Mars 2022 - Costa Rica - Tortuguero, Cahuita

 The Caribbean coast was definitely our favorite part of Costa Rica, with beautiful nature and fantastic opportunities to spot wildlife. To get from La Fortuna to Tortuguero, we took a shuttle (minibus + boat) since going by public transportation we wouldn't even be sure that we would make it the whole way in one day (4 buses + boat). The shuttle service was expensive; despite the many shuttle companies in the country it was not possible to pay anything less than $60. At least, we really enjoyed the trip. The boat tour, which was about an hour, was almsot like a sightseeing tour, as the captain would slow down in several places along the river so we could spot crocodiles, caimans, birds, iguanas and various other lizards. The small village is quite touristy but had a really nice atmosphere, with just a single "main street" with some restaurants and shops on each side.

In the evening we went looking for something small to eat, since we had had a late lunch. We found some street food (which generally seems quite uncommon in Costa Rica) - some grilled chicken skewers, or tortilla stuffed with a big piece of cheese and some sourcream. At one of the restaurants, we ordered a plate of patacones - smashed plantains, fried, and served kind of like fries but in a different format, and with a few dips, like guacamole and pico de gallo. Patacones soon became a favorite snack or side dish, somewhat reminding us of the tajadas we had in Honduras, but quite different still. Getting fried bananas with your burger or fish might seem like an odd idea, but it was so good. 

The next day we were up extra early, to head to the national park. The main area of the park has a walking trail, but also consists of waterways that can be traveled and experienced by canoe, kayak, or a boat with a silent motor. Most of the guided tours start at 6 am when the park opens, and though we decided to go by ourselves (and by kayak) we opted for the same time, hoping we would get the opportunity to spot some more animals. I can say that this was one of our top 3 experiences of this trip. One of the first things that happened when we started to paddle towards the canals was that we saw an otter in the water! As we paddled on, there were quite a few guided groups around, and this meant we were sometimes able to see caimans, or a sloth high up in the trees, that a tour guide pointed out.

The main benefit of going by ourselves though was that we could keep going when the tour groups turned around to head back, since we didn't have a time limit. As we paddled on, further into the river system, we saw several lizards, including the green basilisks, turtles, monkeys, and - a tamandua! A small, tree dwelling anteater with a long tail munching on a termite nest high up in the trees. That was a really cool experience, and one of my favorite wildlife encounters. On top of all that, the environment was incredibly beautiful and it was pretty amazing just paddling around in the quiet, serene jungle.

Tamandua! yeah, you might need to zoom in a bit...

Since the national park entry was valid for a full day, we took the walking trail in the afternoon. We spotted some green macaws cuddling up in a tree, and two guilty-looking raccoons crossing the path, but most of the trail was just a path by the beach.

The next day we went to another, smaller part of the national park which meant we first needed to take a boat taxi to the small village San Fransisco. Around the entrance and along the path were plenty of big spiders, which we assumed were not venomous (although quite creepy...) since they had let them be. This area is known to host red poision dart frogs, so of course we went scouting for them along the trail. We found two of them, very small and cute! The short trail went up a hill and provided us with a pretty view of Tortuguero, but spent about as much time waiting for the boat back as we did walking the trail. In the evening we had a very nice dinner, having shrimps in coconut sauce with pineapple rice and (of course) patacones. 

View of Tortuguero

The transportation to our final stop in Costa Rica was also a prebooked shuttle - which included a three hour boat ride, just as beautiful as all of the Tortuguero area, and then a short taxi to Cahuita. A small village, right next to a national park, but with a bit more touristy and expensive restaurants. Our first afternoon we decided to walk to one of the beaches in the area, and on the way we saw two sloths! This was the first ones we spotted by ourselves, and close enough to the ground that you could actually see for certain that it was a sloth.

In the morning, we woke up to the sound of howler monkeys, loud enough that I almost thought they were in the hostel garden. After breakfast we prepared some lunch sandwiches and headed to the park, which nicecly enough had a donation based entry fee (i.e. pay what want). The trail was 8km long and went through different types of nature which was really nice - the only downside was that it wasn't a loop, meaning we had to walk all the way back again (unless we wanted to try to catch a bus or a taxi). Along this trail we saw several sloths, monkeys (howlers, spider, and white faced capucins), raccoons and toucans. The beaches here were incredibly beautiful, so we also took the opportunity to spend some time on the pretty, white beaches until the park rangers came to shoo everyone out around 3pm.

