Costa Rica

The day comes for us to say 'Adios' to Bocas and we board the water taxi back to Almirante.
We have a plan to cut our travel costs by skipping the commercial buses, taking a taxi to the boarder and simply walking across.
The second we're off the boat a kid approaches us and asks, "You going to the boarder?  Only $10."  We were prepared for more haggling so we happily agree.
The cab driver moves a couple metres, stops, gets out and tells us to wait five minutes.  We're a bit confused, even more so when another cab driver pulls up alongside us gesturing frantically at his watch and shrugging dramatically.  Apparently he is trying to poach us from our current driver.
We finally deduce that our driver is trying to cram in as many tourists as possible to make it worth his while, but he is unsuccessful in convincing anyone else, so we're off.

It's a bit of an anxious drive, especially when he begins taking random backroads and alleys.  He stops at the end of a dirt road and tells us we're at the boarder.  We're weary, but we get out and head towards the bridge.  Some locals begin yelling at us and pointing towards a large duty-free.  The immigration office is past it and down another small road tucked next to a restaurant.  The guy at the counter looks at Mike's passport, looks up at Mike and tells him in all sincerity that his hair looked better when it was long.  From there it's a series of lines and confusion and entry fees, but we make it across and ask one of the boarder guys where we can catch the public bus.
"Straight and to the right," he tells us.
We carry on, but nothing on the right even remotely resembles a bus stop so we continue straight.  We are entering a residential area so I muster up my lacklustre Spanish skills and ask a lady,
"Disculpe, donde esta la parada de autobus?"
She kind of smirks and tells us that it's back where we came from and to the left.
Mike thinks she's smirking at my shitty pronunciation, but I'm certain she's smirking because we've gone so far past the stop.

We head back, still slightly uncertain but at that moment we see our bus heading towards us and wave it down.  Our bus driver is a hoot, he's laughing and joking and although I have no idea what he's saying, I can tell he's a riot.  He accidentally almost passes a girl who is waiting, so he throws the bus in reverse and then purposely passes her a second time and third time before finally stopping and bursting into laughter.  Like I said, total riot.

We make it to Puerto Viejo and instantly fall in love with the chilled out Caribbean Rasta vibes and sparkling blue beaches.  We frolic in the turquoise surf and check out some of the funky shops before heading back to our hostel to relax.  Hostel Kalanui has the absolute CUTEST puppy and when he climbs onto my lap in the hammock and falls asleep, I die of happiness.

My life is complete...

We meet a couple guys from Edmonton, Reed and Gary, who both got laid off on the same day and have spent the last couple months travelling around in their van.

We desperately want to stay longer, but as there's a surf competition taking place over the weekend, our hostel is fully booked and so seem to be all the other ones in town.  Rather than spend our precious time going from hostel to hostel we make the most of the time we do have.  The only bus with available seats is at 1:00 pm, our awesome hostel host already told us we can chill on the property as long as we want so we grab a couple bikes and check out some of the other beaches along the coast.

Puerto Viejo

We meet a woman in her 60s who has nicer abs than I will ever even dream of having.  She's walking an old German Shepherd and she and the other American retirees are all chatting and laughing about the wild previous nights they've had before deciding on tonight's venue.  They are truly living la pura vida and I want to be stay forever and be one them.

We get back and my throat is sore so I go in search of a smoothie, but nothing seems to be open yet.  Right as I'm about to give up, I stumble upon the cutest little rooftop cafe called Como en mi Casa.  The Italians inside are cooking up a tasty storm and the lovely girl behind the counter makes me a tropical coconut smoothie.  I'm ecstatic.

Before long we're on another long bus ride.  At first it's tedious- the bus is smouldering hot and we crawl through busy industrial areas.  The couple sitting in front of us is extremely wasted and they alternate between arguing and crushing beers.

A couple hours before we arrive in San Jose, the scenery changes.  The couple passes out and the bus becomes peaceful.  We ascend into the jungle and are treated to views of lush greenery, sprawling canopies and flowing waterfalls.  We climb higher up in the mountains and witness moisture become clouds.
But before long we've arrived in the sprawling suburbia of San Jose.  The girl in front of us has awoken from her alcohol-induced coma and is losing her shit because she desperately needs to pee.  Our bus is stuck in traffic and it just happens to be right in front of her hotel.
"OH MY GOD! Can't he just let us get out here?" she screams at her boyfriend.  He tries to explain to her that they still need to collect their luggage from under the bus and it's probably wedged in the back behind everyone else's.  Besides, even if they could find it, it's not like the bus driver is going to leave the vehicle idling, jump out in the street in the middle of a traffic jam and start opening up compartments for them.  She fails to understand the issue and continues to yell out at anyone who will listen.  That's what you get for smashing a 6-pack on a bus with no toilet you dumb ass.

