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Published: March 24th 2010
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Do you know how it feels to fly? We do. Saturday, Ray and I tagged along with Giorgio and Cindy and his daughter Itria to Aventura Canopy Tours in the Monteverde rain forest. The best part of the adventure was the grand finale, the Superman ride. Our zip line pulleys were reattached to our backs. We soared for about 2000 feet at over 200 feet above the forest. The $40.00 package also included eleven zip lines, a Tarzan swing from which we jumped off a platform about 100 feet up and swung back and forth, and a short rappel. The only thing I did not enjoy was crossing a swinging bridge on narrow planks with a wide space between the boards. We were attached by cable the whole time but on this bridge, the side ropes were too low to comfortably hang onto. With my vertigo, I could not wait to get off that thing. I could do the Superman flight all day long!
We had planned to spend two days driving in the Monteverde and La Fortuna area to see Arenal volcano and its surrounding lake. Arenal is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. On clear nights, the
lava flow can be seen from many area hotels. This is a very beautiful area but we just got fed up with Costa Rica’s atrocious gravel roads.
We’ve read that twenty-five percent of Costa Rica has been set aside in protected areas, with seventy-five national parks, forest preserves and habitat areas. By contrast, the total protected area in the United States is about three percent. Isn’t it funny how we Americans who have over time cleared most of our country's forests are now complaining about how deforestation around the world is affecting our climate.
On the way home we stopped at a BBQ restaurant called Tres Hermanas (Three Sisters). Our very friendly waiter spoke excellent English. He told us that the restaurant’s owner had studied gastronomy and learned barbeque techniques in the U.S. Our barbequed boneless pork dinners were at least a half pound each. Our waiter told us he was born and raised here in San Jose and that he had fallen in love with a German girl he had met while working on the Caribbean coast. As a non-citizen she has difficulty finding work here. They plan to marry. It was all very romantic. We plan
to see him again as we will stop for dinner at Tres Hermanas on our way north.
We were glad to have gotten back early as we had an opportunity to visit with members of a seventeen rig German caravan that is stopping off here on their way north. They shipped their rigs from Germany in October and have been traveling in South America. They will travel together thru Central America and disband in Tombstone, Arizona in May. About ten rigs will travel together to Alaska over the summer and return home to Germany in October. We visited with the owner of the rig next to us for a long time. He and his wife have traveled the Far and Middle East. China is their favorite country. They especially enjoyed meeting the Chinese and Iranians as people in both countries are extremely friendly and curious about visitors. Communication with the Chinese is by hand signals and such. Iranians all speak English.
There is a lot to do within just a few miles of San Jose. Both Parque Nacional Volcan Poas (Poas Volcano National Park) which is the world’s second widest volcano and La Paz Waterfall are just a
few miles northeast of here.
Poas is still considered to be an active volcano although it’s most recent eruption occurred in 1910. When we drove up to the visitor’s entrance the guard asked Ray if he was a local to which Ray replied he wished he was as Costa Rica takes care of their own people. With that, he was charged the local rate which saved us over twenty dollars.
We were not so lucky at the La Paz Waterfall Garden. The developer has built a luxury hotel and extensive gardens. There are over four hundred steps leading down to the waterfall but the view was worth it. There is a small zoo with four leopards, monkeys, exotic birds, butterflies, fancy frogs, an aviary and serpents. Needless to say, we failed to get our money’s worth. We skipped the snakes.
La Paz Waterfall Gardens was hit with a major earthquake about a year ago and was closed for six months. Roads to the park are being reconstructed. Some of the trails are still closed but restoration is ongoing.
There are many botanical gardens in Costa Rica but we chose to visit Pura Vida just east of
Jaco. We were not disappointed. In addition to the tame birds that we played with, we saw wild toucans and macaws resting and fighting in the trees.
On another day we drove north thru Grecia to Sarchi. Grecia is famous for its rust colored steel church and Sarchi for its artisans who paint all of the lovely ox carts as well as wall hangings and furniture.
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