Although there hasn't exactly been a bumper crop of movies out this spring, I am still playing catch up from the two weeks I missed while I was on holiday in April. With The Great Gatsby pencilled in for Tuesday (it's gotta be done), the next film on my list is one that has had a lot less air time. They are, of course, very different movies, although the American Dream is an important theme in both Baz Luhrmann's new film and Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
At the start of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, an American professor at a Pakistani university is kidnapped. Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) is a US reporter based in Lahore who is trying to work out what happened. As part of his investigation, he meets a young Pakistani man called Changez (Riz Ahmed), a colleague of the missing American's, who may be involved in the anti-American movement behind the kidnapping. Changez decides to help Bobby, but to do so involves him telling his own story. He asks Bobby to promise that he will listen to the whole story and not just selectively pull out the parts he wants to hear.
Ten years earlier and Changez has just graduated summa cum laude from Princeton, which he attended on a full scholarship. At an interview for one of the most prestigious financial consultancies in Manhattan, he manages to impress Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland), who hires him and eventually learns that his young protégé's name isn't pronounced changes. Changez loves his job and he loves New York. The other trainees like him, despite the fact that he is clearly the boss's favourite, although they are less uncertain when, during a conversation about what they plan to be doing in 25 years' time, Changez announces his ambition to be a military dictator. He meets a talented artist Erica (Kate Hudson), but never manages to get her contact details. Luckily, it turns out that her uncle is a bigwig at Changez's firm and he gets to meet her again. They fall in love, and although Erica has a lot of sadness in her past, they are happy together.
But just when Changez starts to realise his own American Dream, a couple of things happen. First (and we knew this was coming), September 11th happens. Changez is on a business trip at the time, but on his return to the US, he is forced to undergo a full strip search at the airport, and he soon comes to understand that the world he thought he loved—and belonged in—isn't really his world at all. Then, when he goes back to Pakistan for his sister's wedding, he is faced with his father's disapproval of his life in Manhattan and particularly his job. Meanwhile, he and Erica keep fighting about small things and about important things, and increasingly, it seems like they are mismatched. It's not just that they don't have much in common; their world-views and their values sometimes seem completely at odds.
Slowly, Bobby begins to learn more of Changez's true story. We know, of course, that Changez came back to Pakistan, but what was the final straw? And did his formative years in New York really prime him for a life of insurgency, or does he just find the concept of revolution to be interesting academically? Whereas Bobby as a journalist got to pick a side, Changez says that after 9/11, "I didn't pick a side — it was picked for me." And there are other twists in the tale as the hunt for the missing professor and the kidnappers closes in.
I found The Reluctant Fundamentalist to be interesting and thought-provoking, which is no mean feat in a saturated market of post-9/11 movies. Ahmed's performance carried the movie: he was powerful and complex, even if I found it a little hard to believe that present-day Changez was supposed to be 32. The other main cast didn't have a huge amount to do: Hudson's character just annoyed me, and Sutherland's caring capitalist and Schreiber's schlubby hack were almost paint-by-numbers characters. Although I enjoyed Changez's Manhattan flashbacks and their contrast with the Lahore scenes, when the film ended, I felt a good 20 minutes could have been cut without losing anything from the story. IMDb classifies the film as a thriller, but although it was engaging viewing, I wouldn't say I was exactly on the edge of my seat. Reflection on the sociopolitical and moral nature of contemporary Pakistan and USA isn't quite so catchy, of course.
19 May 2013
The Caffeine Chronicles: Inversions
It's been over a year since I got my first Aeropress, and I'm now a complete convert, with one at home and one at my office. The next stages of coffee geekery took a little longer, however. I bought a bag of coffee beans at The Common Cup in Monteverde, Costa Rica, which came from a local farm and which had been roasted the day before. Because I wouldn't be getting home for another week, I didn't get the beans ground, and on my return, this prompted me to get a grinder at last. As I didn't have an unlimited coffee geekery budget, I went for a Cuisinart burr grinder, and I've been pretty happy so far. It took a little bit of experimentation before I found the right grind (not quite as fine as the grinder will go, but almost, for my 45-second steep time).
So far, so good. It's been great drinking freshly ground coffee at home each morning. The grinding process is a little messy, but it's worth it.
The next step in the coffee geekery process was mastering the inverted Aeropress technique. The problem with the regular method (see this post) is that as soon as you pour the water into the chamber it starts to drip through before the coffee has had enough time to steep. The inverted method gets around this problem and gives you a richer, stronger brew. It's fairly straightforward, but a can be a little messy, so it's definitely best to practice in the kitchen if you usually make your Aeropress somewhere else.
First, grind a small amount of coffee—I use one scoopful of the scoop that came with the Aeropress; I'm not yet measuring by weight! Turn the plunger upside down, so that the rubber seal is facing up. I like to wet the seal with a little water. Turn the chamber upside down and gently press it over the seal, which should come to about the number 4.
