V. CA Costa Rica/W1, 7d: Corco-Tort EN

Mo, 03.07. Border crossing Paso Canoas-Neily-Sierpe
After 10 days in Panama I first had to go again from Boquete to David in the 1h chicken bus for $1.75 and from there with a 1.5h Colectivo bus for $2.00 to the border Paso Canoas where I said goodbye to Panama with a $1.00 fee and walked into Costa Rica - it was all easier and quicker than I thought and thanks to my financial proof and a nice officer I also did not need a document confirming that I will leave Costa Rica again :) After changing my last Dollars into CR Colones I took a 40min Transgulfo bus for 395/0,60€ to the next town Ciudad Neily, from there it was another 1,5h for 1,530 to Palmar Norte and then it again a 30min ride for 825 to the small village Sierpe, the getaway for boat transfers to Bahía Drake on the Osa Peninsula in the South Pacific and the national park Parque Nacional de Corcovado.
The whole trip itself was already worth it: first, the distances are especially after South America not that long anymore, a lot easier and in with better road conditions, secondly the landscapes are just breathtaking and I could immediately understand why Costa Rica (which btw means Rich Coast) is the world's most diverse and biodiverse country. There were so many palm trees and banana plants, everything was so green - and as usual in Central America's rainy season a nice beautiful morning was followed by heavy rain around 2pm, lasting for hours - well, at least it is worth using the poncho again :P

Costa Rica - Pura Vida and banana plants :)
With only around 5mio habitants the country is very small but definitively worth a visit thanks to its high biodiversity and the incredible landscapes - people come for the nature and the many national parks (over 1/4th of the country is under protection) which is the reason why the capital is exceptionally not mentioned under the country's top 5 in Lonely Planet :O It just offers everything - from lush green rain and cloudforests as well as mangroves, smoking volcanoes, long sand beaches in the Caribic and Pacific up to colonial towns and coastal resorts. In contrast to many neighbouring countries it is a very stable, safe, wealthy and thus also Central America's most expensive country and is often also named as "Switzerland in Central America". Costa Ricans, also known as Ticos, enjoy the best health and education system as well as the highest education rate and, together with Panama, life expectance in the isthmus.
'Pura Vida', pure life, is more than a statement here and often used as a greeting similar to 'Upe' when entering a house in rural areas. The population is again rather conservative but with more types of Christianism and especially women sometimes have to face annoying machism but in general the people are quite friendly. There are also many cultures ranging from the Afro-Caribbean province of Limón with Creolian food to the Cabanero cowboys of the Guanacaste region.
Foodwise CR is not an exception, you will find again a lot of rice and beans. The cheapest places to eat are 'sodas' with 'platos del días' around 5€. The most popular dish is 'gallo pinto' (fried rice with beans) especially served for breakfast as well as 'casados' (married), combinations of rice, beans, salad, plaintains with chicken or fish. Fried stuff, especially chicken, can also be found on every corner as well as good fish and ceviche. However, the fruits are best, especially 'mamones chinos' (lychee type), 'maracuya' (passionfruit) and 'marañon' (cashew). Popular drinks are again coffee, fruit juices with milk or water as well as 'horchatas' (beverage on corn basis).

Well, after finally arriving in the small village of Sierpe with pouring rain due to the wet season I checked my options, above all financially in this expensive country. The boat transfer to Bahía Drake would have been $20 one way and did not seem that appealing with the rain - i.e. $40 plus 2 nights in a $12 hostel without breakfast = $24 plus a $5 more expensive tour and losing a day; or spending a night in a $20 expensive hotel and direct tour for $70. I decided for the latter which was definitively the better decision, having a very nice big room on my own, including towels, soap, shampoo, own ensuite bathroom with pretty hot shower as well as an amazing breakfast incl typical CR Gallo Pinto rice and beans as well as scrambled eggs, toast, butter, jam, pineapple and watermelon - you just have to treat yourself every once in a while ;)

Tu, 04.07. Osa Peninsula/PN Corcovado
The national park Parque Nacional Corcovado was founded in 1975 and consists of 52,570ha land and 5,375 marine protected area. It is located on the Osa Peninsula and the authentic, most remote and with 2.5% world's biodiversity biologically most diverse part in Costa Rica's wild south. It offers one of the best animal encounters and hikes but is not visited by many tourists due to its remoteness/hassle to get there and temperatures. It has black Pacific beaches along pristine jungle and lush rainforest with a unique flora and fauna. The humidity is about 100% and 26* with 3,500-5,000mm rainfall a year and many snakes making a guide recommendable. The tides should also be considered, on the beach and when crossing rivers in particular. Apart from lonely beaches, rivers, palm trees as well as one of the world's biggest wetlands and mangroves there is an incredibly diversity of animals - big cats such as jaguars, pumas, ocelots; small cats such as jaguars, guarundi, margay, oncilla; monkeys such as white-faced capuchins, spider, howler, squirrel monkey; mammals such as baird's tapir, peccaries, deer, sloths; reptiles such as crocodiles, caimans, snakes and of course many insects such as ants, spiders etc.
The most popular places here are Puerto Jimenez located on the East side west of Río Dulce and very famous for whale watching as well as Agujitas in Drake Bay. The latter is a rather touristy, small, 2 roads village facing the island Isla del Caño popular for snorkeling and diving and the getaway for both NP entrances La Sirena and San Pedrillo.

