Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 16

Well... our adventure started off... not quite like the adventure we had planned. When you live in Canada, travelling in February is a great idea - you want to get away from the cold and the snow, get a little vitamin D and come back with a nice glow that will make everyone jealous. That was our plan at least. Unfortunately, the Canadian winter (which was really non existent in Penticton until recently) decided to show its ugly face as we were literally departing on our trip. After one slight delay, we were in the car driving to the airport to get the notice our flight had been cancelled. Not because of snow in Penctiton but because of snow in Vancouver that’s the downside of flying out of a small airport! With highway 97 closed due ... read more

It is pouring outside this morning, but we are in the rainforest, so even though this part of La Fortuna in Costa Rica is fairly heavily built up because of its being close to Arenal Volcano National Park, we are still in the rainforest and can expect such drenching rains. While we have stayed in many luxurious and beautiful lodges and hotels on this trip so far, this lodge is not my favorite; the rooms are dark and very cold, and in my first room, tucked back underneath the upper level rooms, my windows didn't even open, adding to the oppressive feeling of being enclosed in a cold tomb. Hearing my dismay while I stood in the open doorway trying to let some warm air and light come in, Esteban, our very young but most excellent ... read more

The warm evenings and hot sunny days were exactly what I wanted, coming from Seattle. It was also nice after the chilly evenings up in the mountains of Monteverde. Cloud forests are beautiful, but you’re in a cloud. The beaches around Manuel Antonio were a whole different world. We stayed with a woman named Anita who has run a small guest house called Casa Buena Vista for forty years. It’s on a steep bluff overlooking the Manuel Antonio beach, so the deck area above our room was up in the trees. We saw dozens of squirrel monkeys and a few howler and capuchin monkeys too. It was fun to lay back in a hammock and watch the squirrel monkeys playing around us in the tree tops. We saw almost as many animals from Anita’s as we ... read more

Nach Panama ging es ins nächste weiterentwickelte, fortschrittliche Land in Mittelamerika: Costa Rica. Nach einem ultrakurzen Flug von Panama war ich dann auch schon in der Hauptstadt namens San Jose, gemäss unserem Reiseleiter eine der hässlichsten Städte in Mittelamerika. Darum triffts es sich gut dass ich nichts unternommen habe und mich vom Flug in den frühen Morgenstunden erholt habe. Schnell ging es dann am nächsten Tag von San Jose in Richtung La Fortuna. Um nicht die ganze Fahrt im Bus zurücklegen zu müssen, sind wir dazwischen auf ein Boot umgestiegen. Aber nicht irgendein Boot, sondern ein Schlauchboot in welchem wir im Wildwasserfluss geraftet sind. Schlussendlich sind wir alle sicher in La Fortuna angekommen. In La Fortuna besuchten wir einen Wasserfall in welchem man auch baden kann. Das ganze war zwar schön anzusehen, das Wasser aber zu ... read more

Thurs 6-Fri 7 December - Day 41 to 42 - La Fortuna and return to San Jose for 1 night Our next journey took us through the mountains of the cloud forest using a combination of minivans and boats. The first leg to Lake Arenal took about one hour 30 minutes and the landscape was truly spectacular. Rolling hills eventually give way to the distant views of Arenal Volcano but we didn’t stop for photos as the clouds were very thick and low at the lookouts. Stopping by the side of the road, we walk down a dirt path to our boat on the shores of Lake Arenal. The scenery was truly stunning of the lake and we travel for approximately an hour slowly approaching Arenal Volcano. Once we reach the other side, we boarded another ... read more