Text of Costa Rica trip Sept of 2011 follows photos.
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| Central San Jose - Holiday Inn |
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| Central San Jose , Holiday Inn on Central Plaza |
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| Central range volcano from east coast |
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| Miles of banana plantations near east coast |
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| Jungle river boat at landing |
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| flamingos along jungle river bank |
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| huge jungle heron along river |
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| small grey heron along river |
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| back water lagoon waterway inside barrier islands |
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| small brown tiger heron |
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| lagoon in front of Pachira Lodge |
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| Pachira lodge bar and friendly bartender |
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| small cayman at waters edge. |
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| Howler monkey calling from tree just above my cabin |
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| "downtown" Tortueguero on barrier island |
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| exploring sea turtle nests laid previous night |
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| typical Costa Rican lunch |
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| magnificent Arenao volcano, nearly quiet at time |
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| large tree sloth at hotel pool side |
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| tree frog on large leaf |
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| my friendly large butterfly |
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| riding thru jungle up steep mountainside to start of canyoning trip |
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| Art on 175 ft vertical rappel into creek below |
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| 4th rappel down and thru stream |
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| near base of 5th rappel and getting wet ! |
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| last rappel and really getting wet |
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| coaching for 1st ZIP line launch |
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| getting ready for ZIP trip ! |
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| 2nd ZIP launch |
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| double ZIP with guide so I could take pics |
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| Zip lining over Costa Rica's highest water fall |
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| Art on ZIP line high over jungle |
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| visit to The Springs Spa with Arenal looming in back ground |
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| The Springs Spa and one of the 20 hot natural pools |
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| on my boat trip the length of beautiful Lake Arenal |
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| Art at base station for cable car ride to top of Monteverde |
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| coming in hot on 2500 ft long ZIP high above Monteverde Cloud forest |
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| view of Pacific coast from mountain ridge near Monte Verde |
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| huge coastal crocodile at rivers edge |
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| Art hiking in Manuel Antonio National Park |
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| iguana on beach in Manuel Antonio park |
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| beautiful secluded Pacific beach in Manuel Antonio park |
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| friendly white faced Capuchin monkey in Manuel Antonio park |
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| white faced Capuchin monkey "checking things out" |
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| beautiful beach scene in Manuel Antonio park |
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| And away we go ! Art- your right front in raft |
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| really getting wet and nearly overboard ! |
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| Fun, fun, Art your right front in raft |
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| really getting wet ! a wet and wild ride ! |
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| made it ! Art at bottom of long wild ride |
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| a happy Art washing off in clear waterfall at edge of river |
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| relaxing at Happy hour at mountainside hotel pool |
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| one of the 20 + squirrel monkeys invading our Happy hour at pool |
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| another Squirrel monkey at pool |
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| steep walkway to rooms at my hotel on mountainside |
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| about to launch my little sea kyak at edge of mangrove coast |
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| 2 white faced Capuchin monkeys in mangroves over my kyak |
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| a half day of whale watching off Manuel Antonio |
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| a final lovely Pacific sunset off Manuel Antonio |
In late August I flew to Tucson and my part time place for the weekend, and from there on Aug 30, flew on American to Dallas and then into San Jose for a 2 week eco/adventure trip in Costa Rica. Landing at the airport, I was greeted by the wonderful Greenway Travel owner and whisked into downtown San Jose to the Aurola Holiday Inn hi rise hotel for my lst night. The next morning it was a 6 am bus pickup and a long drive from San Jose east towards the Caribbean coast . We stopped at a junction for a typical Costa Rican breakfast:
A typical Costa Rican breakfast: Fried sweet yellow plantains , black beans, rice, a chicken dish , scrambled eggs, and lots of wonderful fresh fruit. The papaya, mangos, watermelon, and tropical fruits were always in abundance.
On by bus south and then east on a gravel road for a 2 hour bumpy ride to the boat landing. we drove through miles of banana plantations. There, I boarded a long narrow river boat craft with big , fast outboards that sped down the big rough , dirty river almost to the ocean. There, we turned north inside the barrier islands for another 2 to 3 hours taking me to the Tortuguero National Park and my destination, the Pachira jungle lodge. The setting was deep jungle on an island facing across the waterway towards the barrier island and the small town of Tortuguero. It was wonderful, with paths in the jungle connecting the clusters of cottages. The dining hall had a thatched roof and was a huge open building with the dining area and a lounge. An open air bar was just below that building. After a nice lunch, everyone was taken across the waterway to Tortuguero town and the indian shops , the Turtle Museum and colorful tiny town. Back across the water and dinner , with jungle sounds coming in from the dark.
My lst night , at about 4 am I woke up and heard the howler monkies calling and then I heard them running across the cottage roof. What a din !! I got up and tried to record pictures of the ones close by and the sounds. In the morning about 6 am there were still several above the cottage in the jungle trees. At 6:15 am ,we took a long dawn boat ride into the jungle waterways and saw a great deal of wild life, caymans in the water, many varieties of jungle birds and water birds, herons, and so forth. In the higher trees I could see some of the howler monkies and the White faced Capuchin monkeys. After returning and breakfast , another water tour into the backwater canals of the park and more jungle wildlife. That night we were taken by boat across to the tiny town of Tortuguero and the National Park center. We were broken into groups of 10 , each with a guide and taken by foot across the barrier island sand dunes to the giant sea turtle nesting area on the open Pacific beach. Once we were on the Pacific Beach, we had to follow the guide in near total darkness and each other, with the guide only having a dim red night light. We waited on the beach for about 30 minutes and then one of the rangers on the beach about 400 yards away signaled that there was a sea turtle coming ashore. Our guide had us follow him to the site and by that time the turtle had started digging a nest about 100 yards from the ocean water edge. My group could get up close in the darkness and watch. Finally, maybe 45 min later she had a big deep nest dug and we watched from behind her as the eggs dropped out. Once she had laid the last of the eggs , it took her about 15 min to cover the nest and then slowly pull herself back down the beach and into the water. We could lean over in the darkness and the guide would shine the light on the back below the turtle so you could see the eggs only a couple feet away. It was so interesting and good to see how the park rangers were protecting the turtle nesting areas now.
