Hola amigos y padres,
Firstly, some sad news - we can´t bring a Guanabana back from Costa Rica :( According to US Customs, "We regret that it is necessary to take agricultural items from your baggage. They cannot be brought into the United States because they may carry animal and plant pests and diseases. Restricted items include meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, soil, and products made from animal or plant materials...Confiscated items are carefully destroyed in special CBP facilities.", and so rather than see our Guanabana subject to a controlled explosion in a booth at Miami Airport, we´re going to take our hard-earned Colones elsewhere.
This is our last proper night in Costa Rica - we´ve decided to save ourselves roughly 25 pounds and just go to the airport tomorrow night and hang around overnight, rather than stay here til 3am and then get an expensive transfer. So, tomorrow we´re checking out of Costa Rica Backpackers and heading out to the market to buy a few final things, then stop by the American Embassy for lunch (that´s McDonalds, for everyone else apart from dad) and potter around, schlepping hopefully not-too-much stuff around. Today was Shopping Day, which means that our room now smells of coffee (and damp, after we got soaked in an impressive downpour - umbrellas do NOTHING), and we had fun haggling with people in the market - one man was particularly grumpy but we wore him down and got that final pound off. Great success. I bought a lovely rosewood chopping board which would have been perfect for slicing Guanabana.. but enough of all that, before I start crying.
Simon - actually no, as far as I know we didn´t meet him, but it´s very flattering anyway! I´m always pleased to be of entertainment services to all. This blog, as I´m sure I´ve said before, has given me a lot of pleasure to write. Dad - the journey was pretty harrowing, but I´d say that the San Isidro one was about on a par with McLeod Ganj. The trip that ironically turned out to be the least scariest of all the mountain-top ones was on the "Highway to Heaven", the Guapiles Highway to Limon, which is so-called due to its exceptionally high accident and fatality rate.
Final thoughts of Costa Rica.. it´s probably best to condense this into bullet-points and produce... Das Meisterwork:
LOU AND BEN´S PROFILE OF COSTA RICA.
(all data from my memory but probably originates mostly from the Rough Guide, therefore none of it is particularly reliable)
· Population: Roughly 4 million, half of whom live just in the Central Valley and third of which is under 21.. it´s a Catholic country and women don´t really do much apart from cook and reproduce)
· Currency: colones, named after Christopher Columbus. Roughly 550c to the dollar and nearly 1,000 to the pound. The largest note they have is a 10,000, and the smallest coin we´ve found is a 5, equivalent to half a penny and worth precisely nothing. I´m keeping a couple, be sure to ask to see them in all their pathetic flimsiness - a guy we met in Orosi effortlessly bent one with his teeth.
· Languages spoken: Costa Rican Spanish (official), English a teeny-tiny bit and in Limon a Spanish-English creole, which was no more comphrehensible to us than the Spanish was.
·Location: Bordered by Nicaragua to the North and Panama to the South, flanked by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Roughly 8-10 degrees north of the equator.
· Weather: Hot and humid with lots of rain. Two seasons, which are summer (Nov-Apr) and the winter or euphemistically-named "green season" the rest of the time. The "rainy season" should really be called the rainIER season.
· Literacy rate: 94% which is Very Good, especially for the region - on a par with that of the USA.
· Life expectancy: 76 for men, 81 for women, this is better than the USA and the same as England (not the UK, Scotland really brings the average down)
· Dominant themes of the national psyche: smugness at being much better than other central American countries. Respect for nature. Politeness. Tolerance of tourism - they don´t love it, but they know which side their bread´s buttered on, and specifically that they wouldn´t be so far ahead of other latino countries without the revenue it brings. General cheerfulness.
·Principal sources of revenue: Tourism number one, then exports: coffee, bananas and macademia.
· Appearance - on average probably less overweight than the British, but most women are quite squishy and seem to be proud of it, judging by the tight-fitting clothes they wear. A typical outfit is a top containing lycra, jeans or a short denim miniskirt, high-heels (always, even on four-year-olds) and gelled curly hair. Men generally wear polo shirts and jeans and hardly any have moustaches or are bald. Almost everyone has brown hair, and surprisingly many seem to have skin not particularly darker than North Europeans.
· National saying (I´m particularly jealous of this and feel Britain needs one, perhaps along the lines of "excuse me, I really am so terribly sorry to trouble you but you appear to have stolen my wallet"): Pura Vida, which means "pure life". Ben and I are dubious about this one... we´ve been told by all the tourism literature that everyone says this etc etc, but we haven´t heard any locals say it to us and have only seen it on tourist paraphernalia, so it´s entirely possible that it´s just a big farce.
