Costa Rica Day 5 - Lake Arenal Drive

Today we pick up our rental car to make the trip out to Papagayo (the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica). You might ask why we are doing so much traveling within the country when we have so few days in total. I planned the trip around Pacuare, because I knew I wanted to experience that, but then we also wanted some beach time at the end, which in Costa Rica at this time of year, sun is only guaranteed over on the west coast. So we went ahead booked our departing flight out of Liberia. Arenal was more a stopover point between Pacuare and Papagayo. 

So, picking up the rental car was a little interesting. The Avis agent immediately claimed we needed to purchase mandatory loss/collision insurance. I was like, my friend, this is not my first international trip, no thank you. He then proceeded to tell me I could only use the credit card insurance if I could produce a letter from Amex saying my specific card was covered for Costa Rica. I'm pretty sure many folks would have given in at this point, but I viewed this as a challenge. 🧐 I got on the phone, Baba immediately went to go find a seat as he assumed we'd be in for the long haul...but surprisingly a mere 5 minutes or so later, I found the self service website and Amex emailed me a waiver letter. Apparently this is a well known rental company money-making scheme, a couple we ran into told us their insurance ended up being three times as much as their rental! If anyone else rents a car in Costa Rica, don't get taken in! 

Fantastic weather today, almost a waste since we'd be in the car all afternoon, but I suppose we avoid driving those curvy roads in the rain. The clouds even parted so we could get a parting shot of the Arenal volcano.

Pretty cool. Would be a great hike! (Baba doesn't agree).

A lot of the drive was basically just going around Lake Arenal. Here's the very tip by La Fortuna.

Halfway though we stopped for lunch at the Lake Arenal Brewery. Baba opted for the full flight of craft brews. Review: decent. 

Nice views! Something about the lake made it feel European to me. Like we were in Switzerland or Austria. 

We also passed right under a bunch of windmills. 

As an aside, the lake (which is quite large, took us an hour to drive just around a third or so of it) is entirely manmade for power producing purposes. Apparently 1/3 of all power consumed in Costa Rica comes from Lake Arenal!

Because I made us stop for more souvenir shopping in Liberia, we didn't arrive at El Mangroove, our last hotel, until after sunset.  Good thing we have no plans for tomorrow! 

Costa Rica Day 4 - Arenal/Hanging Bridges

I again woke up early -- sadly, this is my new middle aged reality -- no more sleeping in possible! I dragged Baba out of bed for breakfast (surprisingly extensive, great mangos, juices and some decent quesadillas and other "seems awfully like lunch to me" items) and then it was off for our La Fortuna waterfall hike. Booking this tour with a guide would have meant a 7:30AM pick up, so we opted for the "call and Uber and do it on your own" option. Uber came surprisingly fast, and super cheap!

The waterfall is accessible through a series of stairs they've built into the rainforest -- I wish I had taken some photos of the cute signs they put up throughout the hike, every 100 steps or so, they'd have an encouraging quote - 550 steps in all! Here's the first glimpse from the very top:

Going down was of course quite speedy. Probably just 10 minutes or so. And it stayed sunny the entire way down!

We wore swimsuits because you're allowed to swim at the bottom...but it was a bit too cold for my taste. 

About 5 minutes after we got to the bottom...it started raining. Hard. Even with a poncho on, turns out pelting rain is apparently a good motivator to climb up quickly. Fortunately, they had a covered bench halfway up for us to wait for the rain to let up a bit.

By the time we got back to the top, we had just a little time for some shopping (sloth themed gifts for L&R!), snap some pretty orchids, and then Uber time back to the hotel for our hanging bridges tour.

The tour was arranged through the hotel, there were 7 of us in all, and the rain, while not so hard, was still coming, so ponchos it was. Not expecting to sneak up on much wildlife in the park...

Spoiler: no sloths were spotted. I think the rain made seeing animals hard, and also time of day. But there were some pretty amazing trees growing in the rainforest. Like this one. So cool! The leaves were so perfectly spread that it looked almost fake!

There were a total of 5 hanging bridges. Here's the first one!