The tour was then also pretty good and absolutely worth it. Starting from Sierpe we first had a 45min smooth boat ride on Río Sierpe and then another 45min rough ride across the open ocean, passing Drake Bay and Agujita in Bahía Drake until San Pedrillo entrance of Corcovado NP located on the Osa Peninsula. We already saw some animals such as birds and monkeys here and when crossing the open sea even a whale in the far distance. After a wet landing we first had to cross a for me up to hip-high river before having a 3h hike through CR incredible flora and fauna - well, the country is expensive but also so worth seeing with for me so many new and endemic plant and animal species ;)
I was also quite happy having booked a guided tour - without a guide I hardly would have seen anything and it was incredible how he spotted only 2cm big, pretty well camouflaged and only via telescope really seeable frogs just by listening to their sound. Apart from all the impressive and especially tremendous plants we saw so many animals such as CR famous sloths, 3 types of monkeys, a boa, 2 mini frogs with a super poisonous one and a lot of birds.
After a good and diverse lunch (delicious veg-curry-rice, sandwiches with ham, tuna, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad as well as pineapple, watermelon and even cake with a lot of fruit juices we then had another shorter walk to a waterfall where we also saw many birds and monkeys. I then relaxed in the hammock with view of palm trees, sea, black sandy beaches and rocks before we had to go back by boat. It was there where we then had an amazing experience with around 20 dolphins swimming next to our boat for about half an hour :)))
After the rainforest we then went through CR biggest wetland and mangrove (there are 12 in total) on Río Bajo, a unique ecosystem with a mixture of salt and sweet water (I have already seen that before on the Galapagos Islands and it can only be found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia as well as Central America). Mangroves have many important functions; they improve the water quality, serve as ideal breeding sites and protection against natural disasters such as tsunamis.
Since unfortunately I couldn't afford a $20 night on a regular basis I still continued my travel after the tour around 5:30pm passing the small village Uvita and the national park PN Marino Ballena (in particular known for whale and dolphin watching) until Dominical. I was again quite lucky here - on the tour I met the German family Sören, Oxana and son Julian currently living in Colombia and having booked a hotel not far away from Dominical who were so nice to give me a ride in their rental car - oh there are so many friendly people in this world :)))

We, 05.07. Dominical & Quepos/PN Manuel Antonio
Dominical itself is a super small surfer village located on Río Barú and Playa Dominical visited by a lot of Americans in particular. With the Cool Vibes Beach Hostel I had a very nice hostel in the green jungle with birds singing, monkeys in the backyard and close to the ocean - ideal to jump again in the pool in the evening, relax in the hammocks, get some good sleep and watch the surfers on the beach the next morning :)
Later I then continued 1,5h in a bus to Quepos and from there another 20min ride away Manuel Antonio in the so famous national park Manuel Antonio.
The Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is located 7km south-east of Quepos on the Central Pacific and one of CR smallest national parks. It was founded in 1972 and covers 1,983ha land and 55,100ha sea area on 0-160m tropical humid rainforest. It is in particular famous for animal encounters such as birds, sloths etc as well as beautiful bays with light white-grey sand and densely forested, green hilly scenery. Very touristy you really don't need to book a tour here - there are many easy to more exhausting hikes through forests along beaches with nice viewpoints such as Mirador Punta Serrucho, Playa Rey, Puerto Escondido, Playas Gemelas, Los Congos, Manuel Antonio, Espadilla Sur, Punta Catedral (Isla Verde, Paso de Ballenas, La Rampa), Corazón del Tombola y Laguna, Perezoso as well as La Catarata. I also saw again the 3 types of monkeys, the 2- and 3-fingered sloths as well as a racoon.
The Pura Vida Hostel was also worth its name with nice view, free tea and coffee, syrup pancakes for breakfast and a lot of animals such as monkeys, lizards and hummingbirds.

Th, 06.07. San José
That morning I continued further towards San José - in contrast to many other countries Costa Rica's capital isn't recommended in any travel guidebook; but there is also not that much to see in the city and I also only stopped there to have a break for the really long trip to Tortuguero. It is CR capital and with 340.000 habitants also biggest city located within the fertile Valle Central surrounded by many mountains and volcanoes with an average temperature of 24* all year round.
The 4h Colectivo bus ride (Tracopa, 4,270) was at the beginning pretty straight on very good roads along the Pacific Coast until Jaco and then east into the country's centre with super steep, bendy roads along beautiful lush green hill and mountain scenery. Due to the wet season it also started raining again around 1pm and there was also a lot of traffic - I went a bit to the city centre and some squares and parks but mainly used the time to relax and organise my further travel to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast.

