Cruising ~ The Cat’s
Meow Style ~ August, 2008
Pura Vida! Costa Rica
The Arenal volcano, sunset
Another life-dream was
realized, at least for Robin, when we traveled to Costa Rica this summer. Some
of those flight miles we have been saving up did the job, getting us from
Puerto Vallarta in Mexico to San Jose, Costa Rica and back. After lots of time,
energy, and money working on The Cat’s Meow and realizing the dream of being
able to cruise again, we decided this would be a great way to do something very
different, and, a great way to celebrate Robin’s 60th birthday.
YIKES! We have some good friends who have traveled to this beautiful country
before, and they were able to give us some pointers for our trip. We were both
excited about this next adventure.
Jo Anna Kuruc, a good friend
from Arizona, graciously agreed to stay aboard TCM while we were gone. This
way, the boat and the kitties would be well taken care of, and worries would be
(almost) non-existent. Jo Anna came to the boat a few days prior to our
leaving, got her boat-legs, learned all that was necessary regarding the care
of the boat and for the cats too. There is actually quite a lot to know and to
watch for – especially during the hurricane season – on a boat even when it is
at a dock. J Anna did a splendid job, by the by; we just wish the weather had
been better during her stay. It was hot and humid, and rained a LOT.
Squeak, acquainting herself with
Jo Anna’s stuff
So, we took off from PV,
spent the night in Fort Lauderdale…yes, Ft. Lauderdale, FL….and we arrived
mid-afternoon the next day in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We had
reservations for the first two nights in a small town outside of the capital,
Alajuela, in a nice hotel with great views. Our first full day in the country,
we took a bus to San Jose and spent the day walking about. San Jose is the
largest city in the country, and of course includes all the administrative
locations & buildings, but it also has a number of parks, some nice
museums, and many coffee houses, as Costa Rica is known for their delicious
coffee. While walking through the city, we came upon lots and lots of cows.
Cows painted in all manner of design and “dress”. These are life-size plastic
cows, and they are used as a fund-raiser for a variety of organizations. Some
of these guys were pretty cool!
A very happy cow in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica Robin’s favorite: the frow…..or is it a cog??
San Jose is, unfortunately,
well-known as a city of pick-pockets. We prepared by holding our bags in front
of us, kept nothing in our pockets, and only had items in the backpack that
were of little value, such as an umbrella, maps, etc. Still, we were “hit”. A
two-some “worked us” at a crosswalk, the woman stalling us while her accomplice
opened the backpack. We didn’t realize what had happened for a few minutes, but
laughed when we found that the only thing taken was a small EMPTY wallet. We
didn’t let that incident effect us much – we enjoyed a really good cup o’
coffee at a little sidewalk café a few minutes later.
In order to get from
Alajuela to our next destination, the Arenal Volcano, we had to hire a driver
from the hotel. No busses go from point A to point B. It was a very rainy,
stormy drive, with lots of twists and turns and mountains. We are glad we
were not driving! It was worth it, however, when we saw the volcano in full
view. Arenal is an active volcano, located near a lake, up in the mountains of
Costa Rica.
Our driver, Leonardo, upon our
arrival at the Arenal Lodge
We were at about 6000 feet,
so it was chilly up there! This is where Robin celebrated her biiig birthday –
a grand way to begin another great year! We spent the special day at the
Hanging Bridges attraction, which is a pristine rainforest with a trail that
includes 16 bridges, six of which are hanging over the canyons. Our great
guide, Julio, actually took us a short distance off the trail at one point and
he “called” to some howler monkeys. They moved right over our heads, spoke
loudly back to Julio and they even threw things at us! We saw one of the most
poisonous snakes, the eyelash palm pitviper, and a pair of toucans, plus a
variety of other critters. In the evening, we got all dressed up and had a
delicious steak dinner with champagne at the Lodge. What a great day!
