After a lazy morning in San Jose, my flight finally left for Portland.  During my layover in Houston, they asked for volunteers to stay the night in Houston as they had overbooked the flight, and while I tried not to freak them out by running to the desk, I was officially the first person in line.  :)  So I now have a $300 flight credit for a future trip and I got to stay at a nice hotel for free.  I totally would have slept at the airport, so when they said what hotel I would be staying at I just nodded like “yeah, I guess that’ll work,” and tried not to laugh. They totally underestimate the wonder of staying at a nice hotel when you’re a backpacker!

Even though Costa Rica was officially the last stop on my year of travel, it definitely won’t be the end of my adventures.  It’s been an amazing year and I’m so glad I made it a priority in my life.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat!  So while this is the end of my “round the world” travel blog, stick around for more updates on my transition back into “real life”.  Who knows, I might not be able to handle it, and you’ll find me on a beach somewhere rewriting my resume.  ;)

We arrived in Quepos around lunchtime, took a quick walk around, and grabbed lunch downtown.  Quepos is totally the type of town that you think of when you picture Central America.  It’s also way more affordable than Manuel Antonio, which is a 40 cent bus ride away, and conveniently the bus stop is just outside our hotel.  We spent the first afternoon sailing and snorkeling.  So amazing!  I could have stayed in the water for days!

The next morning, we checked out Manuel Antonio.  The park was closed for cleaning, so we spent some time swimming and sunning at the public beach.  We heard rumors that the park would be opening, with free entrance in the afternoon, so after grabbing a quick lunch, we headed back to the park. After wading through the swampy river at the exit, we were greeted by a free, empty and beautiful park!  We walked through to the third beach on the other side of the park, and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing.  Oh, and we saw three giant raccoons just walking around near the beach, quite surreal.

Monteverde is one of the most visited areas in Costa Rica, and is home to the Cloud Forest (where the Pacific and Caribbean winds meet to create a Cloud Forest instead of Rain Forest).  So needless to say, it rains quite a bit here.  Now if you’re visiting from the Pacific Northwest, it might not be at the top of your favorite list. I still had fun in Monteverde, but the climate was so much like home (raining one minute and sunny the next) that I was more than ready to hit the beach by Thursday!

I felt like I was in Monteverde for three weeks, instead of three days!  So I did a lot of walking, visited the Frog Pond, went on a Cloud Forest hike, toured the Quaker cheese factory, and went ziplining.  Ziplining was definitely the highlight of Monteverde, and as the German couple keep saying “No risk, no fun!” ;)

Canyoning day! I had first heard of canyoning when I was in New Zealand.  I wanted to try it, but it seemed too expensive, so I’m glad I waited for Costa Rica.  The Defasio van picked us up around lunchtime and we headed up to the canyon area they use. After getting outfitted with harnesses and gloves, we walked down to the demo area, where they showed us how to hold the rope to self-belay. I kind of felt like I didn’t have enough information and that maybe I’d missed something since it seemed too simple! But after the first mini-waterfall, I was like, “What? That’s it?”  So by the time we arrived at the first big waterfall that had a huge drop, I went flying down! Overall, it was great fun to be tramping through the water, but I would have enjoyed a few more adrenaline rushes. I guess I thought it would be more exciting.  It’s a classic case of the Eiffel Tower/Mona Lisa effect.  Anyway, I still had a great time, but if you could just choose just one activity in Arenal, I would suggest the rafting!

La Fortuna is like the Queenstown (adventure capital of New Zealand) of Costa Rica! After a hot shower and dry clothes, we walked to one of the local adventure booking offices.  After the painful elimination process of deciding what tours I would do in the 2 and half days here, I decided to…  just do it all!  It’s much easier this way, and while it’s not the cheapest decision, it’s still way cheaper than the equivalent in New Zealand.

After a quick dinner, we went to one of the area hot springs, which was actually in some kind of resort/spa.  After a few minutes soaking in the steaming hot pools it was hard to imagine that we’d been bumping around on a tractor all morning, in the rain! A brilliant evening to a long day.

We had dinner in the lodge area, and then sat around chatting for a bit.  Suddenly, the German woman from our group came running in “ein katastrophe!”  “mouse house”.  After a bit of translation, we laughed it off.  About an hour later, I walked into our room and came face to face with a huge rat! Not a mouse, a RAT; definitely lost in translation.  It had already eaten into my granola bar stash and part of my apple that I’d stored up on a shelf. It ran up the ladder to the top bunk.  After putting the food in the garbage away from our room, I came back and it had returned.  So shudderingly disgusting!  So after much squealing and rearranging, we tried to get some sleep.

Our second day in the rainforest, we went hiking and then swimming in the waterfall. It was a beautiful day and so relaxing.  And thankfully, we didn’t have anymore rat run-ins.

After our adrenaline shot morning of pushing the boat through croc infested waters, we stopped for lunch and much needed beers, before continuing on to Tortuguero.  Today’s boat ride was a really cool way to get from point A to point B. A memorable experience for everyone, if nothing else.

Tortuguero is a little village that is part of the Tortuguero National Park, that was created to protect the turtles.  You can walk from one end of “town” to the other in a few minutes, but there are a few local restaurants and bakery.  The hotel is right on the beach and I spent an hour reading in a hammock listening to the waves.  Tomorrow we’re taking a three hour tractor ride to Rara Avis up in the Braulio Carrillo National Park.  It’s so muddy there that you put rubber boots on before you leave, and that’s pretty much the only shoes you need there, except for flipflops inside.  Craziness.  So, after dinner, I went shopping for long socks.  ¿Tienes calcetines?  I ended up buy some men’s socks at the supermercado for $1.50.  Good deal, and quite fashionable, especially with rain boots.

I did finally get to the beach, and it was amazing.  If you ever venture to Puerto Viejo, I would skip the rain forest hikes (that’s what Fortuna and Monteverde are best for), and focus on the water!  It felt quite nice to get in the water after hiking around in the heat all morning.  After a little too much sun, we had a lazy afternoon lunch at a beach-side cafe, before going back to the beach to watch the sun set.  I want to buy a hammock, but I think I’ll wait until Manuel Antonio so I don’t have to carry it around for the next two weeks.

After spending the night in San Jose we caught a local bus out to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast, near Panama. Puerto Viejo is a Spanish speaking Rasta town, with miles of gorgeous beaches and excellent food.  It’s the kind of beach town you’re just backpacking through and a month later you’re like “What, I’m still here?”

We’re staying south of town at a cute little bungalow style hotel, where each room has their own hammock.  Ah, nap time.