· Main hazards: Roads (see most previous blog posts). Suicide Showers - since they have a contraption fitted over the top to heat the water which should not be touched when the shower is on, due to the exposed main leads sticking out.. Ben got a nasty shock last night when he draped a damp towel over the showerhead even though the shower was switched off, and then again when he removed it with an umbrella -even through the plastic insulation. Being ripped off, otherwise known as Death by Extortion and Special Tourist Prices.
· Main Frustrations: Being bitten by mosquitos and other nasty insects, trying to find your way around since, although the streets are all named on a map, there are no street signs so all locals know exactly what they´re talking about, and no tourists have a hope in hell. Furthermore, most directions are given in relation to landmarks, some of which no longer exist: case in point, in San Pedro people give directions relative to the old tree, which was felled 50 years ago. Awful, awful tea.
· Best things about Costa Rica: The drinks are generally good, especially coffee and ´refrescos naturales´, which are fruit juices such as melon, strawberry, pineapple, guava, guanabana and banana, mixed with either milk or water. Their national cuisine is also very tasty, cheap and filling, although not if you don´t like rice and beans. The landscape and scenery are breathtaking, from the gorgeous beaches to beautiful sunsets, verdant hills, looming mountains and rolling waves and waterfalls. The wildlife is exciting, especially for a Brit, as we´ve seen plenty of lizards and huge butterflies, along with monkeys, colourful birds and unusual mammals (including the wonderful Coatie). People are generally very patient and nearly always say "you´re welcome" when you thank them. We´ve had quite a few occasions when we were lost or looking for something, and people have spontaneously come over and asked us did we need help, which has been our saving grace. The busses, if terrifying sometimes, are almost always on time, cheap and offer sensational views and a very thrifty way of seeing the country en-route. I will probably add more to this retrospectively.
Moment of the Trip: this one´s a tie... number one has got to be on the bus to Liberia, where the driver overtook a 20-foot lorry, on a blind bend, uphill. Number two was less mortally terrifying, the horseriding trip in Dominical which was spectacular and such fun. We´ve also really enjoyed cooking for ourselves in outdoor kitchens.
I´m going to wrap it up there. We´re due to arrive in Heathrow on Friday morning - we´re really looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back, and hope England will welcome us back with open arms, warm (dry) weather and a nice cup of tea.
love,
Louise and Ben
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Showing posts with label San Jose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Jose. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Monday, 22 September 2008
Full Circle
Buenos Tardes,
We´re back in Costa Rica Backpackers, at the same computers I wrote our first update from, which is sort of poetic really. This time we´re staying in a cheaper but nicer and more conveniently-located room (with our own bathroom), which is good but just goes to show that even nice places try to rip tourists off. Today we travelled from Uvita to San Jose, via Quepos, which took a grand total of 11 hours (4 hour wait at Quepos), so now it´s 10 to 6, we´ve been up since 3.50am and are very, very tired. Still, we survived the horriffic journey back from Quepos, where I spent a while nearly in tears because I was so scared we were going to fall off the sheer cliff face. Ironically, this was supposed to be the less scary route back from Uvita, since on the way down from San Jose we went via San Isidro El General, a 3-hour journey winding up to over 3,000 metres above sea level, to the beautifully-named Cerro de la Muerte, or Death Mountain. Aside from the twisting and winding road up through the mountains with perilous drops, and the mudslides that happen fairly often (we saw a recent one, where boulders the sizes of cars had fallen, hopefully not actually onto cars..), we were so high up that we were actually in the clouds, which reduced visibility to about 6 ft in front of the bus. So having survived that I begged Ben for us to not take the return journey along there - instead we took the notoriously bumpy road to Quepos (a terrible road in a country of terrible roads) and then waited around for hours, with me all the time reassuring Ben that I was incredibly grateful that we were avoiding a scary journey, and then that happened. But anyway, at least the baby who had been SCREAMING for about 20 minutes in Quepos, as we were waiting for the bus, stopped pretty soon after we left. I did understand how he felt, honestly, but we´d just spent 4 hours traipsing around a place where there really isn´t 4 hours worth of stuff to do, and were incredibly worried about missing our bus, and it really drove me to my last nerve. For all these reasons and more, I am pleased to be back in San Jose - the main reason is that it´s really nice here, despite what everyone says about it. Tomorrow is shopping day, and the day after is our 30 month anniversary where we´re going to the Teatro Nacional to see a classical performance, followed by a relatively fancy meal.
