Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Costa Rica: February 23 - March 6, 2024

Friday - February 23, 2024                        Flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

Eric dropped us off last night at the WinGate Hotel by the airport after we had dinner at Azul Tequila in Springdale.  This morning we got up at 4:15 am to catch the 4:40 am shuttle to the airport.   There was a long line to check our bags at the American Airlines luggage check.  While checking our bags, I got Mike approved for the TSA pre-check.  For some reason it didn't show up on the original boarding pass.  Our flight was on time to Dallas and was an okay flight.

Sunrise over NW Arkansas

Another sunrise view

When we got to DFW we bought a breakfast sandwich to share and a Coke Zero.  Before boarding the 10:30 am flight to San Jose, we bought a Subway sandwich to eat on the plane.  The plane ride to San Jose was okay, but when we arrived the line at customs was very long.  After the hour long customs line we got our checked bags and Mary's bag apparently had gotten caught on something.  The front pocket was ripped open and the main compartment was open on the bottom.  When we got to the hotel and checked, one of Mike's hiking shoes had fallen out and gotten lost.  This was very frustrating.  Extra frustrating because this was a brand new piece of luggage being used for the first time.  We got a taxi to the Hilton Garden Inn by La Sabana.  It took 45 minutes to get to the hotel because of the traffic, but the ride only cost $35.  Our room was very nice.  It was on the 19th floor with a balcony overlooking the park and the national soccer stadium.  It had a bedroom, a sitting room, and two bathrooms. 

View of some houses next to the main highway in San Jose

View of the soccer stadium and mountains from our balcony

After we got settled we walked to the Fresh Market grocery store a block from the hotel to get water, snacks, and alcohol.  After this we rested and went to dinner at the hotel restaurant.  We shared grilled chicken breast with roasted root vegetables and steamed vegetables with kale.  It was a really good meal.  After dinner we went back to the room and called it a night.  This was a good but very tiring day.

Saturday - February 24, 2024                                    San Jose, Costa Rica

We slept in then ate breakfast at the restaurant.  It was a good breakfast with the typical Costa Rican rice and beans, fried plantain, pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit, meats, cheeses, bread, and pastries.  After breakfast we walked to two stores about a half mile from the hotel to try and get Mike some hiking shoes.  They had nice looking hiking shoes, but none in Mike's size.  We went back to the hotel for a while then walked to the subway to get a sandwich for lunch.  After lunch we walked in La Sabana park.  This park is about a mile long and a half mile wide.  We walked the trails on the part of the park closest to the hotel.  The park has trails, soccer fields, and picnic areas.

Trail in La Sabana Park

Enjoying the nice day

View of the soccer fields and stadium

View of mountains from the park


After our walk we went back to the hotel for a nap.  Friday was a really tiring day.  We walked about two blocks to Santo Pecado restaurant for dinner.  We shared a plate of chicken nachos.  It was so big that even sharing we didn't finish it all.  We each had a glass of wine with our dinner.  The Costa Rican soccer team was playing on TV and it was fun to watch.  We had hoped that the game would be at the stadium next to our hotel.  That would have been really fun to watch from our balcony.  

Wall in the restaurant

When we were walking back to the hotel after dinner, it had gotten really cool.  It was hot and humid during the day, but cooled off quickly after sunset.  This was a nice, restful day even though we walked a total of 5 1/2 miles.

Sunday - February 25, 2024                               Downtown San Jose

After breakfast we took an UBER to the Spirogyra Butterfly Garden in downtown San Jose.  It was nice with lots of pretty flowers and a trail around the garden.  We saw several types of butterflies and a hummingbird, but not as many butterflies as we expected.  There was also a trail that went steeply down to the river and back up.  It was an interesting walk.

Mike in the garden

Lollipop Plant in the garden

Julia Butterfly

On the trail to the river

Steps on the trail

Jade Vine

Another shot of the Jade Vine

Mysore Trumpet Vine

Walking through the vines

Perfumed Passion Flower



After finishing at the garden we took an UBER to the National Theater and looked inside.  This was next to a street dedicated for pedestrians that had lots of shops.  We walked until we found a shoe store.  Once again, Mike wasn't having much luck finding a shoes his size and the couple that were his size didn't feel right.  The young man helping us worked hard to find a pair of shoes for Mike, eventually even walking to another store to get one Mike's size.  Luckily, Mike liked how that shoe fit and we bought the pair.  We walked across the street to a sandwich shop for lunch.  I was able to use a language translator to be sure there were no nuts in anything.  Not many people in San Jose speak English.  We shared a chicken sandwich and it was very good.  We walked around downtown some more then headed to the National Park, stopping on the way at a souvenir shop so Mike could buy a cap.

