Jun/Jul 2009 trip - Pacuare, Dominical, Osa, Tortuguero
 

Thanks to everyone who helped with planning another Costa Rica trip to remember! Special thanks for tips on Tortuguero and Dominical, 2 new areas traveled, as well as rafting on the Pacuare.

Itinerary (as revised the day of flight cancellation):
6/20-21 - 2 nights, Hotel Villa Bonita in Alejuela – Rafting the Pacuare
6/22-24 - 3 nights, Shelter from the Storm – Dominical/Uvita
6/25-7/1 - 7 nights, Bosque del Cabo – Puerto Jimenez/Osa Peninsula
7/2 - 1 night, Orquideas Inn – Alejuela
7/3-4 - 2 nights, Turtle Beach Lodge – Tortuguero

New things purchased and loved:
Marmot Precip rain jacket on sale (I’m sure I can also find use for this in Seattle)
Keens - style “Whisper” to replace my old “Venice”
Headlamp

Most memorable:
Meeting up with Fodorites (to be mentioned later), old friends and new friends. :-)

June 19th – I was ready to depart for my 9:40am flight out with a 5:30am pick up the next day for Tortuguero when I got a call my flight had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. Probably not a good idea to book anything set in stone for the day after an Int’l departure, as I realize now.  I spent a good part of the day rearranging my trip (sending out e-mails with change requests, waiting to confirmations). I added a day to the end of my trip, moved Tortuguero to the end and Pacuare to the front, made a couple Nature air flight changes and was good to go.

I tapped my foot most of the evening while staring at my packed bags.

June 20th – Early morning flight this time, 7:40am departure and layover in Dallas. So much for sleep on first flight. Two accompanied children were in the row ahead and one had a sort of tourette type of yell he’d do every few minutes while playing his video game. Funny. I fell asleep at my gate in Dallas and woke up to find they had changed the gate. I boogied quickly over to another gate to be last on in final boarding call. Whew! Arrived at SJO with no problems and was met by a driver for Hotel Villa Bonita.

Hip, I've been waiting for this, don't stop now!!!

Hi, hip - I can't wait to hear the rest. We did Tortuguero and rafting for the first time this trip too. Can't wait to hear what you thought!

Sorry guys, that was really a pathetic attempt for the beginning of a trip report! I promise more tomorrow, just got my internet back up and running at home and work can be so demanding! ;-)

Can't you tell work you have more important things to do?

Don't tease us, hip! We want to hear the rest! Welcome back!

Work, shmerk. So overrated. ;-)

Thanks j, I'll keep plugging along...

The area is growing around Hotel Villa Bonita. There’s a new AM/PM sort of thing a couple of blocks away and a Chinese Restaurant (not sure if it’s new) a couple doors down. HVB has also done some remodeling and everything is very nice, tidy and comfortable there. The outdoor areas make a nice place to visit with Humberto, Carmen or other travelers. I was pretty tired so after relaxing a bit in the courtyard I retired to my room on the 2nd floor. Nice and clean, and I never hesitate recommending the place as you can’t beat the price and convenience and wonderful owners, but do note that it’s just off a fairly busy street and it can be quite noisy during the night.

