Volcano Arenal

Today (27/4/2016) we decided to go with Frank (the owner of the 'Rental in Paradise 4 U') and Nathalie (a guest from France) to visit the Arenal Volcano in the North of Costa Rica. We drove 3 hours through the backcountry and stopped in a small village named 'Zarcero' to get breakfast.
We tasted the delicious 'Pinto Chorizo' and were told that the secret ingredient (which makes the pinto rice so delicious) is a sauce called 'Salsa Lizano'.

Eating in a soda with Frank (traditional food 'comme à la maison')

In the town, they had a colourful church with a very creative park  next to it (Parque Francisco Alvarado).

The church of Zarcero

Very colourful decoration inside the church.

Warm greetings to our grandparents: Julie, Madeleine & Günther. We lighted a candle for you.

A bullock made of hedges

An old elephant.

Some crazy monkeys.

An ox-car-driver with his two oxen and his carriage.

You can define this creature with help of your own imagination.

Afterwards, we came to the Volcano Arenal and took our time to visit the whole surroundings. We fought a little bit with the Mosquitos but apart from a few bites, we won the battle (this time at least).

On our way back we had the chance to taste the Costa Rican equivalent of chocolate (they don't eat a lot of chocolate here) a 'cajeta de leche': a sweet bar made from the reunion of coconut, milk and pure sugar cane syrup, very tasty.

A bridge over a deep canyon

The sleeping ogre: Volcano Arenal. The last eruption was in 2010.

Some unusual friends.

The landscape in the north varies from the one around Atenas.

And we found yet another cascade.

Stay tuned :)

Waterfall in Atenas and Manuel Antonio National Park

Good morning...

On Sunday we discovered the surroundings of Atenas. After wandering a while through the tropical forest, we arrived to a deserted waterfall, where we could calmly take a wonderful dive and eat a fresh and tasty Papaya.

Waterfall in Atenas

Sometimes you need to dive into the unknown to get the most precious memories

While going back to our Finca, we found out that this Sunday, 24^th of April has a special meaning for Atenas: To celebrate the agricultural heritage, they organized a big parade with colourful painted oxcarts and enormous oxen. After watching this parade, we understood why one of the landmarks of this small city (with the best climate of the world, according to National Geographic) is a ‘boyero’, a traditional oxcart driver with a carriage pulled by two bullocks.

Atenas' celebrating their agricultural heritage

The landmark of Atenas: In statue and also in live

Some of those oxen are enormous

A proud Tico cowboy

The priest blessed the drivers, the bollocks, the carriage and the people inside

 

Even the smallest ones take part in this tradition

The next day, we stayed in our Finca so that Estelle could recover from a little flu with the help of the good soul Jacqueline (‘mother’ of the Finca).  In return, Jean-Marc helped to clean the propriety and got rid of the dry leaves.

Our Bungalow in the 'Rental in Paradise4U'

We had to switch for 2 nights our bungalow with a house. We didn't complain :)

Yesterday, (26/4/2016) we visited the National Park Manuel Antonio and could observe some of the Costa Rican Flora and Fauna. Below you’ll find some pictures to visualise those experiences.

Oh, there are some apes...

..yes indeed, there is a mother ape with kid playing in the trees.

Our first selfie :)

Manuel Antonio has some very nice beaches

 

Just a few steps away from Paradise

Nothing's for free :)

 More adventures to come...

Costa Rica 1 - Atenas & San José

 

After 18 hours of travelling, we arrived safely the 21/4/2016 at our planned destination in Atenas (Costa Rica). Our lovely hosts (expats from Southern France, who came to Costa Rica 30 years ago with 11 family members) welcomed us with plenty of fruits growing in their garden (and surroundings). Among others mango, cashew fruit, carambola (starfruit) and cas fruit... We also got the chance to get to know the animal housemates (among others cats, birds, fishes, dogs, iguanas and squirrels).

We moved our whole luggage in our bungalow and went to shop groceries in Atenas. Then we walked back from the city centre of Atenas to our retreat (45 minutes in the burning sun) and got our first sunburn :)

The second day we visited San José by bus (1 hour drive, 2 € per person) and walked around the city, visited the local market, the Iglesias de la Soledad, the square of democracy, the national park as well as the 'La Sabana' park. As the temperatures here vary between 30° and 34° C everything is done slower than usual. Just one person ignored this fact and tried to convert the people (us included) on the bus terminal by screaming during more than half an hour verses from the Christian bible. After those 30 minutes he didn't stop preaching, but luckily our bus came and we could leave before getting a serious headache.

During the evening we tried the local food, called 'Pupusa' and 'Gallo Pinto' which was actually not bad at all.

After a 20 minutes’ walk back from the restaurant, we fell immediately asleep and woke up at 5am in the morning by the singing of the Black Oropendola.

Hope you all doing well too and looking forward to the summer :)

Estelle with a cashew fruit

Jean-Marc with one of the housdogs

It´s never too early to do the laundry...

A homegrown pineapple

A squirrel eating a Papaya in the Central Parc of Atenas

Fruit-selling truck in Atenas

Greetings to Doro and Astrid who love colourful flowers

A nice spot for the pigeons to relax from the crowded city center of San José

Plaza de la democracia

Street Art in San José