National Theater

Inside the theater

Sign in the plaza.  Lots of pigeons there

Statue in the National Park

Another statue in the park

Swiss Cheese Plant or Split Leaf Philodendron
The philodendron grew up a large tree

The park was very nice and clean with a trail through it.   We walked around a bit then got an UBER back to the hotel.  UBERs here are very cheap and all were clean and got us where we were going quickly.  We took three UBERs this day and spent less than $15.00 tips included.  We went back to the Fresh Market and got supplies including food for lunch on Monday, water, and drinks.   On our way to the store we walked to the Parque Republica de Peru and walked around it a while.  It was also a nice park.  

A type of flycatcher at the park

We had dinner at the hotel again.  It has a nice restaurant and we had already walked three miles this day so were pretty tired. This was another good day in San Jose.

Monday - February 26, 2024                                        La Sabana Park and Costa Rican Art Museum

We got up around 8:00 am and went and had breakfast. After breakfast we sat in the room until around 10:30 am.  We packed a lunch of crackers, cheese, and ham to take to La Sabana Park.  We planned to walk from one end of the park to the far end where the art museum is.  We stopped about halfway into the park and ate our lunch. After lunch we found a bathroom and found that we had to pay to use it - about $1.50 total.  The restrooms were fairly clean, but not very nice and we were given a few squares of toilet paper to use.  We walked to the Art Museum and entered the garden then went in the open door.  There were a few other people there sitting outside.  We weren't big fans of the art.  There was a lot that showed some kind of festival with skeletons, masks, and other strange (to us) stuff.  When we entered the main hall a couple of security guards came and made us leave.  Turned out that the museum wasn't open and we entered through the back door.  

Lunch time

La Sabana

Art Museum of Costa Rica

Statue at museum

Garden at museum

Typical art

Main hall of museum

Front of the art museum



After getting thrown out of the art museum we walked back through La Sabana and returned to the hotel. 

Outside of the art museum

A statue at the beginning of La Sabana Park

After resting, we went out to eat at rePUBlica for dinner.  I had a glass of wine and Mike had a craft beer while our pizza was being made.  They did not have bottled water so we got the pizza to go and ate it in the hotel room.  The pizza toppings were really good, but the crust was not.  We repacked our suitcases and got ready to start our tour on Tuesday.  We walked over 4 miles this day.  The weather was good while we were in San Jose.  We enjoyed our time here and were glad that we had a few restful days before starting our hectic tour of Costa Rica.

Tuesday - February 27, 2024                                        Hilton Garden Inn Santa Anna, San Jose

We ate breakfast and both took showers before having to leave the hotel.  We ate lunch in our room and then checked out at 12:00 pm.  We checked our bags at the front desk and walked to the Peru Park to kill some time.  About 2:00 pm we got an UBER and went to the Hilton Garden Inn at Santa Ana San Jose.  This was also a nice hotel.  We stayed there one night before really starting the tour.  Our guide, Tavo, came to our room to introduce himself and let us know expectations for the tour and what was happening this night and the next day.  I reminded him that I have a tree nut allergy and he didn't think there would be food I couldn't eat. We went to the included dinner in the hotel and sat with a few of the other tourists.  The dinner was chicken, rice, and vegetables.  When I was getting ready to take a bite of the rice I noticed something in it.  Turns out it was almonds!  Luckily I didn't eat any.  That would not have been a very good start to the tour.  The wait staff got me a new plate with mashed potatoes instead of rice.  This really upset me because I had reminded the tour director and told the waiter about my nut allergy.  This made me hypervigilant the rest of the trip.  After dinner we headed to bed since we had to get up early on Wednesday.

