Thankfully we didn't start week 10 with James in hospital as I had feared would be necessary. But, I knew I had to get him somewhere more peaceful than Costa Rica Backpackers as our room was like a prison cell (actually, worse as there was no TV or ensuite) and the noise all around us was horrendous. I went out to check out a hostel which is part of a Quaker meeting house and it seemed perfect so I fetched James and our belongings from the cell and moved to the tranquility of Casa Ridgway - just 5 minutes down the road. James spent the day in bed feeling rough as rats and thoroughly miserable but the quiet seemed to do the trick as he woke the next day feeling almost human again. So, no need for a repeat visit La Clinica Biblica, which I'm sure our travel insurance company will be glad about.
So, as planned, we were able to get a bus out of San Jose on Mon 17th Nov and head for the hills. One tedious 4 and a half hour bus ride later and we were in La Fortuna, which is north of San Jose and as it's higher up, considerably cooler. Our chief reason for visiting the town was the active volcano (Volcan Arenal) which towers over the settlement luring thousands of visitors every year. We spent the rest of the day dodging rain showers whilst checking out the town. It's mostly tour operators, restaurants and gift shops and without the view of the volcano (thanks to the low rainclouds) not the most inspiring town of our travels so far. Gringo Pete's, the hostel we were staying in, had a nice atmosphere though so we played yahtzee and chatted to other travellers through the evening.
Our primary objective on Tues was to book on to a tour of Volcan Arenal, after which I took care of the important business of getting a birthday card for my sister and shipping her pressie off. Our volcano tour left at 3pm with us, a Dutch couple, a Swedish couple and 2 German girls (who were sadly underprepared for the adventure). On our drive up the start of the trail we were lucky enough to see a sloth and a toucan in the trees! We had a fairly taxing trek through 'really real jungle' as Danny our guide put it. The German girls were wearing open toes sandals which Danny wasn't happy about 'because of the snakes' and didn't have ponchos or waterproofs, but umbrellas instead, which Danny wasn't happy about either, because, as he said, this is 'really real jungle'! Nevertheless we went ahead at a furious pace climbing hand over foot in some places over tree roots and rocks. After about an hour we made it to a clearing where we hoped to be able to see the lava flow coming down the sides of the volcano. Unfortunately the cloud cover was really low that day so we didn't see much. By this point it was dark (have I mentioned thatnight falls in C America by 5.30pm?!) and the German girls were seriously unimpressed at a)the lack of lava and b)having to walk back the way we came (which was very steep, slippery and extremely muddy) as they thought it was too dangerous. Not as dangerous as sleeping in the jungle as Danny pointed out. Besides the rest of us all had torches so what were they worried about?! James and I found the walk back highly entertaining, especially when Danny jumped out of the undergrowth at me, in the pitch black, pretending to be a wild boar. Yes, I did shriek and squeal but then laughed a great deal. Once at the bottom he treated us all (except the teetotal Germans) to a drink of guaro (Costa Rican fire water) and lemonade. From this spot we did actually see some lava flow which made us happy, although the entertaining trek was worth the money for me!
We left La Fortuna on Wed 19th headed for Monteverde, home of the famous Cloud Forests. Rather than the standard 7 or 8 hour bus ride between the towns we opted to get a boat across Lake Arenal and then the bumpiest minibus shuttle through the mountains as a shortcut. If I ran that shuttle company I would seriously consider investing in 4x4 vehicles, it would have to be cheaper than replacing the suspension on your minibus every 6 wks, surely. As soon as we arrived in Monteverde we booked on to a guided night walk in the forest where we hoped we would spot lots of nocturnal creatures. We looked around the Ranaria (frog house) that afternoon and were seriously chuffed to see the famous and spectacular red-eyed tree frog, which is practically Costa Rica's national symbol. The weather had taken a decided turn for the worse during the afternoon with rain and very strong winds and we were disappointed to find that our guided walk had been cancelled, mainly for safety reasons but also as we were unlikely to see much wildlife in those conditions. There was also a powercut that night but it didn't stop us going for pizza with a British guy and a Norwegian girl that we had met in the hostel.
