Sunday June 08, 2008

Costa Rica Adventure...

We, six of us, went to Costa Rica - a small country in Central America which is famous for its rain forest and wildlife. This trip of mine was so spectacular that it is forcing me to write a small diary about the trip.  With lots of confusion and asking around, I first fixed up the places to visit in Costa Rica and in a specific order -- Rincon de la Vieja National Park, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and Tortuguero National Park. Arenal Volcano National park was not in the plan but we got two more days in Costa Rica due to heavy rains and tropical storm which stranded us in Manual Antonio National Park for two nights. Everything in Costa Rica was good and especially food. In fact we also got to eat sweet Mangoes.

We spent first two days in Rincon de la Vieja National Park with one full day reserved for hikes in the national park and the other day for Canyon Zipline,  Steam Sauna/mud-bath/hot-springs and White Water River Tubing. The most spectacular part was tubing and zipline over the canyon with a bit of rock-climbing and lots of other adventure. The only bad part of zipline was it didn't last long (only an hour). The place where we stayed and had organized all this was Hacienda Guachipelin.

The next place on our agenda was Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve famous for cloud & rain forest and wildlife. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much wildlife here other than the birds which were hiding from us most of the time. The museum and hanging bridge at Selvatura Park was great though.

We were little disappointed from Monteverde visit since we didn't spot frogs and were hoping that Tortuguero National Park will not disappoint us. We started our journey at 6.30 am from San Jose to a small town called Caño Blanco (3 hours bus ride). The bus ride goes through Braulio Carrillo National Park and the boat ride from the deck of Cano Blanco is just one hour 45 minutes. Guess that...the journey to Tortuguero National Park did not disappoint us at all. The boat ride and wildlife we saw (mainly birds) were great. We reached the resort Laguna Lodge at around 1.30 pm and welcomed by the staff. After having lunch we went to Tortuguero Village and the Museum there. We also went to the beach and the beach here is on Caribbean side (Atlantic Ocean). The most interesting part of the whole trip was the boat safari which was planned for tomorrow's morning. In fact we saw most of the wildlife in this part of Costa Rica. We got up early, had breakfast and started the safari by spotting Cayman alligators, Howler & Spider Monkeys, birds, Frogs including poisonous ones.  We also went for a hike which gave us a birds eye view of Tortuguero Canals. Unfortunately we couldn't spot Turtles because month of May is not their breading season. During our stay at Laguna Lodge for two nights and three days, we enjoyed the most.

We had only one day left before we were suppose to return to US. After a lot of confusion, we rented a car and drove to Manual Antonio National Park at night. The drive on Costa Rica's single lane highways reminded me of Indian road conditions and fun I used to have back home. Anyway, without knowing that a tropical storm Alma (Hurricane Class-I) is on the way and beginning to strengthen, we drove at night while it was raining. When we got up next morning and we immediately decided that we should head back because the rain and wind had picked up. By 9.30 am we were ready and hoped that rain will slow down but it didn't..it kept strengthening. We decided to start but we could hardly go 22 kms before police stopped us and asked us to return back since the roads were flooding and flood water had started going onto the firm lands and houses. The devastation being done by the storm looked very bad. We decided to stay at Quepos (a small town before the National Park). We knew that we will miss the flight next day and locals told us it may be two days before the roads open again.  The next day all of a sudden weather cleared up and we could start early morning to make alternative arrangements. The return flight we got is on 2nd June and today is 30th May. So we got two more days and we decided to go to Arenal (La Fortuna town) by local public bus from San Jose. Without knowing Spanish, we manage to find the bus station and board the right bus but the bus stopped at all the places and whenever someone was willing to board the bus, it stopped as people waved their hands towards the bus. Anyway, we got to Arenal in 5 hours of slow and steady public bus ride. Since we needed a car, I rented a manual 4x4 SUV for some off-roading to Arenal Observatory and Arenal Volcano National Park. We couldn't see the active lava at night/evening and missed by an hour which disappointed us a lot. Anyway, the trip to Arenal was unplanned but was beautiful in every aspect.

And yeah...I forgot to mention that I was stopped for over speeding in Costa Rica...I was doing 80 kms when posted speed limit was 60 kms. The cop was very understanding and after repeated pledging (sorry sir), I was lucky to get away with just a warning... 

Lets look at the photographs I took...

Fauna of Costa Rica

Flora of Costa Rica

Rain Forests of Costa Rica

People and Landscape of Costa Rica