Add your coffee into the top of the chamber and then add just-boiled water. I like to fill up to the number 1 mark. Give it a quick stir and then allow to steep. For my Costa Rican coffee, I like to steep it for 45 seconds. While it's steeping, I like to warm my mug with some hot water. I will then put one of the paper filters into the cap and pour a little hot water through the filter.
Put the cap on the top of the chamber and then, holding all of the apparatus in both hands, turn the Aeropress upside and onto the top of your mug. It's really easy for the rubber seal to come loose from the chamber so hold it firmly. Gently push the plunger through the chamber, stopping once you hear the rush of air and expel the rest of the liquid into the sink—this part tends to be over-extracted.
Depending on how strong you like your coffee, you may want to top up your mug with a little more hot water. I tend to add a little. Enjoy!
The next stages, of course, are buying a super-accurate kitchen scale and experimenting with a metal Aeropress filter. I'm a hopeless case...
 |
| Cuisinart burr grinder and some Costa Rican coffee beans |
So far, so good. It's been great drinking freshly ground coffee at home each morning. The grinding process is a little messy, but it's worth it.
The next step in the coffee geekery process was mastering the inverted Aeropress technique. The problem with the regular method (see this post) is that as soon as you pour the water into the chamber it starts to drip through before the coffee has had enough time to steep. The inverted method gets around this problem and gives you a richer, stronger brew. It's fairly straightforward, but a can be a little messy, so it's definitely best to practice in the kitchen if you usually make your Aeropress somewhere else.
First, grind a small amount of coffee—I use one scoopful of the scoop that came with the Aeropress; I'm not yet measuring by weight! Turn the plunger upside down, so that the rubber seal is facing up. I like to wet the seal with a little water. Turn the chamber upside down and gently press it over the seal, which should come to about the number 4.
Add your coffee into the top of the chamber and then add just-boiled water. I like to fill up to the number 1 mark. Give it a quick stir and then allow to steep. For my Costa Rican coffee, I like to steep it for 45 seconds. While it's steeping, I like to warm my mug with some hot water. I will then put one of the paper filters into the cap and pour a little hot water through the filter.
Put the cap on the top of the chamber and then, holding all of the apparatus in both hands, turn the Aeropress upside and onto the top of your mug. It's really easy for the rubber seal to come loose from the chamber so hold it firmly. Gently push the plunger through the chamber, stopping once you hear the rush of air and expel the rest of the liquid into the sink—this part tends to be over-extracted.
Depending on how strong you like your coffee, you may want to top up your mug with a little more hot water. I tend to add a little. Enjoy!
The next stages, of course, are buying a super-accurate kitchen scale and experimenting with a metal Aeropress filter. I'm a hopeless case...
14 May 2013
Lost Above La Mancha
I really enjoyed Pedro Almodóvar's last movie, The Skin I Live in, even though it was more than a little dark and plenty creepy. With his new film, Los amantes pasajeros (I'm So Excited), he is trying something completely different. In fact, about the only thing I'm So Excited has in common with its predecessor is the partially overlapping cast, and I'm not sure Antonio Banderas's brief, one-scene cameo with Penélope Cruz at the start of the former really counts. I didn't plan to see I'm So Excited at all, after the middling reviews and, after seeing the trailer, I didn't think it was my kind of film, but BB wanted to see it, so off we went.
The plot is somewhat incidental, but involves a plane bound from Toledo to Mexico. Soon after take-off, the pilot (Antonio de la Torre) realises that there is a problem with one of the wheels (thanks to the shoddy job done by the ground staff, played by Banderas and Cruz) that will make landing the plane nigh-on impossible. Meanwhile, the newspaper headlines suggest that a big bank fraud may also be causing problems with many of Spain's airports. The world's campest stewards (Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces and Raúl Arévalo) decide to drug the economy-class passengers and stewardesses with muscle relaxants, because it's bad enough to be travelling cattle class, without them panicking about impending doom. Meanwhile, in business class, we have a motley crew of dominatrices (Cecilia Roth), actors (Guillermo Toledo), honeymooners (Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Laya Martí), and other characters with shady pasts and larger-than-life, often quite insane personalities. Many of the crew are bisexual and most of them are sleeping together. It's all a bit mad.
I found I'm So Excited more fun and funnier than I expected, although most of the time I was chuckling rather than laughing, at the crude toilet humour, the easy innuendos and the cheesy puns. There were some good lines, although some felt like the writer (Almodóvar) was trying too hard. This could have been partly due to the translation and I think the subtitler did a decent job with a hard-to-translate script. BB thought the best scene was the one where the three stewards perform the titular song, I'm So Excited, cabaret-style, to try to distract the business-class passengers from the aforementioned impending doom. It was amusing, although the impact was lessened somewhat by the trailer.
Overall, it was a wacky, entertaining enough 90 minutes, but The Skin I Live in is definitely more my kind of Almodóvar film. It would have been improved by more Banderas, for sure. Perhaps my biggest problem, though, was that throughout the film, I kept thinking about how much funnier and cleverer Airplane! was. I know Almodóvar wasn't trying to remake Airplane!, by any means, but I just felt like the latter was a lot more enjoyable.
