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Published: November 1st 2012
Our shuttle bus arrived to pick us up and take us to
La Fortuna as we were the only travellers that day we had plenty of space and our driver Roberto was very pleasant company on the journey. He asked if we were OK after the previous night’s earthquake; he had been fishing and said that the earth started to move and then he noticed the water rippling - I think it must have scared the fish as he did not catch any! It scared us anyway.........We relayed our experience of the quake whilst we were at Tico Adventure Lodge as mentioned in the previous blog. It took about two and half hours to get to
Limonal where all the small shuttle buses meet and said goodbye to Roberto. We had coffee whilst we waited for the next bus and saw again the vivid
Scarlet Macaws in the trees above the small cafe - apparently they are fed here so that’s why they are always around and are a great attraction to tourist as they wait for their next shuttle bus in the middle of nowhere.
The next leg of our journey took about two and
half hours of slow driving up into the mountains. The roads got narrower and when the rain came down it streamed down the sides of these little roads. In several places thick orange mud slides partially blocked the road but the driver managed to maneuver the small shuttle around the debris - luckily he also knew the route as he took several shortcuts along unsealed tracks which were a bit bumpy but seemed to save us time in the end and we did eventually meet back up with some tarmac! On one of the tracks a
Coati was wandering along without a care in the world, these bear like creatures are members of the
Raccoon family, I thought it was a puppy when we first spotted it and we watched it disappear quickly into the dense forest - so cute.
We finally started to follow the huge
Lake Arenal which seemed to go on for ever before we got our first glimpse of the mighty
Arenal Volcano - with a ring of cloud around its base it was an awesome first sight............ and was just as one pictures a volcano to be, a perfect conical
shape.
Between 1500-1900, the Arenal Volcano was silent and was considered by many to be extinct. Local farmers who worked the land along its base referred to it as a mountain - Cerro Arenal (Arenal Mountain). However when the volcano violently erupted on the morning of 29 July 1969, it spewed ash, rocks and gas for three consecutive days burying over 15 kilometers. As the smoke cleared, the villages of
Tabacon, Pueblo Nuevo, and
San Luis were found buried under the debris, with 87 people dead. Crops were spoiled, property was ruined, and livestock was killed. It was a difficult time for the people of Arenal. At the height of its ferocious activity, the volcano flung giant rocks – some weighing several tons – more than a kilometer away at a rate of 600 meters per second. These explosions would go on to form three new active craters. Out of this tragedy,
La Fortuna (The Fortune) was born as the central town in the Arenal Volcano area. Although the volcano took the lives of many men and women, it has given back to the community by becoming one of Costa Rica's most visited natural attractions.
While agriculture is still important to the region, tourism has surpassed this to become the main source of income for the area’s people. Between 1968 and 2010, the Arenal Volcano was still extremely active – it spewed hot rocks, smoke, ash, and lava from its top almost
every day - its hard to believe but this went on for
over forty years........but now for the last two years it seems to be sleeping................. Since the 1968 eruption locals have taken caution in building their settlements and farms further away and all towns, hotels and trails are set at a safe distance from Arenal itself.
We finally arrived at our hotel and were taken to our accommodation which was a small detached bungalow set into the hillside with breathtaking views of Arenal Volcano from the terrace as well as the two queen-sized beds in our room. Such a panoramic view, reminiscent of the pyramid view we had from our hotel in Cairo many years ago. You could clearly see the green as well as the volcanic sides of the volcano with the clouds making patterns across its shape - an ever changing vista. We were lucky
to get clear views even with the rain as many people who visit the area never get to see it as it can be encased in cloud for days on end. At the top of the volcano even from our distance you could see huge columns of steam pouring out of the summit and then drifting upwards and joining the clouds. As mentioned above since 2010 the volcanic activity has been decreasing and explosions are now very rare and less damaging but you can still see ash columns and hear underground rumblings - lets hope it stays that way particularly after the recent earthquakes!
That evening we had an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant, the first meal out for a while as we had catered for ourselves at Samara with what we could find in the shops. The restaurant is famous in the area for its excellent Costa Rican and Italian food with many guests from other hotels and nearby towns frequenting. The staff were very friendly and efficient and our waiter recommended the fish for me and the beef for Paul, both were equally delicious. The next day we lazed around the grounds where we
saw many different birds and we got some lovely photographs of the graceful colourful
Hummingbirds. The skies were always full of
Vultures and birds of prey soaring on the thermals. Lower down we saw the
Black-cheeked and Golden Olive Woodpeckers as well as several tree creepers including the
Streak-headed. Many Tangers including the
Blue Gray, the
Palm and the bright black and red
Passerini’s Tanager. We also saw many Orioles including the brilliant yellow and black
Black-cowled Oriole. My favourite here though was the lovely
Red-legged Honeycreeper, the male had red legs of course and a glittering pale-turquoise crown with yellow underwings, whilst the nondescript olive-green female looked quite drab in comparison. However the males molt into nonbreeding plumage after breeding and resemble the females!! Everywhere of course were lots of the
Great Kiskadees singing their hearts out in the trees and many birds that we could not name even with our CR field guide.