We unload from the bus and are surrounded by cabbies yelling, "Taxi?"  Most of them are aggressive, but one guy is polite and soft spoken.  I tell him our hostel name and incredibly, he doesn't try to convince me it's closed and coerce me to go to his friend's hostel instead (a common scam in big cities.)  His name is Gorge and I like him already.  Meanwhile, Mike is trying to grab our bags alongside the other frantic travellers, desperate to escape the hoards of pushy drivers.  One man in particular is right behind Mike, clutching at his backpack.  Mike turns around and yells at him to get lost.  The guy looks over at me, realizes I'm with Mike and starts screaming at Gorge, presumably claiming Mike already promised to go with him.  The three of us have no choice but to literally turn around and run away while the man yells after us.

It's 6:00 and traffic is crawling so Gorge warns us it'll be about a 20 minute drive.  The cabs in the city are metered so it's reassuring to know we'll be charged a fixed rate (although the final total makes me gag a bit, darn expensive Costa Rica!)  Gorge points out the museum and a couple cathedrals.  San Jose is way more visually appealing than I imagined it would be.

We get to Hostel Urbano and it looks, well, closed.  It's dark, the windows are barred, barbed wire covers every surface.  We start to ring the doorbell but someone lets us in on their way out.  We enter the lobby and no longer does it look abandoned.  Our mouths drop when we see chandeliers and a sprawling staircase, not to mention a pool table, posh garden area, fully furnished living room with cable TV and a massive, immaculate kitchen.  It's the nicest (and cheapest!) hostel I've ever stayed in.  We're impressed and really don't have the energy to sort out our bus to Monteverde, plus we're curious to check out the city so we quickly decide to book another night.

We're playing pool and enjoying ourselves until this older America guy with a big scar across his face, who is clearly inebriated, begins angrily yelling and cursing at no one in particular.  We hide in our room along with two American girls who are also uncomfortable, while the receptionist assures us he will be gone by tomorrow.  In the morning, he is gone (thankfully) and Mike and I enjoy a day exploring the city.

San Jose

The next morning we finally leave for Monteverde.  We walk out to the cab stand and I tell the driver in my best Spanish that we want to go to Terminale Atlantico Norte, as per all the bus schedules I read online.  He looks confused and asks us where we're headed and I tell him Monteverde.  He tells us the name of another bus station.  Confused, I repeat, Atlantico Norte.  He tells us to hop in and begins driving a back alley way only to take us to this other station.  Mike and I are nervous, we're running behind and if he's wrong we don't have time to make it to the other terminal, yet everything works out.  To this day I don't know if the schedules were wrong or if it had recently changed or if there were two separate buses, but whatever the reason,
THANK YOU MR. TAXI MAN! 
I'm sorry I ever doubted you.

After a brutal bus ride up and down and all around gravel roads, we arrive in a much cooler Monteverde and spend the day exploring.  Our hostel, Pension Santa Elena is amazing, beautiful big yard, awesome little cafe in the front with FREE local coffee for guests and all the staff are awesome and helpful.

The next morning we take the bus to the cloud forest and spend an amazing day amongst the breathtaking foliage.  We see tons of different birds, a coati and another little creature that I don't know the name of, but it looks like a big guinea pig.  Another highlight is the massive hummingbird feeders where thousands of colourful hummingbirds fight over nectar.

The next day we decide to treat ourselves to a pricier activity: zip-lining.
I must admit, the idea makes my hands slightly shake, especially when they tell us we're responsible for hand braking.  The first three lines are pretty short and not too high up so I begin to relax.  Then we come to the next line which is 100 some odd metres across a massive canyon.  Oh dear God.  

It ends up being a really fun day and at the end of the day we finally get to do the Superman swing where we fly face first down a massive line reaching speeds of 60 km/hr!  We enjoy it so much we hardly mind the specks of rain smashing against our faces like shards of glass.

In the evening we sit contemplative in our hostel.  Our plan was to go to La Fortuna to hike the volcano, but we have the undesirable choice between taking a 9 hour windy bus ride there and back again OR suck it up and pay $40 for a Jeep-Boat-Jeep option which would take us across the lake, rather than around it, effectively saving us a few hours.  With the weather forecast looking nasty and our strong desire to leave Costa Rica as soon as possible (it ain't cheap!) we scrap our plans entirely and decide instead to go straight to Nicaragua.
We start searching hostels in San Juan del Sur.  All the nice ones we find online are fully booked for the week, but we find a simpler spot with a lower rating called Javier's House.  The reviews are all similar [Vague things like: 'You get what you pay for' or 'Simple, but nice!'] so we book it for a couple days and plan to keep our eyes open for something better.

In the morning we'll be off to a new country with new excitement.