Pura Vida!

In Costa Rica, our adventure started not far from the border with Panama in Puerto Viejo. A place advertised as a surfer and hippie paradise on the Atlantic coast. The city and the beach were beautiful, but I wouldn't call them a highlight (spoiled travel child :D). However, we did notice that Costa Rica actually has more nature, national parks, and jungle than Panama. In Puerto Viejo, our highlight was probably our accommodation in the middle of the jungle. The street noise in Berlin is definitely nothing compared to the noise in the jungle at night. I must admit, when Kathi suddenly jumped up with big eyes and said, 'there is something big and fluffy,' I got a little scared, but we were able to flee safely into the house. The unknown creature then roamed around on the roof for a while, but left us alone. We still don't know what it was, but we think it was a coati.

After 2 nights, we continued towards Manuel Antonio. Finally back to our beloved Pacific. Actually, Manuel Antonio and the associated national park are one of the most beautiful places I have visited on my trip so far. Originally, we had decided to explore the national park without a guide, but then we stumbled upon a super friendly group with a very professional guide by pure chance. Fortunately, we were allowed to join them spontaneously and saw a lot of wild animal species: chameleons, toucans, different monkey species, snakes, lizards, iguanas, owls. So it was definitely worth it, not only because of the dreamy beach.

We then traveled through the whole country at lightning speed to La Fortuna. Guys, you won't believe it, but we hiked up a volcano again. :D Although we had lost all trust in altitude, time, and distance indications, we were pleasantly surprised. Costa Rica is quite touristy. Especially in the hotspots, everything is geared towards 'gringos' and everything is properly signposted and marked - most of the time anyway. It has many advantages, but of course, the disadvantage is that you mostly stay in the tourist bubble, especially at the hotspots. The area around La Fortuna is super beautiful, and the arenas around the volcano and the waterfalls are very worth seeing.

Currently, we are on our way to Santa Teresa. After so much jungle and wildlife, we miss the sea and surfing. That's probably a classic case of luxury problems. Originally, another spot in Costa Rica was planned, but since we have been traveling through Panama and Costa Rica at record speed, we decided to stay for 3 days and simply enjoy the place.

Even though we spend a lot of time on the bus on travel days, I never find it annoying. We usually opt for public transportation and avoid private tourist companies. Taking private shuttles would of course be much faster and more comfortable, but you don't really experience any adventures that way. So we usually take our backpacks and are always in good spirits to reach our destination at the end of the day. We often interact with locals and it seems like everyone is somehow concerned about us arriving safely and wants to help. Very sweet. Bus drivers sometimes deviate from the bus route to bring us almost to our hostel. In addition, the bus rides are always a little surprise package. It can happen that passengers request music and unexpectedly turn the bus into a party bus. Or the police suddenly enter the bus. Actually, each journey has its own story. But since the bus drivers here are very good at multitasking and can count money, watch movies on the center console, text messages, and drive at the same time, I am confident that I will continue to arrive safely in the future.

Especially since the likelihood of me dying of anemia due to all the mosquitoes is higher.

So, I'm off surfing. See you soon. :)