Day 99 : Costa Rica – Mexico

It's been a very long day of not so smooth sailing travel, lasting over 12 hours.  Enough for me to travel from Singapore to Europe!

First, I had taken an Uber from my hostel in San José to the airport.  As we were approaching the airport, I noticed the runway and airport looked really small and had some suspicions that I was being brought to the wrong one.

That was when I realised there were 2 airports in San José, and the search in Uber had automatically pinned the destination to a smaller chartered flights only airport.

Thankfully the main international airport was in the same direction approximately 20 minutes away, rather than being located on the opposite end of the huge San José city. 

Second, taking a 3hr flight from San José and bound for Mexico city airport, where I would then switched to another domestic flight to Guadalajara, I had a buffer of about 2 hours to catch my connecting flight.

Unfortunately my luggage could not be checked in through to Guadalajara at San José, and with the delay of luggage reaching the baggage claim turnstile, I had less than 30 minutes to check in for my connecting flight. 

The lines were long at the check-in counters and even after getting special treatment for immediate check-in, it was already too late to check my bag in at the counters and was asked to pull my luggage to the gates directly instead, with less the 15mins before the flight is due to fly. 

The airport in Mexico was rather large.  Running with luggage in hand to the security counters, I was panting on arrival, while trying to explain in my broken Spanish or Spanglish why I was pulling a big bag with me. 

What the staff at the check-in counter failed to tell me when I pulled my main luggage with me, was that by doing so, I would had to go through the security checks and no exemption would be given to liquids that exceeds 100ml per bottle (I had my toiletries, and even liquor in my main luggage),  and other dangerous objects such as multipurpose pocket knife. 

Not keen in giving those items up, and also with the security checks I had been put through, it meant that the plane would had likely taken off by the time I reach the gates.

So I decided to take a chance and went back to the counters and told the staff I wasn't allowed to pull my main luggage through security. 

The staff spoke in Spanish to another staff, something which I didn't understand, and after some communication and working on the computer, he turned to me and said, "the next flight is at 10.10pm, and there will be no additional fees. Wait at the section A/B, and check the gate number closer to departure time".  Phew! 

But that wasn't the last of it.  I could had easily miss boarding the plane, as the flight was no longer at 10.10pm, but rather 9.40pm.  Thankfully I asked one of the staff as I could not locate my flight with the right timing, and was pointed to the gate. 

Such a screwed up system at Mexico airport, and seems its always with Interjet that I had issues.  I recall the last time I flew Interjet, they insisted that I paid for the Cuban visa, when Singaporeans don’t need one to enter the country.

By the time I reached , it was close to midnight.  Thankfully I was Couchsurfing and to be hosted by Carlos, whom waited up for me to arrive.  If I was staying at a hostel, I might have trouble checking in at that hour! 

I suppose things could had been worse.  At least I managed to still arrive in Guadalajara on almost the same day and with no additional charges or penalty. 

Day 98 : Pacuare River Rafting – Pura Vida!

It's an early morning start as I had signed up for a white water rafting trip with Rios Tropicales, and was picked up from my hostel at 6am.

The white water rafting trip takes place along the Pacuare River, which is located about 2 hours outside of San Jose, and graded with Class 3 & 4 rapids. The highest grading for rafting is a Class 6. 

Before getting to the river, we were given a very hearty breakfast at the Rios Tropicales Operations Centre, comprising of Gallo pinto (rice mixed with frijoles or black beans), plantains, scrambled eggs, bread and fresh fruits.

The drive from the Operations Center to the river was an additional 30mins, where we were driven to the river in a bull dozer pulled wagon.

Day 97 : San Jose

Taking a 4 hour bus journey from La Fortuna via the town of San Ramon, I reached San Jose in the early afternoon, leaving me enough time to explore the city of San Jose after checking into Hostel Urbano Yoses. 

Located on a quaint street of Yoses district, the owners had converted the house into a very modern hostel, with a beautiful courtyard and a great view.  Strongly recommend anyone travelling into San Jose to stay here.

Hostel Urbano Yoses is located about a 20 mins walk into downtown.  Upon reaching the city centre, I bumped into Liam and Sue and we explored the town together.

Many had said it isn't worth staying in San Jose for more than a day.  For that reason I was expecting the city to look rather crappy and run down.  But I was pleasantly surprised.

Day 96 : La Fortuna

Having done enough volcanoes, I was originally not planning to visit La Fortuna

However, I wasn't keen to wake up early to take a 6am bus to San Jose, or wait till 2.30pm to depart.  So I decided to check out La Fortuna, which is just about 106 km away. 

There are 2 ways of getting to La Fortuna.  By public bus, which takes 6 hours.  Or a "jeep-boat-jeep" option that takes about 3.5hours, with the boat taking a short cut through the lake (instead of going around the lake on the bus). 

Leaving at 8am, I was hoping to be picked up by a Jeep, but a bus showed up instead. 

The journey towards the lake took over an hour as we went past windy roads with scenic views of the countryside.

Day 95 : A Monteverde Xtremo Christmas!

It's Christmas!!! 

I had signed up for a Canopy tour today with Xtremo tours, which includes 

• 16 Cables 
• 1 Jane (Tarzan) Swing
• 1 Rappel
• 1 Supergirl (Superman) 
• 1 Subterranean Supergirl (Superman)

My last Zip lining experience was about 5 years ago in Panama and I had great fun.

Monteverde Night Walking Tour

Jake had been in Monteverde a few days before me, and had strongly recommended the night walking tour, with good sightings of nocturnal animals including sloth. 

