I spent the next few days taking a break from traveling, catching up on writing and generally 
relaxing, waiting for Josh and Marisa to join me on the trek through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Unfortunately, things did not start on the right foot, as their flight connection in Miami was almost 6 hours late, due to weather, so instead of picking them up from the airport and going for dinner, I grabbed a cab at around 1:30am, since it is not a good idea to take buses that late or walk around on the streets. The important thing is that they arrived safe and sound, though obviously really tired, yet in all the excitement of seeing eachother, we ended up staying up until about 4am, catching up and making plans for our route. Since we had to buy 
tickets to head to Granada in person in San Jose, we took a day trip so that they can see the Costa Rican capital (which we just about covered in less than 3 hours). Another set back was the fact that the next day's bus was already full, so time for adjustments yet again, deciding to visit the Poas Volcano since we had an extra day in the country.
For the rest of the afternoon we walked around the main pedestrian street, taking pictures of the cow statues (similar to the Moose project in Toronto), stopping at the National Theatre as well. In typical Costa Rican fashion for this time of the year, it started raining heavily in the early
afternoon, so both Marisa and I made wise investments into one umbrella for each, which has come in very handy ever since! To get some last minute supplies for the trip, we went to the Mercado Central, walked through it for a bit, then sat down at one of the typical comedores and had a really huge lunch. Having realised there is not much else to do in San Jose, we got back on the bus and returned to Alajuela for the night.
We woke up much earlier and more rested the next day, and after breakfast we packed our daypacks and went to the TUASA terminal, where we joined the line of Gringos waiting for
the once-a-day bus to Volcan Poas. Last time I was there I was traveling with a couple who had a car, so this bus trip was new for me as well. We really lucked out as we ended up getting the last available seats on the bus, thus sparing us having to stand for the hour and a half trip. At one point the bus made a rest stop at a soda along the way, and we shared a good laugh when some of the tourists thought the food was free! Guess they never heard the expression there is no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually we arrived at the park, paid the entrance fee and headed straight for the crater, since I knew that later on in the day the clouds obscure the crater and then the
rain sets in.
We were really lucky and had about a 20 minute window when everything was clear and got a chance to take lots of photos; it was a good thing we brought warmer clothes as it is fairly cold and windy at that altitude (over 2500 m). After admiring the active crater and the poisonous cloud it expelled, we headed down the path towards the dormant crater, which now has a lake filling it. We got to see the laguna, which was better than the view I had the first time around, and about 15 minutes after we got there, a huge dark cloud moved in and it didn't just start to
rain, it started to pour. We took shelter under the cover of a small cabin, hoping it would go away quickly, but it soon became evident we weren't going to be that lucky. With umbrellas in hand, we slowly made our way back to the visitors' centre, where we walked around the shop and the small museum that explains the history of the volcano. The storm was so strong that even the power went out for a while, and our bus driver was nice enough to pull the bus right up to the entrance, sparing us another walk in the rain to the parking lot. We (again) got the last seats on the bus, and I don't know how, but I managed to squeeze in a small nap before we returned to Alajuela, where we had dinner at Coffee Dreams Cafe before returning to the hotel to pack our stuff to head to Nicaragua the next day.
relaxing, waiting for Josh and Marisa to join me on the trek through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Unfortunately, things did not start on the right foot, as their flight connection in Miami was almost 6 hours late, due to weather, so instead of picking them up from the airport and going for dinner, I grabbed a cab at around 1:30am, since it is not a good idea to take buses that late or walk around on the streets. The important thing is that they arrived safe and sound, though obviously really tired, yet in all the excitement of seeing eachother, we ended up staying up until about 4am, catching up and making plans for our route. Since we had to buy 
tickets to head to Granada in person in San Jose, we took a day trip so that they can see the Costa Rican capital (which we just about covered in less than 3 hours). Another set back was the fact that the next day's bus was already full, so time for adjustments yet again, deciding to visit the Poas Volcano since we had an extra day in the country.For the rest of the afternoon we walked around the main pedestrian street, taking pictures of the cow statues (similar to the Moose project in Toronto), stopping at the National Theatre as well. In typical Costa Rican fashion for this time of the year, it started raining heavily in the early
afternoon, so both Marisa and I made wise investments into one umbrella for each, which has come in very handy ever since! To get some last minute supplies for the trip, we went to the Mercado Central, walked through it for a bit, then sat down at one of the typical comedores and had a really huge lunch. Having realised there is not much else to do in San Jose, we got back on the bus and returned to Alajuela for the night.We woke up much earlier and more rested the next day, and after breakfast we packed our daypacks and went to the TUASA terminal, where we joined the line of Gringos waiting for
the once-a-day bus to Volcan Poas. Last time I was there I was traveling with a couple who had a car, so this bus trip was new for me as well. We really lucked out as we ended up getting the last available seats on the bus, thus sparing us having to stand for the hour and a half trip. At one point the bus made a rest stop at a soda along the way, and we shared a good laugh when some of the tourists thought the food was free! Guess they never heard the expression there is no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually we arrived at the park, paid the entrance fee and headed straight for the crater, since I knew that later on in the day the clouds obscure the crater and then the
rain sets in.We were really lucky and had about a 20 minute window when everything was clear and got a chance to take lots of photos; it was a good thing we brought warmer clothes as it is fairly cold and windy at that altitude (over 2500 m). After admiring the active crater and the poisonous cloud it expelled, we headed down the path towards the dormant crater, which now has a lake filling it. We got to see the laguna, which was better than the view I had the first time around, and about 15 minutes after we got there, a huge dark cloud moved in and it didn't just start to
rain, it started to pour. We took shelter under the cover of a small cabin, hoping it would go away quickly, but it soon became evident we weren't going to be that lucky. With umbrellas in hand, we slowly made our way back to the visitors' centre, where we walked around the shop and the small museum that explains the history of the volcano. The storm was so strong that even the power went out for a while, and our bus driver was nice enough to pull the bus right up to the entrance, sparing us another walk in the rain to the parking lot. We (again) got the last seats on the bus, and I don't know how, but I managed to squeeze in a small nap before we returned to Alajuela, where we had dinner at Coffee Dreams Cafe before returning to the hotel to pack our stuff to head to Nicaragua the next day. 
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