KARINKZ's Costa Rica Trip
Apr 13th, 2008, 09:25 AM
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KARINKZ's Costa Rica Trip
Hi Everyone--
Just a quick note to thank all of you who helped immensely with the planning of the spring break trip to Costa Rica with my family (me, my daughter & son-in-law, grandson (age 11), and granddaughter (age 9).
Considering that it was Easter weekend, and all the planes were packed, I'd say we really lucked out with our flights The day before we left, almost all the flights out of Chicago were cancelled because of a huge snowstorm. And now, AA (which we flew) has really made a mess with all their cancellations. However, everything went smoothly for us.
We all had a great time--admiring the Arenal volcano, zip-lining, hiking, soaking in numerous hot springs, taking a wildlife cruise, horseback riding, swimming beneath waterfalls, deep-sea fishing, nature walks, swimming & boogie-boarding in the ocean, and hanging out at the various pools. The only problem is that a week was not enough--but we packed in as much as we could without exhausting ourselves. The driving went OK, too, and we saw some gorgeous scenery.
I'll be posting a more detailed trip report shortly. Also looking forward to reading and comparing HipVirgoChick's report. She helped me a lot with suggestions, and was there right after we were.
Just a quick note to thank all of you who helped immensely with the planning of the spring break trip to Costa Rica with my family (me, my daughter & son-in-law, grandson (age 11), and granddaughter (age 9).
Considering that it was Easter weekend, and all the planes were packed, I'd say we really lucked out with our flights The day before we left, almost all the flights out of Chicago were cancelled because of a huge snowstorm. And now, AA (which we flew) has really made a mess with all their cancellations. However, everything went smoothly for us.
We all had a great time--admiring the Arenal volcano, zip-lining, hiking, soaking in numerous hot springs, taking a wildlife cruise, horseback riding, swimming beneath waterfalls, deep-sea fishing, nature walks, swimming & boogie-boarding in the ocean, and hanging out at the various pools. The only problem is that a week was not enough--but we packed in as much as we could without exhausting ourselves. The driving went OK, too, and we saw some gorgeous scenery.
I'll be posting a more detailed trip report shortly. Also looking forward to reading and comparing HipVirgoChick's report. She helped me a lot with suggestions, and was there right after we were.
Apr 15th, 2008, 12:32 PM
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Hi Everyone--I've finally got some of my trip report down on paper.
COSTA RICA 3/22-3/29/2008
INTRODUCTION
I had taken a tour to Costa Rica in 2004, which I really enjoyed. One afternoon there, at the pool of our hotel, I noticed a couple families with small children. Speaking to the parents, they said they were from the U.S., and had brought their children there on spring break. They wanted to expose them to more than Disney World—and the kids were having a ball. Since then, I always thought it would be fun to bring my grandchildren to Costa Rica one day. And—I thought that this year would be a good time—now that my grandchildren are ages 11 and 9. I knew their parents would enjoy it too, since they love the outdoors, swimming, camping, etc. With their OK, I began planning the trip the previous October.
A basic itinerary was the first decision to be made. Unfortunately, we only had one week. The kids might have missed a day or two of school, but my daughter is a first-year 3rd grade teacher, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate for her to miss any school days. Also, she wanted a day to unpack and get ready for school again on the return. Based on my previous experience in Costa Rica, I thought of splitting the time between Arenal, the Rincon de la Vieja area, and a beach. However, I decided to follow the very good advice of my Fodor friends and attempting only two locations: Arenal and Manuel Antonio Park.
Next decision was the flights. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use my frequent flyer mileage on United, so I began searching for a good fare. The cheapest I could find that didn’t involve outrageous travel times with overnight layovers was about $690 each on American Airlines. I selected the earliest flight (6AM) of the day, thinking that would have the least chance of a delay leaving Chicago. Going down, we would have a 2 hour layover in Dallas, then on to Liberia, arriving at 1:15PM—hopefully in plenty of time to drive to our first hotel, near Arenal. I had decided to fly into Liberia, thinking it was closer to Arenal (it might have been—but the drive was probably longer), and fly out of San Jose. But price and time of arrival were also factors. On the way back, the best/cheapest route I could find left San Jose at 7AM, with a 2+ hr layover in Miami, and then a 50 min layover in St. Louis. The short layover in St. Louis made me nervous, but there were later flights that we might catch if we missed the connection—and I figured that, if worst came to worst, we could always rent a car and drive back to Chicago!
