Costa Rica & Mexico

February 2023
A 18-day adventure by Chala's Journeys Read more
  • 16footprints
  • 3countries
  • 18days
  • 80photos
  • 0videos
  • 25.3kkilometers
  • 22.9kkilometers
  • Day 1

    Day 1 - A long journey

    February 1, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ -14 °C

    I did not sleep during the night. My flight would leave at 10:40am and I would arrive in Montreal 9 hours later. After waiting there for 3 hours, I would have to take another flight to San José. I would arrive at 11pm local time, meaning 6am back at home. I would spend a total of 48h being awake. Fuck. Me. As much as I was looking forward to my trip, this day would be exhausting as hell. After an eventful night, I talked to Lucifer, Moon and GLO on my way to the airport. I wasn't quite myself and almost managed to get lost there. After take-off, I realized that most of my sleepyness had vanished. I switched between watching some random french movie about police in the ghettos of Paris and admiring the Atlantic from above. I also finally got to finish the first season of House of the Dragon. The sun was burning my face through the glass as we gained more and more altitude, and I started wondering about the wonders of our existance as the waves passed by below me. The lack of sleep was finally catching up with me by this point. 10.000 metres above the ocean, I started getting quite delirious. My mind wandered about how nice it would feel to jump out of that window and into those fluffy clouds so far beneath. Eventually I finally fell asleep for a short amount of time before I continued watching a lame TV show called La Brea. By the time I arrived in Canada, I was extremely exhausted. I spent most of my time on the plane to San José trying to fall asleep. By the time I reached my hostel, it was almost midnight and I fell into bed.Read more

  • Day 2

    Day 2 - San José

    February 2, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    I woke up and started the day with some pancakes. After exchanging money to Colónes - the most colorful currency I must have seen so far - I headed out to explore the city. I soon realized that the chance of getting run over by a car here was a very real possibility, since crosswalks and streetlights seemed to be a pretty foreign concept here only applied to the biggest roads. After a near-death experience on said roads, I was thankful for the peaceful quiet of the Sabana Park. It seems to be San José's answer to Central Park. After walking around there for a bit, I stumbled upon the National Stadium, which I honestly didn't care for too much. I decided to head towards the city center. This time, I avoided almost getting run over by a car. I realized that I was already hungry again since I didn't have dinner the night before, so I went for a second breakfast. This time, it was quite typical Costa Rican - black beans, rice, avocados, tomatoes, onion, omelet, cheese and of course black coffee. Through the window, I saw three dudes breakdancing in the middle of the street, one of them dressed up as Spiderman, and I was immediately brought back to my memories of New York. After that, I continued on my quest to find both a SIM card and an adapter. Another thing I noticed as I was walking along the streets was an unbelievable amount of both honking and sirens. Welcome to Latin America, I guess. After a few conversations in various stores, I finally managed to get my phone set up. I realized that I should have studied more Spanish - I was talking in English, they responded in Spanish and that was working mostly fine, but still, it was a hassle. I checked out the central market for some souvenirs and a place to maybe have lunch later. After walking around the center a bit more, I went to the National Museum which was filled with ancient figures and stuff about coffee. Once I was done there, I headed to Calle 33 which is supposed to be _the_ restaurant street of San José. I got myself some Imperial beer - one of the most famous Costa Rican beers, as I was told - and some Chifrijo, which is a mix of rice, beans, steak, avocado, tomatoes and nachos. I realized that by the end of this holiday, I would not be able to stand beans and rice for quite some time. I then headed to Jardin de Lolita by the railway tracks to enjoy a beer and hang out on Discord a little. Afterwards, I decided to make my way back to the hostel because my battery was running low. On my walk back, the sun was burning. I saw a student's bus with a weed commercial on it, which was my Latin American moment of the day. Back at the hostel I realized how exhausted I still was from the journey and from walking around for seven hours straight. I lied down in bed to talk to Lucifer and noticed how I was close to falling asleep already. I decided to get some coffee and stay inside for the rest of the day. I ordered myself empanadas, plátano maduro con queso (fried banana with cheese) and a cake called très leches for dinner before calling it a day.Read more

