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    • TravelerAuszeit Vol. 2
      Day 41

      Das innere Kind in den Tauchern, Sámara

      April 14, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Nach 3 Tagen geht es mit dem Shuttlebus weiter nach Sámara, welches uns auf Anhieb sehr gut gefällt. Es ist irgendwie härziger und auch viel ruhiger. Es hat eher wieder einen Dorfkern mit diversen Möglichkeiten für Speis und Trank. 🥗🍚🍻

      Auch hier gehen wir tauchen, diesmal bei Andy's Divecenter. Andy ist eigentlich eine "One-man-show": Der Londoner macht alles selbst: Flaschen füllen, Organisation der Termine, Ausbildungen und Fun Dives. In Andy steckt bestimmt noch ein, wenn auch fluchendes, Kind und wir amüsieren uns über wie auch unter Wasser prächtig. Ja zum Teil, muss ich meinen Atemregler im Mund festhalten vor Lachen. 😂🤭🙆‍♀️

      Im Vergleich zu Santa Teresa sind die Tauchplätze hier viel farbiger und mit vielen Weichkorallen geschmückt. Es lebt und blüht richtig und wir werden einmal mit grandioser Sicht beschenkt. WOW! 🐡🦈🐙

      Wir leben im Hostel Marisol, kochen oft, da dies besser für den aktuellen Magen sein soll, dieser schreit etwa gleich laut wie die Brüllaffen am Morgen. Die Grosskinder von Marisol sind zuckersüss und wir können uns mit unseren wenigen Spanischkenntnissen grad so knapp mit ihnen unterhalten.

      Sámara bietet uns zudem ein Besuch in einem Dschungel-Fitness, in einer guten Brauerei sowie einer Bäckerei, die von Schweizern geführt wird.      Read more

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    • TravelerCosta Rica
      112
      Day 10

      Samara

      April 13, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Playa Samara is located in the Guanacaste province at the north end of the Nicoya Peninsula

      It was Thursday before the holy Easter holiday were all the Ticos (Costa Ricans) went to the beaches, so almost everything was booked out.

      I got lucky to get a bed in La Aldea Hostel were they were super friendly and squeezed a bed for me into the dormitories for a night.

      First thing for me was taking the football, provided by La Aldea and checking out the beach wich was 3min away.
      I arrived at a beautiful 6km long coastline surrounded by palmtrees at land and reefs and giant rocks in the water.

      After juggling around for myself some Ticos came and we played 2vs 2.
      The sun went down when more and more people came playing and we ended up playing something like 8vs 8. It was super fun and intense because the guys extremely good and physical.

      I had delicious dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and went to the hostels kitchen to have a Guanabana (engl. Soursop) as desert, wich is one of my favourite fruits on the journey. Soursop’s flavor can best be described a cross between mango green apple and pineapple. One whole soursop fruit contains 215% of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.
      The inner consistency is weird, white and fleshy.
      Some girls in the kitchen asked if it was fish, when I let them all try a bit. They were kind of surprised of the nice taste :)
      They they asked me to join for a beach party a bit further, wich in the end was super nice with amazing electronic music. I danced for one or two hours before walking home the beach in almost full moon light.

      The last week changed my rythm for good. I woke up at 6 in the morning and went directly to see the natural pools wich are exibited at low tide. On the way back I saw some people preparing for their yoga class. I joined them for a intense 90min Vinyasa class. It costed me 10.000 Colones (~14€). Costa Rica in general was very expensive, but affordable since I haven't spent a cent last week in the camp.

      I had to change the accommodation after having my breakfast (fruits and granola :)) to hostel Samara, were I got the last place in a 10bed dormitory.

      The rest of the day I walked the other side of the beach before meeting with my dutch friend Tom for some beach volley. Our opponents destroyed us and everybody else completely. 2vs 2 - Winner always stayed. When they needed a break after winning 10 games in a row we could even win two games before they came back 😅

      After dinner with Tom at a vegan food court I went happy to bed.
      The bed unfortunately wasn't that happy. The room was packed and didn't have an AC, so it was hot and smelly. I woke up around 2 soaked in sweat when I stood up and found a couch in the lobby.

      I had the option to leave the next day but thought it might be smarter to travel all the way to Uvita on a Saturday when most people are with their families and not on the road.
      So I spent another chill day at the beach full of volley and football and left Saturday morning 4:30 the ~8 hour journey further south the Pacific coast.      Read more