Next: the rental car. Several people on Fodor’s had recommended Tricolor, so I checked out their website, and then called. I reserved a NissanXTrail$4X4Automatic—large enough for the 5 of us plus luggage. I was well aware of Costa Rica’s rough roads from my previous trip. So knew a rugged vehicle was best. The cost was $60 per day—plus a $45 drop off fee (for leaving the car in San Jose). Looking at my credit card slip just now, I realize we were overcharged a bit. We took the car with ¼ tank of gas, and returned It with ½ tank. However, they charged us $10 for gas—not giving us credit for any gas in the tank! When we turned in the car, I was so tired that I didn’t notice this. Hopefully, it was inadvertent on their part. Later, I called and reserved a GPS—again on the advice of a Fodorite. That was $11 per day, with a $400 deposit. We sure weren’t going to leave that GPS unit unattended! I had no problem reserving the car, but some difficulty in getting any sort of written confirmation from them. They didn’t answer Emails requesting this, and evidently couldn’t understand my Email address over the phone, and I also couldn’t understand theirs! I was finally able to reach them by Email and received a very informal confirmation in return. They had a difficult time even locating my reservation, because the spelling of my name had been mangled so badly.
OK—now for the hard part—the hotels. It was early November when I turned my attention to this. Between advice from my Fodor’s friends and lots of research at www.TripAdvisor.com, I was able to make the needed reservations at my chosen, kid-friendly, hotels: Los Lagos near Arenal for 3 nights, Costa Verde at Manuel Antonio for 3 nights, and a final night at Orquideas Inn near the San Jose airport. I reserved two units for the 5 of us at the first two hotels, and one large room at the Orquideas.
The only thing left to do was to plan some activities. I made a list of possible activities & tour companies for each day, and then decided to make reservations for some of them since we would be at Arenal at a busy time—Easter weekend. So, I made reservations over the Internet for SkyTrek ziplining, Tabacon Hot Springs, and the Cano Negro Wildlife cruise. I didn’t make any reservations at Manuel Antonio, because my son-in-law and grandson wanted to go deep-sea fishing, but didn’t want to make the reservations ahead, since it was so expensive. So, I postponed other reservations as well in order to give them more flexibility. Now—we just had to wait with mounting anticipation.
To be continued.....
COSTA RICA 3/22-3/29/2008
INTRODUCTION
I had taken a tour to Costa Rica in 2004, which I really enjoyed. One afternoon there, at the pool of our hotel, I noticed a couple families with small children. Speaking to the parents, they said they were from the U.S., and had brought their children there on spring break. They wanted to expose them to more than Disney World—and the kids were having a ball. Since then, I always thought it would be fun to bring my grandchildren to Costa Rica one day. And—I thought that this year would be a good time—now that my grandchildren are ages 11 and 9. I knew their parents would enjoy it too, since they love the outdoors, swimming, camping, etc. With their OK, I began planning the trip the previous October.
A basic itinerary was the first decision to be made. Unfortunately, we only had one week. The kids might have missed a day or two of school, but my daughter is a first-year 3rd grade teacher, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate for her to miss any school days. Also, she wanted a day to unpack and get ready for school again on the return. Based on my previous experience in Costa Rica, I thought of splitting the time between Arenal, the Rincon de la Vieja area, and a beach. However, I decided to follow the very good advice of my Fodor friends and attempting only two locations: Arenal and Manuel Antonio Park.
Next decision was the flights. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use my frequent flyer mileage on United, so I began searching for a good fare. The cheapest I could find that didn’t involve outrageous travel times with overnight layovers was about $690 each on American Airlines. I selected the earliest flight (6AM) of the day, thinking that would have the least chance of a delay leaving Chicago. Going down, we would have a 2 hour layover in Dallas, then on to Liberia, arriving at 1:15PM—hopefully in plenty of time to drive to our first hotel, near Arenal. I had decided to fly into Liberia, thinking it was closer to Arenal (it might have been—but the drive was probably longer), and fly out of San Jose. But price and time of arrival were also factors. On the way back, the best/cheapest route I could find left San Jose at 7AM, with a 2+ hr layover in Miami, and then a 50 min layover in St. Louis. The short layover in St. Louis made me nervous, but there were later flights that we might catch if we missed the connection—and I figured that, if worst came to worst, we could always rent a car and drive back to Chicago!