The day after her birthday,
we went to the other side of the lake and had an exciting day doing the “Sky
Trek” zip line! Wowow, what a way for Robin to start the year!! After being fit
with hard hats and a harness and all kinds of heavy gear, we rode a tram waaaay
up the mountain. Now, there was only one way down, and that was by zipping down
the nine lines, which stretched over canyons and the dense rainforest.
Hmmm…well, at this point it seemed there was really no choice! The two “zip
guys” were great, encouraging, helpful, and funny! We were the “old folks” in a
group of nine, but we kept up just fine! One of the lines stretched just barely
short of a quarter-mile, and by the time we were at that line, a thunderstorm –
complete with lightening – had moved in. Made it even more exciting, especially
when rain was stinging our faces during the rides down the zip line. Wow,
what a rush!!
Robin comin’ in on a zip line
Want to take a virtual zip
line ride? Here is a video clip of the long one, during the thunderstorm. One
of the zip-line guys took our camera as he zipped across the canyon to the
other side….. This clip is almost a
minute long, so it will take a little while to download, but we hope you enjoy
the ride!! You can hear the thunder, so have the volume on……
A note here: most of the
other travelers/visitors, we saw and met during our trip in Costa Rica were
European, with a healthy dose of folks from Argentina thrown in. We heard lots
of German and other germanic languages, different versions of Spanish, and of
course English because it is the universal language. There were fewer norte
americanos, comparatively, and most whom we did see were of the 18-25 year-old
set.
At the end of our stay near
the volcano, we hired a transportation company called Interbus, which picked us
up at the Arenal Lodge and took us up the windy mountain road to Monte Verde,
at about 7000 feet altitude. Once again, we were very glad we were not driving.
The roads were being worked on, it was raining very hard, and some of the roads
were purrrty interesting. We hoped to be able to find lodging from this point
forward in the $45-$60US dollar range per night. Robin had called ahead and
reserved a room for $45/night in Monte Verde. After killing three spiders, not
having any hot water, and being VERY cramped and cold, we decided this was not
the way we wanted to go.
Monte Verde is a small
village adjacent to Santa Elena, another village, and they both exist mostly
for the tourists who visit the Cloud Forest and other small attractions, such
as the Frog Pond and various butterfly reserves. Wandering the villages didn’t
take any time. This area has become very tourist-oriented, of course, which
means that some of the restaurants are over-priced and crowded. We did find a
“soda”, which is a small restaurant that serves “real” Costa Rican food for the
locals. Now, here we found great, tasty food – some dishes were new to us – and
at very reasonable prices. The first day we were in this area, and again that
night, we visited the Frog Pond. This is the best way to see a variety of the
tropical frogs, since the little guys are REALLY little, and very difficult to
see, especially since they mostly come out at night. This tour was quite
interesting and informative, and especially fun at night since we had the
chance to look into the little aquariums, with flashlights at our leisure, to
see the little buggers.
One of the little tree frogs ~
cute, eh?
The next day we spent at the
cloud forest, doing the Sky Walk tour. This is the attraction that is mostly on
hanging bridges, up in the tree tops of the rainforest. It was awesome,
all misty and cloudy, up in the trees, above the forest floor. Unfortunately,
it had been raining for a few days straight, and the rain continued while we
were there, so the animals and birds were staying put – wherever they stay put,
up in the trees. Our poor guide worked very hard, trying to find anything at
all to show us along the trail, but for us it was just grand, being up there in
the clouds & tree tops.
Wet but lovin’ being up in the tree tops This is why they call it a cloud forest
It was time to get to some
warm weather and to dry out a bit! We had been in the mountains, in the cool
temps, for long enough! Once again, we hired Interbus service to get us from
point A to point B, which this time was to Montezuma. Montezuma is a village
kinda off the beaten track, and we were ready for some of that, too. This
little – and we mean little – place is a surfer + old hippie hangout on the
east coast of the Nicoya peninsula, across the small gulf from Puntarenas. The Interbus van picked us up at our little
hotel, drove for hours down the mountain to Puntarenas, where we all boarded a
ferry, and that took us across the Golfito de Nicoya, to Paquera. There, we
were met by another Interbus van and driven down the coast to Montezuma. One
bad/good thing that occurred: just as Robin settled onto the ferry, she
realized her camera was still in the Interbus van. Ninety minutes later, when
we met the second Interbus van, she told the driver about her camera. He
immediately called the Interbus office (in San Jose) and relayed the problem.
