Having already started panicking the night before about the border crossing to Costa Rica we decided to take the easy route and book a shuttle ($27 USD/34.40 AUD) to Puerto Viejo across the border. I woke up anxious and there was nothing much that could really be done to calm me down...what was I panicking about you may be wondering? The lack of onward trip anywhere. I had done a lot of research into traveling into Costa Rica and almost everything I read stated you must have a return ticket out of there or proof of onward travel elsewhere. Having decided to risk it, I was almost paralytic with anxiety (anyone who knows me knows I’m terrified of customs and border crossings at the best of times, despite having been to 51 countries and it’s completely irrational). Well, it turns out my panic was all for nothing. They were really friendly at the border, and the only question they asked me was what my occupation was. I’m not saying that you won’t get asked more questions, or be required to provide evidence of future travel arrangements, but we didn’t and I did read that the more stamps in your passport the less likely they are to question you as it is apparent you stick to visa rules. The process was really easy and the shuttle driver even stopped to let us look at a sloth on the side of the road. The process I would imagine is fairly similar independently where you take a water taxi to Almirante, a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the border go through panama customs, walk across the bridge (it’s a new bridge so the stand by me bridge you may have seen online is no longer an option), go to Costa Rican immigration, then get on another bus either to San Jose or Puerto Viejo. Puerto Viejo is a great place to chill and party if that’s what your into but it wasn’t really our scene. We did find a cheap room at The Lion Fish Hostel ($25 USD/31.85 AUD) which unfortunately turned out to be really noisy and resulted in two predominantly sleepless nights. However, Puerto Viejo’s saving grace was the wonderful soda (Costa Rican local restaurant) around the corner. It didn’t have a name but it was on the first street on the right past Lion Fish towards the beach. It was the second block back, next to the lavanderia and the lovely woman there serves huge plates of food for 3000c ($5.25 USD/6.70 AUD). Other than eating and wandering, Puerto Viejo served very little purpose or held any further appeal to us, so after our two restless nights, we moved on! Our next stop was Tortuguero but it turned out getting there was not going to be simple if you didn’t want to take the shuttles available. It was going to be a 5 stage journey but we decided to give it a go. We arrived at the first bus stop at 7.30am and bought our tickets from the shop opposite the bus stop. This first stage cost 1,825c ($3.20 USD/4.10 AUD) and was an easy hour and a half to Limon. Now, at Limon we needed to change bus stations which is quick and easy…provided you know where you’re going. Follow the green exit/salida signs out of the terminal you arrive into and head out onto the street. Turn right and then take the first street on your left. Follow this up until you find the big green bus terminal called Carribe Terminal on your left hand side. This is only about 500m and multiple people were willing to help show us the way when we simply informed them we were heading in the direction of Guaplies. Once here we were immediately directed to the bus to Guapiles. This cost 2,200c ($3.85 USD/4.90 AUD) and took just over and hour and a half getting us into Guapiles before the 11am bus to Cariari. The Cariari ticket window is away from the other ticket windows and is actually opposite where the bus leaves from so look for the sign over the bus parking spaces then look directly back and you’ll find the window (alternatively you can just ask for “bolito para Cariari” and you will be pointed in the right direction). This bus is only 500c ($0.85 USD/1.10 AUD) and took just over half an hour. Up to this point in our journey, all our ducks had lined up perfectly and each journey was seamless…that was until we reached Cariari! We pulled into the bus station at 11:37 and had thus just missed the 11:30 bus, which had frustratingly actually left on time! The next one wasn’t until 3pm and a 3 1/2hr wait in the middle of a long day at a dusty and uncomfortable bus station did not seem appealing! Lucky for us (and by this stage Michelle who we met in Guapiles) we were approached by Owen, a guide on Tortuguero, who was heading home. He offered us a shared taxi to the port. This ended up costing us 2500c ($4.40 USD/5.60 AUD) each, which although double what the bus would have cost, was much quicker and meant not hanging around. We know Owen was able to get local price for the taxi at 14,000c ($24.60 USD/31.35 AUD) but even then if there’s a group of you it may be worth forking out the extra for a quicker transfer (we passed the bus we missed on route). Owen was also kind enough to help us get a local boat across to Tortuguero instead of the public boat, which actually costs more. The reason this was even better was the local boats don’t charge you for your luggage. It was 2000c ($3.50 USD/4.50 AUD) per person and left again earlier than the public boat. All up our journey took us 5 hours and despite all the changes it was pretty easy (thanks to Owen!!). It was totally worth it when we arrived in what can only be described and untamed paradise. Owen had also recommended a guesthouse called Meryscar, which is towards the beach backing onto the second soccer pitch (ask at the orange tourist information centre at the arrival dock and everyone will know where you are