Costa Rica Here I Come!

I woke up this morning at 3:30 to catch our 6 AM flight out of Missoula, Montana. My dad was kind enough to stay the night in Missoula and wake up around 4:30 to take my friend Shawn and me to the airport. We got to the airport just before 5 AM for a long day of flying. We had a quick turnaround in Salt Lake and about a five-hour layover in Atlanta. I couldn't wait to get to Costa Rica again. It has been six years since I spent a month there for school, and I was eager to see if I felt the same love for the country that I had that first time. After three airplanes and the long layover in Atlanta, we finally arrived to San Jose around 10 PM. We waited in line to go through immigration and then got our luggage and sped right through customs. Walking through the first set of doors we didn't see our driver right away. After a couple minutes we finally just went outside. (It was so warm!!) A taxi driver wanted to give us a ride, but I knew that our driver was there somewhere. He was kind enough to help us find our driver, who was in the middle of the huge crowd of drivers and families waiting to pick up fellow travelers. We waited for a couple other passengers before heading off to the city. Once we got into the heart of San Jose, I started recognizing the landmarks I was so familiar with six years ago. We dropped off the other passengers at their hotel, and then headed for Hotel Le Bergerac. It turns out that Le Bergerac was just a few blocks from the school I attended when I was in San Jose before, so the neighborhood was familiar to me. We got checked into our hotel, met the wonderful reception staff, practiced a bit of my Spanish, and were taken to our beautiful room upstairs. The room was large, had hardwood floors, and our own private garden (small, but beautiful). There was a bottle of wine in the room, which, after a long day of traveling, was a welcomed sight. We sat in our garden and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine. The hotel was very quiet, especially considering we were in the middle of San Jose!

We woke this morning, and had a wonderful breakfast of eggs, gallo pinto (beans and rice), bacon, fruit, coffee, and juice. We went to the reception to arrange an afternoon canopy tour at the Arenal Paraiso Lodge, and then set off with about twenty other travelers to do a guided hike to the lava flows. We rode down the hill to the entrance of the park, in a trailer behind a tractor, and then set off through the forest. After a couple stops to discuss the history of the volcano and to see some of the birds and different plants and flowers, someone spotted a howler monkey. There were four or five way up in the trees, and they even allowed us to take some pictures and watch them for a bit. After a little more walking, we came across a couple wild turkeys, and then eventually we came out into the lava flows. I had never realized before, but apparently Arenal does not have liquid lava. The lava that comes out of the volcano is actually red rocks, some the size of cars! It was pretty cloudy today, so we could only see the bottom half of the volcano, but we did get some great views of Arenal Lake and the surrounding area. After lunch, we got a transfer out of the park and headed back towards La Fortuna to Arenal Paraiso lodge where we were going to do a zip-line canopy tour. The canopy tour here has over a mile and a half of cable, with twelve platforms throughout the rainforest. It was incredibly beautiful, but unfortunately, it is too hard to capture that beauty in a picture. It is truly something you have to experience for yourself! We were with a group of about 20, and at one point, we had almost all of us on one platform. Other than at that moment, I had a great time. The guides were fun, the zip line was amazing, and so fast, and we even were able to do the last zip line hanging upside down! What a fun experience this was, and a must-do in Costa Rica. Our driver was waiting for us when we got back to the hotel, and we headed back to our lodge. After dinner, we sat out on our patio for a bit, listening to the sounds of the bugs, birds and who knows what else! We couldn't see the volcano again this evening, but we could hear it rumbling through the clouds.

