Costa Rica Day 7- San Jose to Montezuma

Posted on December 4, 2014 by justinwoodford

After catching up with Dani, Rich, and Crystal, we started to make a plan. It was the 24th of January, and my brother had a flight home on the 28th, Crystal and Rich had a flight home on the 30th, and Dani and I were headed home on the 2nd. So we had to make sure we all made our flights.

We decided for the most flexibility we would rent a car. Car rentals in Costa Rica are super expensive. Online they only appear to be around $30 per day, but once you get to the airport they force you to get rental insurance. We tried to use our credit cards (most come with free rental car insurance) but they refused to take it. I guess the government here makes everyone purchase their insurance.

The rental car companies also usually charge a deposit of around $1500 (sometimes less) per day in case there are any damages.

We found a guy recommended by our hostel that would charge us $65 per day inclusive of the mandatory insurance, and would not make us give him a deposit. Our car was a POS, window would not go down and the AC didn’t work. It was a tiny 1.6L shitbox SUV, but it got us around.

We headed out of San Jose. Luckily Richards iPhone’s GPS worked even without a data signal.

We drove 2 hours to Puntarenas, which is on the West coast of Costa Rica.

Montezuma is located at the bottom of a peninsula, so rather than driving up and around (which I guess is about a 5 hour drive), we were able to catch a ferry from Puntarenas across the bay to Montezuma. We drove our car over and they gave us a little slip of paper reserving us a spot on the ferry. We then had to leave the driver in the car and take the slip over to pay for the car and each passenger.

It was a very nice ferry ride lasting a little over an hour.

Once on the other side, we drove another 40 minutes into Montezuma.

Montezuma was a tiny little town, very relaxed and beautiful. There was a beach right at the end of the road.

That night we drank fairly heavily and hungout on the beach.

Costa Rica Day 8- Cascadas de Montezuma

Posted on December 4, 2014 by justinwoodford

We woke up and had a leisurely breakfast.

We wanted to hike to the waterfalls that were in town, Cascadas de Montezuma (Montezuma Water Falls)

The head to the trail was only a 5 minute walk from town. We drove anyway and had to pay 1 mil for parking. The parking attendant tried to double charge me until I called him out on it.

The hike was easy, about 15 minutes with little pools along the way.

We reached the waterfall, probably right around 10 feet high.

It was very hot out and the water was super refreshing. There were a good 30 or so people hanging out here. I was surprised there was very little litter considering the amount of people. Someone must have cared about this place and been keeping it clean.

Some people (including my brother) were jumping from super high- we figured about 60-65 feet after scaling some rock.

There was a path up to another set of waterfalls with a rope swing, so we hiked another 15 mins on a somewhat sketchy trail to the next waterfall.

The rope swing was fun

And there were more places to jump up here.

That night, we took some drinks and headed to a beach on the opposite side of town.

This beach was much bigger and equally beautiful. Once the night came, we started to notice there were luminescents in the water. We went swimming the the water would glow. We started a fire and hung out on the beach for hours, watching the waves crash a brilliant blue green. Amazing. The photos wouldn’t come out since there wasn’t enough light, I guess some things are just too beautiful to be recorded.

Costa Rica Day 6- Bahia Drake to San Jose

Posted on December 4, 2014 by justinwoodford

Our next destination was San Jose.

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To get from Bahia Drake on the Osa Peninsula back to the city, San Jose, we had to first catch a boat to Sierpe. This was a beautiful hour and a half boat ride that first brought us through open lakes

Before bring us through narrow channels in Rio Sierpe.

Stunning boat ride. Finally we reached the end of the jungle maze and docked in Sierpe.

Here, there were plenty of taxis waiting for us. Our hotel had arranged our trip to San Jose. This meant we had a bus reservation, and what we didn’t realize was we also had a taxi reservation.

The taxi driver had our bus tickets already. So we paid the taxi driver around 6 mil that covered the short taxi ride fare to the Palmar Norte bus terminal.

We jumped on our bus to San Jose. The busses here were much nicer than Panama, they were coach busses, some with AC.