We decided to come back again the next day, to do a shorter walk and spend most of the day on the beach. Despite our lunch sandwiches being safely stored inside a backpack, we were visited by both monkeys and raccoons sneaking up silently while were reading our books. We had learned the day before that trying to eat anything in the beach area would attract cheeky, thieving monkeys (and clearly raccoons as well, though they were much more timid), so we had to walk a bit further off in order to eat our lunch in peace.

Aside from the beautiful surroundings and beautiful beaches, Cahuita provided the best sloth encounters in Costa Rica as we saw many of them, and several close enough to the ground that we did not need binoculars to see them clearly. Walking around the cloud forests scanning the treetops is not necessary at all, if you plan on going to Cahuita.

Mars 2022 - Costa Rica - Monteverde, La Fortuna

Traveling to Costa Rica went a lot smoother than we expected. We had started early in the morning, taking a taxi from Popoyo to the border, in order to be sure that we would make it all the way to Monteverde in one day. However, while we were waiting outside the immigration office to get into Costa Rica, we met an American guy who lived in the country - Joe - who offered to give us a ride. At first he said he would drive us part of the way to reduce the number of buses we would have to take, but in the end he drove us all the way to our hostel! The road we took, which I guess was not the most common route, included some very steep dirt roads and had us going high up in the mountains - lucky for us he had a really good car! - and we got some beautiful views. On the way there we also stopped by the side of the road and he bought a bottle of vino de coyol for us to try, which is apparently a local specialty in the region which we were only passing through on the way to Monteverde. It's a palm wine, though with little to no alcohol, and the taste was something that could be likened with kombucha.

extreme touristing in Santa Elena

Our hostel was a little bit outside of the town called Santa Elena, with a very long and steep hill leading up to it, so we definitely got some good exercise those days. Monteverde and Santa Elena are quite high up, and the area is famous for its cloud forests (which we also visited in Honduras). Walking around in the small town, it seemed we had all weathers at once, all the time. It was usually windy, rainy and sunny, and there would almost always be a rainbow in one direction or another.

Our first meal in Costa Rica we tried some local things off the menu: empanadas, chorreadas (fried corn tortilla with cheese on) and tortilla aliñada (something like a cornbased "pancake", served with sour cream) and guanábana (soursop) juice! The guanábana was a favorite for me, and something we only saw in Costa Rica and a few places in Panama. That first afternoon we also went to a famous ficus tree in town, which has grown to look like a bridge and makes for cool photos.

chorreada (left) & tortilla aliñada (right)

the famous ficus root bridge

The next day we took a shuttle to the Santa Elena nature reserve, where the entrance fee is about half that of the Monteverde national park. We walked all of the trails, about 10km in total, mostly with our heads tilted back to scan the treetops hoping to see a sloth, or the quetzal bird. We didn't. But the forest was beautiful, and we did spot a few capucin monkeys and some hummingbirds. We had planned to walk all the way back to the hostel since the shuttle back was only at specific times, but then we were offered a ride by a passing car, which we happily accepted.

For a late lunch, we went to a soda, which is the name for a local, cheap restaurant. We ate casado, which is a cheap set meal: usually rice, beans, fried plantain, salad, and protein, and also includes a juice or other beverage.

The next day while strolling towards a lunch place, Valle brushed something off his neck and we wore both stunned when we realized what it was - a small scorpion! Later we found another one in our room, and our hostel owner assured us that it's not dangerous. Still, not something you want crawling around your neck. 

We decided to hike up to a viewpoint called Cerro Amigos. Along the way, and at the top if the weather is clear, you could see all the way to the coast. The road up was really steep, and when we reached the top it was unfortunately engulfed in clouds. Then we found another trail going down which went through the forest, which we were happy to explore instead of going back down the steep car road. We were treatet with beautiful cloud forest, just like in the nature reserve (but without the entrance fee), where we were completely alone. We emerged from the trail inside a huge resort area so it would not have been possible to find the trail from the other direction unless staying at that resort.

While not being an official restaurant, the owner of our hostel who used to work at a restaurant for many years would offer to make pizza for a reasonable price if asked. Tired from a day of walking, and not feeling like going down that steep hill in the dark and chilly wind, we ordered one for our last night. And it was so good! The owner also showed Valle some tarantulas by the side of the road (which I opted not to look at).

