Costa Rica - Day 11

The driver came for us at 9am but that still left time for a good hour on the beach. Early morning viewing is the best for looking in to the waves to see what is swimming there. We saw quite a few more eagle rays and lesser devil rays, a couple of very large nameless fish and a few schools of smaller fish. We had one last breakfast buffet, packed up and headed back to Liberia International Airport. Every person has to pay a departure tax, $26, in cash in order to leave the country. The departure lounge is open air and very pleasant. I am glad that it is not the full heat of the day yet.

Costa Rica - Day 10

We walked the full length of Playa Flamingo this morning. It takes almost half an hour to get to the far end. Then we confirmed our sunset cruise for this afternoon. We made a point of not going swimming this morning but walked instead to the Farmacia and Art Shops up the way for some shopping.

Lunch was ordered at the bar but taken to our room while we watched football and rested.

Early afternoon we met Damon and Michelle in the lobby, and caught our transport to Marina de Flamingo. We joined one other couple, Scott and Valerie, and took a dingy out to the Lazy Lizard. The 'Lizard is a small catamaran.

They served up some rum punch, dropped a couple of lines in the water, and sailed up the coast. We spent an hour and a half snorkling around the rocks. The rocks look totally barren compared to a coral reef but we saw dozens of different types of fish including electric blue damsels, long silver needle fish and a morey eel. Luis, our dive guide, caught porcupine fish, puffer fish, starfish (bright purple) and a baby octopus for us to see up close and hold.

After the snorkling we had sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips and black beans. Then sailed around watching the sunset. We came across a pair of mating sea turtles. Each of the guys pulled in a fish. We only kept the first mackrel; which they cut up for sushi.

It was already dark when we got back to the hotel but we were still in our bathing suits so we went swimming in the pool. Dinner was in the restaurant followed by dancing in the lounge. It was a good way to end the trip.

Costa Rica - Day 9

Almost an exact repeat of Thursday. Stingrsys in the ocean in the morning, water aerobics in the pool at mid day, lunch followed by a nap during the rain. In the evening we went back to the beach for sunset... It was beautiful even during the rain... Then dinner followed by karaoke and dancing (that was a little bit different).

Costa Rica - Day 8

Another perfectly relaxing day. We started with a walk on the beach followed by a buffet and a morning on the beach. The water is very clear, until it stirs up the silt when it breaks. We could see stingrays in waves right before they'd break. Each one about 14-18" across. Sid saw fish as well but the ones that I saw were almost too small to count.

We went back to sit in the shade by the pool when I started to worry about the sun. But it was time for Lulu's water aerobics class so we slathered on more sunscreen and joined in.

We had lunch in the restaurant and then napped for awhile. A terrific rain storm blew through so we opened the balcony door and went back to sleep.

We swam a little bit more before dinner with a very light rain but it cleared off in time for a spectacular sunset.

We dressed up for dinner tonight but still went to the lounge instead of the restaurant. We like it better and Oscar is our favorite server. Tonight he upgraded our drinks and took a bottle of champagne to our room for our anniversary.

Costa Rica - Day 7

Wednesday we left the resort around 7am for the Buena Vista Lodge on the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. The volcano is technically active but really it hasn't errupted since 1963 when President Kennedy was visiting the area.

We started the morning with another canopy zipline tour. The lines weren't as long or as high but we did see a lot more of the rainforest including a band of coati in the trees.

Afterwards we took a couple of runs down the 400 meter waterslide. I even wore the leather "diaper" to protect my swimsuit as the track is sealed concrete and rough. It was so much fun that Sid and I went back to do it again. Which was perfect as a troop of monkeys was moving through the treetops on the second round. Most our group did not get to see them.

Next we had another traditional lunch buffet: squash soup, salad, fried plantains, rice, beans, fried sea bass, beef, egg plant, pork and yucca. At lunch and dinner the rice and black beans are seperate but at breakfast they are cooked together with jalapenos and cilantro; the breakfast version in called "pintas".

Then we went by tractor to the open air Hot Springs and mud bath. You smear yourself with volcanic mud and let it dry. Then wash it off in the "refreshing" stream fed showers before going to soak in the hot pools. We rode back from the springs on horses.

We were pretty well beat by the time we returned to the hotel but managed to get showers before heading to the beach for some sunset pictures.

Dinner was quick as we really were almost too tired to chew. Pork tacos (roasted in pineapple juice) were the specialty tonight.

Costa Rica - Day 6

This was our first true do-nothing day. We woke early, but not because we had to, and went for a walk on the beach, Breakfast here is a buffet. We were in the pool by eight. We were still in the pool at four. Lunch and drinks were delivered. We joined the aquaaerobics class at noon. But mostly just lay in the water in the shade. I still burned but not too badly.

Dinner was up in the bar overlooking the ocean but at night you can't really see it. There are no lights near the beach and not very many anywhere at all.

I bought more sunscreen from the sundries shop, browsed through the gift shops (there are two and they both sell the same things), and booked an adventure for today.

