Our trip to Costa Rica began in a
hot, humid environment filled with restless primates—that was just the three
hours that we spent trapped on the tarmac, in the plane, with no air
conditioning, at the Miami airport—oh joy, yet another flight delay. As the
time ticked away and the fuselage upped its gaminess factor, Pick and I coolly
watched the drama unfold—at least for the first 2 hours and 50
minutes—apparently, my coolness threshold peaks at 3 hours. I think it was
when Damien, I mean the lovely toddler onboard, began to scream like a banshee
that the sh*t hit the fan—either get me off this plane, get the plane moving,
or sedate me with complimentary alcoholic beverages. Luckily, just seconds
before I was about to go Rambo on the American Airlines rep that was
belittling me via cell phone, the pilot announced that maintenance had fixed
the air conditioning and that we would be departing forthwith.
Our
Destination
We lift off and the horror that is
the Miami Airport disappears from sight—next stop, San Jose. Relief and
anxiety are now are two main emotions—relief that our trip was finally
underway and our itinerary was still pretty much intact, and anxiety that we
would now be arriving, and driving, in San Jose at night. San Jose, the
capitol of Costa Rica and flat tire scam central, was not where we wanted to
be after the sun went down, but the unpredictability of travel landed us in
exactly that predicament.
Next up, the queue from hell at
customs—our devilish nature allowed us to glide through that glitch with no
problems—off to the taxi desk. We had reserved a car with National, but we
bypassed the check-in at the airport and opted to take a $2.00 taxi to the
office, saving ourselves nearly $80.00 in airport taxes in the process. A few
awkward moments of broken Spanish later and our taxi driver dropped us off at
the car rental office, we picked up our little Daihatsu Bego and we were off
to wreak havoc on the streets of San Jose—our destination for the night,
Xandari Resort and Spa
in Alajuela.
Navigating the highways, streets, and
back roads of Costa Rica—all of which are pretty much unsigned—was a piece of
cake, thanks to our trusty GPS. Prior to leaving the states, we loaded our
Garmin GPS with a 10-day limited time version of
EzFind’s Costa Rica map—available
for $59.00 through eBay. This proved invaluable and we highly recommend it if
you have your own GPS—buying the download is cheaper then renting a GPS from
the car rental agency.
We arrived at Xandari long after
darkness had fallen, but it was still easy to see that the plantation was a
tropical paradise—the scent of blooming flowers filled the air, along with the
aroma and promise of a delicious meal. After settling into our villa, we made
our way back to the inviting open-air restaurant where we enjoyed a hearty
dinner of fajitas as we admired the sparkling city lights of the Central
Valley—the panorama and atmosphere were fantastic. We even made friends with a
resident kitty cat who begged for handouts—felt like home.
After dinner, we started to feel
human again, and a hot shower brought us full circle—we drifted off to sleep,
drained and beat from the rigors of a travel day.
Our first morning in Costa Rica
was amazing—the sights and sounds surrounding
Xandari were both exotic
and inviting. We set out early to explore the grounds, particularly enjoying
the beautiful gardens before sitting down for breakfast. Once again, we admire
the view and take pleasure in the kindness of the staff—so far, so good. We
checkout and hit the road, destined for Poas Volcano.
Leaving Alajuela, the scenic drive to
Poas takes us through varied plantations—strawberry fields and crops of coffee
fill the air with fragrant aromas. Making our way up the slopes of the
volcano, we stop to buy a bag of fresh strawberries (the best we have ever
tasted) at a roadside stand and we notice that the climate is
changing—sunshine is slowly giving way to a dense and chilly cloud cover—not a
good omen for crater viewing.
Poas Volcano National Park (Parque
Nacional Volcan Poas) is home to one of the world’s most accessible active
volcanoes—indeed, it is one of the oldest and best-known national parks in
Costa Rica. The main attraction of the park is, of course, Volcan Poas—a
collection of three craters, with the Main Crater being a visual feast, thanks
to its bubbling, steaming cauldron of milky turquoise water that is nearly
1500 meters, or almost a mile, in diameter—that is, when you can see it.
Unfortunately, for us, the entire volcano was hiding behind thick cloud cover
when we visited the park, but we opted to pay the entry fee ($10 each) anyway,
in order to enjoy the trails that wind through the dwarf cloudforest—sure to
be a delight despite the lack of visibility. Since it seemed unlikely that
clouds could ruin a trek through a cloudforest, we set out to explore the
network of trails that wind around the park. We set out just a little after
8:00am on the Main Path, known as the Sombrilla de Pobre (Poor Man’s Umbrella)
Trail, which leads the hiker 600 meters (0.3 miles) along a paved walkway—a
path lined with the amazing plant that is the trail’s namesake—ending at the
wooden viewing platform overlooking the main crater. As we walked along the
path, we kept hoping the clouds would lift before we reached the viewpoint,
but we had no such luck—all we could see from the overlook was thick fog.
