Day 16 - San Jose, Our Last Day in Costa Rica

Before we left Tortuguero this morning, they had a surprise for us. The turtle conservatory was putting a tracking device on a turtle who laid her eggs last night, which meant we could see her during the daylight and take pix! Poor thing had to wait for the glue to dry before they'd release her, and it takes forever for anything to dry in that humidity!

We flew out of Tortuguero on a small prop plane. It was a cool, new experience for the kids - though Kate thought it was loud. We had a scenic 25 minute flight to San Jose. Seeing Tortuguero from a bird's eye view put the area into perspective - the beach/coast is an island! As you can imagine, Costa Rica is a pretty country to fly over. We flew past Turrialba Volcano. At 10,000 feet high, it's quite large. It is active, with a recent ash eruption last month.

We had a tour of the capital city, San Jose. Then we went to Sibu, an artisan chocolatier. It was as enjoyable as a private tour of a winery, except we were sampling and learning about gourmet chocolate - followed by a gourmet brunch. The kids got to make a chocolate bar.

San Jose is a good place to end a trip - there is no remorse about leaving the city. No more jungle. No more howler monkeys to greet us. I must admit though, it was fun sampling rum in the grocery store (why don't we have that back at home?!). However, leaving is a sweet sorrow. Saying goodbye to new-found girl/friends but esp Glenn and Lisa, who got up at 4am to see us Californians off.

Costa Rica is a wonderful country. Without a doubt it has amazing beauty but the people are equally enriching. They are friendly, genuine, caring and helpful. I very much enjoyed speaking my limited nonsense Spanish with them! "We wait for your family to return!" Pedro said to me.

Now I know the true meaning of Pura Vida!

Day 15- The Turtles of Tortuguero

I had the best night of sleep yet - finally sleeping with the window open! We could hear the rain, the bugs, the animals... peaceful! I actually slept in - until 5am - then quickly jumped out of bed to look for wild life. I took each step hesitantly and carefully - trying to watch what I was stepping on but also look in every direction for hiding creatures! Maybe I'd see a jaguar, boa, bushmaster (only 5% of victims survive a bite), big spiders. Fortunately the worst I found was the poison dart frog (I didn't touch it), toucans, and lots of capuchin monkeys (there are lots in the trees here). 

Our activity this morning was a boat ride into Tortuguero National Park. We saw lots of birds, monkeys high up in the trees, a variety of plants/trees, and a caiman. I stopped leaning over the side when our guide told us that all their snakes swim, and bushmasters chase the boats (at night)! 

We went across the canal to the small town of Tortuguero. It has a population of 1000, 40% of which come from Nicaragua. We also walked on the beach. It was beautiful but it is too dangerous to swim here due to the current, bull sharks, barracuda, and crocodiles. We also tried some healthy coconut water. 

In town Kate stated she wants to go home. She was hot, and seems to think she would be cooler in Sacramento's 100+ degrees. She then made a good point - they don't have air conditioning here! 

I wonder what my boys think about all this good clean fun? They have been without their computers for 2 whole weeks, and all the kids hang together having all sorts of fun! Like today's chicken fights in the pool. 

Glenn commented, "Only in Costa Rica can you be at the pool side watching the monkeys." 

I am officially done looking for wild life; on our way back to our rooms there was a snake 10 feet from our door. It was small and non-poisonous, but did not back down to us.  I have no desire to see anymore snakes!

Our nighttime adventure was to go watch the green sea turtles lay their eggs. We won spots in the early viewing (7:30 pm) group. You are only allowed on the beach at night with a guide. So to not frighten off the turtles, we had to dress in all black from head to toe, and could not bring any cameras. We took a boat ride to the beach. It's a long stretch of beach where right now 200-300 turtles come ashore each night to lay their eggs, but in a month it will be 2000-3000! We were assigned to Sector 2 near the airport and waited on the end of the runway while the spotter found a turtle. We waited a very long time, listening to facts about turtles, watching fireflies nearby and lightening in the distance, and gazing at the beautiful stars. In the dark dressed in black it felt like a night-ops mission! After an hour I began to fear that we were going to be out of luck. But finally the spotter called us to the beach. We walk carefully out single file and watch the mama go back into the ocean...no eggs. Another turtle is spotted and again we watch her go back into the water, though this time we get to see the huge hole she attempted to dig. She chose next to a palm tree and could not dig through the roots. And that was it - our time had expired. Kate could not believe it, and exclaimed, "Did you know turtles are so big?" 

