COSTA RICA TRAVEL DOCUMENTARY | 4x4 Road Trip

Costa Rica, a country rich in magnificent volcanoes, perfect beaches and dense jungles, follow us on our all-terrain vehicle adventure through one of the most biodiverse countries on our planet. Upon arrival at the airport, we received a warm welcome from our rental agency and met our journey for the next four weeks, after a thorough briefing, we soon found ourselves leaving the city. It took us less than two hours to reach the first stretch of bumpy

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s in the Costa Rican wilderness. Once we reached our destination, we went. A short hike to the Bava volcano walking through a beautiful stretch of moss covered forest took us to the continental divide between the Pacific and the Caribbean, after a couple of kilometers we reached a panoramic viewing platform overlooking the lagoon of the volcano, we can also get a good glimpse.

From the fast moving cloud systems around the mountain ranges of Costa Rica, shortly after returning to the car we experienced our first tropical storm in Costa Rica, it was only a matter of minutes until the

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s were flooded early the next morning , we visited the stall. volcano, so we had a big eruption like two years ago, that's why now everyone has to wear a helmet and that's why the other trails are close by, so it will take you 10 to 15 minutes to get to the viewpoint, it's 700 meters. walk as soon as you get to the crater, you have 20 minutes there when we got to the crater we saw nothing but a white wall but as the clouds were moving incredibly fast we hoped to catch at least a glimpse of the crater lake. it's always special when you get more than you bargained for when we arrived at okan powers crater lake about an hour ago we didn't see anything just clouds and fog everywhere but in just 40 minutes the whole window opened and we arrived to see the entire crater lake and surrounding landscape, it was absolutely wonderful to drive on the winding roads.

We headed to Alto Palomo, where we stumbled upon a coffee and cocktail workshop. It took no convincing to stay and learn about the traditional coast. While making rich coffee, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery for a while before continuing our journey, as soon as we drove through a narrow mountain pass, the fog moved obscuring our view, however, we saw a beautiful blue Grecian in the middle of the green forest which invited us to a short break not far away an impressive waterfall falls 90 meters through the jungle catarata del toro is one of the most impressive waterfalls in

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a hiking route leads up 350 stairs to the bottom of the force that houses The surrounding forest a variety of plants and animals such as hummingbirds, whales and squirrels.

One thing we learned very quickly in Costa Rica is that the distances to

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seem much shorter on the map than they are in reality, it takes us hours and hours to get places. Because you can often only drive 30 to 40 kilometers per hour, we then explore the northern end of the central valley before turning south again driving along a mountain road. We saw a particularly picturesque waterfall on the other side of the gorge, not long after we had to leave the serenity of the mountains as we needed to navigate through several towns once we left the villages behind we soon found ourselves on a small dirt road looking for a camp good morning from our camp on the mountainside of irasu volcano, here it is very calm and bitter cold for

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maybe five degrees maximum so we just prepared our coffee and we are almost ready to start the day on our way Down we caught a glimpse of the picturesque landscape around us a short walk took us to the crater of the irasu volcano then we drove to the top of the volcano where we parked the car in one of the most epic places with an altitude of 3432 meters.

Irasu is the highest volcano in Costa Rica. It also tends to be quite windy in the distance. We saw some smoke rising from the volcano to Rialba. which is currently closed to visitors seeing the queue of vehicles waiting to enter the park we were glad we arrived early in the morning heading south we soon got to enjoy the view of the fertile orozzi valley which tends to be popular with Apanti cyclists The national park is part of the Rosie Valley and one of the wettest places in Costa Rica. Water is an essential part of this rainforest ecosystem, so we gladly accept rain on our short walks.

That same afternoon we set up camp directly next to the Orozzi River. On a nearby tree we saw some fascinating insects. Leafcutter ants can carry up to 20 times their body weight. They cut the leaves to serve as a breeding ground for the mushrooms they grow in their underground homes with humans. Leafcutter ants form the largest and most complex animal. societies on earth the roads they

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on are nothing less than highways the next day we woke up to the sound of the rumbling river while we enjoyed our morning coffee the sun came out and bathed the landscape in a beautiful golden light shortly after leaving the En At the camp we found an intriguing pedestrian bridge that swung over the Orozzi River.

