Santa Elena-La Fortuna

Sat 4th 2137 Forgot to say this on previous entry so starting "tomorrow's" entry early...

Not a novel thought, but perhaps a clearer way of expressing it. Occurred to me the other day that the guide book, even ignoring the fact I probably have a rather unrealistic idea of how much effort they make to keep it up to date (I always mentally envisage someone perpetually travelling round checking everything out once ever year or so), is in some ways a bit like a novel. It can't say "X is a lively bar with live music on Friday" , it feels it has to paint a little picture of people "slinging back beers" and so forth. Either the writer is trying to show their literary chops or (vaguely David Foster Wallace "Shipping Out" thinking here) the guide book is in a way trying to create an atmosphere and to sell you on travel, the adventure, the excitement, if not on any particular place or business. And in some ways this is fine, but as I've observed ad nauseam some of this "literary" writing style leaves me feeling a bit of a sad git for not always having the best time etc, but I need to remember that a lot of this is just atmospheric writing and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

I haven't expressed that as clearly as I'd hoped but at least I've tried to get the thought down.

1257 At hostel in La Fortuna. All OK but been upgraded to a "private room" which I am sharing with one other guy (currently unseen), which feels vaguely more disconcerting than the 4-bed dorm I booked. I do apparently have the lower (double) bed and he's up top.

In room but bed not made yet and the key is missing so waiting for that. Topping up G5 (there's a socket next to bed, which is nice) as it decided to turbo-drain itself during the trip.

Spoke to an oldish English couple at breakfast, he work(ed) with rabid dogs/dog training (not quite sure) a lot and apart from making me paranoid about not touching any animals and needing rabies shots if I get any kind of scratch or bite, he also said wrt random dogs a) don't make eye contact as that's a threat b) in the event of trouble, carry a water pistol and squirt them in the eyes c) most dogs are more about show than actually being threatening, but some (eg half-dingo cattle dogs in Australia) really are seriously dangerous. They are going to Nicaragua as it's so expensive in CR and I am rapidly (subject to covid rule concerns) thinking I will do the same.

Also got e-mail this morning saying a post on my blog from 2011 has been reported and put behind a warning; it's the Santiago-London one and I'm guessing it's purely a question of swearing (inc c-word, which oddly was briefly discussed in bus on way to lake). Did someone actually *read* it then? Or has some automated system suddenly had its rules tweaked?

Oh, "air con" here is a tower fan. Not bothered but that's what they meant.

No breakfast here but free tea/coffee in morning only.

Chatted a bit with 65yo Texas woman and couple from Quebec in bus, bit awkward at first but I thawed a bit.

Very cloudy and light rain on lake, didn't see volcano at all except partly when we got to other side and cloud started to lift. Boat trip mildly grim but I suppose an experience. Apparently it saves a 7h bus trip going across lake as there's no road round one side.

Gut feeling from having quick poke at guide book is that here I mainly want to do a volcano park hike (probably have to be a tour as taxi is apparently pricey and guide book makes public bus sound iffy) and everything else is generic-ish "activity stuff" such as you could do in Santa Elena and gut feeling is I'd rather press on and see if any of CR to the NW is cheaper or less overtly touristy and maybe see about Nicaragua.

No lockers here but fingers crossed, probably be OK.

1700 Back at hostel, sitting on terrace with water. Reggae version of "Final Countdown" on, was reggae version of "Take On Me" as I checked in, both oddly enjoyable.

Walked round town, had borderline acceptable price and decent casado de bistec and La Soda de Doña Flor (recommended by English couple this morning) though was 4400ish and I *think* I was expected to tip 10% according to menu so I chucked a 500 coin in a jar with nothing else in.

Will write up walk round town a bit later. Oh, I met roommate (Kurt, I think) briefly as I was heading out, superficially seemed an OK guy.  Want to read guide book a bit now, gut feeling is La Fortuna is not my kind of place (it makes Santa Elena looks quaint, unspoiled and cheap) so will do "the essentials" (in a rather unsatisfactory way) and move on towards the border with Nicaragua and see if I can find somewhere which is merely pricey and not actively expensive.

Guide book makes crossing the border sound excessively hard but it's probably wrong. I vaguely hope to meet someone who's done it and/or who can advise on stuff to do here but not over-optimistic. May go to bed 9-10ish if nothing happens.

