Sunday, March 19, my family and I woke up and enjoyed a great big buffet breakfast at the hotel. My mom and I then got a ride to the Thrifty car rental office to pick up our rental car a cool little SUV. When we got back the hotel, we packed up all of our stuff and headed out! We had a little delay when we forgot a camera in the hotel and turned around to retrieve it when it was actually in Evan’s pocket the entire time, but luckily we had not traveled very far. As we got on the road, my Dad got to really experience the crazy Tico driving while he was behind the wheel. Cars pass you all the time, whether a big semi truck is coming the other direction doesn’t really matter to them- it’s all fair game. My family got to experience the extreme change in climate as we went from dry Kansas-land to the beautiful green rain forest around the lake. One the way, we stopped at a small town called Nuevo Arenal at a small German bakery. There are several small areas with strong European influences as many groups immigrated to Costa Rica in the early 20th century. We then finished the trip to La Fortuna where we checked into our great hotel located just outside of the actual town, closer to the volcano. Driving into the hotel, we could tell it was going to be a nice stay. The beautiful reception area, including some fancy complimentary fruity drink to welcome you also decked out with plenty of fresh flowers and tropical plants was just the start. Our room, which was one of the many small cabins of the hotel, was located at the back of the resort near the hotel’s small garden and was just beautiful, especially the perfect clear view of the volcano we could enjoy sitting in our rocking chairs outside our door. I was so relieved we lucked out to have clear weather on our very first day in town. There had been periods of a week where the volcano was totally hidden. After settling in to our room and getting a jump from some nice guys working at the hotel as we had accidently left the lights on our rental car, we headed into La Fortuna. When we got into the downtown square we noticed some guys yelling at our car and quickly realized the street was a one-way street at this point and quickly got off. I felt bad for not knowing this after living here for 2 months, but to my defense, I never drive. After walking around the central park, we headed to my host home where my host parents were anxiously waiting to meet my American family. I was surprised by the slight nervousness in Evi and Andres when we entered; however, we were all soon talking and laughing shortly although every conversation was slightly delayed and not entirely complete as I struggled to keep up translating between the two “families.” After visiting with them for a bit, we went on to the police station so this group of officers could meet my family. The officers too seemed a bit nervous as they introduced themselves- maybe it had something to do with the fact that Dad and Evan are about a foot taller than most of the officers. After some more rough conversation, although some of the officers did a pretty good job using some of their English, and a big group photo, we went back to pick up Andres and Evi for a nice dinner together. I got some more good Spanish practice translating through our tasty dinner. The bar/restaurant had free pool tables that Evan, Dad, and Andres took advantage of and Andres beat up on the gringos pretty well. There was also karaoke that I embarrassed myself with by attempting to sing a Selena song that I did not remember from the movie as well as I thought I did; but nonetheless, it was a great evening. It was so interesting to see both of my “families” interact, and I am so fortunate that I was able to share the experience with both of them.
Monday was one of our most adventurous days as we went Class IV white water rafting with my friend Lindsay on her day off from work. We were extremely lucky to have a clear, sunny day. After our breakfast at the hotel with a perfect view of the volcano, we were picked up by a shuttle of the rafting company, and after picking up a few more rafters, we drove the 45minutes to Rio Balsa where we starting our rafting journey while Dani, our cute 5-foot tall guide who is also the amazing photographer for the company. Throughout the rest of the trip Evan did an amazing impression of his high-pitched, kind accent that made us all laugh. When we arrived, all of us along with my friend Lindsay were placed in a large raft together and we got the lead rafting guide, Alex, who certainly made the trip entertaining by jumping up in the raft at big rapids, instructing us to make the raft turn in “crazy 8’s” down some rapids, and informing us about the different trees and wildlife along the river. Alex was also very helpful at one very scary point when our raft practically flipped during a large Class IV+ rapid. We did not flip; however, Dad, Evan, and Lindsay were all flipped out of the raft. There have been only a few times in my life I have seen real fear on the face of my Dad, and this was certainly one of those times- all three of their faces were terrified. Fortunately, Alex’s quick reaction got Dad and Evan back into the raft almost immediately after. Poor Lindsay had to bump around a bit, but after I pulled her in with an oar, she was also pulled in safely. Dad and Evan got some souvenirs from the fall and lucked out as Evan’s shin hit a big bolder leaving a pretty deep gash; Dad also scraped up one shin and hit is teeth on boulders. He came up asking, “Do I have all my teeth?” I was glad to insure him he did. Evan’s leg was the most worrisome looking as it swelled up large and had blood and white puss. For a second I thought he broke his leg and was extremely worried, but it was quickly clear that it wasn’t too serious- a few others on the trip were certainly a bit scared after seeing it though. Nonetheless, after this scare, we had a nice enjoyable float the rest of the way in enjoying the beautiful canyon and scenery. Close to the end of the float we saw some large iguanas along the shore, and when we stopped, some guides pointed out a sloth high above in a nearby tree. We then drove to the small, organic farm to enjoy a great buffet style lunch with fresh veggies and chicken grown on site. After eating, we got to see how sugar cane is pressed to be juiced and got to taste some of the juice, some of the extremely strong sugar cane moonshine, and candy. We were then shuttled back to our hotel where we used the evening to take advantage of the amazing hot springs with the swim up bar and sushi bar as a small dinner.
