We had a driver take us from the airport to the volcano, and along the way he explained the most important things to know about Costa Rica. The first he said was the idea of pura vida. It literally means pure life, but could be loosely translated as the good life. Pura vida is Costa Rica's catch all phrase. It's hello, good bye, thank you, you're welcome, I agree, and you can throw it in at any other point in a sentence if you feel like it. I think it's a great way to sum up the spirit of the country.
The population of the entire country of Costa Rica is about 4.9 million. The population of Bogotá is about 8 million. We didn't see more of San Jose than the area around the airport, but it felt more like a small town than a city. Once we were on the road (well paved and relatively traffic free), we felt like we were truly out in the wilderness. Pura vida indeed :-) We discovered that Costa Rica is a land of hills and mountains covered in hundreds of different kinds of trees and plants. I wish it was possible to take good pictures out of the windows of a moving vehicle.
Our first destination was the Arenal Kioro Hotel and Hot Springs, about three hours away from San Jose. The drive was smooth until we got to the town of Fortuna, which is the hub for the area hot springs and volcano viewing. It was Semana Santa, or the holy week leading up to Easter, which meant that everyone was off of school and work, and apparently, the hot springs were the place to be. It took us a while to get through the town. Then, we had to drive around the volcano, because our hotel was on the other side. It was overcast, but still absolutely beautiful.
Once we were checked in, we changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the pool area for lunch and a swim. The hotel was on a bit of a hill. The rooms were at the top for the best view. I had to stop and take pictures on our walk down to the pool, because the grounds were just so beautiful.
We found a nice table with a "view" of the cloud covered volcano.
Luckily, the table was under cover, because it sprinkled on and off as we ate our lunch. After lunch, we decided to brave the pool. We had it mostly to ourselves, probably because the water was quite cold.
Eventually, it started raining in earnest, and we had to retreat back to the room. In many ways though, this was an improvement, because one of the fun features of the hotel was that each room came with its own hot tub. Elena thought it was the best "bathtub" ever.
We all got warmed up and then cleaned up. Since it was still raining, we had quiet reading time in the room. The set up was great. We had two queen beds and two chair/footstool combos all facing the big open windows. I kept looking up from my book to take in the view.
The weather cleared in time for us to walk back down the hill for sunset drinks.
They had advertised a Costa Rican grill special for dinner. Our expectations were high after grill nights in Thailand. This was nothing like that. We just got a plate of grilled meat and baked potatoes. Our only "vegetable" was guacamole. It was good though, so we ate well.
The next morning the sun was coming out, and you could tell the volcano was trying to come out too.
We fueled up on a really good breakfast, and then met a driver who was taking us to Mistico park for a hanging bridges wildlife tour. His van was the first, and only, to have a car seat.
Mistico is privately owned and very well run. We were greeted by someone who already had our name on a list and very efficiently got us to our guide, Greivin. We were paired up with another American family. There were several other groups leaving at the same time, but the guides were really good at staggering the groups out by stopping to talk about flora and fauna along the way. Our guide was fantastic. He clearly knew his stuff, and since he walked the path at least once a day, he also knew where all the animals were. We discovered that all the guides carry spotting scopes on tripods over their shoulders and set up them in great spots to help their groups see the wildlife up close. Greivin also showed us how he could hold our smartphone up to the scope to take fabulous pictures. This worked really well for Elena too, since it was easier for her to see the animal on the smartphone than through the lens. A big part of the fun was also walking across all the hanging bridges through the jungle.
Elena was a trooper. It was a three hour walk and a lot of it was up and down some pretty steep hills.
She even made it all the way down to (and all the way back up from) a lovely waterfall.
I had to bribe her with graham crackers along the way, but what really kept her going were the animal sightings. She loved them all.
We saw a whole family of monkeys moving through the treetops, and there was a little lizard she decided was her lizard that she didn't want to leave. We finally convinced her. When we emerged from the jungle, we were greeted by a beautiful view of the volcano.
Back at the hotel, we got our lunch table again and fueled up. The walk had made us all hungry.
When we went back to the room to change into bathing suits, we found some cute towel elephants waiting for us.
Our plan for the afternoon was to hang out in the hotel's thermal hot springs. They were beautiful outdoor tiered pools.
There were seven pools total. We started at the bottom one because it was the biggest and the girls could swim around in it. It wasn't very warm though, so we were a bit disappointed. I had read that the pools higher up the hill were closer to the hot spring source, so they were the warmest, and then the pools got cooler as they went down. We decided to test it, and we worked our way up the hill one pool at a time. Sure enough, they did get warmer and warmer. The one at the top was actually quite hot. I was worried the girls might not like it, but they loved it. We stayed in until we all got wrinkly skin and then got out for a snack.