The plot is somewhat incidental, but involves a plane bound from Toledo to Mexico. Soon after take-off, the pilot (Antonio de la Torre) realises that there is a problem with one of the wheels (thanks to the shoddy job done by the ground staff, played by Banderas and Cruz) that will make landing the plane nigh-on impossible. Meanwhile, the newspaper headlines suggest that a big bank fraud may also be causing problems with many of Spain's airports. The world's campest stewards (Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces and Raúl Arévalo) decide to drug the economy-class passengers and stewardesses with muscle relaxants, because it's bad enough to be travelling cattle class, without them panicking about impending doom. Meanwhile, in business class, we have a motley crew of dominatrices (Cecilia Roth), actors (Guillermo Toledo), honeymooners (Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Laya Martí), and other characters with shady pasts and larger-than-life, often quite insane personalities. Many of the crew are bisexual and most of them are sleeping together. It's all a bit mad.
I found I'm So Excited more fun and funnier than I expected, although most of the time I was chuckling rather than laughing, at the crude toilet humour, the easy innuendos and the cheesy puns. There were some good lines, although some felt like the writer (Almodóvar) was trying too hard. This could have been partly due to the translation and I think the subtitler did a decent job with a hard-to-translate script. BB thought the best scene was the one where the three stewards perform the titular song, I'm So Excited, cabaret-style, to try to distract the business-class passengers from the aforementioned impending doom. It was amusing, although the impact was lessened somewhat by the trailer.
Overall, it was a wacky, entertaining enough 90 minutes, but The Skin I Live in is definitely more my kind of Almodóvar film. It would have been improved by more Banderas, for sure. Perhaps my biggest problem, though, was that throughout the film, I kept thinking about how much funnier and cleverer Airplane! was. I know Almodóvar wasn't trying to remake Airplane!, by any means, but I just felt like the latter was a lot more enjoyable.
13 May 2013
Making a Weekend of It
It's been a bit non-stop since I got back from holiday—already over two weeks ago—and last weekend was no exception. After failing to find the Arrested Development frozen banana stand, which was supposed to be in London until 21 May, but which disappeared on Thursday, we stayed in on Friday night and made macaroons. Well, most of us watched macaroons being made and ate macaroons, which was just as much fun.
On Saturday morning, I went running and then it was time to finish off painting my living room and bedroom. Each room had a statement wall when I moved in last October, and I finally got around to dealing with them. A few weeks ago, I removed the wallpaper and then I spent most of the bank holiday weekend painting over the dark red paint of the bedroom and replacing it with a pale plum colour. The statement wall in my living room is now a light sky blue. On Saturday, I just needed to do a few touch-ups; it isn't perfect, but painters are expensive, so I'm happy, and now I can finally put up some more pictures and mirrors.
After heading into W1 to do some errands, I hurried down to Herne Hill for another bridge night, which chalked up another victory to my six-month winning streak. I had initially thought that Sunday might be more relaxed, but my parents decided to come into town at short notice, so we went for coffee at Notes, followed by brunch at the Dean Street Townhouse. I've been to the Townhouse before for dinner, which was lovely, but it has a great, New Yorky, casual chic vibe at brunchtime. Although I wasn't drinking, I enjoyed a virgin cocktail (the Orchid with apple, ginger, pineapple and almond was delicious). I skipped a starter and went straight on to the Townhouse burger, with cheese and bacon. It wasn't medium rare, but that hardly mattered because the meat was so juicy and tender.
Then came my dilemma: I had 45 minutes to get to south-west London for a softball practice and the pudding I wanted (chocolate peanut fondant, natch) would take seven minutes to prepare. Regular readers will know of my inability to say no to a chocolate-peanut butter combo, so I ordered the pudding and ran to the bathroom to change, Clark Kent-style, into my sports kit. The fondant ended up taking 15 minutes, but was well worth the wait: rich, gooey chocolate, with a molten peanut butter centre, accompanied by peanut ice cream. Very naughty indeed.
I just about made it to practice in time, by which time the sunshine had disappeared. I've never played softball before, although I used to play a lot of rounders at school. As expected, I proved a much better batsman than fielder, and every muscle in my body is aching today, while my wrist display the bruises that demonstrate how hard I was hitting the ball. Of course I'll be going back for more!
 |
| Yes, we have no banana stand in London today. |
On Saturday morning, I went running and then it was time to finish off painting my living room and bedroom. Each room had a statement wall when I moved in last October, and I finally got around to dealing with them. A few weeks ago, I removed the wallpaper and then I spent most of the bank holiday weekend painting over the dark red paint of the bedroom and replacing it with a pale plum colour. The statement wall in my living room is now a light sky blue. On Saturday, I just needed to do a few touch-ups; it isn't perfect, but painters are expensive, so I'm happy, and now I can finally put up some more pictures and mirrors.
