Earth Day in Costa Rica!

---

Well, for this year’s vacation we decided on the complete opposite adventure from Egypt. Lush rainforests, stunning waterfalls and vast active volcanoes – we’re in Costa Rica! We boarded our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica via Atlanta, at 5:45am today. It’s a complete coincidence that we’ll be exploring the jungle on Earth Day – a pretty cool coincidence.



When we boarded our flight in Philadelphia the stewardess for Delta Airlines immediately moved Michael and me to the exit row for the journey because of his height. I ended up sleeping most of the time in wondrous relaxation. Then after our very short layover in Atlanta we boarded the 4 hour flight from Atlanta to Liberia and, once again, Michael and I were moved into the emergency exit row so that we could have a more relaxing journey. Score! Again, I slept the whole way in glorious relaxation.



Soon enough we landed in Liberia. It was a very cloudy day and frankly the look of the country from the airport didn’t look much different than anywhere in the USA. There were pine trees lining the airport strip and even a United States Coast Guard carrier plane taking up the majority of the loading zone. The biggest difference was the temperature/humidity. My hair instantly fizzed right into an attractive fro. Michael was sweet enough to still turn to me and go, “You’re still beautiful, hun.” Haha – he’s a keeper. To those that don’t know – we’re getting married next April :-)



Anyways, we immediately were funneled into the customs official lines. As we arrived at the custom’s official’s desk, she just took all three of our passports and stamped them without question. This was, by far, the easiest customs arrival I have ever had – and I’ve been through quite a few international airports. Even Mexico asked a few questions when I was there!



We picked up our bags and headed out into the main concourse. There, probably 50 Costa Rician’s were waving signs for arriving tourists. We found the budget rental car guy and he escorted us to the van that would bring us to the Budget Rental car office. Once there, I signed the necessary paperwork and got into our Toyota RV4. From reading blogs and travel books, it was clear that 4x4 drive was a requirement to navigate the dirt roads that twist and turn around the national park locations. Boy, was that an understatement!



The general census was that the best conversion rates to colons (Costa Rican currency) were best from ATMs. The easiest place to find ATMs is at any supermarket. We should have stopped in the grocery store right in Liberia, but for some reason we waited until the town of Canas later down the road toward Arenal to use the supermarket ATM.



So without any local currency we decided to try and stop at a waterfall I’d read about in other blogs called Cataratas Llanos Del Cortes. It’s located 2km before the town of Bagaces on the Pan American Highway. We turned right immediately after a large sign marking the waterfall directions and headed a few kms down a dirt road until we saw a women and a child standing at an entrance for the waterfall parking lot. She held up a sign reading ‘Donations for Children’s School’, and to our left we noticed a school yard. Joe asked the lady in Spanish if she accepted US currency and she said yes. We handed her a 5 dollar bill, which was probably too much. She handed us a receipt – for tax purposes of course – and we continued on our way.



We got out of the car and noticed a small homemade stand selling coconuts, fantas and water. The sounds of the rushing waterfall drowned out all the wildlife in the area. To the left of that stand was a sign that said “Entrada”, which I reasoned was entrance, even though I’ve never taken a Spanish course. We headed down a fairly steep trail and as we neared closer the rushing water got louder and louder and so did the sound of screaming children. We emerged from the trail to a small beach and a huge waterfall ahead of us. It was gorgeous. Local children were playing in the waters below, jumping from rock;s and splashing about. To our left a family had set up a tent and was chilling with some beers in hand just enjoying the day. There was only other pair of tourists at the beach, which made it feel like we had dove into the local ambiance.



Unfortunately none of us were wearing swimwear and we had a long drive ahead of us to Arenal so we did not want our clothes wet. Joe swished his feet around in the water though and said the water was fairly cool. After a few minutes of sitting on the rocks and enjoying the atmosphere we began to head back up the trail to the car. We purchased some water at the stand and went on our way. As we drove lizards crossed the road and beautiful birds came into view. Vines were hanging from trees and I’ve never seen a place more green. This was so cool.



Soon we arrived at Canas and stopped at the ATM in order to get some local currency. We had to pay a man to “watch our car” while we were inside. $1 was enough. We used the ATM right inside the door and curious enough it asked me if I wanted US dollars or Colons. Guess we’re not as far away from home as I thought. I got colons and since the exchange rate is 500 to 1, the $100 that I withdrew said 50,000 and made my heart jump. In order to break the bills, we picked up some strawberries, insect repellent and juice. A child followed Michael around the supermarket asking for money. Michael gave in by buying him a juice drink from the fridge. Michael paid at the register by credit card, which was incredibly smart since you could tell the kid was eyeing up any change he may have gotten.



We got back in our car and soon enough we were near the Arenal lake! Yay! Only one more hour of driving the most twisty turny, steep and broken roads I’ve ever drove in my life. Both Joe and Michael commented that they were glad I was driving. These roads were so twisty and turny that Joe was nauseous almost the entire drive around the Arenal Lake. The road would randomly become one lane at some points and my GPS would alert me, “Dangerous Bridge ahead”. It wasn’t kidding. Because of the twist and turns when the road got to one lane I was so scared someone would come ripping around the road ahead. No one did though. At one point a local did pass me on the opposite side of the road though – All of our hearts jumped as he was on the wrong side of the road going into a blind turn. Yikes!



We got to the entrance to the Arenal National Park. This is where you have to turn to get to the Arenal Observatory Lodge, which is where we’re staying for the next two days. The Arenal Lodge is right at the base of the volcano and is secluded 11km from any other buildings. We drove 11km from the main road on a rocky dirt road with plenty of pot holes. A cloud of dust was behind us as we made our way up the hill to the gated entrance to the Lodge. I gave the man at the gate my name and he saw that we had a reservation and let us through. We climbed probably the steepest road yet up to the lodge. It was beautiful. The lodge looks right up to the giant Arenal Volcano. To the left as we walked down the courtyard toward the volcano the sun was setting over the Arenal Lake in the distance. The sky was dancing with reds, pinks and purples looking over lush rainforest vegetation and a sparkling lake. I was breath taking. And this is home for the next few days :-)



We watched the sky for a bit and then checked into our room. Our room was across a hanging bridge beyond the pool. We opened the door to our room and the entire view out the window was volcano. It was huge and right there! The smoke was coming from the top – The Arenal volcano is an active volcano. Its latest large eruption was in May of 2010. Pictures around the lodge show lava flowing down the sides of this gigantic natural structure. When you look up at the volcano you can see the black hardened lava seeping from the peek.



We unpacked our things and immediately went to the restaurant for dinner. We were starving since we really hadn’t eaten anything all day. Joe and I ordered some mushroom bisque soup that was the best soup I’ve ever had. I had the special of beef fajitas and all the veggies and tortillas were incredibly fresh. Michael had a chicken risotto that was really great. And Joe had a pasta alfredo dish. As we ate, the heavens opened up outside. The rain came down incredibly hard for about 10 minutes and then just stopped all the sudden. This was common for Costa Rica.



The weather was cleared up by the time we decided to head back to our room and call it an early night. All three of us feel asleep just as soon as our heads hit the pillows. We were exhausted from our long day of travel.

---

Comments

[Maura H]

:-)
Sounds like a great start to your trip!!