We arrived in the San Jose bus terminal and caught a cab to the airport to pick up my girlfriend Dani and a couple of friends I met traveling last year, Richard and Crystal.

The cab was about a half an hour and ran us around $20. We met up with Dani easily and waited a while for Rich and Crystal who were supposed to meet us there. Given it was already 3 hours after we were supposed to meet them, we assumed they were already at the hotel so grabbed a short $6 cab to our hotel in Alajuela near the airport.

We were all successfully united and excited for our adventures!

Costa Rica Day 9- Original Arenal ATV rental

Posted on July 22, 2014 by justinwoodford

Costa Rica Day 4&5- Corcovado National Park

Posted on January 28, 2014 by justinwoodford

At 715 am we had to walk down to the bottom of the hill in Bahia Drake to catch our ferry to Corcovado National Park.

Most people that came here did day tours, which includes an hour and a half transportation to Sirena station at 715am, guided hiking until about 1, then a lunch before the boat leaves the island at 145pm. It also includes the $10 daily park entrance fee.

We had inquired about skipping the guide and only purchasing the boat ride there and back. This was $50, so we decided it was worth paying the few extra bucks for a guide with lunch. Our plan was to stay the night since we already had our camping reservations and we would catch a ride back with a boat the following day at 1:45. We figured it would be good to have a guide to show us the ropes bit also would be nice to be able to roam on our own.

The boat dropped us off at the island where we had a “wet” landing.

We did a couple hikes very slowly and quietly. Apparently the morning around 8 is the best time to go as the animals are most active and prevalent. Later in the day it becomes too hot so they rest.

We saw a crocodile on the bank

But when we got closer we scared him away.

We saw an animal called a Taper which I guess aren’t normally seen there but the guide said the past months there have been a lot of them.

We saw lots of different types of monkeys including the howler monkey which makes a crazy loud monster like noise in the jungle.

We saw some different birds and spiders.

We saw ant eaters and wild pigs but I didn’t have my camera with me the first day.

At the end of the day after we ate, my brother and I walked the 20 minute hike back to Sirena station.

We had accidentally gotten a camping pass for the park instead of the dorm room accommodations that are also available. We were told that there would be mattresses out for grabs as well as drinking water.

However when we got there we were told they don’t supply mattresses and that the only ones that were there were ones people had left in the past. We managed to scrap up a couple thin grimy ass foam pieces and were lucky enough to have brought our own sheets.

Although told there was clean drinking water, we were told it wasn’t 100% safe so we should filter it. Luckily we brought water purification tablets although we were also told there was bottled water for sale.

The next morning we thought we would wake up super early to be the first ones to the best locations so the animals wouldn’t be scared away by the other groups. Unfortunately, everyone else had the exact same plans.

We hiked along the beach

And even climbed a tree to get some coconuts

We saw more of the same animals we had seen the day before (can you see the gecko?)

As well as Taper tracks

We went swimming in Rio Claro, the only place you are allowed to swim because of the danger off crocodiles.

Overall it was a pretty cool experience in Sirena national park. It was very beautiful. However, for me, I didn’t like all the people there and the tour groups, we couldn’t escape them. The animals seemed like they were always in the same places so the guides knew exactly where to look, like a zoo. So in that aspect we were a little disappointed. The peninsula itself was beautiful.

Costa Rica Day 2- Paso Canoas to Puerto Jimenez

Posted on January 28, 2014 by justinwoodford

In the morning we continued our trip to our destination of Golfito in the Osa peninsula.

We went to a nearby ATM to take out some local Costa Rican currency, Colones. The going rate was 500 Colones to 1 US dollar.

The bus station was right outside our hotel. We were to catch a bus to Golfito which was the costal town then catch a ferry across the lake to Puerto Jimenez.

The bus left Paso Canoas at 10:30 in the morning and ran us 2400 Colones each.

The bus ride was an uneventful hour and a half or so. When we first got on the bus, we gave the driver 10000 Colones and he didn’t give us change. When we would go up to the front to ask him, he kept shooing us away. We became increasingly annoyed when it started to seem more and more like he was trying to screw us. We got a local to help us out and showed him and finally he gave in and coughed up our change.