 |
| My newly painted bedroom |
 |
| Blue-sky living room thinking |
After heading into W1 to do some errands, I hurried down to Herne Hill for another bridge night, which chalked up another victory to my six-month winning streak. I had initially thought that Sunday might be more relaxed, but my parents decided to come into town at short notice, so we went for coffee at Notes, followed by brunch at the Dean Street Townhouse. I've been to the Townhouse before for dinner, which was lovely, but it has a great, New Yorky, casual chic vibe at brunchtime. Although I wasn't drinking, I enjoyed a virgin cocktail (the Orchid with apple, ginger, pineapple and almond was delicious). I skipped a starter and went straight on to the Townhouse burger, with cheese and bacon. It wasn't medium rare, but that hardly mattered because the meat was so juicy and tender.
 |
| Brunch o'clock: Dean Street Townhouse burger and the chocolate peanut fondant |
Then came my dilemma: I had 45 minutes to get to south-west London for a softball practice and the pudding I wanted (chocolate peanut fondant, natch) would take seven minutes to prepare. Regular readers will know of my inability to say no to a chocolate-peanut butter combo, so I ordered the pudding and ran to the bathroom to change, Clark Kent-style, into my sports kit. The fondant ended up taking 15 minutes, but was well worth the wait: rich, gooey chocolate, with a molten peanut butter centre, accompanied by peanut ice cream. Very naughty indeed.
I just about made it to practice in time, by which time the sunshine had disappeared. I've never played softball before, although I used to play a lot of rounders at school. As expected, I proved a much better batsman than fielder, and every muscle in my body is aching today, while my wrist display the bruises that demonstrate how hard I was hitting the ball. Of course I'll be going back for more!
12 May 2013
Spork: A Love Story
When JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot came out four years ago, I went to see it and, to my surprise, I really liked it. It was the first time I had ever seen a depiction of the Star Trek universe, on the big or small screen, but this didn't affect my enjoyment. Four years on and the sequel, Star Trek into Darkness, has been released. I don't remember very much of the storyline of the 2009 film, but luckily, this didn't matter at all.
I think I enjoy these Abrams visions of the Star Trek world for the same reason I like a lot of Iain M. Banks novels: they are set in space and there are some aliens and weird futuristic/alt-universe things going on, but you don't have to be a hardcore sci-fi buff to enjoy them, because the characters are pretty relatable.
And STID is, on many levels, a bromance between the handsome hothead, Kirk (Chris Pine), and the infuriating intellectual, Spock (Zachary Quinto): Spork, if you will. As the film opens, our heroes are off on a mission that requires Spock to be sent inside an about-to-erupt volcano, but when he gets into some difficulty, Kirk has to decide whether to rescue him and risk the Enterprise being spotted by an indigenous people who have "barely invented the wheel" or leave him to doom. He decides to save his friend, of course, and although he succeeds in this, on returning to the Starfleet HQ, his ship and his captaincy are duly confiscated from him, thanks, in part, to Spock's inability to lie.
This barely matters after a deadly strike on a Starfleet archive in London, followed by a fatal attack on the vessel leaders, who have been meeting to discuss the tragedy. Kirk is tasked with taking the Enterprise, armed with 72 torpedoes, on a mission to find and destroy the superhuman bad guy (played by a wonderfully sinister Benedict Cumberbatch) responsible for the attacks. Spock is concerned about a minor thing called the criminal justice system, and Scotty (Simon Pegg) also voices his concerns about the mission, but Kirk is keen to prove himself again, and so off they go.
The plot itself is almost incidental: a vehicle to put some characters into scenes together and display some flashy visuals (and did I mention the lens flare?). I didn't go to see the film for the action scenes but they were well executed. Somewhat à contre-cœur I saw the film in 3D and I found it a bit distracting, not least because the aforementioned lens flare is even more annoying when it feels like it's floating around the cinema. The film clocked in at over two hours, but I didn't think it was too long, thanks to the tightly edited script and the sharp dialogue. Cumberbatch and Quinto really excelled, although Pegg still managed to steal a few scenes; as for Pine, I still haven't forgiven him for This Means War.
STID isn't a perfect film but it's jolly good fun. We will have to wait another three years for the threequel, but that's probably about the right spacing; let's face it, it wasn't as though there were any cliffhangers or otherwise unresolved plot points that will leave us on the edge of our seats until then.
I think I enjoy these Abrams visions of the Star Trek world for the same reason I like a lot of Iain M. Banks novels: they are set in space and there are some aliens and weird futuristic/alt-universe things going on, but you don't have to be a hardcore sci-fi buff to enjoy them, because the characters are pretty relatable.
And STID is, on many levels, a bromance between the handsome hothead, Kirk (Chris Pine), and the infuriating intellectual, Spock (Zachary Quinto): Spork, if you will. As the film opens, our heroes are off on a mission that requires Spock to be sent inside an about-to-erupt volcano, but when he gets into some difficulty, Kirk has to decide whether to rescue him and risk the Enterprise being spotted by an indigenous people who have "barely invented the wheel" or leave him to doom. He decides to save his friend, of course, and although he succeeds in this, on returning to the Starfleet HQ, his ship and his captaincy are duly confiscated from him, thanks, in part, to Spock's inability to lie.
