Costa Rica – Wildlife Galore

Entering into Costa Rica we were faced with our first one way ticket issue…they need proof that you will leave the country to allow you in. We managed to convince the immigration official that we were meeting Nico & Diana Carolina in Colombia at the beginning of September so would be leaving for sure and as a compromise, he allowed us 15 days to pass through the country instead of the usual 90 days. It suited us fine though as it’s the most expensive country we have visited so far so we wanted to move through quickly!

So after our snap decision to try and catch the arribada (arrival on masse) of the Olive Ridley Turtles we headed straight for the town of Ostional on the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific Coast. It’s the site of an incredible natural phenomenon, where hundreds or even thousands of turtles arrive together to lay their eggs on about a one and a half kilometer stretch of beach. We planned to go to the beach at midnight which is when they say is the best time to go to catch the arrivals, but unfortunately there was not a single mamma turtle to be seen. Luckily however, all was not lost, because when we went to the beach in the afternoon for a stroll we came across baby turtles hatching!

Each turtle lays aprox 100 eggs in the nest, and interestingly Ostional is one of the only places in the world where the harvest of turtle eggs is legal, but only during the first few days of the arribada. Due to the huge numbers of turtles arriving to the same beach, they realised that after the first few days, the subsequent turtles were digging into previously laid nests and spoiling them anyway so they let the locals collect the first round.

After the incubation period (about 45 days) the turtles hatch and start their epic journey…it takes them about 4 days to reach the surface of the sand which is where we found them. Dogs and vultures were patrolling the beach waiting for the little ones to surface or digging them up before eating them.

We then spent the next 4 hours completely absorbed in protecting the little turtles and helping them to get safely to the water. They’re so helpless we were getting really angry with the fat dogs! Only one in 1000 hatchlings survive to adulthood, so they need as much help as they can get.

Sometimes the turtles aren’t quite ready for the run to the water, so they put them on their backs and tickle their tummies to get them exercising first

After Ostional, we headed south with a quick and uneventful stopover in San José, to Quepos to visit the Manuel Antonio National Park. It’s one of the smallest of Costa Rica’s many National Parks but also one of the most visited for its diversity.

Beautiful views in Manuel Antonio

We were a bit disappointed when we walked in to find it was very developed – almost like a wildlife theme park. The main path going in was a road for cars and many of the other paths were closed for maintenance, however it did not disappoint in terms of the wildlife we saw: monkeys, birds, lizards, raccoons and at last…we spotted some sloths!!

Capuchin Monkey

 

After seeing a very commercial National Park, we set off in search of a more wild experience in Corcovado National Park in the Osa Peninsula. According to National Geographic, Corcovado is “the most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity”! Once in Puerto Jiménez, we met with a local guide to organise a 3 day trek into the park. We slept in a tent at the Sirena Biological Station which, after a day of hiking along beautiful beaches and through jungle, seemed just like a scene taken out of Lost!

The Sirena Biological Station

 

Xavi’s hand is as big as a tapir’s foot!

While we didn’t see the elusive jaguars and pumas that we hoped for, we did see a tonne of other amazing wildlife while walking the trails. The highlights were seeing a tapir in the early hours of one morning, and a snake eating a small fox on the side of the path. The tapir was very shy and unfortunately we couldn’t catch it on camera, but the snake, otherwise occupied, was a great subject!

om yum yum yum

 

Titi Monkey

Scorpion with babies on board

It really was wildlife galore!!

Next up we cross over to Panamá and back to the Caribbean Coast for the last time in this trip!

Nicaragua – Where the streets have no name

Learning of trip #147: the worst hangovers are cured with fried chicken. The long-day journey to León, Nicaragua, wasn’t looking that good after the great farewell party in Utila, just a couple of hours sleep and a ride on the ferry to La Ceiba; but the hearty breakfast worked marvels as we hit the roads of Honduras for 16hrs in a shuttle bus.

Nicaragua is the biggest but also poorest country in Central America. Apart from the capital, Managua, the country is also one of the safest to travel and we found their people really welcoming and honest.

Check out the man-shaped columns of the Insigne y Real Basílica Catedral de la Asunción de la Bienaventurada Virgen María! This is the biggest cathedral in Central America… and one with the longest names too!

Rubén Darío is their most relevant personality, a poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as Modernismo that flourished at the end of the 19th century. It was great to read fragments of his poems scattered across towns and their monuments. Sandino is another national hero, as he was the revolutionary leader against the US military occupancy.

Once in the beautiful colonial town of León, we realised that most of the streets in Nicaragua have no names (although U2 didn’t write their song because of this). Finding places proved tricky as addresses are just based on a landmark and then they tell you to go a number of blocks from there in a cardinal direction. Sounds simple… as long as you know where your North is!