asking about). Meryscar is run by a lovely Spanish/Nicaraguan couple, who have recently taken it over. They clearly love this place and made us feel so at home right from the beginning. They even brought out some ice-cold young coconuts to welcome us. It was $20 USD ($25.50 AUD) for a double room and had a great chill space out front with hammocks. It was through the woman at the guesthouse that we met Jungle Jon who would be our guide in the National Park during our stay. We chose to do the canoe tour early because it gives you the best chance to see wildlife. It was totally worth the 5.20am wake up as we watched capuchin, spider and howler monkeys swing through the trees and iguanas sunning themselves in the morning light. Jon was a great guide and really had a passion for what he was showing us. It really is worth the $35 USD ($44.60 AUD) it cost us including the park entrance fee ($20 for Jon and $15 for one days park entrance). The rest of the time was spent wandering around town. There are a few free walks you can do which give you some pretty good wildlife spotting opportunities. You can wander down the beach from 4-6pm before it is closed to the public without a guide. It is around this time that you may spot the baby turtles making the mad dash to the sea. We just missed this twice while we were walking, but Michelle managed to see them on her walk. You may also spot the Green Macaws that fly around town as well as some gorgeous coloured frogs in the banana trees just after dusk. All in all we absolutely loved Tortuguero and it turned out to be the Caribbean Island paradise we had been looking for in Bocas de Toro! So, it transpires that nothing about Costa Rican transport is easy. Having made the decision not to head to La Fortuna or Monteverde due to the recent hurricane that had done a lot of damage, the border town of Los Chiles seemed the closest/easiest place to cross in to Nicaragua. Well, just because something is close in Costa Rica does not mean it’s easy. I had done a lot of research into this little used border crossing and discovered that although there is a boat that will go from Los Chiles to San Carlos (Nicaragua) there is a newly opened land crossing that for all intents and purposes was supposed to be an easier and quicker option. I set about trying to find anyone else who had done the route from Tortuguero to Los Chiles in the bloggersphere and came across one guy who had done it…in 2013! He explained that it began with the reverse journey from Tortuguero to Guapiles and to give us the best chance of arriving before midnight we decided that 5am ferry to La Pavona was going to be our best bet. Here’s where the lovely woman in our guesthouse proved yet again to be amazing as she called her friend Quimi who does a private boat/shuttle transfer to Cariari all for 4000c ($7 USD/8.95 AUD). This would also mean not having to wait for the slower public bus at 7.30am as this shuttle would leave the port as soon as we arrived. We were in Cariari by 6.40am and then were on a bus to Guapiles (500c/$0.85 USD/1.10 AUD) by 6.50am. The next bus was to take us to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui and was leaving at 8am, which left us 20 minutes between arriving in Guapiles and getting on stage 4 of our journey. This Puerto Viejo is not to be confused with the town we started at in southern Costa Rica. This bus cost 1220c ($2.15 USD/2.75 AUD) each and took us just over an hour. It was here we ended up with our longest wait of the day because our connecting bus to San Carlos (know as also Ciudad Quesada - 1155c/$2 USD/2.60 AUD) was not leaving till 10.30am. One thing we can say is that despite awkwardly regular requirement for connections and round about routes, the buses are efficient. At 10.20am the bus pulled in and at 10.30am, we were pulling out of the terminal. This next leg was slightly longer and we didn’t arrive in to San Carlos until just before 1pm, at which point, we were ushered very quickly onto the final leg of the journey to Los Chiles (2500c/$4.40 USD/5.60 AUD) and it left within minutes of us jumping aboard. After nearly 12 hours on the road we pulled in to Los Chiles at 4.15pm, ready to drop, but triumphant that we had made it! Finding a guest house in Los Chiles wasn’t as easy as we had imagined in the tiny little border town but we were lucky enough to stumble upon Jabiru Villas that cost $25 USD ($31.35 AUD) a night and they upgraded our room so that it had aircon/a kitchenette and private bathroom for the same cost as their basic rooms. After an ok night’s sleep we were ready to tackle our 3rd border crossing in just over 2 weeks. This one was supposed to be simple so I didn’t have my usual pre-border meltdown. We arrived at the bus station just after breakfast and waited for the next bus to the border (“frontera”) to come through. Most of these buses are from San Carlos (Ciudad Quesada) but some are coming from San Jose. We were lucky again and only had to wait for 10 minutes for the next bus, which was just enough time to change our remaining Costa Rican colones into Nicaraguan cordoba. The bus to the border only took around 15 minutes and we were quickly lining up to pay the tourist exit tax out of Costa Rica. Everything I had read said that you could only pay this by card at the border but this is no longer the case. You can pay the $8 USD (4,500c/$10.20 AUD) fee in either currency and in cash. Being stamped out of Costa Rica was relatively easy and after a little confusion we found our way to the first Nicaraguan checkpoint. There were 2 men (one asleep) in a little shack as we crossed who asked to see our passports. After a short friendly interrogation (us answering as best we could in broken Spanish) he ushered us towards the more official looking building. We were 2 of about 6 people crossing at the time and we quickly realised that they don’t see many gringos passing through here. We had a similar, but this time more intense friendly interrogation here and both of us simultaneously became awkward when asked if we were married (we answered no as we are not legally married in Nicaragua) and finally were stamped through. The bag check was non-existent and the man behind the counter handed us a ticket to say he had checked both our bags (he hadn’t). Make sure you hold on to this ticket, as you will need it to get through the gate to the collectivos to San Carlos. It was at this gate that our passports were checked for the 3rd time and after another thorough inspection of our passports we were finally allowed into Nicaragua and onto the collectivo. Our passports were checked for a 4th time on the road out of the border zone at a police checkpoint. The whole process was difficult as our Spanish is basic but at all stages it was friendly and now we were ready to explore the next country. So that’s our journey across Costa Rica in 12 easy steps and on to Nicaragua! Just to recap if you’re going to do the independent route from Puerto Viejo to Tortuguero: Puerto Viejo to Limon Limon to Guapiles Guapiles to Cariari Cariari to La Pavona La Pavona to Tortuguero…and should cost from $14-16 USD ($17-20 AUD) From Tortuguero to Los Chiles or La Fortuna (as it is the same route until the last bus): Tortuguero to La Pavona La Pavona to Cariari Cariari to Guapiles Guapiles to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui to San Carlos (Ciudad Quesada) San Carlos to either La Fortuna or Los Chiles depending on where you are going next…should cost around $17 USD ($21.90 AUD) all up. Budget Time $$$Prior to us arriving in Costa Rica we had read a huge amount about how expensive it was as a destination and that in fact a lot of the same landscape and wildlife for which Costa Rica is famous could be seen in Nicaragua for a fraction of the cost. This resulted in us limiting our exploration of Costa Rica too intensely and meant we spent relatively little time there given it’s size. These days Costa Rica is basically a dual currency country using both the local colones and USD. In the places that we visited this duality was almost universal, from hostels to restaurants to supermarkets and even buses. It is definitely wise to carry colones as you may encounter times when spending the green back will not be an option or may result in an unfavourable exchange rate but our experience showed us that for the most part either currency can be spent anywhere and almost always was exchanged at the days rate. The rumoured hyper-expense turned out to be largely untrue in our experience. That’s not to say that it was a cheap destination, but the prices of accommodation, transportation, food and excursions were comfortably contained within our $40USD/person daily budget. This may have been partially due to the fact that we were travelling in shoulder season (October, before the peak started in November at the end of rainy season) but timing of travel is something that should always be considered, especially with longer-term travel and in more expensive destinations! One nice thing that we did notice was the fact that in a lot of the accommodations the prices offered for dorms or private rooms were per person rather than for the room itself. On that basis it would cost a solo traveller the same to stay in a private room for the night as it would for us as a couple. Like we have said, independent travel around Costa Rica is not easy (although it is surprisingly efficient). As with Panama, there are direct tourist shuttles that offer quick and easy transportation between all desirable tourist destinations but these are unbelievably expensive when compared to the local alternative and if you are willing to put up with a few changes and a bit of extra time then this is unquestionably a more financially savvy alternative! At this point we were beginning to learn that consideration needed to be given to the wether we valued time, ease and comfort or money more. At this particular stage it was certainly the latter for us, but that was not to say that at later points in the trip we would not bang for the former! What it Actually Cost: 7 Days = $495.45 USD for 2 people Accommodation: $200 Food: $145.16 Entertainment: $91.83 Transport: $86.84 Drinks: $63.74 Miscellaneous: $38.77 Souvenirs: $23.59 Daily spend: $35.60 USD per person LGBT:Again Costa Rica is an open minded country and we didn't face any problems. We even managed to meet another married lesbian couple in Puerto Veijo. As far as the law goes homosexuality is legal in Costa Rica and has been since the 70's (pretty progressive for Latin America). Unfortunately trans recognition is also non exsistent. Transpeople in Costa Rica are not able to legally change their legal gender to match their identity.
1 Comment
11/2/2019 03:33:57 am
There are many place to explore but if you have a budget problem just make the list of the places and from them you can shortlist some place which are main and unique and you can enjoy the adventurous activities like water-rafting, bungee jumping , skydiving as these are the main tourist attractions you can enjoy that apart from that you can hire the tourist guide as this manage your trips and provides you some cherish able memories and you can enjoy and explore the beauty of the costa-rica at your budget price.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageArchives
November 2018
Categories
All
|