Sun, Sand, Swimming, Sunsets, and Statues

March 16-17, 2016

My first stop in Nicaragua was the little tourist beach town of San Juan del Sur. It was cute and hot and busting with shuttle tours to nearby surf spots. I was content to laze around on the little beach on town.

I munched on fantastic chicken quesadillas at a little taco shop, had a smoothie, and was treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets of the trip so far.

The pictures of course don't do it justice, but there was an entire rainbow painted across the sky. From orange and yellow right at the water, through green and blue, to the darker blue and purple up high streaked with pink clouds.

It was magical.

The night was hot and filled with restless dreams, but my bunk was a whole double or full bed or something, so I had plenty of room to sprawl.

The next day I lazed, swam in the ocean which was the perfect temperature to not be too cold, but be a slight shock when you first get in, and went walking at sunset to the Christ statue on the hill.

Guidebooks told me its the second biggest after the one in Rio, but I found a sign there listing two between the two. Also there's three Christ statues taller than Rio which I didn´t know, in Vietnam, Poland, and the tallest in La Paz, Bolivia. It was impressive nonetheless, and had a fantastic view of town.

I walked back to town, and found the gringo-ist bar in town having a St Patty's day shepherds pie special, which sounded great for dinner.

It was, and I ate while watching half clothed gringos decked in sparkly green everything, body paint and glitter take green tequila shots. There was blasting techno music too.

I actually quite enjoyed the experience, from my unobtrusive vantage point, and felt like it qualified for not letting St Patricks Day pass unnoticed. Even if I didn't go anywhere near green tequila.

Instead I went and had myself a wonderful strawberry daquiri at a beachfront restaurant and listened to the waves. Much more my speed.

Then it was time to bid the beach adeiu, and head for colonial Granada. But not before riding the local dinosaur of course.

Rincon de la Vieja and more active volcanoes

March 13-15, 2016

After the forests of Monteverde it was down to flat, hot, dry Liberia for my last stop in Costa Rica. My objective was Rincon de la Vieja National Park, for hiking and volcanic activity. (That translates to Old Lady's Nook in case you were wondering) In the meantime I had to deal with 85 degree weather.

I arrived on a Sunday, just to discover the park is closed on Mondays. So I killed a day sitting in my hot hotel room. Once the sun dipped down I forayed out, and found a music festival happening. It was a Jesus festival with live bands and dance performances in the park, and I watched for a bit after getting a smoothie.

Tuesday I was up early to catch the hotel shuttle to the park. Once there, I decided to take our shuttle driver up on his offer of guide services, since guides mean getting so many more tidbits of info, and the price was reasonable.

We did a three hour loop first, and not 5 minutes in, found a spider monkey, one of 3 species that live in the park. (Costa Rica has 4 species all together)

I promise the brownish blob is a monkey. Again, zoom doing its best. He was swinging through the branches using all four limbs plus a tail.

There was a barranquero, my favorite.

You can see what a beautiful blue he is, even if his awesome tail is hidden. They call him a mot mot here, but I like the Colombian name of barranquero better.

And a waterfall, more impressive I'm sure in the rainy season.

The rest of the forest was pretty too.

Trees made fantastical shapes

Then on to the fumeroles, evidance of the volcanic activity in the area.

Just as we arrived we found a baby anteater in a tree. He was so cute, climbing around on his hunt for ants, sometimes entirely wrapped around the limb.

Not the closest picture, but he's all wrapped around the branch and its adorable!

Clambering around, eating ants. Being an anteater.

The fumeroles were great too, billowing sulphurous steam, and boiling water. The wind was in our favor mostly, so the smell wasn't very strong. One plume wafted over me though, and it was HOT!

A couple places had steam coming from cracks in the ground

And this one had a pool of boiling water in it. And fun green deposits.

We went next to the volcancito, little volcano. You could hear the bubbling, not visible but clearly just below the surface. There was fun alteration around the vent too.

Back to where we started from, and there was just time for me to do the 10km loop to the prettier waterfall before the shuttle left.

Best bridge with a rope to follow.

The landscape was fascinating, going from forest to scrubby plains to open desert and back again.

We found more bands of monkeys, white faced cappuchins this time (read in the voice of Jane from Tarzan, it was an ARMY of monkeys, daddy!)

There were two others farther along in a tree, plain black so I'm pretty sure they were howler monkeys, the third and final monkey type in the park. Doing so good on Costa Rica Bingo!

The view out north was incredible. On a clear day you can see Lake Nicaragua, just across the border.

