Here's the whole group of us at SFO awaiting the first leg flight out to Denver. All of us were buzzing with excitement as this was the culmination of several weeks of planning (kinda). L->R: Crosby, Ashley, Priyanshu, Dennis, Rene, Alisa, Me, Gordon & Vivi.
After arriving in DEN, I exited the secured area to catch up with Stuart. Long time no see buddy and congrats on the engagement!
Everyone else stayed on the other side of security and had dinner at Mesa Verde. I heard I didn't miss much (though I ended up eating BK's...kinda disappointing).
My appreciation of food is well documented so I'll just get right to it. Here's my first meal in Costa Rica: Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) with egg, cheese & sausage from a little roadside shack. Tasty & simple!
The group outside said roadside shack. We've just had a delightful meal and are ready to continue our journey! L->R: Crosby, Dennis, Priyanshu, Ashley, Vivi, Rene, Alisa, Me & Gordon.
Me, Ashley & Crosby in the Daihatsu Terios that we drove. I think that's Priyanshu's head just behind my left hand (he drove the car behind us). This shot is of the group en route to La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal. (Fight on!)
Some fruit that we bought at a fruit stand on the side of the road. We also got mango & banana but none of us can recall the name of this peculiar fruit. The pod had dry-ish, squishy pieces each with a seed in the center.
Just outside La Fortuna, the group stopped to pose for some pictures with Volcan Arenal. L->R: Crosby, Priyanshu, Vivi, Gordon, Ashley, Rene, Me & Dennis.
A bit farther down the road, we got to the edge of Laguna de Arenal where we took an opportunity to pose for more beautiful pics with the scenery and enjoy those mangos we purchased earlier. Ashley, Alisa, Me & Vivi facing out towards the volcano.
Taking in the scene and enjoying the lovely weather. Me, Vivi, Alisa, Gordon, Rene, Ashley & Crosby on the edge of Laguna de Arenal.
Let's fast forward several hours (which skips over lunch, more aimless driving and checking into our cabinas) and here we are at the Baldi Hot Springs. After sitting in some really hot pools (including dipping into one that was about 114˚F) and waterfalls, we found the water slides all the way at the back. *SPLASH*
Alisa, Me, Vivi, Priyanshu, Ashley, Crosby, Rene, Dennis & Gordon pose for a pic beneath the large (and fairly hot) waterfall.
And one with just the guys: Priyanshu, Dennis, Me, Crosby, Rene & Gordon.
And the ladies: Ashley, Alisa & Vivi.
After a (early) night of pizza & fresh fruit we all conked out and awoke bright and early the next day for some horseback riding! Here we are pre-horses.
And voila! Post-horses, we're ready to set out up the trail towards the waterfall.
I've been told my posture sucks. Something to work on... I'm just thankful that I didn't fall off and make a fool of myself.
Alisa, Ashley & Rene on their horses. As the photographer of this particular pic, I can comment on the fact that it is rather challenging turning around and snapping a photo while the horse you are on continues trotting onward (thank you Image Stabilization).
We had to park our horses and hike the rest of the way to the waterfall. Here's a pic of the "parking lot."
The waterfall towards which we were headed (view from afar).
The whole lot of us at the beginning of the hike to the waterfall.
Once we got there, most of us decided to pop in and splash around for a bit. Top/Down & Left->Right: Alisa, Crosby, Me, Rene, Vivi, Priyanshu, Ashley & Gordon.
Me & the waterfall.
Rene, Vivi, Alisa, Me, Crosby, Ashley, Priyanshu & Gordon in front of the waterfall. That water was, without a doubt, the coldest water we swam in while in Costa Rica. Very refreshing, especially since it was super hot (and humid).
On the way back down, we stopped by a shop for a round of (cold) coconuts. After drinking the cool liquid, we cracked 'em open to scrape out the meat. So good!
After lunch (including a nice helping of fresh watermelon), we hiked around Volcan Arenal to look at some of the old lava flows of the past.