Wednesday - February 28, 2024                                Mawamba Lodge - Tortuguero, Costa Rica

We got up at 6:15 am, put luggage out, had breakfast,  identified our luggage at the bus, and loaded the bus at 7:00 am.  We headed to our first stop of the tour at Mawamba Lodge in Tortuguero.  There were only 18 people on our tour and we had a full sized tour bus so we had lots of room.  There was a lot of traffic in San Jose and it took us an hour to get our of town.  Something we noticed our first day in San Jose was the number of motorcyclists.  They went between lanes of traffic and on the side of the road to pass the stalled traffic.  After leaving the city the journey took us through Vasquez de Coronado National Park in the mountains.  We were amazed at the amount of traffic on this road with lots of big trucks.  There was road construction happening on this section of road and the bus had to sit for about 30 minutes.  While traveling to our boat ride we went through several small towns and past papaya and banana orchards.  It was an interesting ride.  

Road through the mountains

Another shot of the road

Rio Sucio in the national park

A small town on our route

A small vegetable stand

Typical Costa Rican cemetary

Papaya Trees

Banana Trees - blue bags are to protect bananas from spraying

After 4 hours we arrived at the boats that would take us to the Mawamba Lodge.  The only way to get to this area was by boat or small airplane.  Our boat ride took about 1 1/2 hours because the water was low and the driver had to go slow.  We got our first experience in the rainforest here.  

Boat dock

Boat ride to lodge

Lots of logs in the water

The first of many white egrets that we saw

Road sign on the river

The river

Our tour group

Tour group with our tour director Tavo
We arrived at the Mawamba Lodge and got checked into our room before going to lunch.  The meals here were all included and were very good.  Also, the waiter was very good about being sure there were no nuts in my meals.  There is no air conditioning at this lodge and it was hot and humid.  I was really sorry that I had failed to pack my swimsuit. I tried to find one to buy in San Jose, but they were all too expensive.

Our room

Another shot of our room

Inside the room

The bathroom and shower

Mary waiting for the ride to town

Mike waiting for the boat ride
After lunch we rode another boat to a nearby town and walked around for a while.  We were not interested in shopping and it was very hot and humid so we finally found a bench in the shade at our meeting point and sat and people watched.  

Walkway in the town

Lots of tourists in town

Mike sitting in the shade. The man selling coconuts used
a machete to cut the top off. It was interesting to watch.

Meeting place for our ride back to the lodge.

After getting back to Mawamba, we cleaned up some then went to the bar and had a beer before dinner.  It was good and very cold.  

A gecko in our room.  They eat mosquitoes
so it's good to have them.

Montezuma oropendola nests

Montezuma oropendula bird with yellow tail

Sunset at the dock before dinner




We ate dinner, which included wine, then went back to the room.  We were in bed by 9:30 pm.  It was hot and humid but the ceiling fan helped.  It rained a lot overnight which helped with the temperature for sleeping. 

Thursday - February 29, 2024                                        Tortuguero National Park

We slept until 7:30 am then got ready and went to breakfast.  The breakfast was made to order and was very good.  After breakfast we had a lazy morning.  Several people took a kayak tour into the national park, but we decided that it would be too much for us.  We walked over to the beach by the Gulf of Mexico and around the property looking at the plants and animals.  

View of the beach

Another shot of the beach

Lodge sign

Enjoying a beautiful morning

False Bird of Paradise plant

On the porch of main office

Iguana on roof of boat house

A large iguana
We ate lunch then rested until it was time for our 2:30 pm boat tour into Tortuguero National Park.  In the 2 1/2 hours that we were on this tour we saw caiman, iguanas, turtles, lizards, Toucans, howler monkeys, and a two-toed sloth.

Our group

Caiman

Boat-billed heron

black river turtles

Yellow-crowned night heron

Jesus Christ Lizard

Howler monkey

Floating on the canal

Little blue heron

Anhinga

Kingfisher

Northern Jacana

Pond Slider

Green Heron

Toucan

Two-toed sloth

When we got back to the lodge we both took a shower then went to dinner.  I had a really good mojito and Mike had a beer before dinner.  After dinner we went back to our room and repacked getting ready to leave on Friday.  We have really enjoyed the time at Mawamba Lodge, even if it was hot and humid.