Lovely Costa Rican coffee was always available at the reception area and the manager came out one day and brought us some cake to go with the coffee - what a nice gesture - all free. We ate in
the restaurant as the food was so good particularly the
Volcano Pizza cooked in their stone oven overlooking the volcano itself - bizarre. One night they cook us some fish and chicken in the stone oven as well as this was superb. We managed to Skype Sue and Jim in the UK who both looked well and they were hoping to head off somewhere warm within the next couple of weeks with Jim now on the mend, so good luck to them with their travels. We are still amazed with Skype - giving us the ability to be able to see and talk to family and friends for free, we even managed to link up with my brother Malcolm and Sue the other week which was great. We often link up with my sister Frances and Geoff, Sharon and Maisie in Dubai. We were so lucky to get a good connection to Dubai on Maisie’s birthday and it was lovely to see her on her 9th birthday on the 28th October complete with
newly pierced ears. We would have so loved to have been with her but at least we were last year. We have also been impressed with the
internet connections in Costa Rica, much better than we had thought and most places offering a free service - hopefully this will continue throughout our journey.
We had hoped to spend a few days at
Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge but it is one of the most difficult places to independently visit in Costa Rica. Looking at the cost to get there and stay did not make it a viable option so we opted for a day tour instead. The refuge is set in a remote area of the country and is often submerged in water from flooded rivers so we were pleased that we had managed to find a way of seeing the area at least. We were picked up at our hotel and joined by two couples from Texas, a couple of trainee doctors from Sweden, a chap from New Hampshire and a mother and daughter from Florida as well as a Costa Rican guide and a driver. We drove through
La Fortuna the main town in the area with several blocks of shops, hotels and restaurants and a central small park near the church.
As soon as we were left
the town the countryside both sides was covered in a variety of crops.
Pineapple plantations were huge and big business here but our guide said that it was very labour intensive as each plant was hand planted and only bore two fruits before starting the process again. The first pineapple served the local markets and the better quality second fruits were for the export market, mainly to the US. The land area dedicated to pineapple in Costa Rica is now greater than that occupied by bananas and one of the countries main sources of income. Our guide said that the process of producing just two pineapples was difficult and the workers had to work all day in hot conditions as well as wearing protective clothing due to the sharpness of the product. We also passed several large
banana farms with their little blue plastic bags covering the fruit to protect it from insects.
Plantains were also widely grown and although they look like bananas they are a lot bigger and have thicker skin and need to be cooked before they are eaten. They are often served as part of a main dish in Costa Rica and are usually on the
menu here not to keen on them ourselves. These fruits were also covered in plastic bags but our guide said that this was not to protect it from insects but to enable all the plantain to ripen together.
Orange orchards also covered the hills in this area. The oranges are not exported though as they are ‘yellow’ in colour and they cannot compete with other countries that produce bright orange ones - which most customers want! They do however turn them into juices and syrups and these are exported around the world. Other main exports in Costa Rica include
sugar and of course
coffee and we are hoping to visit a coffee plantation when we move into the central plateau where most of this is grown later in our trip.
After miles of watching the various farms pass by the driver stopped and pointed out a mother and baby
Sloth hanging in the trees on the side of the road right above our heads. We were indeed lucky enough to see both types of Costa Rican Sloths within a few miles of each other a animal we have never seen before. They are quite strange
when you first see them and are renowned for their slow movements. The
Three-toed Sloth has long coarse hair over dense underfur, a white face with a brown stripe on each side, a brown throat, and a body that is pale brown to yellowish. Each adult male has a unique pattern of yellow hair on its back with a black stripe through the center. As the name suggests, the three-toed has three toes on each of its front and hind feet. The other its relative, the
Two-toed Sloth also has three toes on the hind feet, but only two on the front feet. The three-toed sloth is active during the day, unlike the nocturnal two-toed sloth, and so is seen more often. This sloth only eats leaves from trees and live, feed, mate, and reproduce near the upper levels of the forest canopy. They move to a new tree to balance their diet but do not often descend to the ground and prefer to pass from canopy to canopy where they can. Our guide said they do come down though
once a week to dig a hole and go to the loo, too much effort to go more than this..............and
a big risk from predators for this slow moving animal.
After about an hour we stopped for a break in
Muelle, a crossroad village at the junctions of Highways 4 and 35 and were stunned to see hundreds of large
Iguanas congregating high in the tree tops but could easily be seen at eye level from the bridge beside the Restarante Iguana Azul. Apparently a chap originally had a couple and used to feed them, now several years later you can see hundreds hanging above the fast flowering river beside the restaurant. We also saw a large
Aracari from the bridge and were pleased as this was one of the birds that we really wanted to see on our visit. There were as usual many
Vultures in the canopy and a
Road-side Hawk over the river bank.
