Sun, +30C.
Relaxing day. Tried finding anything to do but most things were closed due to the holidays.
Not even the cafes nor internet cafes were open today. I found a computer at Hotel El Sito where i checked my mail but after that there was not much to do. I spent the evening visiting Manuel and Karina Alejandra until dinner time and prepared for my Panama trip packing suitcases.

Another beautiful warm day in Liberia. Feels strange to leave my precious city. But its only for 2 weeks anyway. I have been running around all morning to get all I needed done. Ive gotten my ticket to go home. My home date is Febuary 28. Pretty late but thats how it is.
I got my ticket to go to San Jose. I am going to stay at my cousin Franciscos house until tomorrow. It is my great trip to Panama !! WOW: I am looking fwd for that.

Mami, Papi and I had lunch at Jorges (Roxanas housband) cafe. Easy and cheap. Then I went home to do the last packing and headed for Pulmitan (the San Jose bus station). Finally inside the bus it seamed to be a lot of free spaces so on our way they let 20 new passengers fill the bus. What we found out reaching Bagaces was that the people that the bus company though had ditched them to stay another couple of days at the beach now were waiting in Bagaces and wanted the seats that the 20 new passengers now had. hehe. Full bus. Some jumped off in Canas and some went all the way to San Jose standing. It is a bus trip that normally takes 4 hours, but since today was our lucky day - a trailer had lost half of its sement cargo entering Esparza (right after Puntarenas) and that part of the trip took over 3 hours. (normal 2).
But at least.. People are very friendly in Costa Rica and I made many new friends like the Nicaraguan man that is 52 years old and has 16 living kids and 9 dead/deadborn. Imagine that!!!
A really fun experience was when the Mariachi band entered the bus and started playing guitar and singing. All the people joined in on the songs and it was amazingly fun. hehe.

When arriving San Jose Francisco picked me up and we drove home to his place to have dinner and say hello to the "kids". The kids are 4 dogs. San Jose compared to Liberia were cold. 20 degrees at night but with thicker blankets one sleeps really good.

Wow. Panama City is hotter than Liberia. +33C and humid. Sunny with some clouds.

I woke up this morning of a strange dream. I dreamed that the Arenal volcano exploded. It is shaped as a perfect cone but in my dream the whole volcano just exploded. Not rivers but lakes of lava where streaming from the area and I was just sitting on a hill nearby, not affected by the heat or the risk, watching the lava stream, the people getting hurt and the fires. Of course nothing happened to me. I was on a safe distance TV documenting the event. Drawings, photographs and filming.

In the morning I made some calls to Norway wishing some friends, my sister and father a great new year pluss telling a little about my plans for the day. I also called Yessenia to get her adress since one needs to tell where to stay to enter the country.
Francisco drove me to the airport and to leave Costa Rica you have to pay a 26$ tax to even be able to check in. hehe. Nice way to run business.
Inside I did some shopping before entering the plane. It was a nice but short flight to Panama. Only one hour before landing at Tocumen Intl. airport in Panama where Yessenia and Erick met me and took me home to hers. We travelled by the local bus, popularly called "Diablo rojo" - Red Devils. First of all because of their color but also because of the way the chofeurs drive. Fast and furious, with open doors and window. They have full volume on the music so the bus drive reminds you about a disco.

We left the suitcases at Yessenias house, changed clothes and headed for Albrook Mall downtown Panama city in another Diablo Rojo. Albrook Mall is one of central americas biggest shopping centers. It is very americanized and I was impressed to find both Dunkins Donuts and Cinnabon there. Mac Donalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King are trades that has been in the area for a long time. We walked around for hours and had a lot of fun. It was a great day with lots of laughs.
When arriving home i got to meet Yessenias mother, Norma "Concha", as well. We all watched some TV before going to bed.

Partly cloudy today means; we had some really nice weather but also 2 huge waterfalls during the day. It was however +30C as all the other days and sunny most of the day.

When I got up this morning Concha made me breakfast that I had with her and Yessenias grand mother Josefa (La chefa). Nice omelet and bread.

Yessenia had to go to work today at 7 but she had arranged for one of her cousins to pick me up to find an internet cafe with me and accompany me. Aurora got to our house at 9 am and we headed off. She called to a friend of hers and asked if we could go there to use the internet. The friend of hers is the godmother of her child, sweet Allison, 6 months. Yendri is married to Dick from Holland and they live there. Therefore the family has all the necessary equipment to make phonecalls over IP. When arriving Allison and Aksel (Yendri and Dicks son, 8 months) was playing. The cutest kids. They let me borrow the computer and apart from updating my page and writing e-mails I finally got to get my phone call about a work in Norway. At 1 I finished and we went to the swimming pool with some other friends of Aurora and Yendri. It was a nice day and very hot. And of course. It had to rain when we got to the swimming pool. Finally outside and it rains. We stayed at the swimming pool for a couple of hours before going to Mac Donalds where we stopped to have a bite before going home. Aurora took me home in taxi and arriving home Concha is making dinner.

Yessenia got home just about 3 minutes after myself. We had dinner and I relaxed an hour before we went out with a couple of Yessenias friends, Ana Cecilia and Faustino. They took us touring the old Panama city where they showed me the presidential palace, the canal museum and the Causeway. The causeway is a name descending from the english word coastway. It is actually a road to 3 islands. We stopped to have some beer and bocas.
I had too much fun to want to leave and decided not to go to Chitre the next day since I had hardly seen anything downtown and stay for one more day. Faustino and Ana Cecilia left us at home sound and safe.

The weather in Pma City is HUMID. very humid. Today is a very nice day with +33C and sun.

This morning I woke up dreaming about bats. In Costa Rica (and probably here in Panama as well) they sell chickens from huge boxes in pet stores). My dream was a bit adapted and a lot more fun. I was in one of those pet stores and miraculously enough I found a box containing bats. Small hairy bats in all the coulours of the rainbows. There were pink, red, green and blue bats. White, brown and black bats and yellow, orange and beige bats. hehe.. And they all had cute eyes. I bought a green one for myself.

Today I went with Yessenia to her office to meet up with Erick again. Erick is her ex-bf that came with her to meet me at the airport. He had been assigned to be my private Panama city tour guide.
He took me to the Cause-way (from the english word Coast way) in bus where we walked in to the city. The walk is long. Around 8km in to downtown. We started walking around 10:30 and stopped to take pictures along the way. We had brought our own water and drank it while walking. Walking fast in +33C is pretty nice but you sweat out what you drink and more so we both refilled our water reserves by the first chance we got. Whilest walking towards downtown we met Felix. A swiss dude travelling by himself. He was searching for a indian village (museum) and we took him there.
He also wanted to go to the Panama canal and we took him there as well. We travelled with the Red Devils (the Diablos rojos - local buses). It was way to far to walk.
Arriving there we had the greatest of luck as 2 great ships were on their way down to the pacific. Already in the lock chambers. We watched them lover and sail off into the pacific ocean before we had to ditch Felix there. Actually he wanted to stay to see the museum and Erick had to go to work. On our way back to the city It rained a bit and both Erick and I had walked enough for some days. We almost fell asleep on the bus. Our great tour finished at 4 when Erick got an hour late to work. I think that by then we had walked at least 5 hours in the sun. Since he and Yessenia works in the same building he let me stay downstairs and went to get Yessenia that had waited for us an hour already. Yessenia and I did some downtown picture session before going to the multiplaza mall where we had dinner at Pizza Hut and Cinnabon.
I tried finding clothes I could by (clothes are cheap in Panama) but the clothes I like were to small and the one that fitted did not fit my taste.
Well at home that evening I fell asleep pretty soon and very tired.

We woke up to sun and wonderful +30C degrees. It sounds boring but its not boring at all. It is rather wonderful :) Sun shining from the blue sky. Mild winds.