    • KK on tourBackpack Latin America 2.0
      Day 16

      Hola Nicaragua! 🇳🇮

      April 16, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

      Nach drei Tagen in la Fortuna wo wir ganz liebe Reisende aus Canada getroffen haben und zum Abschied zusammen essen gingen, waren wir nun bereit für unser nächstes Abenteuer, Nicaragua.
      Nach fünf Stunden Fahrt von La Fortuna an die Grenze Nicaraguas fühlten wir uns durchgeschüttelt🤪 Gefühlt 1000 Schlaglöcher haben für eine « enstpannte » Reise gesorgt.
      An der Grenze erwarteten uns viele sehr merkwürdige Sachen. Erst mussten wir eine Gebühr bezahlen, damit wir Costa Rica verlassen dürfen. Dann gingen wir mit unserem Gepäck ca. 1 km zum nächsten Grenzgebäude wo uns ein sehr kompetenter Grenzbeamte erwartete… Für die Kontrolle der Pässe von 4 Personen liess er sich eine Stunde Zeit, nur kein stress 😎. Endlich waren wir auf nicaraguanischem Boden und erwischten gleich ein Chickenbus der uns nach Rivas brachte. Rivas ist der Ausgangspunkt um auf die weltweit grösste Vulkaninsel « Ometepe » in einem See zu gelangen. Auf der Fähre näherten wir uns langsam der Insel mit ihren zwei majestätischen Vulkanen. Ein wundervoller Anblick. 😍

      ————————————————————————————

      Après trois jours à la Fortuna, où nous avons rencontré de très chers voyageurs canadiens et mangé ensemble pour nous dire au revoir, nous étions prêts pour notre prochaine aventure, le Nicaragua.
      Après cinq heures de route entre La Fortuna et la frontière du Nicaragua, nous nous sommes sentis secoués🤪 Un millier de nids de poule nous ont permis de faire un voyage " détendu ".
      À la frontière, beaucoup de choses très étranges nous attendaient. Nous avons d'abord dû payer une taxe pour pouvoir quitter le Costa Rica. Ensuite, nous avons marché environ 1 km avec nos bagages jusqu'au prochain bâtiment frontalier où nous attendait un agent frontalier très compétent... Il a pris une heure pour contrôler les passeports de 4 personnes, mais pas de stress 😎. Nous étions enfin sur le sol nicaraguayen et avons tout de suite attrapé un chickenbus qui nous a emmenés à Rivas. Rivas est le point de départ pour se rendre sur la plus grande île volcanique du monde, Ometepe, située dans un lac. Sur le ferry, nous nous sommes lentement approchés de l'île et de ses deux majestueux volcans. Un spectacle magnifique. 😍      Read more

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    • Christie MitchellRTW 2022
      2
      Day 38

      Liberia, Costa Rica

      April 28, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 90 °F

      Today was a travel day. We moved from La Fortuna in the mountains to Liberia which was in the NW corner of the country, closer to the coast. We took a shared shuttle again, and the drive was dangerous, but fairly pleasant. We are down more in pastureland now instead of jungles and it’s much hotter. 98 today. On the freeways there are stands where people sell fresh squeezed juices, and all the streets are lined to help the blind. US could learn from this.

      When we went to do zip lining I looked up the safety of it
      (Because the day we went, a teenager fell out of his harness. Lived but seriously injured. Not at our park, but still) … interestingly I found out the leading cause of death here is car accidents. Clearly. The combination of tourists driving slowly, locals who want to get places VERY quickly, and the REALLY narrow, curvy mountainous roads … well, I can see it. So apparently I risked my life 10 fold today making this drive compared to zip lining.

      The shuttle buses have a great system. They pick up at hotels and then meet in a centralized location, and then everyone switches vans to go onward. When we stopped for our break and to switch vans, there were monkeys and Macaws flying everywhere!! So happy. I had wanted to see parrots and hadn’t yet.

      And our hostel in Liberia is awesome!! We have a private room, with AC, outdoor kitchen and these beautiful hammocks in the shade to hang out in all for $25 a night. Going to make dinner in tonight for the first time. Pura Vida!      Read more

    • Christie MitchellRTW 2022
      2
      Day 39

      Last Adventure day

      April 29, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

      We had our last adventure day in Costa Rica today. We went to Buena Vista Adventure Park which was a beautiful complex with every activity to do in one place.

      We started out zip lining - this time half as high, and much slower than last time. I was much more at ease, and much happier.

      After that, we rode horses for 45 min into the jungle towards a waterfall and hot springs. Couldn’t swim in the waterfall, but could in the hot springs! There were mud baths and five differing pools. After the hot springs, we headed for the longest jungle water slide in the world - 4500 meters. I passed, as reviews showed a lot of injuries in older people, but jordan went for it (3 times) and loved it.

      After that we watched a culture demonstration - native pottery making, Costa Rican coffee and food samples and then watched how they used to squish sugar cane to make brown sugar. Topped the day off with a great buffet lunch and we were pretty happy.

      While walking, they taught us about the parasite tree. It grows from bird droppings high in the canopy and then slowly grows downward and takes over the existing tree. I have a couple pics of one.