  • Day 3

    Day 3 - The Adventure begins

    February 3, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I got up quite early in the morning to be picked up by my tour guide. I had quite a long day ahead of me. It was only 6 in the morning, but despite wearing short pants I did not feel cold. I love the weather here, it really doesn't compare to the cold temperatures back at home. The side of the streets of San José were filled with palm trees. It made me think back of my summer vacations in the Mediterranean. We made our way to the Alajuela province to visit a coffee plantation. We had some Gallo Pinto with fried banana, sausage and eggs for breakfast. Then we got a tour around the plantation and learned about the entire process of making coffee, from planting the seeds until roasting. I think I am ready to start my own coffee farm now. We continued onwards toward the Poás volcano. We hiked through a rainforest that was covered in clouds to reach the crater. Unfortunately, it was too foggy up there to see anything. We continued to La Paz Waterfall Gardens where we first got to see different exotic animals, including various species of birds, sloths, monkeys, snakes and felines. I had a hummingbird landing on my head for a few seconds and discovered a lovely wooden trail covered in moss that looked quite magical. We then hiked along the La Paz river to discover the 5 waterfalls within the park, one of which I could actually walk underneath. After an exhausting climb back up, we finally made our way back to San José, which was accompanied by the lovely golden glow of an early evening sun above the mountains. Back at the hostel, I ordered myself some chalupas and called it a night.Read more

  • Day 4

    Day 4 - Arenal

    February 4, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    Today I would hike around the Arenal volcano, which is a three hour drive away from San José. We took a break in a town called Sarchi, the artisans town. It was nicely decorated with vibrant colours, but it was mostly a tourist trap. As we continued our journey, we went through different areas of vegetation and even drove through the tropical rainforest. The word rainforest still sounds so foreign and exotic to me, it was hard to grasp that I was actually passing through one. Once we finally arrived, I ordered some casado before we headed towards the volcano. It was an imposing sight. Afterwards, we made our way to some hot springs to enjoy ourselves for a few hours. It was extremely relaxing and I had fun with some of the people I met on the tour. The warm water made me very sleepy so I spent most of the time on the way back asleep.Read more

  • Day 5

    Day 5 - Road Trip

    February 5, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today I was on a small tour. There were only two other guys and our guide. Since all three of them were native Spanish speakers, we decided to make that our main language for the day. It was quite challenging but I could follow most of the conversation. We drove across the panamericana to a town called Tarcoles to have some fried meats and tamales for breakfast and then watch the crocodiles in the river. As we continued our journey, I got my first ever glance at the Pacific Ocean. Only now I realized that I was at the other side of the world right now. We finally made our way to Manuel Antonio National Park, where we wandered through the jungle to see some lizards and monkeys before finally arriving at the beach. It was a small strip of perfectly white sand surrounded by the green of the jungle and the shining blue waters ahead. It was truly blissful. I swam alongside the beach for some time until I let the waves carry me back to the shore. Then I sat down by the water to catch a little sunlight. After walking back through the jungle, I ate some mariscos for a late lunch before we started making our way back to San José. We got to see a raccoon and an iguana enjoying the sunlight in the parking lot before leaving. After around 2h of drive, we made a quick stop to freshen up with a beer before finally heading back home.Read more

  • Day 6

    Day 6 - Pura Vida

    February 6, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We started the day by going to the Irazu volcano. At first, it was as foggy as it was on Poás and I had given up hope of seeing something. However, the weather changed rapidly and I was even able to see a rainbow inside the crater. We then went to the Orosi valley where we saw the ruins of a Spanish church and continued to have lunch by the river. The site was so peaceful. Afterwards, we went to Cartago to check out the church before heading back to the hostel. I took a walk to withdraw some money and wrote my postcards. Then I hung out with some people from the hostel which ended in a huge drama because drugs were involved on their end. I eventually managed to fall asleep by 5am after it was over.Read more