Volcan Arenal behind me and Laguna de Arenal in front of me. I have no idea what I'm pointing at...
Rene, Dennis, Gordon & Vivi standing on top of the 1992 lava flow.
The group of hikers at the trailhead (post-hike). Dennis, Gordon, Priyanshu, Alisa, Rene, Vivi & Me.
After the lovely afternoon hike, I bid adieu to the group and departed for Bijagua to visit the 2nd friend from my semester in NZ that I'd see during this trip. Guided by a dinky map, intuition and some small (barely visible), wooden signs, I drove along the outskirts of the Tenorio Volcano National Park on a gravel road that, at times, seemed more than a bit dodgy. Here's a view in the dwindling daylight looking out towards Volcan Miravalles (Bijagua sits between Volcan Miravalles & Volcan Tenorio...so based on that bit of knowledge, I was hopeful I was heading in the right direction). Luckily I made it to Bijagua shortly after sundown and managed to locate Ryan's house (with the help of some friendly townspeople and my inadequate Spanish skills). After catching up over a light dinner, a Toña and some ice cream (triple-dipped sample spoons and all), it was bed time.
I waited around the morning for Ryan to finish his Peace Corp commitments before we could head out and explore the areas surrounding Bijagua. We decided on heading up to the Heliconia Ecolodge, located on the Volcan Tenorio side of Bijagua. Pictured is Maria the (domesticated) wild pig and everyone's favorite former Otago student/Tull open mic night participant turned Peace Corp volunteer. That look on his face is the look of someone who truly enjoys a quality game of foosball (which occurred earlier in the day as we waited for a computer at the local internet cafe).
Crawly critter on the trail. I'm not too disappointed that it wasn't a snake...
This hike took us through the canopy over suspension bridges. Here we are crossing one of those bridges.
And here's a better pic of one of those bridges.
We were blessed with a lengthy tree jumping performance courtesy of some friendly howler monkeys. I've got some video that I hope to upload for you all to see in the near future.
Ryan on one of the bridges.
And Me on one of those bridges (I think it's the same bridge but looking back in the other direction).
Us and a large-ish tree.
The view from the Heliconia Ecolodge looking out towards Volcan Miravalles at sundown after we finished the hike. What a pretty sight.
I know you guys miss the food pics so here's another one of my dinner that night: Casado con Pollo from the Heliconia Ecolodge. That was a tasty piece of chicken!
Day 2 consisted of a drive out towards the Volcan Miravalles vicinity to explore that side of things. We saw this lizard on one of the roads we drove on that day. Thankfully, I didn't run over the poor guy.
So, here's a pic of Ryan and "Pool Boy" (not pictured is "Pool Boy's Fat friend"). This begins the story of our hike...
"Pool Boy and his Fat Friend" told us that we were welcome to hike the 1 km trail around this Preserve area despite it being in rather poor condition (they assured us the hike would be much better if we came back next year). So, we set out on this hike. They lied about it being 1 km but they didn't lie about the condition of the trail. Here we are in the pic doing a bit of trailblazing in an effort to find out where we were headed...(That's Ryan & Glen, another Peace Corp volunteer).
Yeah, "Pool Boy and his Fat Friend" have a lot of work on their hands to repair the countless number of trashed bridges, overgrown plants & lousy trail if they hope it to be as good as they promised it would be by next year.
Somehow the three of us survived that hike (despite being lost for most of it) and made it back safely to the car. We drove around a bit in the area before we located a town to eat a late lunch. Here's the car, in the town, with Volcan Miravalles in the background. I think the town was Guayabo.
After the ordeal that was the hike, we deserved a very nice dinner. Papaya y limon agua fresca from the local pizza place in Bijagua. The fruit juices in Costa Rica were all (mostly) amazing (and cheap). No meal is complete without one...
Veggie pizza (had eggplant, tomato, spinach, onion, cheese, garlic and a few other things I can't recall). Was a damn good pizza and a nice memory of my side trip to Bijagua. Thanks for showing me around your neck of the woods Ryan. I hope I'll have a chance to pop back by while you're still in CR.
