Christian May 28th, 2008
The bus ride from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio was interesting. We had to get off at Puntaarenas and find the bus that went to Quepos. We thought it was going to be a little easier than it was. Our bus dropped us off at one point in town and the bus that left for Quepos was in another spot. It didn’t help that our driver gave us completly wrong directions to the bus. A nice shop owner pointed us in the right direction and a guy selling watches out of a suitcase let us know that we had to buy our tickets somewhere else before the bus came. It was a little tricky, but we figured it out. After another four hours on a bus we made it to Quepos, the gateway city to Manuel Antonio. Continue Reading »
Christian May 21st, 2008
We left Puerto Viejo to go to the town of La Fortuna. We cheated a bit and took a air conditioned tourist shuttle, but it was worth every penny. They stopped to go to the bathroom, buy lunch, and still made it there in a couple of hours less than what it would have taken on buses. The town has changed a lot since I was there. There are now paved roads, a Burger king, and a huge super market. You can tell that the town is soley based on tourism by the number of tour agencies. We checked into our hostel around lunchtime. We threw our stuff in our room, disregarding the plethora of ants crawling all over the bed and headed out to find some food. We ate at a local restaurant, which was good, and then we relaxed the rest of the day, taking advantage of the cable tv.
The next day we woke up early to go to the La Fortuna Waterfall. Continue Reading »
Christian May 16th, 2008
Puerto Viejo
Getting to Puerto Viejo Costa Rica from Bocas del Toro was different from we thought it was going to be. We left on the first ferry at 7 to Changuiola. Our boat driver was officially insane, speeding through the narrow passages. We managed to hit a few submerged logs and get tangled in some plants along the way. The only good part of it was that we made it to the dock in half the time it was supposed to take. After getting off the dock, which was clearly in the middle of nowhere with no bus connections, all of us we forced to jump on tourist van which was way overpriced. The van dropped us off at a bridge that was the border between the two countries. After getting our exit stamp at the Panama border, we had had to walk over a wooden bridge with gaps in the boards that showed the river below. It felt rickety and super sketchy. The worst was when a truck would come and you would have to jump to the side on this metal platform that was rusted with holes. Once over the bridge, we had to go to immigration and find our way to the next bus to Puerto Viejo, which ended up not being all that bad. We even met a former marine that was living in San Jose and told us that he has to carry his knife around with him for protection, as he whipped it out. Great Times. Continue Reading »
