Costa Rica has been a nice place to slow down for a while, although we got off to a shaky start, missing the one bus from San Jose to Monte Verde on the afternoon of our arrival. That meant staying in San Jose for the first night instead of the accommodation we had booked in the mountains. We went to buy the bus ticket for the next day, only to find the bus station suggested in the lonely Planet had shut down. An enterprising local offered to drive us to the new station then to a hostel for an exorbitant price, but we found the new station on foot fairly close by then walked to a nearby hostel which was actually pretty nice and came complete with kitchen and new pool table, although it was in a bit of a dodgy area. We were pretty keen for some vegetables after a steady diet of tacos, empanadas and tortillas for the last 2 weeks, so we braved the streets and found a supermarket and some fruit and veggie markets where we found the ingredients we needed for a stir fry.
We were happy to escape the dirt and dangers of San Jose early the next morning for our picturesque 4 hour bus ride to Monte Verde. There was another close call with the bus as Brodie had to run off to be sick 5 minutes before boarding and was not sure his stomach would handle the bumpy ride. After downing some anti-nausea pills we made it to the bus just in time. We were picked up by the housekeeper of our Air BnB host and taken to their house in the outskirts of Santa Elena.
After settling in and meeting our house mates (an older American couple staying there for a month) we caught a bus to a cheese factory, where we actually ate ice cream of unidentified Spanish sounding flavors, before walking back to town. We enjoyed views over a man-made lake that apparently supplies most of the country's power - Costa Rica is pretty environmentally progressive for a small country.
We watched monkeys (maybe capuchins) playing on the trees and saw a Coati cross the road in front of us. We visited a butterfly garden which was cool, but I was surprised Brodie let me anywhere near butterflies after our experience in Mexico! The staff there really loved their bugs and were filled with lots of fun facts about them, like the fact that cockroaches can withstand some radiation, such as being defrosted in the microwave! Our guide even put a cockroach in her mouth to show us how clean they are. The greenhouses filled with different species of butterflies were lovely and I was excited to see a Toucanette (a mini toucan) in the wild on the way out.
The next day we visited the Montverde cloud forest, a unique rainforest ecosystem at high altitude that is often misty. The vegetation was beautiful and we enjoyed the views, hanging bridge and rainforest, although we didn't see much wildlife and it was overpriced at $ US20 per head.
In the evening we enjoyed a Costa Rican coffee at the quirky Tree House restaurant and a night in, since Brodie was once again sick, this time with a swollen throat. The next morning we caught an overpriced shuttle to Samara for our week of Spanish school since we no longer trusted our luck with buses and the connections seemed difficult.
Samara Beach was the perfect setting in which to learn Spanish. We arrived at the school, which is right on the beach, and the grounds keeper called Kelly, our host mum, to pick us up. Kelly was so lovely and welcoming but spoke solo Espanol which made things interesting at first since we spoke solo Ingles! We were relieved later to meet her husband, Alfonso and their daughter, as well as another student from intercultura, Vanessa, who all spoke some English and kindly helped translate for us. We were very lucky to have been part of such a beautiful family even if for such a short time.
The week in Samara was spent learning Spanish in the beginner class at Intercultura with Angelica. The four hours a day got us to the point where we can have a very simple, broken conversation in Spanish but we still have a long way to go! It was also a good way to meet people and we enjoyed hanging out with our classmates (mostly Swiss with one other Aussie - we're everywhere!) at the beach and at the beach bars. The water was generally clear and beautiful but there was one random floating poo! Brodie's highlight of the trip so far is seeing a fish jump out of the water and hit me in the head mid-sentence. I tried my hand at the school's free activities like yoga, bracelet making and a cooking class.
A highlight was the toros fiesta in Nicoya, where we got amongst the local Ticos and watched the bull riding. We even snuck in under the stands with the locals to avoid admission prices, but after seeing the dodgy construction of the stadium we decided that it wasn't a good idea to be under it. What a crazy sport! They get the bulls so psyched up with noise, flags, fireworks, actual fire etc then release them into a pen with a rider on top. When he's bucked off, there are dozens of crazy young guys from the crowd with something to prove who run around the bull, getting as close to it as they can without getting too mauled. There is a mini hospital on site and an ambulance on call for those who get gouged - we saw about 4 'accidents' while we were there. I didn't know whether to be concerned about the person or happy for the bull that he got one of his own back. When they're finished with that bull, the cowboys ride up to lasso the bull and herd him out. Although the animal lover in me revolted, it was a pretty amazing experience to be part of!
It was hard to say goodbye to our new amigos and mama and papa tica and we could have stayed longer but Panama awaits. Pura Vida, Costa Rica!
