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Discovery and wonder in Costa Rica

By : Graham Gillen
Trip Begins August 7, 2010
Trip Ends August 14, 2010

I went on a Costa Rica Quest with my family and thought I was just in for a nice vacation. Instead, I was surprised to rediscover - with my kids - the pure joy and wonder of exploration and adventure.
See my photos : Discovering Costa Rica - and your childhood all over again

Want to go? Costa Rica Quest

I went to: Costa Rica, San Jose, Arenal, Tortuguero, Sarapiqui, Hotel La Quinta Sarapiqui, Hotel Arenal Manoa, Turtle Beach Lodge Hotel
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August 7, 2010
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Touchdown in San Jose

San Jose, Costa Rica

Our sedan service picked us up at 8am to take us to the airport in Washington, DC. Our driver was from Morocco (Yaseen) and we enjoyed conversing about travel and soccer. We both agreed Americans needed to go beyond posh resorts to really enjoy culture! It made for an enjoyable ride.

In the back my teenage daughter was laboring through the early pages of "Life of Pi" - her summer reading assignment. She's a good student but she was definitely NOT excited about it.

We transferred flights in Miami where we were immersed in Español. We finally landed in rain-drenched San Jose and grabbed a cab to the hotel, getting hit by a few Tsunamis along the way from passing trucks. The cab driver was very helpful as I tried some of my "Spanglish" on her.

We were greeted at LeBergerac by the bellhop / jack-of-all trades (Jonathan), whose friendly service is becoming legendary among AL travelers. He had "welcome cocktails" delivered to our room, and after a nice light dinner we all hit the sack for our early pick-up for Tortuguero. Didn't quite feel like vacation...yet.

August 8, 2010
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Into the wild!

Turtle Beach Lodge Hotel, Tortuguero

Our night was short and we woke early for a 620 am trip to Tortuguero. On the map it seemed *quite* remote and half the journey would be by boat.

Our guide was Kenneth (I kick myself for not asking him his Hispanic name as often the guides try to make it easy on turistas by Anglicizing their names). Kenneth spoke like a scientist but many of the ladies thought he was quite handsome ("rowr!" as one would say). Kenneth loves his country and was honest about some of its problems. But he loves Costa Rica with a passion - which showed and made his comments more interesting.

At one point before a visit to a butterfly garden, he asked the kids "how many legs does a butterfly have?"... Inside the garden we were surrounded by more butterflies than I have ever seen. Several large "Blue Morpheus" landed on my daughter as if she was a fairy queen. My younger daughter was off curiously trying to find the answer to Kenneth's question.

Butterflies *look* like they have "four" legs...which is odd since insects have 6. Where are the other two? Why only walk on four? Well....you'll have to find out for yourself :-). Kenneth's explanation was fascinating.

When we finally got to the Turtle Beach Lodge, we were surprised by the beauty of the grounds in this remote jungle retreat. The cabins were "air conditioned" the natural way but we spent so little time in them we did not mind. Wildlife surrounded us wherever we looked. We encountered our first "howler" monkeys and "Jesus Christ" lizards (common Basilisk). My girls ran down to the beach - composed of dark volcanic sand - and saw nothing but desolate beach and jungle for miles up and down the coast.

That night we dined on delicious food in an open air room, serenaded by the chirping of nocturnal birds and insects. I fell asleep to the sound of the ocean less than 100 yards from our cabin. We were definitely in the wild and it was starting to feel like a vacation. I had not checked my Blackberry in over 24 hours - I probably could not if I tried.

August 9, 2010
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Turtles and heartstrings

Turtle Beach Lodge Hotel, Tortuguero

Our second day in Tortuguero started and ended in darkness.

We woke early for an early morning canal tour when the wildlife is more active. This was no zoo exhibit and there are no guarantees of what you will see. But that means each trip is unique and has its own surprises. Among the many birds, caymans,monkeys and sleeping bats, we were surprised by a river otter who leaped out of the water and scratched his back on a log for a few seconds before diving back into the water. Kenneth was tickled we got to see such a rare sight.

Later in the afternoon, we ventured into the hot and steamy lowland jungles. Rubber boots, lots of mosquito repellent and a cold wet bandanna around my neck and I was fine. We encountered lots of frogs, including the famous blue-jean poison dart frog. "Professor" Kenneth was great as usual with all the information about the lowland jungle wildlife and ecosystem.

But our best adventure so far was reserved for that evening....the main reason we wanted to come to Tortuguero.

We boarded the boats at about 830pm in pitch darkness for our turtle watching trip. As we glided down the canals, the boat headlights showed the shoreline reflected in the dark waters as if they were a mirror of obsidian glass. Flashlights revealed the occasional cayman jumping into the water as we passed by. It was quite surreal and exciting.

In Tortuguero town, we were divided into groups of ten and assigned a guide. Every two groups of ten is assigned a section of beach for 2 hours, and trained "patrollers" report on turtle activity and where we need to go (in a hurry) to watch. Along the way to the beach, my youngest daughter walked into a leaf-cutter ant "highway" and was bitten (sneakers highly recommended). She made the rest of the trip on my wife's back, piggy-back style. But the incident soon was forgotten as we marveled at what was going on down at the pitch-dark beach.

We saw two large green turtles leaving, having laid and buried their eggs. One more had just started her labors by digging herself into a pit. Over the next hour we saw our "Mollie" (the girls had named her) lay and cover her 100+ eggs. It was wondrous to watch, and Mollie tugged at our heartstrings as she labored through her task. This was like National Geographic come to life.

When we left the beach in silence (and awe) at midnight, we sensed this was not going to be like any vacation we'd ever been on before.

August 10, 2010
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A book comes to life...

