Lafortuna, Costa Rica

Well, Costa Rica has certainly been an exhilarating and exhausting end to a fantastic trip! I decided I wanted to take advantage of all the adventurous things Costa Rica has to offer...but first, let me say Costa Rica is certainly a beautiful country. I would say a close second to Nepal in pure beauty. It's landscapes are varied, from lush green rain forest, to windswept mountain tops, to rolling fields of papaya and pineapple, to dramatic waterfalls and raging rivers. Unfortunately we did not visit either of the coasts, though I have heard they are equally beautiful.

We journeyed from Monteverde through some amazing countryside on horseback. This is a great way to really appreciate a country's flora and fauna. I was given a wonderful beast to ride, who ran like the wind, and in an all out race against the most experienced riders, my mount literally sailed to the front, galloping like a demon, leaving everyone in its dust...it was thrilling to ride so fast. We road past monkeys in trees and lush jungle tangles, and along the side of Lake Arenal at the base of the active volcano Arenal. Everywhere you go in Costa Rica there are wild flowers of everything imaginable...orchids, hibiscus, rhododendrons, and roses. Even the weeds are pretty here. The air smells sweet...like a fresh spring day.

After riding, we went by boat across the lake and finished our journey to Lafortuna by bus. That night we bought beer and pizza and ventured to the base of the volcano to try to catch sight of the lava...we caught a few peeks, and it was amazing...though only a glimpse of what we would later experience. Afterwards we went to the Baldi hot springs. There was an amazing place! 28 different pools of natural hot springs, with sit in bars (as in drinking establishment), complete with big screen tvs, disco balls, you name it. You can wander from bar to bar (pool to pool), and stop in a variety of places, depending on how hot you like your water and what kind of bar atmosphere you like. There were hot waterfalls where you could stand beneath...it was like a dream come true. Endless hot showers and baths...the very thing I have dreampt about daily since I left on this trip. Acres of hot water....I was giddy!! All while drinking a cold beer...pretty cool (hot) place!

The next morning, with sore butts indeed from horseback riding, we headed to the bungee jumping, where, leaving my senses behind, I agreed to be sling shot from a crane on a giant rubber band. They harness you up and attach you to some release mechanism, and then tighten the rubber bands until the force of the tension stored in them, when released, catapults you about 100 feet in the air at a zillion miles an hour. Then you boing and bounce up and down like a giant yo yo until the tension is gone and they reel you back in. It was a hoot and I can't wait to do it again. Needless to say, Joel would have nothing to do with it. However, much to my surprise, that afternoon, with Satinder's baiting (amazing what boys will do for girls), Joel reluctantly agreed to go canyoning.

Canyoning requires you to climb down a canyon, through the water, rock climbing (only down instead of up), and when you get to a waterfall, you rappel over it by rope. It was so much fun, and the scenery was stunning. And Joel did amazing and even liked it. I took a bit of a fall off a log, but really enjoyed the experience. However, the next morning the effects of all day horseback riding and canyoning had taken effect and I could hardly move...I have bruises on my body as big as grapefruits that are black and blue...so going white water rafting the next day was, in hindsight, a bad idea.

The rapids were class 3 and 4, and no tour company in their right mind in North America would let inexperienced rafters like us go...but there we were, winding our way down the Rio Toro. It was terrifying...and exhilarating. I have never worked so hard in my life. Every muscle in my body aches! The task required a solid two hours of pushing and pulling water so hard your arms thought they would break after 10 minutes. But I survived, and am not sorry I went. I have had a huge fear of rivers most of my life (except the lazy, slow moving kind), so challenging myself to do this was good...except it added to my collection of black and blue bruises. I will NEVER do it again mind you...Well maybe some class 2 rapids would be fun!

The most memorable and amazing experience we had these past few days, however, began at 3:30am before rafting. A few of us hired a van to take us to the base of the volcano just outside Laforunta in hopes of catching a better view of the volcano's lava. It was a stunning, clear, night with no clouds. The sky was ablaze with stars, and the only sound was a chorus of crickets. We laid a blanket down along the shores of the lake, and on the other side was Volcano Arenal. Red lava spewing from its top and crashing down the side of the mountain. The rumble was clear...like the sound of distant fireworks. We sat on the ground amazed and in awe (though secretly I was thinking to myself...what the hell are these people doing living beneath an active volcano that spews magma and throws blazing boulders the size of cars?)

Anyway, we watched it all in amazement, and then, as the sun rose, and the sky lighted, we were greeted by the eeriest sound of howler monkeys all around us. Then, joining the symphony of crickets and monkeys came all manner of birds and bugs. The sounds were incredible to listen to...made more intense by the site before us. I am certain this day will find its way into one of Joel's books, for it was truly a thing of fairy tales...yet there we were, in real life...listening to monkeys while watching lava spew, beside a lake so beautiful it took your breath away...

And that is a lesson I have learned on this trip. Life can be like fiction....all stories and pictures, and someone else's adventure... until you make it your own. Life is there for the taking. Just do it.



Strange critters on the road below...cannot remember what they were called, but they were everywhere


Above was one of the 28 hot pools with bar.


Below I am getting attached to the bungee
Getting ready to tackle the canyon

Look carefully below and towards the top of the waterfall, to the left of the water, you will see me. At 220 feet, this was the largest ot the 7 waterfalls we rappelled or climbed down.








The pictures I took of the volcano at night did not turn out because of the darkness...however, this is a photo of a photo, taken from the very spot we were, and this is what it looked like...only more dramatic with the sky black. The flash of my camera has lit up the black sky in the picture.
The sun rose behind the volcano...and the symphony of sound began

Disaster loomed as the raft above was stuck on a boulder...even the safety kayaks that followed us were unable to come to the rescue...and the water too forceful and dangerous for anyone to get out. It took some time, and was actually very scary to watch, but eventually they loosed themselves and all was well. There were many such mishaps along the way, and several people besides myself were banged up and bruised.


