Because this trip was long and exciting, I thought I should break it up a bit. Part 1 was coastal Costa Rica. Here is Part 2: the mountains, cloud forest, and San Jose.
Places visited:
Arenal (La Fortuna)
Monteverde
San Jose
Pacuare River
Activities:
The drive to Arenal was up a steep, winding, crazy, narrow road through beautiful mountain towns. La Fortuna is a small town in the shadow of the volcano. The first morning, we went to Proyecto Asis, a rescue for wild animals that people have “saved” or tried to tame. They have peccaries (wild boar) of two varieties. Both are kind of cute hairy beasts, but smell horrible. They have a musk gland that shoots milky liquid 3 feet in the air. And people had these as HOUSE PETS! Whaaaaa?!! Next we saw spider monkeys. Jesica and Hercules are friendly. Jesica likes to touch people. Anyone near the cage can hold her hand or she will touch their shoulder or arm. We saw more spider monkeys, aggressive white face monkeys, a baby porcupine, parrots and macaws. They had a very cute, but mean grison which is like a weasel, some coatis and a racoon, along with a huge orange iguana that had been hit by a car. In the back, there was a baby sloth! He was so cute, just munching away on his leaves. Hummingbirds were everywhere and a small non-aggressive crocodile variety had moved into the pond. We fed the animals. The monkeys will always be there, but the birds, small peccaries, coatis, porcupine, and raccoon will be rehabilitated and released. Carlos was an awesome and passionate tour guide.
The night tour jungle tour we booked was unbelievable! It was led by Gerald of Arenal Oasis. The tour started with him teaching us about the noise blue jeans poison dart frogs make and where to find them. We saw three of the tiny frogs! Then we started up the trail finding an assortment of frogs, toads and spiders. When we got to a pond, Gerald stopped us and made us wait while he dealt with two fer-de-lance snakes which are highly aggressive and venomous. He let us see them in pairs and took some pictures for us. He chased off the male which was easier said than done. It bit his umbrella a handful of times while snapping at him, it’s body raised 3 feet in the air. The female didn’t move. He moved us to the opposite side of the bridge and shoved her with his umbrella. After a minute it became apparent that something was wrong. Her spine was broken a little further than mid way up her body. Gerald moved her to an island and we moved on. We saw four more snakes including another fer-de-lance and a banded snail eater that evolved with a single fang designed to dig snails out of their shells. There were see-through glass frogs, red-eyed tree frogs (one jumped on Mike’s face!) and a big crab. Near the end, the guide spotted a cicada in metamorphosis. Super gross. Best tour of the trip.
La Fortuna waterfall is very developed and commercialized. The path is a mostly paved staircase down to a huge falls with a pool at the bottom. The water pressure and current were strong so we could only be in a small portion of the pool. A smaller lower pool offered a different vantage. We took a dip then climbed the 550 stairs back to the car.
We drove the winding, dirt road to Monteverde. It’s not far, but at 25 miles per hour with rough roads and driving rains, it took 3.5 hours! The rains started right after our waterfall visit and continued all night. We found the farm I booked on AirBnb easily. The owner was very chatty (all in Spanish), kind and welcoming. She let us into our cabin, which had a small kitchen, two beds, bathroom, and eggs and tortillas for breakfast. We took a nap then headed out to see the estate.
Finca Lluvias de Gloria is beautiful. It’s about 7 hectares. Ermida, the hostess, grows all sorts of crops intermingled: potatoes, coffee, herbs, corn, fruit trees, beans, etc. She also has 2 pigs, a cow, and chickens. Her primary export is coffee, but she grows all sorts of food to sell at the market. We saw a male maut-maut bird. She made us a beautiful dinner of fish, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potato, onion, tomato, avocado, plantains and these cool tree growing fruits(?) called tacacos.YUM! There was so much food. She and her daughter ate leftover, beans, rice, stewed meat and corn tortillas. Whaaat?
The following day was Sky Adventure day! The tour began with an hour and a half walk along a trail with hanging bridges accompanied by a naturalist who explained about how the cloud forest eco systems work. Dad would have loved it. We learned about Ficus trees that are hemiepiphytes, meaning they land on the branch of a tree and use it as a base while growing. Once it is rooted, it starts to engulf the source tree, strangles it, and feeds on it. This creates wild hollow trees. We saw a male Resplendent Quetzal bird. He was gorgeous.
Next was zip lining above the canopy. We took a tram up to an overlook with a view of the volcano and Arenal Lake. We stayed with the same group all day. They were really fun. There were two older canadian ladies and a group consisting of an Indian, an Arab, a Russian, and a Brit. Very fun. The longest cable was over half a mile high above the canopy. It was pretty much like flying. The tour included a visit to the herpetarium to see snakes, lizards and frogs. The side with the venomous snakes was closed.
We did a night walk with Kinkajou. It was ok. The guide moved really fast and we had crappy lights, but we saw an armadillo, two green pit vipers in trees, a stick bug, a tarantula, and three glass frogs. If you're looking at doing a night tour, choose Arenal.
We spent a day transitioning to San Jose, the capital. The following morning, we got up super early and walked a km to the Gran Hotel Costa Rica for Rios Tropicales to pick us up for rafting at 6 AM. The drive to the operations center was two hours. They fed us a typical Costa Rican breakfast while we waited for the group from Arenal.
It was another twenty five minutes drive to the put in site on the Pacuare River. Rios Tropicales split us into two groups, English-speaking and Spanish-speaking. Our raft included me and Mike, a German girl, a French girl, and two French Canadian girls. Our guide was great, 15 years experienced and loves the river. The four girls were neither experienced or strong paddlers. Regardless, we had a great time. The river was beautiful. Pristine jungle bordered both sides. We saw waterfalls, crashed through Class I-IV rapids, and generally had a great time for the three hours we were on the river. The water level was perfect, not too low, not too high. Lunch was served back at the operations center before a two hour drive back to San Jose.
The rain was POURING down in San Jose. We opted just to get soaked to the bone and walk back to the apartment since we were already damp and needed to shower anyway. My sandal broke part way back and I was glad I had my sneakers from rafting. It didn’t stop raining that night, but lightened a little.
The last day in Costa Rica, we went for a run to a park I’d seen on a map then headed out for breakfast on a busy pedestrian street in the city. We went for a walk to explore downtown San Jose a bit and bought snacks for the airplane ride. We decided it was time to leave and caught a bus to the airport. It was direct and so easy. Do not eat at the airport. Lunch was super expensive, disgustingly greasy burgers at Smashburger. We paid $27 for 2 burgers and one side of fries. Just don't do it.
If I had it all to do again, I would have planned to stay a night or two on the Pacuare River. It was just so beautiful. I would visit less places. We put 850 MILES (1380 km) on the rental car in 10 days. With a max speed limit of 80km/hour, that's a lot of drive time. Next trip, I want to go diving. There's an amazing island way off the coast with hammerhead sharks
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