Costa Rica Day 3 - Monteverde to Arenal

Another early morning for us as we set off to hike the cloud forest at 8am.  The guide we had booked had his car break down the night before but luckily his partner was the son of our cabin's owner. Javier is also rated very highly in TripAdvisor so we weren't upset.

Getting to the conservation area was kind of interesting too, because we had to drive the circumference of the valley to get there. Along the way Javier told us how although Costa Rica is an incredibly small country, it holds 5% of the worlds biodiversity. This is because when Pantagia split, it separated all the animals and plants that were on it. Millions of years later when the land was pushed back together again the animals were reintroduced but many had already adapted separately.  He also described how the desert forest, rain forest and cloud forests are different, but given Costa Rica's various altitudes and climate changes, there are many micro-forests between them that can change within a few metres apart.

these little buggers are hard to photograph!

The first thing we did at the cloud forest was check out the humming birds at the feeder.  There were about 4 different breeds of humming birds there while we were watching and I learned that that they are as agile as bees because their wings do figure eights.  They are therefore able to fly backwards and upside down.  Also, their heart rate while sleeping is the same as humans.

Plant on a plant on a plant(x100) on a tree

Once inside the cloud forest Javier told us how since only 1% of light reaches the forest floors, some plants have adapted to be symbiotic or parasitic of other plants. He showed us how plants can stack up on top of another like Mertle the Turtle all the way up to the
canopy.  Some of these plants don't  harm their host at all, some actually help them, and others just leech off them until they die. Those ones aren't all that bad either because when a tree dies off and falls to the ground, not only does it bring more nutrients to the ground but also opens up a hole in the canopy that shines light down to  give other plants the chance to grow.  The hole is usually filled in about 5 years.

We had heard about the quetzal from our guide books but didn't consider that we'd actually see one as we were at the tail end of their migratory season (pun!).  Javier started telling us about them though, and led us to a section of the forest where he had seen a female the day before with a man who was visiting Costa Rica specifically to go bird watching. To Javier's extreme pleasure we not only saw the female, but also the more elusive male.

Turquoise-faced bird thing

 That pretty much ended our hike.  We spent the rest of our hour hike set up with binoculars and cameras to track their every movement.  We grabbed other hikers off the trail to look at them as well, and got several photos and a video.  As much as it's pretty cool to have seen such a rare and beautiful bird, I would have preferred to have continued the hike and tried to see other wildlife.  If we hadn't  known that this particular bird was so rare, we would have just said 'wow, that's a pretty bird' and moved on.



On the way back to our cabin we stopped to grab lunch at a place called Taco Taco and bought some seriously amazing food. We brought it back to eat on our patio before quickly packing to head to our next destination.

The Welcome Rainbow

The ride to Arenal was particularly long and difficult by car, so we had to take a taxi, boat, then taxi again to get there. Because of the missing money we were late getting to our first junction, and so our cab driver really hauled ass. Sabina and I both felt the repercussions of that and needed to pop gravel, which knocked us out for a good portion of the trip. When we arrived to the boat section of our trip we were met with a rainbow:
The boat was pretty uneventful but it interested me to learn that Lake Arenal is man-made for the purpose of supporting electrical dams.  It also reminded us that Javier said 9% of that lake consisted of water collected and held from moss in the rainforest. I'll need to look that one up though because it seems strange to me now.

Our taxi driver brought us to Arenal Observatory Lodge where we were escorted to our rooms at the bottom of hill.  I bunked with Caroline, Sandra with Christine, and Heidi with Sabina. After settling in we walked 10 minutes up hill to the lodge, begrudging the decision to reserve the cheap rooms, and had dinner in their restaurant.

So far we were very impressed with AOL. The lodge was beautifully landscaped, the food very good, and it had the overall resemblance to a resort. After dinner we made our way over a hanging bridge to their pool and jacuzzi and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting to other guests.

Costa Rica Day 2 - Monteverde

Our early start wasn't that bad due to a combination of early night and two competitive roosters outside our windows.  Jose brought us a delicious Costa Rica breakfast consisting of beans and rice, scrambled eggs, fried plantains, tropical fruit salad, fresh pineapple juice and strong coffee.

Our ride arrived promptly at 7am and we made our way to Salventura for canopy tours and zip lining.  Because we were there so early the six of us had the whole 3 km of hiking trails and hanging bridges to ourselves.  We managed to take over 2 hours to meander along it, stopping to photograph nearly each and every leaf. Along the way I couldn't help but take a moment to reflect on how thankful I was to be there, to experience the beauty, to appreciate all that I have that put me in a position to be able to make the choice to travel to Costa Rica. I considered how soul soothing it is to be able to leave your slice of the world to see other country, other people, and other environments. Being immersed in the overwhelmingly lush forest really makes me appreciate life and the intricacies of nature.  Even just one day out of my banal life style really pursuit all into perspective and rejeuvenates my soul.  This is why I travel.

After our hike we waited for the next zip lining excursion by having a cafe con leche on the porch.  we were shuffled into a room to get outfitted with a harness, helmet and oversized leather gardening gloves that reaked of previous adrenaline and sweat. We drove partway up a hill and walked the rest where we had a quick introduction to zipline safety: sit back, knees crossed, weak hand on your front rope, and strong hand behind you on the cable.  Never grab the cable in front of you other you will loose a finger.  Okay, let's go!