I knew Golfito was on the coast so we had our eyes open for the boat launch when we saw water.

We double checked with the driver that this is where we would catch our ferry to Puerto Jimenez and he confirmed.

We thought we would be catching a small water taxi like those on the right but we were directed to walk out on a dock just to the left where there were others waiting in the shade.

It was beautiful here.

We were confused about the boat schedule until we realized we had changed time zones by an hour.

We were on the 2pm ferry and had some Duros a lady was selling (sweet frozen fruit drink)

The ferry ride was about 45 minutes and we arrived in Pto Jimenez, equally beautiful.

Our mission here was to go to the ranger station, as our guide book said if we wanted to stay in Corcovado National Park we had to make reservations here ahead of time.

It was an inconspicuous building so at first we walked passed it.

But sure enough this was the place.

The woman working here talked little English and was very unhelpful. We wanted to go to Corcovado park but she wasn’t offering much information.

The day we wanted to stay in the park was full so we reserved the following day that was open. She gave us a paper and sent us to the bank a 5 minute walk away in the center of town to pay for the reservation. It closed at 3 so we didn’t have much time to get there.

The bank was interesting in that it had super high security; finger print scan to open door, that was similar to an airport scanner. After being scanned there was an armed guard who asked us to remove our hats. Intense.

Anyway, we paid up ($10 per day park fee, then $10 to stay over night) and headed back to the ranger station.

There were 3 options for us to get to Sirena ranger station from where we were in PTO Jimenez.

We could either fly there ($80), hike 20kms, or take busses. We didn’t have time to hike both ways and we didn’t want to have to hike with our gear so we ruled that out. Flying was expensive; we decided to take the bus. More on this later.

Now we had a plan, we had to find a place to sleep.

We asked around and found a hostel called Cabinas el Perezoso.

The guy had rooms for $8 per night which we couldn’t beat so we took it.

The hostel was very basic but the guy was super nice and accommodating and there were nice people there. At dinner time he took down coconuts for us.

It had been a long ass day and we had to get up early so called it a night.

Costa Rica Day 3- Puerto Jimenez to Bahia Drake

Posted on January 25, 2014 by justinwoodford

Our mission was to get to Bahia Drake this day, so we could take a ferry to the ranger station Sirena in Corcovado National Park the next morning.

The option we chose was to take a bus from Puerto Jimenez to Bahia Drake.

The information we were given regarding bus times was different from every person we asked. It seemed like no one had any idea what was going on outside of their little box.

The information that did agree was that we had to catch a bus to La Palma, then connect to a bus to Bahia Drake. Given that we were on a strict time frame in order to get this all done before we had to be in San Jose, there wasn’t room for error and there was only one bus in the morning to La Palma. We wanted to be there early to make plans for Corcovado the following day.

Omar, the guy that ran our hostel, told us the bus to La Palma came at 9am. So we waited outside the bus station in town only to find out the bus there didn’t leave until 1030. Then we saw a bus schedule stating this.

The bus arrived; it was a school bus as Omar told us so we knew what to look for. It was 1 mil to get to La Palma.

The first bus ride was short; only about half an hour on paved roads.

We got off the bus in La Palma. Locals told us where the bus to Bahia Drake would be and that it would be there at 1130. We had roughly an hour wait.

When the bus did come, we would have just let it go without us. We saw the shuttle van, but it said school bus on it so we assumed it was to move kids around. We were expecting a bus, too, not a van. This bus cost us 2 mil.

This ride was on dirt roads through rivers it was a beautiful ride.

On the bus we met a guy from Texas that was living down here for two years for the Peace Core. Sounded like a very interesting experience, he was in a small community helping them create tourism to create better lives for the people. He said that as of now, most of them worked in the fields for $15 a day getting heart of palm in the fields.

They couldn’t afford to do anything else but eat and have the occasional beer let alone catch a bus out of their town or take English classes to get tourism jobs.

