Going around

Diciembre 2011: Destino Tailandia

lenuka — Thu, 1 Dec 2011 20:22:00 GMT

Photos: Parque nacional de Cahuita

lenuka — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:54:00 GMT

Viaje al Caribe - Trip to the Caribbean

lenuka — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:04:00 GMT

Hola a todos!

Los ultimos 4 dias los hemos pasado en el Caribe. Primero fuimos a Tortuguero y ahora estamos en Cahuita.

El viaje desde La Fortuna hasta Tortuguero transcurrio en un 90% por carretera asfaltada lo cual fue gratamente acogido por nuestros ya perjudicados cuerpos. Fue un viaje largo (5h) pero muy bonito atravesando Costa Rica de Oeste a Este por carreteras sinuosas hasta el puerto en La Pavona, en donde dejamos el coche. Como sabeis a Tortuguero hay que llegar en barco, asi que dejamos el coche aparcado dos dias y por suerte aun estaba alli cuando salimos de Tortuguero! El viaje en barco (bueno, mas bien era una lancha alargada con un toldo para protegerse de la lluvia) hasta Tortuguero fue ya toda una experiencia y tuvimos mucha suerte porque no llovio nada. El pueblo de Tortuguero es muy pequeno, y da por un lado al Mar del Caribe y por el otro al rio Tortuguero.

Al dia siguiente, hicimos un tour en lancha por los canales de Tortuguero y fue espectacular, incluso a pesar de la lluvia. La lancha tenia un motor electrico super silencioso De lo mas interesante que vimos fueron los monos aulladores, 2 iguanas y un caiman. Tambien tuvimos tiempo de probar la comida caribena :)

Por la tarde dimos un paseo por la playa a ver si veiamos tortuguitas (los huevos estan enterrados y van saliendo cuando les toca, aunque ya es un poco tarde en la temporada), no tuvimos suerte y no vimos ninguna, aunque nos pillamos una mojadura impresionante, porque si algo caracteriza a Tortuguero es que llueve a mares...

Al dia siguiente hicimos la ruta inversa y volvimos a recoger el coche y llegamos a Cahuita, en el Caribe sur. El pueblo no tiene nada pero el parque es espectacular. Nos hartamos de ver bichos. Hoy salimos a las 6 am de caminata y nos encontramos de todo, monos, perezosos, mapaches, pajaros, iguanas...lo pasamos en grande, eso si nos dejo un poco hambrientos, asi que vamos a ver si encontramos un sitio para meterle algo al cuerpo.

Por cierto, hoy fue nuestro penultimo dia en CR, manana regresamos de un tiron a San Jose y saldremos hacia Madrid por la tarde. Todo lo bueno se acaba...esperamos que lo hayais pasado bien con el blog y muchos saludos a todos.

Hi everyone,

These last 4 days were spent in the Caribbean! Tortuguero first and then Cahuita.

The journey from La Fortuna runs through mostly paved roads which was good for our battered bodies. It took about 5h but it was quite beautiful going from the mountains on the west to the coast in the east all the way to La Pavona. This is a safe place where to park one's car on the way to Tortuguero, as you know the only way to get to Tortuguero is by boat, so we left our car parked there for 2 days, luckily it was still there when we came back!

The boat trip to Tortuguero was amazing, and as we found out later, we were extremely luckly that it didn't rain while on the boat. It started raining as we got to Tortuguero and it never stopped while we were there. Tortuguero the town is quite small, with the Caribbean sea on one side and the Tortuguero river on the other.

The following day we took a tour through the cannals with an electric motor boat and it was amazing even with all the rain. We made almost no sound so we didn't spook the animals as we got close. In the afternoon we walked in the beach hopping to see some little turtle hatchlings but it is quite late in the season and we didn't see any. We also had some time to taste some Caribbean food :)

The next day we took the inverse route and got back to La Pavona to pick up our rental car and we drove to Cahuita. The town is nothing to write home about but the park is spectacular. We managed to see many wild animal, they almost come at you as you walk the path. Today, we started walking today at 6am (best time to see wild life) and we saw quite the zoo, sloths, monkeys, racoons, iguanas, snakes and many birds, we had a great time. This, however, left us feeling really hungry so we are heading out to town to find some nice Caribbean food...