More on that later…..
Robin had called ahead and
secured lodging in an interesting place called Los Mangos hotel. There are
about 15 hexagonal, all wood bungalows built into the grove of huge mango
trees, which all back up to the rain forest. Very quiet. Nice pool. Each
bungalow has a nice veranda. Right across the street from the rocky beach with
loads of tide pools. Here, we saw more wild life than in any one other location
during our trip! Monkeys (and lots of them), coatimundis, agutis, huge iguanas
and colorful large lizards all made themselves known. Some of the monkeys were
too interested in what was inside some of the bungalows, however, and had to be
watched carefully. We could walk into the village five minutes down the road,
enjoyed walking and doing some beachcombing, waited out some downpours in nice
restaurants or bars, and had breakfast in a café where there were monkeys
playing in the trees and on a “monkey playground” right in front of the
customers.
Our bungalow at the Los Mangos hotel, Montezuma Martin, actually relaxing poolside Robin doing the beachcombing thing
At the very end of this
peninsula, just a few miles from Montezuma, is an “absolute reserve”, a
pristine rain forest that is partially recouped from farmland. This is a very
interesting place with an interesting history, and hopefully a good future. We
saw very few, maybe only four or six, other people on the trail during our
morning trek. It was magical. Twice the big blue butterfly, the Blue Morpho,
came very near us to let us watch and admire.
Now, back to Robin’s camera,
on the Interbus van: when we arrived at the hotel in Montezuma, the Interbus
driver called the office again, and Robin was able to speak with Francisco
(Frank), who assured her the camera would be kept in their safe at their office
in San Jose until we returned to the mainland of Costa Rica. He told her that
when we were at our next destination (and we did not know exactly where that
might be, at this point), he would have the camera delivered to us. Now, that
was great news!!
August 12th was a
travel day, from Montezuma back across the Gulfo de Nicoya, through Puntarenas
and down the coast to Manuel Antonio, by bus. Manuel Antonio Park is the most
visited place in all of Costa Rica. The attraction is a beautiful rain forest
that comes down a mountain to the water’s edge. It is a national park, of
course, gated and somewhat controlled in terms of number of visitors per day.
The road to the park is a dead end, and has become crowded with trinket shops
and a few restaurants on both sides of the street. We had lodging in a nice
hotel with a pool and on the beach, near the entrance to the park. Our first
day in this area, we walked the beach, enjoyed the water and tropical
vegetation, and finished the day off with margaritas and calamari at a nearby
patio restaurant. Interbus came through – Francisco had my camera dropped at
our hotel in the late afternoon, for no charge!!! WOW, now that is great
service, and a great day!!
Quepos (KAY-pos) is the
nearest village to the park, and is a fairly typical one at that. A marina is
being built at Quepos, and that would be fun to see someday. Most of the boats
in this area, so far, are big expensive sportfishers and some party boats. This
is a big sportfishing area, for bill fish. Quepos has the normal shops,
restaurants, a few internet cafes charging $4US/hour (!!), some nice soda
restaurants, and the bus station.
We began our trek through
the Manuel Antonio park fairly early one morning. There were large groups of
visitors, many with hired guides who carried telescopes and who stopped along
the trails to view different things. We listened-in on some of these groups and
had a chance to see some cool stuff! We saw a number of sloths, both two- and
three-toed, some with babies (aawwww….), the great Golden Orb spider, a big
snake that (yeeeks!) almost tripped Robin on the trail, and all three types of
monkeys. Man, those howlers make a lot of racket!! This was the most crowded of
the locations we had been, and there were people all around, but it was not
crowded on the trails. We took the trail up to the highest spot that has a
beautiful outlook over a cove on the waterside. After our hike, we went to one of the beaches, found a nice tree
to sit under, and relaxed. The water here was the most purrrfect ocean water we
have ever seen. It was crystal clear, the purrrfect temperature, and just plain
wonderful! There were plenty of other folks on the beach, but it was not
uncomfortably crowded.