Then it was time to leave the central valley behind and drive towards the Caribbean Sea. Our arrival at the ocean sparked a considerable amount of joy. The perfect beaches were almost empty, while the sun illuminated the palm trees. We watched the sunset slowly while enjoying our first campsite by the sea. The highlight along the southern Caribbean coast was a visit to Kawita National Park. We teamed up with a local guide to have a better chance to see the world. Camouflaged Wildlife Anywhere you see almond trees, even outside the park on site, you'll likely be able to see a slogan.

Okay, I practically can't live in these trees. We clocked the pitch for two hours and saw a wide range of animals perched high above. In a tree we saw an iguana enjoying the sun further down but very well hidden we saw several Jesus Christ lizards. Its name is due to its ability to run up to 40 meters above the water. A distant relative of its is the Irish viper that we found perched on a much higher branch. easy to spot was this agouti feasting on a tree nut directly next to the trail. Later, a noisy russell revealed the location of a group of howler monkeys in the trees above and finally, we met a family of raccoons who made their way across the beach after an exciting morning, we set up Kemp in a quiet place by the ocean where we started a little cleaning.

We were rewarded with a spectacular sunset and a heavy downpour the next morning. We waited for over an hour but the rain showed no signs of letting up instead of getting drenched we decided to s

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naked and quickly fill the tank uh outdoor activities are of limited fun in the rain so we decided to drive north towards tortuguero tortuguero It is a small town surrounded by water and can only be accessed by boat, the boat ride offered us a nice breeze in this hot and humid climate, the river had an unusual brown color due to the many sediments washed away by the heavy rains. 40 minutes later we arrived at our destination, Tortuga Lodge, located at the northern end of the lagoon, this lodge is a real gem, a small infinity pool, garden paths and hammocks to relax in this place, it helps everyone calm down, also the friendly staff made our stay unforgettable for me, it's all like I put a video oh my goodness. it's a good day i love this day i love my life i like talking to you yes exactly we are currently exploring the private rainforest trails of our lodge here in Hotogero and it has been raining a lot in the last few days which means that all the trails They are essentially flooded with water and mud and of course this is a perfect breeding ground for the mosquitoes that swarm around us.

The rubber boots were a great help in keeping our feet dry at least until the water was up to our knees. After a couple of minutes on the trails we realized we were surrounded by hundreds of small poisonous frogs. The bright red color of frogs acts as a warning signal to predators. Interestingly, frogs do not produce poison themselves, but only become toxic after feeding on certain types of ants. In the gardens of the lodge we also saw many other animals, such as bats, a young caiman, a huge iguana, tiger herons, a pale-complexioned woodpecker, a moctezuma or a pandola and many other birds, especially striking with the different types of toucans , like this colorful arakari that can easily.

Recognized by their shiny beaks, our akaris live in groups of up to 15 birds and can often be seen feasting on fruit. Its close cousin, the black-jawed toucan, is possibly even more striking. It is impossible to miss these golden-mantled howler monkeys who growled loudly while eating their favorite leaves in the garden, they are the largest monkeys in the Americas and are notoriously famous for their howls that can travel up to five kilometers through the rainforest. , like other monkeys, often move by jumping from branch to branch, while one could easily spend days. At the hostel we decided to also explore the surroundings, a small boat took us to the opposite side of the lagoon, there we took a path that took us directly to the local airport, where small passenger planes land and depart several times a day passing through the airport.

We arrived at the beach which is usually the main attraction of Total Guerra from March to October. Leatherback and green turtles come to this beach to lay their eggs approximately 70 days later, the baby turtles will be born into a dangerous world full of predators despite being a major tourist destination the beach was full of trash the best thing about a cleanup beach is that other people will see you and start to feel inspired by what you are doing and then it will become a community effort of everyone cleaning the beach and that making it much more beautiful and much cleaner our efforts were rewarded when we saw a hatchling of turtle crawling towards the ocean the next day we left early in the morning for a canoe tour, the canoe allowed us to move silently towards the smaller channels where we observed nature up close, we were lucky to see a group of white faced capuchins making its way through the trees.

