Costa Rica Part 3

Our group on the Night Hike

Our next stop was in La Fortuna a town known for the Arenal Volcano, which attracts many tourists to the town. Despite some heavy clouds we had some pretty good views of the volcano which errupts daily. We took a night hike to a lookout point where we were lucky enough to see red lava when the volcano errupted! Our very first night in La Fortuna we went to the Hot Springs, which are numerous since the volcano is so close. This was very nice for our sore muscles. La Fortuna is also known for its adventure activities. Our whole group went white water rafting together which was a blast! I had never been before so it was quite an experience. Our guide, David, made sure we had a great time. I did fall out of the boat, but only once. They had a "paparazzi" come with us down the river to take pictures of us. He did a great job because the pictures are awesome.

The next day Ted, Daniel, and I decided to try another adventure activity, Canyoning! This is where you walk through a river canyon and do a combination of down-climbing and repelling. It was really cool and again the "paparazzi" took pictures for us. Our guides Viktor and Carlos were really cute and fun! I did fall a couple of times and had some scrapes/bruises as a result, but I would absolutely go canyoning again. I uploaded another slide show for this part of the trip as well.

Costa Rica Part 2

The next part of our trip was to Rara Avis(rare bird), which is a rainforest lodge in the middle of an untouched rainforest. It was one of the best parts of the trip for me. Everything about this place is awesome including the journey to get there. We started out getting fitted for our rubber boots, which are highly recommended during your stay due to all the mud! Then we got on an all terrain truck for our an hour or so beginning our climb up to the lodge. About half way the truck can no longer continue so we got on to a tractor drawn wagon and things got really bumpy! A couple of times we had to get off and walk ahead so that the tractor could maneuver its way over some large rocks. Once we had enough of the tractor we hiked the last hour of the way there. The accomodations were very simple and rustic. The only electricity is in the dining area for about 5 hours or so in the evening. My years as a camp counselor prepared me well for this.

The next day we took a 3 hour nature hike with our guide Josh. We learned more about the rainforest and its plants and animals. We had a very interesting encounter with some spider monkeys as well. Hiking in the rubber boots through the mud, water, and rocks took some concentration, but was very fun. At the end of our hike we went to the lookout point for the beautiful waterfall they have at Rara Avis. By this point we were hot, muddy and wet so the water was calling our names. We got to swim in the waterfall!!

After lunch a big thunderstorm came through with lots and lots of rain. While we were sitting in the dining room we all of the sudden heard a loud noise. Our guide quickly realized that the river was flash flooding due to the rain. We quickly walked to the bridge to see the river rising and picking up speed. We then grabbed our boots and hiked back to the waterfall lookout point to see the comletely flooded waterfall. It was amazing to see the river moving with such force. I included some videos below so you can get an idea of how massive it really was.

The next morning we got up very early to leave because the tractor was broke down! This meant we had to hike about 6 kilometers down the hill to where the all terrain truck was waiting for us. Needless to say I had several blisters from the rubber boots, but it was worth it! Check out the videos and I also attached a slide show of Rara Avis pictures.

Sorry this is sideways and I don't know how to rotate it

Costa Rica Part 1

I am back from my adventure vacation in Costa Rica and I had a great time!! I saw and did so much during my 2 1/2 week stay so I am going to share a little bit at a time. I arrived in San Jose with no complications and luckily my luggage!! I got settled into the hotel and met my group leader, Annika. She is originally from California, but married a Costa Rican man and has lived in the country for several years. She was a fantastic group leader and knew a lot about the country. My fellow group members were Monique (Netherlands), Magnus & Jannie (Denmark), and Ted & Daniel (New York City). We all got along great and had a lot of fun together.

Early on Day 2 we boarded a city bus to Puerto Viejo a small town along the Caribbean Ocean. The town is very laid back and has a Jamaican influence. The beaches were beautiful with black and white sand. Our hotel was so nice and we stayed in a little bungalow with a hammock on our porch. The main thing to do in Puerto Viejo is to rent a bike and ride around. Monique and I rode to Manzanillo about an hour away. We stopped along the way at some of the beaches which were practically empty! Once in Manzanillo there is another beach!! It was a very relaxing way to start off our trip.

Puerto Viejo

We left Puerto Viejo and drove to Moin where we boarded a boat for our trip to Tortuguero, which can only be reached by boat. The ride was awesome and we spotted some animals like the Jesus Christ lizzard, howler monkeys, birds, and sloths. Torguguero is another very small town which is known for the sea tutles that come along shore at night. Unfortunately we were ther a little too early in the season to see them. We had another nice hotel on the opposite side of the river from the town center. We only stayed here one night and then we were back on the river for another hour or so. Once we were back on land we drove through some farming communities and saw lots of cows and banana plantations. We even caught a gimpse of how they harvest bananas.

I attached a slideshow of pictures from this part of the trip.

Boat Ride to Tortuguero