Bahia Drake was no disappointment relative to the rest of Osa. It was high in the hills overlooking a beautiful ocean. Somehow I forgot to take pictures of this.

We stayed at a hostel called Martina’s place. It was very nice for a hostel and we got a private room for $20.

As soon as we got there, an iguana ran in under a dresser.

We spent the next hour plus trying to get it out.

It got out and ran into our room under the bed. We thought our best bet was to wait it out so we created a path so it had to go straight out the front door and couldn’t go anywhere else.

After a while he was still there so some kid managed to chase him out with a broom.

Vwalla.. Iguana back at home 🙂

Made for an interesting afternoon.

We made arrangements to get picked up at 7 in the morning for our ferry to Sirena station in Corcovado National Park.

Panama Day 14- Boquette to Bocas De Toro

Posted on January 21, 2014 by justinwoodford

At this point we were kind of undecided on where to head next.. Neither of us were overly excited about Boquette (which turned out to be pretty cool) but mainly used it as mainly as a means to break up our bus ride.

One of the options was to head to the Corcovado National Park just over the line into Costa Rica on the Pacific coast where there was supposed to be tons of wildlife. The other option was to head to Bocas Del Toro which is a laid back island chain on the Carribean coast.

We only had about a week left until we had to be in San Jose, Costa Rica, so we decided we would have to either head to one or the other, since they were on opposite coasts and with the time constraints.

I wanted to go to Bocas since we hadn’t had much beach and relaxation time whereas we had already done a lot of hiking and would most likely be hiking a volcano as soon as we got to San Jose.

After talking to a bunch of travelers, we hadn’t heard of anyone who went to Corcovado but everyone seemed to be going to Bocas Del Toro.

It sounded fun, so I was able to convince my brother to head there instead. We knew it was directly on the “gringo trail” (not much local culture) but it sounded like fun.

To get there by local bus, we would have had to head South back to David, before waiting to catch another local bus up to Almirante. From here we would have to hire a taxi across to Bocas del Toro. This would have costs us around $15 on what people call “chicken busses”, super crowded over loaded local busses. We had taken only these until this point and they are definitely not fun.

The alternative option was a direct shuttle from our hostel, which cuts across from Boquette to El Fortuna, then cuts up, and included the ferry. Much less complicated, shorter, and more comfortable. This option was $25 but we decided it was definitely worth it in this case.

So we loaded up our things on the bus.

Once we got near El Fortuna, the bus stopped for a break.

Beautiful view. There was a hostel here called Lost and Found which is kind of a break in the trip between Bocas and Boquette (or David). It was supposed to be a great place to stop in the rainforest for hiking, but we forgot about this option when we stopped but carried on.

We arrived in Almirante about 4 hours later. This was a crappy port town where they managed to ruin a beautiful Carribean shoreline with garbage.

We waited in the water taxi port where we were loaded into the taxi in the order the tickets were purchased. They called out our names to load in.

This area of Panama immediately seemed less well off than the other areas we had been to so far.

The boat ride was about half an hour. Bocas del Toro is on the island Isla Colon.

We got to Bocas. It was a happening town, a lot of people walking up and down the streets.

Our last hostel had recommended we stay at Hostel Heike, so we had reservations. Only $10 a night here. We were glad we had the reservations here since the place was booked full.

It was early afternoon so we decided we would do some exploring. We started walking down to what was thought was the local beach but ended up in a local neighborhood. We could see that outside of the tourism this island was very poor.

We walked past burning garbage

Until we found an airplane in someone’s front yard?

At this point it was evident we were not at the beach, so we asked around until we found our way.

The local beach was pretty nice outside of the garbage still trending here.

And they forgot to finish their dock.

We hung out on this dock for a little while where we met some people and eventually headed back to the hostel.

In the evening, people were drinking in the lounge areas so we joined them with some rum a cokes. There was a big night life scene here, so we joined the others and headed out to a couple bars.

The bars stay open until 5am but we called it a night around 3.