BTW, today was our second to last day in CR, tomorrow we drive straigth through (in a manner of speaking I am not sure there is any straight road in CR) to San Jose to take our flight back to Madrid.

All good things come to an end...we hope you enjoyed our blog and till next time. Best regards to everyone out there

Photos: Viaje a Tortuguero

lenuka — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:58:00 GMT

Parque Volcan Tenorio y Volcan Arenal

lenuka — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 12:38:00 GMT

Bueno, ahi va un resumencillo de los ultimos 3 dias, va a ser dificil, pero se va a intentar.

Salimos de Monteverde el lunes por la manana adelantandonos un dia porque nos hablaron de un sitio llamando Rio Celeste en el parque del volcan Tenorio y alla nos fuimos a la aventura. Conseguimos alojamiento de chiripa en un sitio llamado Catarata Rio Celeste Lodge, porque fueron los unicos que nos cogieron el telefono. LLegamos justo a tiempo para empezar una excursion por el bosque primario del parque hasta Rio Celeste. Se le llama asi por el color pero como el dia estaba bastante malo estaba bastante revuelto y era mas bien rio chocolate. Pero la caminata en el bosque estuvo muy bien, con fumarolas y aguas burbujeantes incluidas.

El lodge estaba en plena naturaleza y ya veis como era: unas cabanitas en el medio de la nada al borde del bosque, pero estaba genial, estabamos solos y por la noche llovio muchisimo y parecia que se iba a derrumbar...

Al dia siguiente nos marchamos con rumbo al volcan Arenal y tuvimos muchisima suerte porque nos toco un dia fantastico y se vio el volcan todo el camino. Llegamos al Lodge, que esta al pie del volcan y se veia de maravilla. Resulta que el volcan lleva dormido unos 3-4 meses y ahora no sale lava, pero estan esperando que se despierte cualquier dia, supongo que sera en cuanto nos vayamos nosotros.

Por la noche nos fuimos a las termas de Tabacon que son un rio de aguas termales naturales con muchas piscinitas y demas entretenimientos...incluido un chiringuito dentro del agua para tomarse unas caipirinas!!

Hoy por la manana ya habia cambiado el tiempo otra vez y estaba muy cubierto, aun asi subimos al Cerro Chato y casi echamos los higados subiendo, creo que manana va a haber muchas agujetas. Total al llegar arriba habia mucha niebla y la vista tenemos que imaginarnosla...

A ultima hora de la tarde cuando ya nos volviamos nos encontramos con un grupo de monos aulladores en el margen de la carretera. Por fin! ya pensabamos que eran una leyenda urbana, pero si, si que estan, y si que hacen, uh, uh, uh.

Manana salimos hacia Tortuguero y estaremos en el Caribe!!!

There goes a summary of the last 3 days, it's going to be tough but we'll try!

We left Monteverde on Monday morning one day earlier than planned because we kept hearing people taking about a place called Rio Celeste on Volcan Tenorio National Park, so we took of. We managed, just by chance to get acommodation in a place called Catarata Rio Celeste Lodge, just because they were the only ones that answered the phone. We got there just in time to start a hike through the forest ending at Rio Celeste. They call it Rio Celeste obviosly because of the colour, but because the weather was terrible it was more like Rio Chocolate. But the hike was great, with bubbling water and fumming vapour holes.

The lodge was right in the middle of nowhere and you can see in the pictures: a few cabins right off the forest, but it was great, I think we were the only guests and at night it poured like crazy and it seemed we were going down

Next day we left for La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal. We were extremely lucky because the weather was terrific and we could see the volcano all the way. We got to the lodge, which is on the foot of the volcano and we had a great view. Unfortunately the volcano has been dormant for about 3 months and there is no lava flow, but they expect it to wake up any day now.

After dark we went to Tabacon thermal spa, which is a river of thermal water with many small pools where you can relax and chill out and have a couple of caipirinas too!!

