Central America Archives | Worldwellwritten

9. August 2019 Central America, Costa Rica

A few active days in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

La Fortuna is a fun one for sure! The town itself is extremely touristic, with travel agencies and souvenir shops everywhere. This is mainly because the town has so much to offer in terms of activities. Whether you’re an adrenaline junkie, love a good hike or just enjoy beautiful scenery, La Fortuna has got something for you.

Getting there

There are several direct buses to La Fortuna leaving from San Jose. These all leave in the morning, with the last one departing at 11:50 am.

If you, like me, are leaving from Puerto Viejo you’re in for a longer travel. The easy option would be taking a shuttle for 60 USD. As I enjoy local travel I instead opted for the public bus. It’s fairly easy, but takes a while. This is how I went:

Bus from Puerto Viejo to San Jose departing at 7:30 am. This took five hours, which meant I missed the last direct bus from San Jose to La Fortuna.
I then made my way from Terminal Atlantico Norte to Terminal 7-10. It’s literally two minutes of walking, no need for a taxi! I bought a ticket to Ciudad Quesada and got on a bus that left around 1 pm. I arrived around 4 pm.
At the terminal in Ciudad Quesada I found the bus to La Fortuna. Ask around, it’s not a given which one it is. Tickets are bought from the bus driver. The bus I took stopped every other minute to pick up or let off more people and made every detour possible. It took forever and I finally arrived in La Fortuna at 7 pm.

This was quite a long and tiring one! I saved about 45 USD by doing it this way, but if I were to go again I probably would’ve opted for the shuttle.

What to do in La Fortuna

La Fortuna waterfall

I made my way to La Fortuna Waterfall by foot on a rainy morning. Most people go on a tour or by taxi, but I loved the hike. It is about 6 km from town to the main entrance, and the road is mostly flat with a few steep hills at the end. When you reach the entrance you pay 18 USD (10 400 colones) in admission and climb about 500 steps down to the waterfall.

I was there during rainy season and it was prohibited to swim underneath the waterfall. There was however a designated area for swimming a bit further down, but I was fine just dipping my toes in. I then climbed back up all the stairs and started the walk back to town.

Rainforest Chocolate Tour

On the road to the La Fortuna Waterfall you will find the Rainforest Chocolate Tour. I stopped there on my way back from the waterfall, just in time for the 1 pm tour. During the two hour long tour my group got to follow the entire process behind the making of chocolate. Very interesting and educational. The tour ended with an extensive tasting session, where we had liquid chocolate with all the toppings you could ever want. It was amazing and I stayed full for hours afterwards. This tour cost 26 USD, and for me it was well worth it.

Volcano hike

More than anything La Fortuna is known for its volcanoes. Therefore I felt that a volcano tour was almost mandatory, and I decided to go big on this one. I signed up for a double volcano tour and hoped to experience everything the volcanoes in Arenal has to offer.

By all means, the tour was very interesting. If I were to pick again, though, I would’ve went with the half day tour that only does the Arenal 1968 hike. This was by far the best part. We started the day with this hike. The Arenal volcano is now dormant, but could erupt at any time. Therefore you cannot hike the actual volcano, only admire it from afar. We were lucky enough to visit on a clear day, so after hiking for a couple of hours we were rewarded with amazing views of the volcano and its surroundings.

After the hike we went for lunch and a swim. We were then picked up and taken to the Arenal observatory, were we went for a second hike to see Chato Volcano. The tour finished with a visit to the hot springs, where we enjoyed the warm water, relaxed and got mud masks. We were then taken back to our respective hostels.

Girl standing in front of Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica

Where to stay in La Fortuna

I opted to stay at Arenal Backpackers Resort and would recommend it. It is a short walk away from the centre and may not have the most social vibe, at least not when I was there. However the pool is nice, the restaurant serves decent food and they are helpful when it comes to booking tours and shuttles for onward travel.

