24 Costa Rica

We enjoyed our visit to Nicaragua last month so much that we were very eager for our trip to Costa Rica. August is the middle of rainy season in Costa Rica but it also means the low season for tourism which lends to less crowds and cheaper prices.

No sooner had we picked up our 4x4 Suzuki Ignis from Tricolor Car Rental than the skies opened up above us. Fifteen minutes later, it was a torrential downpour. This was only the first of our road challenges; after the rain died down, we found ourselves on a windy road through the hills of Costa Rica, with huge semis and buses careening around the blind curves. Luckily, all the roads were paved until we got to La Fortuna. As we turned onto the road to our first destination, Volcan Arenal, we got to experience our first of the rocky, pot-holed, dirt roads that surround Costa Rica's main attractions.

Since a major eruption in 1968, Volcan Arenal (pictured above) has earned the distinction as one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. We witnessed this activity first hand from our accommodations at The Arenal Observatory Lodge. From its perch less than two miles from the base of Volcan Arenal, the lodge is the only hotel on the lava flow side of the volcano. Originally a scientific research center run by the Smithsonian Institute, the lodge is now opened to the public. The rooms are large and comfortable with balconies offering fantastic views. At night, people watch the glowing lava flow from these balconies, the restaurant veranda, or the hotel hot tub. It is an amazing show.

There are a number of trails that start right on the hotel property which sits on a private nature reserve. We were eager to head out on the Old Lava Trail, which takes you to the base of Arenal to see hardened lava paths, steam vents, and other volcano phenomena. Unfortunately, we found the trail roped off with peligro tape--danger! The hotel owner explained to us that Arenal was currently very active, and lava was flowing down that trail. We asked for other suggestions on how to get closer to the volcano, but he explained that the restaurant veranda was the absolute closest anyone could go right now. So to avoid things like dying and death we explored other parts of the reserve area. We found ourselves hiking Cerro Chato, a grueling trail (pictured at right) that takes you up the side of a dormant volcano to the lake that has formed in its crater. We also found our way to a great waterfall. Throughout the day, Arenal would rumble and puffs of smoke would rise from the bellowing monster's peak.

After two fantastic nights at Arenal, it was time to hit the road for our next adventure: the Cloud Forests of central Costa Rica. Though less than ninety miles from Arenal in actual distance, the road to Santa Elena has been purposely left extremely rough by the eco-conscious residents, resulting in a long, arduous journey through the sleepy countryside (pictured below).
Our speed wasn't helped by the entrepreneurial endeavors of townspeople along the way. In Quebrada Grande, we passed an unmarked left turn and one minute later, there was a very helpful man standing in the middle of the road telling us we were lost, that we needed to take that left turn we passed, and that he would sell us a map. As we backtracked, we saw that a sign pointing to our destination had been knocked over. The sale of that map was very carefully orchestrated.

We finally arrived in Santa Elena after four and a half hours on the road. Our first stop was the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Santa Elena (pictured at left) is smaller and less celebrated than Monteverde, and combined with the fact that it was low tourist season, we had the reserve almost entirely to ourselves. We happened upon only two other hikers on the trails that meandered through the rainforest's depths. As we hiked, rain started to fall, and just as Patrick was remarking how well the arching canopy above protected us from getting wet, the skies opened up and we got drenched. We ran the last mile back to the Reserve entrance in full appreciation of rainy season in a rain forest.

We found our way through the rain to El Sol, where owner Elisabeth, as promised, greeted us with big hugs. She set us up in one of the two cabins on the property that she and her husband Ignacio rent to visitors, and arranged for a warm dinner and bottle of wine to be delivered to our door.

When we woke up the next morning, the clouds had cleared and we were greeted with an amazing view of the valley from our cabin window. Elisabeth and her crew prepared an amazing spread for breakfast in the main building, and as we ate, she gave us and the other guests recommendations for the day and predicted good weather for the next two days.

