Estudiar muchas haces blog entrar aburrido entrada....

I can easily understand how people come to visit Samara and then end up staying for months or years, is it a beautiful relaxed small town on the Pacific coast where the sun shines intensely, the water is cool and inviting and the pace is set to Tico time.

As I anticipated, I stayed in Samara for my last 10 days in Costa Rica and could have easily stayed longer. My life there consisted of early morning runs on the beach, daily private Spanish lessons and yoga classes, cooking healthy meals, tanning and studying beach side with a Batido in hand; trying desperately to concentrate on my tarea instead of the cute waiter and surfers... I easily became accustom to the lifestyle.

I did get away from tanning and studying long enough to hit the Samara Trail, a great hiking trail high above Samara. My guide Alvaro created the trail within land that has been owned by his family for generations. Originally all the land in the area was used for cattle farming which pretty much destroys the landscape, ecosystems and natural wildlife, for the past 25 years Alvaro´s family left the land for mother nature to reclaim and regenerate resulting in a beautiful dry rainforest.

One of the things I wanted to try while in Samara was Sea Kayaking and Alvaro offered to take me out and make sure I didn´t drown. I think I should mention at this point that Alvaro is a very tall and handsome Tico so I couldn´t possibly let that opportunity pass me by! A couple days later, as the scorching early afternoon sun beat down we set out, about an hour or so later we arrived at Isla Chora, a beautiful little island off the coast and a fantastic spot to swim. Sea Kayaking was great, I loved it and thanks to Alvaro I avoided wiping out during the landings and escaped with nothing more than a few blisters and a a fun afternoon in the sun with a muy guapo Tico.

I met some great people in Samara which made my time there even more enjoyable, staying at the hostel was like staying at a friends place with great company and many laughs and the locals I met were so welcoming, friendly and went out of their way to help. I had been so studious and well behaved so on my last night I thought it high time to misbehave a little. We headed out for drinks and I played my first (and probably last) game of foosball, which I completely sucked at.

True to form I stayed out way too late, drank too much, had too much fun and woke the next morning hungover with a 5 hour bus trip ahead of me, I do it every time! On the upside the bus was airconditioned and once the first hour of winding roads and the sensation to hurl passed the rest of the trip was relatively painless. 

When I arrived at the hostel near the airport in San Jose I was greated by Simon and Ed, the two super cute and tanned British surfers I had met during my first week in Costa Rica. It was great to catch up and hear about the rest of their travels and take them on in Round 2 of international UNO championships. They are off to the US to visit J Lee and learn pottery, I hope to make it there and do the same later this year.

Costa Rica has been a brillant and amazing adventure and I am a little sad to be leaving, I could easily spend more time here and would like to see the Carribean coast in the future.

On the upside, I am off to Brazil tonight. Hello Rio de Janeiro and Carnival!

Hammocks, salsa, sunset and a broken down bus...

If you told me 3 years ago that I would get up before sunrise for a morning run on a regular basis I would have laughed. I never used to get up earlier than necessary and would often sleep late on the weekends but now it is my favourite time of the day. This morning as the moon sat large, full and bright just above the horizon the sun rose on the opposite side and looked it straight in the face as it paled in the brightness of the morning rays. It is really a sublime time of the day, it is so still and calm but with the quite fury of birds feeding and bathing as the brightness of the morning sun shimmers over the sea and sand...

I moved on from Arenal after another night of Demo Cuisine in which we got to make our own sushi, lots of fun and delicious. Julie and I parted ways, she was heading to La Cruz and me to Tamarindo, we were lucky enough to get a ride part of the way with two Dutch sisters that were staying at Essence. I stupidly relied on the online bus information and got dropped off at Cañas, only to find there out wasn´t a direct bus to Tamarindo and ended up having to get a bus to Liberia (when I could have had a ride) and then get a second bus to my final destination.

Tamarindo kind of rubbed me up the wrong way initially, on the first morning the woman at the cafe where I had coffee was rude and then there was a drunk (possibly he had just started drinking!) Peruvian loitering around me at 9.30am on the beach who just wouldn´t get the hint that I didn´t want to a) hang out with him, b) have a sundowners with him or c) party with him that night. I was considering moving on but the truth was I just couldn´t be bothered, the people at the hostel were nice and after the second day I started to warm up to the place a little. I met some cool guys, Elliot (aka. Frijole) and Mike (#1) and we hit up Salsa night at an outdoor venue called Voodoo Lounge, I decided I would stay for a couple more days and then head onto Samara. On my last evening there I realised I hadn´t yet watched the sunset and if Santa Teresa was anything to go by I knew it would be spectacular. It didn´t disappoint, the best thing by far about Tamarindo was the sunset...truly natural beauty at its best.

After a late and intoxicating evening much to my horror I woke with a hangover...as many of you know I am not usually cursed with this fate so to wake up on the morning where three public Costa Rican buses were in my immediate future feeling like crap, I was less than impressed! After a bumpy, hot and nauseating ride I made it to the first stop, Santa Cruz, downed two popsicles then settled into leg two, to Nicoya. Feeling better now, mostly just tired, I boarded the third and last bus which would take me to Samara. Or so I thought. Half way the bus breaks down; after a few attempts to start the bus the driver gets off, 10 minutes or so pass the passengers start to get off too. Now, I know I said my Spanish was improving and it is but not so much that I was able to understand what the driver and other passengers were saying, I was lucky to catch every third word. Its now the middle of the day, the heat heat of the summer Costa Rican sun is at full force, the bus is stagnant on a slight hill and and the passengers are sitting on the side of the road looking and no doubt feeling bothered. I assumed that we would just have to wait for the next bus to pass, they leave Nicoya every hour or so but  as it turned out a couple of surfers in a 4x4 pick up roll up and offer to take some of us to Samara. Ten of us, plus one bicycle and four backpacks pile into the back and a windy and amusing 15 minutes later we arrived in Samara.

Samara is a beautiful little beach town and immediately upon arrival I sensed a positive and bucolic energy. The hostel I am staying at is cosy, charming and only about 100m from the beach (http://www.hostel-lasmariposas-samara.com/hostel-lasmariposas-samara.com/Welcome.html), there is a gym in town and lots of choice for healthy eating out and buying fresh food. You can have a surf lesson for $25 and then use a board for free for 7 days to practise, there are daily yoga classes, Spanish lessons, a couple of art galleries, hiking trails, horseriding, waterfalls, bikes for hire, the list goes on...

Samara had me at hello and I think I will stay here, detox, relax and enjoy for the next 10 days before I hit up Rio de Janeiro and the festivities of Carnival.

Pura Vida!

A million shades of green

Monteverde brought a complete contrast to the pacific coast, the climate was cooler and a million shades of green surrounded the picturesque town. On the first day Julie and I decided a short "warm up" hike would be the way forward and the staff at the hostel told us about Cerro Amigos, a 1842m peak that we could walk to from town. Our little warm up walk turned out to be a steep and constant hike, through a wasp nesting area and taking us over 3 hours round-trip. The peak rewarded us with nothing but misty rain and a view of cloud!! Apparently on a clear day you can see the pacific coast and the Arenal volcano, today was not that day though I'm afraid!

Monteverde holds a wealth of adventure and extreme activities to test your courage, or stupidity, I'm not sure which and since I had already done the Canopy Zip Lining in Mal Pais I thought Canyoning should be the next thing to cross off the list. Canyoning involves a combination of hiking and rappelling down waterfalls. I was lucky enough to be the only person booked on the tour so I actually ended up with a private rappelling and Spanish lesson in one and after a short instruction and safety session I careened down the first waterfall with apparent ease, secretly pleased with myself, this was fun! It was at the third waterfall which was 40m high that it occurred to me that this was actually hard work, dangerous and a little bit scary! I had never done anything like that before, it was challenging and fun and I safely made it down 7 waterfalls ready for the next challenge!

For the following day I thought something less life threatening should be on the agenda so Julie and I visited the Monteverde Cloud Forest and did a 5 hour hike through one of the most bio-diverse areas in the world. It was amazing to walk through the forest, it was so serene with barely a sound and incredible to think there was in fact a million things going on all around us. 

After a few days it was time to move onto something new and Arenal Volcano was next stop, as we crossed Arenal Lake the 1633m peak loomed before us, the top half covered in clouds. The small town of La Fortuna is the base for people wanting to view the volcano and some stay for days to try and catch a glimpse of it in all its glory. As it turned out mother nature was on our side as later the same day the clouds cleared and there was a perfect view of the crater.

The first day in Arenal I had scheduled as a rest day as Monteverde had been 4 solid days of hiking and adventure. The owner of the hostel we were staying at that night told us about a beautiful waterfall, La Fortuna Catarata, that wasn't too far away. It was hot and the prospect of an afternoon swim sounded like a great idea. Paying attention to the part where he said it was a 5km walk might have been a good idea.... After walking uphill in flip flops, downing a coconut and a popsicle, an hour or so later we arrived at the waterfall, a spectacular sight, a super powerful ribbon of water pouring from 70m above.

La Fortuna is a fairly soulless tourist town and I had read about a very cool place to stay in El Castillo which was on the other side of the volcano so the following day I made my way there. Essence Arenal Travellers & Backpackers Resort (http://www.essencearenal.com/index.html) sits upon a hillside with its own pool overlooking the lake and volcano and a short hiking trail around the property. The town is really small consisting of a few cabinas and resorts and a couple restaurants. One of the towns restaurants is in Essence, where I am staying. They have a unique dinner concept which they called "Demo" cuisine. It involves guests participating in cooking the dishes and each night is themed differently, last night I learnt how to make pasta from scratch and tonight sushi is on the menu!  

It rained, actually it poured pretty much all last night so my plan for a hike today has been scratched, this afternoon will bring a relaxing dip in the nearby hot springs and tomorrow I will head back to the pacific beaches of Tamarindo to top up my tan.

Spanish with Monkeys, Yoga with Scorpions & Suicide Showers!

The past week in Montezuma was relaxing and I was successful in my dedication to detoxing, exercising and learning...until Friday that was...

Our Spanish class consisted of a small group of students from Canada, USA, Norway, Germany and Australia as well as the local paleface monkeys that joined us in the trees surrounding our open air classroom. After a week of Spanish I feel much more confident but still have a long way to go in mastering the language.

Each morning I ran along the beach watching the sunrise, each sunrise different and beautiful. It was such a great time of the day to be awake, there was a light cool breeze and the hippy surfer village was still, the days in Montezuma were hot and humid and the town busling with tourists and market stalls. Yoga classes were a relaxing way to finish the day, the studio was open air overlooking the sea. At the end of each yoga class we finished with candlelight meditation, a very calming way to end the practise... except when the light is turned on and you discover a scorpion just inches from where you hands were just stretching out to...

One of my classmates is a cool Canadian chica Julie and we decided that we would stay on in Montezuma for a few more days after our stint at Escuela De Sol finished and visit Tortuga Island.

I was really well behaved all week but come Friday I thought I deserved some reward for my dedication. My classmates and teacher Wendy headed to a local resturant for dinner together and then to the local bar, Chicas. The only bar in town. Quite a lot of wine, a few beers and a couple tequilas followed along with dancing and partying into the early hours. The following day Julie and I went to Tortuga Island, we snorkelled, we lazed, we ate and we lazed...the night before had taken a bit of a toll!

We had to check out of Escuela the same day and had arranged to stay in the village at what turned out to be the worst and most expensive place I have stayed at so far. The walls were paper thin, there was a strange smell and the shower, although hot was what is commonly known here as a "Suicide Shower". A water heating system attached to the top of the shower rose, exposed wiring and all! Luckily both Julie and I escaped unscathed.

After three nights of Chicas, the only bar in town, it was time to move on. Julie and I were both keen to visit Monteverde and Arenal and decided to do the next leg of the trip together...

Bus - Ferry - Bus - 9 hours later we arrived to chilly but welcome mountain breezes.