Day Eight

8/5/12

Today, I felt it necessary to suffer one last early morning to live the beach for one more day. I ran along the beach. After being calmly confused by the high tide at the wrong time – tropical storms are brewing in the Pacific – a local caught my attention pointing toward something on the beach. I ran over to find a giant leatherback turtle dead, strangled by a foam ring. I asked the man in Spanish if we should put it back in the ocean, I didn’t know it was dead. He said to leave it. I couldn’t help but ponder the ease that cutting that ring before putting it in the trash would’ve taken. It’s a simple problem. I will remember to always do that when I get home. When I got back to the hotel, I swam some laps and we all packed up to go to the airport. We had the same driver that we had on the first day. He was interested to hear about our amazing trip! Then, after checking in at the airport, we set off from beautiful Costa Rica to Atlanta and then home to Indiana. All in all, a phenomenal trip!

Day Seven

8/4/12

Another early morning was required for my mom and me’s wildlife excursion this morning. Our shuttle picked us up and took us to the country’s second smallest national park, Manuel Antonio. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip planned only last night. Apparently, it is the place to go to see stuff. And, boy, did we see stuff. Despite the high heat and extreme humidity, we got to see bats, spiders, bugs, plants, sloths, monkeys, Caymans, iguanas, crabs, birds, lizards, and butterflies. It was worth the trip. Our driver also told us that Costa Rica has the biggest waves in the world at this one spot. It is so rocky and dangerous that not even professional surfers go there. There have only been a couple of people who could only surf one wave. I didn’t understand exactly how a wave could be that big until I gave it a try at our calmer beach, Jaco. After a not-so-modest verbal tutorial to my brother on how to surf, I hit the waves for myself. There were tons of surfers out and the waves looked good from a distance, but once I got out there I began to see the ugly side of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. I got up a couple of times, enough to say I surfed, and rode some smaller waves before I gave up and almost slammed the board down. I was so frustrated from the rough currents because I couldn’t get at far enough for I was battered back to the shore by the high volume crushing waves and undercurrents. I swam for a while and let my anger simmer before I got back out there to surf one last time. I let my persistence get the best of me and got hit by a few too many waves. I perfected the art of standing up just in time to have my head pummeled to the sand by the high tide waves. It was quitting time. We swam, and I ran before we headed for the hip town of Jaco. We walked along the beach only to once again be surprised by a typical Costa Rican rain storm on the way. We ate at a Pizza Hut drenched, and took a cab back. Mother Nature wasn’t really on my side today. Tomorrow, we will have to leave this beautiful place!

Day Six

8/3/12

And I thought yesterday was all about the sea. Today we were picked up at 7 am, bright and early, for a cruise to Tortuga Island. Our driver took us to Puntarenas where we ate a typical delicious Costa Rican breakfast. Then, we boarded the Manta Raya and set sail for Tortuga Island. The staff pampered us with fresh tropical fruit and in about an hour, we had navigated through the 23 islands of the Pacific Coast (17 of which are inhabited) and made it to the gorgeous Tortuga Island. After setting up camp, we took a shuttle boat to a smaller island to snorkel. We saw tons of fish! Then we had a fantastic lunch and went on a banana boat ride. Our group fell off enough times to learn the importance of problem-solving in teamwork. Then we had time to relax on the white sand beach and swim in the bright turquoise waters. When we came back to Puntarenas, we asked our driver to stop in town so we could have pizza for dinner. Although Costa Rican food is great, we were all craving food from our homeland. We will sleep very well tonight. 