On
the 16th, we hopped a bus for a not-so-often-visited village,
Dominical. Dominical is another surfing location, and we could see why when we
went to the long, wide beach: BIG WAVES. But, we digress…. The bus was so totally crowded, complete
with surfboards (inside the bus), that people stood the entire two-hour trip
from Quepos to Dominical. We passed acres and acres….er, hectares….of palms
which are harvested for palm oil. Upgrading of this road has been “planned” for
some 30 years, and it looks like they might actually be working on it,
sometimes… in some places…. We arrived
in the tiny village of Dominical, hopped off the bus with our bags, stood in
the mud… and about an hour later, we were able to get a taxi to Villa Rio Mar,
our next hotel. This was the nicest place yet, a well-hidden tropical paradise,
and not the most expensive we had stayed in. Again, we were in a bungalow,
quite well-appointed, with a lovely big veranda complete with mosquito netting
and lots of privacy. The pool was great, and that is where we spent our first
day at this hotel, reading and relaxing. While at this hotel, we saw toucans,
and at night, some tico lightening bugs!
Robin’s view during ride to Dominical Typical Tico housing along the road, near the palm plantations Villa Rio Mar pool bar,l & restaurant
The 2008 summer Olympics in
China were being held, and we were able to see some of the games on a very
large screen TV at the bar. The food & drinks at the hotel were fairly
expensive, but we were a captive audience since the hotel was a fair distance
from anything else. We chose to eat mostly “tico” food –common dishes for the
local people, like the “casado”: rice & black beans, potatoes, salad,
platanos (a fried banana-like fruit), and your choice of
chicken/beef/pork/fish.
Dominical is built along a
wide, long, dark-sand beach. This beach was essentially deserted the day we
decided to walk it. We can’t seem to walk a beach without finding some
treasures in the form of shells and/or driftwood. We saw a whole bunch of red
crabs, scurrying sideways, finishing off what was left on a fish skeleton. A
rest and a cold beer was in order when we found a little hotel with a little
bar. Very relaxing.
Wide dark sand Dominical
beach Little
beach bar with interesting entry way
It was time to make our way
back to Alajuela and eventually to a plane for the US, then to Mexico. Our bus
ride from Dominical to the village of San Ysidro was slow and laborious, up a
mountain, with a number of big landslides on the road from all of the rain. We
had to run into the street to flag down the next bus, which took us into San
Jose. Robin was given a seat, but Martin rode standing up for about 80% of the
three-hour trip. Once in San Jose, Leonardo, our previous driver, picked us up
and took us back to the Orquedias Hotel for our last night in Costa Rica.
The next day, August 20th,
we flew from San Jose, Costa Rica back to Fort Lauderdale in the USofA. We were
dog-tired when we arrived at our hotel at 11 pm, but we happened to see the
winning women’s beach volleyball games as we were checking in!!
Costa Ricans call themselves
“Ticos”, and they are proud of their clean, peaceful country. The phrase we
heard the most, throughout Costa Rica, was “pura vida” – it was said in all
different situations, as a greeting or salutation, during a conversation, from
Tico to Tico, or to a visitor. When we asked what “pura vida” really meant, we
were told it is used to say “life is good” – a very nice way to look at
things.
Each Costa Rican we met has
been educated regarding the rainforest, the need to care for the earth, and
about recycling. “Eco-tourism has
become the national past-time”, Robin says. Costa Rica is no longer an
inexpensive place to visit. Tourism is big business, but the Ticos do it well.
Both of us were impressed with the level of care for both the country and for
visitors. Before we had left, we were both talking about coming back to Costa
Rica! Pura vida ~ life is good!
Thanks so much for coming
along with us on this adventure! We hope you enjoyed hearing about our “big
trip”, and we do hope you will return for more Cruising ~ The Cat’s Meow
Style…….