Costa Rica

Higuys

Well I am in Costa Rica....still in Central America...
This is a country in which I will never get bored of...its adventures include jungle hiking, a cast of exciting creatures, waterfalls and popular surf towns.
The waves are huge, the scenery is breath taking and the lifestyle is chilled out. The country attracts 1.5 million visitors per year.... I think half of them are Canadian students....

Ist stop is La Fontania.. to spot the tucans and watch the most active volcano in Costa Rica...at night... The picture I have attached of the volcano is not mine and I cant take credit for it... In fact the Arenal volcano was almost sleeping the night we were watching it... but the picture will give you an idea of what it looked like about 18 months ago when it was erupting at night. Hikers are not allowed to hike up it (so forget it Jan) as they have been killed from the explosions...

Then its off to the mountains in Central Costa Rica to Monteverde ...to the misty cloud forest reserves. When it was mentioned in National Geographic in 1983... the secret got out and now its a busy little town full of adventure tourists. This is where I..... with my new jungle buddys Cara and Morgan (yep more Canadian Students) spent the day hiking through the canopy and climbing suspension bridges (largest 57 met drop) and watching the zip liners wizzing past us. Shooting Steve Irvin footages was a blast....

Then the Flashpacker was back .....for a short revival stay at Tamiarindo.. the small town where Endless Summer 2 was filmed (for all you surf heads out there). A huge thank you to Nico and Miss Emily who opened their luxury condo and their hearts and hospitality to me during my relaxing stay in this small boutique village.

Montezumas was the next town..... not much to do in the rainy season...except dont jump the waterfalls as one poor USA back packer found it to be fatal.

Quepos was the next town where I kept bumping into more Canadians....what is with you guys..... dont you ever stay home....
We went hiking in the National Park, wading though flowing rivers and admiring beautiful waterfalls...We spent the day in 1625 ha of amazing wildlife park....spotting wild snakes, lizards, racoons, crabs, and white faced Capuchin monkeys... in which I fell in love with.

My day ended perfectly ....with my sunset buddy Ron (and USA history teacher )and I had drinks at El Avion ....watching the sunset over the Pacific. This bar was constructed from the body of a 1954 Farchild C123 aeroplane. It was purchased by the USA in 1980 and stay grounded due to the Iran Contra scandal.

Rainy season has set in ... what ever made me think of back packing Central America in the rainy season.....

from a very soaked Kat XXXXXXXXXXX