Wow, what a non-stop trip that was! Just got back from about two weeks in Costa Rica, it was a blast. It seems like every minute of every day we were busy doing stuff—hiking, swimming, horseback riding, kayaking, mountain climbing, milking cows… it was definitely not a ‘lie back and relax’ type of vacation. Very glad I went. We had an excellent group of people in our tour, a great guide (and driver), went to a lot of interesting places, saw tons of wildlife and natural scenery, and interacted with some of the locals. I usually like to do things on my own, but as I look back at all of the things I did in the thirteen days I was in the country, it would have been impossible to fit all of that in had it all been up to me alone.

I’ve compiled a photo journal of my trip, starting with the first full day I was there, January 11th, 2007. Click on picture thumbnails for a larger view. Once you do this you can navigate through the images by clicking on the left and right sides of the picture, or close the picture by clicking on the ‘x’. If you want to download a full-resolution version of an image for printing or whatever, click the link on the image border that says "Full Size". Descriptions of pictures are in the writing below each block of images. Comment on this page by going down to the bottom (or just click here). All images were taken by myself using a Canon IXY800 6-Megapixel Camera or a Canon Rebel XT 8-Megapixel SLR Camera combined with either a 300mm zoom lens or a 18-55mm standard lens. Please ask permission before using these images in your own content.

OK, here we go. I’ll try to leave out any boring stuff (not that there was too much of that).

[Main Journal] [Pictorial Addendum] [Video Clips]

Main Journal

Took about a four-hour plane ride from Atlanta to reach San Jose airport in Costa Rica. It was already pretty late at night, so we checked into the hotel and went to sleep. The next day we met our fellow travelers and introduced ourselves before setting out on our journey. We all packed into a Toyota travel minibus and set off towards Mt. Arenal, one of the country’s many volcanoes.

Arrived at the nearest city, La Fortuna, with a great view of the volcano. Had lunch, then went off to a hot springs resort where we all swam for a few hours, was very relaxing. Nice water slides also. After that we went across the street to visit a small wildlife park where we saw some caimans, crocodiles, lizards, and various flora. Then back into the bus for a long ride to the Lake Coter Eco-Lodge where we’d be staying for the next three nights. We were up in the mountains now, at an elevation of around 6,000ft. We also happened to be in the middle of a cloud forest. Together, this meant that we would be having quite a bit of rain and wind while in the area.

Day three we woke up to howling winds and plenty of rain—yup, time to go kayaking! Although the weather got a bit better as we traveled down the mountain to Lake Arenal it still ended up raining most of the time we were kayaking. Which is also why most of the group failed to use any sunscreen before heading out. Which is why most of us got pretty badly burned when the sun decided to come out halfway through the excursion. We learned our lesson that day—weather changes very quickly in the mountains of Costa Rica! We had a decent time though.

Before returning back to the lodge we stopped at a German bakery in a nearby town. There is an ex-pat population of about 20,000 Germans living in Costa Rica today, with many families having arrived before World War II. During the war Costa Rica sided with the Allies and kicked all of the Germans out of the country. Many ended up returning after the war though, and most were given their property back. Upon returning to the lodge we went on a nature hike and visited with some members of one of Costa Rica’s indigenous tribes, the Maleku. They told us, through a translator, about the history of their people, culture, art, customs, and language. It was very interesting hearing about their culture today and how they keep their customs alive in present day Costa Rica.

The next day started with a river-rafting trip. We floated down the stream for about two hours and saw quite a bit of birds, monkeys, lizards, and such. After that we visited a wildlife refuge that housed native cats, monkeys, and birds. This was our only chance to see the reclusive jaguar, ocelot, and scarlet macaw, all quite rare to spot in the wild.

Next, off to Monteverde [city info], a mountain town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. We stopped at the small village of Tilaran (known for being the windiest city in Costa Rica) for supplies on the way. After hours of driving up and down on unpaved roads, we arrived at the El Establo lodge in Monteverde, a town founded by Quakers in 1951. The Quakers came from Georgia in protest to the wartime draft instated by the U.S. government (the Quaker religion doesn’t condone acts of violence or war). About fifty of them came with their families and cleared out forest in order to establish a town which is today quite popular with tourists and nature lovers. We were met at the hotel by one of the original founder’s daughter, who presented a slide show and discussion of the history of Monteverde and the connection with the Quakers.