Down again into the forest, and lo and behold there was a beautiful waterfall. I failed with my planning this time and wasn't fully aware of the waterfall, so I hadn't brought a swimsuit. I would have loved to swim in the cool water, but had to settle for feet dipping.

I celebrated with a juice box, as any kid trapped in a 24 year old body would do.

The rock formations at the top of the falls were beautiful

And the local trees showed great ingenuity in how they kept from falling off the side of the rocks they grew on.

On the hike back, I found my favorite strangler fig yet.

I enjoyed my day and return hike, and I got back to the van just when I wanted. I got dropped at my hotel door, and was very ready for a shower.

The next morning I stopped at the bank to change all my leftover colones to USD, and hopped a bus for the border. Its a hot, dusty, ugly one filled with waiting semi trucks, but I paid my fees and taxes and got stamped out and in just fine. The Nicaragua customs official was definitely flirting with me, which I decided is much better than dealing with a grumpy impatient official. Then back on the bus to go to San Juan del Sur, my first Nicaraguan stop, and also a beach.

Spoiler: get ready for sunset pictures.

Monteverde, land of quetzals

March 8-12, 2016

When one of my uncles heard I was traveling through Costa Rica, he let me know that he had former neighbors and still good friends living there, and he'd be happy to put us in touch. I was not at all remiss to reach out, and I ended up having the greatest week in Monteverde because of it.

Set up in the highlands, its home to the cloud forests of Costa Rica. This is the view looking from the road to town. I was staying with my uncle's friend Tony, about 5km away from the little center of Santa Elena.

Originally a settlement founded by Quaker families fleeing the draft in the US, the Monteverde area has become a tourism hotspot. Signs advertizing rafting, zip lining, hanging bridge tours, birdwatching, coffee and chocolate tours, and more line the streets outside hostels and tour agencies.

I visited Don Juan's farm twice before, on 8th and 12th grade school trips. I took this photo for Dad who thought Don Juan might remember me. I noticed my hair later. I kinda like it...

I was not so interested in paying a bunch for a tour, but I did want to go hiking in the Monteverde reserve. Tony searched up a bus schedule for me, and I hopped the morning bus (an old yellow Bluebird) up the hill to the entrance. Entrance fee paid and map in hand I set off. Though the reserve is known for the quetzals that live there, sightings are rare, and not having hired a guide and not being the best at spotting stuff, my hopes were realistic. I didn't expect quetzals, but knew I'd get other birds that decided to fly right in front of me.

The tourist section of the reserve is a small portion of the whole protected part, and trails are well kept. While not exactly a rugged jungle trek, the forest is still amazing, and very green. There were few enough people that I was walking with no one in sight mostly, listening to the wind rustling the trees and the wild bird calls that filled the woods. Cue photo montage.

Even exotic lands have dandilion plant

Getting to the lookout point at the far end of the loop, the mists had rolled in. Gotta have clouds in a cloud forest I guess.

Looking out the other way was the Pacific waaay in the distance. I could see it through the haze, though the camera didn't capture it very well.

I was also looking out over the continental divide, which was somewhere not very far in front of me. It definitely felt like I was looking down off of both sides of the trail.

Rumor has it on a really clear day you can see the Atlantic too. I couldn't.

Meanwhile, back in the forest...

Pretty sweet suspension bridge out over a big ravinne. The trees growing next to it were so tall!

Now its story time!

So being me, and not having a companion, I was walking along making only footstep noises. A couple other groups came through talking loudly in German or discussing the latest episode of some Netflix series. I stood still and let them pass, so I could listen to trees and birds instead of their noise.

I was feeling rather morally superior, and smugly thinking that I got to see more hummingbirds than them, since often I heard their whirring before seeing them off to the side of the path. Just then I came along a couple people standing still and staring into the trees.

Always a good clue that there might be something interesting to look at.

So I *smugly* closed the distance making as little noise as possible. When I reached the group, a lady pointed and whispered 'quetzal'.

Quetzal!!

Though not an avid birdwatcher who would have a sighting make or break their trip, I was eager to see one of the beautiful birds all the same. I had enough time to see a bright green blob in the branches when it took flight. I was left with an impression of bright green and red. But not just one bird flew, there were two more I hadn't seen!

A quick walk up the path didn't find where any had landed, so I continued on my way feeling lucky all the same. Two quiet minutes later, I heard a bird to my left, and I managed to find it! All by myself!

*proud look*

It was about quetzal sized and a lovely shade of green, but obviously without the red breast and huge tail of the male.

Middle of the photo, the brighter green spot. My zoom did its best.

When the three had flown off earlier I heard a guy say it was two males and a female. I was just starting to wonder if this was the female, when the other two males flew in. And my jaw dropped.

They were beautiful, with tails as long as their bodies blowing in the wind. And nicely positioned too.

I stayed there watching them for a good long while. Others came along, and I got to point the quetzals out to them. The birds flew around changing branches a couple times, but stayed in easy view. One fellow had binoculars.

I'm positive it was mating season, since the males squabbled every so often, and the fact that there were three of them around one lady. They were also vocalizing some incredible sounds. (The video is of nothing, but if you turn the audio up you should be able to hear the quetzal calls)

At the end the calls sounded like those little whistles you have as a kid that's got a spinny thing, and when you blow into it, the whistle kind of gives an increasingly high pitched whhheeeEEEeee!! It was supremely ridiculous coming from this majestic bird, and I giggled.

I could have watched for much longer, but eventually decided to continue. Plus I needed a bathroom. But right near the bottom of the trail, there was another pair of quetzals, nesting in a tree. The male was working digging out the hole in the tree they were going to use, and looked kinda stupid with his butt sticking out and feathers bouncing around as he dug. I didn't watch for too long, since it was kinda just a bird butt, and not much could top my 4 birds from before.

So back down to the visitors center, bathroom, and my PBJ lunch.

I also watched Angel, who was making glass figurines to sell.

This one is a quetzal, I watched him make turtles too.

He was more than happy to answer all my questions, and I was fascinated, watching glass rods become animals. He had clear rods for the base, melting thin colored rods onto the side for the colored parts of the figurines. The blowtorch let molten blobs of glass be added and shaped into heads, limbs, and loops to make pendants.

He had turtles, hummingbirds, frog figurines, quetzals, and some of the cutest sloths too.

I asked permission before photographing, and I noticed he asked a bunch of other tourists for no photos please. Score one for making friends first.

After lunch it was back for a short loop, I visited the waterfall on another trail.

And I had yet ANOTHER quetzal sighting, a lone male off in a tree, bring my count for the day to 7.

And they say the things are hard to find...

I watched more glass work until the last bus for the day came, bid Angel goodbye, and headed for home quite satisfied with my day.

The next couple days passed with just as much fun, and not as many quetzals.

I cooked meals, ate them with good conversation from Tony, and enjoyed the cheddar cheese he got special when he heard how much I missed it.

We biked into town and had crepes for breakfast one morning, I rode an armadillo.

I think at the end I´ll make a post that´s just full of the pictures of me on top of statues.  There´s a bunch.

This building, clearly destroyed by a fire, was almost artistic in its demise.

And I came at the right time to hear Tony play not one, but two gigs with various bands. The first one was at a bar called Unicornios, and was the Costa Rican version of my favorite karaoke bar back home. Dark, stage in the corner, and blasting too-loud top 40, I enjoyed myself.

Imperial, the beer of Costa Rica

I had a weak beer or two, and listened to the band doing rock/regge covers of everything from Imagine Dragons to Stevie Wonder, Tony on keyboard.

That night ended late with meeting new friends in the parking lot, driving home with the back of the car stuffed with sound equipment and the guys who live next to Tony, seeing an armadillo, and then talking longer in the parking strip outside the house. The stars were out in full force and we found Jupiter. I went to bed around 3am, blissfully happy after a night of the human interaction I had been missing for so many months.

We got a late breakfast the next morning of pinto gallo, then at noon I went with him to the weekly ultimate frisbee pickup game at the local school. I had a blast, my long ago middle school strategies kicked back in, and my legs reminded me I hadn't run and had done very little exercise other than walking in 8 months. I told them to suck it up, and paid for it the next day. But I had so much fun!

That night's gig was a bit more tame than the previous one, Tony played with a different group outside of a restaurant in town. This time it was songs in Spanish. I had a strawberry smoothie. And then pizza with the band members after. They were wonderful and funny.

Then my number was finally up, I caught a 6am bus out of town in the morning to go on to my next adventure. But I take with me some great memories and new friendships. It was wonderful to have a local to stay with, I got to be a part of the community there, rather than look at it from the outside, and I'm super grateful for the hospitality I enjoyed. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with Tony and his family again sometime, either in Costa Rica on a future adventure or when they're in the States.

This image was everywhere, and I thought it was beautiful. The blue barranquero (called a mot mot in Costa Rica) is my favorite, its got such an awesome tail. I saw a couple of them flying around the house too!