We returned to our rooms to a night full of very loud thunder. There was no counting any seconds between the lightening and the thunder. It was so close and loud I swear it hit the bungalow next to us!

Day 14 - Welcome to the Jungle

There was a competition this morning that got Chris out of his room by 5:30 am. Our TD was hiding somewhere and whoever found him 1st (with the answers to the crossword puzzle) would win the prize. Chris was determined! I was checking out the butterfly garden, when next thing I know, Chris is talking to quietly... He found TD in the butterfly bushes!

Today we stopped at a pineapple farm. Why? Because Costa Rica is the main producer of pineapple in the world. We went to Finca Corsicana; they distribute to Whole Foods. We filled our bellies with the best pineapple I have ever tasted. I wish I could say I learned something but the guide's humor ("You are right, congratulations. NO!") made me more confused than when I started. But I can tell you you're wasting your time if you pick a pineapple by pulling out a leaf, smelling it or poking it! And you need to put it right into the refrigerator; it doesn't "ripen" on your counter, it ferments!

Our destination today was Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. There are only 2 ways to get there - either fly or take a boat. There are no roads, only canals. We took a boat. Our TD has definitely hyped up this part of the tour so our expectations are pretty high. His response to every missed wild life has been, "don't worry you will see it in Tortuguero."

We are staying in an Eco-lodge. That is a fancy way of glorifying rustic; you can't put toilet paper into the toilet! The rooms don't have windows but at least they have screens to keep out the bigger bugs! Greg warned me, "Don't get freaked out but there are ants in the bathroom. Big ants." I actually had to put my phone down at night because its light was attracting too many bugs.

For Glenn's birthday the resort surprised him with a cake. Craig, not usually the loud, blurting type, scoops up a big bite and exclaims uncontrollably, "Holy crap. This is the worst cake I've ever had." His blatant rudeness had us in stitches!

This rustic hide-away is making for some great family memories. Thanks mom!!

Day 12 - Thanks for Making Me Go

As usual, AIS was 8am - when we discovered that the family of 15 (celebrating 50th anniversary) was leaving the tour. Tragically, the dad (guessing 70?), who recently had stints put in, had a heart attack - they believe during the zip lining. He is in stable condition and the family joined him at the hospital. Craig reassured us that he would continue on with the trip should anything happen to us  ;-) So now we are basically on a private tour - excepting the wonderful family of 4 still with us. 

Our day started with a river float along the Peñas Blanca's River.  Yup, sounds like a sleeper!  Unfortunately we did not see any moose, but we did see everything else!  We saw Jesus Christ lizards - they are rather small so I have no idea how the guide spots them. And a sloth (looks like a nest), monkeys, plenty of birds, poison dart frog (tiny so they pick one up for us to see). Oh yeah and at least 6 crocodiles!!  We stopped at the farm of Don Pedro (he's 101 years old) for coffee, plantains, cheese and tapioca bread. Then we divided up into dry and wet boats. You can guess who went in the dry boat. No, not me. Though extremely tempted to, I had heard this was the best thing of the entire trip. Dry boat was passengers 70+ years old. Everyone else split into 3 boats and were given buckets. We were told 2 rules for the water fight: no pushing people in and no throwing buckets.  Honestly I never thought I'd have so much fun getting water thrown on me, but there's nothing better than laughing for an hour straight! The guides turned on us and were our own worst enemies. They obviously didn't hear the rules because - just after seeing crocodiles - they pushed every one of us in (except youngest Kate and Ainsley). 

After the float we stopped to see huge, friendly  iguanas.  Then in our free time, a group of us (only 7 could go) went horseback riding. Chris, Jeremy and Kate have never been. It was amazing ... The sheer bliss of flying as one with a horse!  I had a mama, and baby tagged along beside us! They let us gallop to our hearts content - through field after field.  We all had so much fun! When we got back, Jeremy said, "thanks for making me go."  He meant every word of it!

Today was my favorite day! 

Day 11 - Faster, Higher, Longer

AIS was 8am today but this time we needed to have our bags packed as well. We were on our way to our next destination - Arenal volcano and Tilajari Hotel. 

Our guide kept telling us how lucky we were to see Arenal volcano. Usually it is shrouded in clouds. We first saw it on our drive and again from our boat ride across Arenal Lake. We drove around it to get to our hotel. But we saw it closest from our zipline - now that was cool!  It is a mile high and used to be one of the 12 most active volcanoes in the world but it has been unusually quiet this past year. 