Dejected, we left the viewpoint and set out on the 1400-meter (0.9 mile) long
Botos Lagoon Trail (Sendero a la Laguna Botos). Lake Botos, a quiet lake
formed within the third crater, now extinct, and surrounded by thick
vegetation, can be reached by hiking through a rare version of cloudforest
called dwarf or stunted cloudforest. Dwarf cloudforests are a combination of
delicate ferns, miniature trees, and bromeliad-encrusted limbs, all stunted
through an onslaught of cloud cover, cold temperatures, and acid rain from the
heart of the volcano—be prepared for cold, windy and wet conditions while
hiking in a cloudforest. We hear there is a lovely view of the lake itself
from this trail, but once again thick cloud cover socked in the view, so we
focused our attention on the flora and fauna of the area instead. Despite our
early morning arrival and the fact that it was the dry season, the clouds
continued to envelop the area in thick fog, often sweeping across our path and
filling the atmosphere with damp moisture—making for an interesting
environment. Continuing our exploration of the park, we hiked the 1020-meter
(0.6 mile) Escalonia Trail, where we encountered exotic plants and a black
guan (pava negra), which flew overhead—a nice parting gift as we found
ourselves back at the parking lot and ready to head to our next adventure.
The impressive wildlife and nature
park known as La Paz Waterfall Gardens, our next stop, allows the visitor to
follow any number of self-guided trails—wandering through the well-manicured
grounds, chock full of native plants and flowers, leads to several highlights.
Among our favorites were the butterfly observatory, the hummingbird garden,
the aviary, the ranarium (frogs), and the
Waterfall Trail—not to our liking was the primate enclosure, as it just
seemed cruel to cage these intelligent animals. In fact, I felt bad that any
of the creatures on the property were enclosed, but for some reason the
monkeys really seemed sad—on that note, I digress.
We spent about 3 hours at La Paz
before continuing on to Arenal, enjoying the wildlife—despite the
enclosures—and the hike to the series of five beautiful waterfalls. Back on
the road, we began the journey to La Fortuna and then onwards to the
Lost Iguana Resort, along the
way, encountering our first sloth, howler monkeys, and pack of coatis.
Arriving at the Lost Iguana under
rainy skies, we checked in to our room—a very spacious and beautifully
decorated room with a balcony and view of Arenal Volcano, that is, when it is
not hidden behind the clouds. Unfortunately, Arenal was living up to its
enigmatic reputation, hiding behind said clouds for
three of the four days that we were in the area.
It was late in the afternoon, nearly
5:30pm, when we settled in at the Lost Iguana and darkness was descending on
the rainforest—exploring the grounds would have to be left to another day.
After investigating all of the wonderful amenities (cable TV, walk-in shower,
refrigerator, and comfy beds) of our room, we made or way back down the steep
road to the front desk, in order to confirm our Caño Negro Rio Frio Tour with
Sunset Tours. The staff at the
front desk, a bit begrudgingly, called and confirmed our 7:00am pick-up for
the next day—our early departure meant we would miss breakfast at the resort,
which was a disappointment. We later discovered that the resort often gives
guests a “breakfast to go” in such situations, but we were not offered this
service by the staff—had we only known, we would have asked. Nonetheless, we
were happy with our confirmation and set off to enjoy dinner at the onsite
restaurant.
The following morning, Friday January
25, Sunset Tours arrived promptly and transported us from the Lost Iguana to
the office in La Fortuna—from there we met our guide, Jamie, and were on our
way to Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. A perk of the two-hour drive is a stop at
the Restaurante Los Iguanas, where we walk out on the bridge that spans the
Rio San Rafael to see dozens of iguanas basking in the trees.
Pristine and remote, Caño Negro is
one of the top locations in the Americas to see amazing concentrations of
wildlife—migratory and indigenous birds, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, turtles,
basilisks, and caimans abound.