Hotel La Quinta Sarapiqui, Sarapiqui

That morning my travel alarm woke us early. It sounded strangely like a howler monkey. Wait, it WAS a howler monkey.

It was time to pack our bags and make the return journey to more populous areas of Costa Rica. We were headed to Sarapiqui (and air conditioned rooms!).

My daughter Grace and I went for a jog at the hotel and were reminded we were in the tropics. We were drenched with sweat in no time. We also surprised an armadillo along the jogging path. Scared the you know what out of me and gave my daughter a chuckle.

Later that evening, after a wonderful dinner of grilled meats, we did a night tour of the Tirimbina reserve, crossing the Sarapiqui river in the dark on a 280 yard long bridge suspended 70 feet off the ground. We saw several spiders and a pit viper, and learned what a "bullet" ant is and why you do NOT want to be bitten by one.

And what about my daughter and her "Life of Pi" reading assignment? Well it turns out the author lived in Costa Rica when he was young, so his narration about wildlife and howler monkeys was from first-hand experience. This gave my daughter a greater appreciation for the book since our vacation made it "come to life". I don't think it will be difficult for her to find an angle for her writing assignment on the book.

August 11, 2010
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Riding the Reventazon...

reventazon river

On the day we were to raft the wild "Florida" section of theh Reventazon river, we met another Tico (Costa Rican) who was quite an interesting and fun character - our river guide, "Ricky".

On the ride to the river, Ricky told us what life was like growing up in Costa Rica. This from a dude who was obviously very intelligent and street smart, but who never made it beyond elementary school because he and his older brother worked the coffee bean fields to put their little brother through school.

"We got paid $1 or $2 per basket of ripe coffee beans. I would bring my lunch and keep it in my basket so I could keep working through lunch. Sometimes, the other kids would spill some beans out of their basket and leave them. I picked these up because that meant I did more baskets per day".

It's hard not to admire the work ethic of these Ticos.

When we got to the river, Ricky - whose English was very good - would exclaim "Oh my God!" looking at the river in mock horror. This was just him trying to make us all a little nervous, but it was also pretty funny. At one point in the orientation, he held up a little toy raft and said "I want to make sure you all know we have to fit into this little raft." (see picture).

Well, what can I say about the rafting trip - we launched directly into some class III rapids right away and had a wild ride for the next couple of hours, interrupted by a *terrific* fresh lunch on a little peninsula in the river. It was just our 3 rafts and a big wide, roaring river. Sublime. Our sister raft even saw a sloth by a tree along the river.

I was so happy looking at the faces on my kids because I knew that this was probably their most exciting and fun day so far. They were smiling so much it probably hurt.

And people like our guide "Ricky" made it that much more memorable.

August 12, 2010
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Paradise under the volcano

Hotel Arenal Manoa, Arenal

There are three or four hummingbirds in the garden outside my window.

Am I dreaming?

Is this paradise?

After a long drive from the river after rafting, we arrived in Arenal, near the volcano as the sun was going down. We were excited because Ricky had said "the volcano was clear yesterday, and you will probably see and hear it!"

The next morning I could not believe the sight outside our huge picture sliding glass window: there was Arenal volcano, clear as can be, surrounded by lush jungle and its wonderful wildlife sounds. I could see all just lying in my comfy bed at Arenal Manoa - a truly spectacular hotel property.

I want to know who the genius itinerary planner was at AL who rewarded our wild adventure with the most beautiful hotel towards the end of our trip.

We spent the morning hiking around the volcano, where we saw a lot of wildlife. We were very lucky that for most of the day you could clearly see the top of the mountain. Occasionally, we would hear a rumble like a jet roar - only to realize we were a hundred miles from an airport and the roar was the volcano itself. My daughters called it "volcano burps".

That afternoon we swam in the hotel pool and hot springs, where I enjoyed an awesome ceviche and my kids got the best "virgin" Pina Coladas ever from our bartender Miguel (the best!)

Yes, this must be paradise under the volcano.

August 13, 2010
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Wingless flight

Hotel Arenal Manoa, Arenal

What is it like to fly?

I have felt some sense of that in free-fall sky diving, as well as parasailing. But they go so fast it's over before you know it. But we found the next best thing: ziplining with Ecoglide near Arenal volcano.

After basic training, imagine driving up a steep mountainside in your harness. Then imagine more than a dozen ziplines - some as long as a quarter mile - zigzagging left and right down the mountain.

Imagine all these lines are part of natural platforms (trees, ledges) and not metal towers. This is the true canopy tour zipline experience that originated in Costa Rica.

And it was like flying!

The ziplines are so long you get a chance to look around and enjoy the beautiful panorama and animal life. We finally saw three toucans (you cannot look at these animals and not smile).

To top it off, Arenal belched some smoke and sent some red-hot rocks down its side for a little excitement.

Once again, my kids could not wipe the smile off their faces - especially after the 50-ft "tarzan" swing at the end. And at least for one more day, I was the coolest Dad in the world for having given them this opportunity to fly without wings!

August 14, 2010
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Pura Vida, mae!

San Jose, Costa Rica

Was it watching the turtles and the miracle of life in the jungle?

Was it the rush of adrenaline while shooting the rapids on the Reventazon?

Or the surreal view of sleeping in the shadow of an active volcano?

Or flying through the forest on over a mile of zipline?

All I know is I felt full of life at the end of my trip. I know my whole family felt this way about Costa Rica. But, alas, our Costa Rica Quest was ending after 7 glorious days.

So we were leaving Costa Rica - but we all felt a part of Costa Rica was coming with us. I don't know how long this feeling will last, or even how to describe it... but perhaps the Ticos and Ticas have always had the phrase for it: "Pura Vida, mae!".

Pure Life, man. Pure Life.

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