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A 25-day adventure by Lisa Read more
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  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 1

    Arrival in San José

    July 3, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    My flight to San José was one of the worst I‘ve ever had, because I was still feeling sick and I was afraid that the flight would aggravate my situation, but luckily nothing happened anymore. When I arrived in San José, Noah was waiting for me. He had already picked up our rental car and we drove to our First Hostel: Gaudy‘s Eco Hostel. It wasn‘t the prettiest but it was clean and the people were friendly and since it was only fot one night it was okay. I couldnt eat anything because I still wasnt feeling too good and I had a little fever and Noah still had two sandwiches left, so we stayed at the room and went to sleep very early. The next morning we ate breakfast at the hostel. They made pancakes for Noah and I tried to eat some muesli. I already felt better and after taking a painkiller for my head I was ready to go grocery shopping and then start our roadtrip!Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 2

    From San José to Osa Island

    July 4, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Our aim for the day was to get to the Osa Island in the south of Costa Rica by 5 pm. This was the deadline for the check-in at the hostel we had booked. We left San José and everything went well. The city and the streets weren‘t too busy and as soon as we got further away the highways were basically empty. We had expected the streets to be in worse conditions but they were totally okay. We stopped at the famous Crocodile Bridge to see the huge crocodiles lazily hangind around at the riverbanks. At Jaco we stopped to buy a fresh coconut and to see the view. After 3 hours of driving we did a lunch break where we had Smoothies and a Salad. Even though we had calculated enough time to get there in the end the street got really bad. So the last twenty minutes we lost some time and our poor car had to fight quite hard. We got to the check-in at 16:57 so perfectly in time. They told us that we still made tmit but that we had to be fast now. The hostel was in the middle of the junge, still 45 minutes away by foot and at 6 it would get dark. We unpacked some things, grabbed food and started walking to the Bolita Ranforest hostel.Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 3

    Bolita Rainforest Hostel

    July 5, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    To get to the Hostel we had to cross a river and hike through the Jungle. When we got there it was dark and we were really hungry. Ron, the friendly owner of the place showed us around and told us the lost important things such as that the water was drinkable, not to step on spiders, snakes or frogs, because they were everywhere and to be quiet between 10pm and 6am. We cooked dinner, veggie pasta, in our outdoor kitchen and went to sleep. Our room was very simple but we didnt need more. There were some bathrooms and showers a bit further away and the mainhouse was also really close. The next day we went hiking on the trails of the Bolita area. There was a map and all the trails were perfectly marked. The cool thing was that we were actually right next to the Corcovado national park and the variety of plants and animals was exactly the same but instead of paying a guide to walk us around we could walk on our own and see everything by our own. We did all the trails except for the small waterfalls next to the house. We saw monkeys, tucans, a snake, frogs and many birds. We gpt to big waterfalls where we went swimming. We got back at 2 pm and I sat down on a chair with a beautiful view and while Noah was sleeping I planned our further trip. The next day we ate breakfast on the terrasse, where we got visited by some Colibris drinking nectar in the flowers around us and walked to the waterfalls we hadnt seen. While we were walking it started raining really hard and I took a big leave and used it as umbrella haha. At around 9 we left and walked down to Dos Brazos where our car was parked. Some backpackers we met at the Hostel asked us to take them with us until Uvita, where they wanted to take a but to go further to the north and of course we let them come with us. So we were 5 people in the car: Sebastian, a danish guy, Henning and his girlfriend from Germany, Noah and me, driving to Uvita, listening to songs and singing along.Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 5

    Ballena de Uvita

    July 7, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    Next Stop: the Ballena National Park in Uvita. When we arrived around lunchtime we checked into our Hostel, cascada verde, that we had booked very spontanously and we were surprised by how cool it was. Again it was a bit further outside the village in between trees but reachable by car this time. There was a terrace with a beautiful view, where you could even see the sea. Sebatian the danish guy hadn’t gotten on the bus in the end and instead had come to the hostel with us, where he found a room to stay. In the afternoon the three of us went to see the cascadas, close to the hostel. Afterwards we found a butterfly house, the mariposario, totally by chance and got to see some very pretty butterflies. In the evening we cooked in the hostel together. We tried out a costa-rican vegetable and ate rice with pico de gallo, avocado and tuna out of the can. It was a typical backpackers dinner I would say, but it was not bad at all. The next day we went to the national park and walked along the beautiful beach, which seemed endless. There was high tide at first but as the tide slowly went down and the water moved away we could start to see the shape of a whale fin appearing at one corner of the beach. We walked to the very end of the fin and as we turned around we were stunned by the view: dark, almost black sand im front of a forest of light green palmtrees encircled by dark green hills under the blue sky. The clouds had almost faded away completely at this point and the sun was heating up the air, so that when we got back to the main beach, we went for a swim anf hung around on our towels. At some point Sebastian got hungry so he went off and came back with two coconuts. It was really funny to see him trying to open them. Eventually he did it and we had fresh coconut to snack. On our way back we stopped at the supermarked and bought local fruits we wanted to try, two beers, of which one was glutenfree and some potato chips. We sat down in the hostel and had our ice cold beer with the chips. Next to us there were monkeys playing in the trees and we observed them for a while. In the evening Noah and I went out to eat in a restaurant. The next morning we had breakfast on our pretty terrace, and explored a place they call bamboo forest, with hige bamboos and found a river with crystal clear and emerald blue water. We checked out from our hostel at 11 and drove to our next destination, Dominical.Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    1
    Day 6