Next: the rental car. Several people on Fodor’s had recommended Tricolor, so I checked out their website, and then called. I reserved a NissanXTrail$4X4Automatic—large enough for the 5 of us plus luggage. I was well aware of Costa Rica’s rough roads from my previous trip. So knew a rugged vehicle was best. The cost was $60 per day—plus a $45 drop off fee (for leaving the car in San Jose). Looking at my credit card slip just now, I realize we were overcharged a bit. We took the car with ¼ tank of gas, and returned It with ½ tank. However, they charged us $10 for gas—not giving us credit for any gas in the tank! When we turned in the car, I was so tired that I didn’t notice this. Hopefully, it was inadvertent on their part. Later, I called and reserved a GPS—again on the advice of a Fodorite. That was $11 per day, with a $400 deposit. We sure weren’t going to leave that GPS unit unattended! I had no problem reserving the car, but some difficulty in getting any sort of written confirmation from them. They didn’t answer Emails requesting this, and evidently couldn’t understand my Email address over the phone, and I also couldn’t understand theirs! I was finally able to reach them by Email and received a very informal confirmation in return. They had a difficult time even locating my reservation, because the spelling of my name had been mangled so badly.
OK—now for the hard part—the hotels. It was early November when I turned my attention to this. Between advice from my Fodor’s friends and lots of research at www.TripAdvisor.com, I was able to make the needed reservations at my chosen, kid-friendly, hotels: Los Lagos near Arenal for 3 nights, Costa Verde at Manuel Antonio for 3 nights, and a final night at Orquideas Inn near the San Jose airport. I reserved two units for the 5 of us at the first two hotels, and one large room at the Orquideas.
The only thing left to do was to plan some activities. I made a list of possible activities & tour companies for each day, and then decided to make reservations for some of them since we would be at Arenal at a busy time—Easter weekend. So, I made reservations over the Internet for SkyTrek ziplining, Tabacon Hot Springs, and the Cano Negro Wildlife cruise. I didn’t make any reservations at Manuel Antonio, because my son-in-law and grandson wanted to go deep-sea fishing, but didn’t want to make the reservations ahead, since it was so expensive. So, I postponed other reservations as well in order to give them more flexibility. Now—we just had to wait with mounting anticipation.
To be continued.....
Apr 17th, 2008, 11:25 AM
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Saturday, 3/22 Chicago to Arenal
We left the house at 2:45AM in order to arrive at O’Hare 2 hours before our 6AM flight. It wasn’t easy getting out that early! We were very apprehensive because almost all the flights out of O’Hare the previous day had been cancelled due to a major late-season snowstorm. And our long driveway had only been plowed out about 4 hours earlier! We were more than ready for a warm weather vacation. I expected to find a big backlog of passengers at the terminal, but, at least around the AA counters, all was quiet. Things went smoothly at check in and security. The only problem was the bottle of Purell (maybe it was slightly over 3oz) they confiscated from my daughter at security—even though it was in her 1 qt baggie. When my husband flew out of O’Hare a couple weeks earlier, they had confiscated a jar of peanut butter from his carryon. Of course, he had to make a smart comment about “the dreaded peanut butter bomb”. Luckily, they didn’t detain him! Anyway, we were at our gate by 4:30 for our 6AM flight.
The flight was just a few minutes late departing after de-icing, and we arrived in Dallas on schedule. The plane (an S80?) was really spartan—no TV screens, no music, no food, no headrest covers. We napped for much of the time anyway. In Dallas, we boarded on time for our 10:20AM flight, but then sat at the gate for 45 mins while they changed a tire. A passenger in back of us loudly complained to the patient FA about the delay. However, I thought it fairly minor—and was glad they discovered the bad tire, even if it should have been noticed before the final flight check. This plane (a 737) was a little nicer than the previous one. At least there was music, free headphones, and some TV shows on the overhead screens. They even served lunch! I had called ahead to reserve a gluten-free meal, because I had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease a month earlier, which means I can eat no wheat, rye, barley, soy sauce, etc. However, the FA said there was no special meal for me. She investigated, and learned that they don’t serve special meals on flights shorter than about 6 hrs. Gee—that was good of AA to tell me that when I called. Of course, I couldn’t eat much of the lunch, because pasta and unknown sauces are out. But, I had an apple and some trail mix, which I had brought as backup.