Three toed sloth above, and monkey below


Just a few of the many bruises my body has right now. I guess with extreme sports come extreme owies.

Below, Joel stands beside one of many roadside waterfalls on the road to San Jose

Today, we are in San Jose. Last night we had a last supper with our tour group, and while I nursed my owies, Joel spent the evening visiting (and saying a sad goodbye) with his new friend Satinder. The Joel and I left the hostel (yeah - no more roughing it), and promptly moved to a resort spa where I ordered a decent glass of red wine and booked myself in for a full body pampering...steam bath with eucalyptus and peppermint, a full body scrub with salt to take off the months worth of dirt, a papaya pulp body wrap to (God knows what), and a full body massage. Now I feel like a noodle, and still hurt like hell all over...think I will try another glass of Merlot.

Costa Rica

We were sad to leave the island of Ometepe. It was very beautiful and relaxing there, and although the water was rough, it was warm for swimming. The day before we arrived there, the island’s volcano (one of two) erupted; giving quite a show...too bad we missed it!

The border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica was unique...it took several stops at various booths, a few line ups, and we had to leave out bus behind and walk across the border and catch a different bus on the other side. Shortly after we crossed, our new bus got a flat tire. It was quickly fixed, and I took advantage of the time to lie in the sun (on the dirt road mind you).

Costa Rica is very beautiful, and the drive to Monteverde is stunning. A windy, hairpin turning dirt road that goes up very steep for many miles. Our hotel has an amazing view to the Pacific Ocean. Joel and Satinder and I went on the Sky trek adventure today. A series of 11 zip lines...some as long as a half mile and very high. The wind was very strong and at times spun us around...it was thrilling to be zipping (very fast- 45 miles per hour) through the cloud forest. n the group photo you will see a man with a cigar in his mouth. H kept it clenched between his teeth the entire time..pretty funny!

Of Bandits , Volcanoes, and Waves

I have added a few more pictures of Leon to this post...take a look!












I will begin this post by addressing a few questions posed by my father. The Central American countries are definitely “developing.” It can be deceiving because, in the big cities, you see modern buildings, nice cars, and good infrastructure. Free trade in the Americas has sped up progress in certain ways, and lots and lots of people are benefiting: mainly those that were well off to begin with though. The poor just find themselves now in a world where things are just as expensive as they are in the US, except they earn $1/hour here. So, as the old saying goes, the poor are poorer and the rich are getting richer. Disparity is very obvious here. That is not to say free trade will not – eventually – contribute to improving the lives of poor Central Americans. As the rich build more factories, and open more businesses, more and more of the poor become employed. This raises their standard of living, affords them better education, and education contributes further to better economic conditions. Unfortunately, it also contributes to urbanization, which is another problem. Fewer and fewer remain in the countryside, sustaining agriculture, and thus, affordable food for the poor.

Poverty is most evident in the countryside in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but is also evident all over in Nicaragua. When we hit the Honduras/Nicaragua border late the other night, the road changed from pavement to potholes. The border guards told us not to continue as there were armed robbers taking advantage of the poor road conditions and ambushing vehicles. They suggested if we were to continue our journey we had better hire someone with a gun to accompany us, or wait for a guard change at the border, and follow the off duty guards. It was 12:20am and too far to go back, so we ventured forward alone. We decided taking an armed guard with us would simply provide reason for robbers to shoot, and no one really wanted to get caught in crossfire, so after much discussion and a group vote we decided to move forward, one slow agonizing and terrifying kilometre at a time, to the nearest town where we rented 4 hotel rooms to share between the 15 of us (all they had). The room had beds, no sheets or blankets, sinks but no water...and an ample supply of bugs. We cared not, for what it had was a high security gate within which we could park our van.

The last few days we have explored the Spanish Colonial towns of Leon and Granada, and were impressed with the stature of the old buildings. In particular, Leon was interesting ecause of the many murals painted on the sides of the buildings: telling stories of the several wars they have had there. We stopped by one and met a man who was one of the student protesters in the 70's. He relayed his stories and showed us photos, and explained the murals on the walls. It was very enlightening to hear the story from his perspective. In Granada, we took it easy, both Joel and I were not feeling well, but we did save up enough energy to take a night walk up the local active volcano.

Masaya Volcan is the most dangerous of Central America’s volcanoes...regularly spewing noxious gas and ash. The pictures do not begin to capture what we saw unfortunately. We also went into a cave full of bats formed by the last eruption, and complete with gas masks, hung over the edge of the volcano to see glowing red lava 220 meters below. It was really quite a sight.

Next we traveled to a small island called Ometepe, on Lake Nicaragua. Here we are staying on a beautiful sandy beach, with thatched cabanas and plenty of hammocks. The ferry ride here was an adventure, as the usually calm lake was alive with whitecaps. The first day the wind blew hard and the sun was far behind a blanket of low gray clouds. So much for lying on the beach; the waves did not seem to bother Joel, who after an ample supply of local rum went swimming – fully clothed – with a pharmacist from Toronto (the girl seen in several of the photos here) he seems to be spending a lot of time with.

Today the sun came out and I layed on the beach all day. I will post more photos later.

Tomorrow we head off by boat, bus and horseback for the border of Costa Rica on way to Monteverde where we will try our hand a zip-lining through a series of cables that run for kilometres through the rain forest.

Stay tuned and enjoy the photos (all mixed up and out of order).

Nicaraguan traffic (above)