And just like that…. leg one is done!!

We have come to the end of the first leg of our journey. It’s hard to believe that it's been 8 weeks since we left NZ and 9 weeks since we left Whangaparaoa!! It’s been a fantastic start to our year-long adventure and we have loved all of it (almost).

Since our last update we worked our way down the west coast of CR on the Pacific Ocean. We discovered some great little beach towns once we headed a bit further south - Playa Hermana had one hotel and a few guest houses but full access to the beach. The beaches are very similar to NZ except for the 30° degree water and 33° outside temps 😂!! Same sort of sand, driftwood, grasses etc - I don’t know why I was surprised as we share an ocean, but for some reason I was picturing golden sand, palm trees, more Pacific looking! 

After leaving Tercoles we headed to Manuel Antonio. We got a bit caught out as we didn't realise it was Easter and CR has public holidays on the Thursday & Friday, so lots of CRs went on holiday and everything was booked out - we settled for a cheap basic room with a fab BBQ restaurant with amazing views out across the sea attached. Manuel Antonio township is waaay more developed than I expected - lots of accom, restaurants, bars etc. Probably because it’s the gateway town to the Manuel Antonio (MA) national park - the most visited park in CR and one of the most reliable sloth-spotting reserves so we had to wait a day to head in as it was sold out. 

The road is narrow and winds up & down the hills, there’s nowhere to go off the side, so you have to pull into gutters and driveways as you go along to get past other cars. And then just to make sure you’re paying attention, as you drive down towards the entrance all these guys stand in the middle of the road and block your way, putting their hands on your car trying to get you to park and pay them - given that the parks are literally on the side of a public road and not ‘owned’ by them, it’s a bit of a scam. MA park doesn’t have any visitor parking but there are a couple of parking areas that are ‘official’, so as we were at the park for an 8am slot we managed to get in the one right next to the entrance which was good as we were very hot and exhausted by the time we got back to the car. 

They allow 450 people in every hour from 7am to 3pm and it’s sold out most days, so it was pretty busy. We didn’t take a guide as they were us$60 in cash which we didn’t have. However we did manage to veer away from the groups and kids to get a bit more peace and saw lots of flora, crabs, monkeys and eventually a couple of sloths. The first one took ages to spot as they’re dark and curled around a branch, however the second one moved so was much easier to spot. I took a wee video on my cell phone at the limit of the zoom!!! It was pretty cool though.

Sloths in the wild - pretty cool

We thought the park was really good value (nz$28 ea) and worth a visit - there’s several beaches within the park, so you can have a rest, picnic, swim etc on the way through. They say on average it’s about 2 hours wandering around the main track with no long stops and more if you do any of the offshoot routes. We took about 3 hours in total with a couple of rests and wildlife spotting stops but it was VERY humid, so we were pretty tired when we got out!  You can’t take plastic bottles in, so you have to take your own water bottle with you and there's a few places to fill it up along the route. Luckily you can drink water straight from the tap in 90% of CR.

After exiting the park, we headed down to Uvita to a really lovely apartment we had booked for 3 nights. Straight into the pool followed by showers, clean clothes and 2 loads of laundry and we were like new people. Uvita is a small laid back beach village - just a couple of main roads and a few restaurants but it’s the gateway to the Ballena National Marine park, which you have to enter to get to the beach. It was about 10 bucks each and you can go in and out all day. Their main claim to fame is whale spotting at specific times of the year and the ‘Whale Tail’ beach where tides from opposing sides clash into each other along a spine of sand. At low tide the strip of sand appears and for about 3 hours either side you can walk out to the ‘tail’. I’ve included some pics off the internet as you really need a drone to get a proper view, however it was very cool walking through as the tides came at you from both sides. We largely hunkered down in Uvita as we were pounded nearly the entire 3 days we were there with torrential rain, lightning and thunder!!! We were lucky that we got a brief couple of hours break in the rain to visit the tail around low tide. 

Then Trap showed his superior driving skills as we headed off on a 7.5 hr hike across Costa Rica to the east coast and Caribbean sea. And when I say superior driving skills, I mean it. The ‘highway’ is riddled with potholes and rocks, there’s no footpaths so people, cyclists, animals, carts etc all move along the road and you have to swerve into oncoming traffic to pass them. Cars also just stop in the middle of the lane and put their hazards on, hop out to a shop or for a chat, so you have to navigate around them. We then joined the national motorway network from San Jose to Limon, a two-lane motorway and thought hallelujah this will speed the trip up a bit. Alas at various stages it went from smooth, modern 2-lane roads to 1 lane to completely closed and on the opposite side of the motorway - with no signs, just the road suddenly blocked by barriers. If we hadn’t been following other cars we’d have never known where to go as none of the road markings had been changed, so you’re on a lane with an arrow coming towards you, crossing your fingers there’s no traffic coming your way. There’s also shops along the side of the motorway and no walkways or overpasses, so people run across the lanes with their shopping, then climb the concrete barrier in the middle and run across the other side of the motorway to get home!!!!! There’s even road signs saying watch out for pedestrians on a motorway.

We landed in Cahuita at a quirky beachfront hotel along a dirt road!!! And we’re so glad we headed there! We loved Cahuita - was again a laid back beach town, but more developed than Uvita, with quite a few casual beachfront restaurants, not too many people & quite a few expats. Our hotel owner greeted us barefoot, in board shorts and no shirt - an European expat who’s been living here for ages. He didn’t wear a shirt or shoes the entire time we were there 😂! Found a fab beachfront bar/restaurant Reggae Bar, about 10 mins from the hotel with live music, so it was pretty cool. We were woken every morning to the dulcet tones of the Howler Monkey. Was soooo noisy it felt like they were actually in our bedroom!

 

You can hear the monkeys in the trees behind our bedroom

Dancing at the local - I did get up for a little boogie

This frog pooped on our verandah and then slid across the floor - shouldn't laugh but...

We also went to the Sloth rescue centre just out of town - which was awesome. Got to see the sloths up close. These sloths all have some kind of injury or disability meaning they can't be released back into the wild, but they do release many more after they are rehabilitated. Most of them have been damaged by predators or caught in things like fences - there were a couple of blind ones, one missing a limb, one paralysed from the waist down etc. They were gorgeous but it was a bit sad. However they live out their days in comfort and security and as it's about 25 years, they become well-loved by the keepers and medical staff. One of the sloths, Briggsie was very active, so check out the video below of this little cutie...

This wee cutey Briggsie

We’re now in Alejuela, San Jose and hopping on a plane to London in a couple of days. Just to make sure we didn’t get too complacent, we had to navigate the outskirts of San Jose, ended up on a toll road with no warning and experienced traffic jams CR style, where people selling bananas, pastries, drinks etc walk in between the cars on the 4-lane motorway. We finally deposited the car back and settled in for some pool lazing, sun soaking and cocktail guzzling 😀.

Have also pulled out the jeans and cardi for the second time in 8 weeks in preparation.

So adios from the Americas, see you on the other side….

J&T xx