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Up early, and into the mini bus to the lake. I was a bit scared about the boat ride, but the lake was really calm. It was an hour's ride in the covered boat across the lake.
It was really misty, and cloudy, and the green hills reminded me of home.
Then we had the bumpiest van ride so far for a few hours, uphill, and round tight bends. We arrived in Santa Elena, next to Monteverde. It's quite small, and a lot less touristy than La Fortuna.
Every place so far has been totally different, from the urban sprawl of San Jose, to the Caribbean coast tourist town of Puerto Viejo, then the tiny ramshackle Cahuita. La Fortuna was pretty touristy with a Burger King, and now here. It's really just 1 street with shops and places to eat, with a few more streets off it. Not as small as the places on the coast though. The houses in this country are mainly basic huts, normally made from wood. They are painted pretty colours, but are mainly quite run down. People keep chickens in their gardens, and cows graze by the sides of the road.
Even the weather is different between places. San Jose was hot, close, and muggy. The Caribbean coast was sunny, scorching hot, very humid and rainy at night. La Fortuna was cooler, especially at night, and not as humid, but the sun was still really strong. It was cloudier too. Here seems cooler again, but the sun is still really strong cos we are so high up.
We went for a really tasty lunch, and then to a coffee plantation to see how coffee is grown, harvested, dried and roasted. I had no idea how much work went into it! Got given free coffee and Costa Rican rice pudding at the end of the tour, and some chocolate covered coffee beans. Yum. Brought some presents to bring home...... but the chocolate coffee beans have melted into a big spodge.
We all went to the local rodeo at night, about 20 min walk away. Loads of awesome street food, and crazy locals. Small town fun, with some dancing and fairground games. Then some guys tried to ride some bulls, without much luck.
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