MONTEVERDE/ARENAL VOLCANO

she's gonna blow...

WHERE: Monteverde/Volcan Arenal
WHERE (less detailed): a cloud forest (like a rainforest only with clouds providing the moisture rather than rain) and a big volcano

everything going swell inside the cloud forest

DAYS: about 9 weeks until we have to go home
PEOPLE ARE: spoiled by the Yankee dollar. The prices for everything are out of wack because far too many wealthy Americans come into town for 2-weeks and pay $5 for a soda

Until Rhaani took a spill, maybe swell wasn't the best choice of words

WEATHER IS: mainly raining, not cold British rain but continual, torrential, bounce up to your ankles, rain.
TEMPERATURE: 30-33 degrees
FOOD IS: nice enough, but again expensive. Rhaani decides to be adventerous and has a Platos Tipicos (typical local dish) which is just rice, beans and some deep-fried plantain. Nice enough but nothing too exciting. Apart from that it was your usual Westernised fare.

very pretty, but hardly sloths, frogs and monkeys

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS: our cloud forest trek which yielded 0 sloths, 0 monkeys, 0 frogs and 0 toucans would have gone down as a lowlight only the guide was so enthusiastic that we don´t have the heart to criticise. The daily fog that hides Volcan Arenal and the 9hr afternoon downpour that soaks you to your bones has no such saviour. The 3hr hike to the volcanic lake would be a highlight if it wasn´t such a hard climb. Rhaani falling and spraining her ankle on the cloud forest trail was definitely a low point ... however, without a shadow of doubt the biggest pain in our collective arses was the surprise 6km walk into Nicaragua

so much for high-tailing it out of Costa Rica

. ...we are still unsure if it was due to a lorry strike or just the slowest moving customs checkpoint ever, but 6km away from the border our bus grinds to a halt and the driver announces he can take us no further and that we will have to carry our backpacks the rest of the way. 20kg backpacks, mid-day sun and an uphill walk to not make for happy bedfellows. A shitty border control guard who refused to accept x3 of our dollar notes, forcing us to leave the queue and find a nearby ATM, didn't help matters.

9am and already the fog is drifting in

On the plus side we met some wonderful fellow travellers in Costa Rica - Dave and Beth take a bow - who took the sting out of our sufferings with their great company.
THINGS LOST/STOLEN: still a sore point.

UP NEXT: NICARAGUA, supposedly a danger hotspot. I just hope would-be muggers will be happy with a haul that consists mainly of dirty underwear and brightly coloured tableclothes.