We had hoped to visit the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve on Thurs morn but the weather was still abysmal and as there is almost nothing to do in Monteverde itself we decided to cut our losses and head back to San Jose. In the interests of travelling light we had left most of our luggage in storage at the Costa Rica Backpackers so had to go back to collect it before we got move on. We were really disappointed to have travelled all that way and not to have seen what we went for but also figured we could have spent several days there waiting for the weather to improve in vain. So, another long bus ride (this time featuring more unfeasible looking roads, flat tyres and rock falls) and then we found ourselves once again in the delightful haven of Costa Rica Backpackers in San Jose. Oh happy day. We booked into a dorm room this time for economy and were fortunate to have it to ourselves but the decor was still bleak and depressing. We spent the afternoon washing our stinking clothes from the volcano trek and trying to change money ready for entering Nicaragua. We were delighted to find some veggie sausages in a supermarket in town which we cooked up with some pasta and broccoli in a tomato sauce. It had all the makings of being delicious. One of the best backpacker meals ever. But it fell so, so far short. The sausages were sponge. No, seriously, I'm certain that they had been mispackaged and should have been in the toiletries section of the shop. So they never made it to the pasta pan. But we figured you can't go too far wrong with the rest of our ingredients. So, so wrong. No-one was ever hungry enough to eat the slop that we had concocted. I still don't know how we made it taste so bad. James missed the bin too and most of it ended up on the kitchen floor. I almost reopened my abdo scar through laughing so hard. Lucky we weren't that hungry.
Fri 21st saw us waiting for yet another bus. This time from San Jose to the Costa Rica - Nicaragua border. After 5 hrs on the filthiest coach yet we arrived in Penas Blancas where we queued for our exit stamp and then walked through the border to try and get our entry stamp to Nicaragua. The border was baffling and we teamed up with a couple of Canadian girls, Haley and Jes, to work it all out. Eventually we found a building with a huge crowd around one door which we were told was the place. After much kafuffle we got the necessary forms completed and handed them in with our passports and $14 and then had to wait it out. It is always slightly nervewracking handing your passport over into the unknown but I kept chanting my personal mantra (trust and faith Hel, trust and faith) and, lo and behold, we were rewarded with fully stamped up passports. From there we raced through into Nicaragua and were briefly distracted by a group of men trying to con us into paying a 'tourist tax'. The giveaway was that one of them was a grizzled crosseyed old bloke dressed in a poor imitation of a policeman's uniform. The other men tried scaring us into paying by pointing out that he was 'POLICIA' but his appearance plus lack of gun gave it away. Laughing heartily the four of us hopped on a bus bound for San Juan Del Sur. San Juan is a beach resort famous for it's surf breaks which was our reason for visiting. We didn't get to the beach that day though as the best ones are out of town. Instead we took in the town and enjoyed the sunset from a seafront bar with a beer in our hands. Bliss.
We hit the beach on Sat 22nd. Brace hired a surf board from the hostel and we caught the lunchtime shuttle bus out to Playa Madera. Each time we get a bus it seems bumpier than the last but this journey was in it's own league. Pot holes 2 ft deep and fords to cross. Wait until you see the photo of the vehicle we were in too! Still, it was worth it as the beach was great and not too busy and Brace was able to get some surfing in. I even had a go ahead of tomorrow's surf lesson but found it a little overwhelming. The weather turned grey and a bit rainy towards the end of the afternoon so we had to content ourselves with a beer in the surf club instead. We had the added bonus of howler monkeys hanging out in the trees right by us too, which is always a treat. Once back in town we went for food and then checked out a new bar that had opened that night called 'Gecko's'. There was a tv crew interviewing the very nervous American owner and if you ever find yourself watching Nicaraguan tv commmercials for bars in San Juan you might spot us supping cervezas in the background of one!