This barely matters after a deadly strike on a Starfleet archive in London, followed by a fatal attack on the vessel leaders, who have been meeting to discuss the tragedy. Kirk is tasked with taking the Enterprise, armed with 72 torpedoes, on a mission to find and destroy the superhuman bad guy (played by a wonderfully sinister Benedict Cumberbatch) responsible for the attacks. Spock is concerned about a minor thing called the criminal justice system, and Scotty (Simon Pegg) also voices his concerns about the mission, but Kirk is keen to prove himself again, and so off they go.
The plot itself is almost incidental: a vehicle to put some characters into scenes together and display some flashy visuals (and did I mention the lens flare?). I didn't go to see the film for the action scenes but they were well executed. Somewhat à contre-cœur I saw the film in 3D and I found it a bit distracting, not least because the aforementioned lens flare is even more annoying when it feels like it's floating around the cinema. The film clocked in at over two hours, but I didn't think it was too long, thanks to the tightly edited script and the sharp dialogue. Cumberbatch and Quinto really excelled, although Pegg still managed to steal a few scenes; as for Pine, I still haven't forgiven him for This Means War.
STID isn't a perfect film but it's jolly good fun. We will have to wait another three years for the threequel, but that's probably about the right spacing; let's face it, it wasn't as though there were any cliffhangers or otherwise unresolved plot points that will leave us on the edge of our seats until then.
1 May 2013
Two Weeks in Costa Rica
The nice thing about Costa Rica is that it is small enough that you can spend two weeks there and see a lot of the key sights. Most visitors head out of San José pretty quickly, and then visit La Fortuna and the Arenal volcano and the cloud forests at Monteverde and Santa Elena. This takes about a week, leaving you with another week to spend on the beach, and this is when you have a choice to make: Pacific or Caribbean coast? Although I was sorely tempted by the possibility of nesting turtles at Tortuguero on the Caribbean side, it wasn't really turtle season, and so we decided to do some of the Pacific beaches instead. You could just about fit in Tortuguero as well as the Pacific, but it will be a bit rushed.
Here's how we organised our time. Most of these hotels were chosen through a combination of my guidebook (the latest Lonely Planet) and the top-rated properties on Booking.com, and for the record, most places offer pretty good free wifi and some form of free breakfast, and will help you organise activities and travel.
San José
When you fly to San José from Europe, the lengthy flights mean you will almost certainly arrive in the city at night, which means staying there one night. A lot of the buses and excursions from San José leave early in the morning and, uncertain about jet lag, we decided to stay two nights in the city. We were starting to run out of things to do at the end of our first full day, but we left early the following morning. We also stayed for one night at the end of our trip.
Both times, we stayed in the eastern part of the city centre, which I would recommend, because it's quieter, cleaner and prettier. We first stayed at Hotel Fleur de Lys, which was great. It's a small hotel in a beautiful, rambling house, with shiny wooden floors and local art on the walls. There was a free breakfast buffet, full of goodies, from fresh fruits to breads and the usual rice and beans. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly. On our return, we stayed at the Hotel Aranjuez, which was slightly cheaper and a little less central, but still only 15 minutes walk to the Teatro Nacional. This hotel is formed of a series of interconnected houses and its labyrinthine hallways are a little hard to navigate, but the rooms are clean and comfortable, if a little spartan. A free and extensive buffet breakfast is served in the garden terrace each morning.
La Fortuna and Arenal
We took a public bus from San José to La Fortuna, which cost $7 and took about four hours — not much slower than a private minibus — so I would recommend using public transport at this stage. Do keep an eye on your bag on the bus though, as the on-bus policeman warned us. We stayed at Hotel Campo Verde, at the base of the volcano and about six miles out of town. There isn't much in La Fortuna anyway — most of the activities are outside, and transportation to and from your hotel tends to be included — but we did have a couple of $10 taxi journeys to go into town for dinner. This hotel was one of my favourites: the rooms are a series of canary yellow cabins with their own porches and amazing views of the volcano; we were in number 11, which had a front-row view. You do get the odd bug in your room, but then you are staying in a field... Breakfast is included, but involves fruit and a choice of eggs on toast, yoghurt and granola or rice and beans.
In terms of activities in the area, a couple of companies run combo tours: we did a four-in-one that included a river safari, a tour of the La Fortuna waterfall, lunch at a nice restaurant in town, a guided hike around the volcano, and entry into and dinner at the Tabacón hot springs. At about $220, this isn't cheap but is an efficient way of combining multiple activities, especially if you would otherwise have to factor in the cost of taxis.
Monteverde
The best way to get between La Fortuna and Monteverde is via "jeep-boat-jeep," actually a minibus-boat-minibus service that picks you up from your hotel, takes you to Lake Arenal, ferries you across, and delivers you to your hotel at the other end. This costs $25 and takes about three hours, saving you a good 90 minutes' driving on very poor, rocky, unpaved roads.
