Costa Rica, Day 8: Hermosa to Miami to NYC

9am breakfast followed by a brief visit to the beach. Ironically the day was sunny and warm with no rain. At 10:30am we rode to the airport in Liberia (the second of two airports in Costa Rica). Some things to note: One of the first things we had to do at the airport was pay a "departure tax" of $28. We also had to fill out both Costa Rican and U.S. customs forms. And most strangely, we had to have our carryon bags inspected two separate times (once before entering the terminal and again before boarding the plane). Really could not see the point of this. After a layover in Miami, we finally arrived back in NYC.

Overall though, it was a pretty amazing trip... It was definitely what I was looking for in a getaway from the city. It was beautiful and calm, with abundant nature and wildlife, and pretty much everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful.

Costa Rica, Day 7: Playas del Coco

We were surprised to find that breakfast at this hotel was restaurant style rather than buffet and we had to order from menus. Not knowing the portions, we ended up ordering way too much (the typical Costa Rican breakfast, plus French toast, and sides of hash browns and pancakes).

After that, as there was really not much to do in the area besides go to the beach, we decided to take a 10 minute cab to the nearby area, Playas del Coco. Coco was an interesting contrast with Hermosa. It felt much more like a tourist place, with lots of souvenir shops, adventure tours, and beach style restaurants/bars. The beach itself seemed more dirty, with a number of boats in the water... Not a beach I would want to swim in. Definitely glad we chose to stay in Hermosa. While in Coco, we came upon a smoothie stand. Apparently the person who runs it was not in that day, so a woman from the pharmacy next door came out to make them for us! We also checked out a couple supermarkets. These ones definitely seemed more tourist-oriented than the others we had previously been to.

It was overcast all day with intermittent rain, which was unfortunate because we had signed up for a sunset cruise that evening. Foiled. Fortunately we were able to get a refund... But basically we weren't able to do anything the rest of the day with the rain. Oh well.

Costa Rica, Day 6: Playa Hermosa

8am breakfast at the hotel. 10am pickup for the drive to Playa Hermosa. We arrived at Bosque del Mar Playa Hermosa at around 3pm, where again we were greeted with fancy fruit drinks. I'm not sure if this is a Costa Rican thing or a fancy hotel thing. Somehow we've ended up at the super nice, fancy, honeymoon-esque hotels.

The hotel included our own sitting room and outdoor patio.

That afternoon we checked out the beach... I think we made a good choice with Playa Hermosa. It was secluded enough, without crowds, and not overly developed or touristy. It was partly overcast so the "overbearing" sun we were promised was not a problem. The temperature was nice and not too humid at that point.

Soon after we checked into the hotel, I heard several loud grunting sounds in the distance... I was thinking "tone it down, dude..." When I got to the beach, I looked up and realized where the sounds where coming from...

Later that night we had dinner at the hotel restaurant (it became apparent that the hotels we chose are basically surrounded by nature and isolated from any city or town life. So we ended up eating most of our meals at the hotels).

Costa Rica, Day 5: Santa Elena/Monteverde

Another 7:30am pick up today before an hour long ride on the rocky, unpaved roads to the Santa Elena Reserve cloud forest. There we walked the suspension bridges, the views shrouded with rain, mist, and fog. The rainforest was beautiful, but perhaps a bit too rainy for us. We both wore plastic ponchos and struggled against nature to keep ourselves and our cameras dry and free of fog. We were so glad that we didn't wait to do ziplining here, as those who did got soaked by the constant rain.

For me, the highlight of this excursion to Santa Elena was the Hummingbird Garden. I have never seen a hummingbird up close and here there were dozens of them zipping around our heads to get to the nectar feeders. They did not seem to fear humans so we were able to get quite close and take photos. Later we had an unremarkable lunch at the park's restaurant before getting back on the rocky road to our hotel.