Uvita was nice in its own way - the main effect it´s had on us is to make us incredibly cynical about eco-lodges and nature-friendly people, and shown us that everything has a price when you´re a tourist in Costa Rica. You want to see the beautiful, natural waterfall? Of course! Two dollars. Basically we stayed in aforementioned eco-lodge, which was a sight to behold because it was like a huge, wooden loft, with everything constructed out of beautifully-crafted wood and stone and stuff, and the setting really was incredible. The main problem, other than the money-grabbers of Uvita, is that Uvita is emphatically not a beach village, it´s more like a village with a beach... 5km away. Which was fine in the end since they charged us a lot of money to get into it (special tourist price, incidentally, about 6 times what the locals pay) anyway. We may well have been the only tourists ever to visit Uvita for more than an hour, without having a car or taking taxis - and that´s saying something, since whomever planned Uvita didn´t remember such a thing as pedestrians. It´s also a bit sad to see the (relatively unspoilt) Zona Sur completely saturated in For Sale signs - one of them aptly summed the whole thing up, saying: ¨Costa Rica -- Lots For Sale¨. Anyway, I´ll elaborate on eco place later, maybe. It´s a bit depressing to think about now, which is a shame since it should have been lovely. I also might have a huge rant and release my pent up ANGER, FURY AND RAGE at the guy who ran the hostel in Dominical, since he´s a stupid lazy good-for-nothing who couldn´t even do the ONE THING we asked him to. And he made the least comfortable chairs imaginable, in fact I couldn´t even conceive of such an uncomfortable sedentary apparatus before I saw this with my own eyes. And he was called Angel. Pfft.
EDIT!!! Because I forgot to mention two of the lovliest things we´ve done this month. Firstly, on our last night in Dominical we had a fire on the beach, and toasted marshmallows, which was lovely and I just wanted to write about it in case I ever forget. Secondly, we did Don Lulo´s Horseback Waterfall Tour, which was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. My horse was called Frijolito (little bean) and I think they gave me him because I hadn´t ridden before and he wasn´t one of the leader horses, although he definitely had ideas above his station and didn´t like to be overtaken by anybody - a perfect match for me, then. Ben´s was called Espirito (Spirited) and was a bit off-the-wall. Also on the tour was a Tico family and ´Jodhpur Lady´, a realtor from Florida whose name we never asked, and who came fully kitted out in said jodhpurs, riding boots etc. She was really cool, though, and when we went swimming at the waterfall, even though she hadn´t brought a change of clothes, swimsuit etc, she just whipped off her top and went swimming in her bra and jodhpurs (which she then had to wear wet for the return journey). Ben jumped off from a height of about 25ft, twice, which was spectacular although the first time I almost didn´t dare to watch. The price included two meals at Don Lulo´s house, where there was also a ´zoo´ - Definitely not for animal lovers, it consisted of a couple of Macaws, a Toucan, a deer and some huge rat or hamsters things, which the tour guide bothered so we could see them do stuff (just sitting in their enclosures being happy apparently isn´t interesting enough for us tourists), including winkling the baby rodent out, first with a broomstick handle, and then when that failed, by sticking his hand in and pulling the poor thing out. He did stop just short of getting a monkey and making it dance for us, thankfully.
We´re off for dinner now, update to follow soon since the internet is now blissfully free once more. Write comments please :)
Lots of love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We´re back in Costa Rica Backpackers, at the same computers I wrote our first update from, which is sort of poetic really. This time we´re staying in a cheaper but nicer and more conveniently-located room (with our own bathroom), which is good but just goes to show that even nice places try to rip tourists off. Today we travelled from Uvita to San Jose, via Quepos, which took a grand total of 11 hours (4 hour wait at Quepos), so now it´s 10 to 6, we´ve been up since 3.50am and are very, very tired. Still, we survived the horriffic journey back from Quepos, where I spent a while nearly in tears because I was so scared we were going to fall off the sheer cliff face. Ironically, this was supposed to be the less scary route back from Uvita, since on the way down from San Jose we went via San Isidro El General, a 3-hour journey winding up to over 3,000 metres above sea level, to the beautifully-named Cerro de la Muerte, or Death Mountain. Aside from the twisting and winding road up through the mountains with perilous drops, and the mudslides that happen fairly often (we saw a recent one, where boulders the sizes of cars had fallen, hopefully not actually onto cars..), we were so high up that we were actually in the clouds, which reduced visibility to about 6 ft in front of the bus. So having survived that I begged Ben for us to not take the return journey along there - instead we took the notoriously bumpy road to Quepos (a terrible road in a country of terrible roads) and then waited around for hours, with me all the time reassuring Ben that I was incredibly grateful that we were avoiding a scary journey, and then that happened. But anyway, at least the baby who had been SCREAMING for about 20 minutes in Quepos, as we were waiting for the bus, stopped pretty soon after we left. I did understand how he felt, honestly, but we´d just spent 4 hours traipsing around a place where there really isn´t 4 hours worth of stuff to do, and were incredibly worried about missing our bus, and it really drove me to my last nerve. For all these reasons and more, I am pleased to be back in San Jose - the main reason is that it´s really nice here, despite what everyone says about it. Tomorrow is shopping day, and the day after is our 30 month anniversary where we´re going to the Teatro Nacional to see a classical performance, followed by a relatively fancy meal.