June 21st – Rafting the Pacuare: I got up EARLY so I could take a taxi ($5) to Hampton Suites for my 5:30am pick up with Rios Tropicales. I chose to stay close to SJO because I knew I’d be one of the first to be picked up and wanted to drive around the city to check out hotels and such. Otherwise, Don Carlos in San Jose is a good place to stay for tours. Our guide to the river was sweet and as most guides a workaholic, working as a guide on the weekends and Hewlitt-Packard during the week. The buses were super comfy and plush! I got to see Gran de Oro and Hotel Bergerac, 2 places I had wanted to check out, as well as some others. They looked very nice, although not in super convenient locations if you want to walk to the central market, museum, zoo, etc. The drive was a really pretty one as we went through Turrialba (missed shillmac’s property) and stopped for a good breakfast. I met a nice newlywed couple right off the bat and we hit it off so spent the rest of the day together. Once we arrived at the river we formed a team of 6. The newlyweds, three 30ish strapping young men ;-), and myself plus the guide, Alonzo. The first couple of rapids were “practice” rapids and our guide was hilarious reprimanding us on how we needed to count and get our rhythm together or we would be making him look bad. LOL! After that, our strokes were on time and together and every time we made it over a rapid we’d bonk our helmets with our oars 3 times and yell. It was a hoot! We learned commands like “get down”, “to the right”, “to the left”, etc., which are meant to be taken seriously and done quickly! Alonzo tried to dump me a couple times, but I’m pretty quick to rebalance myself (good reflexes) so he was impressed. Ha! We lost a couple people on two different rapids and also got stuck surfboarding while trying to pick up one of them, but it was all fun and a great experience. The river was absolutely gorgeous (understand why it’s one of the top 5 rivers in the world for rafting) and warm. We also passed the Pacuare Lodge, Rios Tropicales Lodge and a couple of others and they all looked like great places to stay if you just want to chill on the river for a night. The overnight trip does not offer anymore time on the river. It’s just the same as the day trip but split into two parts. I’ve rafted a few times before, but this was one of the best days ever! I wanted to do it all over again as soon as it was over! I realized later that the reason it seems so easy, even with the Class IV rapids, is because of the guides. They are top notch and they know what the heck they are doing. (Don’t forget to tip your guides!) They are able to set up the raft just right for each rapid and they really know the river, hence allowing the newbies to make it through the Class IV’s. If we were all left on our own there would be a lot of people to save! We also all changed positions during the day so everyone had time to be in front, middle and back and it was great to experience all different perspectives. Oh, forgot about lunch…it was great and we all had time to visit a bit and look at the pictures that were taken on the trip. I’ll post a few of them when I get photos up. They sell a CD of the trip that also includes a ton of CR pics for $40. This seems really expensive to me and why do I want with a zillion pics? I just wanted the ones of MY raft. After I talked to the photographer she agreed to sell for $10, which I thought reasonable. There are some great shots!

Sorry, I didn't intend to ramble on so about the rafting, but it was simply AWESOME! Will do again, for sure.

We loved our rafting with Rios Tropicales too. I'm putting the Pacuare on our must-do list for our next trip. It sounds wonderful!

Hip & vgirl - PLEASE DO ramble on about your rafting trips. I love, love reading about the rafting part of any CR itinerary as well as the entire trip report. What a great idea to ask them for photos of just your boat - must try that here someday. I went rafting about a month ago on the Merced River and they were charging all kinds of prices for pictures; if you wanted pictures of your boat (and others) of all the rapids, it will set you back $59! So $40 in CR seems like a steal to me.

Okay, I must wait until you post the rest of your trip report. As I posted on vgirl's trip report, installments drive me crazy! ;-)

hip, you did better than we did; ours started out at $40, but we got it for $30, and we thought we got a deal - lol.

E -- Sorry for the installments...I'm just clearly not that organized!

V -- Hope you got some good ones. I especially like the ones where we're seemingly under water. ;-)

Re: the discount, I had to go from $40, to $30, to $20 to $10. I went up to her to tell her I wasn’t going to buy the DVD, but wanted to know if she had change to use for tips. She asked why I wasn’t going to buy the DVD and so I had to explain how it was too expensive and I only wanted my own pics. I had a feeling she wouldn’t actually filter through them to send only mine, and I was right, I got the whole DVD. That wasn’t my intention, but a nice surprise when I got home and it was already there. I’d say there were at least 30 just of us.

Everyone crashed hard on the bus home. Even the guide. I had to be dropped off at Hampton Suites and was sort of embarrassed that people thought I stayed there, but oh well. No trees around, cement, American style chain hotel. Not pretty. Got a taxi and 5 minutes later back to HVB. I took advantage of the free internet there because it would be one of the only chances I had. Since I was pretty pooped my dinner consisted of Arroz con Pollo from the AM/PM. Not recommended. Thank goodness for the tropical yogurt drink and Imperial.  Enjoyed the courtyard but still, was anxious to get out of the city. There was only one person staying there that I saw and he seemed rude. Humberto and Carmen, on the other hand, are just the sweetest people you ever could meet. Humberto’s eyes just lit up when I told him about the Pacuare, as he used to be a guide on that river and would love to get back to it. Read. Watched Iron Chef and went to bed.

