Latin America Overland(Jan-Mar 2003)

Monte Verde

Monte Verde

Monte Verde

Monte Verde

I had seen glossy advertisements for Costa Rica. They displayed colorful poisonous frogs and it captivated me. I wanted to see what this wild tropical country had to offer.

 We crossed the border,  which was a bridge over a river,  by bus from Panama and we were in Costa Rica. Actually it was a little more time consuming and complicated with standing in lines and paying fees, getting our passports inspected and names handwritten on a long list. But then we were back on the bus traveling the back roads through the banana plantations and rainforests. Occasionally I had long views of the beaches on the Caribbean.

We realized that even with our retired lifestyle we did not have weeks to spend at every place on our list. Because we prefer hiking to surfing and sun bathing we decided our first stop would be San Jose and then we would head to Monte Verde Rainforest near Santa Elena.

We had seen a recommendation for the Backpackers Hostel in San Jose. It seemed reasonable so we checked it out. They only had beds in co-ed dorms for that night, but the next night we could have our own room. I signed in and noticed that the name right above mine was Eric Larson. We met an Eric Larson from Alaska while we were in Nepal a year earlier. We trekked on the Annapurna circuit with him for several days. The registry indicated that this Eric was also from Alaska, USA! It turned out that it was the same Eric and he was sharing a co-ed room with us! Amazing! Truly a small world.

Tidbits-

Currency in Costa Rica is called Colones. There was a conversion rate of about 375 when we were visiting. A bed at the hostel in San Jose cost 3000 colones which was the equivalent of about $8US.

Costa Rica photolog: [ view] 4 photos

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