When I woke up around 8am Yessenia had still not gotten out of bed and Yessis Mom made me breakfast. Concha is a really, really nice woman and she and Yessenia has really taken good care of me. They have been so kind and tried their hardest to make me feel welcome in their house. Yessenia got up of the smell of breakfast and while I did my last packing to prepare for my next small trip. Yessenia followed me to the bus terminal and we had a small shopping session at Albrook Mall before we went to the bus station to find the buses to Chitre. I brought some Cinnabon lunch. hehe. Man, I am SOOOO glad we dont have them in Norway. Mostly because I probably would have eaten them all by myself. hehe.

I got a window seat on the bust to Chitre. The trip costs 7,50 $ for a 4 hour trip. At least I had some company in the man next to me. He was, like a good latino, eager to speak and learn more about other cultures. It is so nice to speak with strangers here but you have to know your own culture well because everyone wants to learn as much as possible.
That also gives you the impression that people here are very interested in you and welcoming you. Their interest seems genuine and no-one seems very shy here.

Aida (Lenny) and her boyfriend, Ismael, picked me up at the bus station in Chitre and we went home to her house to have some dinner. Nice dinner and then we chatted for some hours picking up on all that lost time. Aidas grandmother and 2 uncles came visiting as well. While sitting in the front yard of the house all the people passing by said hello and we had a fun encounter with a bike that was rebuilt to a discoteque. It was almost like a discomobil but funny enough. a bicymobil. hehe..
Ismael was not feeling well and Edilma (Lennys mom) and Lenny took me for a drive around Chitre at night. Chitre is the capitol city of the Herrera province. Chitre has 5 principle areas: Llano Bonito (where Aida lives), La arena, Monagrillo, San Juan Bautista and Chitre downtown.
Chitre and Herrera is located in the Azuero peninsula in Panama.
I got my own room and the bed was really comforting. Soft mattrass and me like. Looking fwd to a good nights sleep.

+32C and sun from a skyless heaven. Wonderful blue. Warm and a mild breeze.

I woke up at 7am and Edilma made us breakfast. We had a plan on going to the beach today but first we were off to Edilmas mother-in-law (Inez) to see how they make bread the traditional way for the region in a brick owen.
Edilma and Lenny (Aida) showed me around in Chitre city before taking off to Pedregozo, Pese. Pese is the city and Pedregozo the area where the in-laws live. It is also the area of where they produce the Seco Herrerano, that is the most popular Panamenian produced licor.
We picked up flour, sugar and other ingredients for the bread baking before taking off and when we arrived we were ready to start off. Of course. We had to prepare the owen by cleaning it, finding woods to burn and making the mass. Dona Inez (Edilmas mother-in-law) and Militza (sister-in-law) did most of the preparing while Edilma showed me and Lenny around the patio (patio = the backyard, garden) to see all the fruit trees and animals. They have a lot of hens, chickens and dogs there. We also took a small step over to the neighbour, Another of Edilmas sisters-in-laws, Yuri, she was plucking a hen for making soup when we were there and they had a lot of different fruit trees with varieties of oranges and lemons. We had japanese oranges, cookies and fresh fruit juice, called Chicha in Panama. (funny: because Chicha in Costa Rica is when you are angry :) ).
We walked back to Dona Inezes house where they had started making the dough and putting a fire to the owen. We made normal bread (Pan), sweet bread (pan de dulce) and queque (In Panama queque is a small cookie made of sugar cane syrup, coconut and flour and some other ingredients - you cook them so they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Good they taste). The Pan de dulce was the best treat of the day :)

We left Pedregozo around 3:30pm and went to pick up Ismael to go to the beach to have a small look at the nearby beaches. Ismael (Lennys boyfriend) was sick and not able to go anywhere. We took a small trip to the nearby hospital here and waited for him to be attended. He had an Infection that was not good at all and recieved antibiotics to get better.
On our way home from the hospital we stopped at Elmers burger to have hamburgers and they tasted really good.
At home I got to do some laundry washing and finally going to bed after a long but very interesting day.

Chitre is warmer than Liberia and has less wind. It is more humid and the sun burns more. At least here I am getting more of a tan. hehe. It is a warm sunny day with about +33C.

This morning I woke up about 8. It was great to sleep longer but I am still having a lot of strange dreams. The strangest one this night was about me being a private detective investigating the disappearance of a group of friends. .They had all dissappeard one by one and of course I woke up when I got my first leading clue and found out who the murderer could be.. Not after having towed him in
I had some Cinnabon, Pan de dulce and water for breakfast. I think the dog likes me because I shared my food with him. hehe.

My big mission for the day is to update everyone online and reply to e-mails and make sure that all my Norwegian business (paying bills etc.) gets done.

I arrived home at 4 and Edilma and I had some food while waiting for Lenny and Ismael to come home from work. They arrived at 7:30 and we decided to go to the Chitre Mirador Restaurant with Aidas dad, Maximo and a friend, Yimmy. El mirador is located at the highest hill in Chitre and has a view of all the city. We had drinks and bocas (snack food), a lot of fun discussions and good conversations.

Sunny, warm wind and +30C. Perfect day for the beach.

We all woke up around 6:30 and prepared to go to the beach. We had planned to do a stayover from yesterday but this was better. On our way we picked up Yimmy, Lenny and Ismaels best friend, and some ICE and beer and soft drinks. The drive to Playita Resort went to the next province, Los Santos, through the cities of Las Tablas and Pedasi to the coast line. We stopped at Playa Venao that is a surf beach before continuing to La Playita. Playita Resort is a resort at the beach that has cabins and food and protects the beach. They have a lot of animals at the resort; like tons of different birds, monkeys, dogs and cats.
The beach was all white sand and is lagoon shaped protected by two small islands. That makes the water all quiet and nice. My companions stayed in the shadow, like any good latino, while I spent the day snorkeling. I saw huge amounts of fishes in the water, all from white/black, yellow/black, yellow/red/black, electric blue to clear fishes. I even managed to see 2 of those fishes that can blow themselfes up to a ball with spines. I also saw a fish that had a face shaped like a dogs face with lots of white dots on it and a sea snake. It was a marvelous day.

After the beach we went back towards Chitre, stopped at a sweet store in Pedasi. And by pure luck we got to get a glimpse of the 2 female president in the world, Mireya Muscoso. She entered the store as we got out of it. All my friends were impressed.
We made one more stop at San Jose. A small city that is famous for making the Panamenian Pollera, the national costume of Panama. We were taken to some friends of the family where they showed us pictures and polleras in production. The polleras are all handmade. The design varies from every one of them and they are beautiful.
When we got back to the house where the family friends were, we got to meet another Panama famous personality: Ulpiano Vergara. He is one of the most famous personalities in the genre of traditional music of Panama. He was a really nice man and his daughter had been the "pollera-queen" last year. Mr Ulpiano is a sporty man and joined in for photographs.
Before going home we stopped at Elders burger and had some food. Too tired to make dinner. I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. It was a wonderful day !!

+30C Sunny and smooth wind. Chitre is a nice city with warm dry weather every day. It hardly rains here and this is the region with less rain in Panama.

I spent the morning reading and then Lennys friend Yimmy picked me up around noon to take me around the city while Lenny and Ismael are working. They have been so wonderfully nice to me, taking me everywhere and making sure I am not bored not even a second.
Yimmy took me to the post office where I learned that stupidity does not prohitit someone employing you. I was trying to send a package of 20 KGS home. First the lady argued heavily with me because they could only send packages up to 2000Kgs. Then she argued because kgs was not the short term she knew on kilograms and then she denied sending my 20 kgs package because her weight could only weigh up to 2 kgs. Ergo she could not measure that my package weighed 20 kgs or more. The fun part of all was that she actually insisted on buying another box so I could split the package into 2 boxes and send it in 2 different packages. NOT that I ever heard of 20 kgs parted in 2 makes two boxes of 2 kgs each before.
We left and took the box with us. At least I know that in San Jose there will be no problem sending the box home.
We also went to the Kodak store, the internet and toured chitre a bit. Then went off to Lenny and Ismaels "taller" (bilverksted in norsk) and waited for them there. There is a lot of traditional pottery shops in that area and I bought home some souvenirs.
In the night we did some shopping and went early to bed.

Sunny, warm wind and +30C.

