.

Not exactly pros at being massaged by strangers, we were both a bit anxious and difficult to relax at first. That is, until our massuers spent ten whole minutes rubbing each foot! The rest was kind of a blur of splended utopia. Though it was only supposed to be an hour, we noticed it turned out to be about 15 minutes extra. Awesome! We wobbled our jelly legs out to the lobby, graciosuly thanking our massuers and paid the bill before wobbling back to the room. We planned to lay around and watch movies and eat some chocolate but when we got back, Saben suggested we take a little stroll to that waterfall the guy in the cafe told us about. Thinking it couldn`t be too terribly far, Lin agreed and we set out on what became a 4km journey uphill to a park that charges $10 entrance fee and was closing in 10 minutes. Wow. Not exactly how we had planned to spend a lazy day! We waited around til closing and tried to sneak in but the night watchman (who was nowhere to be seen) had his 2 sons gaurding the gate and the oldest one (maybe 9 or 10 years old but quite serious) refused to let us in. We didn`t want to get the little guy in trouble so we went back over the gate and began our return 4km “stroll“ back to town.

We had gone about 3km when an empty shuttle bus pulls up and the driver asks if we want a ride into town. It`s not that much farther but, what the hell? We hop in and chat with the tour guides who had just spent the day leading every single tour offered (hiking, kayaking, waterfall, more hiking) and were quite tired but still very friendly. Since it was just a 5 minute lift, we didn`t offer to pay them anything and they didn`t seem to mind at all. It`s hard to know when and if to offer payment for hitchhiking in Costa Rica. Some people say offer even thought it`s likely to be refused and some people say not to worry about it. We just wing it.

Despite the unplanned trek immediately following our massages, we actually had a really great day!

Only appropriate in the rainiest region in Costa Rica, today was rainy most of the day. We started with a hearty breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs back at the Soda Viquez. Under the impression that we must be on a tour to visit the volcano, waterfalls, and bascially everything else to do in this town, we set out to find a cheap operator. No success. After a pick-me-up of some delicious coffee and Wifi in a great little coffee shop (if you´re facing the church, it`s to the right side. Doors are always open and it`s next to a massage sign/place) to figure out our POA. We chatted with the guy running the place who told us of a great (free!) waterfall that the locals like to go to and told us we could just go to the Arenal Volcano National Park ourselves (for more info on Arenal Click the Wiki Link here)

Excited to get outside and do something, we ran to the supermarket for snacks and water before heading out to Volcan Arenal via taxi. There`s a taxi waiting area on the opposite end of the square from the church (so, just across the sqaure from the church) and they are all metered so no bargaining here). Believing it would only cost $3 for admission, we were really surprised to be charged $10/person for park entrance. Ouch! We hiked along the trail with our eyes peeled for a sloth or any other neat animals. The crazy guy at Cabinas Jerry said that if we took his tour, we were “guaranteed´´ to see at least one sloth. But he´s also the same guy that came to our door 3 times at all hours of the day and night (no joke, it was really really annoying) asking us if we were going to sign up for his tour.

Photo Courtesy of WikiTravel (see above link)

We went off the trail a few times (do this at your own risk, it`s not recommended and we don`t want to be responsible if you get eaten alive by some very large unnamed animal) to try and get some better views and quiter places for animal spotting.

Jungle at Arenal Park (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/24910400@N07)

Mostly we just saw tons and tons of lizards of all different colors, leaf cutter ants, some toucans and tons of other birds. We did see this big turkey/vulture/peacock black and white spotted bird walking across the path once we got past the volcano and hiked deeper into the jungle. It was pretty cool! And another was a dark bodied bird with a bright yellow tail that makes crazy noises, kinda of like a high pitched crackling sound and water. Hard to describe but probably the weirdest sound ever. Besides that, we just got tons of insect bites and Lin got some tiny pricks from some unnoticed pointy plant that drew blood and left really itchy big bumps. But no sloth today…bummer. Fun day hiking anyway. The volcno was nice to see but it wasn`t very active tonight and it`s not the most exciting thing to look at in the day time either. Lake Arenal was really beautiful though, with the sun causing a glittery effect on the calm water. It`s visible from the same high rocky area that you can view the volcano.

View of Lake Arenal from Volcano (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/26021073@N03)

After nightfall, seeing that we wouldn`t get to see any lava, we left the lookout area (mirador) into total blackness back toward the park entrance. We didn´t hear or see a single other voice or flashlight the whole 15-20 minute walk and it was almost as black as that night on the motorcycle in Nicaragua! Our tiny keychain LED was burning bright but still didn`t offer much comfort as we walked between the 7-8 foot tall flora flanking both sides of the road.

Our plan was to try and catch a ride back to town with someone who had driven to the park since we were not on a tour and there aren`t any taxis there for stragglers (since, again, most people take the tour which provides transport and the rest rent cars while they`re in Costa Rica). There wasn`t a soul in that parking lot and it was as dark as the path we had just come from. Uh-oh…Well, no choice but to walk and try to hitchhike if anyone passes by that isn`t a fully loaded massive tour bus or shuttle. But after 10-15 of those passed us by, a shuttle stopped with only 2 passengers and asked us if we wanted a lift back to town. We had only walked 10 minutes or so but it was about a 15 minute drive back to town and we certainly didn`t want to walk it if we didn`t have to! The driver hadn`t expected any money for picking us up but we gave him roughly $2/person which he hesitantly, then happily accepted. Today hadn`t turned out at all like we were expecting but it was still a fantastic day. Glad to be outside hiking around and out of the city for once!

We began the morning with a decent (free–woohoo!) pancake breakfast at the Tranquilo Backpackers Hostel where we spent the night before setting out on foot to find the bus station. After our token ritual of getting lost, refusing to ask for directions, get lost some more, and eventually, by some twist of events (walking in circles?), we found our station and hopped the next bus to La Fortuna. 

It was a slow, painfully dull 5 hour ride into the rainiest region in all of Costa Rica. We arrived in a light rain and walked around to find some place to stay for a few days when a tout for Cabinas Jerry latched onto us and coaxed us into a $7 private room with bath. Not bad, kinda weird place, but we´ve been in worse/weirder. Next order of business: lunch.  Found a lovely little place, Soda Viquez, a block off the main square behind/near all the tour places and across from a hotel/massage place. The food was great, the owner Mario was fantastic and insisted we stay and have some complementary rice pudding (which was also quite delicious!).  Looks like we might change our minds about how much we dislike Costa Rica if we stay in La Fortuna for very long!