Costa Rica Travels, Part 1, Toulouse to Alajuela(10° 1′ 0″ N, 84° 13′ 0″ W)

Why Costa Rica? As most know, Costa Rica has one of the greatest bio-diversities found in the world.  Costa Rica has set aside vast areas of wildlife reserves.  Also the land is punctuated with live and dormant volcanoes.  Along the east coast is a narrow band of villages of Creole speaking people with a culture very much different from the Latin majority found west of there. These were the features that piqued our interest.

Costa Rica is a small Central America country bordered on the north by El Salvador and Nicaragua and to the south by Panama. The latitude of Costa Rica is about 10 deg north. The coastal areas tend to be hot and steamy and the higher central plateau cooler and less humid. The travel in Part 1 is outlined on a Google Map. See here

The path covered in this Part (1) is indicated by a green line. Balloons on the map give descriptions of different places of interest to us for this 6 week voyage. Some of the balloons will represent places actually visited or passed through while traveling by bus or boat. Green balloons represent places actually visited on this Part of the trip.  Click on images for enlarged image.

We took a train to Toulouse and then flew into Madrid and stayed one night in Silken Puerta Madrid. Spain has overbuilt hotels and resorts and competition is fierce.  Silken is a 4 star hotel and a room cost only 38 Euros.  We stayed one night in Madrid as our direct flight from Madrid to San Juan, capitol of Costa Rica, left early the next morning.

The airport serving San Juan is located close to the town of Alajuela which is located northwest of San Juan. A driver waited for us at the airport. We had tried to reserve a room in Chez Pierre Ville in Alajuela but they were full - they arranged for us to stay at Hotel Mi Tierra across the street. This simple hotel was in sharp contrast to the Madrid hotel but adequate. January‑February is high season in Costa Rica as it is the dry season, especially, on the west coast. It if advised to make reservations early when traveling this time of the year especially for destinations to the Pacific coast (west side of Costa Rica).

We were impressed by the variety and colorfulness of birds in the vicinity of Alajuela

We found the restaurant Shanghai just a few blocks from the hotel and had a surprisingly good Chinese meal there with huge portions. Usually Chinese restaurants in Central and South America are not very exciting and the food has little resemblance to “Chinese” food.

Next morning after having a good breakfast which came with the price of the room, we boarded a bus headed north of Alajuela to Parque Volcan Poas. There is only one bus going directly to Parque Volcan Poas each morning at 9:30 am and one returning about 15:00. There are several bus stations in Alajuela and one need get directions to the correct station at the hotel. The correct station was in walking distance from Hotel Mi Terra.

San Juan, Alajuela and Volcan Poas (el. 2704 m) lie in the highlands of Costa Rica. The climate is not overly hot in the highlands and since colonial times much of the development in Costa Rica has taken place in this higher country. Many of the major volcanoes of Costa Rica are also located on this high plateau.

The trip to Volcan Poas was enjoyable with overwhelming greenness like we had seen in Colombia. Gardens and farms full of fruit trees and other tropical crops were everywhere. All kinds of beautiful flowering bushes were scatteredalong the route. As we climbed up the road to Volcan Poas the air got cooler and clouds and mists could be seen above.

Romaine Next to Tropical Vegetation

Like all (but one) parks and reserves in Costa Rica there was a $10/person entry fee. The bus let you off near a small reception center in the park. A small restaurant served a limited food selection, mostly snack food.  Near the reception center, a wheel chair accessible, paved trail leads up to the crater. We were greeted with light rains showers and complete overcast. Only occasionally did the mists lift enough to allow a glimpse into the crater. It was not possible to see the blue lake at the bottom but one could see to a large white band of rock that was just above the water. A brisk gusty up-slope wind with constant showers buffeted us.

Wildflowers in Cloud Forest, Parque Volcan Poas

Wildflowers in Cloud Forest, Parque Volcan Poas

Portions of the upper slopes of the volcano are covered with cloud forests. The trees in the cloud forest areas are contorted by strong winds and the effects of the oftentimes acidic clouds and fumes from the active volcano. Bob took a side trail back down on an unpaved trail. Some sections of the trail had raised board walks due to wet ground. The boardwalks were very slippery with moisture and mosses. Park Service had nailed strips of asphalt shingles to decrease the slipping danger but in many

places the shingles had been torn off.

.Numerous flowering plants struggled in this cold challenging climate. The unmistakable sound of hummingbirds could be heard but the birds were always behind foliage and could not be seen.

We were not really very surprised about the weather because it is not unusual in cloud forest areas.  We waited below near the 

reception center for the return bus.  While waiting, numerous chartered buses appeared and groups got off for the walk to the top. One bus was full of Chinese tourists.

The area around Alajuela felt hot by comparison with the region around Poas.  In evening Bob returned to the Chinese restaurant where he got take out meals which we ate in the kitchen area of the hotel.

Our next destination was the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica.

Jungled Slopes of Volcan Poas