I spent the morning downtown and running arrands. In the afternoon Edilma, Ismael and Lenny took me to Sarigua National park. It is partly a desert and partly mangrove rain forest. Sarigua is the only desert in Panama.
It was really cool to go there. I have never been to a desert before. It was dry with cracks in the earth and the wind was howling around us. It was really fun to walk on it because the cracks were hard as rocks, but where there was sand the earth was so smooth that you easily sunk 10 cm down. There was a lot of cotton growing in the area and bushes. The told me the desert every year grows in aera. In the distance we could see the mangrove forest. We did not enter that one though. We watched the sun set before leaving.
The strange thing is that in the middle of the desert (OK, it is SMALL. You can see from the start till the end and maybe walk the distance within 1 hour) there was a shrimp farm. They import water from a nearby beach with the tide. And even stranger, when leaving the national park the guard comes up to us asking if the pictures are for public use. Because it is prohibited to take pictures of the desert. Something funny is going on in the desert that they do not want to show the public.

On our way back to the house we went over to the next province to Los Santos to a restaurant called "El Ciruelo". They serve typical panamenian food and gooooood as well. It was really good. I had some rice and chicken with a special corn cake that they fry. I also had a tiny piece of pork steak just to try it. Delicious.

When we got home to the house Lenny and I watched the old photos from when she lived in Arendal in 94/95. It was a lot of fun to see the pictures and we remembered a lot of long forgotten stuff. hehe.

Sunny, warm wind and +30C.
I have heard some comments from people that are not that happy about my weather reports hehe... Just for the information. Ill try to behave. Hehe.

Lenny and I went all around the area where they sell traditional pottery and some of the souvenirs this morning. We also were in search for clothes and I found a shorts that only costed me 5 dolars new !. Imagine that. Clothes are cheap in this country. They also say perfume is but I cant really see that they are THAT cheap.

After having had a session at a nearby internet cafe I finished my packing and waited for Lenny to pick me up. Ismael came an houra later. He was running arrands and forgot a little about the time. He took me around to say goodbye to all the people I have gotten to know and then we went to the Taller where Lenny waited. Well, not directly. Ismael and a friends stopped to salute a lot of friends but we finally got to the taller. Then they took off to get some food and brought the lunch. We were already running late for the bus but they lasted and lasted. Lennys Dad came at 2 but since Ismael was out with the car we were not able to leave before 14:30. Then Lenny and Maximo took me to Davisa where I just missed the bus to David and waited 3 hours before I got to move. That meant 3 more hours with Lenny and that was good. :)

Thank you Lenny, Ismael, Edilma, Maximo, Yimmy and all other citizens of Chitre that has been so nice to me. You have all made my stay a wonderful experience !!! Thank you.

Well. On my way I actually had to make a stop in Santiago. The bus I got just got to Santiago but at least there is where all the David buses from Panama city stops and I got to go with the first bus that was there. In Panama - unlike Costa Rica - they normally do not fill up the buses with more people than what there are seats for. That means no standing passangers. But we had 3 passengers that were seated on plastic barrels in the walk way. hehe.
Aircondition might be a good thing IF you have a possibility to preset the temperature to a temperature you decide to. WHEN you cant do that... and the bus is freezing cold - Aircondition is NOT fun. I froze so I had goose bums and breathed into the t-shirt to keep warm. I even thought of different ways to use my cap to heat my elbow or knee but decided to put it in the head where it belongs. Also from living in a winter country I learned that you loose 60% heat from the head. Ergo cover head and the rest wont be as bad.
I got in to David around 9pm and sat down to wait for Jeniffer. I called to tell I was here several times but got the answare machine. Finally at 9:40pm I got a hold of her and she came to pick me up. Her mom and brother was home so I got to meet them. I also got to meet the 2 dogs. Luna and Terry. Terry is a german shepherd and Luna is a poudel. Luna has nice red ribbons on her ears and a red collar. But coolest of all. Red toe-nails !
We watched TV and chatted for a while before calling the day to an end :)

Today the weather has been very different all depending on where in the country I have been. Down in David there was about +27C, sunny and nice. The wind blows up to stormy but hey... at least it is warm. Then on tour we were around the volcano and it rained about all the time we were there. Back in David it was nice again and then at night when I went to Boquete where it also rained. Boquete and Volcan are highland and the areas are agriculture areas. They also have a lot of rainforest and cloud forest up in the mountains.

Jeny and I had breakfast and since she had to work she had prepared for me to go with her bf, Tony, Tonys cousin, Jose, and her brother Jorge on a road trip. We let Jen of at her work and then headed off for a city called Volcan - named after the nearby volcan Baru. At Volcan we made a stop because Jose met a friend from school (this friend had a car that had broken down). And to buy something to drink. We saw Guayami indians in their costumes. Oh. Only the women use the traditional dress. It is very colorful and nice. Jose arranged to have his friend tell us where to go to find an archeologic place called "Sitio Barriles". We went off to this place and veni vidi vici (we came - we conquered - we left). It was a small garden with some rocks that had some archeological value. It was nothing impressing but my travel mates made the trip very worthwhile. They played guides (Not knowing about things - they invented).

From there on we went back to Volcan and ran into Joses friend again. No help with the car and then we decided to tow him to a "taller" to get his car fixed. Then we went off to an Argentinian restaurant run by a Colombian around Cerro Punta. We had lunch here. Real gourmet food and due to the price we all had half size plates instead of full size plates.

We took off heading in the direction Cerro Punta and whatever small store we passed they sold Strawberries. We were actually running around with no purpose not knowing where to drive and not using maps. We did manage to end up in the Volcan Baru National Park. This because Jose decided to make a turn to the right and then he said we were going to follow this road till its end. That was before he saw what the road looked like !!! hehe.. But then... there was this other car trying to decide wheather to dare to go or not and I think Jose wanted to show off over this older dude in the other car so he started going up. Most of the way had a 45 to 55 angle. It was no asphalt nor sand. It was huge rocks and smaller stones and heavy rainfalls had washed away the middle of the road. We were all very exited to see the car manage the road and that the other dude actually followed our example. About 1 Km up the road flattened and we found out we had lost "the others". Soon the road was angling very much again and Jose was not sure that he wanted to go on but both Tony and Jorge was joking him "chicken" - "chicken" - "This is nothing" - "you can do it" - "dont be a whimp" and Jose took off. Slow it went and none of us were sure that the road actually led somewhere but we did not see anywhere we could turn the car around either. After a long trip we came to a plateu and - the entrance to the national park volcan Baru. Volcan Baru is a cloud forest national park. It is well known for its quetzal population (guatemalas national bird), toucans, hummingbirds and mammals like jaguars, panthers, pumas and tapirs.

Throughout all the uphills I was amazed by the moss growing on the trees. All the trees, not only trees, but fences, houses and everything made out of tree was covered in moss. It looked quite mysterious with the clouds that where at our level and the rain dripping. On the top we payed our entrance fee that is 3 US$ for foreigners and 1 US$ for locals. We hiked around in the rain for a little while but it looks like the Gods were with us today because it cleared up and we got a fantastic view over the valley. There was a nice litte rangers house up in the hills and they do take in travelers for the night if you reserve first. It is a 5 US$ fee for sleeping there.

When descending we brought and extra passenger with us, one of the national park guardians that had just ended her 8 days shift and was on her way back home to her family in Volcan. We also stopped to buy strawberries and since it was several hours since lunch and my travel mates were hungry we also stopped at several bakeries on our way back to David.

Well back Jose let us off at Jeniffers and Jorges house where we watched a movie before having dinner. Back in David the sun was shining and the wind was blowing.

In the night Jennifer, Tony and I went to Boquete where "La feria de las Flores" had just begun. It is a huge flower and coffee festival with lots of vendors of all kinds of artifacts had shown up. There were carousels and discoteques, food shops and traditional dancing in the traditional pollera.

We also saw heaps of Guayami indians and it amazes me. So many of them looked so young!5 years with 2 kids and a third on the way. My travelmates told my that it is a Guayami tradition to marry the girls just as they are able to produce. Then they have many kids and grow big families. It rained the whole time we were there. Boquete, like the volcano, are located high up in the mountain. Actually Boquete is on the other side of the Volcano Baru than Volcano and Cerro Punto that we were at earlier today. Therefore it is a very humid climate there.
We got back around 1am and went straigt to sleep.

