Costa Rica is a rugged, rain forested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. The Capital of Cost Rica is San Jose.
San Jose is just another city, we did spend a few days here but then moved onto La Fortuna.
La Fortuna is a small town in Costa Rica, northwest of the capital. We loved La Fortuna, the town itself has a lovely garden square at the Centre, it has lots of great restaurants and coffee shops around it. It is a lovely spot for family and friends to catch-up.
We hired a car from San Jose and drove to La Fortuna our accommodation was not in walking distance of the town so this worked out very well, also if you would prefer to do tours by yourself a car is great to have in La Fortuna.
Our accommodation was great with its own private pool, this was great to have after a long day of hiking. The host was great and organised our White water rafting adventure and got us a 10% discount.
It is so tropical here the flora and fauna is amazing. Here you will find Arenal Volcano National Park, comprising of 2 volcanoes. The Arenal Volcano is still active and laced with lava flows. Hot springs dot the foot of the volcano, on the thermal Tabacón River. Dormant Chato Volcano has a crater lake and rainforest trails leading to La Fortuna Waterfall, with its natural pool. The national park is so worth a visit, not only the Volcanoes and waterfalls but for the wild life we seen lots of beautiful birds, spider monkeys, coatimundi and Sloths, the animal life is amazing but you do have to be quiet, they are also very good at camouflaging themselves into their surrounding’s. We did a number of hikes here, they are very well marked.
We did a great white water rafting tour with Arenal Rafting Company, they picked us up from our Airbnb, gave us all the gear we needed, explained very carefully what we needed to do, to keep safe, it also included a great meal at the end, and they dropped us back to the Airbnb. It cost us $60 usd which included a 10% discount. A fantastic day had by all.
Our favourite place for Breakfast in La Fortuna was Restaurant La Parada, for coffee it was Chocolate Fusion and for Dinner Anch’io an Italian restaurant.
We dropped the car to Liberia. Then caught a shuttle bus to San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua. The trip took about 5hours we had a boarder crossing which was not too bad.
Nicaragua, set between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is a Central American nation known for its dramatic terrain of lakes, volcanoes and beaches.
San Juan Del Sur is a small town on Nicaragua’s southwest coast. It’s known for a string of Pacific beaches, such as Maderas Beach, with its strong-breaking waves, it is very popular with Surfers.
We stopped here for 3 days, it has a nice beach which is overlooked by Christ of the Mercy statue. Our B&B was interesting as it was part of a restaurant, it was very handy if we were hungry. It faced the beach which was very nice as it had a nice breeze that flowed through our room. The pancakes for breakfast are delicious.
We hired a quad bike for the time we were there, it was great fun. We visited most of the beaches along the coast line and drove on a number of the beaches. It was a great spot for a few days of relaxing and fun.
We got a shuttle from San Juan Del Sur to Grande, the trip took about 4 hours.
Granada Nicaragua is a Nicaraguan city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Though Granada remains Nicaragua’s sixth largest city, it is widely known for preserving some of the finest colonial architecture in the country. Central Park, is the city’s main plaza, here sits Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral originally dating back to 1583. The plaza is a beautiful area where the locals hold events and markets.
Our Airbnb was great, it had a pool in the middle of the lounge room and it was a 3min walk to the Plaza. We found the people of Granada very helpful, friendly, pleasant and genuine.
One of the things to do is a carriage tour in the colonial centre. We went through several streets, monuments and building, like the iconic Cathedral, San Francisco church and museum, Guadalupe Church, Grave yard, and the oldest home in Granada . It was great way to get your bearings, it very informative and lots of fun. If you decided to take one of these tours and you do not speak Spanish, make sure your guide can speak English or your naïve language.
