We had an early morning flight from Corpus Christi to Houston then to San Jose Costa Rica. The flights all went well, but for some reason about a dozen of us had
to wait about 2 hours to get our luggage in San Jose. I felt bad for the wheelchair man that waited with us and also kept checking on where our luggage was at.
When it finally came through, he helped us through immigration to a taxi for our hotel, Holiday Inn San Jose La Sabana. While we were waiting, I exchanged $200 for
colones. I got 450/$, the hotels were giving 500+/$. The taxi ride was about $30 and took about a half hour. By the time we checked in, it was around 3:30.
We went to the room, then down to their restaurant for lunch/dinner around 4:30. We each had a glass of wine, then I had the Corvina(fish) and Marilou the Filet Mignon.
Neither dinner was anything to brag about.
At 8:00 we met the rest of the tour group and the tour director, Anna. She filled us in on how the next week was going down. We each introduced ourselves. We got
instructions for the next day's trip and times to be where.
July 22nd
For our first tour we met the bus and our driver, Sergio, outside the hotel. We were assigned seats that switched each day by four rows so that everyone had equal access
to their best views. The bus has huge windows so the only difference in the seats was the ability to hear Anna with the increased noise in the back of the bus.
Our morning ride was a tour of the city. Anna pointed out numerous large houses that were associated with coffee families. She related how coffee became the cash crop
for Costa Rica. A Missionary Priest had grown several coffee trees and was enjoying his own brew. He thought it would make a good cash crop for the local farmers so
he started giving away trees. It didn't take off right away because it takes up to five years before the plants produce good beans for the coffee. Braulio Carrillo, the
third President of Costa Rica, liked the idea and he offered free land to those who planted and cared for the trees for at least five years. This led to widespread
planting of the coffee.
We saw the Braulio Carrillo Park. When the coffee growers prospered, they traveled to Europe and wanted to bring the culture local, so they contracted with an opera
singer to come perform in San Jose, but they didn't have an opera house. They built one but the workers couldn't afford tickets to the opera house so instead every
park has a gazebo where the performance could be heard by those who couldn't afford to buy tickets.
Costa Rica is also unique in that they didn't fight for their independence. When Mexico achieved their independence, the Costa Ricans were surprised to
receive a letter from Spain one day telling them they were no longer a colony of Spain. They joined the Mexican Federation, but received no help when
Nicaragua and Panama seized some of their territory. There was an internal fight over staying or leaving the federation, and when the leavers won, a
letter was sent to Mexico on leaving the federation. Mexico was surprised because the federation had already been dissolved.
We passed through a town known for their mangoes, Alajuela. You could see plenty of mangoes on huge trees all over the place.
We stopped at a viewpoint that was a coffee plantation and restaurant, Mirador de Valle. They have a path down a steep hill where you
could see coffee plants at various points of maturity. Inside we got a cup of coffee made the old-fashioned way and a piece of bread for dunking.
Anna revised our schedule so that we did the Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center this afternoon and would do the Arial Tram tomorrow. The center rehabilitates injured animals
from all over Central America with the goal of returning them to the wild. The ones we got to see are animals that have issues that prevent them from being able to survive
in the wild.
My picture taking was hampered by the cage drawing the camera focus. I needed to use manual focus which is difficult with the small viewer on the Pentex,
then I'd switch to the Fuji camera for closer pictures (such as the signs) since the Pentex had the 300mm lens in it.
Some of the animals were very shy and that made photographing them even more difficult. Branches and leaves would get in the way and they didn't tend to pose for a
picture. The good thing about a digital camera is you can take plenty of pictures and later throw out the ones where the subject succeeds in avoiding the shot.
We kept seeing some signs for KIVU within the park and as we were leaving I asked Anna what the significance of KIVU was. She said that was the name of a rescue lion
that spent his last years at the center. Apparently, he made an impression on the workers there who named several sections after him.
July 23rd
We rode the bus to Braulio Carrillo National Park and switched to a park bus that took us to the Aerial Tram Ride. While we were waiting for them to start the tram
we saw a small racoon like animal, white nosed coati. We also saw a Papaya Tree that was loaded with fruit.