We didn’t make up any time, and arrived in Liberia an hour late—at 2:15PM. A couple other flights arrived at the same time, and there was a mob of people waiting for immigration, and no discernible lines. Of course, we picked a semi-line that hardly moved, but finally changed our location and cleared immigration. Then we collected our luggage and located the guy outside from Tricolor car rental agency holding up a sign with a name similar to mine. He said our car would be there in about 10 minutes. In the meantime, we used the ATM (I changed about $100), and waited at least a half hour. Finally our car arrived, but it turned out not to be “our” car, but a ride to their agency office. At the office, we filled out a lot of paperwork, and collected our car and the GPS we had rented. They rummaged through a few drawers before finding a GPS for us. They couldn’t really show us how it worked, but, luckily my son-in-law, the designated driver, was able to figure it out eventually. The car they gave us was not the Nissan X-Trail that I had reserved, but some sort of Suzuki—which they said was an upgrade. Hmm—maybe. It was large enough for us and our luggage, but pretty beat up. I took the extra precaution of taking photos of all the dents and scratches in case there was any question later.
Finally, we were on the road about 4PM, and stopped in Liberia for gas and some bottled water. I had warned everyone about NEVER leaving anything in the car unattended, and also about the “slashed tire” scam. So, we kept an eye on things—even at the gas station. It cost $48 for ¾ tank of gas. We knew the drive was 3-3 ½ hours, so we didn’t have a lot of time before it got dark. Besides the GPS, I had some “mapquest” type directions, plus written directions from Fodorites, and a good map. However, my daughter had packed the map away somewhere. We went along nicely on the Pan-American Highway until we almost reached Canas, where my directions said to turn off toward Arenal. I had originally hoped to stop at a cat sanctuary in Canas, but knew we didn’t have the time. However, the GPS told us to turn before Canas—on Hwy 6. What to do? I told John that it was his decision since he was the driver, so he chose to follow the GPS. Then the GPS had us turn onto a dirt road that was pretty rough! We really seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, on some god-awful, bone-jarring cow tracks. But, anyway, the scenery was beautiful. We finally stopped, and I had my daughter dig out the good map, so we had some idea where we were. Then, we forged on, following the GPS, and it did take us eventually to Hwy 142—the main road around Lake Arenal. I think we would have been better off turning onto Hwy 142 in Canas. The sun set shortly after 6, while we were driving down the east side of the lake, and I had to stop a couple time for photos. It was amazing how quickly it got dark after that. As Arenal volcano came into view, we could even spot some orange lava spilling down the side of the cone. We soon crossed a long bridge (I think it was the one on top of the dam), which was crowded with people sitting along both sides with lawn chairs, blankets, grills--and even an occasional bonfire. It was the day before Easter, and I thought they must be waiting for a fireworks display. Later we found out that the fireworks display they were waiting for was a natural one from the volcano! Evidently, the locals like to gather there to socialize, watch the lava etc. We should have stopped to watch the lava too, but we were really exhausted by that time, and still had a fairly long drive.
We finally reached our hotel, Los Lagos, a little after 7PM. There were lots more papers to sign, and deposits for the room, room keys, safe deposit box keys, pool towels—with cards to be exchanged for the actual towels. They gave us a map of the grounds—and showed us where our units were—in a building about halfway up the hill. In the dark, we drove around in circles a couple times before finding our building. Our rooms were adjoining in an 8 unit building—4 units up and 4 units down. The rooms were quite large with a balcony in the back with, weather permitting, a great view of the volcano. However, the lava flow is currently on the other side of the mountain, so we couldn’t see that. The rooms had 2 queen beds plus 2 single trundle beds that pulled out from the foot of the queens—so that the room could have easily held 6 people. There was also a cable TV, mini-frig, coffee pot, a big area to set suitcases on top of low shelving units, a closet with lots of hangers, safe deposit box, bathroom with tub and shower and large vanity sink. Very well laid out. My 11 year old grandson elected to share a room with me, and he expressed his pleasure at having his own bed—because he and his sister usually have to share when they travel.
We quickly stowed our luggage, and decided to stay at the hotel for dinner, since we were all so beat from our very long day. Also, I felt a cold coming on that I had probably caught from my husband, who had come home from golfing in Florida with a bad cold and no voice. At the restaurant, I showed them the card I had printed out in Spanish which explained my gluten-free dietary needs. The waiter conferred with the cook and was able to recommend some dishes that were wheat-free. I had tilapia au gratin with an avocado sauce (delicious) and the adults shared a bottle of wine. Everyone’s food was good, if a little expensive. By this time, my head felt like a pumpkin. Back at the room, I refrained from falling into bed promptly and took a little time to get organized. Tomorrow would be a busy day.