In Monteverde, we stayed at Mar Inn, which was a little more rustic than some of our other hotels, but clean and perfectly fine. Again, the staff were very friendly and helpful and can arrange pretty much any kind of tour or transportation you might need. I enjoyed sitting in the hammock outside our room, watching the birds in the garden and enjoying the view over the town. NB: the hotel is pretty high up the hill and a short but very steep hike up from the town centre. Breakfast — scrambled eggs on toast or pancakes — was also included.
Tamarindo
While we were in Monteverde, we discovered that it's actually quite hard to leave the cloud forest. We wanted to go to the beaches of the Nicoya peninsula but all of the public buses involved long journeys with multiple changes. Nor was there a car hire place in Monteverde and it would cost $100 for a car rental company to drop a car off there for us to return to San José. We decided to spend the $100 on two tickets on one of the tourist minibuses to Tamarindo and the roads were so bad, we were glad we weren't driving.
Our hotel, El Sabanero Eco Lodge, was about 10 miles outside Tamarindo. It's main selling point is its amazing infinity pool, but the lodge was a nice place to hang out too. The rooms are small cabins, but not as pretty or well kitted out as at Campo Verde. The air con failed one night (apparently due to a power cut) and the hot water didn't work on two evenings (of course, as soon as the managerwent to turn the hot water on at the mains came and had a look, it eventually started to work). I liked the cabins, though, even if it was a little scary to wake up one night and find the cabin completely surrounded by a herd of cows! The howler monkeys were also pretty noisy, but all part of the experience. Don't come here without a car though; taxis into town are expensive and the buses are unreliable.
Mal País
It is only about 100 miles from Tamarindo to Mal País, right down at the bottom of the Nicoya peninsula, but it took us most of the day to drive it. We drove to Playa Samara via the "fast" (i.e. paved) roads, and then went the scenic route for the rest of the journey, which involved almost no paved roads, lots of steep hills and several river crossings. But it was an adventure and the views were stunning! We were able to stop at a number of different beaches, and I really would recommend the drive — in dry season, of course.
In Mal País, we stayed at Moana Lodge, which is a lovely hotel on the cliffside above the town. The more expensive cabins have 180 views of the coastline; our room was lower down, but well appointed and with a nice terrace (they just need some better outdoor lighting). There is a cute pool, hot tub and chill-out area and the beach is only minutes away. The hotel's key selling point is its restaurant, Papaya, perched on the clifftop and offering amazing views of the coast and the jungle. A good and well presented breakfast is included; we also went for dinner one night, enjoying a selection of tapas as we watched the sunset.
Montezuma
Originally, we had planned to drive from Mal País to Quepos, via the Paquera–Puntarenas ferry, but after our epic road trip, we realised we had been too optimistic and had to cut our planned trip to the Manuel Antonio national park, a real shame, because who doesn't want to to go a national park brimming with cute monkeys frolicking on the beach? With hindsight, I would have cut a day from La Fortuna or Monteverde to have time to visit Manuel Antonio.
Instead we drove a little way along the coast to Montezuma, staying at El Sano Banano hotel. The main attraction was that you got access to the pool, beach and facilities of the hotel's pricier sister hotel. The Sano Banano was cheap and cheerful — much too noisy at night and without proper curtains — but the pool was amazing and we were only staying one night...
Back to San José
To get back to San José, we drove 45 minutes from Montezuma to Paquera, where we caught the car ferry to Puntarenas, which took about 70 minutes and cost about $30. From there, it's only about 60 miles to San José. Because we were driving along Highway #1, we assumed the road would be relatively fast, but there was rarely more than one lane and we often slowed down to 20 mph. It was a scenic journey, though, and by this point we had learned to be grateful for small mercies: namely paved roads and no river crossings!
And now I just have to decide where to go on my next adventure!
Here's how we organised our time. Most of these hotels were chosen through a combination of my guidebook (the latest Lonely Planet) and the top-rated properties on Booking.com, and for the record, most places offer pretty good free wifi and some form of free breakfast, and will help you organise activities and travel.
San José
When you fly to San José from Europe, the lengthy flights mean you will almost certainly arrive in the city at night, which means staying there one night. A lot of the buses and excursions from San José leave early in the morning and, uncertain about jet lag, we decided to stay two nights in the city. We were starting to run out of things to do at the end of our first full day, but we left early the following morning. We also stayed for one night at the end of our trip.
 |
| Hotel Fleur de Lys, San José |
Both times, we stayed in the eastern part of the city centre, which I would recommend, because it's quieter, cleaner and prettier. We first stayed at Hotel Fleur de Lys, which was great. It's a small hotel in a beautiful, rambling house, with shiny wooden floors and local art on the walls. There was a free breakfast buffet, full of goodies, from fresh fruits to breads and the usual rice and beans. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly. On our return, we stayed at the Hotel Aranjuez, which was slightly cheaper and a little less central, but still only 15 minutes walk to the Teatro Nacional. This hotel is formed of a series of interconnected houses and its labyrinthine hallways are a little hard to navigate, but the rooms are clean and comfortable, if a little spartan. A free and extensive buffet breakfast is served in the garden terrace each morning.
