Ramblings from Costa Rica

For our last night on the Bocas we ended up on Isla Colon in a hostel which turned out to be the party spot of the the town. By 9pm their bar was packed, people going wild, and when some of the people grouped up to charter a boat to the next island for the afterparty around midnight, we fled to bed. At 2am a huge thunderstorm hit the island, and I imagine their return trip was rather exciting. In the morning the hostel's lobby and the dorm rooms downstairs were flooded, with 5cm of water on the floors and numerous backpacks soaking wet. Glad we splurged a few extra bucks for a private room on stilts and our gear remained dry!

After a "late" 8am wakeup we hopped on the boat and on towards Costa Rica. A company called Caribe Shuttle was offering a shuttle service from Bocas across the border to Puerto Viejo for 30$ - we did the math and it did seem a bit pricey, and in the end we cleared the trip on local Collectivos for mere 10$. Ha! The border crossing in Sixaola was interesting, a beat-up shack located in a big puddle of mud serving as the immigration office, and the walk cross the border being on an ancient railroad bridge with gaping holes every few meters. At the border of various central American countries (Panama and Costa Rica among others) you need to present not only your passport and the immigration form, but:

1. proof of sufficient of wealth; 500$ cash or a credit card will do
2. an onward ticket; a future flight ticket or an international bus ticket out of the country 

We weren't asked for no. 1, but had to present the onward ticket. Luckily we had a printout of the RTW flight itinerary. The guy next to us got a lot of shit from the officials, and ran to buy a bus ticket back to Panama which he would never use. Such silly stuff! So, my advice in case you arrive on such border without a pre-booked onward trip is to make a fictional but authentic looking printout of a plane E-ticket anywhere. They will take a look at the paper and that's it.

We were headed directly to Manzanillo, a small pristine beach at "the end of the road" - meaning after that there's just jungle -  but it was getting late and raining and we decided to stay overnight in Puerto Viejo, which is somewhat touristy yet nice small town on the Costa Rican gringo trail. There's a strange all black sand beach here, as well as a bird / flower sanctuary, which sadly was not open on Thursdays.

One of the things I love about the Caribbeans is how everyone's happy all the time. And why the hell not - the climate is optimal, nature awesome and the cervezas El Cheapo and cold. There's the rastas enjoying their ganja and the old expats sitting at the bar drinking away their breakfasts. Life sure is easy here, although it seems to be taking its toll on the veterans.. Our first contact was a self-proclaimed town comedian/magician who'd do random magic tricks and crack jokes in between for a small "donation" (of colones or dollars).

The next day we made it to Manzanillo on the morning bus just to find it rather deserted and since the constant overcast weather was bothering us a bit, after several changes of mind we suddenly decided to hop back on the bus and head for the central highlands and see some volcanoes. On the bus ride to San Jose, their rather bland and unattractive capital - avoid it if you can - there was a long delay and after 30ish minutes our bus finally passed the roadblock - which turned out to be a full-sized truck right on its side in the gutter on the mountain road. Sheesh! On the bus we made another change of plans and decided to stay in San Jose instead of going onwards to Cartago. The 6+ hours on the crappy buses was getting boring and tiresome, and there's a decent connection to the Volcan Irazu from the capitol as well. We stayed at Tranquilo Backpackers hostel, somewhat overpriced (what in Costa Rica isn't..) but decent. Most of the inhabitants seemed to be the hippie types who cook their own food every night and such. Oh and it's raining constantly, counting 10 hours nonstop at the moment.

To get to Irazu volcano you take a 8$ round trip bus (2h each way) from downtown San Jose (or Cartago), then pay 10$ park fee at the entrance and you'll have 2-3 hours to explore the volcano before the return trip. The parking lot is on the same level as the edge of the craters, so to peek into those no physical effort is needed. But the actual summit is some 50-100 meters above and reachable through a 20min hike.. on a clear day both coasts should be visible from here! Irazu is the largest active volcano in Costa Rica, with elevation of 3432m and the main crater 300m deep and over 1km of diameter. Although the only "activity" we would notice there was the smell of rotten eggs which is due to the sulphurous fumes. Hopefully the next one is a tad more rowdy, I wanna see some lava :p