And she was right--for the next two days we enjoyed extraordinarily sunny weather for the rainy season. We hiked through the lush Monteverde Cloud Forest where every plant is growing on another and we studied flowers and trees unlike

anything we'd ever seen. We saw exotic wildlife there and especially at the nearby Ecological Sanctuary--including coatis, agoutis, Morpho butterflies, insects (like the ladybug above), and some crazy birds.

While the main attraction in Monteverde is the Cloud Forest, the main industry is the cheese factory. We didn't have time to catch a tour amidst all our rain forest visits, but we did stop at their ice cream shop, Sabores, for some of the most delicious milkshakes we have ever had. Absolutely not to be missed!

On our last day in Monteverde, Elisabeth arranged for her friend Manuel to take us on a

horseback ride through the valley. This was Patrick's first time on a horse and we figured the

trail would be pretty tame. But Manuel took us down steep, rocky paths and through waterfalls

and streams. Lots of fun, but not for the faint-hearted! We broke for lunch at a large waterfall at the bottom of the valley and ate on a bed of rocks in the middle of the rushing river. We returned to El Sol several hours later dirty, sore, but with big smiles on our faces.

Shortly after our return it was time to say goodbye to El Sol. Elisabeth gave us our goodbye hugs, and Katrina a parting handicraft gift. But if you stay here, be forewarned that they accept only cash, which caused us a two hour delay as we drove back to town, dealt with stringent rules and signature scrutiny at the bank, and finally returned. Plan ahead!

Our last Costa Rican afternoon was spent on the rugged roads (see video below) driving back to San Jose. We spent the night at the Adventure Inn. The entire hotel is decorated in a jungle theme--amusing if not charming. But if you are willing to bear the tackiness, it is a clean, inexpensive option very near the airport. One added bonus of staying there is they used their local knowledge to book us a steal of a car rental with the aforementioned Tricolor Car Rental.

One final note about travel to Costa Rica: originally, we booked our flights with Spirit Airlines. They offer shockingly inexpensive flights connecting through Ft. Lauderdale to many Central American locations. However, Spirit Airlines changed our flights twice in the weeks after our purchase, including added overnight layovers in Ft. Lauderdale and a 30-minute connection in Myrtle Beach. We decided the price wasn't worth the increasing possibility of not making it to/from our destination, so we canceled the reservation and forked over a little more to fly on trusty American Airlines. We recommend resisting the dirt cheap allure of Spirit Airlines.

13 Nicaragua

After deciding it had been much too long since we had left the country, we settled on a brief weekend trip to Nicaragua. Upon arrival at Logan we were joined at the American ticket counter by the New England Revolution who were on their way to LA for an upcoming match. While our flights were uneventful that day (the way we like it!), we found out on the news later that the Revolution were not as lucky.

We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua's capital city, after dark and quickly found our hotel shuttle. Along the road we saw numerous red and black Sandinista flags being waved as people were getting ready for celebrations marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution the next day. Our first and last nights of the trip were spent at the Intercontinental in Managua. The accommodations would certainly be considered deluxe by Nicaraguan standards, with spacious rooma, a pool, and a bar that served delicious cherry daiquiris. Thankfully, the hotel was practically free thanks to a great Orbitz flight plus hotel deal.

Still unsure of the safety of our surroundings, we gently settled in to our time in Nicaragua with a visit to a nearby mall that offered a number of restaurants. This mall was not too dissimilar from an American one on a Friday night, with teenagers abound waiting to see dubbed versions of Mamma Mia! and The Dark Night. Though we do love ABBA, we passed on the movies and settled on Tacontento for dinner and Tonas--Nicaragua's most popular domestic beer.The next morning we hopped a bus to Granada (pictured above) to get out of town before the Sandinista rallying, and presumably American villifying, really began. Riding a Nicaraguan bus is an experience in itself. There is no schedule--the buses leave as soon as they fill up with enough people. Along the way an agent stands at the open door of the speeding bus yelling out the destination, hoping to coax more passengers aboard.

