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MONTEVERDE & THE NICOYA PENINSULA, COSTA RICA - JUN 4 TO 12

Travelling to Costa Rica (CR) meant another boarder crossing. It took about 2 hours to get to the boarder from San Juan del Sur. Everything went smoothly until I got to Costa Rican immigration. They would only let me in the country if I had a plane, bus or boat ticket showing proof of departure from CR. Of course my guide book did not have his info listed as an entry requirement so my only option was to purchase a bus ticket from Tica Bus from San Jose to Panama City for $37US. There was a ticket booth right next to immigration. The ticket is good anytime but I do not expect to use it as I'm planning on crossing the boarder into Panama in the SE corner of CR to get to Bocas del Toro and then likely flying from there since no roads connect this part of Panama to the rest of the country.

I'm heading for La Fortuna in the north central highlands near Volcan Arenas. I have to change buses a couple of times and finally get to a small town in the mountains called Tilaran where I need to transfer to my last bus to get to La Fortuna. But I find out that there has been a bridge washed out so not buses are going to La Fortuna and it's at least a full days travel or more to go a different route. Luckily Monteverde is just over 3 hours away but it's 2:00PM and the last bus left at noon so I'm staying the night. Tilaran is a beautiful town in the mountains. It is about 1500m above sea level so the temperature is only mid 20ies with low humidity. The town is spotless without the usual garbage everywhere which is a nice change. The buildings and homes are all very nicely built and modern looking. Costa Rican call themselves Ticas, and only 15% of Ticas live below the poverty level which is about the same level as Canada and the US. I get a nice clean room at Hotel Tilaran for about $8US and have a very good curry chicken stir fry dinner at a local soda (restaurant). 


Monteverde Reserve

 The next day, I catch the noon bus to Monteverde. Within a few minutes of leaving town it starts to rain and we drive through a major thunder storm for the next 3 hours to Monteverde. The dirt road is very narrow and winding and I was worried we were going to get stuck on one of the hills because of the heavy rain but we make it. I choose the closest hostel to where the bus arrived to stay at call El Tuoscan because it is just pouring out when I arrive. Monteverde is famous for the Cloud Forests. The town I'm staying in is actually called Santa Elena but the area is known as Monteverde because of the famous nearby nature reserve.


Monteverde Trails

 It was the first private nature reserve in CR and was established in the early 1970s. There are now 8 or 9 private reserves in the area and all are open to the public for hiking and bird watching. Monteverde pioneered the ecotourism industry in CR. There are some beautiful national parks in CR but there are far more private nature reserves. Santa Elena is a small but bustling town full of vacationers and backpackers. The town was basically established in the years following the creation of the Monteverde reserve to provide the tourist who flock here a place to stay and some nice restaurants and shops to enjoy while they are here. Most visitors have the elusive Quetzal as the most desired of wildlife to hopefully see while in the park. The Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala and can be found from Mexico to Panama but only in mountain forests at least 1000m above sea level. I've spent a fair bit of time trying to see one.

Waterfall in Monteverde

Bird watchers describe the Queztal as the most beautiful bird in Central America and the colourful tail feathers of the male were much prized by the Mayans. So I decide to go to the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde the next morning early when the most wildlife should be visible. I'm at the park by 6:30AM and am waiting for it to open at 7:00AM and low and behold, there is a beautiful male Quetzal sitting on a lower branch in a tree right next the the reserve ticket booth. Unfortunately, he flies off just as I get my camera out so I did not get a photo. I decide to go on a guided tour or the park and between the entrance fee and the guide's fee it costs $33US. I spend the next 3 hours hiking around the trails and if it wasn't for all the tropical flora, the guide would have very little to show us. We see a couple of types of humming birds, some finches and a couple of stick bugs (yes, they look like sticks) but just as we are leaving the park the guide hears a Quetzal call and the guide uses a powerful bird watching telescope on a tripod that he has been carrying around to zoom in on him. I walk the 8kms back to town and come across another beautiful green bird called the Emerald Toucanet, similar to a Toucan but the beak is smaller. When I get back to the hostel, I compare notes with everyone staying there and I'm the only one to see a Quetzal or a Toucanet. I couple of German girls went on a specific 4 hour bird watching tour and saw very little which was a recurring theme from everyone I talked to. Although I'm very pleased to see the Quetzal, I find the amount of wildlife and birds lacking. I'm not sure if it was just the wrong time of year or if the area is just getting too many tourists, but the area and the cloud forests were gorgeous. I originally had planned to stay another day and hike the Reserva Santa Elena which is the next biggest reserve but it's raining the next morning so I decide to head for the beaches of the Pacific coast along the Nicoya Peninsula.