In David it was cloudy but we escaped that and went to the coast where it was +28C and sunny indeed. Mild breeze.

Las Lajas beach.
We woke up late today and had pancakes for breakfast. Christian, Jorge jr and Jeniffers cousin came over to spend time with them. We also spent the morning watching TV until Jeniffers dad got home and took off for the beach. Las Lajas beach is located near to the small Las Lajas village, that is one of the oldest villages in Panama. We stopped a couple of times to fill gasoline on the car (since Panama import gasoline they are dependent on the oil prices. They buy gasoline and transport it to the petrol stations BUT if the prices are too high the owners does not buy much because they dont want to loose money on it in case the price sinks any day soon - therefore - many petrol stations actually runs empty on gas until the prices are lower again), buy lunch and beverage and at a restaurant we even got to meet a monkey. He seemed to be intelligent as he in the instant he saw us grabbed a stone and started kicking a door with it. At first Jen and I thought we had scared the little fellow but he actually warned the owner so that he could come out and attend us !!! Impressive - huh.

It is a well visited beach by the name Las Lajas beach and when we got there we found a huge amount of Jorge seniors (Jeniffers dad) brothers and sisters and sat down with them. Christian came with us to the beach but Jorge jr. decided to stay home. After having completed the presentation-round and the initial chat we changed into our bikinis and went to continue the presentation round in the water where some of the adults were with all the kids.
We played in the water, dived into the waves, walked along the beach and chatted and laughed for hours - until lunchtime. For lunch there was chicken, rice and BEANS (Happy me :) - being in Panama where they dont eat as much beans as in Costa Rica - I have really missed my beans).
After lunch we brought our cameras to take pictures, walk along the beach - even more... Continued swimming until the lifeguards got off duty at 5pm. Then they threw everyone out off the water scaring us with fines. We waited half an hour and then got in the wather again to swim even more. But sun started setting and when I saw this small shark (2 feet) in one of the waves just 10 meters away from us we decided to actually get out of the water. Sunset is feeding time. None of us wanted to be the food. Ok - It was a tiny shark but they still have sharp teeths (or popularly called razor blades).
Jeniffer and Christian did not see the shark but we stayed a little while in shallower water to see if we could see him again. We had to leave dissapointed to get our cameras since the sunset was gorgeous and we wanted to take pictures of that intstead. We changed clothes and headed home as all the others had left while we were playing in the water. In the car home we almost fell asleep. Arriving home we didsome laundry and I stayed up for a couple of hours updating my webpages.

+28C, sunny and lots of wind.

During the morning hours we made breakfast and prepared for the gang to go to work. I went downtown with them and Shayla, Jens mom, made me an easy map around David. I spent a couple of hours walking around in the stores but I must honestly admit that I felt like a prey with 4 hyenas (the vendors trying to talk me into shopping) following my every step. I did not feel comfortable enough to actually find something to buy for myself. I bought 2 dresses for my little sister Linda. I also did some souvenir shopping before meeting up with Shayla to go home for lunch.

Late afternoon we all went to the Panama/Costa Rican border to do tax free shopping. (It felt magic just knowing I was close to my 2nd country again and I felt like a child. Im going to CR. Im going to costa rica.And that from only having been out of the country 2 week. Not looking too fwd to going home to Norway).
The good thing is that they did not have anyone looking out for shoppers. It is open for everyone. If you go home to the same destination you came from they dont care. Jorge Sr. went to see friends as he dropped Shayla, jorge jr and me off at the tax free zone and we spent a long time at Jerusalem store looking at and trying perfumes. I had some orders from my family in CR and some friends in Norway so It looked big but they were not all for me. I also bought myself an iPod Nano. When it got closer to 9 we went to a restaurant to have dinner. And both me and jorgito had Pinto (traditional dish from costa rica containing rice and black beans). Jeniffer that poor thing did not come with us and waited home. Poor thing forgot her keys and had to wait outside for us.. Not like its cold or anything outside. hehe. Since it was my last night we stayed up talking for some hours.

Well. Temperature cannot exactly be measured today. I have been in lowlands and high high up in the mountains. The temperature has varied from+29C to +7C with all from sunny, wind, rain, misty to cold.

Early in the morning at 7:00am we had to go down to the David bus station to check when the bus to San Jose was scheduled. Office did not open until 7:30 and oups. Bus leaves at 8:30. Jorge Sr had to go back to the house and arrange for Jeniffer to pack the little rest i had to pack and Shayla made me lunch. I was seated in the very back of the bus. My bad luck.
It was sad to say goodbye to my new friends but then again... Maybe Ill be afortunated enough to see them again soon. Bus left on time amazingly enough and we spent about 45 minutes to the border where the mess started. We had to deboard the bus and take all our luggage out to check it. Then we had to go through immigration. They dont work very fast !!! A busload of people ... and 2 people to handle it all. We spent about 1,5 hours before all were done. Then we realized... ouf we have to go through it all again with costa rican immigration. all in all we spent 2,5 hours there. HOT, all were sweating and stressing to find out where the bus were, where the CR immigration office were etc. Finally done. They wanted to check our luggage there as well. NICE. NOT. Finally finished I bought a cold beer. Man, that tasted good.

Boarding the bus again the bus driver had moved me all up front. Nice. Better view that way. The passengers he moved were not too happy though. On the road again we noticed a very sudden change in the landscape being in CR from Panama. The standard of the panamerican highway is also lousy in CR compared to Panama. I had a nice and talkative seat-mate that is one of the National panama football players as well as he plays for Peres Zeledon here in Costa Rica. His name is Luis Gallardo. A nice dude that must have been a little famous sinse he was recognized by several people that wanted to take his photograph. Peres Zeledon is in the southern parts of CR and is about 3 hours from the Panama border.

Straight after Peres Zeledon we started the long way over El cerro de la muerte. In english: the mountain of death.
It is called that way because the road that travels through these mountains it is not a good road. The section is a curvy, "two-lane" stretch of road that climbs and falls around mountain cliffs. There were few lines on the road, no guardrails, and few streetlights at night. An error at any time could send one plunging of a mountain, and cars frequently pass on blind curves. These factors, combined with the dense high-mountain fog and hordes of tractor-trailers, makes it perfect for car accidents. Another term of why it is called mountain of death is that in the old days before there were too many cars people had to cross the mountain by foot and horses. The temperatures are very cold. Now at summertime temeratures we had +7C at daytime. The temperatures will get down below Zero Celcius degrees at night and people easily froze to death.

We arrived Cartago/San Jose at 4pm and avoided most of the bad traffic jam. I got dropped off a little outside Cartago towards San Jose. Francisco, my cousin, picked me up there and we went home to his place. In the night he went out with his girlfriend, Hazel, to celebrate her birthday. I went out with one of my friends, Christian, and we went to a restaurant in Escazu high up in the mountains. You actually have the whole view of San Jose city by night. It was nice to catch up and dinner was great. I was home by midnight that was a little too late concerning the long bus trip with no sleep. hehe.

San Jose is pretty cold compared to Liberia. Only +22C and today was pretty lousy weather as well. All cloudy and it even rained a couple of times.

I started my day by calling my mom, dad, my grandma, my sister and a friend back in Norway.
It was good to hear their vocies again. Then I headed downtown to San Jose. Travelling in bus is pretty ok in San Jose. A lot better than in Panama. And they let me off at places I have already been several times. That way I get along by myself. I headed up towards the plaza de la cultura that used to be a vendors spot 13 years ago. Now they have changed it completely. All the street vendors had to move and it is just like a park now. Plaza de la cultura is located next to the National Theater and above the Gold museum. With above the gold museum it is litteraly above. You enter the gold museum by a door one level down from Plaza de la cultura and then you head down 3 floors. It is one of the most protected museums in the region. It hosts all the treasures that Christopher Columbus found when he entered Costa del Oro in 1502 (the gold cost), that was the name he gave Costa Rica. Ok. It has a lot of other treasures as well.. But they are all pre-colombian gold treasures and some Jade treasures.

