Jaco, Carara National Park, and Tarcoles Bridge

After the days I spent in La Fortuna, I was on the road again to Jaco, where I spent a week at the hostel where my friend Katie is volunteering. The journey involved three different buses, which, as usual for Costa Rica, were not air conditioned, and it was incredibly hot when I got there! I was hot in La Fortuna, but being on the coast as opposed to the mountains took the heat to a whole new level. I don't think there was any point during that week that I wasn't sweating, unless I was in the pool or the ocean. There were some days that I spent pretty much all of my time in the pool, but even that was only slightly more refreshing than the air because the water was so warm. I don't know how anyone can survive long periods of time in that heat, especially given the lack of air conditioning that is common in Costa Rica (my room at the hostel wasn't air conditioned either, because I was too cheap to pay $5 extra per night for it).

La Fortuna: Volcanoes, Waterfalls and Hot Springs

After three weeks in Monteverde looking at Arenal Volcano every day across the lake, I finally got to see it up close. I spent three days in La Fortuna, the town at the base of the volcano, and I stayed with a very nice Couchsurfing host who had days off while I was there so he served as my tour guide. He actually works as a tour guide for a company that does ziplining tours, which worked out well because he didn't have to pay admission fees for the sites we saw because of his tourism license (although I still did). 

Even though Monteverde and La Fortuna appear very close together on a map, it takes quite a while to get from one to the other because of the lake in the middle. To take the public bus, which is how I've mostly been getting from place to place, I would have had to take two different buses to get around the lake, and it would have taken about 9 hours. The more expensive but much more convenient alternative that I chose is called the jeep-boat-jeep. These services are run by tour companies, and the journey involves taking a shuttle from your hotel to the lake, then a boat across the lake, and another shuttle to your hotel on the other side. The whole trip takes about 3 hours, and I was willing to splurge and spend the $25 for the convenience and speed of the journey. It was also the first time in Costa Rica that I experienced an air conditioned vehicle, so that was quite nice. :)

Costa Rican Food: Part II

As promised, here is another post about food! Trying new foods is one of my favorite things about traveling, so I'm one of those tourists who feels the need to photograph my food before eating it if it's something I've never had before (or if it's a familiar food that just looks especially beautiful on the plate). So without further ado, let's bring on the photo tour of the great food I've eaten since my last food-related post!

Ziplining, Cheese, Coffee and more in Santa Elena

I have now been in Monteverde for two weeks, and although I have spent most of my time up in the mountains at the lodge where I'm volunteering, I have ventured into town a couple of times. Even though this area in general is known as Monteverde, the main town center is called Santa Elena, and the town of Monteverde is an even smaller town right next to Santa Elena (I was a bit confused about that before I got here). On my day off last week, I went to both towns and had a great time exploring and doing various activities, so I will give you an overview of my itinerary that day. 

Farewell to Playa Chiquita and Arrival in Monteverde

I have now left the beach behind to head into the mountains of Costa Rica to Monteverde. I really enjoyed my time in Playa Chiquita, despite the experience not always being completely positive. I think I mentioned in my first post when I arrived that my life there was very unstressful, but shortly after, that turned out to not always be the case. Over the course of my four weeks there, the other volunteers and I had some interpersonal tension with some other people, dissatisfaction with the work ethic of a few of the employees, and frustration when our food would mysteriously disappear from the refrigerator. There were also many nights that we had trouble sleeping because of the large group of Danish students who liked to have loud parties on the weekends, and a crazy dog next door that would bark ALL NIGHT! However, through it all, Sylvia, Erika and I continued to get along very well, and they are the ones who made my time there so special. I really enjoyed getting to know them, and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.