Tuesday was another absolutely beautiful sunny day. I knew when we woke up and saw the volcano completely clear that we had to go hike Cerro Chato and take advantage of yet another day of perfect weather. We also woke up to a very strange sound of deep, load groans; Mom was the first to hear this sound and realize what it indeed was- howler monkeys! After filling up on our buffet breakfast, we went into town, stopped to buy some drinks and a few snacks for the hike, and drove up to the trailhead. Climbing an inactive volcano is really not an easy task, and walking uphill for 2.5 hours is to say the least, a good workout. Although it was my 4th time to do the hike, I really did not know it well enough to say exactly how long we had remaining, so I made some incorrect estimates of distance remaining along the way; however, despite the tough terrain, by making a few stops and drinking plenty of water, we all made it to the top seeing lots of lizards, the green-fur trees of the rain forest, and awesome views of LA Fortuna and Arenal. After we got to the top, we then descended the most difficult part of the trail down to the lagoon where we sat and enjoyed the beauty of the green water. After a while, we climbed out of the crater, saw a poisonous coral snake, and headed down chato. Along the way down, we passed a nice couple at least in their mid 60’s climbing up which was very inspirational. When we got back down, we got to the car and got our bathing suits to then enter the nearby park for the La Fortuna Waterfall. Our legs and feet were very tired by this point, but we made our way down more steep stairs to the 70-meter high impressive waterfall. When we got to the pool of the waterfall, we went down a bit to a nice swimming hole and enjoying the refreshing cold water after hiking in the heat all day. Soon the park became full of EF high school tour kids who made it a little more difficult to enjoy as the stream was filled of teenagers, but it was great regardless. We then climbed back up out of the waterfall and were ready to sit and give our legs a rest. On the way back into town, we stopped at a place along this road that hand makes hammocks and other artwork. The owner who looks somewhat like Bob Marley was very nice and also showed us a hand-made clay oven that he will cook and heat pottery in and I got more translation practice as he explained to us in Spanish how he made it and demonstrated a fire inside it. With growling tummies, we left and went straight to the center to a big Soda (café) on the square that is open 24-7. Mom and I got pizzas which were actually surprisingly very good, probably more so for me as it had been months since I’d had a good pizza, and Dad and Evan got some typical Costa Rican plates. Feeling a little rejuvenated we walked around and checked out some of the nearby stores after eating. We then headed back to the hotel where the truly rejuvenating hot springs were waiting for us. I felt bad for poor Evan who could not get in the water due to his big gash from the day before; however, he sat nearby and we all visited in the beautiful starry night.