June 22nd – Yay! Today’s the day I get to meet up with my friend Pasha. Had to leave too early so grabbed some toast and off I went in the taxi to Pavas. The driver was so nice and we practiced our Spanglish together.  There seem to be some pretty nice neighborhoods around Pavas, nicely painted, no bars, nice size. I love airports. It’s fun listening to all the first time travelers scared of the little planes. My flight got into Palmar Sure about 30 minutes earlier than I thought, so had a little time to wait at the airport for Pasha to pick me up. The airport here is about as big as a hot dog stand and the bathroom is about as scary as an outhouse at a campground. Pasha was right on time and even though I had only seen pics of her I spotted the tall, thin, tan blonde one right away. ;-) She had rented a Suzuki Jimmy a couple days earlier, which is much needed in the Dominical/Uvita area if you actually want to go anywhere. Once we were on the road, we started up a good chat about what she’d been up to since she got there 3 nights before. The main stretch of road is nice and paved and a bit windy. Every turn looks the same until you get used to the landmarks. Ocean on one side, hills on the other. We headed back to drop off my baggage and get checked in. Donna and Darryl were waiting to greet us. Pasha moved over to Arriba Las Rocas from the Monkey House (Darryl offered the place thinking we might want to be closer together) and I stayed at Baja Las Rocas which is just below. When Darryl found out it was our first time meeting each other, but that we were on vacation together, the whole idea seemed very weird to him. LOL! Oh, and note that whenever/wherever I say ‘the road wasn’t that bad’, Pasha was doing all the driving so it might have seemed a bit worse for her! The road up to SFTS indeed requires a 4 x 4, is a bit steep and windy in places, but definitely worth the effort! What a prime spot they have overlooking the hills and Pacific. I’ll start with Baja Las Rocas, my room. It’s perfect size for a couple, or in my case, me. Beautiful shades of turquoise and terracotta’s are the base colors for the room and patio area. All sorts of art, little treasures and accents, wonderful kitchenette stocked with nice dishware, really beautiful woodwork and furniture and French doors to the patio. From the bedroom and patio there is a great view over the hills and Pacific you can just set and soak in the serenity. In addition, there was a huge welcoming basket with coffee, pineapple, bath spongy, milk, cookies, bread, etc. That was a nice surprise. 

Don't forget I am here reading also hipvirgochick.

Loving it so far...so keep it up.

Hi Percy! We sure did miss you...next time for sure! ;-) Hope you're doing well.

BTW -- tully and Pasha are one in the same, in case you didn't know already.

You better go on before shillmac gets on here and tells about what really happened :)

Hi hipvirgochick

Enjoying your report.

How come tully and Pasha are the same ? is the FBI after her !!

I am going away late next month..for a month..but enough of that for now..lets have more of your report :)

Hey hip -- can you tell me if you like your new headlamp? As you know, I got one for our last trip. I like it okay, but it's not terribly bright/strong. Think I need something stronger. Just wondering if you can recommend the one you have. Thanks!

It may be a day or two before I get a chance to chime in with my dos colones. I'll offer to be last and do 'clean up"! LOL!

Nice report, hip. Enjoying it. You say it all so well! And reminds me I need to e-mail Humberto. Didn't get to see him this time, although Jim did.

shillmac, you need to chime in and tell us about all the birds you saw. tully is making up entertaining names for them!

She's gonna be a birder yet. ;)

who cooks for you?!?! :D

And what was the scary old lady in her nightgown one?

hip...we're waiting here, slacker ;)

little tinamou. . .love that sound.

I think hip "did a party" last night, celebrating!

I can't wait for the rest of the story as they say and I hope pics! So far I love it! As I told Tully, I am living vicariously thru your reports. Yours, Tully's, VG's and next up ...shillmac! Love it

Hi Toni, it's been a long day of sorting through and uploading photos. I've got way too many! Now packing and repacking for a mission trip to Mexico next week, mountains above Puebla. Our oldest daughter who lives near tully in Florida is joining us, so we are excited to spend that time with her all week.

Hopefully I won't forget too much of Costa Rica by the time I get to post a report after the first of August. I try so hard to keep a journal and did-- until hip and tully arrived at BdC. And of course, once our granddaughter gets down there with us, there's certainly no time for note taking! :)

There's already talk of next June. . .think you'd be game?! ;)

Shillmac-- a mission trip? Beyonce on Thurs. was great, but no comparison to what you get to experience next week. Can I come in June?? DH had his second bout of pancreatis two weeks ago, so we wonder if he will travel out of the country again. Time will tell. He is soooo excited to go the Black Hills Thurs. (we had to skip the trip two weeks ago), as we will see the cabin expansion and golf in the great pines (oh, the fragrance). Hipvirgochick, sorry to hijack your post. It is sooo much fun to read. Thank you for posting I want more, please!!