I set out bright and early the next morn in an effort to meet up with the rest of the group in Manuel Antonio. With the aid of the same dinky map, my iPod and a walkie talkie, I miraculously managed to reunite with everyone ahead of schedule. We caught lunch in Manuel Antonio before we began the journey yet again. Priyanshu, Rene, Gordon & Crosby enjoy a can of Costa Rica's finest brew: Imperial (Priyanshu's can was empty). This pic was taken in the bbq tent/restaurant that many of the group have stated as their favorite dining establishment. So good was the food in fact, several people purchased the homemade sauce to take back to the States.
The week and a half that I spent in Costa Rica was a week and a half without rock climbing. Every instance I had to make up some of that, I took.
Apparently, that includes climbing a coconut tree to cut down some coconuts with a recently purchased machete. There's video to prove this feat and I'll post it when I get a hold of it.
Post-climb. I'm pooped and Priyanshu is hacking into a coconut in the background.
The spoils.
Again, the group split. This time, Ashley, Crosby, Gordon & Rene stopped in Dominical to spend a couple days in the quiet surf town whereas Alisa, Dennis, Priyanshu, Vivi and I journeyed further south to explore the Osa Peninsula. En route, we stopped by Playa Uvita (Ryan suggested it as a nice beach to check out) for some pics at sunset.
Priyanshu, Dennis, Me, Alisa & Vivi at lovely Playa Uvita.
I attempted a Capt. Morgan pose but Alisa was having none of that as Priyanshu looks on.
Dinner in Rincon (on the Osa Peninsula). This is my Casado con Bistec (steak). There were numerous large beetles flying around our dinner table and we decided it would be wise to eat quickly before the cloud of insects descended upon us. We carried on after dinner not knowing we'd end up right back at this restaurant (camping in the parking lot no less) later in the evening.
We set off from the restaurant thinking we knew where we were headed (we didn't). We took a wrong turn and ended up on the world's junkest road heading to who knows where. It included some stream crossings, lots of mud (and traction loss) and this massively dodgy bridge. In the picture above, Me, Dennis and Priyanshu are deciding if we should chance crossing this thing...
We did. Somehow, the two cars we took made it safely across without falling into the ditch below. Above, I'm guiding Priyanshu across using his headlights and the small flashlight in my hand.
And here I am going across with car #2. What a relief we survived. After this, we took a while getting up a couple of muddy hills before being unable to summit one more extremely muddy hill. At that point, we decided we'd probably gone the wrong way and decided to turn around. That necessitated one more crossing of the massively dodgy bridge...
Scary stuff. Those planks definitely looked a lot smaller from the driver's seat! It being pitch black didn't help either (all these pictures were taken with a flash...it was MUCH darker than these pics can properly convey). On the way back, a kind gentleman told us that we missed a turn and directed us back onto the proper path.
The funny thing is that the "right" road still had dodgy bridges and even more water crossings. In this pic, Dennis wades in to see how deep the water level is. It was here that we took into account multiple factors including water depth and our glaring lack of light and direction, So, we ended up back at the restaurant parking lot to spend the night before attempting all this again in the daylight.
This stuff sure looks a heck of a lot better in the daylight. So we continued out in the morning along the 2nd (and correct) road and across all the water crossings. With the aid of sunlight and other vehicles, we successfully navigated all the crossings and made it safely into Drake Bay (where we were supposed to have been the night before)!
From Drake Bay, we rented a boat (and captain) to take us to Corcovado National Park where we wanted to hike around for a bit. Here, Vivi & Alisa stand beside the boat.
Me, Dennis & Priyanshu on the otherside of the boat. We had to help them push the boat from the shore into the water since the tide was kinda out.
Here we are underway. It was about an hour and half from Drake Bay to Sirena (the little area in Corcovado we decided to explore). Along the way, we were blessed with sunshine, relatively calm seas and a dolphin sighting (video also forthcoming).
