We awoke before the crack of dawn, and departed Newark early
in the morning for the five hour flight to San Jose. The flight was smooth – I
slept a good portion of it – and we landed on time and were greeted by our
driver immediately after leaving the airport. Our driver was very nice,
although a little limited on English. Because of our limited Spanish and their
limited English, our interactions with drivers and others in the country were
somewhat limited. That said, all of the people we encountered were very nice –
of course, they are in tourism so I guess that’s their job. In any event,
despite being very hungry at this point our driver said it was easier to eat on
our way to La Fortuna, which is about a 2 hour drive. This meant an hour or so
before we stopped to eat, but when we arrived we were refreshed with some
typico almuerzo – typical Costa Rican lunch. Beans and rice are the typical
staple, and normally a protein is added (chicken, fish or beef) and accompanied
by plantains and salad. We also had some patacones – plantains sliced very thin
and served like tortilla chips with pico de gallo or guacamole and some
excellent ceviche. This interaction was funny though with our waiter – I think
we confused him by ordering some appetizers first – and then ordering main dishes.
In Costa Rica, they are used to ordering everything at once. We also got our first taste of the
traditional CR beer – Imperial. The kids had their first of many, many
sodas…typically Coke for Quinn and orange for Keely. After our lunch, we
browsed the adjacent souvenir shop and then headed down the road. While I’m on
the subject of roads, they are not much like what we are used to in the United
States. The roads are windy, curvy and can be narrow. In many parts of our
trip, they were rock and not paved. There was no curb and gutter or shoulder,
and in the mountainous parts of the country you literally felt like you could
fall off the side of the mountain. Actually, they were similar to Ireland. CR
is a country the size of West Virginia yet it takes between 2-3 hours to travel
from place to place, even though the mileage is typically under 100. It takes
some getting used to, and quite frankly I was in awe that they do the amount of
tourism with large buses and plenty of vans traveling the roads day and day
out.
We arrived at our hotel for the next three nights, Arenal
Manoa and settled in. Settling in mostly means checking out the pool. We ate
dinner at the resort that night and explored the grounds a little. It gets dark
in CR between 5:30 and 6 PM so it was quite strange for us considering at home
in the summertime we’re used to that between 8 and 9 PM. What it did for us
though was mostly keep us on Eastern Time. It’s only a two hour time difference
– but we were getting up early because it’s light out at 5 AM and going to bed
early because we were tired from the day’s activities. It made for a very
smooth transition back to home.
The next morning, we decided to venture off on our own to
the national park and hike to the La Fortuna Waterfall. While there were tours
to do this hike combined with other activities, we didn’t think it was worth
the extrea cost and we were right. We were able to do this excursion for just
the price of a taxi each way, and the cost to enter the national park. The hike
is mostly on a set of stairs down to a gorgeous waterfall where you can swim
and relax. That means you have to walk back up the stairs afterwards, but I would
say it was worth the trip. We didn’t swim in the main waterfall pool because it
is very deep, cold and the currents from the water falling can be strong – so they
do not advise children in that section but we did swim in one of the downstream
areas where the current was less strong and the water less deep. It was
refreshing to say the least.
That afternoon, we took a trip to tour an adjacent farm. On
the walk, we saw a family of baby armadillos right off the bat. We also learned
about the no-touch-me plants (they curl up in a ball when you touch them to
protect themselves) and the leaf cutter ants (they carry leaves to build a home
for themselves – we will learn much more about them later in our trip while in
Monteverde). They are red ants which means they bite – a la Tucson – so we
avoided them but watched them with curiosity. We also saw one of many perros
(dogs), milked a Costa Rican cow (well, me and Keely did) and saw the cleanest
pigs ever. No joke, they were really clean and I have never seen a pig’s eyes
that clearly. They actually look a lot like human eyes. Why do they keep them
so clean? Because they are selling them. 
