The drive from San Jorge, where we leave the Ometepe ferry, to the border takes you past rows of wind turbines and richer ranches than we have seen further north. The border for pedestrians turns out to be a small blue steel gate. We had heard that we had a hefty departure tax to pay so are relieved when it turns out to be $3. Then a long walk through no-mans-land to the Costa Rican immigration where passports are quickly stamped and luggage scanned.
Heading on south along the PanAmerican highway we pass a huge queue of big trucks waiting to cross to the north. The roads are good with fine hilly landscape. It is very clear that Costa Rica is much less poor than Nicaragua. In Liberia, where we stop for local currency (the Colone) and lunch we spot several American foodchains at a mall. We are heading for the Rincon de la Viega park where we are staying at the Hacienda Guachipelin.
The hotel, which we are not very impressed by, has several trails and we try out the one to Las Chorreras waterfall in the early evening. The water is refreshing but currents are strong. The hotel also offers lots of adventure activities - zip wires, canopy walks, tubing etc. Our guide in the park tells us that Americans like to do the adventure stuff while the Europeans come to look at nature.
The park itself is a great success, largely due to our excellent guide, Claudio. The hotel had tried to charge us $39 per person for a park guide - there are six of us. Instead we pick up an experienced, registered guide at the entrance for $40. Be warned! Claudio smartly takes us around the trail in reverse and we miss the crowds. Almost as soon as we leave the entrance we are spotting white faced capuchin monkeys, gold spiders, agouti (below), and various butterfly. Claudio is very good on insects, trees, the thermal vents and fumeroles. In fact we are so interested that the trip takes longer than the 2hr 30m that he had suggested.
Rincon is such a thermal area that two geothermal power stations create enough electricity to supply 500,000 homes. According to Claudio, Costa Rica has been totally reliant on renewable energy (water, wind and thermal) for a number of years and electricity is a valuable export. Other useful facts include the many different types of forest (dry, rain x 5, cloud) and popular local hooch - Cacique. We finish our tour with a picnic by the park lodge.
After lunch we are off to the Rio Negro hot springs (below)- part of our hotel. Here we walk a few hundred metres through woods and cross a rope bridge to reach a series of hot pools. You can coat yourself in therapeutic mud of just soak in the hot water. The tranquility is rather spoilt for us by a big coach full of Lancashire school kids pitching up with their teachers.
We finish our visit to Rincon with a trip to Claudio's friend, Eric's restaurant, Camino de Cerro, in the village nearby. He introduces us to Cacique, mixed with lime and watermelon juices, before serving his rather delicious home-smoked pork ribs.
Arenal volcano is a 3.5hr drive from Rincon. This is another park on the central chain of mountains that divides the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the country. Much of the drive winds around the man-made Lake Arenal (more renewable energy). The views should be fantastic but are rather spoiled by mist and rain. Fortunately the weather clears as we reach our friendly hotel, Silencio del Campo, on the outskirts of Fortuna. The hotel has 25 comfortable cabins in very pretty gardens. We are particularly impressed after the contrast with Hacienda Guachipelin. The gardens are full of birds who come to the feeders by the restaurant as we eat lunch (below). Just like Jaguar Lodge which seems a long time ago now.
Fortuna itself is real tourist town - the road into town is crammed with billboards and signs for restaurants, giftshops, hotels and adventure tours. Fortuna Waterfall is pretty spectacular - 475 steps down - and also popular with the tourists.
Claudio at Rincon had recommended the Ecocenter Danaos so we set off for this small wildlife reserve and research centre the next morning. The 90 minute tour with our guide, Pas, is very well done. First we watch birds (and a shy Agouti) at the feeding spot, and then we set off around the trail looking at ants, trees, flowers and animals. The highlight for me was the blue jeans dart frog - tiny 1cm frogs coloured red and blue (below). Once we get our eyes in we spot quite a few. Also amazing was a Jesus Christ lizard which poses for us, some fine herons, and a shy sloth. A Maleku tribeman tells us about his village's masks and artefacts. Pas shows us the butterfly reserve with some interesting exhibits of caterpillars and larvae.
Our final destination is the Arenal reserve itself. In fact we get to the park entrance, which is rather delapidated and empty, and turn round for the Arenal 1968 lava trail just down the road. Here we split and walk the two trails with fine views of the volcano, and lake, and the lava that buried a village in 1968 - more than 80 villagers lost their lives. The lava itself is disappearing under thick vegetation as the forest reclaims the slopes. We watch a family of howler monkeys then have excellent chicken wraps and beers at 'Cafe 68' at the mirador.
Next day we drive back to San Jose to catch flights home. More great views of rolling hillside on the way. San Jose is in Costa Rica's central valley - 1100m above sea level, cooler and very fertile. It was here that coffee was first planted in the early 19th C creating the country's wealth as a passion for the drink spread around the world. The city now is rather undistinguished with many 60s-80s style concrete buildings and little trace of of the colonial past. We head for the gold museum - a brutalist concrete bunker in the city centre - to see the fascinating collection of pre-Columbian gold and artifacts. A nice bit of culture to end what has been a very full two weeks.