I continued up towards Universal Library and then La Casona that is a house that has all the souvenir shops gathered in one place. They have a lot of really nice stuff. Apart from that I got to know some swedish tourists.
As I realized time was flying I went to the post office to send a package home to Norway and to check how much it will cost me to send my nativity cryb. It will probably be cheaper bringing it on the plane cause it is over 210 US$ to send by mail.

After the post office I went to San Pedro to visit and old friend of mine, Turid and her housband Alfredo. They used to host me when I lived in Costa Rica in 1993 and wanted to go to San Jose. Turid is from Norway and has lived here with Alfredo for at least the last 35 years. It felt sooooo strange to speak norwegian again. Especially since she has a small latino accent on hers. It was hard to think in my language and some words came out in spanish.
It was nice to see Turid and Alfredo again and I even got to meet a couple of the grand kids and Carlos Federico, one of their sons. And of course got all the updates on the other kids.

At 5pm I headed down to Mall San Pedro to do some shopping. It was not that much to do there. I had something to eat and stayed there for a couple of hours before heading home to get a shower. At 9pm I met Cyril at Buca in San Pedro. We stayed there until it closed at 11pm or 12pm then headed over to Cuartel de la Boca (that I remember as cuartel de la coca) where we stayed until they closed. We continued chatting until 3:30 / 3:45 before heading home in each our taxi. I was home at 4 and I fell asleep immediately. I had a real good time !

Weather today was good. Even in San Jose. About +25C and partly cloudy. It does blow strong winds in Liberia though.

I woke up at 7 and realized I should not have nor stayed up that late nor have had that many drinks. I started packing because I had to get the noon bus for Liberia at the latest. Then about 10 I had breakfast. It was not as tasty as it could have been. hehe.

I got to the noon bus almost 45 minutes to early and got a good seat. Well, GOOD? Not likely. Not even one of the seats in the buses btwn Liberia and San Jose has enough space for my legs. I sit with my knees well planted in the seat in front of me. There are definatly no advantadges of beeing tall in this country when taking the bus. What I did not know was that it was a direct bus. It is probably the first bus I have taken in this country that got to its destination in time. It only took about 4 hours while sometimes the trips can take up to 6 hours.
I did not get to stay home for more than 1 hour before we headed to Natashas birthday party.

Natasha is my niese that has been away for a month in Denmark visiting her uncle. She got home from Denmark on monday and her birthday was yesterday but the party untill today. They had made a nice party with Pinata, barbecue, cake and lots of people visiting.
It was a nice party with a lot of music so that the kids could dance and enjoy.

Liberia is sunny and has its regular +29C. ME LIKE.

Wow ! Liberia is amazing. Beeing away for so many weeks made it good coming back. Especially from the much colder San Jose. I did freeze a bit in the morning. It is amazing how well adjusted your body gets to the warm weather when you live a place where it is warm. A fall of 10 Celcius degrees make you freeze. Even though if it would have been warm if you were used to that temperature.

I did not do much today. My laundry and a lot of walking around in Liberia. During the afternoon I chatted a bit with Cyril and decided to go to Las fiestas de Palmares with him and his friends/co-workers.
I headed down to Pulmitan, got my bus tiquet for the 8 o clock bus before I headed off to Las Tinajas to meet my brother. There I got hi-jacked by friends I had not seen for many years and ended up partying today too. It was real fun because we had Mariachis singing for us as well as good company. Well, Life soon has to calm down and next week its all gonna be better.
I went back home around 9-9:30pm and packed for my trip to San Jose.

San Jose was pretty dark this morning but got better. Almost +25C and cloudy in the morning. Sunny in the afternoon.

I got up at 6 to finish packing, having breakfast and talking to Johana. She leaves Liberia to go back to Nicaragua to her family for good today. It is sad but she has to take care of the family before other people. Her youngest kid was turning into a rebel. She is only 11 and Johana could not risk that. At 7:45am I got a taxi to Pulmitan, got some wather and boarded the bus. I brought a new book. Long after midnight by Iris Johansen. I read most of the morning and listened to music on my iPod but I also managed to sleep a little. I got in at noon, hopped off at Hotel Corobici where I took the bus to Rohrmoser where I was to stay for the night.
I met up with Cyril and we headed out to have something to eat at Plaza Mayor shopping center in Rohrmoser. It is actually the same place I operated my eyes at 4 years ago. It reminded me that I have to get an appointment for a check up. Weee... feb 19 at 1300 hours.
Done doodeli done as Flinders says (The Simpsons).

After lunch I had a shower while Cyril stopped by his work for a while. Then we headed to his work together (Work is within 25 meters away from the house) to meet his friends and co-workers that we are going to Palmares ("Fiestas in Palmares" 10.-22. January 2007 will be no exception and the traditional "Fiestas en Palmares" will take place from 10. till 22. of January in Palmares. People come in masses to Palmares to visit the bars, restaurants, bullfights and the fair) with (Tony, Richard, Ninon, Carrie, Cristian, Alejandro, Chris, Nick, Juan Pablo). They had ordered a bus to and from Palmares. We were about 11 that went. Of several different nationalities. USA, England, Norway and Costa Rica.
Bus left at 3:30pm but had to go back to pick up 2 that were late. The ride took about 1 hour and when we came there the festival area was already packed. We walked around for some time and got churritos, hot dogs and something to eat before we started drinking.

We entered the Imperial tent to dance and have fun. It was 6000 colones to enter but you got 5 beers for free with the entrance. We stayed there and danced, had fun and drank until it got too packed (around 9pm) and then went out to check out what else was going on. We had something more to eat and around 10pm we decided to go home. On our way to the minibus there was really great fireworks. By the time we got home several had fallen asleep and we split where the bus left us and went home to go to bed.

Weather in San Jose was actually pretty hot today. About +27C and sunny.

When I woke up I got a shower and later Cyril and I headed for Mall Plaza Mayor to have breakfast. He also helped me fill my new iPod with music so that I could have something new to listen to on my bus trip home. I had to leave around 1pm to get the bus at 2pm. It took ages but I think I slept through most of the 2 first hours. The only bad thing bout those buses is the same as ever - not enough space between my seat and the seat in front of me. I got in to Liberia around 6:30 and headed home. I stayed home for an hour and headed for internet. There I met up with Barbara from Holland that flew in yesterday. We went to las Tinajas and had some food and drinks and decided that we will meet up tomorrow to plan for some tourist things we can do.

Today has been sunny and +30C again.

I woke up around 7am and was really good today. I got myself around to the stadium and walked/ran for 2 hours before heading home. I found a new friend today and agreed that we should meet up for walking in the morning again to go running. (I call it running but it is mainly walking fast. I have to start somewhere)
I was home at 9am, had breakfast and went to sleep for an hour and a half, then headed for Internet and here I am; 7 hours later. I am updating my web page, chatting and charging my Nano. hehe. And starting to get hungry.. The nano NEVER finishes.. Man, what to do. hehe. Im meeting Barbara again whenever this thing finishes up and some other friends of mine as well.

19.00 my iPod finished and as I were heading off to pay it seems like the whole registration system had fallen down so that they had only registered 15 minutes use. Thats good for almost 8 hours online. hehe.. I did insist to pay for 8 hours though and they said they would accept it but they had to ask the owner if he accepted it since it was unregistered time. They will give me information later if I can surf for free for a while. hehe..
When going out Barbara showed up and we went to Las Tinajas to have something to eat. We also ran into Lucas that wanted to help us out in finding tourist tours. He did not understand what low-budget meant though so we had to leave his ideas. Instead we went to Barbaras hotel and bought tickets to go to Rincon de La vieja tomorrow. Then I headed home to sleep.

Nice sunny weather and +29C again.