We did 2 tours in Granada, we always try to book tours with local tour groups as this way the money stays in the community. The First was Masaya Volcano. It is active and is located in the Masaya Volcano National Park just 20 minutes from Managua. This volcano is very accessible, we went by car and walked a 100 meters to its crater. The view is amazing! Its crater 500 meters wide and 200 meters deep. The crater shows columns of gases and there are active fumaroles worth seeing. There are also great views from here. This is the second active volcano we have been on and this one is worth seeing.
The second tour we went on was out to the The islet they are a group of 365 small islands scattered about the Asese peninsula on the
The second tour we went on was out to the The islet they are a group of 365 small islands scattered about the Asese peninsula on the Cocibolca lake. The islets are of volcanic origin, they were formed when the Mombacho volcano blew much of its cone into the lake thousands of years ago, thereby creating the archipelago. Some of theses Islands are owned by the very rich in Nicaragua and Mexico, the ex president owns one of them. There is also a spider monkey island and a forth that was use to protect the main land. Other islands accommodate hotels or luxurious houses (some of them can be rented). There are also uninhabited islets with only palm trees or small amounts of vegetation growing on them. There are also a lot of fishing done around the islets.
Our favourite restaurants. Breakfast was Kathy’s Waffle House, for Lunch and coffee we liked was the Garden Café and for Dinner it was Pita Pita, great service and food here. We also love the art work here in Granada and bought some artwork from a Local Artist ( get name of artist and add here)
If you are looking for a good Massage in Granada you cannot go pass Bienestar Natural Spa https://g.co/kgs/kZiLo I did a package that included, a full body massage, exfoliation, and a facial it cost 50 USD and it was the best massage I have ever had. I was there for 2 hours and it was heaven. Jenneth is amazing and very professional.
Overall we had a wonderful time in Granada and would recommend Granada as a great tourist stop off.
From Granada we got a shuttle to Managua city, the capital of Nicaragua, from here we got a second Shuttle to San Salvador the Capital El Salvador. To get to El Salvador by land from Nicaragua you have to go through Honduras, therefore you will have to go through 4 boarder, One out of Nicaragua, One in and out of Honduras and then one into El Salvador. The boarder crossings can be very slow sometimes.
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, This mountainous country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala and Honduras. Known as the Land of Volcanoes, El Salvador has frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. It is the only country in Central America that does not have a coastline on the Caribbean Sea. We decided to stay in Santa Ana as this was closer to all we wanted to do, also San Salvador although nice it is just another city.
Santa Ana is a very nice town, it has a garden in the centre which is always a hive of activity, it has one of the nicest Cathedral we have seen.
We took a trip out to Lake Coatepeque which is of volcanic origin, it is located 18 kilometres south of the city of Santa Ana. It has an altitude of 745 meters above sea level, an area of 25.3 square kilometres, and a depth of 115 meters. This lake is 50,000 years old, and was created after an eruption that left a huge gap of more than 20 kilometres radius and about two kilometres deep, then began a long process of capturing rainy and underground waters to become a lake. It is a beautiful spot. Where you can swim or have a drink and gaze out across the very still blue lake. We also did a trip out to the Tazumal Mayan ancient ruins which offers a glimpse into a settlement history that extends back to the Early Pre Classic (1000-800 B.C.). It is not a huge area but still worth visiting.
We did a hike to Santa Ana Volcano At 2,381 metres above sea level, it is the highest volcano in the country & the most active, this volcano features hiking, scenic views & a crater lake. It is located immediately west of Coatepeque Caldera. We were keen to see this one as we had not seen one with a lake in it, I thought because there is a lake in it, it would not be active but it is the most active. You have to take a guide to climb to the edge of the Volcano, the climb itself was moderate, but it will all depend on your fitness level. I would suggest hiking poles, more for coming down than going up. But it is so worth it, unlike Australia, occupational health and safety has not taken over , and we could go right to the edge. The views are amazing and the colour of the lake is beautiful. The photos do not do it justice.
