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Costa Rica

After Nicaragua, Costa Rica was a pleasant surprise. It has not had to endure war, civil or otherwise, for over a century, which has meant that it did not have a standing army. This meant that the country's resources have been put to the use of making the people's lives better. What a great idea, I wish more countries (especially my own) would do this.

And then it rained

We headed straight for the beach in a town called Tamarindo. We arrived quite late and had to setup camp, amongst the trees, in the gathering dusk. Our first spot had to be abandoned thanks to fire ants, but we quickly found a suitable spot. It then rained. We were used, by this time, to it raining, but not this sort of torrential onslaught. The roadside ditches quickly filled up, then the road itself. It turned into a fast flowing river, with at least a foot (30 cm) of water. Fortunately we had camped a little higher up and so were safe from the flood water, although the rain still soaked us.

Theft

My ears had become blocked after the diving back in Honduras, and they still hadn't cleared. This meant that people had to shout at me to make themselves heard. It also meant that when thieves came visiting our camp site one night, I didn't hear a thing. They used a razor blade to slit the side of one of the tents and stole some of the stuff from it. The tent's occupants didn't realise that it had happened til the next morning.

During the days that we were there, others in the group went diving and quad bike riding, I just lazed around the camp and the beach. Nothing more untowards happened, apart from one of our number getting a bad case of sun burn. With his red hair and fair Irish skin, you'd have thought he'd have paid more attention to sun-block, but he got stranded out on the water in a canoe. And when he got back to camp, his white skin was as red as his hair. We had to take special care of him, in case he went into shock from the burns.

Crazy water park

We then headed inland and, after a long (200 km) drive, arrived at the Arenal park. Here we setup camp in an old, wigwam shaped, restaurant (some 20 meters across at the marble floored base). The thatched roof leaked, but I found a dryish spot to set up my camp bed. As per usual it was raining while the others erected their tents, they got soaked.

The rain didn't really bother us though, as we spent most of the evening in a series of pools and water shoots that were on the site. The place was great. It had been built on a hillside, next to thermal springs. The biggest water shoot was manic. Going down it you were totally out of control. You couldn't see properly, because you had water in your eyes from a waterfall that you went through. At points you could feel the top edges of the channel on your back, as you shot round the bends. After my first ride I decided that you would need to be really mad to go again. So I did.

The warm water pools had smaller, less exciting (terrifying), water slides in them, but that didn't matter, as they had a wet bar. We sat, for several hours that evening, as the rain bounced off the water's surface, up to our necks in warm (thermal spring) water, sipping cold drinks, and watching lava tumble down the sides of the Arena volcano. Every few minutes the clouds would part and we'd be able to see the volcano's slopes, some two or three miles away. In the dark we could see red and orange lava boulders, the size of buses, tumbling down the volcano's sides.

The next day dawned bright and dry (always the way), and we set off for San Jose.

Yes, we know the way to San Jose.

I felt that spending three nights in San Jose was a little much. The hotel was fine, only a short walk to the centre, but there really wasn't that much to see. I tried to go to the gold museum, but it was closed. I spent most of my time treating myself in a fine restaraunt.

Driving further south (always south) we came to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and stopped at a rather odd hotel. We didn't actually use the hotel as such, but camped in its grounds. The owner allowed us to do this and make use of one of the chalet rooms (for showers etc.) provided we use his restaraunt. Which we did and had a very pleasant group meal.

Cliff top plane bar

A couple of hundred meters up the road (the countryside was very hilly, with steep inclines down to the sea (so when I say up the road, I really do mean up) was a roadside bar, built out of a Vietnam war era US transport plane. It had been sited at the top of the steep slope leading down to the ocean, some 500 feet below. I just had to have a beer there. And while I was sitting there sipping my cold Bud, listening to Jimi Hendrix on the stereo, and half listening to some American's chatting away, I had a surreal "I've slipped into a Vietnam war movie" feeling.

Our campsite was on the edge of the Manuel Antonio national park (09 23 20.28N N, 84 08 46.57 W). The restaraunt was high on the hillside, and this was the view I had of the park and the ocean, while eating breakfast. I then spent a lazy day next to the hotel's pool, while most of the group explored the tropical forest in the park. In the evening we watched a beautiful display as the sunset over the Pacific ocean.

Our next stop was in the middle of the tropical rain forest, at a research station called Las Esquinas, run by the Austrians. We turned off the main (metaled) road and drove for miles along a road that got steadily worse. Bridges over streams and rivers stopped being well built concrete structures and became rickety wooden crossings. Soon the bridges we were trying to cross were obviously to weak to take the truck, so we had to ford the rivers.

Steaming wheel hubs

Some of us got out to watch the fording, and it was then that I saw steam coming from the rear wheel hubs (on these Mercedes trucks the rear hubs have gears in them, which are bathed in their own oil baths) as they dried out. This worried me, as I had never seen one of these trucks with so much heat coming from the rear wheel hubs, but Grif and Clair were unimpressed, and the hubs did not cause us any problems.

The research centre financed itself by a mix of grants from the Austrian government and by catering for tourists (like us). To this end it had built a number of excellent chalets (we were allowed to use one for its shower and toilets), plus a swimming pool, and a bar/restaurant. Really, you could not ask for anything more in a Costa Rican rain forest trip.

While we there two Austrian students were running the research station by day, and serving us at the bar during the evening. It was pleasant to sip a beer and chat with these intelligent (and multilingual) ladies in the cool of the evening.

Jungle walks had been marked out through the local rain forrest, and we all went on one or another. I, fearing that there'd be much noise rather than peace and quiet, set out early on one of the shorter ones by myself. Part way around I gave up, I'm just not cut out for exertion in hot tropical climates anymore (I really must stop going to these hot places). I spent the rest of the day lazing in a hammock by the pool, reading and listening to the sounds of the forest, while the others explored the forest.

Snoring

At night, I as usual, slept out (I didn't use a tent once during the entire trip) on my camp bed, with a mossie net to keep the bugs out. Some of the other, more timid, members of the group decided to try this as well. For some reason they had a fear of snakes and various other creepy crawlies coming into their sleeping bags at night. Unfortunately, a combination of my snoring (I was horrified to find that I had joined that section of humanity) and some childish pranks pulled by some of the group, meant that their night's rest was disturbed.

The next night, I found a spot to sleep well away from the rest, so that my snoring would not keep anyone awake. Unfortunately, those who had tried sleeping out in the open with me the previous night, had retreated back to their tents.

After two wonderful days in the forest we drove on to the border and Panama, the last country in this trip.