Friday - March 1, 2024                                                Arenal Paraiso Lodge - La Fortuna, Costa Rica

We got up at 6:00 am to go on a nature walk with our group around the grounds of Mawamba Lodge.  We saw a lot of pretty flowers, some birds,  and an interesting spider.  We ate breakfast after putting our bags out.  The breakfast at Mawamba is especially good since it is made to order.  Every morning the breakfast began with a plate of fruit.  We really enjoyed the fresh papaya.  After breakfast we met at the pier at 8:45 am to identify our luggage then board a boat for the 1 1/2 hour ride to the pier and tour bus. 

Bamboo Orchid

Golden Orb Weaver Spider

The belly of the Golden Orb Weaver

A type of orchid

Dancing Lady Orchid

Red Ginger
We rode three hours on the bus to a pineapple farm for lunch and a tour of the farm.  We stopped on the way to the pineapple farm at a fruit stand and sampled several varieties of Costa Rican fruit.  The lunch was typical Costa Rican food and was good.  We rode in a tractor pulled wagon around the pineapple farm and did a short walk to look at different stages of pineapple development.  We ate fresh pineapple and had a pina colada.  This was an interesting stop.

Fruit Stand
Rio Corinto

Entrance

On the wagon for the tour

Pineapple field

Building where we ate lunch

A flowering pineapple

Out in the pineapple field

Pina Coladas

Wagon we rode in for the tour

When we left the pineapple farm we rode for another hour to the Arenal Paraiso Lodge outside of La Fortuna.  This is a really nice resort, but the walk to the cabin was really steep.  Before going to our cabin I went into the gift shop to try and find a swim suit.  This resort has a series of five hot spring pools that I wanted to take advantage of.  Amazingly, I found a swimsuit that was my size, that I liked, that was only $45.  After buying my swimsuit and getting our room key, Mike and I walked up to our cabin and settled in.  We planned to go to the hot springs, but there was a large puddle of water on the floor in our room and we had to wait an hour while it was taken care of.  They discovered that the drip pan for the refrigerator freezer hadn't been emptied and had leaked a lot.  By the time this was taken care of it was time for dinner.  

Our cabin at Arenal Paraiso Lodge

View of Arenal Volcano from our cabin
The resort has two restaurants, one casual next to the pool and another more formal restaurant.  Mike and I ate at the casual pool side restaurant.  We had a beer and wine before ordering a chicken quesadilla to share.  Everything was very good.  After dinner we walked back up the hill to our cabin and headed to bed.

Saturday - March 2, 2024                                                Arenal Volcano Hike

We had breakfast at the lodge.  It was a buffet and was very good.  At 9:00 am we got on the tour bus for the ride to Arenal National Park.  At the park we hiked 2 1/2 miles up the side of the volcano to a lava field and back.  We saw lots of plants and a hummingbird snake.  It was a little difficult hike, but not too bad.  The views at the end of the hike were very pretty.

Sign at start of trail

Eyelash Viper - it eats hummingbirds

Jesus Christ plant

Lake Arenal

Arenal Volcano

An orchid by the lava field

Resting at the lava field

Vicky and Will photobombed us

White wagtail bird

Another shot of the white wagtail

When we left the national park, we went to an ecofarm for a tour and lunch.  It was an okay tour, and lunch was good.  While here we saw some leaf cutter ants.  That was very interesting.

White Angel Trumpet - can make you sleepy 
if you smell it too long

Sarah,  Vicky, and Kristin getting juice out
of sugar cane

Mike, John, and Will working the sugar
cane mill

The men got their faces painted with a substance from a tree

Justin, Mike, Mark, Will, and John with face painting

Cocoa tree

Star fruit

Pond at the farm

On our way back to the lodge, we stopped in La Fortuna for about 30 minutes so people could go shopping.  Mike and I stayed on the bus. because we weren't interested in shopping.  We went back to the hotel so that the people going to the Arenal Hot Spring Spa could get swim suits and other supplies.  They stopped for salsa dancing lessons on the way to the hot springs, but Mike and I were tired and decided to stay at the lodge.  It was definitely the right choice for us.  We changed into swim suits and walked down to the hots springs area at the lodge.  We sat in a couple of the hotter ones and it felt great.  We ended at the swim up bar and shared a beer before going back to our room.

