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So...we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica on Tuesday night.
Wednesday (Cat´s birthday) morning we got picked up at 6.10am (!!!!!) to go on a tour to Volcan Poas, a coffee plantation and La Paz waterfall gardens. Despite us still being half asleep on the bus, it amazed us how vibrant the streets were that early just because it´s daylight--everyone on their way to work and even kids going to school.
For 2 non-coffee drinkers the coffee plantation wasn´t overly exciting. However, because it is THE home of coffee we both gave it a try. Would still always choose tea given the choice but not as bad as expected. Got a lovely breakfast of rice and beans at 7.30am which was a shock to Ali´s system given 34 years of frosties, but very tasty!
Afterwards we headed to Volcan Poas (a dormant volcano with a crater of sulphuric acid and a temperature of 800 deg celsius) and wandered through the cloud forest for a bit. Next on to the waterfall gardens which had waterfalls (obviously) and also birds, butterflies, snakes etc. Stunning!
Headed out in San Jose for some birthday beers to finish off. What a perfect birthday!
Thursday: Caught the bus to La Fortuna, which is a town at the base of Volcan Arenal. Very laid-back vibe which was a welcome change after the chaos of San Jose. Arenal is an active volcano which normally spurts out lava and smoke i.e. the main attraction of the sight, however, for the past couple months there has been no activity. Still plenty to do though. After some great fajitas we crashed out at 9pm as were so knackered.
Friday: Awoke at 6am again (seems to be the norm now), so we headed out for a run, but due to the altitude we didnt last long. Then went horseriding to Arenal waterfall which was fun. Both our horses were very competitive (just like us some might say) and from time to time would just gallop on ahead. Pretty funny. Got to swim at the waterfall too.
Chilled with some beers in the garden in the afternoon then went to some hot springs--extremely relaxing and a good way to soothe the legs after a lot of frantic gripping on when our horses decided to suddenly take off. Another great day!
Saturday: Travelled to Monteverde by jeep-boat-jeep (a minvan takes you to a boat which takes you across a lake and then another minivan takes you to the town). Lazy day wandering through town then cooked some plantain for dinner and chilled with some beers (we´ve become pretty enamoured with the local cerveza) in our hostel. Tomorrow morning up early to go hiking in Monteverde naional park and cloud forest...
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