Thanks to our impeccable timing—written
with tongue firmly in cheek—we were visiting Caño Negro in January during
the dry season, one of the best times for bird viewing—you see, it is
brilliant decisions such as this that allow us to call ourselves travelers and
not tourists, uh-hummm. Anyway, we feel fortunate to be at the right
place at the right time and we eagerly board the boat that is to get us
unbelievably close to the local wildlife. First up, a fantastic full-frame
view of a spectacled caiman—mouth agape and pearly whites on full display.
Could it get any better than this? You betcha—we follow-up with a
white-faced capuchin monkey sighting—not just any old run of the mill, cute
little monkey on a tree branch, oh no, this simian is savagely eating
an emerald basilisk—too cool!
Onward we float down the Rio Frio,
with our boat driver Freddy expertly maneuvering in close to the animals—I
felt like a professional photographer on assignment for National Geographic.
Our guide, Jamie, was never at a loss to identify any animal—Sunset Tours runs
a top-notch operation. Thanks to their expertise, we leave the area with a
list of wildlife sightings that is nearly unbelievable—imagine seeing
spectacled caimans, black river turtles, emerald basilisks, green iguanas,
capuchin and howler monkeys, sloths, wood storks, cattle egrets, great egrets,
little blue herons, great blue herons, roseate spoonbills, ringed, green, and
Amazon kingfishers, sun grebes, mangrove swallows, scarlet rumped tanagers,
tiger herons, great potoos, yellow crowned night herons, and anhingas—all in
one place.
At the end of the river tour, which
lasted about three hours, we enjoyed a typical Costa Rican lunch of casadas at
the El Caiman Restaurant—located on the banks of the Rio Frio.
The drive back to La Fortuna was
relaxing and the scenery was beautiful—passing by pastoral farmland and
forests. Back at the Lost Iguana, the sun was once again beginning to set and
the volcano was still hiding behind the clouds—we hoped that our luck with the
volcano gods would soon improve. After a brief rest and a shower back at our
room, we hopped in the car and made our way to La Fortuna—time to try out the
restaurant La Choza de Laurel.
Dinner at La Choza was everything we
expected—excellent food, a fun atmosphere, and a dessert that was out of this
world. When I ordered the banana split, I had no idea it would be served in
half of a pineapple, with the best tasting bananas and vanilla ice cream
ever—it was delectable!
The next morning, we hooked up with a
guide from the Lost Iguana and made our way to
Arenal Hanging Bridges—a journey
into the forest along the 3Km (1.9 mile) long trail within the private reserve
grants the hiker an up-close and personal experience with the flora and fauna
of a primary rainforest—including the forest canopy. The adventure crosses
fifteen bridges, six of which are hanging bridges, interspersed with trails
constructed with paving stones that help prevent erosion—each bridge has a
colorful and often times unnerving name—for example the Tarantula Bridge or
the Jumping Pit Viper Tunnel. Our guide from the Lost Iguana Lodge was an
excellent naturalist well versed in the animals and plants of the rainforest.
As we made our way along the trail, she pointed out several flowers, ferns,
and trees to which we were unfamiliar—not to mention the educational and
interesting facts that she shared about alkaloids, medicinal uses of plants,
the structure and function of leaf-cutting ant colonies, and the natural
history of the area. Throughout the hike, we enjoyed many highlights, but our
encounter with a troop of spider monkeys thrilled us the most—Pick spotted
them traversing the canopy above the Fer de Lance Bridge. Other highlights
included sightings of Central American whiptail lizards, an Isabella
butterfly, several species of tanagers, and an excursion to a secluded
waterfall.
Towards the end of our Hanging
Bridges visit, the weather started to make a turn for the better—fittingly
enough, as we crossed the Arenal View Bridge, we were treated to our best view
of the volcano thus far. Apparently that sacrifice the night before really
worked, as it seemed as though we were actually going to get to see Arenal
in all its glory.
Post Iguana check-out, we drove back
towards La Fortuna for lunch at Vagabondos—seriously, we loved this
place! The pizza, pasta and salad were delicious and it kept us coming back
for more—one lunch at this establishment was just not enough!
All through lunch, we kept watching
the sky—the gray clouds were giving way to clear blue skies, and the prospect
of a full view of Arenal was so exciting—so exciting, in fact, that we hurried
through our meal and then practically ran to the car after we paid the bill.
Back in the car, we could see that our hopes had been fulfilled and the
volcano was out in full force—next stop, Arenal Volcano National Park.
Volcan Arenal, one of the most active
volcanoes in the Americas, is the centerpiece of Parque National Volcan Arenal
and the park has some good trails that afford excellent views of Arenal and
the park’s flora and fauna. Upon entering the park, we drove to the View
Point, where you can ga