These highly intelligent monkeys are very social and live in groups of up to 16 animals. They are as cheeky as they are cute and we have been known to rob inattentive tourists shortly after our return we experienced a tropical storm in its fullest form. It's amazing how quickly so much water can fall to the ground after three nights in totalgero, it was time to say goodbye and so off we went. Back to the car, okay, it was a bit of a rocky start after three nights in Tortuguero, our car just didn't want to start even though we had it hooked up to two different vehicles, but then we let it sit for an extra 10 minutes just charging . on its own and fortunately it started again and now we are off to new adventures.

Then we left the Caribbean behind and drove through northern Costa Rica until we reached the Arena volcano. We set up our tent in a beautiful location directly on the coast. from lake arenal looking towards the volcano of course we did not hesitate to go for a quick swim in the cold lake driving towards the south of the lake, we checked the depth of a river and prudently decided not to cross it, instead we went to some hot springs along the roadside where we enjoyed a relaxing waterfall massage while the Arenal Volcano was quiet during our visit.

It has been active many times in the past. One of the remains of a past outbreak is a lava flow from 1968 that can be explored on a hiking trail. Pura vida for me means as a way of living is more than just expressing with a smile or just being kind and here in Costa Rich is what we do, we share happiness, it's basically like that, it's more than a job, it's a way of living. There are other wonderful trails in the nearby observatory. It is not uncommon to find one of Costa Rica's largest birds here, the great curacao, while the male is completely black, the female sports a radish pattern.

The highlight of our visit was climbing a 20 meter high watchtower. in the forest canopy from above allowed us to discover a large number of birds including the black-jawed toucan and the keel-billed toucan walking through a picturesque rainforest, we soon found our way to a picturesque waterfall, not far Afterwards we couldn't help but laugh. Seeing those rainforest cows looking for a place to camp, we finally came to test the four-wheel drive capabilities of our vehicle. We found a beautiful spot at the north end of Lake Arenal and settled in for the evening portion ofOur

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turned out to be quite foggy. again while we were stuck in traffic from time to time once we reached tenorio national park we started our hike towards one of the most impressive waterfalls in costa rica hidden in the dense jungle the color of the rio celeste waterfall is nothing short of stunning The distinctive turquoise color of the river is an optical illusion created by sunlight refracting the minerals in the acidic water in a process called I Dispersion of Science.

On one side this river is wonderful to look at beyond the waterfall several other viewpoints They invite visitors to stay. The trail follows the river bank until it reaches the end at the confluence of two small streams. At this point the optical illusion first appears just after the drone crashed into the river. I jumped into action. Luckily, it took me less than two minutes to find him, walk over and tell him. if it's hot water good idea once it's here yeah yeah hot and cold running water warm it's hot yeah when it's hot okay that's fascinating thanks more questions guys then we move on our journey along steep mountain roads until we arrive.

A windy plateau with many windmills One of the best places to see volcanic activity in Costa Rica is Rincon de la Vieja National Park The park has several pools of boiling water A smoking mini volcano Fumaroles in the dense jungle and lots of mud bubbly so the majestic The park's forests are home to many animals, including parrots and bees. A little easier to spot there are groups of spider monkeys that forage for food in the trees above, they feed mainly on fruits, while sometimes they eat leaves. Spider monkeys are great climbers and use their tail as a fifth limp to stabilize their movements.

Occasionally they can be seen hanging from a branch. held entirely by their tail spider monkeys are social animals that live in groups of up to 40 individuals play fights between young animals are as common as lice to each other after leaving the national park behind we decided to take a shortcut which of course resulted in There is no None of that on the positive side, we found this incredibly blue river and didn't hesitate to go for a swim. Then it was time to venture to the northwest corner of Costa Rica. We arrived just in time for the calm sunset. costa de mayor soleil the next morning we woke up clearing towards nicaragua this area is also a hot spot for seabirds like pelicans and oyster fishermen this is a good off road stretch here in santa rosa national park in the northwest of costa rica , we have a journey of approximately 12 kilometers to reach a beach, we have covered about eight of them, but it gets increasingly bumpy.

