Day 41 20.08.15
We woke up fairly early again today in order to get to the border just in time, or better said before all the other tourist groups. We had a quick breakfast (some cereal with milk) and then threw our luggage in the van and headed off towards the ferry.
It was really hot for some odd reason and I was sweating bullets. The ferry ride wasn’t rather slow, but calm just how we had arrived on the island. The only interesting thing was the topic of the TV show playing in the background. It was a talk show discussing whether or not bestiality was a fetish or just wrong. It was quite vivid for a morning show, even showing some “exclusive” footage with viewers calling into the show to state their opinions on the matter. We laughed and used the information for example that 50 % of penis cancer is caused by sex with animals, as running jokes the whole day long.
We got to the harbour and hopped onto another van that would take us to the border. We arrived at the border (it was only a short ride) and were immediately flocked by all the hagglers. Even if you told them you didn’t want to change money, they would still not let loose and try on and on. One fellow traveller even got pushed and groped when she tried leaving the situation. Terrible. We got out money exchanged, even for a good rate too, and passed on towards immigration. This new currency is quite something to get used to. There are notes with 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 and so on colónes. No more cordobas..
Here people (outside of immigration) were trying to sell us immigration papers, which gladly we didn’t buy into and received our free cards via our guide. We passed through immigration easily and headed out throughout about a 1km long no mans land.
We found the “Welcome to Costa Rica” sign along our way and immediately started our photo session.
We passed through another passport control and eventually were able to cue for the Costa Rica immigration.
Here it everyone had to prove that they were leaving the country. Either through a plane ticket or some other proof such as a bus ticket. The three of us that were moving onto Panama, obviously didn’t have a plane ticket to show and so we and our guide played the immigration lottery. “How to save 20 USD on buying a bus ticket, by showing an Intrepid travelling list with all the details.” Thankfully it worked and the friendly woman at the country let all three of us pass on to Costa Rica with 90 days stamped onto our passports. Our bags were xrayed and we moved on towards the van. After our entire luggage was stored up on the van we continued towards Monteverde.
Only about 10 minutes into our van ride we were pulled aside by a control being asked whether we were importing any Nicaraguan products. We diligently said our “no” in a synchronised fashion, and thankfully our bus was not searched from top to bottom and we could just continue.
The landscapes here changed severely, from dusty landscapes, to intense agricultural fields you could see everything, always framed by the mountains in the background.
We stopped for a quick “fast food” lunch, and I went to Papa Johns for a pizza and some chicken wings. We also stocked up on money at the ATM, and I will never forget the receipt I pulled out of the machine. I think I might be broke. Taking out 100,000 of any currency can really be a small shock!
We headed out again and during a short bathroom break we came across another group of howler monkeys. We even “provoked” some territorial noises out of them. Great fun watching them “howl” or better said shout or roar at us.
We got back on the bus and drove on. The landscape changed significantly to a more mountainy or hilly landscape with cows everywhere. Literally it could have been New Zealand or Switzerland. Even the cows look European.
We stopped at a viewpoint and had a great view of the Pacific in a bay of Costa Rica, up on a hill where cows were grazing. What a strange world. The view was stunning though!
We headed onwards to Monteverde where we would be staying 1,5 days.
We were excited for getting to know the wildlife of Costa Rica and so some of us signed up for a night hike.
We were hoping to see some nocturnal animals such as sloths, and frogs and other larger mammals. We started walking with a guide on a path along a banana plantation, not quite the jungle I had anticipated, but I was still hopeful, seeing as the guide we were with was doing this regularly and was experienced. We stopped about 5 metres into the track and tried to spot monkeys and toucans. We saw bats flying around, and some cobwebs of apparently not harmful to humans.
We carried on walking and the actual highlight of the trip was not the various bugs and moths we saw along the way, but the tarantula that was sitting in its nest underground. It was great to see such an animal in the wild in its natural habitat. Apart from that we walked on, and didn’t really see much. I think we were just to many people, to many talking people and had too many flashlights on for us to see any wild mammals. We did however see a very wild domestic cat. Well I don’t know, all I can say is Meah. It wasn’t what I had expected it to be.
From the night hike we were dropped off straight at the restaurant called Johnnys.
The pizza was great and I had a Caprese Salad and a pizza with ground beef, ham and mushrooms. I still don’t know why people put ground beef on pizza but hey, it wasn’t too shabby.
We walked back to our hotel and called it a night.