    Sleepy Dominical

    July 8, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    We arrived in Dominical in the afternoon and decided to take a look at the small city after we checked-in at the good vibes hostel. Its a very small village with one pedestrian street at the beach with many souvernir vendors and tables where sellers sell their wood-art, bracelets and beach towels. And there‘s another street for cars with some restaurants and shops, a school and some bars. The people we saw are either backpackers, surfers or locals working in the tourist industry. The beach looked totally different from what we had seen before, the sea was wild and on the sand there were pieces of wood and stones. The restaurants all have the same cozy atmosphere, with fairy lights and wooden tables, walls and floors and look a bit like tree houses. We drank a smoothie in one little cute place and Noah ate fresh fish tacos. We walked past a super fancy restaurant where we went for dinner in the evening and shared fish, shrimp and palmheart cevice and again both had fish tacos. Earlier we couldnt see the sunset because there were too many clouds but the sky still looked beautiful at around 6. the next morning we woke up later than usual and had breakfast at the beach. Now let me shock you: noah eats a lot more than me, and to show you what a lot more means, i‘ll gove you an example. We had bought fresh mango, passionfruit, granola a 500g yogurt cup of which i ate half mango, half passion fruit and 2 big spoons of yogurt with some granola. Noah ate THE REST. So all the yogurt that was left in the 500g (half a kilogram) cup he ate with the rest of the mango, the passion fruit and at least half of the whole vereal pack. I almost had a heart attack, saved the rest of my glutenfree cereal and told him we would go buy him some cheap cereal with gluten. At 11 we had booked a surfing lesson. It was quite expensive but so worth it. Noah had never surfed before and bevause I was sick of always taking the beginner lessons too, we had each a personal instructor focusing only on one of us. Mine war Jordi and after he saw that I was able to do the pop up, we went out into the deep water and waited for green waves. (Waves that havent broken yet) I actually managed to get some and to ride them until the beach!! Some others I fell off and got tumbled around like in a washing machine. I got tired super fast, especially my arms and after 2 hours I was dead. We wanted to go buy some food and cook pasta at home but as we got out from this super cool glutenfree-shop (which had cookies, all kinds of pasta, flower, crackers, and whatever my heart could long for), it was raining so hard we wouldnt have made it back wothout being completely wet, so we waited, waited, went into some shops, waited, eventually drank a cot tumeric golden dirty chai latte (yummy) and then walked home. It was already 3pm so we didnt eat. Noah ate 4 meat skewers from a street vendor on our way back. Then we wanted to see the Nauyaca waterfalls with sebastian but they were already closed, so we went to the beach in the stormy weather and walked up to rocks to see the view which turned out to be very beaitiful. In the evening we had dinner at a place called phat noodle and they had a lot of glutenfree options for me. I shared a thai curry and a phad thai with sebatian. When we wanted to go back home our car was out of battery because unfortunately we had forgotten to turn off the lights in the back. Some local costarican people, called ticos, helped up push the car so that noah could get it going again. After some attempts it worked and we drove around a bot to get the system back on track. After getting back home, talking to the other guests for a while, we went to bed.Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 8