Costa Rica - Day 5

Even after four nights we've not been able to get our sleep patterns right. We do either too much or too little during the day, work in a nap then wake up at 3am. Usually we manage to get back to sleep for awhile. We got up for good at 6am to pack up. Today is our transfer back from Aljuela Provence to Guanacaste Provence and the driver was due at 10am.

We managed to pack, eat breakfast and call a taxi by 7:30. Arrived at the Estacia Ecologic Catarata del Rio Fortuna as they opened at 8am. Hiked down to the base for some pictures and a quick swim in the pool. You can't swim near la catarata because the undertow is deadly but the next pool over is sandy, deep and cool. We were back at the top by 9:15 for the cab back to grab our luggage and meet our driver (Hal).

The drive takes us most of the way around Lake Arenal which takes almost two hours alone, two more hours up the North American Highway gets us back to Liberia and the airport and then another hour on smaller roads will get us to the Pacific Coast.

Much later.....

We stopped for lunch and a very pretty German Cafe along the way. We had good beer, roast pork, homemade noodles and german sausage with mustard. Then slept for a few hours.

We perked up by the time we passed Liberia giving us a chance to see some more of the local towns. Many of the school children were practicing marching while playing drums and other instruments in preparation for our 20th wedding anniversary. The whole country has been busy decorating and planning parades in our honor.

The hotel here is mostly one large sprawling building around a central pool with a swim up bar. There is a second pool for volleyball and a second building for the restaurant and second floor bar (overlooking the Pacific). Technically the beach is across the road but is little more than a dirt track. The beach sand is very fine, white when dry and tan when wet. The surf is spectacular with the waves breaking in very close and a significant undertow. We may not spend much time in the water there but I could lay in the shade of the trees and lsten to the water for hours.

Tonight I plan to watch the sunset from the beach with my camera.

Last night we had a very relaxed dinner in the bar watching the sunset, the last match of the US Open and the Miss Universe pageant. Miss Costa Rica made the final ten before we left to watch Monday night football in the room.

Costa Rican wildlife

Our driver stopped to move this tortoise off of the highway. We let the snake fend for himself.

Costa Rica - Day 4

"Pura vida!". Is a good all pupose Costa Rican phrase. It is used for everything from "hello" to "Hey, the rapids didn't kill you!". We use it often.

The van came for us at eight to go to the river. The total crew was eight, mostly inexperienced, rafters plus three experienced river guides, two safety kyakers, one photographer, and support crews to wrangle the gear.

The Rio Toro runs north from Lake Arenal towards Nicaragua. They spill the water from the lake in four hour bursts to power the dam. The section used by Delafrio (our guide group) is called the "Corridas de Toro" or "Running of the Bulls". It is eleven miles long of nearly constant rapids, all class III and IV.

We had three boats, ours with five plus Jorge (our guide). Katie and Rhett are from Atlanta, Lindsey is from Chicago but is working at a hotel in Costa Rica and us.

The gear is simple, a tight life vest with extra front floatation and a head rest, a crash helmet and a paddle.

The commands are simple: front, back, stop, lean in, get down, jump the boat.

The rescue procedures are simple: grab the boat, or stay on your back with your feet pointed down "stream". Swim to the kayak or boat but don't really swim. Get pulled into the boat.

We practiced for about 10 minutes and took off. The water was about 65 degrees, which is, as we were told "not cold". Turns out it was perfect.

It was cloudy and overcast most of the day but it only rained a few times and we were too busy to notice.

Scott went over on the first rapids... And again on the second. That was making me nervous but they rearranged their boat and settled in.

It was wonderful. We worked HARD, and got WET the whole time. It was by far the best tour so far. I can' t explain the rush or the turn by turn decisions but I give high praise to Jorge. It takes a lot of skill to get a team to work together so quickly and so well. He had to judge how hard each side of the boat would row on every stroke, how hard the river would pull and where it would spin us around.

Our team did great, not losing a single member over the side except of when we all spilled out in a tangle in the Macho Room. It is the most challenging of the rapids and we leaned away from the canyon wall just as the raft went up the wall and the result wasn't good. Lindsey and Sid remembered to grab the boat on their way out. Sid came up under the boat but pulled free quickly. Katie and I both swear we came under each other and had to fight free. We got our feet pointed down stream and banged off a few rocks. I couldn't figure out how to swim to the kayak so I pointed Katie that way and pointed myself at another raft. Along the way I collected two paddles which made everything else a challenge. I couldn't use my hands and when the blades would catch the water my feet would spin to the side.

I gabbed a paddle from the guide and was hauled in close. Some one grabbed the paddles, the guide grabbed my life jacket by the sholders and hauled me most of the way in. While I scrambled the rest of the way in he hauled Rhett in and dropped him on my back, called the rest of his team to get down (we were still in a fairly tricky part of the rapids) and then called us all back up to paddle. The whole event took maybe two minutes but was the highlight of the run. No one was hurt. "Pura vida!"

We pulled over to reassemble our team and continued on. A few rapids later we stopped for a fruit fiesta (fresh cut pineapple and watermelon). While we stopped one of the guides showed us a tiny orange frog with blue legs. There were more the 20 vultures eating something caught in the rocks not too far away. And an impressive quantity of large animal scat on the bar where we stopped. As we started back down a trio of wild horses came through the grasses to the water's edge. Giant grasses, like sugar cane trees.