Sorry I've been so lame in finishing. I'm transitioning to another job over the next couple weeks and let's just say it's all consuming right now. I thought know one would notice if I let the post drop to the bottom, LOL!

And yes, there's already chatter about dates next year, so rack up your FF miles and sign up for the cheap fare notices!

Sure thing Dyer. Plan on it! Enjoyed your e-mail--what time is Axelrod speaking? Might be interested! Hope D. is better now. Anything to prevent those bouts? I don't know much about it, but know it can make one so sick. Obviously. Glad you enjoyed Beyonce, wish I could have gone--and anytime you want to join up on one of these mission trips, you'd be oh so welcome! It will be an awesome experience. Always is.

And hip--yes, we notice when you slack! :)

shillmac, I forgot to mention to you that when we were in CR, we passed a huge pineapple plantation, and it had a sign in front for the Collin Street Bakery. Our guide say they own it and that it's one of the biggest pineapple plantations in the world. Are you familiar with them? I see their fruitcakes all the time at Christmas. Weird to see it in CR!

hip, I was reading reviews of your lodge in Totuguero on tripadvisor, and someone just posted a bit about a rude guide. Thought you might want to read it - probably the same guy you were talking about. Management had a great response to the post and says they will use it as a teaching lesson.

Yeah, they've owned that for years. Their coffee sells for something like $17 a bag online. Totally ridiculous! We actually order from them online--not coffee, obviously. But we have some of the cakes/cheesecakes,etc. shipped to friends for gifts. You should check them out online. They are in, oh what little town? Corsicana, I think--not far from you, right? Between H. and D.?

I'll bet it did seem weird to see that sign. Same for us when we saw it, I think about in 2005.

continued...

So after I got my bags settled in at SFTS and chatted with Donna and Daryl a bit we decided to head off for some lunch. We landed at Roca Verde, which is a hotel right on the beach. I had previously looked at it as a place to stay, but it looks like more of a place for youngsters/surfer crowd. Also, the beach seems to disappear when the tide comes in. The restaurant area was huge and pretty deserted. The food was decent. Afterward a couple stops for misc sundries/snacks and back to SFTS. Donna recommended dinner at Villas de las Aves and arranged with Sarah, one of the owners, for us to see all of her rescued birds. By the time we left we had lost power from the tremendous storm (fabulous huge thunderbooms and lighting) and as we were on our way the thought came to us that they probably lost power also. Duh! Getting there was adventure in itself. Windy and very potholey. Apparently, Paul and Sarah have put $20k of their own money into the road, but as the big trucks coming in to build rip it up again they can't keep it up. Villas de las Aves is built up over the fork of a river and it's serene and quiet. You can only hear the sounds of the river and wildlife. Very peaceful. The casitas are quite nice and new. The colors and decor are pleasing and they are very spacious. The added touch of private hot tubs on the decks of each is a nice addition. The pool area is nice and during the day they bring the birds outside from the indor aviary. There is also a small petting zoo on site, but we didn't make it to see them. The 2 story building which makes up Paul and Sarah's house as well as the restaurant is really beautiful. Since indeed they were out of power we were treated to a wonderful Thai salad with grilled chicken, ribs from the barbecue and homemade icecream. There fresh foccacia bread as well and it was all really delicious. If we had more time I would have wanted to come back for the 6 course meals prepared on certain nights. Sarah is Cordon Bleu trained and Paul seems just as enthused to start adding brick oven pizza to the menu, as well as other things, now that they have put the oven into action. They are both friendly and welcoming people with a lovely place and I wouldn't hesitate recommending VDLA. Sarah gave us a tour of the indoor aviary showing us all of the birds, why they were there and how she acquired them. She was certainly attached to each and every one. The Hyacinth McCaw was especially gorgeous and huge. While we were dining by candlight they were awaiting other travelers who were stuck because of a tree down across the road. They were just making it up the drive as we were leaving and we rolled down our windows and shared the exclamation of what an adventure it is go get around here!