From Monteverde we booked a shuttle to La Fortuna - the most popular way to travel between the two places, as it also includes a one hour boat ride on the lake. It felt quite chaotic as there were a lot of people getting dropped off by the lake and a lot of different boats, and we didn't know which company or agency we were travelling with. But somehow it worked out! La Fortuna is a bit bigger than Monteverde, and more touristy. We didn't like it too much, and it didn't feel like it offered anything unique. Some years ago, the volcano near town was still active and thus was the main draw to the place, but currently it is not, and the top of the volcano is almost always covered in clouds. There are also several sloth reserves or areas where they do guided tours to see sloths (and other animals of course) but they can charge about $50 for a 1,5hour tour. We did see one sloth in a tree from the street as we walked past one of those areas, but we didn't feel like spending that money. (We also saw a lot more sloths in Cahuita, which you can read about in the next post!).

We had been recommended to hitchhike in Costa Rica as an easy way to get around, but we're not really used to it (and perhaps too Swedish?) and soon felt a bit awkward. We did manage to hitchhike some of the way to El Silencio, one of the cheapest hiking areas. We walked all of the trails and had a pretty nice day. We encountered a tour group that had stopped on the trail as there was a jumping pit viper snake occupying the path. Apparently very dangerous, we all had to stand back and wait while the guide slowly and very carefully poked the snake with a stick to get it to move away. We also saw a family of coatis running across the trail. 

On the way back we stopped for a quick bath in some natural hotsprings, though it was quite crowded. The next day we mainly walked around town, and in the afternoon we visited El Salto, a small waterfall with a rope swing, which was free. While there are more things to do in La Fortuna, many of them were quite costly. While the hike was pretty nice, overall La Fortuna felt like a place we could just as well have skipped.

Mars 2022 - Nicaragua - Isla de Ometepe, Popoyo

Our next stop in Nicaragua was Isla de Ometepe, and island with two volcanoes tied together with a chunk of land. We spent a whole week on this island, first exploring, hiking, and kayaking, and then a few days to just relax. The first three nights we spent in Moyogalpa, the town where we arrived with the ferry. Our hostel was a bit like a homestay as we had both breakfast and dinner in the family’s kitchen. One of the days we rented a scooter and drove around the island, which was longer than we expected, and with pretty bad roads in some parts, but with beautiful views.

Our first hike was the western volcano, Volcán Concepción, 1610 m high. The return trip took about 6,5 hours, and we walked about 16km. First we went through the forest, steep and sweaty in the heat, stopping occasionally when our guide showed us different plants and their usages. Once we got about halfway up, we took a bit longer break. As we got above the tree line we were greeted by strong winds which cooled us down quickly, though we took care to apply some extra sunscreen as the sun was still very strong. The last part of the hike we basically walked straight up the volcano on the steep, rocky and windy path. The crater was very impressive, and we enjoyed the incredible view from the top as well as a small lunch before we headed back down. In the trees on the way down we saw some howler monkeys, a capuchin monkey and plenty of blue jay magpies.

The last four days we spent at Finca Mystica, a place a bit further into the jungle on the south part of the island, with cozy bungalows and great food. The shuttle we took between our accommodations was kind enough to stop at Santa Cruz, where the weekly Saturday market offered various food and snacks, many of them vegetarian or vegan, so we could buy a bunch to bring with us. In the afternoon, we decided to join some other people at our hostel going kayaking in the wetlands. While the wetlands area was beautiful and we got to see lots of birds, turtles and a caiman, we had to paddle pretty far to and from this very small area, where we only spent about 10 minutes. However, we had good company and once we returned to the kayak place we enjoyed a few beers and the sunset before we headed back to Finca Mystica.

The next day, it was time to hike the second volcano, Volcán Maderas, 1394 m high. Maderas is a very old volcano which is now completely covered in forest, and with a crater lake. This hike was very different from hiking Concepción, and unlike any other volcano hike we have done before. When we got to about 1000 m elevation, the trail became very steep. Landslides had put big trees across the path, and we had to climb over, under and squeeze through branches and tree trunks, and often having to use both hands to climb our way up towards the summit. It was a lot of fun, definitely one of the more adventurous hikes we’ve done! As we had heard that it was possible to swim in the lake, we let our guide lead the way down into the crater. The trail down was very muddy and it didn’t take long before the both of us had stepped on what we thought was solid ground and ended up with a mud-covered shoe. And so, we were looking forward to a dip in the lake to wash off the mud before having some lunch. However, it turned out that the lake consisted of about 70% mud and just a small layer of water on top. Our attempts to swim ended up getting us more dirty than when we went in! If you ever find yourselves doing this hike – don’t try to swim in this lake. It’s not worth it. Overall we really enjoyed the hike though, and after hiking two volcanoes in just a few days we were happy to spend some more days just relaxing.