Wednesday was yet another pretty, clear day, and as the Monteverde Zipline company we wanted to use was booked for the day, we decided to wait on making the trip to this rain forest as we were thinking about, and get in yet more hiking and visit the Arenal National Park on the back side of the volcano. As we woke up to the beautiful morning, we once again heard our neighbor howler monkeys, and this time, they sounded much closer. We walked out and looked into the trees behind our room, and sure enough about 75 yards away, we could see some howler monkeys hanging out in the trees. After getting ready and eating our big buffet breakfast, we drove the short distance to the area behind the volcano called Castillo to go to the National Park. I had only been to the Arenal 1968 Park which is nearby this park so I was not sure exactly what we were going to find at this park other than amazing views of the volcano. When we reached the entrance, a small woman at the gate approached our car and began telling us about the different trails offered at the park. We decided we wanted to try one that was away from this entrance at another reserve that took you out onto a peninsula of the Arenal Lake that was flat and an easy walk after yesterday’s hike. This woman, Laura, then said she would come with us and got in the rental car. At this point, I began to get suspicious. When she explained that it would cost us $10 each to get into the park and $15 each to pay her to come with us, I knew we didn’t need to do this as the entrance fee for all parks is only $10. When I voiced this, she insisted that we needed her to get in and made it sound like it was required, and at this point, we were getting money out to pay the actual park, and before I knew it, we had paid her as well. She instructed us how to get to this other reserve, and as we were driving, I was getting very upset. When we got to the start of this hike, I had to say something to her. Having been in La Fortuna for 2 months, I didn’t feel like the normal tourist that would fall for unprofessional tricks like this. I told her we really were not planning on paying for a guide along with the entrance fee and I knew that is all we HAD to pay. She responded with a sad story on how she would loosed her spot in the line of other guides at the entrance, wouldn’t make any money that day and she was only allowed to work a few days a week, and made it clear she wasn’t going to give the money back. Thus, the rest of the day, although incredibly beautiful, I was pissed off and walking along with this conniving woman was pretty difficult. Despite all this, we did have a great day and were extremely lucky. Walking along this peninsula, we were the only visitors and saw several neat birds and a wild hog. Laura did give us some interesting information about some of the trees, birds, and insects and the volcano along the way as well. She told us about the history of Arenal Volcan, just how active it had been up to about a year and a half ago, and the fact that volcanologists say it could have another major explosion at any moment- something nice to know after you have been living at a place for 2 months. The view of the lake and volcano from the peninsula was also great. After we finished this part of the hike, we went back to the main park, thankfully left Laura behind, and started the other trails here. We first went to an area below the volcano where we climbed up some of the volcanic boulders that were shot out of the volcano at some point. We then took a trail that went into the forest. Right from the start, we began to see wildlife- more lizards, frogs, and huge birds that looked like a mixture of a turkey and a peacock. Dad was leading the way at another point when he was scared by a white-faced capuchin monkey- these are the little spider monkeys with white faces that are often seen in movies like Ace Ventura. Soon we were seeing more and more of these monkeys in the trees all around us. It was amazing to see them interacting with each other so up close and personal. There must have been 10 or 15 monkeys just that we could see. When one of the larger monkeys jumped down to a lower branch, Mom and I got a bit nervous and walked away. Evan and Dad, being brave men, stood right under this tree and starred right at this monkey; however, this didn’t last long as they came running toward us when the monkey made it obvious that he was threatened by throwing some leaves at them and hitting his little chest, something they won’t be forgetting soon, I’m sure. Soon after seeing these monkeys, we came across probably the most impressive part of the hike- a HUGE 100+ year old Cieba tree. This tree is massive! It was actually hard to take in the entire tree at once it is so big. We took some time walking around the base and its roots that are large enough to put a roof on the top of two of them and have a small room. After admiring this amazing living thing, we continued on through the forest for another hour or so, seeing more birds and interesting plants along the way. After leaving the park, we went back to the hotel room to rest a bit, eat some bread we had bought at my favorite bakery the day before for a little snack, and visited the hot springs. Later, we cleaned up and ventured into town where we went to yet another great restaurant. It was nice to end the day peacefully and after complaining for a bit of the hike inside the park about our rip-off, I felt a bit better; however, I must take this point to use this blog as a warning and ask you to please learn from my mistake. If you come to La Fortuna, as you should if you ever get the opportunity, and do visit the Arenal National Park, which you also should see, DO NOT listen to any guides and pay extra to get into the park, as this is a lie. Thanks for letting me vent once more.