Our first zipline was considered short and slow...kind of like a test to see if you had listened toothed rules.  To us, it was just exhilarating.  It was about 75 feet long and pretty fast.  We zipped through the canopy easily, with the trees framing our path.  I was grinning like an idiot when I reached the second platform, and my grin then grew even more idiotivpcally as I saw my first monkey trapesing along above us!  I triumphantly shouted to everyone else on the patform about his presence but no one else cared.  The guide sees them everyday, and Sandra was too busy freaking out over the next zip to care about a bloody monkey.

All together we did 13 or 14 zip lines, often from one platform straight to the next, but occasionally with a short jaunt on the ground between them.  I loved every moment, the longer and faster the better.  only Christine and I seemed to have no qualms with the extreme height we were at.  I found it simply interesting to look down and marvel at how heigh we were in the trees, but looking down just stressed the other girls out.  I will openly admit my pride at having no fear of height, especially in contrast to my unreasonable disdained for old water and inability to handle a bumpy car ride. Our very last zip line was a full kilometre long, and although I would have gladly gone on my own, it was necessary to go two by two to ensure we had enough weight to glide ourselves across.  As it was, Caroline and I didn't quite make the platform and had to be towed in by a poor guide. Sandra and Christine were even further back than we ended up and the guide had to take two breaks while fetching them.  Apparently it was a bit too windy when we crossed to maintain the proper speed.  Sandra and Christine sailed straight through a patch of clouds while gliding across, which was pretty awesome to watch.

After all the zip lines were complete we had the opportunity to do a Tarzan swing.  It was really awesome! We bought the pack of professional photos and a couple souvenirs from the gift shop before heading to Santa Helena, the closest little town.

While waiting for the van to come pick us up we had an exciting new animal spotting. Two cotimundi's boldly crossed in front of all the tourists (amidst an explosion of flashing lenses) and began digging for grubs next to the giftshop. They were the size of small dogs with long sleek bodies and tails.  I thought they looked cuddly until they started fighting and let out god-awful screeches.

In town we checked out a restaurant built around a tree before heading to a restaurant for lunch. It is true about beer being cheaper than water here.  I had a filet mignon that should have fed two people, and it cost the equivalent of $14.  Before heading back to the cabin we went by the grocery store for some cheese, ice cream, bread, wine, and fruit (aka diner).  The goal was to watch the sunset over the mountains from the infinitely policy, but when we got home, we found the pool a bit too cold and the sun didn't set over that side of the maintain.  Oh well, we still had a good time around the pool and in the sauna, and of course our little dinner back home. We spent the rest of the night chatting, drinking, and colouring, just as adults are meant to do on vacation.

Costa Rica - November 2013

Costa Rica Day 1 - Toronto, Panama, San Jose, Monteverde

The morning started out poorly.  Aside from not being able sleep, I misplaced my phone and was therefore unable to call a cab at 5:45am as I had intended. After turning the house upside down I finally found it while dumping my pack for literally the 4th time. I managed to get to the airport fairly quickly due to the early hour and was surprisingly not the last one there.  Sandra had slept-in in Waterloo so she and Sabina arrived a good half hour after me. At this time I was pretty queasy from my drivers erratic driving.  

The flight was pretty uneventful as far as flights go.  We had a brief stop over in Panama and I was concerned about the water on their coast.  It looked like a great field of dry cracked mud where the water used to be, and there were sections of brown then orange water before it morphed into green and blue.

 Not sure what is going on there. The river that snaked up Into the land was about half as wide as it clearly used to be, with grass growing alongside the otherwise thick trees. Other than that, Panama looked beautifully lush and green.  Definitely seems like a future trip to me!   At the Panama airport I had a fun exchange with a cashier while trying to buy a tea.  Luckily there was a bilingual man behind me who sorted out the situation for us.  

Once we had landed in Costa Rica we were met by a man who shook our hands and brought us to our prearranged car.  He put our bags into the trunk and then asked for a tip.  We thought he was our driver and gave him $15 and then found out he wasn't. Jerk. Our real driver was very nice and drove us the 2.5-3 hour trek to Monteverde. Most of the way there was over a new highway, past numerous fruit stands and small restaurants decorated in Christmas lights.  I fell asleep for a bit and woke up to a pretty heavy rain storm. It lasted an hour or so then trailed off.

About 25km out of the city the pavement ended and we had to climb our way up the mountain.  All gravel, all twists and turns, and periodically only wide enough for our oversized van, we were all regretting the suspicious chicken burger we'd eaten on the plane. Right as the pot holes began to get rough enough for us to believe we were actually on a rollercoaster we turned into Cabin El Sol.

A lady greeted us at the driveway with a hug and a kiss and led us into probably the most adorable cabin ever built.  You walk over a bridge to the front porch and enter into the wooden cabin.  Full kitchen, breakfast bar, eating area, living room, sitting room, with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

We had 3 bottles of wine waiting for us and shortly after we settled in, a man showed up with a picnic basket with our traditional Costa Rican meal.  After a long day of travel and relentless motion sickness, it was heaven. Knowing that our zip lining and tree trecking began at 7am the next day we went to bed at 9:30.