We have ziplined in Mexico, Hawaii and of course yesterday. But nothing prepared us for the ziplining today.  This course was 650 high and 1/2 mile long - giving you speeds up to 45 mph. My camera can't begin to take a pix of a distance like that, but to give you an idea, it felt like we were zipping off the top of the volcano!  You put a lot of faith in the hands of the locals who safely attach you to cables!  At one point, as I was flying through the air, I did wonder what if ... But you just can't let your thoughts go there.  Besides, I knew we were safe - we had helmets on!

We are in the rainforest now - absolutely gorgeous! It gets 230" of rain per year. So it was no surprise that it rained during our entire zipline adventure. (Which of course elicited a "this is the hardest it's rained so far" comment from Craig.)  We really couldn't be sure if the loud rumbling from the sky was thunder or the volcano erupting. Neither was very reassuring - I don't think water, cables and lightening go well together. 

Family members who did not zip went for a nature walk/run. Apparently the local guide made them go fast and was obviously nervous about the critters that come out in the dark (under the canopy of trees).  He was worried because "you can't see the snakes."

Yesterday we had an offer to spend several more months in Costa Rica. I don't know why everyone in our group was so hesitant, but Kate and I jumped at the opportunity. All we had to do was break in to a local's house! He was an honest-looking American who had locked himself out.  He had a small opening that a small child could crawl through.  The opening turned out to be round and the size of a plate.  I seriously didn't think Kate would fit, but she contorted her body through, and opened the door for the man.  She was the hero!  If we got caught, we wouldn't be leaving this place for some time!  Later the hotel owner assured me it was legit, and you can't let a local kid do it because you don't want them to know how to break into your house. 

Day 10 - Buena Vista Ranch

AIS in the bus today was 8am. We found out the couple in our tour went home - supposedly due to bugs in the room, but more likely marriage trouble as they were on their 3rd marriage to each other and had a screaming match in the lobby. I can't imagine getting here for this wonderful adventure and then turning around to go back home!

Today the bus took us 1.5 hours to Buena Vista Ranch where we chose from their variety of activities. No one chose the 45 minute horse ride to the hot springs. Instead everyone did the zip lines and/or hanging bridges followed by the waterslide and lunch. There were 10 zips - not very fast, long or high but nonetheless fun! It was Kate's 1st time and she did great! Craig finally got to see monkeys - there was a troop on the trees next to our zip lines. The tranquil hanging bridges offer birds-eye views of the forest. Since I took a brief tour on them - scenic but uneventful - I got to the waterslide a little late so I caught it just as our group was starting to come down. At 400 meters long, the slide is fast and almost flips you a few times. You have to use a tube and helmet. Girls have to wear a girdle but full-on body armor might be more appropriate. Chris said it was fun but hurt a little. Kate thought it was so-so but didn't go again. Greg went screaming by - videoing his whole ride. Most people looked like they were either in pain or struggling. Not very convincing for me so I played photographer.

We got back to the hotel and went swimming together one last time in Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean. Playa Hermosa has very gentle waves perfect for hanging out - you wouldn't come here to surf.

Next it was Jeremy's turn to join Glenn in the confessional. However in the typical teenage way, rather than talk to each other, they chatted through Facebook.

For our last sunset, Tauck threw a beach party with a bonfire, food, drinks and marimba music. The 15 kids on the tour connected at the party, playing games, and then sat together at dinner.

Tomorrow we head to Arenal volcano area in the north central part of the country.

Day 9 - A Bit of Rain

There is nothing to do in small Playa Hermosa -but hang around and have a good time with family!

It poured a lot today, though somehow not while we were running or walking or at the beach. The joke of the day was, "This is the hardest it's rained so far" - every 5 minutes.

Our balconies are attached but separated by lattice work (and a locked door) so it looked like Greg and Glenn were at confession. (You can see the balconies behind us in the pix)

In the evening our Tauck tour (Tauck Bridges Jungles and Rainforests) officially began - with a reception. There's a family of 15 (celebrating their parent's 50th), plus 2 more families - a couple, and grandparents who brought their 2 grand kids. Lisa's back was the target of our name tags.

It was good to hear from our TD, Stu, that the bugs (no see-ums and sand fleas) are the worst here. We have some bites but they are tolerable.