Thursday was our long trip to the Monteverde Cloud Rain Forest. Although this rain forest is really only 30 km away across the Arenal Lake, to drive there one must go around the entire lake and drive on some curvy and rocky roads, making the what should be short drive into a 4-hour twisty drive; however, the beautiful scenery certainly makes it worthwhile, and getting to Monteverde was most definitely worth the effort! We got up extra early this morning so that we could be the first in line at the breakfast buffet and beat the huge elderly tour groups also staying at the resort and hit the road early. The drive to get to Monteverde included much of our ride getting to Fortuna from Liberia around the pretty lake and into Guanacaste for a bit. After driving for around 3 hours, we got to the rocky, bumpy road that takes you up some mountains to Monteverde cloud forest. We had heard warnings about how awful the road was going to be; thus, we were expecting the worse. Fortunately, the road wasn’t extremely awful, but we were bumped around to say the least. When we finally got to the top, we discovered the cute small town of Monteverde and felt the extreme difference in climate from the dry, heat at the bottom of the mountain to the cool, misty climate in the forest. For the first time I used one of my coats because it was so chilly. We stopped at a nice local soda that was obviously run by one family for a yummy lunch. With the help of our GPS, we then made our way all the way to the highest point of this mountain to the Sky zipline and canopy tour company where we had an appointment for a tour. We started our tour with a walk around a trail with several large hanging bridges that really sway as you walk on them. Our guide was very nice and pointed out several things during the hike including two large tarantulas hiding out in some holes. He was even able to use a piece of grass and lazer pointer to get one big tarantula all the way out and give us an opportunity to snap some nice photos. It was so neat to be up in the canopy of this huge rainforest on a nice little stroll. After the walk, we got prepped for ziplining with large rain cloaks, harnesses, and helmets. They even had a special helmet to hold our new Hero go pro camera which Evan wore and was able to get some really neat videos. To get up to the platforms of the ziplines we took a tram similar to a ski tram. At this point of the day it was quite obvious why the forest is called a cloud forest as the clouds had rolled in with a strong misty rain and cold breezes. During the middle of the ride up the tram came to a stop and we all were a little concerned as to why we were stopping there. It turned out there was a sloth in a tree right below us so we could see the top of the furry white critter. We finally made it to the top and proceeded to climb several flights of stairs in the cold windy rain to the first zipline. It was pretty obvious that we were all a bit nervous as the clouds were so thick you could not see where the ziplines ended up and the strong winds also added to the suspense. To say the least, riding the long ziplines at such a height was amazing! The guides taking us along were also extremely nice and even let Evan and I break the rule to try riding with him allowing us to hang upside down. The rain made the grease on the lines fly in our faces and all over us easily and stung a bit when it got in our eyes, but is was completely worth it. As we got closer to the bottom back at the main station, the clouds cleared up enough that we were also able to get some nice, clear views of the rain forest. At one point, we could also see the Pacific coast out in the distance. When we got back to the main building, we unloaded all of our gear, attempted to clean all the grease off our face, and then headed back into town. We walked around a bit more, checked out some stores, bought some snacks and good fruit smoothies, and I bought a bag of a new fruit for me- manzana de agua which translates to Water Apples, although they are much different than apples. As it was already early evening and we still had a 4-hour long drive down the bumpy rocky road and then the twisty road around the lake, we reluctantly headed back. The ride back was extremely long and fortunately Dad was strong enough to get us back safely between the Tico drivers and crazy roads while the rest of us held on.
Friday was our one lazy, vacation day to enjoy the nice resort. This ended up working out well as it was our first day of the week to have a normal rainy, cloudy day during which you would never know that the huge Arenal Volcano is hovering nearby. After breakfast, Evan and I went into town to get some gas, drop of my big suitcase back at my host home, and pick up my friend Sanne so she could an enjoy off from work at our hotel’s pools. The cool, misty day made it perfect for the many hot springs. After getting a little bite to eat at the hotel pool bar, Evan and Sanne and I headed to one of the smaller zipline companies in Fortuna, Ecoglide while Mom and Dad got massages at our hotel’s nice spa. These ziplines were certainly not as impressive as what we had done in Monteverde the day before as the platforms were on the trees, not above them, and they lines were shorter; however, the different aspect and rush was just as fun. This company also is the only one to have a Tarzan swing in which you jump of a large platform and swing back and forth a bit, and this, certainly got all of our hearts racing and produced some genuine screams. We then returned to the hotel, enjoyed the hot springs a bit more, and then went back to the room where we visited more, played some cards while Sanne taught us some games in Holland, and we all got cleaned up to go back into town for dinner. When we got into town, we dropped Sanne off at her apartment so she could clean up and we did some shopping until we all met up at another delicious local restaurant. Dinner included some great talks about culture, politics, and other differences between Holland and the U.S.