5:30-7:30pm - We had signed up for a horseback ride that was supposed to take us on a scenic journey across Monteverde, through forests, ending with a picturesque sunset, at least according to the brochure. Unfortunately all we had in the way of info was said brochure with brief descriptions. It had been raining all day and we could only hope that the weather would be better wherever we were going to ride... When we got out of the taxi we were greeted by a chipper man who asked us if we had ponchos and if we spoke Spanish (un poco, not really). I glanced over and saw there were a couple children already on horses so I guessed there'd be a family along with us. The man then introduced the children saying, "This is Luis and Gabriela. They will be taking you." Uhhhhh... Thus began our wet, windy, muddy horseback ride with our 11 year old "guides." At one point, Stephanie asked the boy where we were going. He responded, "No hablo Ingles." This even though the brochure was in English with no indication of needing to be fluent in Spanish. And yes, we were the only ones on the tour. Perfect. I imagine most others were deterred by the weather. During the ride, I saw Stephanie's horse tripping and sliding as we traversed muddy, rocky slopes, and there was rain and wind for at least half of the two hour ride, rendering our ponchos useless. I suppose we weren't in any actual danger, but let's say I definitely didn't feel like taking out my camera. Towards the end, the kids asked us, "Toman cafe?" I answered, "si" and they took us to the Don Juan (local) coffee plant, which was actually nice because we were able to try out the coffee for free. After that, we began the ride back, darkness setting in.

Two of the horses and one of our "guides"...

Costa Rica, Day 4: Arenal to Monteverde

This morning at 10am we began the long (at times unpaved, treacherous) journey to our hotel in Monteverde. We had heard somewhere that the Quaker founders of Monteverde purposely wanted to leave the roads unpaved so as to limit traffic and development.

Our driver and guide let us stop a few times for breaks and to book tours with an agent (surprisingly it has saved us some money). Mostly, our drivers have had us stop at touristy places with souvenir shops, but this time I asked if they could take us to a regular supermarket. I always think it's more interesting to see local things (and often get better deals). And yes, that is how it worked out in this case.

At around 3:00 we finally got to the hotel. The hotel was beautiful and colonial(?), set amongst the forest and idyllic green hills decorated with stone fountains and benches.

5:30-7:30pm - We went on a guided night hike through the forest not far from where our hotel is. It had been billed as a good way to see forest animals... Unfortunately, it was rainy, windy, and muddy... And there weren't a lot of sightings, though the guide definitely had trained eyes, spotting things we'd never see on our own-- some sleeping birds, insects camoflauged as leaves and twigs, a tarantula, possum, and an animal that we thought he said was "pikachu" (tee hee).
Dinner was tilapia and chicken cordon bleu at the hotel restaurant.

Costa Rica, Day 3: Caño Negro

On the way to Caño Negro, our driver asked us if we'd like to see some iguanas. He then took us to an iguana preserve where we saw this guy (and a bunch of others) hanging out in the trees. I believe this is a "Green Iguana" despite its orange color.

Our main activity today was going on an all day guided boat tour in Caño Negro. We began with another early morning pick up at 7:30. Prior to that we had a rushed, but delicious breakfast at the hotel. The only people on the tour besides us were an older couple from New York. They were friendly and talked to us a bit. It was nice that it ended up being almost like a private tour. It was just us four, the guide, and the driver in the boat which probably could have held at least thirty people. We're realizing that we went at a really good time before the rush of people at Christmas... Most places have been surprisingly empty with group tours turning into private tours by default.

3 monkeys

Parking lot?

After an 1.5 hour drive, we arrived at the dock. During the tour, our boat went down the Rio Frio stopping intermittently for the guide to point out various wildlife. We saw lots of water birds, caimans (like small crocodiles), lizards (including the Jesus Lizard which runs on water), tiny bats sleeping under tree branches, and three kinds of monkeys (howler, spider, white faced)! Our guide even did some monkey calls which after a while, the monkeys responded to! Besides the animals, the scenery was beautiful and lush. Overall, it was a pretty amazing experience.

The little bats sleep lined up in a row under a branch. Our guide added that if they sense a predator is watching, they will move side to side simulating an undulating snake (every other one moves right, while the ones in between move left, and so on). They did not do this little dance for us however.

According to our guide, these are called "lunch."

This bird is drying his/her feathers.

Jesus lizards (nice camo, guys)

Caiman

A Mantled Howler monkey, I believe.