Costa Rica

My arrival in Costa Rica brought with it the rains, and although I know this is the rainy season I was not quite prepared for the fury of some of the storms and the resulting swollen rivers, mudslides and destruction that were the results.

Having been told by a couple of locals that I should have no problem crossing this river I thought it wise to wade across first. Well it was thigh deep in places with large rocks that were getting washed down by the very strong current. Plan B —walk back and see if the said locals had any interest in getting wet and helping me push my bike across. It took all four of us to ford the river successfully.

I had planned out a route from Arenal Volcano to Monte Verde on backroads as I could cut off, in theory, about two hours from the trip. As you can see the result was an adventure of epic proportion which certainly did not save any time.

To back up a little, my first stop in Costa Rica was the town of La Fortuna which is the epicenter of the Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal tourist area.

I stayed a couple of nights at this very colorful hostel which was fantastic with spotless rooms and private bathrooms - certainly not what one envisions when the word “hostel” is used.

Here are some photos of the Arenal Volcano and surrounding area

Angel's Trumpet

Kapok Tree

Arenal Volcano -1683 meters

From here the “backroad shortcut” took me to Monte Verde and the town of Santa Elena. This reserve in the cloud forest was created by a group of Quakers who had settled in this area in the early 1950’s. I decided that it would be wise to take a guided tour of the reserve as there was no way I would be able to identify all the birds and fauna myself. My guide Richard was the son of one of the original founders of the reserve and had grown up in a Quaker family in the immediate vicinity of the park. Having worked as a guide for 30 years he was a wealth of information and I finally got to see my first Quetzal which had been eluding me since Guatemala.

Cloud Forest

Monte Verde Reserve

Hot Lips

The beautiful elusive Quetzal

A little South African humor found on the trails

 Saying good-bye to the cooler temperatures of the high country I plunged down into the sweltering heat and humidity of the Nicoya Peninsular and the little hippie village of Montezuma.

Montezuma

On the way to Playa Grande

A river crossing 

Stunning Shell Strewn Sand

Wild Red Crab