Sunset at Playa Brasilito

 The Nicoya Peninisula has dozens of beaches; some are famous surf beaches while others are better suited for swimming and relaxing. I choose to travel to 3 different towns and explore their beaches; Playa Brasilito, Samara and Montezuma. My guide book describes Playa Brasilito as a small fishing village and beach sandwiched between the more famous Flamingo and Conchal beaches. It is an awesome location with the nicest Pacific coast beaches I've seen so far. I arrived at Brasilito around 2:00PM and I get a room at the Cabinas Flury for $20US a night. Within minutes I'm walking south down a grey sand beach that stretches a couple kms in both directions from town. About 2 kms along, I cross a small rocky point and I am now at Playa Conchal.


Playa Conchal

 Much of the beach at Conchal is made from tiny pieces of millions of shells; mostly Conch shells. The beach is beautiful with no hotels, bars or restaurants visible from the beach and it stretches for 3 or 4kms across a large bay. The surf at both these beaches is very small so it is perfect for swimming so I spend the rest of the day swimming, relaxing and reading a book. Late that afternoon as I'm about to cross the rocky point back to Playa Brasilito, I come upon a couple of troops of monkeys in the trees along the beach. One troop are Howlers while the others are a type of Spider Monkey.


Howler Monkey at Playa Conchal

There is probably 20 to 30 of them and many of the females have very small baby monkeys holding tightly on to their chests. These babies are so small I did not see them at first until one of the mothers came down to a lower branch just a few feet from me and then the baby was clearly visible. I spend the next 20 minutes getting my best closeup view of monkeys so far and it is all made so much better by the 6 or 7 cute little baby monkeys. I decide to walk the 7km to Playa Flamingo the next morning. It is a beautiful sunny day and the temperature is just smoking with humidity to match. I'm so glad to get to the beach and I'm quickly in the water cooling down.

Playa Flamingo

Playa Flamingo is a awesome white sand beach on a bay with a steep hillside. The hillside is full of some monster houses, high end condos and expensive hotels. This is the high rent district of CR and I can tell the beach had been raked to perfection that morning. I spend a few hours relaxing on the beach until my stomach tells me that it's lunch time. But after seeing the prices at the local restaraunts, I decide to catch a bus back to Brasilito and have lunch there. I then spend another nice afternoon swimming and relaxing at Playa Conchal but I did not see the monkeys this time.

Islands of Playa Samara

Samara is another beach town on the central part of the Nicoya Peninsula and I catch the bus there the next day. I stay at a nice hostel called Casa Brian which is owned and managed by Brian an ex commercial fisherman from Haida Gwaii in BC. It was about a 1.5km walk from the bus station to the hostel and I pretty much dying from the heat after carrying by pack and duffel bag. So, I'm quickly off to the beach which is right across the road for a swim. Again, I spend a nice relaxing afternoon at the beach.

