Costa Rica - Fortuna/Tamarindo/Montezuma/San José

We did not know exactly what to visit in Central America. Then Axelle remembered the colored posters of Costa Rica in her former boss' office. We contacted him and he was of great help to advise us on our itinerary. Thank you Antonio! :)

Indeed Costa Rica is a wonderful country to visit, the kingdom of green, where the luxuriant vegetation explode on every square kilometer, teemed with exotic animals! Our days were numbered so our programme intense.

Gulf of Nicoya

Day 1: Arrival at San José international airport at dusk. As always, a little stop at the tourist information point to check how to get to our hostel. Taxis were 30$ but we managed to take the bus to downtown for 2$ and from there a 4$ taxi drive to the suburbs where we spent the night... One way of cutting back on spending!

Day 2: We got our car at the rental agency (fortunately they no longer had the basic car we booked so we ended up with a small 4x4 which would turn out to be very useful...) and we headed toward the center of the country. We arrived at La Fortuna after a three hours ride and visited the nearby La Fortuna waterfall.

Day 3: Visit of an indigenous Maleku village near Guatuso. A Maleku souvenirs seller was eager to share his culture and the preoccupation of his people. We spent one hour listening to him and he made our day! We came back to La Fortuna just in time to admire the Arenal Volcano with almost no clouds around it! Beautiful!

Arenal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world

(but it has been asleep since last December..)

In the afternoon we drove from La Fortuna to Tamarindo (230 kilometers, 5 hours drive) with a couple of strange meetings on the road:

Fighting with itchy tiny ants after being attacked while taking a picture...

Day 4: Walk along Tamarindo beach to the office of Las Baulas National Park where we realized it was not the right season to observe giant turtles! :(

We then went along the coastline toward the other beaches south, until Samara. This road is really awful: we drove for 190 kilometers and half of them were off-road while they were indicated as classic national roads in our maps. A lot of mud (thanks to the rainy season!), potholes and even a few rivers to cross!

Yep, we did cross it! ;)

Day 5: Five hours drive between Tamarindo and Montezuma (200 kilometers) to arrive in our hut in the jungle! In fact our hostel was surrounded by a thick rainforest where we witnessed the amazing local wildlife. 

A very enjoyable experience to have a dinner watching monkeys and iguanas on the trees, to be rocked by a tropical shower or the sound of the nearby ocean, and to be awaken by two black monkeys looking for food on the veranda in front of our window or by the fight of two angry anteaters!

Day 6: Look at Montezuma's waterfall before a nice walk along the beach which ended with a swim in the ocean! 

Day 7: Back to San Jose (320 kilometers, 6 hours drive).

Oops...

Day 8: Walk in downtown San José. Two pedestrian streets, a few lively covered market, a handful of colonial houses, a nice national theater and some green squares.

On the left, the central market. Notice the policemen on their podium!

Central market

The Third 100th Days

During these last three months and a half we covered 36.556 kilometers (13.256 km by land, 23.300 km by air) through some of the most developed countries in the world: Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America.

We spent 145 hours in 16 buses (of which 6 overnight buses).

We spent 36 hours in 14 planes (6 direct flights and 4 trips with a connection).

We rent cars several times for a total of 15 days, covering around 4.300 kilometres with them!

To summarize around 10% of those one hundred days were spent in buses, cars and flights or waiting for them at bus stations or airports!

Trinidad, Cuba

We changed city every 3,2 days and moved to another country every 16,7 days (on average).

We slept in 28 cities: 52 nights in 22 hostels/guesthouses/hotels, 30 nights at 15 couchsurfers' places and 11 nights at 2 friends' places.

Our charming Tasman hostess Astrid in Hobart, Australia

With our floating hosts David and Marie in Auckland, New Zealand

******

Traveling in more developed and expensive countries, we had to adapt our habits:

Picnic in a plane (between Melbourne and Christchurch)

Picnic in a bus (between Surfers Paradise and Sydney)

Picnic in the nature (in Akaroa, New Zealand)

We did not have to carry bottles of mineral water any more. Instead we carried some groceries: a box of cereals for the breakfasts, salt, olive oil, rice or pasta, etc. Indeed unlike Asia, restaurants are very expensive in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. It became cheaper to buy groceries and cook ourselves than to go to restaurants. So we bought a blue cool bag to carry along!

Home-made dinner at our hosts' place in Sydney, Simon and Rick

Cooking at our hostel in San Francisco

Dinner in front of the Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Home-made Japanese dinner at our host's place in Melbourne, Australia

One of the good aspects is that we stopped washing our clothes by hand as washing machines and even dryers (!) are widely available in those countries. That was really great! ;)

Another change, it became cheaper and more convenient to rent cars to visit some sights outside the cities like the Grand Canyon or parks in Tasmania. No more 2$ taxis like in Southeast Asia!

Akaroa, New Zealand

Facing the lake Okaro, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Cuba - Havana

 

Havana is the capital and the heart of Cuba. Lively and loud, the historic colonial center, Habana Vieja, is a great district for infinite hours of exploration through a row of narrow streets often opening over large squares with grandiose colonial edifices.

Plaza de la Catedral

Book bazaar on Plaza de Armas

Most of Habana Vieja would still need a good renovation even if it is an on-going process since 1982. If the crumbling buildings give an undeniable and authentic charm, it made us wonder about the sustainability of Havana's unique architectural and urban heritage.

Havana's streets are always crowded. Some are trying to sell something from Che Guevara T-shirts to a taxi ride; others are only hanging out and chatting with neighbours.  

Calle Barcelona and El Capitolio

The heavy police presence as well as ration shops and unexplained queues in front of some boutiques are there to remind us what kind of political regime still rules the island. 

We staid in a casa particular managed by a lovely little family. Their colonial house with five meters-high ceilings is located in El Prado de la Habana, an elegant promenade defining Habana vieja from Centro Habana.

In front of Kenia's casa particular, waving goodbye

Kenia's casa particular

Prado (Paseo de Marti)

At the end of the Prado we admired the mouth of Havana's bay. On the north of the mouth: the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, and going along the north coast, el Malecón famous for the waves which sometimes cascade over its sea-walls. Sunsets are quite spectaculars along this broad waterfront avenue.

Fishing in front of the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro

El Malecón

The traffic of antique cars is one of the trademark of Cuba's cityscape. They give to the island a unique atmosphere. From what we observed about two third of the cars are vintage ones. The thorn of the rose is the consecutive pollution. Being in Cuba we acknowledge the merit of catalytic converters! ;)

El Capitolio

One way of discovering Havana is by following the habits of the great U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway. He lived more than ten years in Havana. The hotel where he used to reside and the bars where he used to have a drink make the most of this former visitor. Immersion in Havana of another era. Wandering in this city, we feel more and more like we are also traveling through time.

Floridita

A mojito and a cake at the Bodeguita del Medio

Inside the Bodeguita del Medio