      Overall a great last day.      Read more

    • Christie MitchellRTW 2022
      Day 39

      “Brain eating amoeba” - Scary, but true

      April 29, 2022 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

      After spending 2 hours swimming in the hot springs, we EXITED and saw this sign - it says do not put your head under water because of the risk of amoebic meningitis! Well, we had spent the whole time diving down, swimming under the water, with our heads in the falls … definitely had our heads “under the water”. We asked a worker what was up with that - and he shrugged it off and said we were fine.

      When we got back to our hostel I googled it and I found out some very scary info - ALL warm natural lakes, springs, ponds everywhere in the world (even the US) can and do contain this nasty “brain eating amoeba”. He’s microscopic and enters thru your nose and then takes up residence in your brain. In 7-10 days, you’re dead. Very few people survive. Yeah … it’s a real thing. Who knew?!? It is very rare, but they had 2 cases in 2020 in Costa Rica so not unheard of.

      We spent probably more time with our heads underwater than over, so … we’re both a tad nervous. Just because of the extended exposure time. Nothing we can do now about it but wait, but dang, talk about a poorly placed sign.      Read more

    • Michael and Helen CookMexico to Rio
      111
      Day 79

      Diving in Costa Rica

      March 19 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

      The last few days we have been diving from Coco in Costa Rica.

      It is over 20 years since we dived in the pacific (Hawaii in 2001). The conditions here are challenging for diving. The visibility can be quite low sometimes about 5m. There are strong currents with a high surge factor which can mean you are moving forward and back in relation to the bottom. Lastly the water temperature is also a bit cooler with powerful thermoclines. A thermocline is where the water can change temperature by as much as 10 degrees when you cross an invisible barrier. It is like going from the hot to the cold bath.

      We mainly came here to see Manta Rays but alas this was not to be this time. When we went to the Catalinas Islands where they gather (over an hour by boat) the visibility was awful. But we did see lots of cool marine life Moray Eels, White-Tip Reef Sharks, many large Rays, many Octopus including a huge one, and so many fish some in schools of thousands bait balling.

      But we have enjoyed the diving including taking a speciality course towards our Master Diver qualification. I think we are now better divers than we were 20 years ago. And coping with the challenging conditions here is part of that development.

      We have also done some cool birding from the house. This included getting our 400th bird of the trip - Hoffman Woodpecker

      Finally we have received permission from the Nicaraguan government to visit the country after two rounds of questioning (by email) so tomorrow we move on towards the border crossing the next day for a week in Nicaragua,      Read more

    • TravelerCosta Rica
      2
      Day 17

      Von Rincón de la Vieja nach Monteverde

      April 5 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      Heute nur Reisetag nach Monteverde. Auf dem Weg ein Suchbild (Uhu) und eine Cashew-Nuss an der Cashew-Frucht. Die Frucht kann man auch essen, ist aber Geschmackssache. Jetzt ausruhen und nachher auf das Wohl des Geburtstagskindes anstoßen 🎉Read more

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    • The Americas
      Day 46

      Entering Costa Rica

      April 6 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

      The border crossing from Nicaragua into Costa Rica went very smoothly!

      There were local bus vendors selling tickets to various places, so we asked around about how best to get to La Fortuna. There was one vendor selling tickets direct to a town called El Tanque, which is only a 10 minute taxi away from La Fortuna! The only issue was that this bus didn't leave until 2:30pm, which was over 4 hours away. However, we thought best to play it safe and wait around for this bus rather than catch 4 further unscheduled buses that might not exist.

      We also realised at this point that we'd (I'd) left our untouched food bag containing our breakfast and lunch at Nicaraguan passport control. So I set off on a mission to retrieve the bag.

      The border police for both countries were happy for me to go back and have a look but without success, the bag couldn't be found. So we bought a pack of ginger biscuits, a lemonade and a Powerade from a nearby vendor.

      After a long wait our bus finally came! We stopped off and picked up some snacks. The legroom was terrible so about halfway through me and Dan split up to give each other more space. I ended up sitting across from an 18 year old local guy who loved football. So we tried to have a conversation half in terrible Spanish and half in terrible English which went okay actually!

      We then arrived at El Tanque and caught an Uber to La Fortuna. Upon arrival at our hostel we found 🚨 THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨 a ball court with a FOOTBALL!!!!! The hostel also has a fully equipped kitchen, lots of social spaces and our room is nice and air conditioned too, so this was nice to be greeted with after a long day.

      We nipped to the supermarket and made, you guessed it, tuna pasta for dinner. Our first impressions of La Fortuna are good! Now time for some much needed sleep.      Read more

    • Landcruisers HorizonAusfahrt Amerika
      1221
      Day 267–269

      Costa Rica zu dritt

      April 2 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Jakob ist da! Wir genießen die Zeit, unterhalten uns, besuchen die Sehenswürdigkeiten, wandern durch den Dschungel.
      Da wenig Zeit - und auch Lust - zu längerem Schreiben eines Blogeintrags besteht, werde ich die Tage nur in Bildern festhalten.Read more

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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Provincia de Guanacaste, Guanacaste, Guanacasti

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