Frogs in Costa Rica

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Costa Rica...lush, green and very humid! It´s a country very used to tourists and knows how to charge them. In most countries, you pay to enter a national park and then enjoy it, but in some national parks here they seem to charge for each walk, waterfall and toucan sighting (ok, an exaggeration, but only slightly!).

Nevertheless, we are really enjoying spending time in this beautiful country. The people are friendly and travel is easy as the tourist infrastructure is very good and most people speak English. We´ve been to three areas so far; La Fortuna and Arenal, Monteverde/Santa Elena and Rincon de la Viajar. Some of our highlights so far:
*Despite the very, very wet weather in La Fortuna, which meant we were unable to see the Volcan Arenal until the day we were leaving (let alone the lava), we had a great time watching the frogs at Cerro Chato crater lake, which loved the rain so much they started going for it, hammer and tongs!
*Zip-lining through the canopy in Monteverde (our two mums might be best to stop reading here!). The zip-lining involves being strapped to a cable and travelling as fast possible across the valley. Naturally we chose the most extreme one which had the highest and longest lines as well as a tarzan swing with a free fall which was just too much fun!
*Visiting Victor´s Fairtrade (and uncertified organic) coffee farm. The farm is part of the Cafe Monteverde co-operative and he also grew all manner of fruits and herbs, all in the shade of the trees.
*Visiting Ronario, a frog center (yep, more frogs!) at night. These little guys are very cool!
*Spotting wildlife, without a guide. There´s something a bit thrilling about doing a walk through a National Park, and seeing amazing birds, beautiful butterflies and monkeys without anyone else around.
*Rincon de la Viajar NP. The least touristy place we´ve visited so far. We started an 8-hour walk at 8am and didn´t see a soul until 1pm, plus we got charged the local´s entry fee rather than the 10x more expensive tourist entry fee, he he! The park was really cool, with heaps of volcanic activity in guise of steam, boiling mud pots, fumaroles etc.
Dave has been growing a mo for November. Regular status photos will be published when possible.

Hasta luego
Lisa and Dave

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Comments

[Bella]

Cerro Chato
I can't believe you made it to the lagoon, in all that rain, that walk was a huge and dangerous mission when it wasn't raining. Do tell xx

[Mum]

You're correct
I probably should not have read about ziplining!

[Alison]

Great Pics
Hey guys! Great pics, some tidy work with the waterfall shots and the dew in the spider web! Its great reading all your stories, sounds like you are having a blast! Cant't wait to see you at Xmas time! al x