Today the weather had changed again and it was rainy. Despite this we hiked up to Cerro Chato and almost died trying, really stiff climb! On top of that, once on the top you could see no farther than your nose, so you have to imagine the view...

Just when we were coming back we happened upon a group of howler monkeys “hanging” about. Finally! We were beginning to think they weren't real, but they are.

Tomorrow we head out towards Tortuguero, and we will be at the Caribbean Sea!!!!

Photos: Termas de Tabacon

lenuka — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 12:29:00 GMT

Photos: Ruta al Volcan Arenal - Trip to Volcan Arenal

lenuka — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 12:14:00 GMT

Photos: Parque nacional Volcan Tenorio

lenuka — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 12:04:00 GMT

Catarata Rio Celeste Lodge

Monteverde

lenuka — Mon, 6 Dec 2010 10:10:00 GMT

Ayer estuvimos en Selvatura, que es una reserva natural dentro de un bosque nuboso, y tienen una ruta de puentes colgantes en donde ves las copas de los arboles, y eso es lo que hicimos pasear por los puentes. Tambien tienen un jardin de colibris donde te pasan zumbando alrededor y tienen bebederos de nectar y los ves supercerca. Tambien tienen un serpentario, pero las serpientes estan dentro de tanques y no hay peligro. Ahora ya sabemos como distinguir las venenosas.

Por la noche hicimos una excursion guiada con linterna a ver si veiamos algun bicho. Vimos un perezoso, pero estaba en la copa de un arbol y no se ve en las fotos. Como veis en las fotos, tambien vimos una serpiente venenosa, varios insectos y una tarantula...esos no estaban en tanques!

Hoy por la manana nos fuimos a la Reserva Bosque Nuboso de Monteverde que es de bosque primario y es super denso y dimos un paseo muy chulo, aunque no conseguimos ver al famoso y escurridizo quetzal...quizas la proxima vez.

Ahora estamos descansando un ratillo antes de atacar el ranario, a ver si vemos al sapo dorado...

Yesterday we went to Selvatura, which is a natural reserve within the Cloud Forest. They have a nice trail with hanging bridges over the tree tops. We walked around the bridges. They also have a hummingbird garden, which was really cool, they hum all around you and get really close, and stop to drink in the sugary water fountains they have for them. They also keep some snakes, but all those are in tanks, so no danger, they look really scary though, most of them are venomous.

Later that night we took a night tour with flashlights to try to see some mammals in the forest. We saw a sloth but it was high in tree top, and it was dark so the pictures are no good, sorry. We also saw a snake (pitviper), several insects and a tarantula...these were not in cages!!!

Today we went to Monteverde Cloud Forest and took a guided walk. Didn't manage to see the resplandent quetzal, maybe next time...

Now we are taking a rest, before going to see some frogs and toads, apparently they come out after dark...

Photos: Reserva Bosque Nuboso de Monteverde

lenuka — Mon, 6 Dec 2010 09:59:00 GMT

Photos: Night field trip - Excursion nocturna

lenuka — Mon, 6 Dec 2010 09:49:00 GMT

Photos: Selvatura - Bosque Nuboso

lenuka — Mon, 6 Dec 2010 09:41:00 GMT

Photos: Costa Rica - Getting there

lenuka — Sun, 5 Dec 2010 02:44:00 GMT

Y al final...llegamos!!

lenuka — Sun, 5 Dec 2010 02:08:00 GMT

Y vaya como empezamos! No se lo que vendrá después, pero esto ya es una aventura: Llegamos al aeropuerto a las 5:20am y nos encontramos con el vuelo Santiago-Madrid cancelado y nos mandan a Coruña a ver si llegamos al vuelo de las 6:50. Nos jugamos la vida para llegar al aeropuerto de Coruña por la autopista completamente helada, eso si, nos toco el taxista mas enrollado y espabilado de la zona compostelana, y nos hizo pasar un buen rato. Como el decía, “llegamos con la ayuda de Dios, bueno, con la ayuda de Dios y si nosotros ponemos los medios”. Y al final...llegamos!!!!!