Oh and there was only one lizard on the trail, well that's Costa Rica for you, that's Costa Rica, the trail was a lot. of fun, especially with all the mud holes you had to cross in those cases, the journey tends to be as fun as the destination driving through a dense forest, we were happy to see a white-tailed deer hiding in the bushes at the end track. We arrived at a completely deserted beach. We're just trying to make lunch in Santa Rosa National Park, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to do so as there are a gang of iguanas scattered around us waiting patiently to catch a little piece of food that people must have.

I have been feeding these iguanas in the past because they no longer showed fear of humans, at least the white faced capuchins were busy looking for food themselves after a quick outdoor shower which we decided to return and then drove south along the panamericana until reaching the nicoya peninsula at which point we had acquired a taste for small trails off the beaten path which also included occasionally helping to move fallen trees out of the way many small river crossings later we arrived at an incredible viewpoint while the drone was swimming a bit in a river three days ago we have dried it in rice now for almost 72 hours let's see if it really still works a lot of beeps were not a good sign the drone showed a battery failure after the first attempt to restart the drone failed due to a battery times we deep cleaned the battery holders with alcohol and completely reset the whole system and now we will try again to see if it works again.

The moment of truth we return to the game, while the Nikoya peninsula has, without a doubt, beautiful beaches, it is also very touristy. At the same time, most of the roads are riddled with potholes, sensing our aversion to potholes, our navigation app sent us down even smaller roads, which didn't necessarily help our progress, it seems like we're somehow taking the wrong path because we keep ending up in these. Small travel paths where there are several river crossings and many muddy patches so we are really just trying to find lunch but it takes hours to get places, at some point it seemed like we couldn't move at all anymore.

Finally, after spending a lot of time on back roads, we arrived at a quaint restaurant to enjoy a well-deserved lunch. Some of the beaches on the Nicoya Peninsula are also famous for their sea visitors. Olive ridley sea turtles regularly come to Ostianar beach to rest. their eggs in the dark of night a nest can contain between 80 and 120 eggs despite being the smallest of all sea turtles they are still impressive in size female turtles return to the same beach where they were once born to lay their eggs his ex next In the morning we went out before dawn to watch hundreds of baby turtles crawl towards the ocean as they emerged from underground.

Baby turtles have a difficult road ahead of them. The sad truth is that only 1 in every 1,000 offspring will survive to adulthood. We watched as these little guys instinctively headed towards the sea. Then it was time to leave the Nikoya Peninsula and drive inland again. Our navigation app seems to have decided that it will only send us down the smallest, windiest, bumpiest route possible. The most adventurous roads possible on our way to Monteverde we are taking mountain pass roads where there is almost no one, we have barely seen other cars driving towards us and the roads are getting smaller and smaller with views like these, we were not complaining about the roads.

As soon as we arrived we took a tour of a coffee plantation. The idea will simply be to choose the reds well. I wish we could say, "pick them right," but you're not supposed to pick the stems or you'll be penalized. You're also not supposed to pick the beans and they're not ripe. Are you ready? That takes between 30 minutes and an hour for one. Let's say you're thinking this is someone. I'll try this one, of course, too. I have to try some freshly brewed coffee. You use the same filter on a man who spends the night waiting for my leg to be there.

After having learned a lot about coffee, we continued to educate ourselves about the cocoa fruit. Those who are in the center. This is really sweet. chocolate, right, because chocolate is the mixture, in this case the two ingredients you need to mix are cocoa and vanilla. All other ingredients will be random. I feel like adding sugar, but the sugar is not part of the recipe, but the sugar actually comes from New Guinea. Originally people used to make a mixer between cocoa, vanilla, chili, cocoa, vanilla, a pasote, pasotis, celery and they have these very strange mixers with fruits, er, with meat, many things that have nothing to do with chocolate that we know today.

