18th - 24th February

Costa Rica was largely dedicated to an appointment with a Land Rover mechanic, a week of Spanish lessons and getting everything sorted for the Panama to Colombia shipping process for the car. I had visited Costa Rica with my family in December of 2015 which gave me the excuse to be lazy knowing that I’d explored the country well within the past few years. Will keep this post commensurately short given it was a relatively short stay. Having said that, I really do love Costa Rica and, despite the opinions of some other travellers that I’ve spoken with, I really like San Jose as a city as well.

Entering the country:

The cross into Costa Rica from Nicaragua was my second worst border crossing behind the entry into Nicaragua. I think I’ve explained enough times how painful these border crossings can be so I won’t go into detail. At least for this crossing, I was transporting a Finnish couple that I’d met on Sunday Funday and Otto spoke fluent Spanish which assisted the process somewhat. I did use a tramitador (fixer) again despite swearing off them at the last crossing. Thankfully this one was somewhat more – but not completely - honest.

Crossing the border and starting into Costa Rica, I immediately felt that I’d entered a vastly different country. While the climate (with the thermometer tipping 40C), vegetation and roads appeared identical, I had the notion that I had crossed into a very safe and clean country and much of the stress of the Nicaraguan adventure melted away.

Dropping the Fins in Liberia in the North, I ventured into the biggest city I’d seen in quite some time – San Jose. I was met with traffic, giant toll gates and smog. I also noticed for the first time in a while that there were other Land Rovers on the roads which gave me a sense of comfort and happiness. In heavy traffic, a Canadian in a 4WD next to me noticed my British Colombia plates and yelled “Hey man, you from Vancouver?” which I said nodded affirmatively and I got a “right on!” and a shaka sign which left me with a big smile as I entered the city.

Otto and Sarah from Finland. We met at Sunday Funday in Nicaragua and crossed the border into Costa Rica together. Curiously, we had a mutual Finnish friend from my last South America adventure back in 2010

One of the first things I noticed about Costa Rica was how crazy the currency was. Some pretty big numbers to get your head around

Car repairs:

The main reason for my stay was to visit a mechanic and finally solve some of my car issues. On my first full day there, I visited a Land Rover parts supplier and then dropped my car off at the mechanic for the week. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts but it’s a rare and satisfying treat to have access to both spare parts and trustworthy mechanics.

The car stayed all week in the shop, having brakes changed, exhaust problems finally fixed, door locks switched out, a full service and a thorough clean. I learned that people travel from as far as Honduras to the North and Panama to the South would come to visit the mechanic, Taller Bernal Cruz, because of their excellent reputation and otherwise significant lack of expertise in the region.

In all I paid 617,000 Colon or around US$1,000 for all the work done which, considering how important the repairs were for my journey, I felt to be an absolute bargain.

Like a kid in a candy store: Land Rover parts dealer

I’d been hanging out for months to get my hands on these gaskets and other necessary parts

The best Land Rover shop in Central America

Clean bill of health: All mechanical problems fixed and meticulously cleaned inside and out

Spanish:

During this enforced downtime in San Jose, I figured it was a good time to double down on my Spanish and get some tutoring. While Costa Rica is a terrible place to do this from a cost perspective (it’s relatively an incredibly expensive country compared to its neighbors), I had the time and the inclination to put to my study and invest in my language skills for the benefit of the remainder of my trip.

One of the key reasons I chose the Alaska to Ushuaia route was because I would be able to spend a vast majority of it in Spanish speaking countries. It’s been a life goal of mine for as long as I can remember to be fluent in Spanish and therefore the trip represented a great opportunity for me to inch closer to that goal. Previously I have spent approximately three months in South America, a month in Spain and in between had dabbled in both self-taught and instructed Spanish study back home in Melbourne so I had a base level of competency starting the trip.

The lessons in San Jose were a great way to push my language skills forward. My tutor Angela, of Creole Jamaican descent, introduced me to various past and future tenses and I ended up confused as to which tense to use but nevertheless making progress.

In general, my Spanish is decent. I’ve had times like on the North coast of Colombia where I’ve spoken solely Spanish for multiple days in a row without any English whatsoever. But not all conversation partners are equal and some accents or fast-talkers can throw me and I understand very little. Dealing with restaurants, gas stations, directions and hotels is no problem so I can cope with these daily situations adroitly. In terms of my current capability, what I am wanting is to be able to get to know people, ask them probing questions about themselves, their countries and life and to be truly conversational. I think ultimately just jumping in and being forced to speak in the language is the best way to learn so I try to put myself in those situations as often as possible.

San Jose:

The city of San Jose itself is a place I’ve enjoyed both times I’ve visited. Like any big city it has its drawbacks like heavy traffic and everything being relatively expensive. It took a little adjustment to go from camping on the beach to life in a thriving metropolis. But San Jose is clean, relatively modern and progressive for a Central American city. Costa Rica has benefited greatly from tourism (particularly eco-tourism) and a lot of visitors from North America. It’s safe and you can find pretty much everything you need there.

My favourite part of San Jose is the craft beer culture that has grown there. The suburb of San Pedro, my favourite neighbourhood there, is filled with brew pubs and hipsters. I favoured this spot for my evenings out, trying lots of local brews and gastro pub meals.

One of my favourite Costa Rican craft brews

Fer. We met on my last trip to Costa Rica. Was nice to catch up again a few years on

One of many craft beer flights I had over the week in San Jose

A craft beer restaurant: One of the favourite spots I visited last time I was town

Puerto Viejo:

When I had my car back and concluded my Spanish lessons, I got back on the road and headed to a place called Puerto Viejo which a lot of locals had told me was their favourite place to get away from the city. It was less than a five-hour drive there and located on the Panamanian border on the Caribbean coast, making for a perfect overnight spot before crossing into Panama.

On the way there, I stopped at a sloth sanctuary. I don’t believe I’d ever seen a sloth in real life before. They are incredibly interesting creatures to observe and seem almost unreal. They move incredibly slowly, if at all, and have really interesting faces and expressions. A couple days later, I saw one crossing the road and stopped the car to watch him cross, making sure no cars hit him during his arduously slow journey across.

When I arrived at Puerto Viejo, I learned the town was hosting a surfing tournament and there were no hostels or hotels available so I parked the car in a quiet corner of a parking lot by the beach and flipped the tent. The town itself was cute and what I’d describe as a hippie surfer outpost. I can understand why it’s popular to the city dwellers of San Jose looking for a weekend escape with friends or backpackers in search of some relaxed days by the beach and parties by night. For me, it wasn’t my favourite place and I’ve found I don’t necessarily love such places – they’re not my people and it’s not my kind of place. So, I didn’t mind at all moving on after less than a day there.

The next day I packed the car up early headed for the Panamanian border and a long 10-hour driving day to Panama City.