El vuelo Madrid-San Jose se nos hizo muy largo (en total mas de 13 horas incluyendo los retrasos) y llegamos sobre las 6 pm. Tambien tardamos mucho en que nos dieran el coche de alquiler, con lo que al final, nos pusimos en ruta a Monteverde a eso de las 8:30. Nos perdimos iniciamente y perdimos unos "minutillos" hasta que nos volvimos a encontrar, a Fuco casi le da un ataque y le salian culebras por la boca, pero recupero la calma despues de hacer un giro de 180grados en plena autopista (no habia mediana) porque sino teniamos que hacer 65 km en sentido contrario. Despues todo fue bien hasta que llegamos al ultimo tramo de 34km de carretera rural hasta llegar al destino en Monteverde. Que fue de autentica pesadilla, casi acaban con nosotros... baches, eso no eran baches, eran bocas de metro, parecia que ibamos en barco, subiendo y bajando olas. Tambien nos paramos a mirar las estrellas que eran una pasada!!! Bueno, el caso es que a medianoche por fin llegamos al destino y caimos inconscientes en la cama...

Y ahora...Dia 1 - Monteverde

What a start! We don't know what lies ahead, but this is already an adventure. We arrived at the airport at 5:20am only to find our flight to Madrid cancelled. They sent us to the nearest airport (about 40min away) to try to make it for the 6:50 am but the road conditions were terrible. I think it snows once a year in Santiago, and it had to be yesterday night. At least we were lucky and got the coolest taxi driver, and he said: “We'll make it with God's help...well, with God's help and if we provide the means” and guess what? We made it!!! and we only had to risk our lifes in the frozen road!!! Just kidding.

The flight to San Jose was really long (more than 13 h including all the delays) and we arrived at around 6pm. They took their time to give us the rental car too, so we finally set out to Monteverde at around 8:30pm. Initially we got lost, and we wasted a “few minutes” trying to find ourselves. Fuco was apoplectic and apparently it was my fault, but calm was restored when he made a Uturn in the middle of the highway, otherwise we would have had to go 65 km in the wrong direction...After that everything went well until the last 34km which were through an unpaved country road, full of holes. What a nightmare, those were not holes they were subway entraces. Good part is, we stopped in the middle of nowhere to watch the stars which were amazing!!! Anyway, we finally made it to Monteverde at midnight and collapsed on the bed, I think Fuco was asleep before he put his head on the pillow :)

And now...Day 1 - Monteverde

El día antes...

lenuka — Fri, 3 Dec 2010 22:17:00 GMT

Hola a todos,

Estamos en ascuas...el día antes del viaje a Costa Rica y resulta que igual nos cancelan el Santiago-Madrid por el tiempo y no llegamos al enlace!!! Como el vuelo tendría que ser a las 6:35am cuando leais esto ya estaremos, o en Madrid o tirandonos de los pelos...en fin, habra que tener paciencia...

Bueno, a lo interesante...que nos vamos a Costa Rica y si todo va bien podreis seguir nuestras aventurillas en este blog. Lo iremos actualizando cuando podamos y subiendo alguna que otra foto para teneros entretenidos. Deseadnos suerte!

Besos, Fuco y Elena

PS: mientras no cruzamos el charco y no tenemos nada que contaros podeis ir viendo el del viaje a Chile (los que no lo hayais visto)

http://journals.worldnomads.com/eburguera

Dear all,

We're counting down the hours...in about a day we'll be in Costa Rica. That, if we manage to fly out of Santiago. We've had really bad weather (for here) today and many flights were cancelled, so we are hoping we will make it in time for our connection in Madrid. But no point in fretting, nothing we can do about it...

So let's focus on the positive, sometime tomorrow or the day after we'll be in Costa Rica!!! As before, you can follow us in this blog. We will be posting our adventures here whenever we can and uploading pictures as we go. We'd love to hear from you. Best regards, Elena & Fuco

PS: Since we don't have anything interesting to show yet you can have a look at our previous blog: http://journals.worldnomads.com/eburguera