Buenos Aires to Vegas - The Trek

Again the group decided to split. Elaine, Helene and Irina had had enough of Costa Rica and wanted to make tracks to Nicaragua. Myself and Marie ( Helvete /Jeopardy) still wanted to explore a bit more of the country. We were both intent on spending a few days on the beach in Tamarindo . We had two options to get there from Monteverde . The first was to take a private shuttle door-to-door for $45 each or alternatively take public transport (a few changes along the way) which was up to 4 hours longer but only cost around $10 each. The staff at the hostel almost begged us to take the shuttle, mainly because they thought ...

By now I was a master of bussing around. I could doze in just about the most uncomfortable seat you could imagine and endure all sorts of horrific Spanish and English movies that featured on the overhanging TVs. The border crossing from Panama to Costa Rica was long and arduous. It seemed to take ages for anybody to get stamped out and in. We finally got through and carried onto San Jose, the capital. This place looked pretty ugly. Staring out the window into the rainy haze, I saw no buildings of note and the city just seemed uninteresting in general. I caught cab first to buy my ticket to Monteverde (leaving at 6:30am the next morning) and then straight on to Costa Rica Backpackers where I sort of chilled the rest of the day. The hostel staff were very nice though and I am sure that San Jose has some good points... I just couldn ´t be bothered to go see them. I slept early and woke up horribly early to get my cab to the bus station. The trip was only 5 hours and the countryside seem...