1727 OK, based on my peregrinations this afternoon (wandering round centre a bit, then a walk out along the main road as far as Magic Something hotel and back) and reading the guide book, the main things I would like to do here in theory are:

- Venado caves. *But* I am not sure I have the clothes for wading waist-deep and I might have to eg buy some single-use tourist issue knee length shorts or similar. Also despite the guide book saying it is accessible if you're willing to get wet, a very honest (although perhaps not personally familiar with them) guy in a tour office told me when I asked that there was some crawling through fairly narrow spaces and some climing (though he was vague on how this is exactly) and it's not recommended if you're not happy with that. I honestly don't know if I could handle it or not; maybe I could given it was the difficulty of climbing that bit not the actual confined spaces that fucked me up in Bolivia, but I don't know. I also have a *vague* idea it costs like USD80+ for a tour but I'm not sure. I might have to let this go.

- Hiking the volcano park. It's expensive and/or difficult to get to without your own car or a tour. Tours seem to run USD40-45 (depending whether you want lunch or not) and seem to be bundled with a "don't really want but will probably do a push" hot springs visit. I'd like to hike the park but the idea of paying USD40+ to be hustled round a small park in an hour or two sucks.

- There's a waterfall near here, that is about 3.6km from where I walked earlier and it *may* be walkable, or guide book says a taxi is cheaper than a tour.

- I'd vaguely like to see a sloth and I happened to walk past a park earlier where they do a tour every hour for USD50 and you are guaranteed to see one, but it sounds slightly naff. This is "Sloth Tours" , there is also maybe a "Bargain Trails" place nearby which might (going by name) be cheaper but don't know.

These prices are insane. USD59 for ziplining I could stomach, USD20-ish to enter a park for a whole day likewise, USD35+8 for a small group night walk again not cheap but felt worth it. USD50 to be walked round a small private park for an hour to see some sloths feels shit, USD40 (admittedly including entry) to be hustled round the volcano park and visit some inconvenient hot springs in half a day feels shit.

There's loads of activities round here but none of them are cheap/attractive enough to do "just to fill time" or sufficiently attractive for me to say "fuck the price, I'm doing it anyway" .

In hindsight if I'd know what it was like here (Santa Elena squared) and that the boat across the lake would be a bit of a "meh, vaguely cool I guess" event, I wouldn't have come to La Fortuna in the first place.

As it is I have three nights here, unless (which I doubt) I get speaking to someone tonight/this morning and get some advice, I'm probably writing off the caves and will book a half day volcano+hot spring tour tomorrow morning for the afternoon, then maybe try to self-visit the waterfall the day after.

I haven't fully read up on guidebook but ignoring covid stuff, it may be that it's the border crossing to Nicaragua at Los Chiles which is a little "difficult" , and crossing at Peñas Blancas may be the "mainstream" option which I might be as well to head for. Which of those I vaguely fancy might influence my next destination, but if I went for Peñas Blancas I might end up going to Tillaran (practically back where I started in SE), maybe via a couple of nights in Nuevo Arenal (tempted to try that as a day trip from here, but there are only 2-3 buses a day so not super convenient) and then head up that way from there, seeing if the bits of Costa Rica between here and there are more on the "Grecia" end of the scale or on the "La Fortuna" end.

The first tour company I spoke to did have a full day volcano tour for USD85 (which shocked me at the time) but the woman I spoke to had no leaflets and was super unhelpful so I have no details, but just based on seeing stuff around (it's the same underlying tour options being resold all over the place, I think) this may be a visit to two volcanos, not more time at the park.

1750 Popped back to room to put some mosquito repellent on as keep imagining I'm feeling things land on me. There is a cat here but it doesn't seem keen to see me.

I think I need to just regard my time here as a pseudo-rest (albeit not ideal without a private room), follow the rough plan I sketched out above and look to book onward travel, probably heading towards Peñas Blancas (but not necessarily directly; I may not even go to Nicaragua, probably due to covid rule worries if I don't).

Loads of bars but the one I examined near hostel wants 1900 for an Imperial, which id borderline doable but shit. I am also trying not to drink just because I'm "bored" ; if I happened to socialise with someone, or if I found myself somewhere nice and the idea of a few beers by myself in a bar (or for that matter in my private accommodation) felt attractive that's fine, but neither of those applies here.

Oh, the English couple this morning said you need to pay USD3 at the border and if you don't have exact money you don't get changed. I had 2-3 dollar bills and managed to get 5 in change when I checked in here, so I've stashed those away for possible use there, I think I have a 5 dollar bull squirreled away too.