The remainder of the stay there at Tortuguero was a day hike in the jungle and a night hike and boat tour again in the waterways.
Then on day 4 , it was an early am boat ride , bus ride back to the same bus junction and restaurant for lunch . A change of bus and I was off to the north of Costa Rica and the mountainous central highlands and the famous Arenal volcano. I had a lovely small hotel, the Hotel Arenal Paraiso, facing the volcano, just recently quiet after years of hot red lava in a continuous eruption. The mountain is just over 5000 feet and is a classic, conical spectacular volcano. On day 5, I took a days trip high into the mountains and an amazing combination of trail hiking, and canyoning and waterfall rapelling. That was my lst experience to rapel . The lst drop was over about a 175 foot cliff into a shallow stream. Other drops took one right thru waterfalls and you got nearly drowned at times. It was quite an adventure in the high mountain jungle down the jagged , steep stream corridor. On day 6 I again went up into the high jungle on the Arenal Mundo Aventura Canopy Tour. After a long , bumpy tractor pulled trailer ride up a steep mountain trail, we started the natural history hike in the high jungle. Then a series of long ( some a half mile long ) zip line rides from jungle ridge across a canyon to the next ridge. More trail hiking, and more zip rides, one of which took you 500 feet above the highest waterfall in Costa Rica. The final late afternoon and night was a treat with a trip to the famous spa and hotel. I got to choose among about 2 dozen pools of hot spring water at different temperatures, down a nice tropical drink and watch the spectacular lightning and storms rolling nearby. Then a wonderful dinner overlooking the hot pools, gardens with the volcano , looming above.
Then the next morning on Day 7 , on by bus to Lake Arenal, where I was taken in a nice big power boat for a couple hour ride to the north the length of the big lake. At the landing , a Jeep met our boat and a handful of us went on a 2 hour climb high into the famous "Cloud Forest" to Monteverde and a magical resort complex, El Establo Hotel and Resort . I had a busy day 8, with an early am bus up to the summit of the National Park , and lst a cable car ride up to the very top. One could see for miles in all directions , even to the Pacific ocean to the west. Then a wild series of zip lines back down to the Park center. This Sky Tram and had the zip line rides up to 40 mph, 2500 feet long and 525 feet up in the air. The afternoon then was really wonderful with a long series of walks on the "Skybridge". That was a suspension bridge walkway series strung thru the treetops on one ridge thru the high forest tree tops to the next high ridge. In between floating sections, I hiked in the cloud forest jungle, with all of the amazing variety of foliage and many jungle birds. It was quite a day and after the morning clearing, there were heavy clouds and light rain, followed by the typical wild thunder and lightning storms at the end of the afternoon and into the early evening.
After 2 nights in Monteverde, I was up and out early for a private car ride down the steep and wildly winding road to the Pacific coastal road system. Then on to the south and west to the Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast at Quepos. I had a wonderful small hotel perched on the face of a very steep drop into jungle and looking out over the islands and open Pacific.
The lst morning , I joined 4 others for a bus ride north along the coast and then a days sea kyaking in the coastal mangrove swamps and open estuaries. At one point in a narrow section with higher trees, a pack or howler monkeys dropped out of the trees onto a pontoon tour boat and raced around the startled tour guests on the boat. It was a wild scene, with about half a dozen monkeys right in the boat and on the guests heads and shoulders. Lots of birds and wild life and it was a really hot, sunny , steamy day.
The 2nd morning I joined a group or 5 for a 2 hour van ride south and back up the Savegre River valley high into the wilderness mountains. There we had guides and small rubber rafts for a day of wild white water rafting back down the Savegre River. I have never gotten any wetter and nearly went over the side in one big rapid, with the guide grabbing me as I was sliding over. The 2nd raft had all 3 clients swept overboard out of the raft. It was quite a days outing. The little hotel had a series of steep terraced levels. One had the bar, and a nice pool overlooking the jungle and out to the Pacific. They had a happy hour late afternoons, so the guests would sit alongside or in the pool and have beer and margaritas. The second happy hour there , we were invaded by about 2 dozen White Faced Capuchin monkeys. It was amazing as the monkeys raced right over us , stealing fruit from the tables and jumping and swinging in the trees. I took some wonderful video clips of the monkeys.
The final morning there , I went on a half day whale watching and snorkeling cruise in a big catamaran . It took us out into the islands and I saw three mother Humpback whales with half grown younger whales . It was a great day out on the water. Then a final packing and long bus ride back north and then east up into the central highlands and the same Holiday Inn in central San Jose for my final night there. I wandered the downtown of San Jose at dinner time and looked at some of the main sites.
Costa Rica is an amazing country to visit and a country to do eco/adventure outings. It is not like Miami Beach with nothing like the densely developed beach and ocean resort areas of Hawaii or elsewhere. I want to return again.