Saturday we unfortunately had to leave our little oasis and head back to the dry, hot Guanacaste region and Liberia. The day was certainly special however, as we went beyond Liberia to visit the nearby beaches on the northern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. After breakfast we packed up our stuff, checked out, and hit the road. During the drive, we saw a group of small black type of howler monkeys, although I’m certainly not sure, up close as they were hanging out on the telephone lines right along the road. After dropping of our big luggage at our hotel, we drove 20km or so to the nearest beach called Playa Panama. This is certainly a smaller, cove beach used mostly by locals. We walked around a bit, saw some iguanas running around, and I translated as we visited with a cute old man pushing around a cart with a huge block of ice that he shaved to make “copos” or Costa Rican style snow cones also topped with both evaporated milk powder and creamy, sweet milk, fruity syrup, and rich tamarillo fruit, of which he showed us some of the fruit pods on the ground from nearby tamarillo trees. After walking on this beach for a while, we got in the car and drove to the next beach, Hermosa. Hermosa was similar to Panama, a bit larger, but still quite local. After walking on this beach and stopping at a little store for some drinks, we got in the car and drove to the most commercialized beach in this area, Playa Coco. On this beach, we were certainly not the only gringos like the others as there are many hotels, restaurants, boat tours, and development. We stopped at some souvenir stores, walked in the beach, found a spot to sit and meditate in the sun and the sound of the waves for a bit, and then walked back into the town to a really great Seafood restaurant, guess it’s easy to have amazing fresh seafood when you’re on the ocean. After filling up on fish, we headed back to Liberia, seeing some interesting little monkey bridges hanging over the road to help the monkeys cross safely as well as some strange large termite or wasp nests during the drive. When we got to the hotel, we got in our swimsuits and enjoyed the cool pool in the hot evening, and then chillaxed at the room. Around 10pm Dad, Evan, and I were pretty hungry as our late lunch began to wear off, so we went down to the hotel restaurant for a yummy late night meal before sleeping soundly.
Sunday was certainly the saddest part of the trip as Mom, Dad, and Evan had to return to reality and head back to Missouri. We woke up and Mom, Evan, and I enjoyed the hotel breakfast. Afterwards, we all drove into Liberia to drive around the town and use the last little bit of time we had with our rental car. We stopped after some difficulty finding a place to park, bought some bread, walked around a bit, filled up the car, and then returned to Thrifty. After we were shuttled back to the hotel, Evan and Dad and I took a little adventure into the wilderness behind our hotel where Dad had walked earlier in the morning. There was a small trail that went a good distance to the water treatment plant for our hotel as well as land ready to be developed for future businesses. We saw some sort of black animal run by and several birds, really there is surprisingly a lot of wildlife for such a dry place. After our walk, I went on a really short run, and then enjoyed one last enjoyable hot shower while I could. We all then got ready, packed up, and got our hotel shuttle to the airport around noon. After Mom, Dad, and Evan paid their exit tax and got their bags checked, we found a small spot to sit and visit for a bit before they had to get to their gate. I was definitely sad to see my family go and slightly jealous that they were getting to return before me, but at the same time, glad that I had a little more time to enjoy this amazing country and hopefully help my police officers students more before I return. After they left, I still had an hour and a half wait for my shuttle ride back to Fortuna. Lucky for me, my great boyfriend Austin sent me a new Zune MP3 player with my parents as my old one died my first week here. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed being able to listen to music. I also started another book by Fannie Flagg I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven which has the same characters and setting of Elmwood Springs, MO as the last novel of hers that I enjoyed so much. My big shuttle bus arrived empty and I found that the ride was only going to be my nice shuttle driver, Carlos, and me thus, I sat up front and visited with him and read during the trip. When we got to the lake the view was so clear and beautiful. Everyone was out enjoying the view of the volcano. When Carlos dropped me off, I quickly changed to go on a quick run and enjoy the beautiful sunset on the clear night. When I got back, I gave Evi and Andres some small gifts my parents brought from the U.S.- Aeropostale shirts for each of them, Victoria Secret lip gloss for Evi, a small bag of goodies for Jimena, and some peanut butter. They were so excited. They looked like little kids on Christmas Day and even admitted that it was like Christmas Day except probably even more than what they would get on Christmas day as all these items would cost around 5 times the amount here in Costa Rica as we paid for them in the U.S. I felt both happy and slightly guilty when giving them things that are not that hard for me to obtain- especially the peanut butter. At home, I can eat an entire jar of peanut butter in a few weeks easily. When Evi opened her jar of peanut butter she let out a little shout because it was only her second time to eat it and it tasted as good as she remembered the first time she had it as a little girl. I certainly went to bed that night feeling extremely grateful to have all the opportunities and resources that I have, including an amazing family. I am so lucky they were able to come visit me and so fortunate to have been able to spend a great week together.
No comments:
Post a Comment