cloudy cloud forest

view of Concepción

the non-swimmable lake

Apparently we timed our stay with the last Sunday rodeo of the season, an event where all locals gather and there is plenty of food, drinks and music. This was however the same day that we hiked Maderas, and as we are not big fans of rodeo we decided to stay in, drink some local rum, and rest our tired feet. Others who went told us of a fun, chaotic evening with DJs as well as brass bands playing at the same time – no doubt an interesting experience.

Around this time, as we had been considering how and where to finish our trip and when to return home, the flight prices suddenly went up a lot, and we had to hastily buy a very expensive flight ticket back from Panama City. We also started to plan out a few stops in Costa Rica and Panama, and booked our accommodations during Easter as Semana Santa, as it’s called here, is a big holiday and we didn’t want to risk waiting and finding everything fully booked.

Time for our last stop in Nica, for which we chose Guasacate – the northern part of Playa Popoyo. Most hostels here were either expensive or fully booked, but we ended up finding a place via AirBnB – Casa La Aventura - that had a few rooms as well as our choice, a van remade into a “double room”. As with most of the Pacific Coast in this region, Popoyo is a surf spot, but we chose it as a place to relax, walk along the beach and read books. 

The hostess at our place told us about a turtle sanctuary a bit further north, where she had been lucky enough to see hundreds of turtles hatch, so we decided to rent bicycles for a day trip there. We stopped in El Astillero on the way, a small fishing village, where we had some nice lunch, including tostones con queso (fried plantain with big chunks of cheese). The last part of the road to the sanctuary was very steep, and we arrived tired, warm and sweaty only to find out that there were no turtles there, and that the beach still required and entrance fee to be paid. We managed to find another beach nearby where we rested a bit, before starting again on the long ride back. At least we got plenty of exercise, but I would say it’s not worth the trip (especially on rental bicycles) without knowing for certain it’s turtle season. A day walking along the beach and cooking some dinner was a nice way to finish off our time in Nica before heading to Costa Rica.

Mars 2022 - Nicaragua - León, Granada

Coming from the cool February weather in Honduras, the moment we stepped off the bus at the border to Nicaragua it felt like we were in the desert. The dry heat and scorching sun caught us a bit off guard. Once again we got dropped off by the side of the road in the dark, as our bus headed to San José while we made León our first stop in the country. León was a nice town with a strong backpacker vibe. Surrounded by volcanoes, there are enough activities to keep you occupied for days. We stayed our first two nights at Vía Vía, a backpacker hostel which also hosted one of the biggest tour agencies in the town - Volcano Day.

The first day we took our time to walk around the city, look at the colorful colonial buildings, and visit museums. First, we visited the Museum of Traditions and Legends, a small museum where we could read about myths, legends, folklore and fables. While the museum itself didn't feel like it was very well-visited, the stories were quite interesting - they seemed a bit weird and crazy, but then again most myths and legends do! It was even more rewarding when we returned to our hostel and saw that they had an entire mural depicting most of these mythical people and creatures; had we not gone to that museum we would have had no idea what we were looking at.

The second museum we visited was Museum of the Revolution. We were a bit surprised to find out that this was not a museum where you go around looking at things yourself. There was a single guide, who himself had participated in the revolution, who walked the tourists around the building and told the whole story, while showing old photographs and articles. With a mix of Spanish and English, he made sure everyone got the full story, even those who joined us when we had only gotten halfway. The tour of the building ended with a very sketchy walk up on the half broken tin roof (which had arrows painted on it to show where you needed to step) to show some views of the city. It was definitely a museum experience out of the ordinary.

view from a sketchy rooftop

In the afternoon, we took a shuttle from our hostel to the beach, which was only $2 for those who had booked a tour with Volcano Day. We spent a few hours reading and watching surfers, and then watched one of the most beautiful sunsets we've seen. Out of all the sunsets that we've seen, this was definitely special.