We had made reservations for dinner, but by the time we got back to the room and cleaned up, Elena was done.
The room service menu had some yummy seafood on it, so I was happy to stay in with Elena while Jeff and Vivian went out for steak.
The next morning, Elena woke us all up pretty early to discover the volcano's Easter present to us, a clear view.
As the sun came all the way up, the volcano was decorated with little pink clouds.
By the time we were done with breakfast it was clear and magnificent.
We were surprised to discover that some of the white puffs at the top were not clouds but smoke that was coming out of the volcano. It hasn't had any lava in many years, but it's still smoking. We were so pleased to get a good view of it before we left.
Our main activity for the day was a five hour drive from Arenal to Quepos on the central pacific coast. We were excited to see more of the countryside, and we had the same driver we had had for our last drive. He loved to answer questions and tell us about Costa Rica. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Jeff said it reminded him a lot of Salinas in California. We were amused to discover that one of the towns we drove through was also called Salinas.
In addition to being Easter, it was also a presidential election day in Costa Rica. They had had elections in February, but no candidate had gotten a large enough percentage of the vote, so the top two were running against each other. They were represented by yellow and blue and yellow and red flags, and each town we drove by had flag displays. Lots of the cars had them hanging out the windows too.
Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a place called El Jardin that was clearly set up for tourists who needed lunch. There was a snack bar and a cafeteria style restaurant as well as a gift shop and nice, clean bathrooms. We enjoyed some chicken with beans and rice. About ten minutes later we stopped to walk onto the bridge over Rio Tarcoles. There is a famous group of crocodiles that live under the bridge. We were duly impressed.
After a bit more driving, we got to our hotel, Si Como No, which means yes, of course. It was up on a jungle covered hill looking over the water. The lobby area was at the top.
The family pool and grill restaurant was around the middle.
And our room was a bit lower down, but still had a lovely view.
It was quite a bit warmer than the area around the volcano, but not the kind of heat that made you completely wilt. Still, we decided to explore the pool and swim up bar.
Little OCD Elena ended up on a leaf cleaning mission.
While Vivian took advantage of the water slide and rock jump.
Most of the time the pool was full of lots of English speaking kids, so Vivian had fun making friends. We also discovered that the restaurant made fabulous fresh guacamole, so we commandeered a table each day and ate our fill.
At our first hotel, we had gotten a traditional Costa Rican drink as a welcome, a guaro sour.
Guaro is a liquor made from sugar cane, and the guaro sour had a lemony flavor to it, plus sugar around the rim to sweeten it up. I had been drinking those at Arenal, but our new hotel didn't put sugar on the rim, and the tropical atmosphere made me feel the need for coconut. When I asked what they had with coconut, the waiter recommended a coconut margarita. Sold!
The main draw for the area is the Manuel Antonio National Park. It's closed on Mondays though, so we had to find another activity for the day. The hotel had a tour advertised as "Catamaran Dolphin Discovery and Snorkeling Tour". I thought that sounded like something we would enjoy, so I booked it. The brochure had a picture of a good size, single level catamaran, and the tour wasn't too expensive, so I figured there would be quite a few other people on it. Well, it turned out to be a double decker party catamaran with waterslides, a jump off the top deck, two jacuzzi pools on the lower level, and lunch and eight alcoholic drinks included per adult. Party boat!
Even though it was quite different from what we were expecting, it was still a fun outing on the water on a beautiful day. Elena was completely in love with the little on board pools, so we set up on the lower deck in the shade as much as possible, and Elena spent the first half of the cruise in the pool, with Vivi joining occasionally.
We made friends with a British family who were hanging out in the same area and who had a daughter Vivian's age. The pools were towards the front of the boat. I hung out with Elena and enjoyed the view. Jeff took my phone to try and capture the fabulous coastline. The pictures just don't do it justice.
Eventually, the ship dropped anchor and the water slides and top deck were open for fun. The dads took the older girls up to try it out. Vivian liked the water slide, but bumped her head shooting out, and so she mostly stuck with jumping off the top deck, our little thrill seeker. We tried to get pictures, but she just flew by, so the best we have is her in the water afterwards.
It worked out nicely that they started serving lunch at the same time they opened the water fun, so there wasn't much of a line for food. The lunch was excellent. Even Viv ate the fish, and Elena devoured the pasta salad and carrots.
After lunch, Elena lay down on the bench next to me, with one towel for a bed and another for blanket. She slept for the last hour or so of the cruise, which was perfect. Vivian kept jumping off the boat. She had also seen a group of teenagers lying on the black mesh sunning area and wanted to try it herself. I figured that she would wave off a speech on the dangers of sunburn, but some practical life experience might teach her. She was thrilled when I let her go for it.