Here's Jake's sighting of a sloth which he had sent to me by Whatsapp. I cracked up laughing when he sent it over. 

Sloths were something I really wanted see in Costa Rica, particularly after having watched Zootopia! 

And I was lucky! 

Barely 5 minutes into my tour, just located close to the entrance, our guide spotted a sloth.

It was rather active too, and moved a lot faster than I expected. The guide told us that it was a 2-toe sloth.

There are 2 different breeds of 2-toe sloth and 4 different breeds of 3-toe sloths in the world.

They are often found on trees, and they only come on ground about once a week to do their business ie. Poop! 

They don't do business up in the trees, because they are often hanging upside down and it wouldn't be pleasant having poop fall on itself while upside down. 

They don't come down too often because they could easily be hunted by their predators. 

 
Here's a better closeup of sloth, taken from a postcard which I had bought in Monteverde!



While recording the video of the sloth, I noticed something crawling on my arm and towards my phone.  I freaked out and tried to shake it off me.

Turns out, it was a stick insect and had probably been attracted to the light on my phone. 

We continued walking through the forest with a guide.  I was constantly amazed at how the guide managed to spot various birds, viper snakes, bugs and frogs in the dark.


We even saw a tarantula, and a glowing scorpion.  I was in awe at how it glowed, and even more rare seeing it with a prey in its mouth.  



It had been a very productive tour, seeing so many different animals within an hour.

Definitely a highlight in Monteverde!

Day 94 : Exploring Monteverde

Looking to explore Monteverde, my hostel suggested that I combine the walk with a visit to the infamous Ficus Tree. 

They didn't have a map, so one of the staff David, drew me one.

Ta-dah!

Enroute to the Ficus tree, I bumped into Vincent, a British staying in Canada, whom I had met at the bus stop while waiting for the bus to Monteverde, and we decided to explore Monteverde together.

His hostel had given him a more professional looking map of Monteverde and what it had to offer, and that was when I first heard about Cerro de Los Amigos.

Located on a steep hill and said to offer wonderful views, the trek up from the foot of the hill took us about an hour to reach the top. 

Day 92 – 93 : Rivas & Getting to Monteverde from Nicaragua

Why Rivas? 

I had originally wanted to stay 1 more night in The Landing at Ometepe, but they were fully booked.  As I had already covered all the things I wanted to see, I decided to head back to the mainland.

All routes to the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica will have to go through the town of Rivas.

Staying in Rivas was a means to an end - I didn't have to wake up extremely early to catch the 6am ferry from Ometepe and minimised being time pressured with wrong information by exorbitantly priced taxis, which I had heard happening to many.  

Getting to Rivas from San Jorge can be easily done by taking one of the collectivo taxis for USD1.

Not too much to see in Rivas, and seems to be a town mostly catered to the local community.

 

Day 88 – 91 : Ometepe Island

Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes (Concepcion and Maderas)rising from Lake Nicaragua, joined by a low isthmus. 

Getting to Ometepe requires taking a boat from San Jorge (mainland) to either Mogoyolpa or San Jose.

There are more connections to Moyogalpa and thus made that my arrival point into the island.

Finca Mystica

Finca Mystica is located between Merida and San Ramon. 

It is called Finca, as it is a farm located on 25 acres of forest.  From time to time, you could hear the cries of the howler monkeys on the property, and see fireflies glowing in the night.

They also grow many different herbs, plants and fruit trees on the property, many of which are used to prepare the delicious meals served in their kitchen.  .

Dinner menu is changed daily, and served at 7pm, allowing the opportunity for all guests on property to get together and interact. 

Scooting around Ometepe

Getting around Ometepe isn’t easy without own transport, and thus I was very interested in renting a scooter to explore the rest of the island. 

There was the possibility of renting a bike around Finca Mystica, but I wasn’t keen on renting it from that side of the island – There is only a small section of road that is nicely paved, and the area around Merida unfortunately isn’t one of them (read : dirt roads with uneven gravel ground). 

Below map shows the sections with good paved road (orange highlighted route).

Kayaking Rio Istian

Another activity strongly recommended to do is the kayaking tour along Rio Isitian. 

Besides Chris and I, a family (John, Sarah and daughter Alex) whom we met at Finca Mystica had also decided to join us on the trip.

Greek Restaurant Thalassa

The 40mins walk from Finca Mystica to Caballitos' Mar, the starting point of our kayaking trip, brought us past a small quaint Greek restaurant (Thalassa) midway, where we decided to grab lunch.

Decorated in blue and white, the Greek flag colours, we were the only guests at Thalassa and ordered a Chicken gyros pita each with juice. 

Food was good, served with fresh cut potato chips.

We were told that the chef had stayed in Greece for 17 years and cooks all meals from scratch, and that they had just recently opened the restaurant.

The place was interestingly decorated with hand made hanging lights, and even a sailing boat made out from stones, logs, recycled clothing and decorative lights.

The staff were so friendly and good natured, and before we left, handed us name cards that were personally hand written.

I would strongly recommend anyone who is on the way to the San Ramon Waterfalls or planning on going kayaking to visit them for a meal. 

San Ramon Waterfalls

Staying at Finca Mystica has its benefits.

It is about a 30 minutes walk along the coast to the entrance of San Ramon Waterfalls, one of the must-do in Ometepe.

The entrance fee costs USD3 or NIO87.  From the ticket counter, it is about 3.5km hike to the Waterfalls. 

A moderate hike, with a couple of steep climbs nearing the top, it took us about 1.5hrs one way, with great views along the way.