I got up at 5.45 today, had my shower and packed my backpack and set off to Musmanni (the most popular bread bakery chain in CR) to get a couple of sandwitches. I had no time to make breakfast so I decided to go the easy way. I walked towards Hotel Liberia and actually got there in perfect time. 3 minutes before the bus came ! We were a large group heading up to the national park today, about 11 (2 danish, 1 norwegian, 5 dutch and the rest gringos) arriving at 8:15. We all payed our US 6$ fee and headed into the park in smaller groups. It was a wonderful walk. We heard loads of birds, insects and howler monkeys. We even got to see several whiteface monkeys (capuchines). That was pretty amazing. I have only seen VERY few of them in the wild until today. Since I had made la pailas trail (the boiling mud-pot trail) several times before I played tour guide for that part of the day. We saw the boiling mud pots, the boiling water and smelled sulfur listening to the wonderful mix of animal sounds. Just that is a wonderful experience in itself !!!!
The Pailas trail lasted a little more than 2 hours and we had lunch at the ranger station before heading the other direcction to the Cangreja (crab) waterfalls. Just the trip there was calculated to more than 2 hours and then the return. We set off with Barbara, Martina, and me. We were soon followed by several others. The first 500 meters were right uphill. In that moment we sensed how tired we were already. NICE! ... and we had a 2 hour walk ahead!!!!
It soon flattened out as we entered the dry rainforest. Not far ahead we saw these stairs going down towards the river and we all started decending. Not the smartest thing we ever did. There was nothing there except from a water whole and a nice place to swim in the river. We had to get up again. Not for that. The view was gorgeous !.
On the top again we followed the regular trail and soon started decending towards the river again and here we found a bridge to cross. We went up and down for a long time before we suddenly was in a part of the forest where there was a lot of sounds. No animals to be spotted but it is so nice to hear them. As we continued we crossed several smaller rivers, entered dry steppes landscape and more humid forest. The winds from the volcano brought with it misty rain and almost blew us off our feet. The changes in the landscape is wonderfully different and amazingly interesting. We did walk at a pace though and got to the waterfall in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Beeing there it was soooo worth the long walk. It was a nice lagoon, small but all blue water.
Most of us went swimming and the water was really cold. I guess it is like that when it comes from high mountains even in warm countries.
The rest did us good too though because we were very tired and at mid-day the temperatures are very unpleasant for hard excercise. We left the waterfall to go uphill for 20 minutes. Good thing we brought enough to drink. My legs were hurting but noone shall say I did not do my best today. hehe.
During the whole trip back to the national park guard house and meeting point we walked through the same variety of landscape that we did on our way there. It blowed even more and it was good to enter the forest parts because in the steppe parts we had to fight the wind and not only heat and uphill. We made that trip in about 2 hours as well and were almost dead meat when we reached our meeting point. While waiting for the bus to pick us up I found I was highly irresistable and very attractive. So was all the other HUMANS there. Some kind of small bug kept biting us and left us with bloody itching bitemarks. Bastards !!!!
Finally back in the hotel we decided to go a group to have something to eat at 7pm and we sat down in the reception area and had a beer and relaxed while waiting for the time to fly by. I even got to practice my french with Sebastien from Canada. He went with us (the 3 dutch girls and me) to have dinner at a chinese restaurant. Food was ok but we were all so exhausted from more than 6 hours walking in highly difficult landscape.
I stopped by internet and replied some e-mails before going home to tell mami I am going to Monteverde tomorrow and make my suitcase.
Monteverde !!! WoW. I have always wanted to go there !. What an exiting adventure.

In Liberia there is never bad weather at this time of the year and it is hot (+29C). As we moved towards Monteverde and got there temperatures are chilly and it is cloudy and misty rain.

I was so tired when I woke up. I felt beathen as well. Shaken AND stirred. That long walk is working hehe...
I had breakfast with mami before heading off at 7:30 to meet Barbara at hotel Liberia that is a very cheap and GOOD hostel (US 6$ a night for a dorm room). I had to go in a cab because I was running very late. I picked her up and said good bye to Sebastien that went to Tamarindo that day. We went to Pulmitan de Liberia to get a bus to Canas where we had to change bus for Tilaran. Increadibly enough we got seated tickets and did not have to stand all the way. Canas is an hour from Liberia and with luggage and a full day travelling ahead.... Nicer to sit.

In Canas we got let off by the main entrance and walked our way to the sentral bus station to find a bus to Tilaran. We found one that was leaving at the moment we got there and did not have to wait for even a minute. Bus ride to Tilaran was kinda funny. The bus is a old yellow american school bus and the ride is bumpy. At least we got to have 2 seats each. hehe.

In Tilaran we met Daniel from Alaska coming from Monteverde to Fortuna (de San Carlos) and we hang out with him for a couple of hours until our buses left at 12:30. We went to have some lunch and then went back to the bus terminal to hang out until buses left. Daniel might be going to Corcovado and If he is I might even join in. Monteverde and Corcovado has always been dreams of mine. Monteverde is beeing complished TODAY !!!! WEEEEE.
We exchanged e-mail adresses before splitting and then headed off to Monteverde in another old schoolbus from US. hehe. Those are pretty common here though.
The Tilaran-Monteverde trip is a 3-4 hours ride on bumpy, curvy roads and time depends on how many amigos the busdriver stops to chat with as he moves on !!!

We arrived Monteverde around 4 in the afternoon, hopped of at the national bank and went 50 meters down the road to Pension Santa Elena and "logged in" for the night. Daniel recommended this pension to us and it is a nice pension. Barbara and I stayed in the the reception area having a soft drink while Ro explained all that is to do in Monteverde / Santa Elene area. We ordered a sky-trek / canopy / serpentarium / Monteverde national park entrance round trip for today, tomorrow and Friday. After having relaxed a bit we headed towards the serpentarium to watch all the snakes of the tropical forest. Costa Rica has 137 different species but only 20 of these are venomous. It is nice to actually know what they look like to stay FAR away from them. hehe. We even got to watch a Boa Constrictor and hold the thing. It was warm and dry. And strong. It tried constricting my hand and it tickled me with its thounge. EEEEK.

After the Serpentarium we did some groceries and went home to Santa Elena to make food. Noodels with tuna in vegetables. We were so tired and I headed for bed after updating my blog page for an hour.

I have been up in the clouds so it has been cloudy and misty rain all day. Temperatures has been down to +16C and we have had wind.

I have spent my first night at a hostel at Pension Santa Elena in Santa Elena close to Monteverde. It was actually a pretty great experience and I might continue doing this a while.

Entering the Cloud forest
I got up at 5:30 and got ready to go to Monteverde Cloud forest reserve with the bus at 6am. I am SOOOO happy I made the sandwitches yesterday and that all I had to do today was taking them out of the fridge. Tired? yes ! But.. the whole idea about going at this hour is to possibly see the animals that most probably will be seen in the morning due to high visits that kinda scare them away.
Barbara could not go today so I went up and got the bus by myself. Well, not entirely by myself. There was always the busdriver and a lady with a kid and Simon and Kate from England that I got to know.
The park did not open until 7am though and we had to wait on a bench up there. It was really misty and everything was wet. Wonderful sounds of the wildlife already at this point at the ranger station. Lots of strange birds to be spotted and as we got closer to 7am a lot of tourists as well. We went to hire a guide and pay the entrances to the park and the tour did not start until 7:30. We were a small group of 8 and we were shown a small video of the forest before we started our tour. Our first visit was at the Hummingbird garden close by. The hummingbirds are amazing creatures and they sound like small jet planes sirkeling around your head. Or small motorbikes. Also, the smallest hummingbird is the one that makes most sound.

