Day
1 - We arrived at 1pm in San Jose, Costa Rica and bartered for a $25
US cab ride to the G Adventures starting point at the Days
Hotel. All 15 people in our tour stayed there. It was a very
nice hotel and extra nights before the adventure could be purchased for
$85. Most tours start 6:30 with a meeting and dinner at your own
expense. We were fortunate because the Oxcart Parade was happening
the next morning and preparations were underway that night. We
headed out on foot at 4:30 to the park to see the carts and
families in tents camped out for the parade. Later the group took a
local bus to dinner.
Day
2 The tour covered public transportation to La Fortuna the next
morning. After breakfast at the Days Hotel, we chipped in the few
extra dollars per person for a private shuttle. This allowed us to
stay in San Jose that morning to watch the Oxcart Parade.
Oxcart Parade, San Jose
Oxcart Parade, San Jose
After the parade we took the
private shuttle for about 5 hours to La Fortuna and checked in to the Hotel
Arenal Carmela for two
nights. It had a small swimming pool, air conditioner, safety box
and was centrally
located. From the hotel, we headed to Desafio
tours to choose optional activities. G Adventures gets a volume
discount with operators such as Desafio, so expect to pay more for
your entire tour if you choose to go without a group. Our whole group chose
the liquid lava, hot springs
& buffet dinner walk for $45US compared to the standard rate of $75.
We proceeded in a van from the hotel to a nature walk closer to volcano at
sunset. We arrived at a viewpoint just after sunset. No lava
flows were visible, but the valley below us was full of fireflies.
We drank some sugar cane punch and took the shuttle to Baldi
Hot Springs. There were lots of tourists and locals at this
popular location. It was a huge complex with pools of different temperatures
and with bars, lounges and 3 waterslides. One of the waterslides was
very fast! They charged $5 for a locker and $10 deposit for towel.
Keep your receipt for your towel! Afterward, the excursion included
a buffet dinner at the hot springs and a shuttle back to the hotel.
Can you see the Arenal volcano on the right hand side? We couldn't either.
Day 3
On day 3, we chose the
Full Day White Water Rafting! The G Adventures discounted price with Desafio
was $75 Some others on our tour repelled down a canyon and then did the lower class water rafting in the aft in
brown slow moving water. The full day class 3/4 rafting was
definitely the better choice. We were picked up at the hotel at 8:30
and it took an hour to get to the starting location, where we met others
and had a large group picture. The safety instructions included
telling us that at times the water might become too rough and when they
give the command we were to move to the center of the raft and point our
paddles straight up - the command for this was "Holy ****"
They also gave instruction on how pull your raft mates back into the raft,
which it turned out we needed to know. We have a fabulous time in
the rapids! There were two pit stops along the way, one for swimming
and one for a fruit snack. They ran a kayak along side at several
points and took great photos of us with a waterproof camera.
Pictures were available later for purchase for $25. After the
rafting, we traveled 40 minutes in
private van and stop at covered building along the way and have buffet
lunch at 3pm. The CD photos were available for purchase at
lunch. We then returned to the hotel in our van and arrived back by
4pm.
"Holy ****" command - Bodies in, oars up!
Man overboard!
Days 4
- The next morning we traveled by shuttle bus to the shore of Lake Arenal, crossed the lake by
boat and drove by van to the Monteverde Cloud Forest on the Nicoya
Pennisula.
The road was a twisty, turny, rough road
surface. I don't recommend trying to rent a car in this area.
We rode on the shuttle van for an hour and then stopped for lunch at a local restaurant in a small town.
These small diners are all called "sodas". After you
finish eating, you tell the cashier what you ate and pay for in. In
Costa Rica the price on the menu includes 10% service + 13% tax, so no tipping
is necessary.
After lunch we road another hour to Monteverde and we
were dropped off at the Monteverde Lodge Amanecer. It had thin wooden walls, but
it was nice. Unfortunately the tin roof was very noisy in the
ensuing down pour. We arrived around 3pm and walked to the horse back riding
stables provided by Desafio
We rode for about an hour, just before sunset. It cost $30US. We saw
sloths, a toucan, leaf cutter ants, and several exotic birds.
