La Fortuna swimming hole

LA FORTUNA

3^rd BRIDGE OUT OF TOWN

 Found this beauty for a swim and walk of 20 minutes. So refreshing!!!

ARENAL HIKE

ARENAL VOLCANO

The walk to the forward observation point opposite the lava outpour point was such a great time I’m going to go back and do it again. Because we didn’t see lava we get the option to have another go and I can’t resist. We stopped for photos and some Tucans feasting on some fig trees on the way around the volcano. A potholed road led to the start of our trek in. A long swinging bridge over a stream and we were on our way through the rainforest. We were shown the industrious leaf cutting ants and a very small snake that was quite venomous. The tree frog was still resting under its leaf but we saw it out and ready for action on the way back down much later. We had to climb up two steep parts on the way to the forward observation point opposite the steep incline where some lava rocks were trying there best to start avalanches by taking off down the slope.

We waited patiently for an hour while the sun went down somewhere else and we watched the clouds tease us with the possibility that they may actually go away and give us the lava show we were all looking for.

We started back down with torches and some of us saw a large dangerous snake that had been over the track but I only saw its bum disappearing into the rocks. At the large lower observation area we joined up with a younger group and we had a nice helping of rum and coke that got us all in the mood for the hot springs on the way back. Under the road bridge there are several ponds as the 38 deg water makes its way down from the thermal springs that the Tabacon Resort has built around. What a great mix of things to do in a 6 hour tour that costs $20 if you buy it from the right seller. Haha I paid $30!! but it was worth every penny .

ARENAL HIKE

LA FORTUNA GALLERIA

LA FORTUNA GALLERIA

LA FORTUNA---ARENAL VOLCANO

It was a pretty impressive drive from Tamarindo to La Fortuna by shuttle bus. The countryside has been kept clean and used productively. After Liberia, the sight of the country’s 2nd international airport, we headed east and climbed up to the central plateau again. It was getting cooler and we ran into rain as we started to drive around the 88sq kms Arenal Lake constructed to provide water and hydro electricity for these northern regions. I’m glad I didn’t have any time constraints because it continued to rain for 3 days and completely covered the very beautiful Arenal Volcano.

My accommodations ran an interesting gamut of types. I started at what is touted as the only 5 star hostel in Costa Rica and they charged accordingly at $14 for a dorm bed with 8 to a room. Still raining in the morning and I was bit wet when I got back from breakfast down the road, to find the toilet overflowing! So I went down the road to Luigi’s Casino Hotel and blew the budget on a room that had a genuine bath. It was only $35 a night and I had 3 baths and about a 100 laps of their pool in the rain, so it was well used. Wanting to see this volcano by hook or by crook I went looking again for a cheaper room and found a perfectly good one with a bathroom and TV for $10! So that was cheaper than the hostel, and it was a private room, so was happy to wait out the rain there. There were some breaks in the weather, to go out in and explore this pretty little town and the weekend was lively with a big bicycle race on out near the lake and a baseball game out the back. The central park and church were full of people most of the time and there were some nice shops to explore. Have included some photos from a really good Galleria. So now the rain has gone I can do a few tours to look at this wonderful region

LA FORTUNA

Arenal Volcano from La Fortuna

La Fortuna$10 a night

Luigi's bath La Fortuna

Approaching Arenal Lake and rain

Volcano covered in cloud

WITCHES ROCK and OLLIES POINT BOAT TRIP

Ollies Point

Witches Rock

Sunrise on way out

Our crew 3 young Brazilians and couple of older Yanks

Approaching Witches Rock

TAMARINDO

The 3 weeks at Freddies started to drag a bit so I was pleased to move on up the coast to Tamarindo which is the centre of some nice surf spots

Had some nice surf in Tamarindo . Got an increase in swell to justify going on a day trip to Ollies Point and Witches Rock. Its was only $90 for the day including food and drink so pretty good deal. Plenty of boards to hire so its all good---Have been doing the $8 a session deal and surfing on the main beach on a reef about 200 metres out. Nice RH wave and plenty of time to get up and then its a cut back across the white water to hook into a nice peak coming in from the left.The trip to Witches and Ollies was great and took 1and a half hours to reach by boat. I had Ollies to myself on a point like Crescent Heads at 2-4 ft. The shortboarders stuck to the centre of the beach which had a bit more power for them. On a mal it was beautiful to have time to get up and line up these beautiful walling tubes, drew a hoot or two out of me, yeah! Was in Tamarindo for 6 nights and then moved on to La Fortuna up in the high country again.

TAMARINDO COSTA RICA

Nahua Hotel

Howling monkeys

Around the point Tamarindo

Massages on beach

Tamarindo Reef

Santa Teresa

Mal Pais reef

Mal Pais reef

closeout Santa Teresa

Birds Mal Pais

Three weeks at Freddies

THREE WEEKS WITH FREDDIE AT SANTA TERESA

The 2 towns of Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are one ribbon and mostly dirt road and the first thing I noticed was the terrible dust that I would consider a health hazard. It seems strange to me that new businesses springing up everywhere don’t have to contribute to a fund to get the main road sealed in town. So the bus drops you off into dust and I got a taxi to Casa Capitan deep on the beach side away from the road.