Playa Carrillo

The next morning after a great banana pancake breakfast that Brian cooks, I walk south about 5kms to Playa Carrillo. Once again it is a gorgeous beach that stretches about 3km around a large bay. It's a Saturday and there are lots of Ticas there with there families enjoying a day on the beach. There is very few houses and one hotel in Carrillo. It was about to be turned into a beach resort destination 5 years ago and then the US banking system crashed and none of the resorts or condos went in. Many investors lost everything and there is land for sale everywhere.

Vultures Near Samara

All throughout Cental America I've seen large black vultures with a little white on there wing tips. Everyday I see them soaring about high in the sky often in large groups. I've come across them on the ground many time but was never able to get close enough to get a decent picture. Well on my walk to Playa Carrillo, I came across some road kill and there were dozens of vultures and I finally got a decent picture. They actually look very majestic until you get closer and realize that their black head is featherless.



Sunset Over the Gulf of Nicoya

 The last town on the peninsula that I visit is Montezuma on the south coast of the Peninsula. It is only about 30kms from Samara but the only roads are very rough dirt roads with several rivers to ford. Only 4WD vehicles can make this trip and I met people that took over 7 hours to travel 25kms as the crow flies on these roads. No buses or shuttles are available so I have to take a bus all the way around the Gulf of Nicoya to Puntarenas and then catch a ferry back to the Peninsula and then take the bus 1.5 hours to Montezuma, 8 hours later I arrive and I get a room at Hotel Lys for $12US.


Montezuma Waterfall

 The main attraction to Montezuma is some waterfalls a few kms from town, the beaches and the Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco. Unfortunately the reserve is closed Mon to Wed because it is the slow season and I arrived Sunday night, so I hike to the waterfall in the morning. There are 3 separate falls and there is supposed to be some real good cliff jumping into the pool at the second falls. But, there has been a landslide a few weeks ago that wiped out the section of the trail between the first and second waterfall. So I only get to see the first falls and go for a nice swim in the pool below the falls. I then spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach. That night, there was a terrific storm that started at about 7:00PM and did not let up until around 10:00AM the next morning. It just absolutely poured with thunder and lightning all night. For may hours after midnight, the storm raged right above my hotel. The lightning and thunder were almost simultaneous. The thunder would roll on for 20 seconds or more and the hotel would shake as if in an earthquake.


Passing a Ferry in the Gulf of Nicoya

 I finally just got up and watched the storm for about 3 hours before it finally settled down enough for me to go back to sleep. I was going to catch the 6:20AM bus to the ferry but it was still raining so hard I just went back to bed. When it stopped around 10:00AM, I finally got up and made plans to catch the noon bus to the ferry, cross over to Puntarenas and the catch a bus to Quepos near Miguel Antonio National Park, but more on that next time.



Sunset in Playa Brasilito

 Costa Rica is a beautiful country; the tourist infrastructure is the best in Central America, the beaches & parks are awesome and the roads & bus system are top notch but something is missing. Once again, I am meeting mostly vacationers that are in CR for 2 to 4 weeks. Most of these vacationers have predetermined schedules and destinations that do not mesh with what I'm doing. So, with a few exceptions, I've been on my own throughout CR which feels strange after all the people I met and travelled with since I left El Salvador. I know a big part of this is I'm in CR during the slow season but, I can't wait to get to Panama because I think I will meet more travellers there again. I plan to be in Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast before then end of June and I am excited about seeing the Panama Canal and I am planning on doing a boat tour from one side of the canal to the other. I'm still planning on heading to Colombia before the end of July. I understand there is a new ferry that goes from Panama to Columbia that just started running so maybe that's how I will get there. Surprisingly, there are no roads that connect the 2 countries so you have to fly or go by boat.

I'm trying to formulat a travel plan for South America. I'm kind of leaning towards heading west to Equator from Colombia then traveling south through Peru to Bolivia, then into Chile and down into Patagonia and then up the Argentinian coast. This would mean I would likely end my trip in Venezuela which is probably not a bad last country. It's relatively easy to fly back to North America from there and I could have my last taste of the Caribbean before coming home. Adios.