Monteverde horseback riding
Red Eyed Tree Frog at the Ranario
Day 5 Next morning we started at 7:30 with a 20
minutes shuttle ride to the Santa
Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Unfortunately the heavy down pour meant
that the animals all took cover and we missed seeing the amazing monekys, mammals,
bird watching and canopy wildlife. Basically nothing was out due to heavy rain and wind
storm. All I saw a stick bug and a beetle. It was the beginning of December when it should have been the beginning of the
dry season. I'd recommend waiting until January. The nature
walk was done by 10 and we could
have done Sevaltura Zip Line and Canopy walk,
but chose not to because the zip line ran about the trees and there was no
point in being even more directly exposed to the storm. We went back
to the hotel and then headed to a soda for some Olla de Carne - meat
soup.
Road nearly flooded out on the way back from Santa Elena
After lunch I chose the Extremo Zip Line,
which costs $40 plus $5
for the "superman" on the last long section. There was a
guide at beginning and end of each zip. Some runs were short, some
were long, some were tandem, one was a swing and one was a repel.
Needless to say, there were many guides. For the tandem zips, the second person
runs the brake by grabbing the rope with their gloved hands. The
fast zips had their own stopping mechanism. It was pretty easy.
Don't slow
down to the point you get stuck or the guide will need to come back out and get you.
The pics for purchase from Extremo were not exceptional quality like our
rafting ones had been.
Last zip for $5 is the Superman option over
the valley, otherwise normal zip.
Monteverde Extremo zip lining, Superman zip
After the zip lining we went back to the hotel. The
group went out to dinner at Don Juan Restaurant. This was delicious
too. Some prices were: cocktails $5, cheese platter because you're in dairy
country - 3 cheeses, baguettes and grapes for $8. The honey mustard chicken
at $14 was really really good.
Day 6 - Next we
traveled to the small town of
Quepos on the Pacific to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, known for
its monkeys, armadillos, coatimundis, sloths and over 350 species of birds.
We left at 8:00 by private shuttle and there were two stops along the way.
The first stop was at bridge over a river with restaurant and gift
shop. We crossed the bridge on foot and looked down on a dozen large
crocodiles. We bought fresh coconuts for $1 and delicious green peeled mango
pieces in a bag with salt and lime juice for $1. We noticed an
increase in heat and humidity at this stop..
Our second stop was for lunch at small
town. It took them 2 hours to serve 15 people. We were
approaching the coast so there was lots of seafood, tuna steaks, shrimp
and delicious fish fillet for around $10. We arrived in Quepos at
3pm and stayed at the Mono Azul
We were on the standard G Adventures tour, while other G Adventures tours staying here were
rated comfort at had more conveniences. Our standard pricing had no cable, no
air conditioning. We had a
ceiling fan. The comfort accommodation is villas with private pools
and breakfast included.
Our afternoon was free.
We next morning we chose the Mangrove Kayaking for $65 including lunch.
We left at 9:30 but departure times are dependent on the tied. After
missing out on wild life previously because of rainfall, we now
experienced the other extreme. It was too hot and sunny, so some animals
were hiding. We did see herons, land crabs, turtles, a big hawk with a piranha in
its foot and one monkey. We were on the water by 10:30 and stayed
out for 2 hours. Afterward we had lunch at La Terraza Restaurant.
They served casadas - beans and rish and salad, egg and fried banana.
You had a choice of
fish or chicken for main course with a tortilla and a blended fruit smoothy.
Through the telescope at restaurant we saw a howler monkey and there was
an iguana nearby too.
View from La Terraza Restaurant
Normally the tour would go back to
hotel at this point, but they
dropped us at entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park at 2:45. The park
was closing at 4 and the entrance fee was $10. Manuel Antonio is a
protected wildlife and beach area. You can pay $20 per person for a guide with telescope, but didn't do that.
We had a white faced monkey try to steal from our pockets and we saw
several sloths. It took 15 minutes to walk to the beach. The
monkeys get close looking for food, but don't feed them or you'll be
swamped and harrassed. Others saw a agouti (like a guinea pig with longer legs).
Lots were lots of tourists at the but no vendors. The beach wraps
to a rocky outcropping that isolates it.
Sloth
Day
8 - We could have gone back to San Jose in the morning, but with
15 people we again chipped in for a private shuttle and this gave us extra
time to head back to the beach again. We took public transit for 50
cents. We then returned to
San Jose by private shuttle. For an extra $8 is took us through Jaco
where 3 people decided to take the $50 bungee jump.
We arrived in San
Jose at dinner time and stayed at the Days Hotel again. The group
and tour leader took the bus downtown for 50 cents and had a walking tour of
San Jose at night.
San Jose
Day
9 - The next morning we caught a cab to the airport. Everyone pays
a $26 departure tax, but it can
be paid at the hotel to speed your departure. Costa Rica was a great
adventure!
