Blogs from La Fortuna, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

What a relaxing day today! Except for the fact that a neighborhood dog woke us up frequently and we were unable to sleep after 5:30, this was an extremely comfortable bed with very soft sheets. and we woke up refreshed, just not long enough. Oh well. David was happy to do some birding in the am, and said buenos dias a few times to a man who was bicycling. The man eventually stopped and chatted – I could hear from a distance and was so very proud of David! I heard the word toucan and as they walked slightly further down the road I assumed the man knew where to show David a toucan. No, he was inviting David to see his garden (growing pineapples, cacao, and guanabana – that’s soursop) and even the inside of ... read more

It was a busy day again today, which is why I didn’t get around to posting until the morning. We were eating breakfast at the very earliest hour of 6:30 am yesterday, but sure weren’t the only ones. Folks get up early here because the sun does too! We were picked up by van to go to the cloud forest walk. And what did we learn? That a cloud forest is different from a rainforest – because it’s where the weather from the Atlantic and Pacific crash into each other. The cloud forest is filled with epiphytes – air plants. We saw some amazing and huge ficus trees where the epiphytes had completely encased the original tree. It’s also full of avocado trees – which are mini fruit types in the wild – and loved by ... read more

We flew from San Francisco to Houston, had a three hour layover then onto Libera, Costa Rica. We rented a car from Enterprise. One of the smartest moves we made was to rent a GPS. I asked how much they cost, the answer $12.00 per day, I said no thanks the cost was to high. Enterprise then said they would rent it for $8 per day, SOLD. I also paid extra for a AAA type service. I had read about people having their tires punctured and when local show up to help they rob you . I want to have a service just in case we ran into trouble. Our first stop was La Fortuna the town in the shadow of Arenal Volcano. The GPS gave us directions like turn right at the road or turn ... read more

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 ... read more

It was time to leave our spa hotel for Playa Hermosa but first: a must stop at the Rainforest Chocolate Tour in La Fortuna. We packed the car after our last wonderful buffet breakfast with a plan to head to Playa Hermosa, a good day’s drive with stops along the way. Our first stop was just outside of La Fortuna at the Rainforest Chocolate Tour. I had no idea what to expect but when you say chocolate and tour, I'm in! This was a last minute decision before leaving La Fortuna and we were really glad we went. We found that they are usually booked in advance but since we were doing the tour early in the morning there were just enough spots for us to join the first tour. We were a small group, there ... read more