Well, it has again been a while since I posted anything, but for some more good reasons... I have been travelling around and was lucky enough for Mum to come and visit for a short while!
The first two weeks of February were more or less work as usual, and then for Valentine's weekend Johnny and I went and had a lovely time in Manuel Antonio (which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite places in Costa Rica). Then, later that week, Mum arrived (on the 18th) - very exciting! After collecting her from the airport on Friday night, I had to go to work on Saturday morning, but we made our escape on Saturday afternoon and jumped on a bus to Playa Brasilito in Guanacaste, close to where Johnny is staying.
I had booked a room in the Brasilito Lodge, a hotel I had found on the internet, and it turned out that there was a reason the hotel was not listed in my Lonely Planet guide... as we approached we realised that it wasn't exactly a nice and cheap hotel, more of a "big house" that was still under construction. The room was an interesting lurid green colour, similar to a hotel that James, Sarah, Johnny and I experienced in Agra in India, and it brought back a few memories! The German (and rather fat/lazy) hotel owner seemed quite apologetic over the room and said that we could have an alternative room the following day, so we stayed there for three nights in the end.
The next couple of days were spent on the beach, first at Playa Conchal and then at Playa Prieta. Both were beautiful beaches, with amazing clear blue water. Conchal is famous because instead of sand there are crushed seashells, which means that the water looks amazing. Here's a photo:
We didn't go to the crater of the volcano because it was too far, but it was still incredible to see bubbling mud and steam and other things coming out of the earth! In the afternoon we went for a trek in the opposite direction, to a waterfall called La Cangreja. The walk was very long and quite hard work, but it was worth it since this is what we found:
On Monday we spent the morning lounging around the hotel pool, had lunch at an great aeroplane bar/restaurant and then went to buy a few souvenirs before heading back to San José. Mum left yesterday morning and I gather that she has safely arrived in the UK now! All in all it was a great week and I was very happy to be able to show my Mum some of Costa Rica.
The rest of the photos can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=614663552&aid=274115
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=614663552&aid=271501
The first two weeks of February were more or less work as usual, and then for Valentine's weekend Johnny and I went and had a lovely time in Manuel Antonio (which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite places in Costa Rica). Then, later that week, Mum arrived (on the 18th) - very exciting! After collecting her from the airport on Friday night, I had to go to work on Saturday morning, but we made our escape on Saturday afternoon and jumped on a bus to Playa Brasilito in Guanacaste, close to where Johnny is staying.
I had booked a room in the Brasilito Lodge, a hotel I had found on the internet, and it turned out that there was a reason the hotel was not listed in my Lonely Planet guide... as we approached we realised that it wasn't exactly a nice and cheap hotel, more of a "big house" that was still under construction. The room was an interesting lurid green colour, similar to a hotel that James, Sarah, Johnny and I experienced in Agra in India, and it brought back a few memories! The German (and rather fat/lazy) hotel owner seemed quite apologetic over the room and said that we could have an alternative room the following day, so we stayed there for three nights in the end.
The next couple of days were spent on the beach, first at Playa Conchal and then at Playa Prieta. Both were beautiful beaches, with amazing clear blue water. Conchal is famous because instead of sand there are crushed seashells, which means that the water looks amazing. Here's a photo:
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| Playa Conchal |
Once we left Johnny and the beaches behind, Mum and I headed on to Liberia, which is the central town/city in Guanacaste. The idea was to go to and visit the famous Arenal Volcano, however when we arrived at Liberia it transpired that it was too hard to get there so we decided to change our plans and after a lot of discussion we ended up spending the next day hiking around the Rincón de la Vieja National Park. The centre of the park is the Rincón de la Vieja volcano. So, in the morning, we checked out some of the volcanic activity:
We didn't go to the crater of the volcano because it was too far, but it was still incredible to see bubbling mud and steam and other things coming out of the earth! In the afternoon we went for a trek in the opposite direction, to a waterfall called La Cangreja. The walk was very long and quite hard work, but it was worth it since this is what we found:
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| Catarata La Cangreja |
The blue water is due to dissolved copper salts, according to Lonely Planet. We had an awesome swim there but then unfortunately had to head back before the park closed at 4pm.
We spent the next couple of days back in San José recovering from the long day hiking in the national park, and then on Saturday I was back at work all day. After work, however, we caught the bus to Manuel Antonio (yes, again) and arrived at the hotel by about 9.30pm. Sunday was spent walking round the park and lying on the beach, a perfect combination really! Excitingly, we saw a sloth - although I did (and still do) feel incredibly guilty since Johnny has been wanting to spot one since he arrived in Costa Rica. Here it is looking down at us:
On Monday we spent the morning lounging around the hotel pool, had lunch at an great aeroplane bar/restaurant and then went to buy a few souvenirs before heading back to San José. Mum left yesterday morning and I gather that she has safely arrived in the UK now! All in all it was a great week and I was very happy to be able to show my Mum some of Costa Rica.
The rest of the photos can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=614663552&aid=274115
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=614663552&aid=271501
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