    Two faces of Quepos and Manuel Antonio

    July 10, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    We woke up early and ate breakfast at the almost 100% glutenfree mono congo café in dominical. We went to see the Nauyaca waterfalls in the morning and then drove to Quepos, our next stop. In Quepos we checked- in at the Villas Jacquelina Hotel, nice but a bit far from the city center, and walked around the area. First, as we walked along the main road, we got to a very luxurious tourist place which looked a bit like a gated community. The buildings were all perfectly white and built around a plaza with view over the sea. There were many fancy seafood restaurants and super expensive souvenir shops. The place was called marina pez-vela, and is a harbour for sporthfishing. We soon figured out that this was the place rich old men went on hilodays. I didnt like it at all, i felt more and more uncomfortable every second we spent there. When we left I realized even more what hige contrast there is between this marina and the rest of poor quepos. We wanted to walk on the beach but it was separeted by a river we had to cross. It was way deeped than we expected, so unfortunately I got wet almost up to my tummy. The beach was beautiful but I couldnt really enjoy it because I was still discussing with Noah about this gated community we‘ve seen. His point of view was that it was good on one hand because it provided jobs for the people living in quepos. I agreed to a certain point but still thought that the money could‘ve been used for the local economy and to renovate parts of the city. We didnt walk back on the beach because we wanted to see another part of the city. What we didnt know was that, this oart wasn‘t a real city.. it was a slum. A dirty road covered with holes and with dogs walking on it, dying of starvation , many huts, most of them very small with people sitting in front of them, all looking sad and lifeless, and a very bad smell. Noah and I went completely quiet. I was speechless, I didnt even know what to think. As we passed the people and the houses, I felt so so bad. When we got to the end of the road we had to take a ferry taxi that brought us to the other side. We walked back to the hotel but almost didnt talk. Eventually we started talking about what we‘ve seen and how injust everything is. It couldnt get out of my head during thw whole evening. We cooked veggie pasta together and Noah ate a lot, as usual. I dont know how a person can eat this quantity of food. The next morning we woke up at 6 and went to Manuel Antonio National Park. When we were at about 1 kilometre before the park entrance my google maps suggested, people who looked like park rangers told us to leave the highway and park in some parking lot at the side of a street. We told them we wanted to go to Manuel Antonio and they said rhis was the parking. I almost couldnt believe them because there were no other cars there, but they looked really professional. We got out of the car but my intuition told me that something was wrong. I told Noah to get back into the car and we ignored those people shouting and telling us to turn around and followed my google maps, which in the end brought us to the real park parking lot. We parked and were thankful that we hadnt been tricked.

    My biggest goal for the day was to find a sloth, because I had never seen one plus I thought and still consider them super cute. We walked around the park anf did every possible trail. We saw iguanas, monkeys, of which one had a very special relationship with Noah, some type of pigs and in the end even two sloths. There were many tourists at some beaches but on the trails we were basically alone. After seeing everything we decided to leave and drove our car to Jacó.    Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 11

    Rainy Days In Jacó

    July 13, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    When we arrived in Jaco it was sunny so we decided to go for a walk along the main street. It was the first bigger city since San José and we were excited to see some nice shops. The Hostel De Haan had highly been recommended by some friends who had already been to Costa Rica, so our expectations were high. We were welcomed by the friendly owner Wilson, who suggested us some activities and places to see. While we were walking it started raining so we hid in a supermarket because we had to buy things for dinner anyways. It started raining so bad that we were reluctant to walk back right away so we stayed in the supermarket, which by now is basically our home, walked around, fooled around and eventually when the rain was less heavy we walked back to the hostel. We survived but Noah‘s baguette unfortunately didnt. Now, let me talk about something: Of course it matters if a hostel is clean, the beds are more or less comfy and the place is safe but what is most important is that there‘s a good equipped kitchen. Hostel De Haan provided everything, even a pool but the kitchen was a catastrophy. There was one tiny little pan, about as big as the palm of my hand and some dirty pots. We wanted to make lentil daahl and it was nearly impossible. The stove didnt really work either by the way. In the end after struggeling for a while we managed to cook something similar. We started taking it as a challenge to cook a meal with zero equipment, thinking bout it now it was funny but at that moment i was quite desperate (noah can approve). We were tired so we just played some card games and then tried out the Jacó Bar close to the hostel, where we tried the chiliguaro shot. This is a typical costa rican spicy shot - we didnt really like it but i still think its a matter of habit. The next day we rented boards at our hostel and went surfing and I got a sunburn (yes mom, i put on sunscreen but the sun was too strong). Afterwards we went to the city and did some shopping. The woman in the shop where I bought some clothes told me I should go to the supermarket and get aloe vera for my skin, what we did later on, as you can see in the video. We went to a place which is rated the best burger place in costa rica so noah obviously had to try one. He was happy:). Afterwards we hiked to the Miro, a really nice viewpoint but the moment we got there it started raining really really heavily but there was a ceiling. We were kind of stuck so we waited for a while. There were other people who also didnt leave the place. At some point we realized it was gonna get dark before the rain stops so we got undressed up to our underwear, put everything we had in the small plastic bag we had thanks to my shopping earlier and started walking. The people thaught we were crazy but honestly, for me, this was one of the highlights. As we got down to the village and kept walking in out underwear on the streets in jaco, suddenly and totally by chance I met Aline and Dömi, two ski instructors from Laax. They had been travelling for 8 weeks through Nicaragua and now through Costa Rica. They‘re heading to Panama next. We chatted for a while, couldnt believe this crazy coincidence and walked on until we got to a waffle place that made glutenfree waffles and ordered some, still in our underwear. Next day, surfing, but the waves were a bit rough. In the afternoon we went Ziplining and later on had dinner at a really really nice place called green room. There was even life music. The next morning we left Jaco. However, before leaving we took a picture with Wilson, the owner! And back we were on the road towsrds Puntarenas where we would get the ferry…Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 12

    Ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera

    July 14, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We got to the ferry terminal very early which was good so we didnt have to wait at all and even had some time to walk around. Puntarenas was not super pretty though. I really had to go to the washroom but I guess they must‘ve had some problems woth that because every single toilet in Puntarenas was closed, even woth signs saying „forbidden to enter“. Eventually I found one. On the ferry we listened to music and enjoyed the scenery and the landscapes. After an hour we arrived in Paquera and drove on to our next destination: Santa Teresa.Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    2
    Day 12

    „FAKE“ Santa Teresa

    July 14, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    We had heard a lot about Santa Teresa even before getting there. Some people said it was beautiful and totally worth it, one girl in Uvita Hostel told us it was hell on earth, so we were very curious to explore this place by ourselves to make up our own mind. The roads leading to Santa T were in quite bad condition and there were huge trucks in front of us all the time that were driving super slowly and that no one was passing. Noah got VERY impatient at pne point and started getting mad at all the people who had the chance to pass the trucks but didnt do so. Well whatever, eventually we arrived in the village and the road was still a dirty muddy brownish road full of holes with way more cars, bikes and motorbikes on it than it should actually carry. The Hostel on the other hand was very nice. It was one of the Selina Hostels, the most expensive one we booked so far and it was way more luxurious than what we‘re used to, which was good because we needed to settle down at a nice and clean space for once, so we could unpack everything and do laundry (which was fully booked unfortunately) and most of all to have a hot shower that we havent had since the beginning of our travels. At 4pm we were welcomed with a „welcome drink“ they serve at Selina Hostel for newcomers. Then when we had enough energy, we started walking along the dirt road and saw some really pretty cafés at the side of the street, all decorated realy nicely, with fairylights and paintings, flowers and butterflies, whatever nice things they could use to make a place look really pretty. They were totally instagrammable, it felt a bit like an influencers parallel universe. The contrast between the muddy road with trash at both sides and some destroyed huts with even more trash in front of them, and the cute litle cafés was immense, but I focused on the nice things I saw on our way. At some point it started raining (surprise suprise) and once again, rainjacket was not in our bags. We stopped at a nice place called eat street, like the foodtruck place in the dominican republic, but since we were in Santa T, it was way prettier than what i had seen before. But it was way less authentic. You could clearly tell that each food truck belonged to the same company, all of them coordinated and tuned to serve things that matched with the rest. I would say almost too perfect. I liked the way local people in the Dom Rep just selled whatever they had cooked in their foodtrucks, independant from what the others did. Noah took Tuna tacos and I had a cocktail. When it stopped raining a bot we walked down to the beach, ehich was really beautiful, we even got to see the sunset. At night we went for dinner at the Drift Bar, where they make exquisite glutenfree food. Noah and I shared so we could try out more. Noah also tried his first Sangría!! Back at the hostel we went for a swim in our pool. The next morning I woke up and went to Yoga class. I liked it but it was a bit boring, it was a lot of meditation and I ususally prefer a faster flow and more excercise. Noah was tired so after eating breakfast (I finally made my famous banana pancakes, which Noah loves!!) he went back to bed and I walked along the beach. I found some parts where there was a lot of trash in the sand and I had to think agin about the dirty trash street. So many contrasts. Very nice beach, white sand, seashells, but plastic everywhere. After lunchtime it stopped raining and we rented bikes. Honestly, i‘ve never seen such weird bikes. It was hard to ride them especially on these streets full of holes. We drove to a beach where we stayed a bit. At one point I wanted to get off my bike but fell over, but didn‘t die, I just got a bit dirty. Afterwards we went to drink something at a place called „Art Coffee“ and Noah had Crepes. (So the baby was fed up and wasnt gonna cry). We went to the beach and again saw a beautiful sunset. We stayed for a long long time and eventually went home to bed. I stayed up and wrote a bit in my book, however, when I got back to the room, Noah was occupying the WHOLE bed. So i had to try to move him to his side, and I have to admit after his crepe this wasnt that easy. Next morning I woke up early and prepared beakfast for Noah and me. I made Porridge with Chia seeds and honey, topped with Dragonfruit and Passion Fruit and Granola. When Noah woke up we ate and went to the bike rental to return our bikes. We walked back on the beach and checked out. Our Next destination was waiting for us!Read more