 |
| The breakfast buffet at Hotel Aranjuez, San José |
La Fortuna and Arenal
We took a public bus from San José to La Fortuna, which cost $7 and took about four hours — not much slower than a private minibus — so I would recommend using public transport at this stage. Do keep an eye on your bag on the bus though, as the on-bus policeman warned us. We stayed at Hotel Campo Verde, at the base of the volcano and about six miles out of town. There isn't much in La Fortuna anyway — most of the activities are outside, and transportation to and from your hotel tends to be included — but we did have a couple of $10 taxi journeys to go into town for dinner. This hotel was one of my favourites: the rooms are a series of canary yellow cabins with their own porches and amazing views of the volcano; we were in number 11, which had a front-row view. You do get the odd bug in your room, but then you are staying in a field... Breakfast is included, but involves fruit and a choice of eggs on toast, yoghurt and granola or rice and beans.
 |
| Hotel Campo Verde, near La Fortuna/Arenal |
In terms of activities in the area, a couple of companies run combo tours: we did a four-in-one that included a river safari, a tour of the La Fortuna waterfall, lunch at a nice restaurant in town, a guided hike around the volcano, and entry into and dinner at the Tabacón hot springs. At about $220, this isn't cheap but is an efficient way of combining multiple activities, especially if you would otherwise have to factor in the cost of taxis.
Monteverde
The best way to get between La Fortuna and Monteverde is via "jeep-boat-jeep," actually a minibus-boat-minibus service that picks you up from your hotel, takes you to Lake Arenal, ferries you across, and delivers you to your hotel at the other end. This costs $25 and takes about three hours, saving you a good 90 minutes' driving on very poor, rocky, unpaved roads.
 |
| Hotel Mar Inn, Monteverde |
In Monteverde, we stayed at Mar Inn, which was a little more rustic than some of our other hotels, but clean and perfectly fine. Again, the staff were very friendly and helpful and can arrange pretty much any kind of tour or transportation you might need. I enjoyed sitting in the hammock outside our room, watching the birds in the garden and enjoying the view over the town. NB: the hotel is pretty high up the hill and a short but very steep hike up from the town centre. Breakfast — scrambled eggs on toast or pancakes — was also included.
Tamarindo
While we were in Monteverde, we discovered that it's actually quite hard to leave the cloud forest. We wanted to go to the beaches of the Nicoya peninsula but all of the public buses involved long journeys with multiple changes. Nor was there a car hire place in Monteverde and it would cost $100 for a car rental company to drop a car off there for us to return to San José. We decided to spend the $100 on two tickets on one of the tourist minibuses to Tamarindo and the roads were so bad, we were glad we weren't driving.
 |
| El Sabanero Eco Lodge, near Tamarindo |
 |
| Our cabin (the wifi didn't reach this far...) |
Our hotel, El Sabanero Eco Lodge, was about 10 miles outside Tamarindo. It's main selling point is its amazing infinity pool, but the lodge was a nice place to hang out too. The rooms are small cabins, but not as pretty or well kitted out as at Campo Verde. The air con failed one night (apparently due to a power cut) and the hot water didn't work on two evenings (of course, as soon as the manager
 |
| El Sabanero Lodge's amazing pool |
Mal País
It is only about 100 miles from Tamarindo to Mal País, right down at the bottom of the Nicoya peninsula, but it took us most of the day to drive it. We drove to Playa Samara via the "fast" (i.e. paved) roads, and then went the scenic route for the rest of the journey, which involved almost no paved roads, lots of steep hills and several river crossings. But it was an adventure and the views were stunning! We were able to stop at a number of different beaches, and I really would recommend the drive — in dry season, of course.
 |
| Moana Lodge, including the sunset view from the cliff-top restaurant |
In Mal País, we stayed at Moana Lodge, which is a lovely hotel on the cliffside above the town. The more expensive cabins have 180 views of the coastline; our room was lower down, but well appointed and with a nice terrace (they just need some better outdoor lighting). There is a cute pool, hot tub and chill-out area and the beach is only minutes away. The hotel's key selling point is its restaurant, Papaya, perched on the clifftop and offering amazing views of the coast and the jungle. A good and well presented breakfast is included; we also went for dinner one night, enjoying a selection of tapas as we watched the sunset.
Montezuma
Originally, we had planned to drive from Mal País to Quepos, via the Paquera–Puntarenas ferry, but after our epic road trip, we realised we had been too optimistic and had to cut our planned trip to the Manuel Antonio national park, a real shame, because who doesn't want to to go a national park brimming with cute monkeys frolicking on the beach? With hindsight, I would have cut a day from La Fortuna or Monteverde to have time to visit Manuel Antonio.
 |
| The Ylang Ylang beach resort pool, Montezuma |
Instead we drove a little way along the coast to Montezuma, staying at El Sano Banano hotel. The main attraction was that you got access to the pool, beach and facilities of the hotel's pricier sister hotel. The Sano Banano was cheap and cheerful — much too noisy at night and without proper curtains — but the pool was amazing and we were only staying one night...