Uvita was nice in its own way - the main effect it´s had on us is to make us incredibly cynical about eco-lodges and nature-friendly people, and shown us that everything has a price when you´re a tourist in Costa Rica. You want to see the beautiful, natural waterfall? Of course! Two dollars. Basically we stayed in aforementioned eco-lodge, which was a sight to behold because it was like a huge, wooden loft, with everything constructed out of beautifully-crafted wood and stone and stuff, and the setting really was incredible. The main problem, other than the money-grabbers of Uvita, is that Uvita is emphatically not a beach village, it´s more like a village with a beach... 5km away. Which was fine in the end since they charged us a lot of money to get into it (special tourist price, incidentally, about 6 times what the locals pay) anyway. We may well have been the only tourists ever to visit Uvita for more than an hour, without having a car or taking taxis - and that´s saying something, since whomever planned Uvita didn´t remember such a thing as pedestrians. It´s also a bit sad to see the (relatively unspoilt) Zona Sur completely saturated in For Sale signs - one of them aptly summed the whole thing up, saying: ¨Costa Rica -- Lots For Sale¨. Anyway, I´ll elaborate on eco place later, maybe. It´s a bit depressing to think about now, which is a shame since it should have been lovely. I also might have a huge rant and release my pent up ANGER, FURY AND RAGE at the guy who ran the hostel in Dominical, since he´s a stupid lazy good-for-nothing who couldn´t even do the ONE THING we asked him to. And he made the least comfortable chairs imaginable, in fact I couldn´t even conceive of such an uncomfortable sedentary apparatus before I saw this with my own eyes. And he was called Angel. Pfft.
EDIT!!! Because I forgot to mention two of the lovliest things we´ve done this month. Firstly, on our last night in Dominical we had a fire on the beach, and toasted marshmallows, which was lovely and I just wanted to write about it in case I ever forget. Secondly, we did Don Lulo´s Horseback Waterfall Tour, which was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. My horse was called Frijolito (little bean) and I think they gave me him because I hadn´t ridden before and he wasn´t one of the leader horses, although he definitely had ideas above his station and didn´t like to be overtaken by anybody - a perfect match for me, then. Ben´s was called Espirito (Spirited) and was a bit off-the-wall. Also on the tour was a Tico family and ´Jodhpur Lady´, a realtor from Florida whose name we never asked, and who came fully kitted out in said jodhpurs, riding boots etc. She was really cool, though, and when we went swimming at the waterfall, even though she hadn´t brought a change of clothes, swimsuit etc, she just whipped off her top and went swimming in her bra and jodhpurs (which she then had to wear wet for the return journey). Ben jumped off from a height of about 25ft, twice, which was spectacular although the first time I almost didn´t dare to watch. The price included two meals at Don Lulo´s house, where there was also a ´zoo´ - Definitely not for animal lovers, it consisted of a couple of Macaws, a Toucan, a deer and some huge rat or hamsters things, which the tour guide bothered so we could see them do stuff (just sitting in their enclosures being happy apparently isn´t interesting enough for us tourists), including winkling the baby rodent out, first with a broomstick handle, and then when that failed, by sticking his hand in and pulling the poor thing out. He did stop just short of getting a monkey and making it dance for us, thankfully.
We´re off for dinner now, update to follow soon since the internet is now blissfully free once more. Write comments please :)
Lots of love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday, 14 September 2008
San Jose (again)
God bless free internet!
Today we left Cahuita and travelled for 4 hours to San Jose, which we meant to do, and are now staying the night, which we didn't, but through a phantasmagorically unsurprising series of events, our luck ran out in terms of making connections efficiently. Until now we've always been lucky enough that we just happen to have gotten to San Jose in time to get a connecting bus to where we wanted to go, which got in before nighttime. We didn't leave things to chance because we're masochists or lazy, but because there's no other choice.. the guide book doesn't give times and even when it does, they're subject to change on a whim anyway. We want to get to Uvita (in the Zona Sur, near Dominical, for those who're following) in daylight, and this wasn't going to be possible today since the only bus to take us there would get in at 7pm earliest, which would've meant staying a night in San Isidro or Dominical. We decided that we'd rather stay a night here, knowing that we could get free internet at any hostel, and then just get up super-early, than go to a new place and get even tireder. So here we are, in the innapropriately-named 'Tranquillo' Backpackers. The plan for today is vague, but our number one priority is (as always) locate the free coffee. Then I quite fancy a new top, since I've worn this one to death and since it only cost 2 pounds originally from Primark, I feel it has more than earnt a rest.
