I loved my week in San Pedro last week. I loved seeing my friends and familiar places, staying with my family, and taking Spanish classes, but as usual, after a week in comfort I was ready to get out of my comfort zone and travel to new and exciting places.
(I love my beast backpack!!)
San Ramon didn't have much, but Beth and I loved it. There were several cafes and a nice park where we sat and watched people skateboard and walk their dogs. San Ramon is pretty much just a transit town, but we found a beautiful $10 hostel and a lovely park and a few cafes. It was so refreshing to be in a small town withkut touristists where they actually speak Spanish and treat you with respect. These towns are also nice because everything is real Costa Rica- they haven't changed things to please the foreigners. Everything is so much cheaper, too.
On Sunday, that new and exciting place was Palmares. We rode with other friends with Maximo and were really excited!
In Palmares is a huge 10 day festival with a carnival, bands, food, a rodeo, a big horse parade, and tons and tons of people.
It is exactly like a state fair in the states, minus the animals and exhibits, but I'm pretty sure I have never seen that many people in my life! (And almost all of them had dark skin and black hair! Huh.)
It also had countless vendors, true to Central American style. Lots of colors, crafts, and people lying about other vendors so they would get the sale. Never believe vendors or taxi drivers in Central America. Do your research before buying anything!! Hah, honestly, it's ridiculous how much they will lie to make a dollar or two. (That would include charging 300 colones for every bathroom. Every. Single. Bathroom.)
The Palmares Festival was beautiful, incredible weather and nestled at the base of some more beautiful mountains.
Bethy and I spent the day meeting people, hanging out, dancing a little (considering we could hardly move between all the people,) avoiding American-crazed Tico boys, and not really eating or drinking anything decent because water was $4 a bottle...yeah, we were pretty ornery by the end of the day, but it was still cool to see and experience a little crazy Costa Rica.
(I'm not really sure what all these people are doing, there's nothing to see here.)
Sunday night, back at the hostel I met Ben! Ben is a pretty cool German who had just arrived and was planning to go to Arenal, so we decided to travel together. The bus to Arenal/La Fortuna area only cost $5, even though it was a four hour drive. Once again, we drove through the most beautiful country in the world.
This time though, the bus wound around on narrow, curvey roads, up and down mountains, through the clouds, and past farm fields and lots and lots of cows!
We also saw this adorable child at a bus stop, spying on people from his bus! Sucha cutie. (:
In La Fortuna, we found a simple hostel for $8 a night above a Burger King. Decent for the price, but with ridiculously rock hard beds. For $8, you can't complain as long as you're safe, and the cleanliness was definitely worth it.
Then, the three of us walked around town and admired the Arenal Volcano...
And, we packed our meals for our volcano hike Tuesday!
Tuesday morning, after an awful night on my rock hard bed, I woke up to a rooster crowing. That was a welcomed sound, and I was sharing with Ben how much I liked chickens, and then he told me it was right outside my window...literally. Later, I decided to make friends with the cute little guy. :)
After admiring the chicken, we grabbed a taxi and drove to to the base of volcano Arenal/La Fortuna. I'm not really sure if that's the name of the town or volcano, but its pretty cool. Arenal Volcano is the 4th most active volcano in the world, and we were literally standing at the bottom of it. It eupted in 2006, and is kind of like a sleeping dragon at the moment. Pretty exciting, but I felt like I had a death wish...
After a quick briefing from a naturalist about avoiding killer Ferdanand snakes, we began our adventure to Cerro Chato, a crater besides the giant volcano. We decided to take a before picture in case we didn't survive the intense uphill climb...
And it was intense.
The picture doesn't show it, but it was straight up. And then straight down. This meant serious climbing, using roots as steps and ropes that some kind soul had left, and slipping and getting filthy in the mud.
But, our hard work out was rewarded with views like this:
And swimming in the crater in the old volcano. It was freeeezing at first, but the water was so incredible! It had the strangest green color, too. It really looked like we were swimming in a sea of grass.
On the way back, after climbing back up and then down the intense, muddy, slippery clay cliffs, we took time to really enjoy being in the jungle...
Climbing in awesome trees...
And sitting and watching ants, then following them and their entire trail to see what they do-- leaf cutter ants literally cut the leaves and take them back to their hills. We were fascinated by the way they used their chompers to cut a section from the leaf and carry it home. Such weird, intense little creatures!
Due to the exhilarating exhaustingness of the hike, we just hung out in town the rest of the day.
Wednesday, we said goodbye to Ben and Bethy and I headed to San Ramon with no plans.
We had been planning to stay in Arenal longer, but because of the volcano it is ridiculously touristy, and with tourism comes high prices. Beautiful place, but just doesn't work for backpackers trying to save every penny. Thank God for tortillas and creamy cheese-like natilla! :)
Love the cute little fruit stands. :)
We are now again in San Pedro, and last night was one of the greatest nights ever. I have no pictures to show for it, but we met up with our Tico friends from Palmares and stayed up until 4 am talking, practicing Spanish, and sharing music videos that were popular here and in America. It blows my mind how similar, yet how incredibly different our cultures are. You can research and study culture and language all you want, but it will never be the same and you can never really understand the mindset and slang unless you move to another country and spend time with the locals. I am soo thankful that I am taking this opportunity!
Sunday Bethy and I will head to Guanacaste to some small towns and beaches. Definitely looking forward to that.
I love Costa Rica. So incredibly beautiful, but I miss how adventures are free in Guatemala. Costa Rica has a lot of tourists, and you have to pay for everything. Everywhere you go and everything you see. For that reason, I am definitely looking forward to crossing the border to Nicaragua, hopefully within the next week.
I have heard lots of horror stories, but lots of awesome adventure stories as well, so I will keep you updated. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment