Diggin’ the fiery bowels of the Earth
Crossing the border into Costa Rica was no problem. From the immigration office in San Carlos, Nicaragua, we were loaded onto a boat and taken down the Rio Frio into Los Chiles, Costa Rica. On the boat I met a girl working for Lonely Planet. I must say that their research is conducted quite differently than I thought. They don’t stay overnight at every hotel, and they don’t eat at every restaurant. They get paid a stipend for each travel project, and if they spend less, they keep the rest, but if they spend more, well, then that’s out of their pocket. Anyway, it was raining pretty nicely when I got into town and tried to find the hotel…got some directions from some old ladies who were really nice, but there was no answer at the door. I went back to the old ladies, asking them for another hotel. They insisted that I go back to that one because the others are “very ugly” (that’s the way they say that they’re awful, in direct translation). They told me just to knock louder or wait awhile, because maybe the guy’s in the bathroom (gotta love old ladies). I went back, and the man came running up the street with a plate of food or something. I was put in the “Tropical Suite”. The only thing tropical was a painting of a toucan on the wall. Otherwise, the room was completely bare and it reeked of mothballs.
I have a few notes in my book at this point that don’t fit in to any story, so I’ll just jot them here:
There are lots of pigs in Nicaragua. Indeed there are. I didn’t see any pigs anywhere else. Just Nicaragua. I didn’t however, notice an increase of pork products on the menus, which makes me wonder what they’re doing with these pigs.
Gold teeth abound there as well. Yes. You’re not anybody in Nicaragua without a gold tooth, or a nice gold frame around at least one tooth.
No lawnmowers – just machetes. Although there aren’t lawns, per se, but if you do want your plot of land/weeds/whatever trimmed, grab your machete and get to work. In richer areas, though, I have seen WeedWackers.
I’m sick of fried chicken. Well, there’s chickens running around all over the place, so it’s not surprising that they’re ending up on plates in abundance. It’s a tough call, sometimes, between the chicken or the beef, but I do usually go for chicken. I can see the cows’ ribs, so I’m not expecting high quality there. Add to this that I’m also sick of rice and beans. Rice and beans and chicken. This is what I’m eating for the most part. For breakfast, maybe there’s no chicken, but there’s rice and beans and eggs. Ooh, and fried plantains, which I’ll never get sick of. And in Nicaragua, they give you nice slices of avocado with breakfast, which is pretty awesome. And some sort of salty cheese, which isn’t awesome. For lunch, rice and beans with chicken. Dinner, well, do I really have to keep going?
So anyway, the next morning I had a few issues obtaining the new Costa Rican currency, the Colón. There’s an accent on the second syllable there, so it doesn’t sound like a digestive system organ, alright? The ATM didn’t accept my card, so I had to go into the bank to cash some US dollars. That was fun; there’s this double glass door security system, where you push a button and the first door opens. You walk in and the electronic voice starts yelling at you to do something with the metal objects in your possession, which, well, if you were me, you didn’t know you weren’t supposed to have metal objects and you sure as hell didn’t know what you were supposed to do with them, so you just stand there, probably looking slightly confused, at which point the security guard is looking and pointing at you, and then he opens the door and searches your bag, not finding your Swiss Army knife, asks you what your purpose of business is and directs you to the long line. That’s how the banks work in Costa Rica. As far as changing the Nicaraguan Cordobas, well, they don’t do that at the bank, even though it’s a border town. The guy at the bank told me to maybe try some dudes hanging out by the bus station. Another guy told me to go to the supermarket and ask for Don Felix, which sounded like a pretty sleazy deal, but anything was better than hanging on to $40 worth of useless cordobas. Don Felix, while he looked like he could be sleazy (but don’t half the Central American men with their mustaches?), made the deal without a hitch.
Having the money issue sorted, I headed out to my first real Costa Rican destination – La Fortuna. I felt like it took me nearly the whole day to get there, only two buses, but a lot of waiting. Now, the bus system in Costa Rica is a bit different than what I’ve been dealing with. The buses are better quality, not your US school buses, but they don’t run as frequently, which leads to a lot of waiting at bus stations and very crowded buses. Honestly, I think I prefer the crappier buses with better schedules. The roads in Costa Rica are pretty well paved, and I immediately noticed the upgrade in the quality of living…people with proper houses, you know, like houses with doors and windows, made of concrete, instead of just boards thrown together with a tin roof on top.
So I got to La Fortuna and it was just loaded with tourists. Not just loaded with tourists, but made for tourists, the main drag inundated with shops with all sorts of Costa Rica souvenirs with toucans. Rightfully so, though, because it’s home of Volcán Arenal, a live volcano that shoots out red lava. That’s what I was there for, folks, and I was damn excited. I’m gonna see lava, good red, hot molten lava from the hells of the earth. Yippee! I found a place to stay (after going to two other places with no vacancy), and was showed to my room by Julie, a very cute girl from the French Riviera, who was almost refreshingly excited about our room. Isn’t it great? she asked. Well, I suppose it’s a lot greater than a lot of other room I’ve had…clean, finished wood floor, walls, with sturdy, clean beds with good mattresses; I hadn’t even given it a thought. It was just where I had found a room that was still cheap ($5).
The next day I signed up for the night tour to check out the volcano. It was a clear day, so I was really excited that we would actually be able to see the the lava. See, usually this time of year, clouds just like to hang around the top of the volcano and you can’t see the top, so you just lose out, which sucks. Well, by the time we left for the tour, the clouds had gathered, and I was just gutted, sure we wouldn’t be able to see anything. We couldn’t even see the top of the volcano when we were driving up. We took a hike through the jungle, during which we could hear these rocks falling down the side of the volcano. They were loud, but we were obviously far enough away. When we got to the clearing, I could not believe it, but all of the clouds had vanished and we had a perfect view of the volcano. It was still light out when we got there, and we could see little puffs of white smoke rolling down the volcano. As it got darker, those white puffs of smoke turned into fiery red balls, tumbling down the side. Sometimes just one or two, sometimes 20 or 30. This was different from what I thought, though. I was expecting lava flow coming down the side. But, this was not disappointing. At one point, we heard this loud hiss and a puff of black smoke slowly rose from the crater. It was awesome.
It rained most of the time we were up there, so it was particularly nice to conclude our tour in the hot springs. We went to the less of the two hot springs, but it was fabulous…at least a dozen pools at different temperatures, a swim up bar (or a few), and one pool with spa jets and waterfalls, which deliver a mean massage. I spent most of my time there…apparently my body was a little tired.
The next day I was off to Tortuguero, a place in the jungle along the Caribbean where thousands of turtles come every year to lay their eggs. I must also add that I originally wanted to go here, then thought I’d skip it, then thought I really wanted to go again, so I also changed my flight out of Central America one more time, now leaving for Brazil on December 7th (original date, Nov. 9th, I think). Anyway, I didn’t get the early start I really wanted so I didn’t get the whole way there, thanks to the stellar bus service of Costa Rica…bus from La Fortuna to Ciudad Quesada; Ciudad Quesada to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where I just missed the bus and had to wait 2 hours in some small town; PVdS to Guápiles; Guápiles to Cariari…and that’s as far as I could get for the day. Man, all that sittin’ on buses is tiring.
Tags: Costa Rica, Tag Index
Tania
December 4th, 2005 at 11:45 pm
Hey Tania.
If you get a chance, go to Cafe Milagro in Quepos. The guy who owns the place is a UW grad, so mention the Badgers and get 10% off. Their coffee friggin kicks ass. You can also go on a pretty sweet jungle tour there. I saw some sloths.
And if you have the time, I can recommend a few really nice bars in the capital that you should hit. Think Costa Rican Essence of Life, except that the chicks are really dudes.
And if you are going to Panana, I have a friend you can stay with. Let me know. Panana City, Panama? Hmmm… doesn’t sound as good as Guatamala City, Guatamala. Thanks for the postcard.
cheers.
pompizzle