Uvita sounds beautiful, anyway, and apparently it's very good for surfing which Ben really wants to do - one can bodyboard there too (some people call it 'boogie-boarding', but Ben turns his nose up) which I might be half-good at. Depending on how nice it is (and whether or not we can get cheap accomodation with a kitchen, since cooking for ourselves is mega fun and mega cheap), we'll either stay there for 7 days, OR, and this is only in the pipeline at the moment, we have plan B. This is to go to La Fortuna (Zona Norte), four hours away from San Jose, stay for a night and hope that we're lucky enough to see the spectacular displays of lava flowing from the nearby Volcano Arenal, then get transportation by 'Jeep-Boat-Jeep' (which does what it says on the tin, and apparently is an aesthetically and fiscally pleasing way of travelling, rather than taking the infamously shoddy road) to Monteverde, home of the number 1 tourist attraction in the country, the cloudforest reserve. Here we'll spend one day trekking through the forest, and maybe a morning's Canopy Zip-lining, which is difficult to explain but takes you through the treetops in a harness at a speed of your choice (and which doesn't qualify as an extreme sport so don't worry). As I said, though, this all very much depends on how Uvita is and how our bank balances are - I'm very very tempted though, since we're only here once and it is a schlep and a bit of money, in return for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Anyway, Cahuita - it was very lovely there, the weather alone made a very refreshing change from the ubiquitous showers we've had nearly everywhere. The change of culture (most of Cahuita's inhabitants are descended from Africans brought over a couple of hundred years ago to work in the banana plantations and build the train in Limon Province. They've been treated by the Costa Rican government about as well as Africans have in every other part of the world..) was very welcome, and overall we had a lovely stay. There was a lot of atmosphere and nightlife, too, whereas Samara was pretty much dead. Last night we went to Coco's Bar, which seems to be THE place to be of an evening in Cahuita, and where they serve 80p beer and 1.50 doubles of Cafe Rica (coffee liquer along the lines of Kahlua but much nicer). Friday night is reggae night, though it seems that every night is reggae night.
Yesterday we also walked along the trail which parallells the beach, to Punta Cahuita (Cahuita point, although since 'Cahuita' actually means 'point' in Misquito, we went to Point Point) and stuck to the trail as advised since snakes abound. We've been swimming in the sea a few times, too, it's usually very calm and clear which is doubly good, since it means it's less likely to be full of effluence (always reassuring when you get eaten by the waves and nearly swallow mouthfulls of it as I did) and also that you will probably spot a jellyfish before you step on it. We also discovered a Chinese restaurant where they REALLY emphasise quantity over quality.. we were defeated by their oversized portions of chow mein for only 2 pounds and rated it an average of 8 out of 10 for likely-to-returnability, which quickly plummeted to 1 after we went to the counter to pay for our meal, and spotted one of the members of staff counting/faffing about with lettuces. On the floor. Our accomodation, too, was lovely - we stayed in Cabinas near the sea owned by an African-American man called Geoffrey, and his wife. We don't actually know if that was his name but it should be, and that's how we referred to him, if not to his face. Geoffrey didn't seem to actually do much of everything - he was always pootling around the village on his bike, which makes sense since we never did find that branch of PriceWaterHouseCoopers that he claimed to work at. Last night (before the trip to the bar, I might add), I very accidentally and with almost slapstick precision managed to knock Ben's toothbrush down the toilet. He took it surprisingly well, merely wondering aloud- 'if you knock a toothbrush down the toilet, does it become a toilet brush?'. Also, I've learnt that ordering 'tea negra con leche' doesn't mean you get a cup of black tea, with some milk in or on the side, it means that you actually get a cup of tea made with milk RATHER THAN water. I've taken a picture of it for posterity and to remind myself not to bother next time.
I suspect that I've abused the free internet for long enough now. I'm off to get coffee and read one of my new books (managed to pick up A Picture of Dorian Gray and Dubliners for less than their 2 pounds price tags!). Can someone update me with what happened in the last few Formula Ones, please? From what I can gather - Massa only got a fine for his mistake 3 races ago (about 7,000 pounds which is precisely nothing, or a wing mirror, to Ferrari), whereas Hamilton got penalised some places for his overtaking Raikkonen on a chicane at Spa? And then he finished 1st but not really? And did Vettel really win at Monza?? I've been saying for weeks that he looks really promising, and he seems much nicer than Lewis Hamilton, so good luck to the boy. Even if it is a bit terrifying that he's the same age as me, and he's just won a Grand Prix, and I'm... pottering around in Central America. Any other news from our island? Thanks as ever for the comments and emails, they really do make a difference.
