Game plan

Only 5 more days until I leave, which only gives me 4 more days to get ready! I started soaking some of my clothes in permethrin (which wards off mosquitoes) and almost ruined them. I wasn't thinking and I put a dark pair of green pants in the same bag with a very light colored pair of pants and a shirt. Dumb, I know. So the pants and shirt came out with blotchy blue spots all over. Steve looked up a "home remedy thing" of how to get colors out that have run, which worked pretty well. You boil a big pot of water and once it hits boiling point turn the stove off let it cool for a second and then insert clothes. Had to do it a few times and it helped fade the blue spots to the point I can almost not see them. Oops.


I only have a very generalized game plan so far. I am staying in San Jose a night and first thing in the morning catching the bus to La Fortuna for a few days. This will be the hostel I am staying at: http://www.arenalbackpackers.com/home.html. Looks pretty wicked! Can't beat a hostel with a view of an erupting volcano and a pool with a wet bar. Then I will take a jeep-boat-jeep trip over to Monteverde, which is a cloud forest.

From there the plans are a little more foggy. I will head north to Liberia and then up to Nicaragua for a few days, maybe about a week. I'll be staying in Granada which is the oldest colonial town in the Western hemisphere, a place not to be missed. Then I will be staying a few nights on Ometepe island, which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the 20th largest fresh water lake in the world. But, get this, the only home to the only fresh water shark in the world! Can you believe that!

After seeing the wonders of Nicaragua it is back down to Costa Rica. Then I plan on just working my way down the pacific coast starting out on the Nicoya Peninsula. I would like to make it all the way down to the Osa peninsula and stay near Corcovado national park, which national geographic famously described as "the most biologically intense place on earth." The only problem is there are not a lot of budget places to stay at and some places you need to take a boat to get to, which isn't always cheap.

Next back to the central valley and over to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, which is described as "what Jamaica used to be like." It has a very laid back Caribbean vibe, with amazing white sand beaches. I will head down towards Panama and spend some time in Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. May to August mommy sea turtles are laying their eggs and baby sea turtles will be hatching and making their way to the ocean. During this time many non-profit organizations are looking for volunteers to help the turtles out. I've found a place latinamericanseaturtles.org that I would like to volunteer at for a week.

After that back to the central valley to get prepared to go home. I will most likely check out Vocano Poas and maybe a coffee bean farm. Now, all of these plans aren't set in stone. They could change completely depending on if I meet a group of travelers at a hostel that I would like to tag along with, or if I love Nicaragua and decide to spend more time there. If I have a lot of time left at the end I may spend more time volunteering with sea turtles or even spend some time in Panama. I want to be flexible and not worry too much about staying on a regimented schedule, but I still want a plan to fall back on.