   I’ve got to take my hat off to Freddie’s mother Carlota who has done a great job in setting up a wonderful place for high end vacationers to come and have exclusive rights. It did make it a bit tricky visiting for me, having to keep out of sight and spending a lot of time on my own in the Java House separate to the main building. You can look at the complex at this link    http://www.costarica-beachrentals.com/mphouses/capitanrental/villa.htm

Its very 5 star accommodation fronting onto a great beach with good waves and it was here where I finally got back into surfing after the elbow accident. The waves come out of deep ocean and had a lot of power and speed, but I struggled manfully and got the occasional wave slow enough for me to be able to stand up. Felt like a beginner again but everyone was encouraging and I stuck at it. Thanks to Mick for the loan of boards. You can see that this place is fantastic for good surfers with big peaks and reef breaks when the surf has some size. Unfortunately the hoped for surf on the Caribbean side did not arrive so we didn’t get to go to Bocas Del Toro. Maybe just as well for me, only just getting back into surfing.

   We went out for dinner a lot and one Sat night it was a benefit night for Haiti and I met local Costa Rican identity Roberto and we led each other astray with the Scotch but most of the people that I met in the area were Swedes which is not surprising seeing as how my hosts are Swedish-English. I’d like to thank Freddie and Carlota for their hospitality and look forward to coming back for a couple of days in late March to wish Freddie happy birthday. He’s already got his present and making good use of the camera bought in LA, see this link   http://freddiemeadows.blogspot.com/2010/01/barrel-of-season.html

   Too much of a good thing in the one place and I was ready to move on when the booking that required the main area and the Java house came up. I took a shuttle bus up to Tamarindo at the northern end of the Nicoya Peninsula to check out some of the other surf areas in Costa Rica.

living area Java House

Freddie and mates

Carlota and Freddie

Java House pool

Sofia Freddie Mick Michelle

Montezuma

Hotel Lys

Montezuma waterfall

FIRST WEEK IN COSTA RICA

FIRST WEEK  IN COSTA RICA

I arrived in San Jose about 8pm and went through Immigration ‘no worries’ and the shuttle took me to the Backpackers in the city for $22. Pretty good one, but my private room was pretty close to the nightclub and so it was pretty hard to get some sleep.

Spent a couple of days in the capital, that I found nice enough, after the negatives I’d heard about it. It probably helped that I was there for a weekend and it was fairly lively around the malls and markets. No 3G network available for non nationals made my IPhone purchase in LA redundant but you know, you hardly need a phone with such good internet access available.

While I was there I went on an all day tour that went to the Doka Coffee Plantation for breakfast and then onto the Poas Volcano which was very impressive with a diameter of  1300m and lots of bubbling steaming acidic water down there. After being blown away by that biggie it was a great surprise to go onto the highlight for me, at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This place had it all and a brilliant buffet lunch. There were lots of animals and birds and butterflies and then a settlers house with oxen before the descent down to the waterfalls of which there are 5!! A couple couldn’t be accessed because of damage to the tracks by the last earthquake toward the end of last year.

Dad was a worry, back in hospital in Australia with pneumonia, but all I could do was move on and hope he got better. So my next move was to Montezuma on the bottom of the Nicoya Peninsula and that wasn’t as easy as it should have been. The bus left San Jose at 6 am and descended off  the Central Plateau at about 1350 m down to sea level and the heat was amazing down there and it didn’t help when we reached Puntarenas and found the ferry was on strike! So we had to wait for a different company sailing to a place back up higher on the peninsula and catch that and reconnect to a bus there to take us to Cobarno and change to a local clanger to take us down the steep descent into Montezuma.

It was all worthwhile because this place has a laid back hippyish feel to it and I stayed in a brilliant rundown hotel? right on the beach. Knocked around with a couple of people met during the bus trips and had fun dining out and going to the local waterfall and swimming in the very hot sea. We actually compromised and found where the stream met the sea and had a mix of temperature there that was good. During the first walk into the waterfall a big troop of white faced monkeys moved through across the path so that was a big treat.

There was better news about Dad during these couple of days so when the 20th of January arrived I was off on the bus to Santa Teresa to visit Freddie and his Mum.

Flight to Costa Rica

FLIGHT LA—PHOENIX—SAN JOSE

COSTA RICA

It was just as hard leaving the States as it was coming in. The check in people from US Airlines wouldn’t let me board without an outward ticket from Costa Rica so it was a mad panic to get one before my flight left. All my efforts on the internet wanted to send me back to the US and then back to Panama City for around $250 so the check in girl got me a ticket that was quoted to me as $177 then I finished the deal with a ‘bad English’ girl from TACA and was told it was actually $377!!!! After they had already charged my account, what could I do with only 40 mins to departure. Flew to Phoenix and changed planes and walked miles in this huge airport (thank God for moving footways) At the departure gate they were offering $500 and a free overnight in Tampa Florida for some one to give up their seat and get to Costa a day later. Wow if I’d been less hassled I’d have taken it!!

On board I started out in the back row next to the toilets and moved to row 14 so 2 people could sit together and then the steward asked if I’d move so 2 sisters could sit beside one another AND then he led me up to row 1 First Class!! And said you deserve this. Wow 1^st time in First Class and on a 5 hour flight it was fantastic. So what goes around comes around.

San Jose COSTA RICA

SAN JOSE COSTA RICA