Friday: headed to La Fortuna, CR where we spent the night. Had a view of the Arenal Volcano from our hotel balcony. The whole group went to some amazing hot springs on Friday night, tons of different pools all headed by the volcano, with dinner included! (No one told us it would be frowned upon to wear our swimsuits and towels to dinner... I mean come on, we were at a hot springs! Ah well, they just wrote us off as inappropriate Americans, I'm sure.)
Saturday morning: headed to Los Chiles, CR where we hopped our boat that would take us up the river to Nicaragua. This is the border between the two countries on the Rio Frio, shortly after this we had to stop at a military base to give our paperwork to what looked like 16-year olds holding machine guns. But they waved. We paid $12 USD to get into Nicaragua, plus $1 "Because it's Saturday." Hmmm... ever have that feeling that your being taken advantage of but there's nothing you can do about it??
The river journey was awesome - unspoiled jungle with tons of birds and wildlife. Here is the view as we enter Lake Nicaragua from the river. Then we hopped on another boat to take us up the San Juan River.
After nearly three hours we arrived at our destination - Monte Cristo Lodge. Run by a Nicaraguan ex-Sandinista, he is definitely an interesting character. The lodge is amazing, yet a bit rustic, complete with mice in the walls of our cabin. But everything else definitely made up for it!
Sunday: on yet another boat to El Castillo, a small town with a fort where they fought off Spanish and British invaders.
The streets of El Castillo.
No cars, just carts to haul your stuff around. Oh yes, and a pig on a leash.
There is a bit of tension between Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans... goes both ways as evidenced clearly by this message.
Back to the lodge... I went horseback riding through the jungle, a first for me. We also had canoes, kayaks, and fishing gear at our disposal, all included. Then came the fresh coconut water... and then came the rum. And THEN came the night-time hunt for alligators on the river in a rickety fishing boat filled with plastic lawn chairs. But don't worry, we had a trained guide. He caught a little baby one for us but we weren't able to catch a big one. We spent 2+ hours trying, though!
The view of the river from the common area... seriously amazing.
We ate like royalty the entire time we were there - this is our last dinner where we were treated to San Juan River shrimp (basically a small lobster-thing). Yum.
No, I didn't eat all of those. But I could have.
Monday: Back on the river on our way to Costa Rica. This is another little "town" we stopped in to show our papers. This lady is doing laundry - I've decided that every day is laundry day in Nicaragua, too.
Yup, that's a real howler monkey! We heard a lot of them on the river and were able to spot a few. My roommate does an uncanny howler monkey impression!
Any adventurous tourists - the trip is HIGHLY recommended!
Saturday morning: headed to Los Chiles, CR where we hopped our boat that would take us up the river to Nicaragua. This is the border between the two countries on the Rio Frio, shortly after this we had to stop at a military base to give our paperwork to what looked like 16-year olds holding machine guns. But they waved. We paid $12 USD to get into Nicaragua, plus $1 "Because it's Saturday." Hmmm... ever have that feeling that your being taken advantage of but there's nothing you can do about it??
The river journey was awesome - unspoiled jungle with tons of birds and wildlife. Here is the view as we enter Lake Nicaragua from the river. Then we hopped on another boat to take us up the San Juan River.
After nearly three hours we arrived at our destination - Monte Cristo Lodge. Run by a Nicaraguan ex-Sandinista, he is definitely an interesting character. The lodge is amazing, yet a bit rustic, complete with mice in the walls of our cabin. But everything else definitely made up for it!
Sunday: on yet another boat to El Castillo, a small town with a fort where they fought off Spanish and British invaders.
The streets of El Castillo.
No cars, just carts to haul your stuff around. Oh yes, and a pig on a leash.
There is a bit of tension between Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans... goes both ways as evidenced clearly by this message.
Back to the lodge... I went horseback riding through the jungle, a first for me. We also had canoes, kayaks, and fishing gear at our disposal, all included. Then came the fresh coconut water... and then came the rum. And THEN came the night-time hunt for alligators on the river in a rickety fishing boat filled with plastic lawn chairs. But don't worry, we had a trained guide. He caught a little baby one for us but we weren't able to catch a big one. We spent 2+ hours trying, though!
The view of the river from the common area... seriously amazing.
We ate like royalty the entire time we were there - this is our last dinner where we were treated to San Juan River shrimp (basically a small lobster-thing). Yum.
No, I didn't eat all of those. But I could have.
Monday: Back on the river on our way to Costa Rica. This is another little "town" we stopped in to show our papers. This lady is doing laundry - I've decided that every day is laundry day in Nicaragua, too.
Yup, that's a real howler monkey! We heard a lot of them on the river and were able to spot a few. My roommate does an uncanny howler monkey impression!
Any adventurous tourists - the trip is HIGHLY recommended!
Wow. Looks very adventurous! Jungles, rivers, monkeys, pigs on a leash - so cool. Thanks for posting the pictures.
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