Tuesday February 4.
The siblings had decided to have a tropical vacation together. Just the four of us, plus spouses. Total of six. What could go wrong? In Costa Rica. Pura Vida! Now the date had arrived.
After all the snow we had had, I was happy to be shifting southward. I had a very good drive down to Freda’s, getting in about 3.30pm. Some patches of sun, occasional brief snow flurries, clear roads and light traffic with only a few idiots like the incredibly ugly Tesla Cybertruck which aggressively lane-changed its way through the traffic, sometimes weaving across three lanes of traffic as it gained microseconds in its journey.
Mike and Tanya arrived from Ottawa about 30 min later. We had a relatively early night because we had a shuttle picking us up at 7am for the airport. We’d meet Dave and Sue at the hotel, because they were travelling from Montreal.
Wednesday 5th
The airport shuttle came on a dark and overcast morning. Miraculously the airport was operating smoothly, and the flight was uneventful. Took a while to get the shuttle for the hotel, but eventually it came and we got there relatively quickly.
Checking in was a strangely laid back affair. No welcome diluted rum drinks with parasols, very little friendly banter from the attendant who hid behind his monitor. Eventually, I got the bracelet fastened to my arm that would tell the world which hotel I was staying at if I was discovered, somewhat the worse for wear, on a deserted road or beach. After taking the shuttle to my room, I had to find my way back to reception and twist his arm to get him to print out a map – he wanted me to point my phone at a QR code instead. I don’t do QR codes if I can avoid them.
Thursday 6th
The resort is a cascade of separate buildings down a hillside. Walking from one place to another always seems to involve a substantial change in elevation. Yes, there is a shuttle, but I am fit and healthy so I will walk (that is why I needed a map).
Our first full day dawned bright and sunny, as would all subsequent days. I took life very easy, we booked a tour, explored the buffet, found the beach and spent some time. After dinner it was another early night.
Friday 7th
Today we were having our tour of Proyecto eco-turistico catarata llanos del cortes and spring paradise Bijagua. Also known as waterfall and rain forest tour.
JJ from On the Beach Tours gave us a wonderful excursion. Naturally, it began early and I was up having breakfast at 7am. Half an hour later we bundled into a seven passenger van with our guide and driver and headed out. We expected to get back to the hotel by mid-afternoon. But we were slow. First we had to wind through the traffic around Liberia on both the outward and the return legs of our trip to the vicinity of Volcan Tenorio. I love how Costa Rica calls them all volcanoes instead of just mountains.
The tour did not involve the volcano, however it loomed on the horizon on several occasions. The tour began with what has been described as Costa Rica’s best waterfall. Having travelled more than once or twice before, let’s just say it was a very attractive waterfall and leave it at that. Maybe it is the very best, but who decides other than tour companies marketing tours.
Enough cynicism! After a couple of hours of travel we turned off the paved road and continued a short way to a large parking area with a row of craft stalls along one edge.
First stop was to receive the mandatory bracelets proving that an admission fee had been paid on our behalf, Then we hit the stalls. Our driver helpfully told us the first stall sold the best coffee in Costa Rica and we bought several kilos of it. Then my family shifted into shopping mode and wandered slowly along the row of stalls, looking at every fridge magnet, candle holder, coaster, sign to hang on your wall, transluscent bejewelled thingy to hang in your window and teeshirt available. Do we all need more of these things to fill our suitcases and then litter our homes with? Of course we do. Well, all except grouchy old me.
Eventually we reached the end of the line of stalls and saw the path approach a narrow, downward trail, with occasional steps and a railing built of whatever timber happened to come to hand. All decidedly picturesque (I am serious here) and without any of those grandmotherly messages that dot any unpaved walkway in the first world. You know the kind: “Not suitable for people requiring extra help in scrambling to the bottom” “Going near the edge risks life and limb in a catastrophic fall when the handrail gives way completely” “You’ve come this far, but prudence would suggest a hasty retreat to the safety of your vehicle rather than continuing along this path” and “People have been known to receive injuries ranging from insect bites to falls to one’s death on this trail”
Our guide led the way. And we followed. We are pretty conventional that way.