Day Five

8/2/12

Today was all about the sea. First was the feeling of sea-sickness in the shuttle to Jaco beach. Second was swimming for hours in the clear Pacific waters of Jaco. And finally, the evening walk along Jaco’s tender shores. After breakfast, we were picked up by our driver who barely spoke English, but I was able to help. The first hour was extremely winding and bumpy and left us feeling car-sick enough to need to stop. Our next and only other stop on the way was on a bridge to see about 30 crocodiles bathing in the hot sun in a river underneath. When we finally reached Jaco, we checked into our hotel, Club del Mar. My dad and I had lunch while the rest of the family didn’t hesitate to put on their bathing suits and dive into the Pacific. We boogie-boarded, jumped waves, and floated in the beautifully clear waters of Costa Rica. After dinner, we walked along the beach to watch the sunset and brewing thunderstorms in the distance. A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

Day Four

8/1/12

Today was the day to relax. After another delectable breakfast, we explored the resort area and its menagerie of rainforest animals. They have crocodiles, butterflies, turtles, ants, frogs, and fish! Then, we swam in the pools and hot springs. It was a very peaceful morning. After lunch at the hotel again, we set off for a trek of the town, La Fortuna. It wasn’t exactly what I expected. The main square was filled with shops for touristy souvenirs, overbooked travel agents, and desperate taxis at every corner. We got some good souvenirs and managed to get to and from the town by taxi with five people. When we got back, I conquered the humongous hill up to our room on my run again, and it had started to thunderstorm. We relaxed for a little while and then went to dinner. It was an overall relaxing day at the Los Lagos Resort. Tomorrow, we check out and head for the beach!

Day Three

7/31/12

Today, we began with a hearty Costa Rican breakfast buffet before we set off for our first adventure at volcano Arenal. With DeFazio Adventures, we took the sky tram gondola up the volcano and ziplined down over 1.7 miles! Unfortunately after the third platform of eight, it began to pour down rain. You would think we would’ve been prepared for rain in the rainforest, but we locked our rain ponchos in the main building while we were on the zipline. Everyone was freezing the whole way down. After we warmed up and put some dry clothes on, we ate lunch and swam in the series of hot springs at the hotel. Then, we were picked up for our official volcano tour. We had a personal tour guide that was helping me to practice my Spanish too! I learned that the Costa Ricans appreciate our efforts to speak their language too. We saw monkeys, parrots, birds, snakes, and a beautiful view at the Arenal volcano. It was great! Then, we had dinner and more hot springs! More fun to come tomorrow!

Day Two

7/30/2012

Today was a day of beautiful scenes and further immersion into Costa Rican culture. We checked out of the Vista del Valle Inn and set off with our driver to the Poas Volcano. We saw birds and many new interesting plants of the higher altitudes as we ascended into the overlook of the Poas crater. Looking down, we could see the world’s most acidic lake at the center where pH levels sometimes get lose to 0! Then we went further up to the overlook of the lagoons where the short-of-breath inclines couldn’t even compare to the quadricep-burning decline on the way back. All in all, Poas was beautiful, and the 56 degree cloud forest informed us of the over 300 different micro-climates in the mountainous, West Virginia-sized nation. Afterward, we went to the La Paz Waterfalls and Gardens which were breathtaking to say the least. We began with the buffet after we met out fantastic guide, Gilbert, and continued through the gardens. From holding toucans to seeing venomous snakes to standing right next to a 120 foot gushing waterfall, there was just too much to capture, but like the old adage goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I have everything in pictures. Then, we met up with our driver who was going to take us to our next hotel, Los Lagos in La Fortuna. It was supposed to be three hours; however, we had a few stops. First, after the impressive maneuvering of our driver on the dangerous cliff’s edge roads of Costa Rica, he stopped at a street-side market to give us a taste of the Costa Rican specialty, mamones. They are hot pink fruits with green spiky hairs that look like alien brains but taste like grapes! Delicioso! Then, we got a flat tire, probably from running through pot holes at 60 kph, but it was quickly fixed, while not without the cost of ant bites all over my feet. The 3 hour trip went surprisingly fast despite the short delays, probably due to my fascination with the surroundings which made looking out the window so much more interesting. We stopped at a grocery store in town before bidding our driver farewell and having a marvelous dinner at Hotel Los Lagos. Tomorrow is ziplining down the volcano. I can’t wait!