The tram ride was more of a vegetation tour for viewing the numerous trees. We heard some monkeys, but couldn't see them with the thick foliage.
Similarly, we heard
birds and crickets but couldn't see them. We did see a couple of hummingbirds duck into the forest. It was interesting to see the bromeliads growing high up in the trees.
I wasn't aware they are a type of orchid.
As we left the lunch room we encountered a bunch of the "possums" with little ones running or riding on the backs. They scurried around and eventually disappeared
into the forest.
We then proceeded to try out the park trails. While I was waiting for the group to come back together, I got a few pictures of the orchid display from outside
of it. I found out why they had gourds attached to the trees at the turnaround point of the tram.
On the frog trail it was difficult to locate most of the frogs. Similarly, the snakes were mostly keeping a low profile so that you couldn't see the entire snake.
Just some of the body or the head. Later there were more visible snakes. The butterfly cage was a little disappointing. There weren't that many in there and they weren't
cooperating for pictures.
Marilou asked about the orchid garden so we took a walk through the display. They also had a cage with a couple of sloths in the back. We saw the free sloth way up
in the tree while waiting for the bus ride back to our bus.
When we were back on the bus heading for Fortuna, Anna announced another surprise stop at a pineapple plantation. Our arrival time was off schedule so we got on a wagon
and headed straight to the field while the arriving group went to the refreshments first.
The tour guide/owner gave a funny/good talk about the pineapple growing process. After asking for guesses on how to pick a ripe pineapple in the grocery store,
He said look for uniform large eyes on the pineapple. Unlike other fruits it stops maturing as soon as it is harvested. He demonstrated an easy way to trim off the eyes
and slice the pineapple on several pineapples which he then shared with us. He claims the bottom of the pineapple is the sweetest section because it ripens first.
Each pineapple has two baby shoots.
They leave one in place and plant the other in another field. This can be repeated four times. He had the driver pull over to a spot where we could see the blooms.
We then went to the reception area where we got a pina colada and could have a shot of moonshine added if we wanted. We did. I took some pictures in front
of their sign. We then headed back on the bus.
We continued on our bus to Fortuna. Anna asked if we noticed some fields that looked like marijuana plants. She said that the young yucca plants look a lot like
marijuana. She then related that the natives were aware of the poisonous properties of the yucca root. They would drop pieces of yucca root upstream and others would
wait downstream to gather the fish that would be dizzied by the yucca. The cyanide in the root needs to be boiled out to make it safe to eat.
As we approached our hotel, The Fortuna Magic Mountain, the Arenal Volcano was completely in view. By the time we arrived, it was mostly cloud covered. Although
the volcano is still listed as active, it hasn't had activity since 2010. It was active for 42 years and has to be inactive that long before it's considered inactive.
I was able to get a fairly clear picture right before dinner, but forgot to check later. Some of the others said all the clouds were gone right before sunset.
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July 24th
I took some pictures around the hotel before we started our next excursion
Today's first stop was at an overlook to the Arenal Volcano. The weather didn't cooperate. Clouds covered most of the peak so that we could only see the ends of the
lava flows. We also took in the surrounding views from the overlook.
Anna relayed a story of the name of the city being changed to La Fortuna after Arenal erupted on the opposite side of mountain, leaving the city intact.
Wikipedia disagrees with that story and claims the name was changed before the eruption. She said that people used to like to camp on the mountain slopes because
the ground was warm. They didn't know it was a volcano until it erupted in 1968.
We then proceeded to the Hot Springs. They circulate hot water directly from underground and have three temperatures of pools. We started with the intermediate temperature
pool. The sign said it was 103F which is the normal temperature for hot tubs. It didn't seem that hot, but after about 20 minutes we had to move to the cooler pool.
We then returned to the intermediate pool, not wanting to try the very hot. There are also some water slides that the kids seemed to enjoy.
The place has a lot of different flowers and a nice design. This is where I first noticed banana trees that grew the fruit pointing up instead of down.
As our two-hour time approached we passed over a pool of large fish on our way to the showers.
