Travels with Mike through Costa Rica

When I flew back into San Jose, Costa Rica I stayed with Doña Elizabeth again from the Servas Program. There I got my life somewhat organized before meeting up with my buddy Mike who was already in Costa Rica hanging out on the Pacific Coast. I met Mike in Jaco the first night, then we traveled south the next day to Quepos and Manuel Antonio National Park. We had a rocky start to our trip as we were both pick-pocketed, losing each of our wallets from our front pocket on a crowded bus. We lost our driver’s licenses, credit cards, bank card, and some cash. The rest of the afternoon we spent canceling and reordering our cards and then hasseling to have cash wired to us. That night we stayed in a hostel near the National Park and my loved Chaco Sandals were stolen in the middle of the night. On top of all of that a guy who looked official and was hanging out around the hostel convinced us to take a guided hike with him the next day. He asked for half as a deposit. He never showed up the next day and we later heard that he was a local conartist complete with maps and ticket stubs. We should have known better when he greeted us coming of the bus saying “hello, welcome to paradise” – cheese ball.


Going out in Jaco

Shortly after being pick-pocketed on the bus from Jaco to Quepos

Manuel Antonio was a beautiful park, but we didn’t see too much wildlife right away. After walking around without seeing much I began to pick out rare tourist breeds – they were easier to spot. Eventually we saw some monkeys and sloths and that was a lot more fun. At the beach we also met a couple of people that had been on the bus with us when we were robbed. We all hiked around together then hung out on the beach later. After our day at the park we were going to meet up with our friends in Quepos after we picked up our bags from our hostel near the park. When we arrived they asked us to hang out until the police could come to question us. Apparently the other guy in the room was also robbed, his pants were stolen which had his wallet in them. We were unlikely suspects but it was an understandable formality. Fortunately the hostel offered us beers and the police gave us a ride into town after they asked us a few questions. We even got to bring our beers along with us. In Quepos we found a room, got something to eat, and had a fun night out.

Touristy entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park

One-eyed camera carrying breed of Homo Sapiens. Notice the large size of there cameras.

The rare two-legged gangely French sherlockholmes, a breed nearly extinct in most parts of the world

The smart-allect himself, photo by Mike Esser (M.E.)

Mike crossing the stream in his SANDALS, which he still has
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Monkeys!



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Chantal and her funky flower

Chantal sporting rubber rain boots in her bikini... H-O-T! M.E.




The next day Mike and I took a spectacular bus ride to get to the town of La Fortuna to see the Arenal Volcano. La Fortuna is the closest town to Arenal which is live volcano that regularly erupts and spews molten lava down it sides. Before that volcano there is another dormant volcano that has a lake in its cone. Before arriving to that volcano there is gorgeous waterfall a couple miles out of town. Our plan was to hike all of it so we woke up early the next day to begin our adventure. On the first leg of our hike we walked all the way from our hostel to the beautiful La Fortuna Waterfall and down to the bottom of the waterfall.









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From the beginning of the waterfall trail there was another trailhead leading to Cerro Chato, the volcano with the lake in the cone and generally set in the clouds creating a dense jungle landscape. A hotel owned the land around the volcano and charged a ten dollar fee to cross its land. We weren’t into that so we paid a local kid a buck to point out another route through some nearby fields. It was a fun adventure ducking through barb wire fences and stepping through the high grass to get to the real trail up to the top of the volcano. It was a two hour hike up the steep volcano slopes and dense jungle. From the ridge at the top of the volcano it was another small hike down to the lake in the crater. The lake was beautiful, a little cold and very refreshing. It was a gorgeous landscape; such a tranquil lake ringed by steep jungle slopes and clouds.

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From the lake we hiked back up to the ridge and then hiked around to the other side and down the other side. We were hiking towards the Arenal Volcano and the observatory lodge facing the lava slopes. It was another couple hours down the other side and we made it to the observatory lodge right before sunset. At the lodge we had a look around the place and decided it wouldn’t be too hard to pass ourselves as guests. So we decided to take a dip in the hot tube which was set facing the volcano and the lava flowing down the slopes. We were all grins relaxing our bones in the warm bubbly water while watching molten lava pouring down the slopes in front of us. We did well!

After we melted in the hot tub for a while we decide to patronize the place and eat a nice dinner at the lodge restaurant. Afterwards we drank beers and had a couple cigars on the observation deck of the restaurant. Most of the lava flows were tame, but gorgeous. Then before we left there was a big explosion and lava poured out all around the volcano. It was a beautiful sight. Later that night we found a place to camp out for the night.






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The next morning we had the buffet breakfast at the lodge then split a cab with some folks from the lodge to get back to La Fortuna. At our hostel we got cleaned up then signed up for a canopy tour and hot springs resort. It was a rainy day but the water was warm and the Canopy lines were that much faster! The resort was a pretty lush place and the Canopy tour was really cool. We went zipping down 15 cables in all – such great fun! At one point some large brown stains mysteriously appeared above on Mike’s right shoulder. I would like to think that a monkey crapped on him.











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The next day we woke up early to get back to San Jose. I dropped Mike off at the airport and then returned to Doña Elizabeth’s home. It was another great trip!

Flower and rain drops