Well Costa Rica so far is a lot different than Mexico. I don't know why I expected them to be
somewhat similar. But the places are few and far between. It takes a long time to get to your next
destination. I booked this place called Selina
and it's it's a good probably hours walk from the little town of Monteverde.
I think that the primary way that people get around in Costa Rica is through shuttles
and taxi I guess. And the shuttles are are with private companies, so a lot of times you have to
book it in advance and then they also have to make sure that they - I don't know - fill their quota
before they can pick you up or else you may have to pay for two people. So that's kind of
inconvenient. I haven't gotten stuck yet - I don't know - this is my first stop in Costa Rica but
looks like you kind of have to plan things out a little bit better.
I'm here in Monteverde so it's in the mountains, it's up really high.
There's a cloud forest, where the clouds are so close to the mountains you can just see
it. It's a beautiful experience, I'll show you some video, it's hard to describe it. I hope I can
get to the sunset before in time. Look how orange that is, look at that. I'm gonna walk to town,
it looks beautiful. I only stayed for a few days in Monteverde, because to be quite honest with
you there's not a whole lot to do. Unless you're going to do the cloud forest hike,
the zipline or the Tarzan swing. It kind of seems to be what most people do. They just kind of
do it for a couple days and then carry on their adventures in the rest of Costa Rica. So yeah
I stayed for a couple days and then headed to La Fortuna. So yeah we're on our way to
La Fortuna. apparently it's some obscure way to get here, come on the shuttle
and then we're waiting for the boat to take us across this lake to go to La Fortuna.
I think there's another way you can go around if you poke a shuttle through uh
company but through the Selinas they take you on this shuttle, now we're just chilling here
waiting for this boat I think it's like a four-hour trip in total but it's beautiful.
In order to get from monte verde over to La Fortuna I took a jeep boat tour to cross lake
Arenal. Lake Arenal is actually the biggest lake in all of Costa Rica and it's named so after the
volcano. lake Arenal is actually man-made or at least they've added on to it in order to create
a dam and is responsible for the area's production of electricity. Today it only generates about 17
of the electricity and is mainly used for tourism. All right so we just made it here to La Fortuna
all the way from Monteverde in a little jeep boat. Look at that volcano, that's a volcano I don't
think it's active but they said every now and then they can hear it rumble or grumble and it's
only visible probably like two hours out of the day because it's just covered with all that fog.
But this town of La Fortuna is beautiful it's picturesque, it's perfect, it's an easy place to
live, they have pharmacies, they have grocery stores, restaurants, cafes, they have tours
and actually this is something that's interesting that I found out about
Monteverde was Monteverde was the only town in Costa Rica that wasn't founded by Catholics it
was founded by Quakers, so it's the only town where there's not an actual town square where
that's the center, so that's why Monteverde is it's not much of a town. It's just a street
and then things are just kind of randomly placed but here in La Fortuna it was indeed founded by
Catholics so there is a town square, with the church and so it's just easier to live that
way. Things just kind of grow up around the square and it makes for a better community.
I'm gonna wait for this cloud to dissipate a little bit and then I'm gonna go to the
bottom. I don't think you can climb the volcano but I'm gonna go up to it and
put my hand on its heart - this is surreal - I haven't been
any place like this. This is beautiful look at how green all this is.
Look at that, and then the town is just that way.
and then just straighten mountain tops, and then
volcano
And then we go deep into the jungle where there's no plastic allowed. That's good though right,
but you should have a trash can. I think yes trash can. Hello!
actually I would like to take my bottle of water with me. We'll survive maybe.
The guide
was like there is a mineral. Magic.
I swear after this trip my legs are going to be jacked. Look at this.
Anywhere in Costa Rica if you want to see the water
you gotta work for it. "You got to work for it man".
They say we should have a guide with you, because you'll be able to see more wildlife
if there's a guide, but I don't think so, maybe every now and then, but we've seen some birds,
some sloths. I think it's best to go by yourself most of times it's better that way.
It's pretty but it smells like [ __ ] here. The stinky minerals... yeah it's stronger
right here. Do you think it's hot? It doesn't steam though.
It smells like rotten egg. Cause we are where the bubbles are.
After leaving the Rio Celeste I
accidentally stumbled across this Cacao and Café plantation where I got a private tour.
Can I try? Sure, okay. Oh you're there you can open one.
this is 100 %
I have a little extra if you like it
I asked her how much I owed her and she was like: "give me something"
Okay fair enough chocolate whisperer. She just gave me a bag. She doesn't really sell the
chocolate in it. She just emptied the bag with her own ingredients to give me some cacao nibs.
I've never tasted a cacao like this before, I have a suspicion that cacao is going to replace cafe
mainstream it doesn't give you the jitters and everything else - oh my gosh!
There's all kinds of wildlife in Costa Rica. That lady was so nice. I wish everybody
was as nice as her.
Look it's almost peeking you can only see the top now.
amazing
okay we got a bike and I'm officially out of shape
The first bike I got
you know how the gears won't shift and you'll be going into a high gear and then
and it doesn't catch yeah that happens. So I took it back, I got this one, got some fat tires on it
and i think somebody told me that there's some hot springs around here but somebody told me
that there's a natural spring that's like 10 minutes away I think I think I probably passed it
but i just can't help it like I'm just drawn to this volcano like a magnet
and today is the only day that it hasn't rained. It rains every day here.
Usually it's like all covered up but now you can just see the peak
so we're gonna do that onwards
I how important it is to maintain cardio. Do you want some eggs? 2,000 colones it's a good buy
I have no idea where I'm going
there's a lot of coffee tours around here
I just want to know. Is that a joke? Or I'm supposed to be looking out for jaguars.
okay
that guy back there, he said, he saw me and he was like "muy cansado"
I'm gonna look up that word when I get back, you know. I think I know what he was saying.
Does anybody want a hammock?
Look how far we've got, look how far we've came.
to be honest with you I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into
I know they take tours up here but I'm just embracing it for what it is
what is this? I think I can hear the water
but I can't see it yet, I know I'm close, I'm close
let's go
I don't understand what's so amazing about it, it's just water
falling down... but when you look at it it's the simple things
Well my friends sometimes you win sometimes you lose. I was with my friends but the bike doesn't
fit in the back of the car. So I have to ride the bike all the way back, in the rain, in my wet
socks and wet shoes. And it's going to be fun. It's going to be a journey
it's going to be a long ride back. But we're going to make it.
Let's see if I can find this bike. The lock doesn't work so I had to throw it down the hill.
come on, okay.
What's up guys? I wish I could ride you back.
Now I'm gonna ride the bike back, in the rain. All right, all right, let's do this!
oh [ F*cking] hell! Oh look at that! I thought it was a stick... it's a stick bug, oh my gosh,
you're not a stick at all.
You're a bug. I gotta find something to get this
bug off the bike. Did you see the bug? look at this bug, look at this, oh my gosh.
come on... come on ...
get out of here, get out, get off the bike
off, off, off, all right, sorry man
sorry