Actually, this trail did have one warning message posted. People were advised of the corriantes pelogrosos in the river below the falls. In Spanish, it does sound disturbingly frightening.
Somehow, we all got to the bottom of the steeply stepped trail successfully, to find ourselves in a large, well-treed grotto with high rock walls all around except for the river flowing away from the falls. The dappled sunlight and the cooler air made the scene magical.
Somehow, this photo reminds me of a scene from Lord of the Rings – the Fellowship emerging from the forest into a brighter vista. The scene would have been more magical without all the tourists present (including us), but you tell me where there is something worth seeing on this planet that does not have throngs of tourists marring the view. These tourists were all in various states of undress – tourists in beachwear, indescribable – because swimming or wading in the pool beneath the falls was a major part of the reason to come here. We all waded, some of us up to our waists.
The water was cool but refreshing. And the falls were very nice – a wide curtain of water spilling down creating spray that hovered over the wide shallow pool, and then the river flowing slowly away. A loud barking noise signalled the arrival of several howler monkeys high in the trees above us.
The dangerous river flowing from the falls.
After savoring the spectacle for half an hour or so, it was up the trail again, followed by a second run through the stalls of curios, and then interminable wandering to restrooms to get out of wet swimsuits – I just let mine dry as I knew it would and sat on my towel.
Next stop was the small enterprise producing coffee, pineapple, sugarcane and chocolate. The resident guides spent little time on the rows of pineapple, or the small patch of sugar cane. But they did have us squeeze some cane to extract the sugar sap.
And they gave rather detailed step by step descriptions of chocolate making and coffee roasting. Suitably caffeinated and with chocolate cravings soothed we went off to the nearby rainforest. (And yes, we bought coffee and chocolate to take home.)
This walk in a small patch of rainforest was wonderful, mainly because the resident guide obviously knew it like the back of his hand, had a very sharp eye, and was well equipped to maximize our experience. And there was plenty to see.
Our guide carried a very bright lazer pointer which he used to point out where in the canopy, behind which set of leaves, the targeted toucan, parrot, sloth, monkey or butterfly was hiding. Then he used a telescope designed to be used with a cell phone, setting it up on a tripod, pointing it at the right place, and allowing each of us to place our cell phones on it and click away.
Mike’s version of the toucan.
When our guide noticed that I was using my camera instead of a cell phone, he quickly offered to lend me his 200-400mm lens because I could not use the telescope with a real camera. He went back up the trail to the starting point where he kept his own belongings and came back with a lens 18 inches long and I fastened my camera to the back of it. I don’t think I have ever experienced a tour guide willing to go that far beyond the minimum. And I did manage to get a few close shots.
Having now seen sloths a couple of times, I really do not know what the fuss is all about. Still, highlight for my sibs seemed to be the sloth, high in a tree, looking like a fur-covered basketball. Which sat, unmoving, in a crotch high above us, until eventually our curiosity waned and we wandered off. The toucans, with their enormous beaks, were far more active and difficult to approach.
Nor did we ignore creatures lower down in the forest. An amazingly well-camouflaged insect (a beetle I presume) sat at eye height on the trunk of a small tree (which I did not photograph). And some exceedingly busy leaf-cutter ants carried their leaf parasols along paths that ran beside the one we walked on (which I did).
Then there were the ducks and a rail of some sort (I’m a marine biologist). Oh, just learned from Dave that it is a sun bittern. And a hawk too.
Eventually, we came back to the starting point, having made a large loop, and the tour was over. I could have spent far more time there, but, on the other hand, it was well past lunchtime and I was hungry.
I returned the lens to our guide with profuse thanks and some American money. And took a picture of the thoroughly non-native Eucalyptus tree.
Then we all headed off for the final stop on the tour with a meal ready for us of rice, beans, chicken and vegetables. Nutritious, delicious, just what I needed. Took us another hour or so to get back to the hotel in the late afternoon. Time to shower, and meet up for before dinner drinks.
Part Two continues tomorrow.