She didn't get too badly burned, but you can still see the outline of her swimsuit on her back several days later. Live and learn.
After a full morning on the water, you'd think the kids would be ready for a break, but no, they were right back in the hotel pool after fueling up on some fruit juice and guac. Viv kept her swim shirt on though. For dinner, we tried the other hotel restaurant up at the top of the hill near the lobby. The food was good and the view was excellent.
Since Elena had taken a nap, she was actually pleasant company at dinner, which was a first for the vacation. She woke up grouchy again the next morning though, so I had to distract her at breakfast with fruit loop sorting and counting. She took the bait and cheered right up.
That morning we headed to Manuel Antonio National Park with another expert guide. He found us a toucan before we even got in the park.
This time, I made sure to get a picture of Viv using the spotting scope.
We found all kinds of cool animals. First we saw a sleeping red-eyed tree frog. Their sleeping camouflage is great.
Our guide explained that the membrane that covers their distinctive red eyes is actually see through, so they can check for danger without giving themselves away. He also helped us find a little nighthawk.
I think it's essential to have a guide for these parks, because they know what they're looking for and where to find it. We would have missed most of the animals without him. He also helped me get a great picture of this beautiful iguana.
We saw lots of sloths sleeping in the trees, but it took a few attempts before we found one that was pointing the right way for a photo of its face.
We also found a super cute sleeping howler monkey.
Its capuchin cousins were not only awake, but also in motion down at the beach. When we first got to the beach area, they were running through the branches above us.
Our tour included a snack, and we found a picnic table set up for us with fruit, cookies, water, and juice. I was worried about the monkeys, but they didn't bother us. There were little crab eating raccoons though who walked around our picnic area, like they would be happy to take some of the fruit off our hands.
After our snack, I took some pictures of the beach.
There are several beaches at the park, but this is the most popular one, because it's in a protected cove, so the waves don't get too big. I also got a picture of our little monkeys.
As we walked along the beach, we crossed paths with another troop of capuchins.
They walked right by us, unconcerned. Jeff was ready to snatch Elena out of harm's way until he realized they were nicer than the mean macaques we had dealt with in Asia.
Elena was absolutely thrilled with the monkey encounter. Viv was more in the cautious camp.
We walked along a sandy path to the other side of the park peninsula.
The beach on the other side was just as beautiful, but not as crowded and with bigger waves.
We walked out along a path through a swampy area.
It was a truly incredible park. When we got back to the hotel, we had the pool pretty much to ourselves, so we took full advantage of it. As part of our hotel stay, we got free admission to the butterfly garden across the street. I took Elena to check it out. It was okay, but I was glad we had gone for free and not paid.
Elena had not had a nap, so she didn't make it through dinner. I got a picture of the hotel at sunset as I walked her back to the room.
The next morning, a van picked us up to drive us back to San Jose for our flight home. We stopped at the same rest area along the way. There was a large school group that arrived at the same time as us and headed for the main bathrooms. We made what we thought was the smart decision to use the bathrooms near the gift shop instead. Little did we know that the crafty proprietors had put stuffed animals for sale right near the bathrooms. Elena got a frog, and Vivian got a toucan. Yes, our children are spoiled.
When we got to the airport, we found a toucan statue just like Viv's bird. She was thrilled.
Elena demanded a frog statue for her, and I thought we were doomed for an epic airport meltdown, but luck was on our side. As we were standing in the security line, Jeff spotted a frog statue near the gift shops. We were saved!
That was the end of our luck though. Just as we were about to head to our gate to board, our flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Bogotá. The next flight they could get us on with seats together was at 3am or at 4:45pm the next day. By that point, I was in must get home mode, so I opted for the 3am one. There was a Hampton Inn and Suites nearby, and I could get us a studio room since we weren't staying the whole night. It was like little America, with a Denny's across the street, so we headed there for dinner. They had coloring sheets for the girls as well as fruit smoothies, so they were happy.
We slept at the hotel as long as we could and then headed back to the airport. On the way to our new gate, we made an exciting frog discovery.
The flight back was short and smooth, and in no time, Bogotá appeared through the mist.
We absolutely loved Costa Rica, and we want to go back if we can, but it was definitely good to be home after all our adventures.
Holy Moley! You HAVE been posting all this time, and my dratted feedburner just wasn't working!!! Gah, I'm going to have to go back through all your entries, now. But WOWEEEEEEEE I can't believe how much the girls have grown! Tell them to stop it this instant- they are growing far too fast! :-) Ah, Nicole, I'm so glad y'all are enjoying life in your new home, especially after how much I know you loved Thailand. I send massive smishy hugs to all of you and love you loads!!
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