COSTA RICA - PART 3

I felt I was mentally burned out when it came to forest walks and those kind of activities so it was time to head back to the coast. Playa Tamarindo looked as good a place as any so it was a scenic bus ride west.

On arrival at the hostel I met a group of 3 who were completely in their own world and made no attempt to speak to or mix with anyone else. Even the hostel owner said they were a bit strange.

At least I met 3 others who were the exact opposite, by the early evening we had arranged to go out for some food then onto a nightclub.


While we were getting ready to go out one of them picked up a T-shirt that had fell onto the floor. He had a bit of a shock with what fell out of it !!!!!!!! If that was not bad enough one of the others in the hostel warned us that a snake had been spotted in the hostel grounds that morning.......

When we got out I noticed the town was closer to being an upmarket package tourist resort than a backpackers town. We ate out at a good but costly place, then after asking a few dodgy looking people on the street went into some club.

One of our group had a can of beer in his hand walking down the street. I knew already that nobody minded about this in Costa Rica but I was amazed when he walked into the club with it past security and none of them said a word. All of us thought the place itself was a bit poor, when you ask where the best place in town to go is and end up in a club that's about a third full it doesn't say much for the rest of the town.


During the daytime I hired a bike and explored the areas north and south of the town. Things went ok until the road I was on turned into a bumpy dirt track.

The second night there was 3 of us left from the first night. This time we just went out for food at a place on the beach. The one from Canada had rather more extravagant tastes than your average backpacker he liked his casinos and top restaurants.
It was great food and I was not on a strict budget but I'd still rather not pay 20 USD just for a meal. On the way back we stopped in the casino to watch him play blackjack.

My final full day in that town was split between being lazy and planning where to go next. I wanted to do the opposite coast but wondered if it was worth the hassle of having to bus all the way across the country. In the end I went for it................

I split the journey up by stopping one night in San Jose, I arrived mid afternoon at the hostel. Nice place to stay but the town was a bit grim and grew edgy after dark. I had a sore throat and wasn't feeling too good anyway so it was an early night and straight out the next morning.



It was a bit of a drag to Puerto viejo and another hostel that was misplaced on google maps. (read long walk in hot sun looking for it!!!!!) I got a better first impression than the last town, it had a different feel about it, more laid back and being on the caribbean side more people spoke English which helped a lot. The first night was uneventful but then again I was planning an early start the following morning to Cahuita national park.



It was a long walk but as there was only one path there was no chance of getting lost. I went all the way through and walked all the way back down the main road into town which took around 4-5 hours.



Wildlife seemed a bit thin on the ground with this being the only "wildlife picture" I got. About an hour after I got back someone in the hostel said they had seen several deadly snakes on the same walk that day!!!!

At night a group of us from the hostel headed into town for a few drinks. At around midnight we arrived at a club on the beach called "Jimmys place"....it was so packed that you could hardly move as well as being very hot. Everyone in the group quickly got split up and ended up going back to the hostel in ones........

My last full day (without moving anywhere) was a bit of a lazy one but then again it did rain until about midday.

Then it was back to the hostel in Alajuela where I spent the first 2 nights. Then it was waiting around all day for my flight home.
Again my flight was delayed but this time we missed the connecting flight in Madrid, lucky there was another flight an hour later. I arrived back in London and for the pre booked train home with about 10 minutes to spare.

Costa Rica was not the best place in the world I had been to but it had been a fairly good 3 weeks away...........

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