Mary enjoying the hot springs

In the hot springs pool

Mike liked having the water fall hit his back

Penelope purpurascens - we called it a Costa Rican turkey

At the swim up bar - it had a hot spring in it

The pool
We both took a shower and changed before walking back down to the poolside restaurant for dinner.  We each had a drink then shared a pizza.  The pizza was pretty good, but once again the crust wast not very good.  We really enjoyed our down time this evening.

Sunday - March 3, 2024                                        El Establo Resort - Monteverde, Costa Rica

We got up at 6:30 am, went down the hill for breakfast, then back up to our cabin for a while.  We sat on our back porch while we waited until time to get on the tour bus.  We hadn't realized that we had a back porch because the door to it looked like it had to be unlocked with a key. While on the porch we saw a hummingbird and an agouti (a relative of the capybara).  It was fun sitting out there if only for a short time.

Agouti behind our cabin

View of Arenal from our front porch



We got on the bus by 8:30 am and rode to the boat that took us across Lake Arenal.  This was a nice ride and we saw some birds and pretty views.

View of Arenal from our boat on Lake Arenal

Riding the boat on Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal

Great White Heron
When we got to the other side of Lake Arenal we got on a tour van that took us to our lunch stop at Rancho Heliconia next to the Monteverde Cloud Forest.  We had to take a van instead of the large tour bus because we had to go on narrow, dirt roads a lot.  We had a 'Shakespeare Stop' (To Pee or Not to Pee) and the sliding door on the van wouldn't open so everyone had to climb over the front seat to get out and back in.  When we got to the restaurant we started by drinking some of their coffee raised on their farm. The older woman who owned the place told us a story about the original owners and some Quakers from the United States who worked together to improve the farm and community.  They also donated land to start the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.  After the story we had a delicious lunch followed by dancing by two children.  This was a great, fun experience.

View from road

Another view of the country side

Wind turbines

Tables at restaurant - they were very unique

A second shot of the tables

Cart made in western side of Costa Rica

The young dancers

They got some of our group involved

After the fun dance

Posing next to the banana cart

We got back on our tour bus at this stop and continued to the Don Juan Coffee and Cocoa Farm Tour.  Our guide for this was a college student named Katherine (Katy for short) and she was wonderful.  We learned a lot about chocolate and coffee production. and once again extracted juice from sugar cane.  The owner of the tour, Don Juan showed up and we all got pictures made with him.  He was 85 years old and loved hugging everyone, especially the women.  This was our favorite farm tour.

Coffee blossom

Streptosolen jamesonii

Mike and Mark breaking open cocoa pods

Coffee beans

Coffee Bean drying shed

Banana blossom

Don Juan

Group shot with Don Juan

Portion of a mural in one of the buildings

More coffee beans

Our tour guide Katy

When we finished the coffee tour we made it to our hotel at Montervede.  Our rooms were at the top of the mountain on a one lane road.  Our bus driver, Tonny, was able to back down this road to be able to turn around.  He was an amazing driver as well as a really kind person.  We had great views of the Pacific Ocean from our patio.  We saw a group of coati on our way up to our rooms.  

View from our patio

After getting settled in we took a hotel shuttle to the bottom of the hill and took the tour bus to a restaurant in the town.  We got there in time for an amazing sunset view.  We had a really good dinner with our group then headed back to our rooms for the night.  This was a tiring, but really good day.

Sunset at the restaurant

My favorite picture

Sunset pose

More sunset

Final sunset shot

Monday - March 4, 2024                                  Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Skywalk

After breakfast we rode the bus to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve for a one mile nature hike.  Tavo told us about different plants and animals we saw.  This hike took about an hour.

View from our patio - the Pacific Ocean is just visible

A coati that visited our patio area

Our tour bus and our amazing driver, Tonny

Cloud forest trail

Vicky, Will, and Sandra

Sarah and Vicky with tree fern behind

Crowned slug moth catepillar
After the nature hike we got back on the bus and rode a short distance to the skywalk.  We crossed 8 bridges of various lengths and heights from the forest floor.  Since we didn't get much of a break, and hadn't had anything to eat, Mike struggled to finish this hike.  It was really unfortunate because this was one of the main things we wanted to do and Mike was not able to enjoy it very much.  We saw lots of interesting plants and Sarah, Justin, and I saw a Quetzal bird.  This is a large, very bright grean and red bird that not many people get to see.   With a little help from Tavo and Justin, Mike was able to finish the hike and make it back to the bus.

