TRIP REPORT -- COSTA RICA (cont'd)
Day 3

The few mistakes we made were mostly in Day 3. We started out early from San Jose to the town of Sarche which is known for its artwork. We wound up not giving ourselves enough time to shop and spent the precious few minutes we had in a tourist trap. But that shop also had some good merchandise. Look out for really beautiful and substantial wood work for fairly reasonable prices. In fact, many shoppers buy even very large wood items and have them shipped to the U.S. The woodwork is that nice.

We left Sarche and went South (one of our mistakes) for the town of San Mateo, where we went on a canopy tour in the rain forest. The reason it was a mistake is that we went South when our ultimate destination, the Arenal Volcano, is North, and we had spa appointments in the Tabacon resort there. The canopy tour is where we were transported from tree top to tree top via cables stretching from tree to tree. We were about fifty feet in the air and it was great fun. Disappointingly we didn’t see any monkeys there, although I saw a few salamanders and a tarantula.

From San Mateo we were driven to the Arenal Volcano which consists of two volcanoes side by side, one inactive covered in lush greenery and the other active and barren (because of the lava flow). The Arenal volcano area reminds me of the Island that King Kong was found on. We stayed at the well-known Tabacon resort which has hot springs running through its grounds, heated and nutrient rich by lava flow from the volcano. There is a spa on premises and my sisters and mother had all sorts or spa treatments; I stuck with the basic Swedish massages, which were very nice.

Day 4

We were picked up from the Tabacon resort for a short ride to La Fortuna, where we went horseback riding to the La Fortuna Falls. We had a wonderful tour guide named Donald. The horses were young and extremely responsive. We were given free reign to run the horses at will and either push forward or walk the trail to the falls. We tethered our horses and hiked down the side of a large hill to the beautiful falls. We swam in the pond fed by the falls. Little did we know that the is a large serpent that lives there (or so we were told.) It was extremely refreshing to swim after the ride.

Day 5

Day 5 was essentially a travel day from Arenal to Guanacaste, a province in the West of Costa Rica. We spent the evening of Day 5 to the morning of Day 9 in Guanacaste. We stayed at the Allegro Papagayo resort. The Allegro is located on the Gulf of Papagayo and has its own beach; it is located on the side of a large hill. The resort is fairly new. We chose that resort for the sake of the two non-divers because the resort has a “fun club” which organizes events like volleyball and water polo games, teaches dances, leads nearby hikes, etc. It really added a lot to our trip. The Allegro does not have its own scuba dive operator on premises, but Bill Beard’s Diving Safaris, which is located on the Sol Playa Hermosa resort (one of two), is also the in-house dive operator for the Allegro and picks up divers from the Allegro beach. We were lucky because we had rooms further down the hill near the pool, bar, and restaurants. However, if your rooms are located further up the hill it could be a real pain to go from pool to room and back again. There are shuttles, however, that regularly move about the resort going from rooms at different levels on the hill to pool to the reception area at the top of the hill where all the tour operators pick up from. The large buffet eating area is in the open air so if the temperature is uncomfortable so will you be. For dinner you can reserve a table at an enclosed air-conditioned restaurant, which is very good.

(CONT'D)