Kalilandia

Santa Theresa Santa Theresa is one of the several party destinations in Costa Rica. We are ready for some "loco fiestas" but we are up for a surprise.  Moon landscapes  Already driving from Samara, we figure that roads are getting worse and worse the more south we go, but when we approach Santa Theresa, and even worse - when we enter into the little Pacific village - we are in disbelief with the moon landscapes on the roads (I must have been too shocked as I have not a single photo of that memorable view). The car is jumping and sinking at every meter, there is not a sign of asphalt - only dirt, which goes through every little hole in the car, all around the air. Some people have given up cars and have jumped on the scooters, wrapped in scarves in order to be able to breath.  As adventurous as it is, and being one of the most recommended destinations on the Pacific coast, we still cannot get the concept and charm of breathing dirt while on holiday. Santa T...

We have taken our doze of organized adventure and activities in the mountains around Monteverde and start our trip towards the Pacific. We will skip the Caribbean side (this time) as there are still torrential storms over there.  This is our first longer drive and we run out of mobile credit, we have no GPS, we have a fairly useless paper map with 5 big cities marked on it, we speak no Spanish and we get lost in a village, where there are like 10 people (out of which 5 drunks), just when it starts pouring rain.  At some point, looking for someone across the streets, I see a heavily hangovered guy, covered in tattoos, smoking in front of a bakery (?!) with his buddy. I ask "Donde vamos por Samara?" (this is when reggeaton gets useful, thank you Romeo Santos). The tattooed guy responds in perfect English "How can I help you?" (and this is when 50 Cent gets useful, I guess?). He takes us to his own bar (!?), where we actually manage to get wifi in this villag...

Life in Monteverde was good! Starting from our accommodation, called with the very self-explanatory name "Romantic cabana"... going through some night encounters with vipers and jumping from 200 meters above the jungle, Monteverde was a bliss. Romance on a hill Accommodations in Costa Rica will prove to be a miraculous and sometimes a very important part of the experience, which is only normal when  you open the door and the view grabs you and takes you on a journey of contentment with just being where you are.   One of the definitions of romance is "the idealization of reality", but also "the expression of love". I think our Romantic cabin in the village Santa Elena, next to the village Monteverde, responded to the second. We also take the chance to eat our favorite Costa Rican breakfast every morning, in as big quantities as we can handle, because it is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S - grilled Costa Rican white cheese, boiled casava, avocados,...

Plane - car - waterfall. Action! After a tremendously long flight of 12 hours from Amsterdam to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, Jenthe and I jump into a little van and experience by far the worst traffic jam in our lives. In San Jose, thousands of cars are simply queuing for several hours for a distance, which should not take more than 30 minutes. Our driver is, however, listening to some reggaeton radio and has apparently no worries in life... Long story short, we have not spent much time in San Jose and frankly, if you have a limited time, it could easily remain a transit place. However, Costa Rica is something to see. It is the most environmentally friendly country in its region, it has no army and geographically, standing over the clashing of massive tectonic plates in the core of the Earth, it possesses a special energy, which explains the spiritual seekers all over the place. The following day, we rent our 4x4 vehicle and head to our first destination, La F...