We visited a local dairy farm to milk some cows and learn about the steps farmers undertake in order to be certified ‘organic’. It’s quite the rigorous process. It was my first time milking a cow, and I think I did pretty good! We also tried our hand at making cheese [which we ended up eating a couple days later…needed more salt]. The following day we hiked the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, where we saw…very little. Of course there were lots of plants, but we saw little wildlife, other than a few insects and an almost tame coatimundi at the end of the walk. Down the street there was a few hummingbird feeders setup, so we stopped to watch the variety of birds feed, trying our best to capture good shots of them before the flitted off to the next feeder.

That evening we had a hanging-bridge canopy tour, where again, we saw very little overall. It was interesting to walk near the tops of the trees and look down though. Towards the end of the walk I was able to climb inside of a huge tree, up twenty feet or so, to the last hanging bridge platform. Everyone else opted for the stairs. When we were done with our walk everyone who wanted got a turn on the Tarzan Swing, a forty-foot high platform with a harness and rope attached to it, which was in turn attached to a large tree nearby. You take a step off of the platform, free-fall about ten feet, and swing back and forth, a la Tarzan himself. That was fun for (almost) everybody. Dinner was at La Pizzeria De Johnny, and we had some of the best (authentic) Italian food I have ever had, very nice place.

The next morning started off with some horseback riding. My horse was quite stubborn and refused to go faster than a slow trot…and I had to keep prodding him just to do that. Occasionally he’d turn around and give me ‘the eye’…I don’t think he was in a good mood that day. After, we visited a local elementary/middle school where the children did traditional dances for us. I happened to be quite popular here, being the youngest member of my tour group, and the kids were literally fighting over who would get to dance and play with me. One would take one arm, another would take my other arm, and a third would grab my shirt and each would tug me in a different direction—it was pretty cute. I played soccer with a few of the boys after the performances and then we were split into groups to have lunch with some of the children’s families.

My family’s house was just down the road from the school. The wife had a traditional lunch cooked for us, and myself and four others ate with the mother and her two sons at the dining table. None of the other people in my group spoke any Spanish, so I did my best to translate between the family and the rest of the group. The mother talked mostly about her two sons and her daughter, and we asked questions about her family. After lunch the two boys showed me around the house and the backyard. Looking at the place you can instantly see that they were pretty poor compared to American standards, but I think they were doing alright for themselves, they seemed like a nice, happy family. That night we went on a nocturnal hike through the cloud forest and managed to spot sloths, bats, tarantulas, toucans, many different birds, insects, and lizards during our two-hour stay.

Leaving Monteverde we took the mountain roads down to the warmer, drier Pacific coast. Stopped by a ‘Soda’ (a small family-run restaurant/provisions store) on the way there and got an unexpected lesson on how to make your own tortillas from scratch. Just add corn flour and water, knead it around, take a clump, flatten it out, and bake over a fire, that’s it. They tasted way better than any store-bought variety. A bit further down the road was what I’ll call ‘Crocodile Bridge’. It’s a bridge over an inlet, very close to the ocean, where people used to feed the wild crocodiles. They aren’t fed anymore, but still gather in very large numbers under the bridge, waiting for a tourist to fall into the water. Arrived at the city of Manuel Antonio, checked into our next hotel and what do I find? This:

Now, this…this deserves it’s own section. Above I have posted a painting that was found hanging on the wall of my hotel room. It is the ugliest painting I have ever seen in my life. I took one look at it and just couldn’t believe how hideous it was. I mean, it’s kind of funny-looking, yah, but…ugh! This picture alone can’t capture the ugliness, but trust me, it was bad. Of course, it was hung in front of my bed, so I would sit and stare at it…kind of like you can’t help but stare at a car accident, same type of thing. Some of the fruit actually looks vicious, like they’re going to attack (the fruit on the right side looks particularly menacing). And what’s with the bikini bottoms on the peaches!? It’s just not the thing to hang in a hotel room…or for that fact, anywhere.

Our hotel was right across the street from the El Avion restaurant, which happened to be built around a full-size C-123 airplane that they someone managed to get up the mountain. We had dinner there, it was very good—check it out if you’re ever in Manuel Antonio.

Woke up to a bright, sunny, humid day the next morning. It was quite the change, since we had been in the mountains for so long prior to coming to Manuel Antonio. Drove over to the Manuel Antonio National Park, along the shores of the pacific. There we stayed for a few hours to swim in the ocean, see some white-faced monkeys up close, watch the pelicans fly overhead, chat under poisonous trees, and just enjoy the nice weather. After lunch this was followed up with a mangrove swamp boat tour. Like the river rafting a few days prior, we were lucky enough to see all sorts of animals, including two ‘tribes’ of monkeys having a war in the trees, hermit/fiddler crabs, birds, fish, an anteater, bats, and many iguanas. Arriving back at the hotel, we found that a two sloths—one with a baby—had chosen the trees above our rooms as a daytime camping site. The day concluded with dinner and drinks on a restaurant that overlooks Manuel Antonio bay, where we watched the sunset.