I was surprised by how bouncy they were. I guess it makes sense given they're "hanging" and all. But it was actually really hard to walk straight without getting jostled from side to side. Glad there were no bullet ants in this forest...(there were lots of those in Pacuare, to the point where the guides recommended you NOT hold on to any of the railings, getting bitten by a bullet ant apparently hurts as much as getting shot by a bullet, thus the name).

I must admit, after a couple bridges, they start seeming a bit "same old, same old." But the scenery off to the side was always impressive:

This was the highest bridge - 

Okay, I guess we did see ONE animal. Baba's favorite! It was so big!!

Last bridge.

By now, it was actually starting to get dark. The rain had mostly stopped but the mists were still pretty low. Made for some cool "I'm in the clouds" type views. Very San Francisco. 

Sun trying to peek out through the rain on the bus ride home.

Tomorrow, it's off to Papagayo, last stop of the trip!

Costa Rica Day 3 - Rafting!

Today is the second of our transfer days, this time moving from Pacuare, in the jungle, to the Arenal volcano area. While it was sad for us to say goodbye to the Lodge, like the transfer in, transfer out is also by white water rafting, and this time, Class III and IV rapids!

The weather for this raft trip was MUCH more cooperative (good thing, because the trip was not only more challenging but also much longer). 

 Baba demonstrating how NOT to paddle.

We were told that the Pacuare River was ranked fourth most beautiful white-water river in the world by National Geographic (#1 is Grand Canyon). It was indeed quite picturesque.

It was a nice mix of rough rapids and calmer stretches to enjoy the scenary (we actually had some parts where the guide called an "get down" and we actually sat in the raft and then paddled from there, never done that one before!) 

After about 2 hours, we stopped for lunch on a small beach. Apparently the 3.5 hours included an hour or so lunch. Good thing, because I had blisters on my hands by then and was thinking I didn't think I'd make it through another hour. Have more respect for those who do the multi-day Class III/IV rafting tours! Maybe on a Class I or II, but for the harder ones I think 2.5 hours might be my max!

After we arrived, Boena had showers, towels, and all of our luggage waiting for us. They were definitely pricey but I highly recommend Boena Wilderness Lodges from a service/experience perspective! If/when we come back to Costa Rica, I look forward to trying out one of their other lodges around the country. 

Our private car was waiting for us to begin the 3 hour drive out to La Fortuna, for the next part of our vacation. Pretty uneventful drive (I watched some downloaded videos to drown out the snoring). Awaiting us at Royal Corin, welcome cocktail, cool towels and...

Yes, R - you would appreciate the service level at this hotel. 

Not really sure what it's supposed to be though...monkey? Bunny? Dog?

After the long rafting trip, we immediately headed to the thermal mineral springs on the property. There were at least 7 different pools that we tried and I decided that my ideal temperature is 98-100°.

Sadly, we never took any photos at the pools. But they were quite relaxing! I particularly liked the water beds where you got to lay down submerged in the water. 

Tomorrow -- hanging bridges and hopefully a sloth sighting!

Costa Rica Day 2 - Adventure Time!

Thanks to the lack of internet and the 9PM bedtime, I woke up at 5AM raring to go. Baba....not so much. So, I decided to go off on the morning waterfall hike without him. It was mainly just a hike through the rainforest, but it did have a decent waterfall at the end. Our guide showed us how some of the stones were compacted natural chalk, which led me to some graffiti action...

He assured me it would wash off by tomorrow!

We saw an assortment of spiders and frogs again, but the animal highlight was....drumroll:

Yep, boa constrictor.  I tried to get the ubiquitous "pointing at the snake" tourist photo, the aim was a little off from my photographer, but ended up being a nice example of how the snake camouflages in with the branches!

After I came back from the hike, Baba was ready for some adventure, so off to the ziplines we went. 

I've done zipline-ing before, but not of this kind where you hike up the forest a half hour to the first platform and then keep hiking in between all of the lines. Makes you feel like you earn the zips. 

But the real highlights for me were the monkey drops. (Video proof that Baba enjoyed them too).

It started pouring rain towards the end, but we still finished with smiles!