  • TravelerRoadtrip through Costa Rica
    Day 14

    Montezuma,my „spiritual“ heaven on earth

    July 16, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    As we were getting closer to Montezuma I already started to feel that this was going to be a good place. The road led us through a very small colorful citycenter and a bit further along the coast. We didnt find our hostel at first and were a bit confused but then we saw it and walked into a green garden with flowers and trees and people playing games and getting tanned on the soft green grass. First of all we were amazed by the beautiful view in front of us, then, as I looked more closely to the people because I wanted to know what type of people this place hosted, when I suddenly noticed a head with short light blond hair. As I looked more closely I recognized Sebastian playing chess on the ground with another guy. I was so so so suprised and happy to see him. We had kind of lost him after leaving Dominical so seeing him now was really awesome. The other guy was Anton, a german friend he had met in Mexico and with whom he had traveled to Nicaragua and Panama. We met Antinea, a colunteer working at the hostel as a work & travel and she told us we couldnt do the check -in yet, so we left our stuff and walked to the center because just like every Saturday there was the prganic farmers market. The market consists in lical people selling their homemade products. There was home made Ricotta, Granola, hot sauce, bracelets (Noah and I bought 2 together as a souvenir), streetfood, clothes and many fruits and veggies. There was also music played by people with guitars and ukuleles. I absolutely LOVED this place and I couldnt resist, I bought veggies for dinner. We went to the center of the village and got an ice cream at a place Sebastian our ice cream specialist recommended. Then we walked on to a place called Piedra Colorada that we found on google maps and looked nice. We stayed there and went back to the hostel. The Hostel was so nice that Noah and I enjoyed just staying there. I read a bit, wrote and relaxed. Then we started cooking dinner. At the Piedra Colorada, The boys and I decided that we were gonna cook for the 4 of us. I wanted to make Quinoah bowl so I told the guys what veggies they had to cut and where to put them and coordinated everything which resulted in a good & healthy Quinoa Bowl. We drank Sangría from the supermarket as we were cooking which was way better than expected. When we sat down at the table we could tell that the other guests at the hostel were a bit jealous because we had made such a plate for dinner. Others were just eating basic spaghettis or rice with whatever instead. I was really happy because Anton and Sebastian were so so greatful for eating with us. They said this was the healthiest meal they had eaten so far and that they were very thankful for me cooking for them and that it was very good. I love it when people appreciate my effort, it makes me want to do such things for people if I know that its not going to be taken for granted. After dinner I told them that they had to clean the kitchen and I went out with Antinea to a bar in town wjere people played live music. There we met a friend of hers and had a drink. It was kind of crazy. Antinea was 28 years old and Marci her friend 39, so there was a 10 and 20 year age difference between us but still it felt like we all had the exact same age, I couldnt even tell what age, just three women listening to music, sitting in a bar, talking about some quite deep topics and just exchanging our thoughts and feelings. I think I desperately needed some female energy:) Both of them are quite different than me, way more spiritual, something I never really considered or even thought about but it was super interesting to listen to their opinions, their experiences and what they had to say about it. I even opened up to them about things that were making me angry and sad at the moment and it felt good to talk with them, even though they technically were strangers to me. Later on the boys came after their chess game and the kitchen cleaning. We went to „Chico‘s“ Bar and danced until about 1. Then we saw a streetfood truck in front of the bar and Noah had a funny looking hot dog, (Baby was fed and quiet again) which Anton called perro caliente directly translated to spanish, which obviously doesnt work. Eventually after dancing a bit more we went back to the hostel. We slept at about 2 and I woke up the next morning at 5:30. I dont know why and I probably would‘ve tried to go back to sleep but then I saw that the sky was all pink through the tiny window and decided I had to see. When I got out I got suprised by a beautiful sunrise (I didnt even know I could see the sun risind over the horizon from this place!!!!)
    Currently I am lying in a cozy Hammok after 3 hours of sleep and writing this. Tired but very happy and absolutely keen on living many more experiences here.    Read more

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