The only downside was that the a/c only worked from 10 pm to 10 am. I got tired extremely early after days packed with activities, but the heat made it impossible to get any sleep before the a/c went on. In my experience most people also left the hostel in the early morning to go on their daily adventures. A/C from 8 pm to 8 am definitely would’ve made more sense.

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♥ Erica

7. August 2019 Central America, Costa Rica

Three chilled days in Puerto Viejo

It wasn’t a coincidence that I started my trip in Central America by spending a few days in Puerto Viejo. I figured this would be the perfect place for settling back into the backpacker lifestyle, and I couldn’t have been more right. This laidback and colourful town on the Caribbean coast was everything I needed it to be and more.

Getting to Puerto Viejo

Getting to Puerto Viejo from San Jose is easy. There are several direct buses departing from Terminal Atlantico Norte in San Jose every day. I got the 8 am bus and arrived in Puerto Viejo four hours later. The town is small so if you’re staying in the centre you can easily walk to your hotel or hostel. The bus is spacious and comfortable, and the ride cost me 6065 colones.

What to do in Puerto Viejo

Hire a bike and go to the beach

I came to Puerto Viejo to relax and spend some time in the sun so that’s what I did. The town beach in Puerto Viejo is called Playa Negro, which means «black beach» and is due to its black sand. To be fair it is not the prettiest beach I’ve been to. Also it is mostly occupied by locals, especially on the weekends.

For that reason most people choose to hire a bike and go cycling to the beaches further south. I cycled all the way down to Manzanillo, which is 13 km away. It’s a lovely and easy ride along the coast. On the way I stopped at Playa Cocles, Playa Chiquita and Playa Uva, and they were all a lot more beautiful than the city beach.

Visit Cahuita National Park

The small town called Cahuita is only a 30 minute bus ride away from Puerto Viejo. Some people choose Cahuita as their base in the Caribbean region, as it is a bit calmer than Puerto Viejo. I took the bus to Cahuita one morning to visit the National Park.

Cahuita National Park is one of few parks in Costa Rica that is free to visit. It is purely donation based, so I do recommend that you leave a few colones at the entrance anyway. The National Park only has one trail, so it is easy finding your way. The wildlife is the main attraction of the park, and if you’re lucky you can spot a vide range of species. To be honest I saw mostly lizards, but I do know that sloths and monkeys, amongst others, frequents the park.

One option when you go hiking in the park, is to follow the trail all the way to the end and then walk the same way back to the entrance again. Then you can catch the bus back from Cahuita. If you don’t feel like walking all the way back, you can flag down the bus from the main road at the end of the trail. This is what I did.

Useful info: The bus to Cahuita leaves from the main bus stop in Puerto Viejo every hour on the half hour. It’s not a given which bus that will stop in Cahuita so ask the bus driver to be sure. The park is a short walk away from the Cahuita bus station.

Enjoy!

Sadly I was extremely jet lagged during my time in Puerto Viejo. Therefore I mostly fell asleep early and didn’t socialize much. On my last night, however, I finally managed to go out with some newfound friends. We went to a bar down by the ocean and spent the night dancing in the water with a beer in hand. Such happy and careless moments!

Long after midnight we walked back to the hostel in the rain. The others stopped for fried chicken while I ate their leftover plantains. We ended the night by spotting a sloth slowly making its way across our hostel fence. It was a perfect end to my time in Puerto Viejo.

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♥ Erica

4. August 2019 Central America

6 weeks in Central America

I’d been wanting to visit Central America since I returned from my adventure in South America one and a half year ago. This summer I could finally make it happen. I spent six weeks travelling all the way from Costa Rica to Mexico. That’s a lot of places in a short amount of time, and so many memories that I’ll treasure forever. Latin America holds such a special place in my heart and I’m sure I will return for more adventures in the future.

For anyone wondering, six weeks will let you do a lot in Central America. It is fairly easy to get around although the distances can be long between some places. In this post I’ll give a quick overview of how I did it and where I went. I’ll go into specifics later for sure.