The next day we went on our Volcano Day tour. They offer tours to most of the surrounding volcanoes, but several of them were very expensive since the roads are pretty bad and you need a 4x4 to reach the starting points. The most popular tour here was to go volcano boarding - basically you get an overall and a board/sled and you get to go down the sandy slopes of Cerro Negro pretty fast. We thought this might be a bit touristy for us (there were big groups going from many different tour operators every day) so we instead picked something we thought would suit us a bit better: an overnight hike to Volcán Telica, around 1030 m high. Our group was very small, as we were joined only by two more people, one of which who was working as a volunteer at the hostel, plus our guide. As we started the hike around midday, the trail up was hot, dry, and dusty. We set up camp near the top and went up to the very big and impressive crater, where we watched the sun set over the volcanoes to the west. In the morning, we walked the short path up to the crater again to watch the sun rise over the volcanoes to the east, before taking a short route down on the other side where the car to take us back was waiting. We had a really nice time at Telica, and the only thing we could complain about was that we wished we got a little more food.

On the topic of food, our go-to in León was a spot behind one of the churches where some women served various grilled treats and you can just point at the ones you want. A lot of them were meat of course, but we also found some nice halloumi-like cheese, cheese filled potato, fried yuca, fried banana and more. Served of course with some salad, and the traditional Nican gallo pinto - rice with beans.

Our next destination in Nicaragua was Granada, a town that felt even more touristy but less backpack-y. A long walking street packed with restaurants selling the same type of food and offering the same happy hour deals, but every single one playing different music - seemed to be targeting mostly local tourists. We found our own favorite spot at Pan de Vida - a brick oven bakery/pizza place with a cozy backyard. While we found their pizza to be more like crisp bread with topping, their huge slices of banana bread, big cinnamon rolls, great coffee, and cocktail deals to match the walking street (2 cocktails for $3) had us coming back on a daily basis.

Like León, Granada also offers volcanoes to see. After inquiring at a tour agency, we decided to visit Volcán Mombacho, 1344 m, on our own, hoping to save some money by taking a chicken bus. However, we found out that it was not really a cheap deal to visit Mombacho. Being an old, tree-covered volcano, it had three walking trails on the top, and the way to that top was about 5km long and very steep. As we got to the ticket office, we were informed that a car ride up would cost an additional $15 on top of the $5 that was the entrance. Then, we would have to pay a second fee depending on which trail we wanted to walk - the shortest one cost only $2, while the longest one which we were hoping to walk, was $6 but also required a guide, which would cost an additional $17 for a Spanish-speaking guide, or $22 for and English-speaking guide. Since we thought the car ride up the mountain was too expensive we wanted to walk up, but figured we would likely be too tired to walk the long trail when we got there, so in the end we only payed $7/person, but indeed we got a lot of exercise!

howler

That road up the mountain was really steep, almost the entire way. At least, we got to see a lot of howler monkeys, and we got a nice view at the top. The heat had us compeltely drenched, though, and tired. Walking down that steep hill again was not much easier. We wanted to take a little detour on our way back and took a chicken bus to Masaya, famous for its craft market. However, we got there tired and hungry and had to hunt down some quesillos (quite similar to pupusas - cheese filled tortillas) first. When we got to the market it was late enough that it was empty of people and most stalls starting to close up, but we did have enough time to find two small vases as souvenirs.

The next day, as our legs needed some rest, we decided to let the upper half of our bodies work instead! We rented kayaks, and headed out among the islets of Granada, 365 small islands in Lake Nicaragua that were formed as a reaulst of an eruption by Mombacho, a very long time ago. It was very beautiful, and quite nice to just paddle around the different islands. Some hosting fancy resorts or houses, while others were home to monkeys, or bats that camouflaged against the bark of a tree. The tamales that we had bought at the market and brought for lunch though was a bit disappointing as they had no flavouring or filling at all, not even salt I think - not at all like the big and tasty nacatamal that we had bought from a kiosk on the square two days before. As we found it was time to paddle pack to mianland, the sun was already high in the sky and we nearly got burnt to crisps before we got back. After another day filled with adventure, we enjoyed some gallo pinto with cheese and tajadas (banana chips here) with an iced cacao drink from our favorite kiosk.

Overall, we preferred León over Granada as we found it to have a nicer atmosphere and better and cheaper food. The cheap and high quality cocktails in Granada was a nice treat though!