We took a chicken bus to the
We took a chicken bus to the outskirts of Santa Ana, to the Salto de Malacatiupán, the hot waterfalls of El Salvador. Due to the vast number of volcanos in the country, El Salvador is home to a lot of thermal activity. The earth beneath its surface is a hot and active place therefore creating hot water falls. They truly are hot likely very different from anything you’re used to. Rather than a series of calm, relaxing pools, the water here flows down a stream and cascades brilliantly over several cliffs, depending on the amount of water you do have to be careful, it was very nice to experience more natural hot springs. The bus we got was number 210, it took about an hour, but I love the chicken buses as there is always so much happening on them, from people selling pain medication to nuts and cakes, and all the children coming and going to school all in their spotless white shirts.
Our Favourite Restaurant in Santa Ana was Simmer Down, the pizzas are great, and the best coffee I had was in a bank Banco Hipotecario, go figure. We had another unexpected wonderful time in El Salvador. We had a very early start at 4am we took a shuttle bus from Santa Ana to Antigua Guatemala, it was suppose to take 5hours but took 7 hours because of the boarder crossings. Leaving El Salvador and entering Guatemala. We also had an interesting security stop.
Guatemala, a Central American country south of Mexico, is home to volcanoes, rainforests and ancient Mayan sites. We decided to stay in Antigua it is a small beautiful city surrounded by volcanoes it is in southern Guatemala.
Antigua has lots of beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, many of which have been restored. It is surrounded by 4 volcanos Agua, Fuego, Acatenango and Pacaya so it is very beautiful.
You cannot climb Agua as it is sacred to the locals and Fuego is very active. You can climb Acatenango and Pacaya. We decided to climb Pacaya as we wanted to see the lava flow from the last eruption in 2021. It did not disappoint. it is about a 6 klm loop trail, generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 2 h 34 min to complete. This is a very popular area for birding, hiking, and horseback riding, so you ‘may meet other people while exploring. It is still and active volcano and the last eruption was in 2021 when the lava flow descended the volcano between El Patrocinio and San José el Rodeo. In the case of the latter, the lava advanced within two and a half blocks of the outermost homes. It was frightening to see how close the lava had got to this village. Our guide brought a few bags of marshmallows with him and we roasted marshmallows on the heat from the lava rocks. I was a great day.
We visited the amazing Santo Domingo Church and Monastery Its history can be traced back to 1538 when the Dominicans arrived in Guatemala. It is currently a hotel and has six permanent museums and two art galleries with temporary exhibits. the Pre-Columbian Art and Modern Glass shows one of the permanent exhibit of Pre-Hispanic objects in clay and stone, which are complemented with similar objects in contemporary glass. Both collections show that through the years, men have been inspired by the same subjects to create their own masterpieces ( Burial urns, Animals, Human Figures , and Jewellery) it was a great we to see the old and new together and to see how things have advanced so much. There is also a silver Museum and a Pharmacy Museum. The grounds are amazing, there are ruins of the old Church but they have been very clever, although they have not restored the Old Church they have incorporated some amazing canopies to allow the church to be used for mass and weddings. It is just beautiful as it brings the outside into the church, as a rule I never take photos in any churches as respect, but I had to take one of this one. If you visit Antigua please go and see this place it is a place where art, beauty and shape Transend in time.
Antigua has several roof top bars and as you can imagine the views are amazing as the town is surrounded by 4 Volcanoes. One roof top bars that is great is an cosy Irish pub called the The Snug Antigua (it has great food, lovely Irish breakfast with a big mug of Tea (Martin was in heaven) they also have great live music, there is always something happening here a great spot, lots of fun and a wonderful owner Rory who loves his job and makes everyone feel so welcome. Be sure to drop in sand say hi.
The other thing that blew us away was the MacDonald’s I have never seen such a big and beautiful building and garden that MacDonald’s is in, it even displays great art works from local artists. Our Airbnb was great it was just outside town, it had a lovely pool within beautiful gardens.
Antigua has a lovely climate, about 24 degrees all year round and very little humidity. We loved our time here. So put it on your bucket list.