A picture of a Quetzal bird (I didn't take the picture)
Justin, Sarah, and I saw one in the cloud forest

Cloud forest from the first bridge

Cloud forest

Lacy tree fern picture taken through opening in bridge

Calabash tree

More cloud forest

Deadly nightshade


One of the bridges

Our group on a bridge

Another bridge
One more bridge

On a bridge in the middle of the hike

Ecosystem on a branch

Another branch ecosystem

A shelf fungus
After the hike we took the bus back to the hotel where Tonny dropped us off at a restaurant across the street from the hotel entrance.  Our group ate lunch here and we had a good time and a good meal of quesadillas and french fries.  After getting something to eat and sitting Mike was fine to walk to the shuttle stop to get back to our room.  When we got back to our room we both took showers, rested, and packed our suitcases for our trip home.  After resting, we went with our group to another restaurant for another meal.  We really ate well on this tour. 

Our group at dinner

Dinner group from the other end of the table

We returned to our room and called it a night.  This was a nice place to stay.

Tuesday - March 5, 2024                                                Return to San Jose via Wildlife Sanctuary

We left Monteverde after breakfast at about 9:00 am.  We rode through the countryside for about two hours until we got to the wildlife sanctuary.  

Our room at Monteverde

Costa Rican countryside on the way to San Jose
It was very hot here.  The animals are ones that people had as pets that needed to be rescued.  They don't allow breeding so it is just a sanctuary.

Scarlet Macaws

An escaped spider monkey

Green macaws

Termite nest in a tree

Sloth

Another sloth

Scarlet macaw

Mike and John resting in the shade

Jaguar

Toucan

Momotus bird

After we left the wildlife sanctuary we drove next to the Pacific Ocean for a while.  We eventually stopped at a souvenir warehouse.  Mike and I shared a sandwich for lunch at the cafeteria.  We bought some coffee and a magnet. to take home  We are not big souvenir shoppers.  

Pacific Ocean

Display at the souvenir shop

Souvenir shop

We left the souvenir place and arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn Santa Ana about 4:00 pm.  About 6:30 pm we went with the group to a restaurant in the mountains above San Jose for dinner.  The dinner was a buffet and was only okay.  After dinner there were dancers for entertainment.  They performed for about 30 minutes and were very good.  

Tavo played the maramba with a person from
the restaurant

View of San Jose

Our last night

Our group

Dancers

Most of our group with the dancers

When the dancing was over we went back to the hotel.  This was essentially the end of the tour since we fly home tomorrow.

Wednesday - March 6, 2024                                            Flight home

Mike and i got up at 2:30 am so that we could catch our shuttle to the airport at 3:00 am.  Luckily, Tonny was our driver so we got to see him one more time.  Tavo got up to see us off.  He was the perfect tour director for us because of his knowledge and love of nature. We left for the airport at 3:00 am, got through security at the airport, and were at our gate by 3:45 am for our 6:15 am flight.  We didn't really need to get to the airport so early.  We got a Starbucks coffee and just sat and waited to board.  About 10 minutes before boarding began, my name was called and I was told that we had been upgraded to first class.  Awesome!  The flight was nice, just a little turbulence for about 30 minutes.  We got served breakfast and all the drinks we wanted.  This flight took 30 minutes longer than scheduled so we had to rush when we got to DFW.  We got through Global Entry quickly, got our bags, rechecked our bags, then had to go back through security.  TSA pre-check wasn't clearly marked so it took us a while to find it and the line was very long.  Once we got through security we had to practically run to make it to our next flight.  When we got to the gate almost everyone had boarded already.  We got to our seats then I was told that I had been upgraded to first class again, but not Mike.  I decided to just stay where I was so I could sit with Mike.  We made it to XNA by 2:00 pm, got our bags, and got picked up by Eric.  We went through McDonald's drive through to get lunch on the way home.  This was an amazing trip.  We met a lot of really nice people and saw Costa Rica like we had wanted.  However, Mike and I don't plan to take another tour like this.  We do not like how rushed we were everywhere.  We think we'll just stick to cruising and RVing.