It’s a jungle out there

Wow our first few days in Costa Rica were great.  We discovered a new topping for our bananas. Below is a example of how were are going to serve bananas at our next family get together.

Should be a great hit especially with the grandkids!

Our next day was spent touring the rivers in the jungle on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.  If you like hot and sticky weather you will love this side of Costa Rica.  We did run into some locals sitting on a porch in the village.  They are sort of like The Costa Rican version of the Beverly Hillbillies. See our next photo.

L to R: Cindy Sue Clampet, Sandy Lou Clampet and Billy Bob Clampet

We went out the first night searching through the jungle with our trusty flashlights, avoiding the snakes and crocodiles to find the elusive red-eyed tree frog.

We were in luck and got this photo of one on a banana leaf deep, deep in the jungle or as Cindy would say next to one of the hotel swimming pools.  Well it was at night, we did have our flashlights and with all the plantings near the pool it felt like the jungle and I bet there were snakes and crocodiles around somewhere!

The next day we went out in river boats to spot some of the wildlife that was living in and near the river. Our guide pulled up to some green plants growing in the river bed, turned them over and captured a hand full of shrimp for us to see.

A lot of the time the guide was just monkeying around with us.

We were going so slow in the boat even the turtles were passing us.

We did take time out from our busy day to smell the flowers in the jungle.

We were lucky with the next photo we get a group shot of several birds, butterflies and other animals we saw that day.

The visit was great and the sight seeing was fantastic but is was great to get on that air conditioned bus and head to our next stop.

Costa Rica! Pura Vida!

Our trip to Costa Rica exceeded our expectations! We went with a company called Caravan and truly don’t know how they can offer so much at the rate they charge. Our group of 44, which consisted of 4 Canadians and the rest from throughout the US, was a congenial bunch of people mostly our age and older.

When we arrived in Costa Rica on Tuesday, Feb 8, we were picked up at the airport and driven to our San Jose hotel for dinner and an orientation meeting. I was especially excited to meet up with my sister Sandy who had flown in earlier from Pennsylvania. Our tour guide, an enthusiastic, fun-loving and knowledgeable guy named Jesus Toledo (can you say Holy Toledo – get it?) immediately set the positive tone for the trip. Jesus introduced us to the Costa Rican slogan pura vida which means pure life, or maybe a better translation would be life is good --- this became the rallying cry of our group. Several times a day we’d show our pleasure or approval by calling out “Pura Vida!” often accompanied by high fives and always with smiles.

On Wed, we awoke to an impressive view of San Jose.

After breakfast, we all climbed onto the bus for the 90-minute trip up to the Poas Volcano. We were very fortunate to have clear weather conditions which allowed us to see inside the steaming crater, one of the largest in the world.

From the rim, we took a 2-mile hike along the Escalonia Cloud Forest Trail. We were told that cloud forests are like rainforests, but with less rain and more humidity. This seemed to be the case because although it wasn’t raining, the branches were literally dripping with moisture.

Here are Sandy and I along an open part of the trail, with a tranquil volcanic lagoon in the background.

After lunch we visited a coffee plantation where we learned about the growing and harvesting process. There was plenty of coffee to taste. Bill and I loved it and decided to have some shipped home.

We spent a second night at our San Jose hotel, then left on Thurs morning to head over the Continental Divide toward the Caribbean coast. We stopped at a butterfly garden where Bill picked up a hitchhiker on his shoulder!

As we were getting ready to board the bus, someone spotted a 3-toed sloth high in the trees. We were excited to see our first exotic animal out in the wild.

Our next stop was at a processing plant on a banana plantation. A few interesting facts we learned: Bananas that are too large (top bananas) to meet the size guidelines are used to make baby food. The ones that are too small are fed to the cattle. To reduce the chance of damage to the bananas, they make their way through the plant by floating in large pools of water rather than along conveyer belts.

Before we left the banana plantation, we saw our first exotic insect: a rhino beetle. This thing was huge, as beetles go. One of the men in our group wasn’t afraid to hold it.

Our final destination for the day was Tortuguero National Park. There are no roads leading into the park; access is by boat or small plane.  We enjoyed our 90-minute boat ride to the lodge where we were greeted with refreshing pineapple juice.

We would be spending the next 2 nights at this remote, charming location in the heart of the rainforest. Pura vida!

Headed for Costa Rica

Tonight we’ll be staying at an airport hotel so that we can be ready for our 6AM flight to Costa Rica tomorrow morning. We won’t be doing any blogging while we’re away, but will post a recap of our trip when we get home.

We’re very excited to be trying a bus tour which will allow us to rely on a tour guide to provide all the highlights of a country that we’re anxious to return to. We’ve been on Costa Rican soil twice before, both times as a stop on a cruise. Now we’ll get an in-depth exposure rather than just a glimpse.

Here’s a map showing our itinerary which begins and ends in San Jose. The circled numbers show the number of nights we’ll spend in each of those places, beginning with 2 nights in San Jose; then, at the end of the tour, spending our last night there before flying home.