We continued on towards
Los Chiles, a culturally-mixed village only 4km from the
Nicaraguan border before turning off the road and travelled along a dirt track for about 20 minutes stopping along the way when we spotted anything of interest so that we could take photographs and we were delighted to see two
magnificent
Jabiru, the largest bird in Central America and also very endangered and again one that we wanted to see and indeed everyone we have spoken to since said that we were indeed fortunate to spot these.
We arrived at the
Río Frío (Cold River), a slow-flowing muddy looking river that winds through canyons on its way to the
Caño Negro Lake. At the river side was a small restaurant owned by a local family who provided us with a snack and drink before we boarded our small open sided boat.
The
Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge and the Rio Frío are biological humid areas considered to be one of the richest in biological diversity in Costa Rica. We drifted down the river through tropical rainforest, pastures, and marshland and spotted many birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians along the way. We were lucky to see three of the four types of monkeys that inhabit the forests of Costa Rica. The
Howler Monkey which we heard before we saw and can sound terrifying if you have not heard them, however these monkeys are peaceful vegetarians. The noise which we often heard on our travels
around the country can apparently travel for up to two miles. Howler monkeys have short snouts and wide-set, round nostrils and weigh around seventeen pounds. We saw a large family group with several young playing happily in the tree canopy. In trees on the opposite side of the bank we saw a group of
Spider Monkeys which is one of the largest New World monkeys, and can weigh as much as twenty pounds. Its arms are significantly longer than its legs, and its prehensile tail can support the entire weight of the monkey and is used as an extra limb. It was wonderful watching them glide through the trees above the river.
Finally we spotted the
Capuchin also called the
White-faced Monkey, these small primates are widely recognized as the most intelligent New World monkey and have been trained to help the disabled. It is a medium-sized monkey, weighing about eight and half pounds. It is mostly black, but with a lovely pink face and white on much of the front part of the upper body, hence its common name. The fourth type which we did not see is the
Squirrel Monkey but hopefully may be able to see them
before we leave Costa Rica.
We also saw many large
Caimans but nothing as big as the
Crocodiles (Salties) we have seen on our Australian travels. Perched on many dead trees on the waters edge as well as in the trees we saw a few
Iguanas and several of the
Common Basilisk also
known as the
Jesus Christ Lizard as when startled they escape by speeding to the nearest edge of water and then they sprint across the water. The lizard runs on only its hind legs in an erect position, holding its arms to its sides. This basilisk is so adroit on water because its feet are large and equipped with flaps of skin along the toes therefore when moving quickly, the lizard can cross a surface of water before sinking - hence its name.
Amongst the many birds we saw on this trip were several types of
Anhinga or Snake Bird as it is called by the locals as it looks like a snake when in swims along the river as well as several kingfishers
including the
Green and the
Amazon Kingfisher. We also saw several
Northern Jacana,
Green and Little Blue Herons,
Great Egret, Snowy Egret and a
Boat-billed Heron which is a strange looking bird with a broadbill and should we think be called a boat billed duck! We also saw a
Gray-necked Wood-Rail hiding on the edge of the river. Nearly invisible against the bark of a tree our guide pointed out a
Common Potoo which was similar to the Frog-mouths we had seen in Australia. We saw many
Turkey Vultures soaring overhead and also a
Crested Caracara but not many birds of prey.
Flying all along the river we saw many
Mangrove Swallows which were just too fast to capture on film. On several trees we saw
Long-nosed Bats hanging on the bark in groups.
We returned to the restaurant where they had prepared us a lovely lunch of Rice, Beans, Chicken and Salsa followed by Rice Pudding - but not as we make in the UK. The owner and his wife prepared and served the food and their little one year old daughter sat in her pushchair nearby watching us tourist with some amusement. We travelled back to our hotel and said goodbye to our fellow travellers, thanking the driver and guide who
were very helpful and indeed we would not have spotted half of the wildlife without their expert guidance and could not believe that we had seen so much in just one day.
A few days later we took a guided hike around the volcano getting as near as is now possible and although it was rainy when we set off and we were not expecting to see anything the rain cleared and we had quite good views from a high lookout point of the volcano and Lake Arenal itself. Our guide spotted a Toucan far away in the tree canopy but try as we might we did not see it...........Along the track the guide pointed out some lovely Orchids that only flower for one day, one looked just like a daffodil.
We spent the next few days chilling and walking around the area and tomorrow we move on to
Monteverde deep in the
Cloud Forest. To get there we have to go by Jeep/Boat/Jeep, crossing Lake Arenal and then being picked up on the opposite bank and travelling up into the mountains on unsealed tracks all the way - we have been warned that
its going to be a very long bumpy journey - so hopefully we will see you there.
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Amina
non-member comment
Could you share what hotel you stayed in when you went to see volcano?
Could you share what hotel you stayed in when you went to see volcano?