After we pulled out they took us back to their "house" for an excellent lunch eaten on the porch while it rained around us. Then they brought us back home. Of course we bought the CD of pictures including the spill.

We napped for awhile then went to the hotel Hot Spring and the cleaned up for a night out. We took a cab to the Benedictus Restaurant (best steak in La Fortuna). We arrived just as Zach and Melissa were leaving but they invited us to their hotel for drinks so we went to Hotel Las Lagos after dinner. This place is amazing. But we missed them so we headed back home.

Cannidas de Toro

Costa Rica - Day 3

Pura vida. Saturday may have been our best day so far. We woke early for breakfast as our ride was coming for us at 7:15. We went to the Ecoglide Canopy Tour and Tarzan Swing for a zipline tour of the rainforest.

First we geared up in a harness, much like for rock climbing, with a steel lined leather "glove" for our primary hand and a leather glove for the other. Then they took us to school. The practice line is about 10 feet long and five feet up. Easy, sit in your harness put the metal lined "glove" over the cable behind your head, your other hand holds the buckle in frount of you. Cross your ankles and curl them back below you. Zip. To slow down you pull down with the metal glove, to slow down a lot use both hands. To stop less gracefully, slam in to the stop at the end. You can get speeds up to 50KPH.

Next they took us up the mountain in a truck which was pretty cool all by itself.

I went first for most of the trip. This was perfect in that I didn't have time to be nervous. It was wonderful.

Some lines were short but some went forever with views up, down and out.

It was rainy in the morning so we wore the rain gear but we didn't really need it. We did twelve different platforms plus the Tarzan swing.


We bought the video and I'm glad they made it; it was too awkward to get to the camera with the gear on and some of the transfers were super fast. But as we didn't bring a computer we haven't really seen most of the video (or the 200 extra pictures of Costa Rica and the wildlife hear).

We back to the hotel by 10AM for a nap and volcano viewing from the room. For lunch we had a pizza delivered to the pool. So after lunch we swam and napped in the shade while doing some volcano viewing.

Then we went back to the Ecotermales for an extended evening of soaking.

We intended to have dinner there but the reservation didn't translate quite right. We came back to the hotel restaurant for a late dinner and volcano viewing instead.

Costa Rica - Day 2

We had a lazy start with a late breakfast followed by many hours in the "cold" pool. Again we had it all to ourselves until noon. The off season is sounding better and better.

Lunch was nachos and local beer poolside. By 2:00pm we were in the lobby for our excursion. We joined a couple from Spain and one from Puerto Rico on a guided hike to the Volcano flow (from 1992).

The hike was very gentle and not very long but the guide was very good and spent a lot of time explaining the history of the volcano and pointing out the wildlife.


We saw white faced coati, lizards, leafcutter ants, termites and a baby eyelash pit viper (a very venomous snake).

The volcano was the 3rd most active in the world from 1968 until Nov 2010, with eruptions every 20-40 minutes. It never spewed molten lava just flaming rocks, gases, etc. Since the last erruption they can't tell if it has gone dormant (it must stay quiet for 25 years to be dormant) or if the flow is blocked which is backing up the lava which will eventually break through in an explosive erruption.

After the volcano we went to the Ecotermales hot springs. This place is wonderful! Seven or eight connected stone pools of various temperatures surrounded by deep forest growth. There a bars and a restaurant but only a dozen or so people. We soaked and floated at twilight, watching the bats and the lightening bugs come out.

Dinner was at Que Rico, a pizza and pasta restaurant nearby. Then we relaxed on our porch, listening to the stream run.

Costa Rica Day 1

We came to Costa Rica yesterday. It takes two short (2-3 hours) plane flights to reach Liberia because you have to fly through Miami. But from the airport we still had a four hour drive to reach Arenal which is at the base of the Volcano. We will stay here for a few days before going back to the beach.

Our driver took us the Aroma Tico for lunch which was a cute buffet decorated to look like the rain forest. Rice, beans and and cooked meats make up most of the diet here.

The resort where we are staying is called Arenal Manoa and it's beautiful. Duplex lodges with private porches and gorgeous views. We are looking at the volcano.

Yesterday was mostly clear on the drive with clear, fast flowing streams running down in to Lake Arenal. As soon as a rain shower would start the streams would turn muddy and the volume of water would jump.

The lake is man-made and very large but mostly undeveloped as it is owned by the power company. Its three dams supply 40% of the power to the country. The rest comes from windmills.

When we arrived we were pretty tired so we revived with a dip and a drink in the hot springs while the rain came and went.

We ate dinner very early and were the only ones in the entire restaurant. We lingered almost two hours and another couple came in as we were leaving. The resort is almost empty right now.

It is the rainy season here so it rains off and on all day in short bursts and then rained hard last night. This morning it is bright and clear (except for the top of the volcano) and I'm watching the hummingbirds from the porch and listening to the sounds of rushing water. This afternoon we are going hiking.

View from our porch- Arenal Volcano