That night, we took a trip down the road to Eco Termales Hot
Springs. I should mention at this point that this little town sprung into
existence because it sits at the foot of an active volcano. Arenal was active
over 500 years ago, but recently because active again in 1968. Once that
happened, tourism started in earnest and the town used the volcano to become a
hot spot (pun intended) for eco-tourism and activities a plenty. What also
springs up because of an active volcano is hot springs. The ones we visited
consisted of 5 pools, one super hot pool (which was the source of the spring)
and one cold pool. We spent 15-20 minutes in the hot pools and then a few
minutes in the cold pool to keep our bodies from overhearing. For me, hot water
is wonderful and I personally really enjoyed the pools. We spent almost four
hours at the pools, including a wonderful Costa Rican dinner served family
style with the most delicious rice pudding for dessert...I may have finished any
unfinished portion at our table and stuffed myself with that pudding but it was
worth every bite!
Our last full day in Arenal was spent doing a morning tour
of two local rivers by kayak and then relaxing poolside in the afternoon while
watching the Costa Rican soccer match. The kayaking tour was very fun and ended
up being our best chance at seeing animals in their natural habitat. I went
with Quinn, James went with Keely and Papa was with one of our two guides. The
guides were both very informative. My favorite memory of this trip is Pablo
shouting ‘family, come over here’ and then having to paddle upstream as fast as
possible, sometimes cursing Pablo a bit because I thought, this better be worth
the effort! We saw howler monkeys, a sloth (our only one!), a crocodile, bats,
rattlesnake, Jesus Christ lizard (so named because it can walk on water) and lots
of birds including the laughing falcon, kingfishers, tiger heron and the
flycatcher bird. We also stopped about 3/4 of the way down river to visit a local farm and visit with the family that owns and cares for it (Peter's family) where we were served fresh Costa Rican coffee and sweet treats. 
That day, the Arenal volcano was finally
visible. Fitting since it was our last full day, and thus last chance to see it
in its full glory – but also fitting because (in our guide’s opinion) it came
out for the Costa Rican soccer match. A word about being in Costa Rica during
(a) the World Cup and (b) one that their team made it to the Round of 16. It
was really quite awesome to be in a country that embraces and loves their
futbol. Even after their team lost (a quite heartbreaking loss in penalty kicks
where they were duped by a ringer of a Dutch goalie who was brought in
specifically to defend those final five shots) the whole country was still very
into the rest of the Cup. Everywhere else we went, they were watching the remaining
games and enjoying the high quality of soccer. They were so proud of their team
for making it as far as they did, the only team in the CONCACAF (North American
countries) to make it that far. Quite an accomplishment for a country so small…and
one that was missing their best player to injury.
That night, our last dinner in Arenal we took a taxi
downtown and first visited the local church to donate a vestment that was
gifted to our family when my grandmother passed away. I am glad my parents took
the trouble to pack it, because I believe it was a gift much appreciated and I
know it would please both of my grandparents to know that it was given to a
country that needs for so much. After that we tried a restaurant that our first
driver recommended and it was really good. Also very affordable – though not as
affordable as we first thought upon conversion from Colons. A word about money.
They will almost always take American dollars, in fact I think they prefer it
and they probably end up getting more from you because they claim not to have
change. One US dollar is equal to about 500 Colons. So it was quite interesting
to see a bill of 100,000 C (about $200 USD). We figured it out most times and
often the bill was presented in both Colons and USD. Tipping was also
interesting – it is not as big as it is in the US. So we tried to be respectful
of that and tip about 10%. It’s hard though when you know it’s a poor country
and the tourism is so much of their economy, so you want to be generous.
The next morning, we awoke and had breakfast in the hotel –
our last at Arenal Manoa. I should say at this point that this was a great
hotel, I would highly recommend it. The pool and hot tub, and hot springs pool
were very nice and the staff was always friendly and helpful. Breakfast was
included and it was good every day. Each day, we were served the traditional
Costa Rican breakfast – eggs, gallo pinto (rice and beans mixed together with
some spices), queso blanco, and fresh fruits including papaya, mango and plantains. There was also a serving station where they
would make pancakes, waffles, and fresh tortillas. One of the classics from a
breakfast – question to our server, how do you say pancake in Spanish? Answer –
pancake :)
After breakfast, we packed up and departed for our next
destination where we would spend two nights – Monteverde. I will cover the boat
trip and van ride in that next summary, because it deserves its own story.
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