See you soon, in only 11 days!
Love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxx
Today we left Cahuita and travelled for 4 hours to San Jose, which we meant to do, and are now staying the night, which we didn't, but through a phantasmagorically unsurprising series of events, our luck ran out in terms of making connections efficiently. Until now we've always been lucky enough that we just happen to have gotten to San Jose in time to get a connecting bus to where we wanted to go, which got in before nighttime. We didn't leave things to chance because we're masochists or lazy, but because there's no other choice.. the guide book doesn't give times and even when it does, they're subject to change on a whim anyway. We want to get to Uvita (in the Zona Sur, near Dominical, for those who're following) in daylight, and this wasn't going to be possible today since the only bus to take us there would get in at 7pm earliest, which would've meant staying a night in San Isidro or Dominical. We decided that we'd rather stay a night here, knowing that we could get free internet at any hostel, and then just get up super-early, than go to a new place and get even tireder. So here we are, in the innapropriately-named 'Tranquillo' Backpackers. The plan for today is vague, but our number one priority is (as always) locate the free coffee. Then I quite fancy a new top, since I've worn this one to death and since it only cost 2 pounds originally from Primark, I feel it has more than earnt a rest.
Uvita sounds beautiful, anyway, and apparently it's very good for surfing which Ben really wants to do - one can bodyboard there too (some people call it 'boogie-boarding', but Ben turns his nose up) which I might be half-good at. Depending on how nice it is (and whether or not we can get cheap accomodation with a kitchen, since cooking for ourselves is mega fun and mega cheap), we'll either stay there for 7 days, OR, and this is only in the pipeline at the moment, we have plan B. This is to go to La Fortuna (Zona Norte), four hours away from San Jose, stay for a night and hope that we're lucky enough to see the spectacular displays of lava flowing from the nearby Volcano Arenal, then get transportation by 'Jeep-Boat-Jeep' (which does what it says on the tin, and apparently is an aesthetically and fiscally pleasing way of travelling, rather than taking the infamously shoddy road) to Monteverde, home of the number 1 tourist attraction in the country, the cloudforest reserve. Here we'll spend one day trekking through the forest, and maybe a morning's Canopy Zip-lining, which is difficult to explain but takes you through the treetops in a harness at a speed of your choice (and which doesn't qualify as an extreme sport so don't worry). As I said, though, this all very much depends on how Uvita is and how our bank balances are - I'm very very tempted though, since we're only here once and it is a schlep and a bit of money, in return for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Anyway, Cahuita - it was very lovely there, the weather alone made a very refreshing change from the ubiquitous showers we've had nearly everywhere. The change of culture (most of Cahuita's inhabitants are descended from Africans brought over a couple of hundred years ago to work in the banana plantations and build the train in Limon Province. They've been treated by the Costa Rican government about as well as Africans have in every other part of the world..) was very welcome, and overall we had a lovely stay. There was a lot of atmosphere and nightlife, too, whereas Samara was pretty much dead. Last night we went to Coco's Bar, which seems to be THE place to be of an evening in Cahuita, and where they serve 80p beer and 1.50 doubles of Cafe Rica (coffee liquer along the lines of Kahlua but much nicer). Friday night is reggae night, though it seems that every night is reggae night.
Yesterday we also walked along the trail which parallells the beach, to Punta Cahuita (Cahuita point, although since 'Cahuita' actually means 'point' in Misquito, we went to Point Point) and stuck to the trail as advised since snakes abound. We've been swimming in the sea a few times, too, it's usually very calm and clear which is doubly good, since it means it's less likely to be full of effluence (always reassuring when you get eaten by the waves and nearly swallow mouthfulls of it as I did) and also that you will probably spot a jellyfish before you step on it. We also discovered a Chinese restaurant where they REALLY emphasise quantity over quality.. we were defeated by their oversized portions of chow mein for only 2 pounds and rated it an average of 8 out of 10 for likely-to-returnability, which quickly plummeted to 1 after we went to the counter to pay for our meal, and spotted one of the members of staff counting/faffing about with lettuces. On the floor. Our accomodation, too, was lovely - we stayed in Cabinas near the sea owned by an African-American man called Geoffrey, and his wife. We don't actually know if that was his name but it should be, and that's how we referred to him, if not to his face. Geoffrey didn't seem to actually do much of everything - he was always pootling around the village on his bike, which makes sense since we never did find that branch of PriceWaterHouseCoopers that he claimed to work at. Last night (before the trip to the bar, I might add), I very accidentally and with almost slapstick precision managed to knock Ben's toothbrush down the toilet. He took it surprisingly well, merely wondering aloud- 'if you knock a toothbrush down the toilet, does it become a toilet brush?'. Also, I've learnt that ordering 'tea negra con leche' doesn't mean you get a cup of black tea, with some milk in or on the side, it means that you actually get a cup of tea made with milk RATHER THAN water. I've taken a picture of it for posterity and to remind myself not to bother next time.
