21.02-26.02.2012 - Costa RicaToday I started my roadtrip through Costa Rica. First stop was Volcano Arenal. Unfortunalety the top of the Volcano was covered in clouds so you couldn't see the smoke coming outside the Volcano. Volcano Arenal has a perfect colonial shape and is espacially famous to be a great spot to see lava coming outside. Espacially at night it's supposed to be good to see. Again I wasn't lucky because at the moment it was inactive. Despite that I had a beautiful day hiking in the national park to the lava stream of 1968. Next stop was supposed to be Volcano Poas which is easy accesible by car. You almost can drive into the crater. Arriving on it's top at approx. 2700 meters I wasn't lucky again. I couldn't see anything because everything was covered in clouds. At least I could smell the sulfurish air. The night I spent in a cabin in the middle of the rainforest which was a great experience. Final destination was Puerto Viejo de Talamanca before heading back to Playas del Coco. Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a small town on the Carribean Coast pretty close to the boarder to Panama. The Carribean Coast of Costa Rica is totally different to the rest of Costa Rica. Definitely poorer, less touristy and not really clean. Also the climate is way different. The humidity is incredible high. The Carribean Coast of Costa Rica couldn't convince me as much as the Pacific Coast did. On my way back from Puerto Viejo de Talamanca I did stopped in the center of Costa Rica close to San Jose and visited on of the coffee plantations in Valle de Orosi. The area is really big in agriculture and quite beautiful. You pass many plantations of different kinds of fruits and vegetables. 20.02.2012 - Costa RicaA 3 1/2 hour drive for not even 150km. The roads to Monteverde were really bad espacially the last 35km on unpaved road took about 1 1/2 hours and not to forget that there were almost no roadsigns. On most of the intersections you'd to ask where to go. Monteverde is another city in the mountains and also in the rainforest. From there you'd an awesome view because it's pretty high up. Also the climate is a little bit colder and humid. I decided to do the skywalk in Monteverde. The skywalk is a system of hanging bridges in the top of the trees located in the rainforest. Was a great experience.
19.02.2012 - Costa RicaNational Park Volcano Tilaran famous for it's blue coloured river and beautiful waterfalls. This national park is located in the middle of Costa Rica where there is mostly rainforest. On the coast where I'm staying it's dry season so everything looks dried out. As closer you get to the middle of Costa Rica the greener it gets.
17./18.02.2012 Costa RicaThere are many beautiful beaches in Costa Rica espacially around where I'm staying. The area is called Guanacaste. My favourites so far Playa Grande and Playa Flamingo. I'm looking forward to spend my last week there. Also I visited the Volcano Rincon de la Vieja. Due to bad weather on the crater I only was able to hike in the national park but this was great too. From bubbling mud holes, smoke coming out of the ground to sulfur stinking lakes there was a lot interesting stuff to see. The roads in Costa Rica are bad by the way. Getting around takes a lot of time and you definitely need a SUV.
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