Entering the forest trails we noticed the sensation of the sounds of the forest. GOD that is amazing. Birds singing and Howler monkeys doing their howling and the dripping of the constant rain. The guide told us that it is normal to have 10 METERS of rain a year in Monteverde area.
Monteverde also has 4000 plant/tree species within its tiny areas while in comparison ALL of Europe has 12 000 species. The first 10 minutes of the path we walked in secondary forest before entering the primary forest also known as virgin forest.
We managed to spot the famous Quetzal (Guatemalas national bird) and the Orange-bellied Trogon that is a very close relative. We also spotted a lot of other birds and even a sloth.
The misty sensation of the constant dripping was amazing but the guided tour ended around 10 am. Kate, Simon, an english lady living in spain and I had lunch and then we headed into another trail in the forest, El Camino. It is the oldest trail they have and also the most open one. During our walk we headed into another trail, the Wilford Guindon Trail to enter a hanging bridge in the forest. Amazing. At this point the english lady went back to the ranger station and Simon, Kate and I continued by ourself. We did not exactly walk fast because there was too much to see and explore. The Wilford Guindon Trail meets up with El Camino Path after about 1 km and we continued on our orignial path leading us to the Penas Blancas Valley that is also the continental divide point. IF it would have been a clear day we could have seen both the caribbean and the pacific coast from there. The vegetation at this point was called "bosque enano" - dwarf forest - because of all the wind the trees dont grow tall like in more protected areas. There was a sign explaining that the velocity of the winds often reaches between 80-150 kms/hour. THAT is fast.
Heading back we chose the "bosque nuboso" (the cloudforest) trail. It was about 2,5 km long and amazing. We were all just SOOO impressed by the dripping sensation from the forest and beeing in the clouds that we walked around taking pictures of everything and trying to capture our every little memory.
See the trail map here
When we got back to the ranger station we had something more to eat and then suddenly a Coati shows up and starts begging food. He even seemed to like to being taken pictures of. He went up on to legs and even jumped up on the lunch table at a point. The guards told us he had stolen a purse last week and taken it high up in a tree and one of the rangers had to climb up in the tree to get it back for the lady. hehe. I would have liked to see that !!

The bus back to the hostel left at 3:50pm and we had time to visit the hummingbird garden before we left. At the hostel I met up with Barbara and we ordered a guided nightwalk tour for the night.

The Twilight walk at The Childrens eternal rainforest
At 5p, we were picked up by a minibus to go to The Childrens Eternal Rainforest to do a Twilight Night walk. Man that was amazing. The bus left us at the entrance and the group had to hike about 5 minutes before getting to the ranger station where we were divided in smaller groups and given a tour guide and the proper equipment for a night walk. Flash lights !
We stayed at the ranger station to watch the sunset and then entered the "Bajo del Tigre trails" trying to be very quiet. The forest was coming alive. Man, what a beautiful choir !
The light disappeared very quick and the flashlights were very necessary. It was almost impossible to see anything. Good thing our guide knew what to look for. We saw tiny frogs not even the size of the thumbnail on a 10 year old, Tarantulas, sleeping toucans, funnelweb spiders, bats and lots of other big and small insects. Though we did not see the snakes (luckily) nor monkeys, sloths or cats. One of the other groups spotted sloths.
It was an amazing experience to walk through the forest at night. But I must admit I would have been scared to do it by myself... hehe.

We were taken back to the hostel at 7:45pm and barely managed to get into the foodstore that closed at 8pm to get more food to make the sandwitches for tomorrows lunch. I was so tired I had 2 cans of Tuna for dinner and then headed for the room and went to bed before 10pm.

Listen to sounds from the Cloud Forest in this link

Today we had nice weather. Very windy conditions and it was partly clouded. Temperatures can not have been higher than +18C.

The Sky Trek
Barbara and I with about 5 others were picked up at 7:30am and taken up close to Santa Helena cloudforest reserve to the Sky Trek main offices. I still felt so tired from getting up early in the morning every day and walking more than 5 hours a day for a week. Arriving at the Sky Trek offices we handed in our bags and got the safety equipment we needed. Helmet, gloves and harnesses that supports up to 5000 kgs. That should be enough. Our 2 guides took us up a very thin stair tower and we passed a hanging bridge that felt like it was moving bad due to the wind. The stairs were horrible and this was the moment I remembered that I actually am a little afraid of heights. Especially when hanging from a cable. Hehe. We had to walk up a pretty steep hill before reaching the first bridge and when we got there Michael the guide explained how to use the equipment and safety precaussions. We were a group of 2 israeli guys, one spanish dude and a german dude, Barbara and I and not to forget our two guides.
The first and second cable were very short. Just to get used to using them, the equiment and the breaking system. It was kinda scary but off we went. After the 3rd cable it was much more fun until the 6th cable. The wind was blowing tremendously and we had to get up on a huge tower again. The cable was 450 meters long and looked sooo far away. I had to go last and I felt scared. I even considered quiting and walking back to head quarter but decided to follow the flow when I asked Michael (the guide) if many people were afraid and wanted to quit. Yes he said many quit. We even have a chicken trail for those who does not want to continue.
Chicken trail. Fantastic. I am no chicken!. And by that moment I decided I was going to fulfill this no matter how scared I might be. Michael connected me and off I went. From that point on I started liking it and by the 9th cable I was enjoying big time. Wind was breaking really hard and at the 770meters cable we had to start going in couples to have enough weight for the wind.
I went first with Michael, then the israelis, then the spanish/german and Barbara went last with the other guide. The 770 got me hooked and remembering how freaking scared I was at the beginning.... I just wanted to go straight back and do it all over and over again. Though standing on the bridge we got in at was more scary than doing the skytrek cables. hehe. We also had to do the last cable in couples due to the wind, and the fantastic tour was over.
At base camp we handed in the safety issues and went to have something to drink. I bought with me home a picture they took of me doing the sky trek. COOOL. hehe.

The Sky Walk
After lunch Barbara and I headed for the Sky Walk. We had to go up the same horrible stairs as earlier this morning to get to the bridges. Up there we went the other direction from the Sky Trek trail and entered the Sky Walk trails. It was an amazing experience as well. The forest was not dripping from the rain and mist but there was still the amazing primary and secondary forest with a wonderful birdlife sighting. The most amazing part was walking amongst the tree tops instead of on ground level. Watching the plants growing on the trees, the birds and the variation between the different forest types was great. We did not get to see any monkeys but then again... at that time of the day with that many tourist groups out walking ... no way that we could even hope to spot the animals. It was still great and before going back to the base office we stopped at the hummingbird garden.
Those small creatures are so cute. And they whirl around your ears with such a precision and noise that you can only laugh of amazement.

The bus took us back to Santa Helena at 12:30pm and at this hour I was so tired I hardly managed to keep my eyes up. I slept a couple of hours before finally feeling better.
Barbara and I went out to peek around in the city we are in and I bought some souvenirs to take home. After that I tried keeping up my blog but half done the town of Santa Helena and Monteverde had an internet breakdown and noone could enter for the rest of the night. I sat down and chatted with people in the reception area and got to know new people instead.

Party at night.
As sitting there talking with a Canadian dude suddenly we got invited to this party in apartment 3C. They had a drinking competition and the bet was going to bring in more and more people. We celebrated Aussie day and Tim, Christian and Bryan (from Tenessee, USA) were hosting and buying drinks. We went out to have something to eat at KaKos Pizzeria around 9pm and as the biggest group went to a bar to continue drinking Some of us stayed back at the hostel and went early to bed. Tired as H***

Nice day. Around +20C and not that much wind.

Woke up at 6am and spent 2,5 hours online to update blog and write e-mails. Then I spent a couple of hours in the hammoc outside the hostel reading the new bought book EL HOBBIT. hehe.. The hobbit in spanish. Seems interesting. Great lecture and a great way to actually learn more spanish.
At noon Barbara came back from the cloudforest and we met up with Tim, Christian and Bryan from the party at 3C yesterday. They were gonna give us a ride to Fortuna de San Carlos and the Arenal Volcano. We started off at 12:30pm and spent 3 hours driving in 20kms/hour on the bumpy, curvy, unpaved road from Monteverde to Tilaran. When arriving Tilaran the good road began and we could finally drive faster. We were a little unsure about the road and took the wrong road and ended up in a small village before getting back on the main road again. We had a stop to look at the view over the Arenal Lake with Arenal Volcano in the background.
We also made a lunch stop around 3pm at the small village Nuevo Arenal before driving the last 2 hours in to Fortuna. When we reached the Arenal Lake dem we made another stop to see if we could see the volcano errupt. There were some smaller sightings of rocks and moist and the toxic fumes but no bigger erruptions to spot. The sad thing was that the whole mountain was covered in clouds.

