We landed in San Jose's airport in the morning after a 50 minutes flight from Panama City. We were fast and we got immigration done in a few minutes. No checked bags to pick up, just our backpacks. We left the airport and walked towards the main road to get a bus to downtown.
This time it was even easier to figure out where the bus stop was located than in Panama City. It's just a few feet away from the airport's entrance.
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| There is a guy that reviews 1st class airlines, I could review chicken buses |
After arriving to downtown, we had to cross the city by foot in order to reach the other bus terminal where we could get the bus to Cartago and then to Orosi (I told you in a previous post that public transportation in Costa Rica is a nightmare, I won't complain more about DC). Walking through downtown gave us the chance to explore a bit more the city. In fact we went to San Jose another 2 times to change buses.
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| Mercado Central, San Jose's downtown |
After reading an article on Lonely Planet website about how cool San Jose is becoming, I had some hope. And I left with no faith on Lonely Planet or in San Jose.
Downtown is dodgy, chaotic and dirty. It's no different from other Central American capitals that we already visited. You need 20 minutes to visit Managua and 2h to visit San Jose.
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| Make sure that you include the National Teather on your 2h tour of San Jose |
Less than 1h later we arrived to Cartago where we decided to have lunch (skip this part and go directly to Orosi) and take another bus, this time to Orosi.
There we stayed at Orosi Lodge (#1 on Tripadvisor, book in advance). And from there we explored the valley and Tapanti National Park.
Upon our arrival we decided to go for a short trek on the valley that got into a long one. We planned to walk along the road and eventually to get a bus to Paraiso. The bus driver that was driving like a maniac refused to stop and we had to keep walking towards the closest - largest village. Meanwhile we came across coffee farmers and we met some locals.
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| Orosi Valley |
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| Suspension bridge |
In the next morning we went by cab to the Tapanti National Park (the driver dropped us off at the park's entrance and picked us up 3h later, make it 4h if you are planning to go to Sendero Arboles Caidos). It's a long way to arrive there and the road is unpaved.
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| Waterfall |
We walked all the way to the lookout point which took us less than 1h. It's an easy path, slightly uphill in the very end.
Then we did the hardest hike in this park, Senderos Arboles Caidos. The name is very literal: a 2,5 kms thickly and heavily forested trail.
It's very challenging, muddy and hilly.
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| Lookout Point |
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| Muddy and hilly trail |
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| Some of the beauties that we saw along the trail |
After all this exercise, we had a well deserved treat, this amazing river trout! And then we took another 3 buses until our next destination.
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| Soda Casa del Sabor Road 224 in front of the gas station on the way to/from Orosi |
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