Costa Rica, short and sweet visit but probably one of the most indepth experiences of the local culture, and because we stayed with friends for a while we saw alot of things that as a normal tourist you probably would not, so observations...... 1) Costa Rica is wet !! It rained everyday, but not like the short sharp showers in the other countries but relentless heavy rain. In Monteverde it rained solid for the three days we were there, the buses could no longer ...

After leaving the wet and soggy lands of Monteverde, we headed by shuttle bus down the mountain eventually emerging from the clouds and back to civilisation. After a good 3 or 4 hours we arrived in the captial San Jose. Now we have seen a fair amount of Central American capital cities but this one is rather grim. I´am sure it has its nice parts but it was to us very dull, drab, chaotic and a bit edgy. Anyway our time in San Jose consisted of a long drive though...

So here we are in the very wet town of Santa Elena (Monteverde) in Northern Costa Rica. About 1400m above sea level. It has rained non-stop since we have been here, the locals tell us that is have been constantly raining for over a week, and that is normal for October. Well timed visit from us! However it is also nice to get out of the intense heat we have been experiencing on our travels, and travelling in the wet season of Costa Rica is very beautiful with th...

Our loyal readers are probably getting a bit bored of details of our bus journeys, but the latest deserves a special mention. We set off for the Costa Rican border very early in the morning. After struggling though some crowds of 'helpers' (although only for a fee), we negotiated the Nicaraguan side successfully, but got a little confused when entering Costa Rica. We saw a massive banner for a restaurant, signs for buses and cash machines, but no immigration... ...