Costa Rica is maybe rather touristy then other countries in Central America, but nowhere else you can visit that many great places. I have spent more than 2 weeks there and havent even seen half of all the tourist spots.
After leaving Nicoya peninsula, I headed to the little town La Fortuna, located on the east side of volcano Arenal (the lava goes down on the west side). I hiked up to the 70m-high Cataratas waterfalls, enjoyed natural hotsprings (basically sitting down in a river as hot as a bathtub) and, best of all, went on a night walk on volcano Arenal. Arenal is the most active volcano in Costa Rica, throwing out lava rocks constantly, so you have to watch the falling rocks from the edge of the danger zone, 1.5km farther. Beautiful.
After 1 night in San Jose I headed again to the Caribbean side, Tortuguero. In the middle of pure rain forrest you can only get there by boat, passing sandbanks with crocodiles. One of the most exciting moments of this trip I experienced during a night walk on the beach, looking for leatherback turtles which go there to lay there eggs. And I saw one - 156cm long (without the head, so actually taller than me) the turtle was just closing the whole where it had laid the eggs. I felt like watching a dinosaur, rather than a turtle, never seen anything like that!
Further east on the Caribbean side in Cahuita & Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, I enjoyed more white & black-sand beaches as well as another natural park with more palm trees to climb and tons of spider & howler monkeys. If you are not tired of Caribbean beaches & palm trees yet, check out my last photos of Costa Rica. Besos desde Bocas de Toro/Panama!