1801 Been staring into space a bit awkwardly. There's a small lizard on the courtyard wall which is quite cool.

It occurs to me that if I am willing to get a covid test to enter Nicaragua, it may be easier (or simply "possible" vs "impossible" ) to get that done in Peñas Blancas than in the apparently rural solitude of Los Chiles. Just possibly if (no idea if this is reasonable) I could loop round Lake Nicaragua (if that's what it's called; Google Maps doesn't call it that) I could always re-enter CR at the Los Chiles crossing.

The accommodation here (non private of course) is cheap enough. If I get on OK I do have the option to extend a night or two if it helps me sort out onward travel, although I don't want to gratuitously "waste" a day I do also have a fair amount of time and not having to hare around is part of that.

1848 Just stroked the cat. Or one of them, not entirely sure if there are two or three.

1940 Tremendously awkward, I'm sat between kitchen and terrace and people are chatting away both sides of me. I am vaguely jealous but also hardly gagging for social interaction after breakfast plus bit of chat on the bus. However, it still feels awkward, and I'm kind of feeling like I can't look up in case I make eye contact with one of these big groups and then *that* gets awkward. But I also hardly want to go sit in dorm/room, I am not entirely sure the other guy isn't already asleep.

I mean, I'm not doing anything wrong. It just kind of feels like I've been sitting here too long to risk "acknowledging" the existence of either of these (vaguely fluid) groups. Meh. Everyone has to be somewhere, right?

I am not sure what the lesson is here. Should have not avoided eye contact for so long earlier? But then I can't help thinking that might have looked a bit unpleasantly needy or pleading to talk to someone. Feels a bit lose-lose.

2005 Still feeling awkward as fuck. However, did overhear someone talking to receptionist about vaccine proof or something and jumped in - they were talking about Panama, but receptionist took me to chat to some other guest (who is vaguely reassuringly sitting on her own, albeit in a more secluded spot), though she showed a QR code at the border.

This isn't anything I didn't already know. Still for all the enthusiasm I had had building for it, do I really want to be spending money in a country that won't let me in without a covid test? I had felt this a bit before. I dunno. I guess I don't have to decide now, as heading vaguely over in that direction (especially the Peñas Blancas route) is a reasonable-ish thing to do anyway.

I still feel mildly awkward but having spoken and thus "made it obvious I'm here" (not that anyone is really paying attention) makes me feel a bit less worried about being here somehow.

(And even more so on the covid thing, having not needed to download and register etc with the NHS app, I am very very reluctant to go that route.)

I suddenly find myself wondering if I should find a nearby country which might be cheap and not awkward with covid and see if I can get a flight from Liberia airport. But this feels a little excessive. I am maybe over-eager to leave CR, it may be that once outside the real tourist hotspots like this it reverts to being not cheap but not unpleasantly expensive. (I think I'd also find it a little touristy here even if money was literally no object; I find it hard to truly project myself into such a state of mind, but I might do one or two borderline activities - or spring for taxis to visit things solo on my own schedule - but it still wouldn't really be what I was looking for for a long-ish stay. I've kind of already mostly done the activities I wanted to in Santa Elena.)

This does certainly make me thing I don't want to be heading towards Los Chiles. There is supposed to be some kind of nature reserve there, but I don't know how "accessible" it is and I'm not specifically desperate to visit it. Peñas Blancas sounds like a much better bet hedging option.

OOOK. A quick web search suggests the RT-PCR test required by Nicaragua costs $100-130 plus tax in Costa Rica. So I think I am not going to be going to Nicaragua. I'm not paying that kind of money even if there's a net saving because it's cheaper there. I am 95% certain I'm not going to be downloading the NHS app in order to get a QR code. I chose CR in part specifically because it wasn't imposing any requirements after all. Bit disappointing but as well to find out now. I could double check all this and may well do but except for the cost of the RT-PCR test it is all information I'd already seen on presumably reasonably accurate FCDO site.

It's 2037 now, I am not feeling *too* super awkward here but it's still a bit crap, I think I'll move towards bed at 9. Not super excited/looking forward for tomorrow but meh, do some stuff and maybe it will be fun. I suppose USD40-45 isn't an excessive daily spend, even if it feels shit to be paying it for a crappy visit to the volcano for an hour or two. (And AIUI if I sprung for a taxi I'd still have to negotiate for it to wait there, so it's not like maybe USD40-45 is going to cover a taxi there and back to go on my own on my own timescales.)

2147 In bed. Just realised left my disposable water bottle out, never mind. Kurt spoke to me and we had a nice if slightly awkward chat, he's Swiss guy travelling with his 26 yo goddaughter on her first trip abroad. Had shower and shave. Feeling a bit awkward re Nicaragua and what to do here etc but not too bad.