Two Sisters and a Mother in Costa Rica Day 2

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Early on our first morning we woke to see the breathtaking view outside our room of the colorful tropical garden with the impressive Arenal Volcano in the distance. Not having the luxury of time, we dressed quickly, ran down to the same resort restaurant for a very delicious buffet breakfast including freshly made omelets, yogurts, pastries, oatmeal, many local specialties, and my favorite, the “digestive juices” that changed each day. This morning, along with a hearty breakfast, we enjoyed a refreshing lemon-cucumber juice and excellent Costa Rican coffee. We ate our breakfast in the open air restaurant overlooking the volcano, gardens and lovely birds. With no time to lose we were soon dashing to the main entrance where we met Jose from Jacamar Tours for our first Costa Rican adventure.

Jose was waiting for us at the resort entrance at 7:50am where we boarded his van for bouncy hourlong ride north near Nicaragua. Jose informed us our ride was a Costa Rican massage, no extra charge. Our ride ended at a dirt road leading to a small farm on the Rio Frio River where we would enjoy our Pure Nature Safari Floating experience for the morning. With Jose as our enthusiastic and knowledgable guide we pulled off on our rubber raft as he talked about the area, the farms on either side of the river and the people who lived there. I was a bit disappointed to see so many farms having thought this would be more of a jungle float be we did see a large number of birds and animals that did not disappoint. In the beginning of the float we saw a Caiman alligator, smaller but more vicious than our Florida alligator and a runaway Jesus Christ lizard.

Birds were plentiful but not always easy to find. With Jose’s help we saw a Cinnamon Becard, a large number of beautiful White Egrets who gracefully flew ahead of us at every turn. The branches of overhanging trees were great spots to find the Bare Throated Tiger Heron, Boat-billed Heron, a Green Kingfisher, an Amazon Kingfisher, Green Back Heron, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Black Cheeked Woodpecker, a Great Kisskadee Flycatcher, a Wren, a Scarlet Rumped Tanager, a Summer Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Purple Gallinule, numerous warblers and a Rufous Tailed Hummingbird. The highlight of the bird kingdom was when Jose spotted a large Spectacled Owl perched almost over our heads. Jose was so excited he almost fell out of the boat. He quickly maneuvered a turn and pulled us up alongside the river bank for a closer look. This owl was not interested in us at all but we were quite taken with his impressive size and stature. He really did look like he was wearing spectacles, but this was a guy not to be fooled with!

We heard toucans in the distance but were never close enough to get a good look. I was on a mission to get close to some Howler Monkeys and hopefully hear their roar. The Howler Monkey is reportedly louder than a lion, the loudest of all mammals, but alas, they were too high up in the tree tops with their families quietly napping. My daughter did get her wish to see a Three Toed Sloth but unfortunately it, too, was so high up in the tree that even with binoculars it was hard to make out, but we did see them.

Our floating journey ended near a farm where we were met by the van driver who loaded our rafts, and ultimately us, to take us to our included lunch at a local finca (farm). There didn’t appear to be a residence here, but likely this place had been renovated from a home to a working farm tourist stop with a restroom and kitchen facilities. We were told that the farm is now solar.

Three of us, plus Jose, sat down at a picnic table under the porch roof where we were served home made lemonade with plantain chips to start. Chickens strolled the area looking for handouts near the fenced in gardens. A beautiful horse stood, saddled, under the branches of a shade tree. Soon a delightful woman came out of the spacious, rustic open air farm kitchen with cooked black beans, freshly made buffalo cheese on a fresh tortilla, gallos de arracachae, (arracacha is a root vegetable similar to a carrot, from the ancient Inca in Peru, in Costa Rica it is called gallos de arracache when served with a tortilla), sweet bunuelos, a delicious fried yucca and cheese bun with a honey dip for lunch. Coffee was made with a special Costa Rica drip coffee apparatus called a Chorreadore. Some people hang a clean sock as their filter. The coffee was very good.

The lunch was delicious and just enough for me, my girls however, might have had more given the opportunity but soon we were back in the van heading to La Fortuna and our hotel. Jose had remembered the sloth request from my daughter Mandy and her delight when seeing a sloth on the river. He had been high in the trees so we did not get a good look at it, (or hear the howler monkeys). Suddenly the van stopped and we were asked to get out. Jose and the driver brought their photo scope and told us to bring our phones. We looked through the lens and there in the tree we found the elusive two toed sloth making my daughter’s day. We were able to photograph the sloth through the high powered scope getting a much better look at this lazy guy.

We arrived back at the resort around 1pm, changed into our bathing suits and headed to the pool for a nice relaxing soak. There is a swim up bar, many lounge chairs and again, that amazing volcano in the distance, with clouds swirling around its peak. After reading and swimming to the bar for an afternoon adult beverage, we decided on dinner in town and so changed for our first exploration of La Fortuna, some five or so miles away.

I had done a bit of reading about places to eat but as we soon found out it was not easy to drive in the narrow one way - wrong way streets. We passed many touristy restaurants but wanted to eat at a Soda, a restaurant that would serve local non-touristy food.

We found the locally owned Soda Restaurante Viguez that had about twelve tables in a tiny open air space. Even though it was cool and raining, it was cheery and delightful under cover in the restaurant. We enjoyed delicious and very inexpensive meals. I ordered the avocado sauce sea bass with mashed yucca (I have become a fan and now make it at home!), perfectly cooked medley of carrots, green beans and cauliflower in a light garlic sauce, rice and some of the best, lightly dressed cabbage slaw I ever ate. I am still dreaming about this dinner!

One daughter had the sea bass with a shrimp sauce, salad, rice and mashed yucca, the other daughter had chicken with beans, plantain, rice, yucca, pesto pasta and slaw. We were all very pleased. Each full course meal was about $10. US. The woman who served us did not speak English but with the help of pointing to the menu and my semi-fluent daughters we made out just fine.

When I travel I far prefer eating local meals to "Americanized" meals that I can get at home. For me it is about the cultural experience. I do not travel to eat what can be found most any place in the US and because of this I am rarely disappointed.

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Photos

Morning view from our room at Manoa Hot Springs Resort
Beautiful private gardens with the Arenal Volcano in the distance.