Costa Rica


Km 19 195

We had heard a lot about Costa Rica, so our expectations were very high. In the end, the experiences were different from what we expected. The first thing we expected was to meet a lot of animals. Indeed, Costa Rica is known for its rich wildlife. As soon as we spent our first night on a river bank, we were spoiled! In the evening, two macaws were kissing and taunting each other in a tree above us. Or maybe they were fighting, we’re not too sure. In the morning, the macaws have disappeared, but instead we find a bunch of very naughty monkeys. They are within 10m of us, but as soon as Matthieu tries to approach them with the camera, they take off on distant or more hidden branches. When Matthieu puts his camera away, they come back! While we were packing up the tent, we also saw another blue morpho, a beautiful blue butterfly, flying over the small river.

In Costa Rica, we also thought we would visit a lot of national parks, but in the end, we decided not to visit any. After so many months in South America, we are used to low prices, so if you have to pay 15 USD per person to enter a national park if you already have nature all around you while pedaling, it disappointed us. Instead, we camped for free on beautiful beaches, especially at Matapalo. The sandy beach seems endless and the waves form nice continuous rolls. To change a bit from cycling, we tried surfing. Matthieu came out with more bruises than waves surfed, Kati drank probably 3 litres of sea water. All the same, we had a lot of fun!

As we rode along the Pacific coast, we cycled between huge palm tree fields for the production of palm oil, how sad to destroy the beautiful rainforests for that! Fortunately, we saw several more beautiful macaws with flaming red tails to show us the beauty of nature. To finish our trip through Costa Rica, we spent the night at the beautiful Llanos de Cortés waterfall. Right in the middle of the forest, in front of us the waterfall and we had the little beach to swim in all by ourselves. To sum up, the nature and fauna of Costa Rica are incredible, but for our taste, the country has lost its authenticity and seems too touristy. We can’t wait to get to Nicaragua and get back off the beaten track!

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Costa Rica

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