Costa Rica by born2travel.it

excerpt from

25.01.2013 Playa Tamarindo (COSTA RICA)

[Stefy]: "We leave the island bound for Costa Rica. A ferry, a taxi and various buses lead us to the border. Never seen such a long queue. Once the usual bureaucratic procedures are over (it takes us almost two hours), we take a bus first to Liberia and then to our final destination: Playa Tamarindo!"

As we cross the border we notice that the whole landscape changes; if up to now, moving from one country to another, we had not noticed great differences, this time instead… people no longer jump onto moving buses but form orderly queues; you see well-dressed young people often with surfboards under their arms; everything has exorbitant costs…

26.01.2013 Playa Tamarindo (COSTA RICA)

We wake up and go straight to the beach to plunge into the ocean… after all we only have to cross the road…

At sunset, together with our now inseparable Dutch friends, we set off for Playa Jesus, 15 km from here, to try to see the great Pacific green turtles laying their eggs…

The search begins; after all, we are not at the zoo… let us hope for the best! We first try a beach but in vain… we follow our guides along a little path that leads us to another film-worthy little beach… the sky is a bit cloudy but the full moon manages to light everything up!

The wait is long; Nature has its own times. Suddenly, in the distance, we spot on the water's edge a big black patch; it looks like a small rock, but… looking more closely… that black patch just emerged from the Pacific waters moves… it goes towards the top of the beach, then stops, changes its mind, turns around to dive back into the black sea of the night.

Over several hours we will spot half a dozen, and each time the emotion is great… the emotion of following these big prehistoric amphibians in silence, without lights, behind them, trying not to disturb their slow movement…

27.01.2013 Playa Tamarindo (COSTA RICA)

[Stefy]: "After an abundant breakfast with tropical fruit we dive back into the high waves of the Pacific Ocean. We spend the whole day in that sweet but tiring doing nothing!"

28.01.2013 La Fortuna (COSTA RICA)

We take four buses to get here! The landscape changed completely as we made our way. The Billabong or Quicksilver surfers gave way to big green hills and "Milka" cows, so much as to make us think of Swiss alpine landscapes.

[Stefy]: "Our hostel is delightful. There is an enormous kitchen, a nice little lounge with a large garden next to it. We plan to stay here at least three nights. Just time to put down our backpacks and we head off towards a waterfall not far from here, where Marco, Martin and Maria swing on a liana into the icy pool.

Morning at the sea, evening on the slopes of the Arenal Volcano.

29.01.2013 La Fortuna (COSTA RICA)

We set off for a hike at 3 in the afternoon. We plunge completely into a rainforest that swallows you up relentlessly… it does not matter if the sun is shining outside; inside it is dark. We enter another world, a green world, a thousand different shades of green, populated by many animals. We spot a sloth dozing at the top of a tree; it rarely comes down and only for a short time; pumas and jaguars are always lying in wait. Colourful birds with bright colours fly joyfully and convey a great sense of freedom.

We swing on a liana like Tarzan, we climb steep paths following Guillermo, our guide, one of the survivors of the fateful 1968 eruption… back then everyone thought "Arenal" was just a mountain… life flowed peacefully among the green pastures… the first warnings came from the cows that suddenly stopped drinking at the river… the water was boiling… but the poor and ignorant peasants could not imagine what was about to happen… one fine day in March, the history of La Fortuna would mark an important date: the sky darkens, the earth begins to tremble and in a few minutes for many there is nothing more to be done… toxic gases descend into the valley at a speed of 100 km per hour, killing everything they meet… then incandescent rocks, like fiery rain, finish the job. An entire village is razed to the ground. Arenal was not a mountain… Arenal is a volcano.

We continue our walk to a bed of petrified lava. Guillermo shows us his photo album with the whole history of the volcano. He has lived his whole life here and passionately tries to convey to us the emotions this giant can make you feel.

It starts to get dark and we still have a lot of road ahead of us. Suddenly our guide stops. He seems terrified. He makes us move away from the area. There is a very dangerous snake ready to attack, evidently disturbed by our presence. We keep a safe distance and observe it with admiration. We were lucky. In two hours we would have died from its bite.

We go on, this time more cautiously, while the forest sinks into the deepest darkness and not even the shining full moon manages to light our way. The creatures of the night begin to emerge from their nests, dens, holes…

But it is time to relax! We stop at a hot spring, a stream of warm thermal water… soaking for an hour, as in a big jacuzzi tub we enjoy the moment, thinking back on the great adventure we have just lived…

30.01.2013 La Fortuna (COSTA RICA)

Early in the morning we find ourselves on the back of gentle horses to plunge once more into this dense nature. What a feeling of freedom to trot along those mountain paths… we stop to descend 700 metres to admire a majestic waterfall and then set off again at a gallop among green meadows and blue channels… we are enchanted by two toucans that make a brief appearance and conclude this unforgettable adventure in a reserve of big colourful butterflies and microscopic red frogs the size of a fingernail!

31.01.2013 Manuel Antonio (COSTA RICA)

[Stefy]: "As usual, to reach a destination, even if not very far, we have to travel all day changing numerous buses. And so, setting off at 5.30 in the morning from La Fortuna, we find ourselves first in San Ramon, then Punta Arenas, then Quepos, and finally at our destination! Twelve hours of travel but we are back by the sea!"

01.02.2013 Manuel Antonio (COSTA RICA)

[Stefy]: "After a whole day spent soaking in these waters, we set off for Quepos to buy the bus tickets for Sunday to the capital San Jose and to do a bit of shopping. Back in Manuel Antonio we lie on the beach just in time to enjoy this umpteenth spectacle of Mother Nature: the sunset over the ocean."

02.02.2013 Manuel Antonio (COSTA RICA)

[Stefy]: "Manuel Antonio National Park. At the entrance they provide us with a map that we will follow in detail so as not to miss even a square metre of this paradise of Nature. We pass the gate; right away we spot the big blue butterflies; we reach the beach, wonderful; it was worth waking up early because we manage to enjoy it without the horde of tourists that will shortly arrive noisily. We follow little paths along which we meet many monkeys, big lizards, agoutis…

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