Fr, 07.07. PN Tortuguero
After a typical Costa Rican breakfast (Gallo pinto = rice with black beans, bread and egg) I started towards Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast - a truly small world trip and spectacular adventure ;) Instead of paying $49 for a tourist shuttle I did it again in backpacker style for just about $8 and 1/5th of the price. I first had to catch a 2h bus from San José's Terminal de Caribe/Caribeños to Cariari (1,680), from there a 1,5h bus to La Pavona (1,100) from where I then had to take a 1h Colectivo boat (2,000) via the canals to the small village of Tortuguero. I really did not understand why people booked a shuttle for that, it was already so touristy and people immediately directed you to the next connection. When arriving in Tortuguero there were even signs with names on it and guides directly taking you to your hostel :O

Parque Nacional Tortuguero is a remote national park with many river and canal systems as well as lagoons on the Northern Caribbean Coast. It is perfect for animal encounters, especially via boat or even more authentic in a canoe with a diversity of species, amongst others 442 types of birds (kingfisher, jarcana, garza tigre, parvón, tucans), 138 types of mammals (jaguar, manatee, monkeys, tapir, pecarry) and 118 types of reptiles (crocodiles, caimans, snakes, iguanas). It is a worldclass wetland but in particular known for its green, the very rare and with 3m and 3kg worldwide biggest leatherback as well as river turtle that lay their eggs here from July to September where the young baby turtles are then born around September. Having been hunted for their shell and meat in former times the tourism has had a good impact here - living turtles are just of greater value ;)
Tortuguero itself is a peaceful, very isolated village located 254km from San José and 83km from Limón and only accessible via boat or plane. It is basically just one road and there are no cars, people either walk or ride the bike.

I already saw a sloth during the bus ride - very strange and unexpected hanging on an electric branch. The trip itself was already again so beautiful passing incredibly green lush fields and so many banana farms with so many tremendous plants. Despite the usual strong afternoon rain the boat ride was also nice and with the family-run hostel Tortuguero7Backpackers and its friendly owners Kendall, Paula, 3y old José Gabriel as well as mama Marina I also had a nice accommodation.
In the afternoon I first visited the village before relaxing at the super long, nice dark grey-black sand beach.

Sa, 08.07. PN Tortuguero
The next morning I went on an awesome 6am canoe tour through the lagoon and canals - it is in the morning where you can see most animals and we also saw quite a few with sloths, monkeys, caimans, iguanas, Jesus Christ iguanas, birds and insects. Moreover, it was also very nice to experience the amazing plants and animals without environmental impact and engine sounds and we were also only 5 people. Apart from tucans, birds and butterflies we also saw the 3 types of monkeys, 2 green mini basilisks, 2 big iguanas (brown and black) as well as 2 baby caimans. Talking about caimans - there were 2 deaths and 3 other incidents within the last 4-5 years but mostly due to people's own fault.
As the canoe tour was already in the national park and I thus had already paid the $15 fee I went back after a late breakfast for a 2-3h hike and animal spotting in the jungle. Due to constant rain and wet season I rented boots which proved to be a good idea and it was such a nice experience with all the animal sounds, the sea and the amazing flora and fauna :)
Around 8pm I then went to the nightly turtle tour that reminded me a lot of Australia with the egg laying process - the moon was also very clear here so that you could easily see everything - always again a nice experience :)
After that I was invited to the hostel owner's birthday party where they served typical food such as rice, beans, chicharron, hot sausage, plaintains, even vegetables and a huge piece of cake - oh well, how nice life can be :P
Talking about food there are not so many variations on the Caribbean coast, in the sodas you will find the typical casados (rice and beans) rather Caribeño type = with coconut milk but strangely enough not often with fish but rather chicken - well or ceviche.

Su, 09.07. Tortuguero-La Fortuna
Sunday was again a veeery looong travel day:
5am Tortuguero-La Pavona: Colect Boat, 45m, 2,000
(river, rainforest, jungle)
6am La Pavona-Cariari: Colect Bus, 50m, 2,000
(gravel road, super green fields, cows, Bananas)
7am Cariari-Gúapiles: Coopetraca, 40m, 500
(already a lot chillier)
8am Guápiles-Puerto Viejo: Guapileños, 1h, 1,250
(first glimpse of big mountain or volcano)
Puerto Viejo de Sariquipí-Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos Linaco, 2h, 1,555 (still pretty strong rain but first luxury bus of the trip with super comfortable adjustable seats, panoramic windows, two floors and unfortunately again fridge temperatures :P; already very mountaineous and slow and bendy through PN Arenal and over its pass).
Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos-La Fortuna/Arenal 1,340, 1,5h; i.e. in total I only spent 13€ i/o 53€ for the shuttle and thus saved 40€ - but also had a very adventurous 10h door-by-door ride :P

I am very positively surprised by Costa Rica: it is very modern, western, organised, buses are on time and punctual; nature is very important and preserved, there is hardly any rubbish and according to its name the country seems indeed to be rich. But unfortunately, it is veeery touristy, very expensive (the entrance fee for national parks and other natural attractions is usually around $15) and there are way too many German and American :PRead more