Anyway, we couldn’t have picked a better day to get to León (15th August) as we were welcomed with La Gritería, which are the Fiestas de Asunción de María!

Marching band at the main square

The local people believe that the Virgin was able to stop a volcanic eruption by praying louder than the roars from the volcano. Since then, they take images and statues of the Virgin to their windows and doors, from where they give lollies and other goodies to kids… and not-so kids.

In order to get your sweets you have to respond to the question “¿Quién trae tanta alegría?” (who brings so much joy?) with the name of the Virgin “La Asunción de María!“. It’s a beautiful tradition, with fireworks, correfocs (people running with firework boxes on), dancing giants, capgrossos (people dancing with giant head masks), processions… everyone was in a good mood.

Definitely similar to the catalan correfocs, but on a small scale

We used León as a base for a couple of excursions. The first one to the close Pacific Coast, at the dark-sand Beach of Las Peñitas, a great spot for surfers.

Playa de las Peñitas on the Pacific Coast

The second excursion involved a long hike and camping overnight. We went to the Telica volcano with a group of 8 organised by Quetzaltrekkers, a not-for-profit organisation that donates their proceeds to improve the lives of disadvantaged kids. The hike started in San Jacinto, a little town with “hervidores” (boiling mud pits) that stunk of sulfur. Just out of the town we crossed some steam tubes connected to a local thermoelectric plant, 20% of Nicaragua’s electricity is powered by their volcanoes!

 

Then 4 hours, 2L of water and some live termite snacks later we were setting our tents on the secondary crater of Volcán Telica, a couple of hundred meters below the active crater.

Tasty termites

The view from our campsite

We checked out the active crater which sounded like a roaring 747 permanently coming in to land and then hiked a bit further to a batcave for sunset. Once in darkness we went back in search of some red hot lava…the smoke coming out of the cauldron made it quite difficult to see, although we did manage to catch a few glimpses (see the red dots in the pics?).

We returned before sunrise in the hope that some of the sulphur smoke would have subsided, but no luck, although the views at sunrise were quite amazing as we could trace the volcanic range all the way to El Salvador.

From León we headed to Granada, another pretty colonial town with lots of Spanish influence as you can tell from the names.

Men chatting and having a “Raspado” (syrup over a snow cone)

After ticking the boxes of more churches and nice streets we took a small bus to the Pueblos Blancos, a series of little towns well known for their artisans and their proximity to the stunning Laguna de Apoyo.

Interesting artisan crafts

Laguna de Apoyo from Catarina lookout

We completed the loop back to Granada after visiting and having lunch at the Masaya markets. We love eating at the local markets! Not only are they inexpensive (good meals for $50cts), but they cook traditional food with fresh ingredients and they let you try it first!

Awesome market food in Nicaragua!

However, we treat ourselves every now and then… later that night we ventured out to a TripAdvisor recommended restaurant for a Guapote dinner, much to Sal’s disappointment it was a big ugly fish to share between two. I enjoyed it a lot.

La Isla de Ometepe was our last stop in the country, the biggest island in the world in a fresh water lake, Lake Nicaragua.

The kind-of-floating ferry that took us to Ometepe

The island is also topped with 2 distinctive volcanoes (Concepción and Maderas), there’s plenty of life and jaw dropping scenery and, despite being a tourist destination, it remains relatively genuine.

Concepción on the left, Maderas on the right.

Our first stop was Santo Domingo, for the best of the island’s beaches. It lies right in the middle of the island where the land strip is narrow and you can see both volcanoes.

Santo Domingo beach and views of Maderas

From here we also visited the natural pools Ojo de Agua, which according to legend just one dip in its waters and rejuvenates 20 years.

Ojo de Agua

We spent the last 2 nights on the island in Mérida, a little town lost in the dirt road where we stayed in a Hacienda, witnessed great sunsets, tried the best Nacatamales and home-made coconut icecream and hiked to the waterfalls of San Ramón.

Nacatamal – it may not be the most appetising meal, but it tasted pretty amazing!

While the waterfalls were not really worth the 3hr walk, we spotted howler monkeys and exchanged some howls with them :)

It was precisely in the Hacienda in Mérida where we randomly picked a photography book of Costa Rica which made us change our plans. After seeing the pictures in the book, we decided to pack our stuff, skip San Juan del Sur, a busy surfer’s paradise, in order to arrive to Ostional (Costa Rica) right in time for the New Moon, the best time to witness the “arribadas” or Olive Ridley turtles arriving enmasse to lay their eggs.

Beautiful sunsets from Mérida

We’ll let you know how it went in our next post!

Hugs for everyone!