Someone thought it was a good idea to add. We add sugar to it and it is, but sugar was not one of the ingredients right after we witnessed various grinding techniques of cocoa beans. Vanilla was added to the mix and we started making our own drinks. Last but not least, we grind our own soft drinks from sugar cane. We are walking through the Monteverde cloud forest reserve and while the forest is very beautiful, very green and covered in moss, it is almost criminal to charge 25 per person for a walk through the forest. The cloud forest lived up to its name as we were enveloped in a sea of ​​fog it is a mysteriously dark green and humid place that is nevertheless teeming with life leaving Monteverde behind, we drove along equally picturesque mountain roads, we continued to the coast and we met the Pacific Ocean again, settling in our camp on the seashore.

We decided it was time for a break, unfortunately the weather was not conducive to our plans to relax and therefore sent very heavy rain upon us in a matter of minutes, the ground was flooded while our tent was collecting a decent amount of water, Of course, we didn't let the rain get wet. our spirits the next day we visited the manuel antonio national park arriving very early in the morning is key if you want to have the opportunity to enjoy the beaches and wildlife undisturbed, the crowds do not take long to arrive which will change the reserve.

We entered an amusement park, then left the Pacific coast behind and turned inland, as we intended to go on a long hike. We are just making our first stops on the trail to the summit of Manchuripo, which is the highest mountain in Costa Rica with an elevation of 3,820 meters. The road at the beginning is very muddy as there have been a lot of people walking here and horses that we can see because of the amount of manure on the road, but it is still early in the morning, we start at six o'clock and I still have plenty of time to reach base camp today before reaching the summit of Manchuripo tomorrow morning.

Shortly into the hike, we found a mandarin tree. The fruity smell promised us a delicious trailside snack. Oh my god, it just came up. I want to cry, naturally. We had to try it too. We continued our walk by constantly climbing blocks through the forest. We also occasionally encountered oncoming traffic after enjoying the beautiful sunshine at first, the clouds soon closed in on us. After a short lunch break, we continued our hike. under a light drizzle we have successfully crossed the 3000 meter altitude mark and we can definitely feel that the air is much lighter up here as our breathing becomes much heavier the road is still steep we have been on it with brakes for Approximately Now eight hours we still have four kilometers to go, so hopefully we will reach the cabin before nightfall.

It wasn't long after that the forest cover lifted and we could see more of the surrounding landscape again. The clouds were moving quickly along the mountainside as we slowly advanced along the trail once we discovered the mountains known as the crestones we knew we could no longer be far from the base camp, we are just on our last stretch, the last maybe 200 meters to today's final destination, the base chamber we have taken. It took us about 11 hours to get to this and we were really exhausted by the end of the day. We made it and tomorrow we will reach the top of Manchuripo.

The next morning we started walking at 2:30 a.m. m., but Anna soon realized that her knee was giving her trouble after bringing her in. behind I continued alone, climbing the last few meters just before dawn, congratulations, a few minutes after reaching the summit, the sun came out and the landscape was bathed in a warm light, everyone else left shortly after, as some of them They had been sitting on the summit. for an hour in the dark, that way I could enjoy the view alone. I am standing at the top of Mount Chiripó, the highest mountain in Costa Rica at 3,820 meters.

The sun came out about half an hour ago and is starting to set a little. It's a little warmer here but still very windy, the view is great in all directions, you can see a lot of the surrounding mountains, you can see absolutely beautiful lakes, but I must say it was an exhausting climb up here after a good stay at the top. I decided to return as well on my way down. I was finally able to enjoy the view of the landscape that had been revealed in the darkness on the way up instead of going down the same day like most people do.

We had previously decided to stay a second night. Therefore, I took the opportunity to also climb the second highest mountain in Costa Rica in the afternoon at three thousand eight hundred and twelve meters. Cerro Venesqueros is just eight meters lower than Cerro Chiripó, the view was equally wonderful and I stayed for more than an hour watching the cloud. up early the next morning we began our descent down the mountain it wasn't long until our old friend the mud welcomed us back, little did we know that our relationship with chucho would only intensify oh we were stuck here in this mud so deep it didn't seem so deep or so sticky when we entered, obviously it wasn't thebetter idea, but now we're stuck and I was just trying to find someone to help get us out in the meantime.