Arriving Fortuna we checked out 2 hostels but decided for Arenal backpackers resort that even had a swimmingpool. At only US 11$ for a dormroom, all 5 of us checked in together and about 7pm we decided to go to check out one of the many Hot springs in the area.

We went to a resort called Baldi Hot springs that has 16 Hot Springs of various tempuratures surrounded by beautiful tropical gardens. Facillities include 2 swim up bars, Spa services & resturant. It was FANTASTIC !!!
Where do you else find hot water swimmingpool with bars? The waters had temperatures from +70C (naturally noone was in that one) to +27C and is located about 5 km outside Fortuna downtown. The entrance fee for tourists is US 25$ but as I tried to pay with my Banco Nacional debet card I realized that I am going to continue doing that. They asked me if I had my cedula (identification card) with me and I said "no, but I do have my passport". Whereas the receptionist asked whether I lived in CR and since I concider myself living in this country due to my long stay I said yes and were charged locals fee of US 17$. WOOOOOHOOOO. This country is great.
We stayed in the pools for about 3 hours till closing time and during that time we heard the volcano having a huge Gas explosion. It was fantastic and went on for about 3-4 minutes. No lava to be seen on this side of the mountain though.
At the pools we also met 3 girls (Marcelle, Michigan and Kiwi), that had stayed at Pension Santa Elena in Monteverde the night before, and The Israeli, Kobe. We hang out with them and gave them a ride back to the pension as it turned out that they were our room neighbours.

At the pension we all were hungry and went out for a bite and some more drinks and at one of the bars there was live music. However the guys considering it practically was their last day in Costa Rica as they are leaving Monday for the US they wanted to party and decided to go to Fortunas only disco. They took a cab up there with Michigan and Kiwi. Barbara, Michelle and I took a cab up to El Mirador de Arenal and stayed there for 1 hour watching one after another fantastic erruption from the Volcano. It was marvelous.. The sightings of red lava flowing down the hillside at midnight so exiting and emotional that I am amazed. God must like me. He also made sure that the clouds ALMOST dissappeard completely from the moment during some of the explotions.
The cab driver waited with us.. (Anyway. Its not like it is expensive. US 20$ for an hours use. hehe.) He also explained a lot about the volcano to us. About its erruptions, best sighting season etc. And about stupid tourists getting to close so that they would be killed by toxic fumes more than a +1000C degrees hot. It burns up the lounges. But people still wanna walk in te national park that is very very close to the foot of the volcano. There are signs anywhere telling that this is a high risk volcanic area and that you enter under you own responsability.
At 2am the volcano was done showing off and calmed down for a moment where we went home to sleep. The guys came in about 10 minutes later and decided to get up at 4 in the morning to see the volcano in action. Must I add they did not make it hehe...

Day started off clouded in Fortuna with about +25C and when arriving Liberia it was around +29C sunny and windy.

I woke up around 9am and showered, got out to read in the hammoc and waited for the others to wake up. Barbara came along around 9:30am and the guys closer to 10am. We packed our car and checked out before going to La choza de Laurel to have breakfast. It is one of the places adviced in Lonely planets books about Costa Rica. They had wonderful food, good quality of service and nice prices. It was also just about 200 meters to walk from our hostel.

The guys decided to go to San Jose today since flying out tomorrow and Barbara wanted to stay one more day in Fortuna so I ordered a direct shuttle to Liberia. That was great. No more 8 hours travels to get somewhere. I am somewhat tired today as well. But the sad thing is that the bus would leave only 30 minutes after I bought the tiquet and that would not give me enough time to go with the guys to do the Lava trail. That would have been such an experience.
Guys took off and Barbara and I kinda hung out in the hammocks while waiting for the bus. It showed up at 1pm exactly and I said bye to Barbara and took off. It is going to be kinda strange to not continue travelling with her but I do need to get home and wash some clothes now. And I already spent a great week travelling. Nice one. Thanks Barbara for nice company.

Bus ride home was long, almost 3,5 hours but at least it was direct and a good bus. Aircondition, enough space and comfy seats. Link to buscompany.

When I arrived Liberia I called Mami and Papi but found out they were out of connection on cell phones and no one in the house as well. I did not have the keys and went to Las Tinajas restaurant to wait for them to show up. As I found out we were in the middle of church time and as I saw people leaving the church (right up the park from Tinajas) I called mami and they were on their way to Las Tinajas as well. Fantastic !
Therefor I got to hang out with Mami and Papi and Rosy (a friend of mami) and her housband. We had dinner and drinks and it felt so good to be with the family. When we came home Mami and I watched Extreme makeover. It is incredible how so many people wants to do plastic surgery and how some of them turn out sooo good afterwords.
I went to bed about 10pm. I was out as a light.

It has been another beautiful day in Paradise. If anyone wants to donate enough money to me so that I dont have to go back to Norway. You are more than welcome !!!
+31C and warm, windy, almost no clouds.

I did not wake up until 8am this morning. That ruined all my plans on doing excercise from 6 to 8am. hehe. I guess I needed the sleep. I also had to do my laundry. I think I spent 4 hours washing clothes. Then I helped mami packing Roxanas stuff from my room in boxes. Moving date seams so close now. I dont wanna change house. I like the old house. Not that that helps any more. The house is sold and we only have a few days left to live in the house in The Moracia part of Liberia. We are not gonna move very far though. Only about 500-700 meters, but closer to town. It is going to be by the Liberia football stadium. :) It probably will be great living there. I just wish I would have been able to buy the old house.

After all the washing and packing I was pretty much deadmeat and slept in a few more hours before leaving at 3pm to go downtown. I had an appointment at 4pm to get my nails done and a full manicure and full pedicure. Wonderful !!! I also decided to get my haircut. I am happy now.. It has been a good 4 hours of self treatment. NICE. I went to Ana from Venezuela to do my nails and Allan did my hair. He is good. AND fast. And the full treatment of hair, feet and hands + painting nails only ended up at 10000 colones. About US 20$.

Passing Las Tinajas I heard someone calling my name and there was my friend Gustavo with 2 friends from San Jose; Alejandro and Adrian. I sat down with them and had a few drinks and dinner. Nice but when Las Tinajas closed up for the night I went home instead of continuing to drink.

+29C, sunny with no clouds (ok. there are clouds but we only see them in the horizon covering up the volcanos in the east) and some wind.

I got up at 6am and spent 1,5 hours doing excercise before having breakfast and babysit the house while mami and papi was in the new house to wash it down and prepare for us to be able to move in there.
I went downtown at noon when they got back and entered the Cibermania internet cafe. Not many chatters online today but charged the iPod at least. hehe..

As I got home we had dinner and then Natasha showed up. The whole family watched a movie and Papi went to sleep at 9pm. A new movie started.. It was a horror movie about a virus in the forest where 5 young friends entered and stayed in a cottage..The movie was way to exagerated to like it a lot but Mami, Nati and I stayed up till it finished. hehe. Then Nati and I went to sleep in the only room with 2 beds.. My old room from 1993. It is also the old room that the housekeeper Johana used.

Weeee. +32C today almost no clouds and not much wind..

I love paradise.. Why was I not born here again?
This morning I woke up about 6:30 and had breakfast. Papi and Mami were off to do some arrands and I moved room. Lorena and Mario with the 2 kids were coming to Liberia today and I had to move room since my old room is the only one with a room for 4 persons apart from mami and papis room. I moved ALL my stuff into the new room and it feels so strange to leave it all... I am so in love with the house and the life I have had here that I am not that much looking foreward to moving house. I finished up around 10:30am and went to the swimming pool around 11:30am. I went to El Sitio and stayed for about 4 hours.. On my way there I got speakers for my Ipod and MAN I am proud of my new "radio". Tres cool. hehe..
I had lunch at El sitio and on my way back I stopped at Roca Bruja surf shop, got an iPod protection thingy, a beanie, a new wallet and a jewlerbox. NICE as well. hehe..
THis day has turned out GREAT. I was home to have dinner with the family and it was nice to speak to Lorena again.
At Night I went to Las Tinajas with Angelica to have a few drinks. We had a lot of fun and we were home by 10pm.