I suspect that I've abused the free internet for long enough now. I'm off to get coffee and read one of my new books (managed to pick up A Picture of Dorian Gray and Dubliners for less than their 2 pounds price tags!). Can someone update me with what happened in the last few Formula Ones, please? From what I can gather - Massa only got a fine for his mistake 3 races ago (about 7,000 pounds which is precisely nothing, or a wing mirror, to Ferrari), whereas Hamilton got penalised some places for his overtaking Raikkonen on a chicane at Spa? And then he finished 1st but not really? And did Vettel really win at Monza?? I've been saying for weeks that he looks really promising, and he seems much nicer than Lewis Hamilton, so good luck to the boy. Even if it is a bit terrifying that he's the same age as me, and he's just won a Grand Prix, and I'm... pottering around in Central America. Any other news from our island? Thanks as ever for the comments and emails, they really do make a difference.
See you soon, in only 11 days!
Love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxx
Friday, 29 August 2008
Yes we do know the way to San Jose, thanks for asking.
Buenos something! (haven´t learnt the word for morning in Spanish yet..)
We´re still here in San Jose, but are leaving for Orosi (via Cartago) soonish - it´s not too far away but we want to get there as early as possible before the rain starts. Yesterday we learnt the hard way that it´s best to carry an umbrella and wear waterproofs in this part of Costa Rica - we got SOAKED!! It was beautiful and sunny until about 1pm, then there were light showers which wasn´t a problem, but then we left to come back to the hostel, and in the process got absolutely drenched, even though we tried to shelter as much as possible. This is the second day in a row that we´ve woken up naturally at 5.30am, having gone to bed at 9, so probably what we´ll do is shift our waking hours so that we can do lots of things in the morning, and then stay indoors or do less during the afternoon. But hey, it might not rain every day!
San Jose is actually really nice - nothing like the awful, busy, stressful city described in the guide book. It´s quite bustling but very nice to walk around - we didn´t do anything in particular, but went through a couple of parks, and into the Mercado Central, which is a big undercover market selling all kinds of things, from raw meat to fruit to bags. We were going to eat at a Soda, sort of like a greasy spoon cafe or diner, where all the Ticos (Costa Rican people) eat, but in the end we admitted to each other that we actually wanted MacDonalds. We also bought a passionfruit, some lychee-type things and grapes from the market and had those in the afternoon. Oh yes, and we´ve found Central America´s answer to Trafalgar Square, absolutely teeming with pigeons and people feeding them (maybe Trafalgar Square pre-Ken Livingstone..).
Orosi sounds really lovely, apparently it´s a pretty village with hot springs etc., and lots of nice walks you can do. There´s also the possibility of taking a few days´of Spanish lessons, which we might take if it´s affordable, so we can converse a bit more with the locals.
Anyway, we´re off to lie in the hammocks again! I could get used to this...
Lots of love,
xxxx Lou (Ben is working on his website - now that´s a work ethic)
We´re still here in San Jose, but are leaving for Orosi (via Cartago) soonish - it´s not too far away but we want to get there as early as possible before the rain starts. Yesterday we learnt the hard way that it´s best to carry an umbrella and wear waterproofs in this part of Costa Rica - we got SOAKED!! It was beautiful and sunny until about 1pm, then there were light showers which wasn´t a problem, but then we left to come back to the hostel, and in the process got absolutely drenched, even though we tried to shelter as much as possible. This is the second day in a row that we´ve woken up naturally at 5.30am, having gone to bed at 9, so probably what we´ll do is shift our waking hours so that we can do lots of things in the morning, and then stay indoors or do less during the afternoon. But hey, it might not rain every day!
San Jose is actually really nice - nothing like the awful, busy, stressful city described in the guide book. It´s quite bustling but very nice to walk around - we didn´t do anything in particular, but went through a couple of parks, and into the Mercado Central, which is a big undercover market selling all kinds of things, from raw meat to fruit to bags. We were going to eat at a Soda, sort of like a greasy spoon cafe or diner, where all the Ticos (Costa Rican people) eat, but in the end we admitted to each other that we actually wanted MacDonalds. We also bought a passionfruit, some lychee-type things and grapes from the market and had those in the afternoon. Oh yes, and we´ve found Central America´s answer to Trafalgar Square, absolutely teeming with pigeons and people feeding them (maybe Trafalgar Square pre-Ken Livingstone..).