We had to get up extremely early again today, for our 5:30 pickup and transfer to Selva Bananito Lodge in the south-east part of Costa Rica. (The group transfers were a great way to go, but unfortunately we cannot control the pickup times!) The drive was amazing, beautiful sights and incredibly windy roads. (Thank goodness for Dramamine!) As we neared Limon and the Caribbean coast, the houses became smaller, poorer, and the roadways a bit rougher and dirtier. There were miles and miles of banana plantations, each tree with a blue plastic bag over the bananas to protect them from the sun and bugs. The houses, people and landscape all reminded me of Belize, and probably were similar to many of the Caribbean islands. This was my first visit to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, and I was amazed at the difference from the rest of the country. It was poorer, more litter along the roads, and the houses were quite a bit different from the other parts that I had visited. We arrived at Salon Delia in Bananito town around 11 AM and waited for a few minutes for Tomas, the manager of Selva Bananito, to show up. Our driver arrived a few minutes later, and all four of us set off up the seven-mile bumpy trail to the lodge. We drove along the Bananito River for a couple miles, when our driver stopped and Tomas explained that our car was overheating. A very nice farmer from a nearby house came out with some water and helped us out. After about thirty minutes or so, we set off again. Then the road got really rough. We crossed the river a couple times -- driving right through the river -- and made it to the lodge. After that ride, I could see why the vehicles can feel a bit overworked! Selva Bananito was absolutely beautiful. There are eleven cabins, each with open doors out to the porch. They are truly open to the elements, and I was kind of anxious to see what sort of visitors we might have in the evenings. We were the only guests there this first night, and after a delicious lunch with Tomas, he took us for a horseback ride through the farm. We stopped to visit the Heliconia garden, and learned a lot about the history of the lodge. We were completely surrounded on all sides by lush rainforest. That evening we were joined for dinner by Sofia, the owner of the lodge, and her father, Rudy, the owner of the entire farm and preserve. On our way back to our bungalow a giant toad crossed our path. That night, we fell asleep listening to the toads, crickets, bats, and all the other night creatures of the rainforest. (No visitors tonight that we were aware of!)

This morning, I woke up before dawn, and was feeling pretty tired and worn out. On our way to the main lodge, I looked up and saw a beautiful orange Julia butterfly flutter by, and I knew it was going to be a good day. We got to the base of the tree where Justo was waiting for us with our gear. He showed us how to work all the gear, and we set off up the tree. It was much harder than we thought it would be, but we made it all the way to the top and back down before breakfast. It was quite a workout! We enjoyed our last breakfast at Selva Bananito and packed our things for our next transfer to Puerto Viejo. The ride was uneventful this time, and we arrived in Cariblue during the early afternoon. The sun was shining, and after we checked into our room, we grabbed a quick lunch in the hotel. We then went down to the beach, which was about 200 yards from the hotel, watched the surfers, and played with the sand crabs. Afterwards, we swam in the pool and headed into Puerto Viejo for the evening to have dinner at a local restaurant. We had seafood and wandered the town before heading back to our hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was pouring outside. I was feeling exhausted, sore from the rappelling and tree climbing, and was looking forward to the next couple days of relaxation.

We woke up to the rain, still falling from the night before, so we relaxed, had breakfast, and decided to just go for a walk after the rain stopped. We walked away from Puerto Viejo, towards Panama, along the road. After about half a mile or so, we found a trail down to the beach and kept walking south along the beach. The beach was empty, other than a few people we passed along the way, and even though it rained a bit, it was the perfect walk. We were starting to get a little hungry and finally found a trail back out to the road. We immediately found a little open-air restaurant that looked like it would have great food. I grabbed a menu from the counter, and realized that it was Selvin's, a wonderful little place that a friend had recommended. We both ordered a red snapper plate and a beer. It was the best meal we have had on our trip so far, and it was only $6 each! We walked back along the beach, and got back to Cariblue late in the afternoon. I had spotted an Argentine restaurant the night before, called Patagonia, which was owned by a couple from Argentina. We decided to head back into town and eat there. It was this little place with a traditional open Argentine grill, and it was spectacular! After dinner we walked around town a bit, ended up watching this horrible band playing Bob Marley covers. After 20 minutes, we ended up moving and hanging out at a little bar that was right on the beach. We were surrounded by tourists, but it was a fun place to spend the evening, listening to more Bob Marley (the real thing this time) and watching the tourists hang out on the beach.