We had lunch at El Perezoso (Sloth). Following lunch Anna divided us up into smaller groups and attached us to a guide who took us on a short walk looking at various
fauna and flora. He pointed out one of those red frogs that are poisonous, but it disappeared before I could get a picture. I saw a termite nest on a tree and a row
of leaf cutter ants heading home. At first the sloths we saw looked like balls of fur high up in the trees. Near the end of the trail, we saw a sloth lower on
a tree that was actually moving around so we got a good view of it.
From there we went back to the hotel. We had the afternoon free and were to either eat dinner at the hotel or down town. Enough people were going to take the taxi back to
town that Anna arranged for the bus to take us there and drop us off. She pointed out where to catch a taxi back. A few of the others who were going backed out because it had started to
rain. We started by entering Iglesia de La Fortuna de San Carlos. Then we set out to search for a certain fruit Marilou wanted to buy. We checked out several fruit
stands before she found one of the fruits she was looking for. It started to really rain hard so we took a taxi back to the hotel and ate dinner there.
July 25th
I took some pictures around the hotel before breakfast. I think the bird is a Caracas, we see them in Corpus Christi. We then boarded the bus for Manuel
Antonio. We passed a lot of palm trees covered with nuts. Anna said they grow those to make palm oil. It's only for export because it's too valuable for local
consumption.
We made a lunch stop at El Jardin souvenir store where we were recommended to purchase our souvenirs due to their support of local artists. Also included in the stop
was access to a flower garden. We then had access to a butterfly attraction. There were plenty more butterflies in this attraction than the prior one we viewed.
I tried to take pictures of the blue butterflies, but I don't think capturing them in a still picture was working so I did a short
VIDEO of them. That seemed to work better. The metallic blue butterfly is the male Blue Morpho Butterfly, the brown is the female. We saw these all over Costa Rica.
We then ate lunch there and purchased a smoothy for dessert. We eventually made our way to the Manuel National Park area where we are to stay for two days in time
for sunset, but we experienced rain most of the time. Our stay was at the "Manuel National Park San Bada Hotel", where we had some wine and dinner.
July 26th
Today we drove along the ocean to Sierpe where we took a river boat ride to view wildlife and flora. We were divided into groups of about ten each for the small boat ride.
Our guide was really good at pointing out the different fauna and spotting the monkeys, etc. Anna interpreted for the guide. We saw several birds on the list: toucans,
macaws. We saw several nests with the nestlings of green egrets. We saw a crocodile both going out and coming back.
We also saw an ocelot sleeping in the V of a tree. That's a rare viewing. The guide said he has only seen one 4 times in his career.
We ate lunch there. I choose the fish that was supposed to be snapper. If it was, they apparently beat it to flatten it. The texture was a little tough. After eating I took
a few pictures of the location.
Next, we visited the archaeological site known as Finca 6 Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The site has giant Pre-Columbian rock spheres. We first visited the
museum. It has numerous displays of ancient rock carvings and various signs explaining the historic importance of the spheres and other carvings.
I had left the ponchos in the bus because it was only a light drizzle as we entered the museum. After we were already pretty far along on the outside walk it started
to rain a lot heavier so we got wet. Anna pointed out the transfer system used by the banana plantation to move the produce. We also saw some monkeys along the way.
July 27th
We ate breakfast at 7:00 so we could follow Anna down the street into Manuel Antonio National Park. We had a choice of a wood plank path or a dirt path through the
park to the beach. We took the wooden trail to the Playa Manuel Antonio Beach. We took pictures of flora and animals along the way. Anna picked a spot where she was
going to sit and watch clothes etc. for anyone who wanted to swim.
I took the Espadilla Sur path along the beach and back. Marilou stayed with Fe and Alfred to return the same way.
We had lunch there before starting our 2-1/2 hour ride to the El Jardin souvenir shop where we had an ice cream break. I took some pictures of the souvenirs
I bought. We spent the night at the Quality Inn San Jose which was closer to the airport. Caravan provided a transfer to the airport the next morning.
Links:
Caravan Guided Tours
Holiday Inn Express San Jose Costa Rica Airport Hotel
Braulio Carrillo National Park
Arenal Volcano
Hotel Magic Mountain
La Fortuna
El Jardin Souvenir/Restaurant
La Perla Del Sur Adventures
Museo National De Costa Rica
Finca 6 Park
Manuel Antonio National Park
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