Orosi sounds really lovely, apparently it´s a pretty village with hot springs etc., and lots of nice walks you can do. There´s also the possibility of taking a few days´of Spanish lessons, which we might take if it´s affordable, so we can converse a bit more with the locals.
Anyway, we´re off to lie in the hammocks again! I could get used to this...
Lots of love,
xxxx Lou (Ben is working on his website - now that´s a work ethic)
Thursday, 28 August 2008
San Jose
¡Hola!
Just a quick update to say we´ve arrived safely (eventually) and are in San Jose, the capital city. It´s 10am here and the weather is gorgeous - there´s a bit of a breeze but it´s warm and sunny. We´ve just had breakfast (a bargain at 3500 colones, or about three pounds fifty, for coffee on tap, juice, then pancakes and maple syrup for Ben and tropical fruit salad with banana yoghurt and oaty cereal for Lou) and are going to hang around at the hostel for a while, before venturing into the capital. The room is quite basic although clean with hot water, the communal areas of the hostel are really good, though - there´s a swimming pool, free internet, hammocks etc and there are lots of other young travellers around, so there´s a nice atmosphere. Too soon to say what it´s like here, but on first impressions it is very green, sunny and friendly.
The journey yesterday was okay, in that nothing went wrong, but it was just incredibly long and with the time changes, by the time we got to sleep it was 5am in our heads, but only 10pm in Costa Rica, so we had 12 hours of flights plus hanging around at Miami (where we had the biggest but most disgusting diet coke ever), and effectively a 27 hour day on about 2 hours sleep. Not an experience we´re keen to repeat!! The Virgin Atlantic tv on demand thing is excellent though (Family Guy, Simpsons, Blackadder and films, top 40 albums and audio books) (although annoying that they suddenly turn it off without warning when you´re about to descend) but by complete contrast, Costa Rican tv looks awful - when we were having breakfast this morning there was a music video on.. it was actually more naff than French rap, which certainly didn´t seem possible before today. The stereo was playing Red Hot Chili Peppers but has now moved on to a delightful medley of Eiffel 65 - Europop halfway across the world!
We haven´t found any English people yet, but there are some gringos (Americans), and lots of Dutch people, inexplicably..
Anyway, this was going to be a quick one, so we´ll sign off now.
Hope you are all well and that England has a tiny bit of sun (we will try to send some over, but in return can you keep the rain over there please?).
Lots of love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just a quick update to say we´ve arrived safely (eventually) and are in San Jose, the capital city. It´s 10am here and the weather is gorgeous - there´s a bit of a breeze but it´s warm and sunny. We´ve just had breakfast (a bargain at 3500 colones, or about three pounds fifty, for coffee on tap, juice, then pancakes and maple syrup for Ben and tropical fruit salad with banana yoghurt and oaty cereal for Lou) and are going to hang around at the hostel for a while, before venturing into the capital. The room is quite basic although clean with hot water, the communal areas of the hostel are really good, though - there´s a swimming pool, free internet, hammocks etc and there are lots of other young travellers around, so there´s a nice atmosphere. Too soon to say what it´s like here, but on first impressions it is very green, sunny and friendly.
The journey yesterday was okay, in that nothing went wrong, but it was just incredibly long and with the time changes, by the time we got to sleep it was 5am in our heads, but only 10pm in Costa Rica, so we had 12 hours of flights plus hanging around at Miami (where we had the biggest but most disgusting diet coke ever), and effectively a 27 hour day on about 2 hours sleep. Not an experience we´re keen to repeat!! The Virgin Atlantic tv on demand thing is excellent though (Family Guy, Simpsons, Blackadder and films, top 40 albums and audio books) (although annoying that they suddenly turn it off without warning when you´re about to descend) but by complete contrast, Costa Rican tv looks awful - when we were having breakfast this morning there was a music video on.. it was actually more naff than French rap, which certainly didn´t seem possible before today. The stereo was playing Red Hot Chili Peppers but has now moved on to a delightful medley of Eiffel 65 - Europop halfway across the world!
We haven´t found any English people yet, but there are some gringos (Americans), and lots of Dutch people, inexplicably..
Anyway, this was going to be a quick one, so we´ll sign off now.
Hope you are all well and that England has a tiny bit of sun (we will try to send some over, but in return can you keep the rain over there please?).
Lots of love,
Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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