Some of you will remember my 2 month jaunt in Central America about 6 years ago. We camped on remote beaches in Belize, trekked to Tikal in Guatemala, dived in Honduras and learned to make tortillas in El Salvador. The trip ended in wonderful Nicaragua - Philippa and I had never been so chilled. Sadly we didn’t quite make it back to Costa Rica or Panama - so they remained on my wish list....
Moving to Miami gave me the perfect opportunity - so I booked a flight to Costa Rica and started planning what to do. February is apparently the month with perfect weather and after researching options I decided I wanted to focus on the cloud forests and national parks to the centre and west - the pacific side.
I did a trip with a Jodie and Em to Africa with a company called G adventures which was fabulous, and checking their trips out booked on a new national geographic trip taking in the areas I wanted to see. Decision made.....
The 3 hour flight to San Jose gave me a bit of mental headspace to forget about work and get into traveller mode. I spent the afternoon wandering the streets of San Jose. Not the most captivating of cities - but I found some cool street art, and enjoyed the weird but interesting contemporary art museum.
That night I met my fellow travellers - a diverse group ( Canadians, Austrians, English, Australian, Scottish, American and Guatemalan) and our next morning we headed towards La Fortuna and the wonderful Volcano Arenal. The countryside on route was getting me excited - lush green trees, unusual mammals ( coatis were new to me....and very very cute) and birds swooping in and out of my sight. Our guide filled us in on the wildlife and the culture of the company. The only downside of the day was during a discussion on that weekends political elections being told that there had been a female president 4 years ago, she did a bad job so there won’t be a woman again for a long time........classic sexism right there - so men can do bad jobs but it’s just the individual, a woman does a bad job and ‘women’ all get the blame....
The afternoon was wonderful - a coffee tour at Mi Cafecito learning all about the many stages involved in getting to my beloved Flat White’s. In the evening we headed out to a nighttime trip to the natural springs in the area. Lots of comedy clambering up rocks in the darkness but credit to us all - we made it and soaked up the heated water in our own little hot pool.
The next day we went to the hanging bridges in Arenal - and I got my first real taste of just how special the nature was in CR. In the space of 2 hours we had seen howler monkeys, spider monkeys, a tarantula in its hole, lots of birds ( MotMot, hummingbirds, turkeys) and a curled up sloth who was pretty damn asleep. All from a series of wonderful paths and suspended bridges overlooking the canopy. Very, very special.
Wednesday had us getting a boat over Laguna Arenal - and picked up a bus to wind it’s way way up high to Monteverde - a cloudforest reserve which put Costa Rica on the nature lovers map after a feature in National Geographic in the 1980’s. Some of the group headed off for a few hours of adrenaline zip lining through the trees - I checked out the town and went on a nighttime nature walk. Lucky I did - I saw my first sloth actually moving around - happy days.
We had hike in the stunning Santa Elena reserve the next morning where our guide Johnny showed us another tarantula, lots of gorgeous birds and more views of the canopy/ forest. After lunch we had a talk at the Monteverde Institute and did a bit for the environment helping to get them ready to plant trees ( offsetting our carbon footprint at the same time). Really Inspiring to see how the locals were taking such a serious approach to protecting their country. The USA could learn a lot from Costa Rica.
Our final stop was to head to Manuel Antonio national park on the Pacific coast. There our guide in the park fascinated us by spotted all these animals cleverly camouflaged to avoid detection - iguanas, spiders, an owl like bird hidden against a tree. When we saw a sloth, moving, facing us I wanted to give him a massive hug.
Costa Rica has reminded me what an incredible world we have - we all need to do more to protect it - credit to the wonderful Tico’s who are leading the way with how we all need to act.
Pura Vida 😀
Recommendations:
Hire a guide - they spot things you really couldn’t....
Monteverde - enjoy the food and views at Sabor Tico, enjoy the birds at Stella Bakery. Trek in Santa Elena reserve
La Fortuna - go to the hanging bridges in Arenal
Manuel Antonio - sunset at El Avion, stay as close to the park as you can - sunsets over the Pacific are stunning book a place with views