Panama Day 13- Feriade las Flores y Del Cafe

Posted on January 17, 2014 by justinwoodford

When we got back from hiking Volcano Baru, we were exhausted. We hadn’t slept and hardly eaten. After stuffing down a meal, we passed out.

I woke up a couple hours later, again ravenous. I stuffed my face once again with some lasagne , rice, and chicken, and passed out again.

I woke up later in the afternoon, and we went to the grocery store. I chugged a quart of chocolate milk to my face along with an apple and went back to sleep.

Needless to say, I was in serious recovery mode.

In town was a big event, a flower and coffee festival. This night was supposed to be the big party night with a couple stages set up, so we forced ourselves to head over.

We crossed a bridge where we got a quick glimpse of the festival.

The music was so loud we could hear it clearly from our hostel almost a mile away. We paid $2 to enter the festival, then it was another 7 or 15 depending on which stage you wanted to visit.

Inside, people seemed to be having a good time. It was packed. A lot of people had come from out of town for the event.

The music was incredibly loud. There was some guy kinda hosting the event and getting people to sing on stage etc and some contests. I was still feeling very tired and wasn’t feeling it at all but we had just paid to get in so we stuck it out for a little while.

Around 3am we headed home, ears ringing.

Panama Day 12- Santa Fe to Boquette

Posted on January 17, 2014 by justinwoodford

Getting to Boquette from Santa Fe was easy but took most of the day.

We both got up early and I was ready by 8am so just chilled on a hammock waiting for my brother. Some time passed, and I thought my brother was taking an awfully long time to get ready, but I figured what the hell, whats the rush?

As 10am came, I went to get him, only to find out he thought he had been waiting on me to get ready. This was not a first occurrence.

We waited about 20 mins to catch the bus from the small bus station in Santa Fe back to Santiago.

The ride was short, although unpleasant, as they like cramming as many people as humanly possible into the busses here and I am a big guy.

We got to the Santiago station, which we had already been to and were familiar with, and located a bus headed to the major hub city of David a little North West. Little did we know but we would be waiting for about an hour and a half for this bus to depart at 1:30pm.

Finally we got on our way. The bus ride to David took about 3 hours, and was by no means any more comfortable. It was $9.

The bus station in David was also fairly small and easy to navigate.

There was a sign up telling which position each city’s bus departed from so we headed to our platform.

They were randomly selling chicks in the bus station?

Our bus from David to Boquette was comparably very comfortable. They ran school busses this route, and we calculated they managed to cram 80+ people into this bus.

We had a standing position but the windows were open and after being cramped the rest of the way we were glad to be cramped for the hour and a half ride to Boquette.

Boquette was a small city (or big town). We were told it was very americanized and touristy. It was also known for its adventure and outdoorsy stuff.

Initially, we thought we would hit up Santa Fe instead, since they were both mountain towns but Santa Fe was less traveled and smaller. However, while were there people who had already been to Boquette recommended we still go. So go we did.

The bus dropped us at a small square.

Here, we checked in our book to find a hostel and settled on one called Mamallena that just so happened to be right by the bus station.

The hostel seemed pretty nice. The main reason we came here was to hike a volcano called Volcan Baru. It is the highest point in Panama and you can see both the Pacific and Carribean oceans from it’s peak.

We signed up for the tour, that night to depart at 11:30pm so we did not check in a room. We showered up and attempted to rest after a long day of traveling and before our soon-to-find out, extremely long hike.

Justin Travels

Category Archives: Central America

Costa Rica Day 7- San Jose to Montezuma

Costa Rica Day 8- Cascadas de Montezuma

Costa Rica Day 6- Bahia Drake to San Jose

Costa Rica Day 9- Original Arenal ATV rental

Costa Rica Day 4&5- Corcovado National Park

Costa Rica Day 2- Paso Canoas to Puerto Jimenez

Costa Rica Day 3- Puerto Jimenez to Bahia Drake

Panama Day 14- Boquette to Bocas De Toro

Panama Day 13- Feriade las Flores y Del Cafe

Panama Day 12- Santa Fe to Boquette