Back to San José
To get back to San José, we drove 45 minutes from Montezuma to Paquera, where we caught the car ferry to Puntarenas, which took about 70 minutes and cost about $30. From there, it's only about 60 miles to San José. Because we were driving along Highway #1, we assumed the road would be relatively fast, but there was rarely more than one lane and we often slowed down to 20 mph. It was a scenic journey, though, and by this point we had learned to be grateful for small mercies: namely paved roads and no river crossings!
And now I just have to decide where to go on my next adventure!
29 April 2013
Costa Rica Critter Round-Up
Warning: image-heavy post ahead. One of the reasons I wanted to visit Costa Rica was because of its incredible biodiversity. Although it's a pretty small country, the landscape and the climate changes quickly from cloud forest to rain forest to hot, dry beaches and as such, it would be difficult to spend two weeks there and not see some cool creatures. I'd been hoping for some mammal close-ups—particularly of sloths and monkeys—but although I saw numerous monkeys and one lone mama sloth, they weren't exactly frolicking at my feet either. Then again, it's pretty cool when you no longer need your iPhone alarm because you get a dawn wake-up call from a troop of howler monkeys. For the first few nights at least.
We went on several nature hikes, including one at dusk, but we tended to get better views when we just happened upon the creatures in question, like the sloth our guide spotted in a tree by the road while we were driving to the Arenal Volcano, or the coati that was wandering around near the La Fortuna waterfall, looking for lunch.
The thing that surprised me the most was how beautiful the country's birds are. I prefer fur to feathers, but we saw some gorgeous birds, including the emerald toucanets I spotted in the garden of our Monteverde hotel, or the blue-crowned motmot I saw hanging out at a dusty bus stop near Tamarindo. Despite it being the right season, we didn't see a quetzal, although our guide heard one, and we did catch a glimpse of the equally elusive bellbird, although I wasn't fast enough to photograph it. Even in the middle of San José, the random birds you see out and about are so pretty. We were initially captivated by the white-throated magpie jay who came to perch on the railings of the roof-top restaurant at our hotel in Mal País and who seemed so tame. We soon realised he came every day, because he knew when it was time for his French toast. The iguanas that climbed to the top of the canopy and sunned themselves, just below the restaurant, were just as predictable.
In the butterfly garden in the Museo Nacional in San José, we saw the beautiful blue morpho butterfly, but it was too shy, so my only photos were far too blurry. I did manage a close-up of a pretty red and black butterfly, and we saw many other lovely butterflies throughout the country. I also enjoyed spotting a tarantula in the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve and a "Jesus lizard" in Monteverde.
I didn't see the newly discovered "fairy" insect; or then again, maybe I did? Oh, and although Costa Rica is really a dog country, I did see a few cute cats, including this one, which lived in our hotel in Tamarindo.
 |
| Spot the howler monkeys |
 |
| Shy baby capuchin monkey |
We went on several nature hikes, including one at dusk, but we tended to get better views when we just happened upon the creatures in question, like the sloth our guide spotted in a tree by the road while we were driving to the Arenal Volcano, or the coati that was wandering around near the La Fortuna waterfall, looking for lunch.
 |
| Mama sloth |
 |
| The catarata coati |
The thing that surprised me the most was how beautiful the country's birds are. I prefer fur to feathers, but we saw some gorgeous birds, including the emerald toucanets I spotted in the garden of our Monteverde hotel, or the blue-crowned motmot I saw hanging out at a dusty bus stop near Tamarindo. Despite it being the right season, we didn't see a quetzal, although our guide heard one, and we did catch a glimpse of the equally elusive bellbird, although I wasn't fast enough to photograph it. Even in the middle of San José, the random birds you see out and about are so pretty. We were initially captivated by the white-throated magpie jay who came to perch on the railings of the roof-top restaurant at our hotel in Mal País and who seemed so tame. We soon realised he came every day, because he knew when it was time for his French toast. The iguanas that climbed to the top of the canopy and sunned themselves, just below the restaurant, were just as predictable.
 |
| Emerald toucanet |
 |
| Blue-crowned motmot |
 |
| Breakfast time for the white-throated magpie jay |
 |
| A tree-top iguana |
In the butterfly garden in the Museo Nacional in San José, we saw the beautiful blue morpho butterfly, but it was too shy, so my only photos were far too blurry. I did manage a close-up of a pretty red and black butterfly, and we saw many other lovely butterflies throughout the country. I also enjoyed spotting a tarantula in the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve and a "Jesus lizard" in Monteverde.
 |
| A pretty butterfly. Not a blue morpho. |
 |
| It's a good thing I don't have arachnophobia |
 |
| Jesus lizard |
I didn't see the newly discovered "fairy" insect; or then again, maybe I did? Oh, and although Costa Rica is really a dog country, I did see a few cute cats, including this one, which lived in our hotel in Tamarindo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)