Granada is best known for being the oldest colonial town in the Western Hemisphere, founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524. Upon arriving in Granada we oriented ourselves by first visiting the Parque Central, the city's hub of activity. We refreshed after our bus ride with juices and a vigoron--a local favorite of yucca and fried pork skin. As we slowed our eating pace we were approached by a 12-year-old boy who pointed at our food and gestured to ask if he could have some. He sat down, finished off the plate, and told us the dish was "picante" and pointed to our juice. Before slurping down the last of the drink he was joined by his friend, who was not going to miss out on this fun. And thus, we made our first Nicaraguan friends: Kevin and Jonia!

Unfortunately they did not recognize our hotel name, but we knew it was south of the Parque Central, so we set off to explore. Two blocks later we were in the middle of the bustling city market, the street lined with vendors selling everything from fresh produce to homemade cheese to new white sneakers! We navigated our way through the busy streets, asking people for directions to the Hotel Terrasol, finally realizing we had gotten ourselves much too far from the center of town to be anywhere near our hotel.

Back at the Parque Central (pitctued above), we finally found someone who could direct us. For those of you who decide to stay at Hotel Terrasol--which we highly recommend--it is located three blocks west and one block south of the Parque.

The Hotel Terrasol is owned by a married couple, Victor and Katja, who built the hotel from the ground up just last year. They are wonderfully attentive and helpful; within minutes of arriving they directed us to many must-see sights and booked us on an afternoon boat ride on Lake Nicaragua to explore Las Isletas.

The archipelago is composed of 365 little islands off the coast of Granada that are said to be formed from a volcanic eruption by nearby Mombacho some 20,000 years ago . Our tour weaved in and out of the many islands with a few stops along the way. Our favorite stop was Monkey Island--residents of the neighboring islands rid themselves of these pests by transporting indigenous monkeys to a single island of exile. Since they can't swim, they're stuck there. As we sat in our boat watching the monkeys swing on trees, another boat of visitors arrived and two monkeys hopped right on board! One of them moved to an empty seat in the back and sat patiently waiting to go for a ride. The other (pictured above) was pushy and wanted food. Both took a good amount of coaxing to disembark the boat, and the pushy one put up a real, and momentarily terrifying, fight.

We spent our time on land visiting Granada's old cathedrals, museums, eating delicious food and drinking delicious Tona. The best view in the city is to be had at Iglesia de la Merced. For the price of one dollar you can climb the bell tower of the city's oldest church, built in 1538. To catch some of the sights we missed by foot, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Granada's colorful streets to the city's outskirts. Our carriage driver, Otilio, brimmed with pride as he described the sites and history of Granada. The only problem was his descriptions all came in Spanish, leading to many interesting exchanges between him and Patrick who speaks Spanish on a pre-school level. After one particular miscommunication where Patrick generically asked "personas entrada?" we ended up on a private tour of the closed and dark Forteleza la Pólvora.

We were sad to leave Granada after only a short time there. It is beautiful, charming, and most amazingly, wholly unspoiled. The people living there are some of the friendliest and most welcoming we've met in all our travels.

Managua, on the other hand, is one of the most depressed cities we have seen. It has yet recover from the catastrophic earthquake of 1972. Even the cross on the top of the historic old cathedral has been left broken. Managua is not safe to explore by foot, but there are guided bus tours designed for visitors. However, we found a surprisingly cheaper option--hire a taxi for a few hours! At a rate of $10/hour, our cab driver, Guillermo, took us all over the city, offering us his personal narrative in very good English. We saw Loma de Tiscapa crater lake, the 6,000-year-old footprints of Acahualinca, the official presidential palace, as well as the real, heavily-guarded mansion residence of President Ortega. We also saw the huge city plaza, still dotted with red and black flags, that had the day before been packed with tens of thousands of Nicaraguans rallying in honor of the Sandinista Revolution Anniversary.

On our last morning in Nicaragua, we scavenged the Mercado Roberto Huembes. Much larger than the Granada market, we got lost in the aisles of hanging raw meat and walls of T-shirts. We polished off a final plate of gallo pinto, a popular rice and bean dish served for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then returned to our hotel for final packing.

As we sat by the Intercontinental pool waiting for our shuttle, we brainstormed destinations we can cram in to our next year of travels. Stay tuned.....