Back at SFTS began the ritual of relaxing and reading out on the lovely patio for a short time before collapsing into bed. The lighting continued on until the wee hours.

June 23 - We were up and out early to take the horseback ride to Nauyaca Falls. For the town seeming pretty quiet I think all the tourists were here this day! There were about 30 of us I think. This was fine because all the horses seemed to split up into their alpha groups and a guide stayed with each one. Note, there was not introductory for commands, nor were helmets issued, if that's a concern to you. The horses were all very healthy looking and well cared for. The ride was beautiful, if not challenging at times. By this I mean as a fairly inexperienced rider (I'm ridden probably 20 times in my life) there were indeed rocky, slippery places which at times became hairy because as soon as one horse would want to trot/gallop, the others in the group would as well. The saddles were not the most comfy and we trotted A LOT. Galloping is much more comfy but after trotting as much as I did that day there were places I won't mention that were sore for days! There were a lot of giggles though! We stopped and had a nice breakfast (and coffee thank goodness). The waterfalls were beautiful and even though I didn't go in, it was a lot of fun watching all the brave ones (with help from the guides and a knotted rope) climb up the falls and jump or dive off. Got some great pics. There were some tired looking people that arrived by foot, and that would have been a very long and strenuous hike had they the same starting point we did! After a good time at the waterfalls we headed back and had lunch. Everyone shared stories of their adventures so far and then we continued back to where we started. This was a great day and I highly recommend it!

Pasha had schedule a massage that day and I was determined to get some pool time in. SFTS has a lovely rancho with full bar (non-profit on the honor system) and had Campari with which I was delighted for afternoon apertif's. It was somewhat cool and started to sprinkle, but it was lovely just as well.

Power was back on, but a torrential downpour came in around 4:00pm so we decided to stay in and make due with what leftovers we had. From the night before we brought out our ribs, baguette from our welcome basket as well as the mango and pineapple, funyuns from my own stash and wafers for desert. Not 5*, but great atmosphere and company!

June 24 - Today we headed to Hacienda Baru. After a stop for a tasty breakfast at Deliosa we made our way there. There are just a few cabinas set on nice property, gift shop, restaurant, etc. There are a few trails and we decided to take one part way (omitting the steep part) and then back again to the beach. The trails were pretty, lots of swampy areas with dragonflies, and we ran into a troop of Capuchin's that we watched and took pics of for quite sometime until they started throwing nuts and branches at us. :-) The beach was very nice, if not deserted. The water was toasty, but not swim because of riptides. I was determined to get some sun here and laid out on the sand while Pasha spotted her first sloth! She was so excited and it was a big one too, up in the tree eating and lounging. After the hike back we wandered through the butterfly farm. Tried, unsuccessfully, to get some morpho pics. The cafe there was quiet so we headed into town to Tulu for lunch. It was a good place for lunch, I mean, I never did have any bad meals for sure. Back at the rancho some more relaxing and down time in the afternoon.

That night we decided to have a cocktail at xxxx (can't remember the name, will have to post back) where they offer a wonderful view of the sunset. The restaurant and menu looked fancy, but we had already decided to eat at Soda La Mancho, a tico owned place, which was the best decision! The arroz con camorones jumbo was spectacular and lots of fresh grilled veggies to go with. Pasha's looked just as good so we were both happy and stuffed. By that time it was time to head back, finish laundry and packing so we could head out early the next day...

Yay, hip, you're hammering out your report! Keep it coming!

hip, I'm loving all the details. Those rainstorms are wonderful and cozy to me. I'm usually content to just stay in the room and watch them roll in. Funyuns! I haven't thought about those in years - must go find a bag now!

hip-no worries about the installments - i'm just fretting because i won't be able to go back this year. ;-) now that exams are over, i can finally read about something fun again.

Getting ready to continue on with our road trip to Bosque del Cabo. In the meantime here's a link to some of the photos taken this trip...still working on some captions.

http://picasaweb.google.com/storm.pura.vida

Love your great pictures, hip! Wow, Chin Chin (at BdC) has really grown since we were there! And those rafting photos - I definitely have no desire to do that!!

You are not off the hook getting the rest of that report written!

We have some of the same pics :D

Did we ever find out what that weird thing was on the pool deck at SFTS? I see you took a pic of it and still don't know what it is. Some type of carapice (sp?)