We are digging as much as we can, but even at a low range we couldn't get out of here, so let's see how it turns out. Fortunately, a very friendly Tico came to our rescue. Several failed attempts later we began to wonder why. It turned out that in the heat of the moment I was driving forward instead of backward, I literally changed the keys and got out on the next try, did that little mishap stop us from further adventures even a little bit shortly after boarding the tiller? Crossing the river by ferry to the Osa Peninsula taking this route, we enjoyed some spectacular landscapes.

The route to our planned destination, a town called Drake Bay, included several river crossings despite some beautiful beaches. We soon realized that the town was not the wild getaway. We expected it to be more of a tourist spot. We quickly headed out again crossing several more rivers as we headed deeper into the wilderness. At the end of the path we reached a picturesque beach. This beach took us directly to the Corcovado jungle, one of the last true jungles left. wild areas in Costa Rica, of course, we did not hesitate to jump into the clear water with a large number of coconuts growing on the palm trees, we harvested some to enjoy a refreshing drink and then we returned crossing all the rivers again on our way to the other side of the Osa peninsula, looking for a campsite, we soon found ourselves on small off-road trails that led through the jungle, among palm trees, we set up camp and watched some surfers hit the afternoon waves and the next morning we found several rivers more. thank you very much wet from top to bottom thank you in no time we climbed a hillside as a wonderful view opened up in front of us we continued to the end of the road where the trail simply follows the bed of a dry river and although the track was certainly bumpy it really We enjoyed the feeling of remote nature in this part of Costa Rica.

We realized our time in Costa Rica was coming to an end and decided to spend one last night by the ocean relaxing in our hammock. We remember the exciting trip. We had but our trip was not over yet, we have a truly magical camp here, we have the ocean on this side, we have the cocovado jungle on this side and right above us in the trees there are some scarlet macaws feasting on some nuts. Truly magical, the scarlet macar is possibly one of the most beautiful birds in Costa Rica. Its bright red, yellow and blue spot clearly distinguishes it from the green jungle foliage.

However, they can often be heard before they are seen, as their shrill honks can be heard from afar. And throughout the Yosa Peninsula it is one of the few places in Costa Rica where you can still find these colorful birds, the skull and cores eat mainly fruits, nuts and seeds. They are often seen feeding on pears or even in larger groups. This behavior is known as courtship feeding. and is believed to strengthen the bond between mating pairs, of course the jungle was also full of other animals, in addition to howler monkeys and small parrots, we also saw a white-nosed quati, the Corcovado Desert is also home to the fourth species of monkey in Costa Rica.

Squirrel monkeys are the smallest and possibly the cutest of the four different types, however, their cuteness makes them especially vulnerable to ending up in the pet trade, so it was time for us to ditch the bear. peninsula behind and we drove back north towards the central valley before long we were back in the mountains driving up to 3000 meters altitude towards the famous Cerro de la Muerte mountain pass, the views were spectacular with the clouds passing over the peaks of the mountains that we managed to establish. We camped just as the sun faded behind the mountains, instead of taking the main road we decided to explore a winding mountain road through Quetzal National Park.

The landscape views were nothing short of stunning. Our last day here. Costa Rica really offers us what we want. Driving on a very hilly road with very little debris and we came to a point where there is just a hole in the road and there is rope work and then I asked the workers if we could pass because we urgently need to get to the next fuel station and they just said Well, you have to wait an hour, so here we are stranded on a very hilly road waiting an hour until we can get through. We waited patiently and it's true, 45 minutes later the hole was filled and we moved on.

We continued north along the Pan-American Highway passing through many forks before approaching the cities of the central valley. We had no choice but to drive straight through San José, spending almost two hours for 40 kilometers and then it was time to let him go after four weeks. Traveling three thousand kilometers and exploring almost every corner of the country we had to say goodbye to Costa Rica along with all the beautiful landscapes we saw. Costa Rica also taught us to smile in the face of adversity, to try harder when we fight to move forward and to accept that things They will inevitably go wrong, but we learned that it's those moments that make our best stories surprise you.