We saw some interesting things hiking around Sirena including this group of fuzzy caterpillars.
Me, Alisa & Priyanshu on the trail in Sirena. We kept our eyes peeled hoping to see some of the many animals that we heard. Alas, we were not blessed with a jaguar sighting...
But, we did see this little gecko. The guy would not look out of place in a Geico commercial speaking with a Cockney accent.
The Sirena ranger station had runway access and here Priyanshu, Dennis, Alisa & I stand just minutes before a plane actually came in for a landing.
The boat ride back was cloudier and bumpier but we made it safely back to Drake Bay (sans Priyanshu who overnighted in Corcovado before hiking back to Drake Bay the next morning). My dinner that night was Casado con Pescado (Fish). Everyone else had steak. I can say with 100% certainty that as good as Lizano is (the common/popular sauce used as a condiment in CR), it shouldn't be used on steaks because it completely overpowers the flavor of the beef.
A pic from inside the cabinas we stayed in at Drake Bay. This was the first place to feature mosquito nets which was exciting since I had been eaten alive by mozzies in Bijagua.
We had a leisurely morning waiting for Priyanshu to hike out from Corcovado. Here's a discretely snapped photo of me reading my NZ short story book in the comfortable hammock.
Alisa, Dennis & Vivi also lounging about.
We were blessed with a night of thunderstorms thus making the journey out of the Osa Peninsula that much more muddy, more interesting and more beautifully cloudy.
Dennis was a trooper and yet again leant us the services of his legs as water markers for the benefit of the group.
River, mountain and clouds on the long drive from the Osa Peninsula back to San Jose. When things started getting boring, we listened to the local radio and tried to figure out if we could predict the language of the song (the station played Spanish, English and even French songs). This impromptu game also sought to test Ryan's theory that the word "corazón" appears in almost every Spanish songs.
After stopping off for dinner in a fancy mall and regrouping with the Dominical kids at the Denny's by the airport, we spent the night "camping" in our cars in the parking lot of the Casino. It just wasn't worth trying to get a hostel or hotel since part of the group would have to check in at the airport around 4 am. This pic was taken around 1 or 2 am and pretty much sums up how most of us felt at the time.
The last pic of the big group at San Jose Airport just before Dennis, Rene, Vivi & Gordon became the first part of the group to head home.
The rest of us returned to the Casino parking lot for another couple hours of sleep before we returned the rental cars and headed into the main bus terminal in San Jose. At the bus terminal we ate some fruit while we waited for the first leg of bus travel on our way out towards Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. The fruit you see Ashley peeling (on the left) and in Alisa's hand (bottom center) is a granadilla. This is related to passionfruit and have very similar textures though a slightly different taste. Just in front of me is a papaya that we ate as well.
Here we are on the 2nd bus of this particular journey. This bus dropped us off at a spot where we then took a river boat out to Tortugeuro (our destination on the Caribbean coast). Unsurprisingly, the public buses were extremely crowded.
Alisa, Priyanshu and I on the riverboat. On this ride, we saw a swimming basilisk and a croc!
The "main road" in Tortugeuro was this footpath. It was a quaint little town and a nice contrast to all the bigger towns we had seen up to this point.
I took the opportunity to grab some pics of some of the plants I've seen in CR that I also see in Hawaii. Exhibit #1: Bougainvillea.
Exhibit #2: Red ginger.
My personal favourite is Exhibit #3: Plumeria. Just as fragrant as I remember it is back home...
A heliconia that looked pretty as well. Do we have these in HI? I can't recall off the top of my head...
And another bougainvillea pic. I took this one cuz I liked how the color was different than the usual vibrant fuschia/purple.
Bright and early the next morning, we took a little boat down the river to look for animals around the Tortugeuro area. Priyanshu & I alternated helping the guide paddle the boat. Make a note of how dry we look in the pic above...
In the center of the above (blurry) pic, you'll see a reddish thing which is a Spider monkey swinging around in the trees grabbing breakfast.