In the afternoon, we went canyoning (or canyoneering), which we were told was even more adrenaline packed. The ropes portions were super fun, but the actual canyoneering parts left us with boots filled with water and me with a sore bum from a fall coming down the waterfall. I need more practice with my rappelling...

To close out the day, we had a very tasty dinner. Top marks to Pacuare Lodge's culinary and bar offerings throughout these two days -- I couldn't stop stealing sips of Ian's Don Juan cocktail. I kept digging in before I remembered to take a photo of their impressive platings, even this shot of our final dessert is one fried banana bite down. 😆

They even surprised me with a celebratory tres leches birthday cake. 

Tomorrow, sadly, we say goodbye to Pacuare. Maybe someday we will be back!

Costa Rica Day 1 - transfer to Pacuare

I consider Monday technically still day 1 of the trip because we didn't get in to our hotel until after midnight.  A sign that I've moved to a new phase of travel style? I knew the "official orange taxi" people waiting by baggage claim were unlikely to be the true "official" taxis and probably would have an upcharge, but...it was past midnight and they promised to use a meter at least. Even the taxi folks in the airport didn't speak a ton of English, which was the first of many instances to come where I wish I had the kids with us so they could amaze people with their Spanish skills. Next time!

We had a 6:15AM pickup scheduled, so it was basically just a quick nap. We rolled out of bed, put on our rafting clothes and stumbled half asleep into the shuttle van. I didn't realize the drive TO the take out point would be quite so long, at least the scenery along the way wasn't bad.

We stopped for a quick breakfast where they actually had you grind your own beans for the coffee. Baba said it was pretty good. I tried to order a hot water with lemon and honey...and quickly discovered that the bees and wasps like this drink as well...will have to stick with normal tea! Again, at least the view was passable. 

Somewhere around 10:30, we got to the river. We would be spending the next two nights at Pacuare Lodge, which, up until recently, could ONLY be reached by white water rafting. (We learned that they've since opened up a land route so you can opt to take a 4x4 to the lodge as well). The sun was still shining at this point...look at us all happy and looking forward to our type 1 fun.

The guides had informed us that the trip out to the Lodge was short and easy (only Class 1 and 2 rapids) so we were expecting a pretty low key experience.

Pacuare Lodge is located pretty deep into the jungle here, far away from basically everything else. Their website notes that all food and supplies are transported to the Lodge by raft and ultimately taken in via a hand pulley system. This rope "elevator" system is actually used by the indigenous people who have lived for centuries in the mountains to cross the river. We passed by one elevator with one of the locals crossing and it looked TIRING. And even after crossing, he would have to walk for hours to reach his actual house. 

Back to us on the raft, while the rapids were tame, the water was a bit chilly, but more problematically, the clouds were getting ominous. Time for our first Costa Rican thunderstorm! 

I chose the back intentionally as the "dry"er seats in the house, there are no more photos of the trip but suffice it to say I legitimately worried we would be struck by lightning and the rain came down HARD.

When we got to the lodge, we were greeted with warm towels (you cannot imagine how good they felt) and cups of some hot, cocoa-y tea drink that were amazing. 

We were told that the storm actually took down a tree blocking the road passage so our luggage actually wouldn't arrive for another hour or so. No worries, the rooms had robes and more importantly, lovely hot water showers.

I wish I had taken a photo of the room itself, but it was really really nice, white flowy curtains all around, thatched bamboo roof, and constant birdsong (sadly I don't know all of their names, but highlights were the yellow tailed Montezuma somethings, toucans, and these little bright red ones). After lunch, we napped for a good 3 hours or so to catch up on that sleep debt. But then as the sun went down, it was time for the night hike!

What follows are a bunch of spiders, frogs, snakes and other such cuddly animals encountered on our hike:

Strawberry poison dart frog

Male glass frogs (see the little brown specks in those transparent eggs? Those are the tadpoles!)

Spider actively capturing its cricket prey

And time for dinner -- it was very good, I know they said Costa Rica isn't known for its food, but the meals at the Lodge were all quite tasty, especially the cerviches and pokes. I wish I had gotten to try the grilled fish but we ran out of meals!

End of Day 1! The storm had also taken down the wifi network, so I was down by 9pm. Funny how sleep is easier when there is no internet...