Blogs from Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Time for another trip – this time to Central America, first stop Costa Rica. It’s the first time we’ve travelled with British Airways for many years. And there’s a reason for that. It’s not a great start, with a last minute change from an 11.30 to a 9 am departure. So we decided to travel up to Gatwick the night before and stay at the less than celubrious White House Hotel in an executive room, which frankly no self respecting executive would be seen dead in. We’re up at 6 for our taxi to the airport. Once there, it takes an hour to make it to the front of the check in queue to be told the flight is running 30 minutes late. We head through security. Now the delay has gone up to an hour ... read more

We were now traveling from San Jose to the area of the Arenal Volcano that erupted suddenly in 1968 after being dormant for hundreds of years. Its last activity was in 2010. On our way we stopped at Sarchi, an artisan shop, where we had a chance to see the art work created and buy some locally made crafts. From there we continued on to Zarceri where we stopped at the San Rafael Church and its Topiary Garden. The church was simple inside and the topiaries were interesting. Around noon we stopped at Cuidad Quesada for lunch at Pizza Hut. After eating we walked into the Cathedral while we were here. Again the church was very simple compared to other cathedrals we have visited. Our final stop was in La Fortuna, a village that was spared ... read more

This morning we got up and went to Arenal National Park for a hike on the lava flows. We were given the choice between an easy hike about one hour, or a hard hike about 2 1/2 hours. We knew we could do the long hike so that’s what we chose. The trail meandered around a lake where we spotted chestnut mandibled Toucans, Oropendolas (they make the strangest sounds... hard to describe), herons and 30 other species of bird we couldn’t identify. We also saw beetles, leaf cutter ants and a scorpion! It was over 30°, there was significant elevation, and humidity was near 100%, but Scott persevered. The views of the top were worth it, and as promised we did walk on the lava flow. It was around 1230 when we got to lunch, and ... read more

We have had a few adventure packed days in the La Fortuna/Arenal area. We arrived late in La Fortuna (just after dark). We did survive the 2 nights in our un-air conditioned lodging although I’m not gonna lie - it wasn’t comfortable. It is very hot in La Fortuna. Sadly, we did not see any sloths in the gardens. We did however see a few frogs, lizards and plenty of leaf cutter ants. We started our first day in La Fortuna with a hike out to the La Fortuna waterfall (Catarata Rio Fortuna). We trekked down the many flights of stairs to water below. It was quite cool in the morning and with the wind and spray of the falls. We swam in the pool below which was more like a Canadian lake in summer than ... read more

16 octobre 2018 : Nous allons à la clinique de Jorge le matin puis nous reposons l'après-midi chez Jorge et Ana Milena ;... read more