We also saw this baby cayman in the water. The drops on the leaves around the cayman should give you all a hint that it's starting to rain a bit.
By "a bit" I really mean "a lot." Here we are getting poured on in the dinky little boat (wearing our fancy rain jackets mind you).
Since that boat ride was super early in the morning, we spent the rest of the day drying off outside our cabina (yes it did stop raining not long after our boat excursion ended). This little dog followed us around all day long starting from when Priyanshu & I saw it all the way through to our Turtle watching journey later that night (no photos).
We at dinner at this restaurant called La Lapa Verde which served Caribbean influenced food. Also at this restaurant was this cute little puppy. I swear the little guy looked like a toy.
So, more importantly, that's what the food looked like. I had Pescado (fish) instead of opting for the Pollo (chicken).
On the turtle watching expedition, we wanted to go see Leatherback turtles who frequent Tortugeuro during their egg laying season. We weren't lucky enough to see a massive Leatherback but we did get to see a rather large Green turtle laying her eggs. We couldn't take pics because the flash would have inevitably startled the turtle. Anyways, the next morning we had breakfast at the cabina before departing Tortugeuro.
French toast & plantains. Quite a yummy breakfast and a great start to the day!
We riverboated yet again though, this time we ventured south to Puerto Limon where we would decide where to head off to next.
The seats on the boat weren't particularly comfortable (especially considering that we sat in them for about 3 hours on this boat ride) but the views were quite awesome.
From Puerto Limon, we caught a van down to a small town called Cahuita. We shared the van with a random assortment of other travelers including a couple from the states (one of whom is an Oxy grad and Peace Corp volunteer wannabe), a Dane & and Botswanian. We spent a good portion of the boat journey trying to figure out the accents of the two international travelers and I'm happy to say that we were pretty much on the money. Anyways, I realize none of this has anything to do with the pic above. That's my dinner in Cahuita. It's fish with a shrimp sauce (kinda scampi like) that was quite tasty. Barely visible is my "maracuya" agua fresca (passionfruit juice) which made a strong case for being the best juice I had all trip.
We saved a bit of space after dinner for some dessert. Since it was so ridiculously hot, ice cream was the obvious choice. Ashley & Alisa opted for the Banana split.
Whereas Priyanshu and I chose the Helado con frutas (fruit & ice cream).
We stayed in a cabina that actually had A/C that night, which was a nice change from many of our previous establishments. After a somewhat restful (if not cold) night's sleep, Me, Alisa & Priyanshu awoke super early to try and catch the sunrise. It didn't quite work out as well as we'd hoped because clouds on the horizon obscured the sun but it was a good feeling getting out there so early on our last morning in CR. Oh yeah, we definitely went back to sleep afterwards.
After a bit more rest, the whole lot of us popped on out to Playa Negra (not really the "black sand" beach I had envisioned) to prance about in the lovely Caribbean once more. We also borrowed a fellow tourist's frisbee and tossed that around for a bit.
Me. Playa Negra. The Caribbean. The smile is indicative of my happiness at making the trek out to Costa Rica and enjoying every minute of madness.
Alisa, Crosby & Ashley hanging out at the Cahuita bus stop waiting for our ride back to San Jose.
Me catching my breath after running back into town to retrieve my hand sanitizer that I left at the internet cafe.
And here's a pic of the plane as it departed San Jose the next morning. Farewell Costa Rica and thanks for the memories!
A rather unsatisfying lunch at Denver Airport as we waited for our final connection back to SFO.
And there it is everyone. The MASSIVE Costa Rican photo blog has come to a beautiful end. I hope you enjoyed these pics and have a sense of all the fun that went into what was a most entertaining and memorable vacation. Thanks to Alisa, Ashley, Crosby, Dennis, Gordon, Priyanshu, Rene, Ryan, Stuart, Vivi and Costa Rica as a whole for making this trip as special as it was. Let's all do this again sometime! Pura Vida!
Posts