We had only two nights at Manuel Antonio/Quepos. The next morning it was time for an extended bus ride back up the Talamanca mountains to the Trogon Lodge, stopping at a butterfly garden along the way. Right before arriving we were lucky enough to view a group of three quetzal birds, feeding on mini-avocados (their main food). It was a rare opportunity to see them from up close,and they graciously posed for pictures in between feedings. That’s about it for that day, we ended up spending about eight to nine hours traveling in the bus, climbing to around 9,600 ft. at the highest point.

Zip-line day. We drove up from the lodge and over the next two hours ‘zipped’ back down through the forest with steel lines and harnesses, one by one. It involved a lot of waiting, as each zipline trip took about 30 seconds or less, but since only one person could go at a time, you had to wait quite a while for your next turn. After that we went fishing for trout in the pond next to the lodge. With simple broomstick fishing poles and bread dough bait we ended up catching 18 fish, more than enough for supper. I was able to catch one good-sized one, but some of the others were able to score multiple fish. When you got them out of the water a lodge assistant promptly whacked them on the head with a wooden club, killing them, and threw them into a net. I did some exploring by myself after the fishing had ended, climbing up the mountain for about an hour. Ended up finding a nice little waterfall.

Another early morning. We hop on the bus and travel down the mountain once more to the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose. We visit the museum of natural history while a few others check out the flea market. Then it’s off to a coffee plantation, where we have lunch and a guided tour of the facilities. Most people don’t think much of the coffee that they drink everyday, but it’s a long process from plant to cup. For the top grade of coffee, each individual berry must be hand-picked to ensure the highest quality (usually by Nicaraguan day laborers). They make about $1.25 per twenty-five pounds of premium berries that they pick. Inside each berry is (usually) two seeds. These seeds are processed and laid out to dry, in the sun, for a few days. Then they are roasted for varying amounts of time, depending on what type of flavor coffee you would like to produce. Longer roasting makes for a darker blend. From there they are packages and shipped out all around the world. The plantation we were at ships about half of its premium-grade coffee to Starbucks with the rest being doled out to other vendors and coffee houses throughout the (predominantly) western world. Coffee beans are only about 20% efficient in that it takes 5kg of berries to make 1kg of liquid coffee. Ironically, most of the premium-grade coffee grown in Costa Rica is too expensive for the average Costa Rican to purchase. They settle for the lower grades of coffee, usually produced by mixing unripe and partially ripe beans with some good ones to produce something like what you find packaged in hotel rooms across the country.

That night, our last, we were treated to an symphony orchestra concert outdoors, followed by a great dinner. The next day we spent about 18 hours getting home, thanks to a plane delay (someone’s box of dry ice was leaking smoke in the undercarriage of the plane, so we had to transfer aircraft).

[TOP]

Pictorial Addendum

Animals…

Plenty of creatures everywhere in Costa Rica. Over 30% of their country is designated ‘protected’ in order to hold off or prevent habitat destruction.

Birds…

Although the most beautiful bird was definitely the quetzal, there were dozens of other types to be found in the country—some native, some just migrating.

Bugs & Insects…

No shortage of bugs, insects, and spiders in the jungles.

Monkeys!…

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere! It was my first time to see wild monkeys up-close (having oddly never seen any in Japan before). Didn’t see any squirrel monkeys, but we saw a lot of white-faced monkeys and some howler monkeys.

Plant Life…

All types of plants!.

Towels…

Folding towels into interesting shapes is quite a popular thing in Costa Rica. Some of them were quite inventive.

Rainbows…

Wow…I’ve never seen so many rainbows in my entire life!

[TOP]

Video Clips

Here are some short video clips that I shot with my digital camera. These videos are hosted on Google Video and should have automatically loaded along with the rest of this page. If you have any problems seeing or hearing the videos, please look here for help.

Two toucans, making quite a bit of noise at the wildlife rehabilitation center.

Feeding the calves milk at the dairy farm.

Traditional dancing performed by the children at Escuela Los Llanos, near Puntarenas.

[TOP]

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 11:19 pm and is filed under Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.