Costa Rica

I started my trip in Costa Rica simply because it was the cheapest and easiest country to fly into, but I’m so glad I got to add it to my itinerary. From exploring beaches and dancing in the ocean in Puerto Viejo to climbing volcanoes in La Fortuna and going zip lining in Monteverde; Costa Rica reminded me, once again, of why I love travelling so much.

I spent ten days in Costa Rica and would’ve gladly stayed longer. Such a wonderful country!

Nicaragua

Nicaragua was one of the countries I was most excited about beforehand, and I’m happy to say that it was nothing but amazing. My first stop was the incredible Isla del Ometepe, where I got to explore the island on a scooter and climb all the way to the top of Volcan Concepcion. I then moved on to Granada, before finishing off with a few days in León.

In Nicaragua I got to explore a lot of volcanoes. Such powerful experiences that never seizes to amaze me. I also learned a lot about the history of the country, which is both sad and complicated. I spent a good week in Nicaragua, which is not nearly enough, but still gives you a good overview of what the country has to offer.

El Salvador

The dangerous one. That’s what I had heard, and so that’s what I expected. I honestly didn’t feel it, though. El Salvador had me feeling nothing but welcome, and the people I met left me feeling so pleased that I chose to spend a few days in the country.

In El Salvador I spent time in El Tunco and Santa Ana, and even had a short afternoon excursion to the capital, San Salvador.

Guatemala

This was the country I expected to love the most, and this also ended up being the case. My favorite experiences of my trip mostly took place during my two weeks in Guatemala. I started off with the most amazing volcano hike in Antigua, moved on to Lake Atitlan, where I spent way more time than anticipated, sadly had to skip Semuc Champey, and finished off with a few days in Flores for some Maya ruin experiences.

I met such great people while in Guatemala, and just had the best time!

Belize

In Belize I only spent time in Caye Caulker. I went mainly for relaxation and snorkeling in the second biggest coral reef in the world. Getting sick before I even made it to the island was not a part of the plan, and my stay ended up being far less enjoyable than expected.

I cannot blame Caye Caulker or Belize for this, though. The island is beautiful, the vibe is so chill and I’m sure the seafood would’ve been amazing, if I had managed to enjoy some. I would love to return to actually experience it all.

Mexico

I wasn’t actually planning on spending time in Mexico this time around, but I managed to squeeze in a full week on the Yucatan peninsula before my flight out of Cancun. I started with a few weird days in Bacalar. It was a lot of fun and Bacalar is unreal. Then I moved on to Tulum, where I visited cenotes and spent time with the best group of people. My last day was spent in Cancun before an early morning flight back to Europe.

I managed getting sick again during my last night, and had the worst time traveling home. Obviously this doesn’t change the fact that I really had the best summer ever. Another trip completed on my own, a lot of challenges tackled and so many memories made.

Travelling in Central America

Travelling in Central America is fairly easy, and I usually found myself with several transport options for each leg of my trip. I opted for both private shuttles and the infamous chicken busses; they might not be the most comfortable means of transport, but it’s an experience to have had for sure! In some places, like Costa Rica, Mexico and parts of El Salvador, the comfort of the local busses actually impressed me.

Other practicalities

Being Norwegian I did not need any visas to visit Central America. They do however charge some interesting fees at some of the borders. The one between Costa Rica and Nicaragua definitely was the most confusing one.

Every country has their own currency, which is natural but also annoying when you only spend a few days in each place like I did. I also ended up with the biggest struggle when I arrived in Mexico and none of the ATMs in Bacalar were working, and my hostel didn’t accept credit cards. To avoid such situations, I would recommend keeping a few USD as a backup solution handy through all of Central America.

Something I was curious about beforehand was whether I’d have issues entering Costa Rica. I had heard that they sometimes do not let you in if you don’t have a ticket out of the country, which I did not. I entered Costa Rica by air and was not asked for any proof that I would be leaving, but I met people that crossed the border overland with different stories. So I guess it depends, and that I got lucky.