Costa Rica Week 1: La Fortuna and Monteverde

Week 1 in the books! I meant to blog last week but I was honestly having too much fun to sit alone and write. Since this whole blog thing was a covid creation, I’ve never actually traveled and blogged at the same time. So I’m slowly trying to find my stride. Today is the first day I have actually had time by myself to chill out and crack open my iPad. I usually use my laptop to write but I was too nervous to bring it abroad since I’m the queen of getting stuff stolen. My laptop is the only possession I’ve never had stolen or broken and I’d like to keep it that way. So I bought a cheap, used, 5th gen iPad and an attachable keyboard. This will be my new writing set up for the 0.004% of you who cares. I also apologize if the formatting is super weird since idk how the iPad translates to the phone/computer. 

Anywho, lets get to the meat and potatoes! First off, Costa Rica is a bit more expensive than I thought (especially compared to the backpacker scene in SE Asia). The tours are all quite pricey and shared shuttles are 50-60 bucks to get anywhere. Some areas have super cheap public buses but not all. Food is cheap if you eat at sodas (local eateries) but anywhere else not so much. Hostels with a fun vibe are 15-20 bucks but there are still some for 7-10 with less of a social scene.

 My flight to Liberia Airport was smooth sailing and I even pre-booked a shuttle to my first destination: La Fortuna. I typically never book ahead but there is no public transport to La Fortuna so if I wanted a ride I had to book in advance. I arrived 2 hours before departure time so I waited at the one and only airport cafe and overpaid for my coffee and caprese panini. The shuttle said 3pm pickup time but at 3:30 there was still nobody in sight. Everyone else from my plane was already gone so I called the company and they said there a road block and to hang tight. Fast forward to two hours later when they finally arrived. I asked the driver about the road block and he had no clue what I was talking about. Classic. 

So four hours after I landed I finally got into the shuttle and off we went. It was supposed to be a three hour drive but after two hours we stopped at a cafe so the drivers could switch?? I had to wait 45 mins and then the new car came to pick me up. It was filled with people that all got dropped off before me so when I finally got to my hostel it was a mere four hours past when I was scheduled to arrive. This whole debacle honestly just made me laugh. I was thrown right back into the hectic world of traveling. Baby, I’m backkkkk. 

After check in, I went to the restaurant/bar to grab a late dinner and then pass the heck out. But the bar was popping off! Everyone was drinking and I was sitting alone enjoying my shrimp fried rice. Approximately 3 minutes after I sat down a super friendly Spanish girl invited me to hang with her friends after I was done eating. So that’s exactly what I did! It was 3 girls and 10 men all from Spain in a circle dancing with a speaker playing their own music over the bar music. I was the only non-spaniard and it was quite humorous. But luckily my years of Spanish classes allowed me to hold my own in the conversations. The bar eventually closed so we migrated to the yoga deck to keep hanging. To my surprise, the yoga deck had aerial silks! So I tipsily did some tricks for the crowd and to say they were shocked is an under statement. Omg also the lady at check in and this Israeli girl I met were both named Tamara. Seemed like a sign to me that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be!