We left the house at 2:45AM in order to arrive at O’Hare 2 hours before our 6AM flight. It wasn’t easy getting out that early! We were very apprehensive because almost all the flights out of O’Hare the previous day had been cancelled due to a major late-season snowstorm. And our long driveway had only been plowed out about 4 hours earlier! We were more than ready for a warm weather vacation. I expected to find a big backlog of passengers at the terminal, but, at least around the AA counters, all was quiet. Things went smoothly at check in and security. The only problem was the bottle of Purell (maybe it was slightly over 3oz) they confiscated from my daughter at security—even though it was in her 1 qt baggie. When my husband flew out of O’Hare a couple weeks earlier, they had confiscated a jar of peanut butter from his carryon. Of course, he had to make a smart comment about “the dreaded peanut butter bomb”. Luckily, they didn’t detain him! Anyway, we were at our gate by 4:30 for our 6AM flight.
The flight was just a few minutes late departing after de-icing, and we arrived in Dallas on schedule. The plane (an S80?) was really spartan—no TV screens, no music, no food, no headrest covers. We napped for much of the time anyway. In Dallas, we boarded on time for our 10:20AM flight, but then sat at the gate for 45 mins while they changed a tire. A passenger in back of us loudly complained to the patient FA about the delay. However, I thought it fairly minor—and was glad they discovered the bad tire, even if it should have been noticed before the final flight check. This plane (a 737) was a little nicer than the previous one. At least there was music, free headphones, and some TV shows on the overhead screens. They even served lunch! I had called ahead to reserve a gluten-free meal, because I had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease a month earlier, which means I can eat no wheat, rye, barley, soy sauce, etc. However, the FA said there was no special meal for me. She investigated, and learned that they don’t serve special meals on flights shorter than about 6 hrs. Gee—that was good of AA to tell me that when I called. Of course, I couldn’t eat much of the lunch, because pasta and unknown sauces are out. But, I had an apple and some trail mix, which I had brought as backup.
We didn’t make up any time, and arrived in Liberia an hour late—at 2:15PM. A couple other flights arrived at the same time, and there was a mob of people waiting for immigration, and no discernible lines. Of course, we picked a semi-line that hardly moved, but finally changed our location and cleared immigration. Then we collected our luggage and located the guy outside from Tricolor car rental agency holding up a sign with a name similar to mine. He said our car would be there in about 10 minutes. In the meantime, we used the ATM (I changed about $100), and waited at least a half hour. Finally our car arrived, but it turned out not to be “our” car, but a ride to their agency office. At the office, we filled out a lot of paperwork, and collected our car and the GPS we had rented. They rummaged through a few drawers before finding a GPS for us. They couldn’t really show us how it worked, but, luckily my son-in-law, the designated driver, was able to figure it out eventually. The car they gave us was not the Nissan X-Trail that I had reserved, but some sort of Suzuki—which they said was an upgrade. Hmm—maybe. It was large enough for us and our luggage, but pretty beat up. I took the extra precaution of taking photos of all the dents and scratches in case there was any question later.
Finally, we were on the road about 4PM, and stopped in Liberia for gas and some bottled water. I had warned everyone about NEVER leaving anything in the car unattended, and also about the “slashed tire” scam. So, we kept an eye on things—even at the gas station. It cost $48 for ¾ tank of gas. We knew the drive was 3-3 ½ hours, so we didn’t have a lot of time before it got dark. Besides the GPS, I had some “mapquest” type directions, plus written directions from Fodorites, and a good map. However, my daughter had packed the map away somewhere. We went along nicely on the Pan-American Highway until we almost reached Canas, where my directions said to turn off toward Arenal. I had originally hoped to stop at a cat sanctuary in Canas, but knew we didn’t have the time. However, the GPS told us to turn before Canas—on Hwy 6. What to do? I told John that it was his decision since he was the driver, so he chose to follow the GPS. Then the GPS had us turn onto a dirt road that was pretty rough! We really seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, on some god-awful, bone-jarring cow tracks. But, anyway, the scenery was beautiful. We finally stopped, and I had my daughter dig out the good map, so we had some idea where we were. Then, we forged on, following the GPS, and it did take us eventually to Hwy 142—the main road around Lake Arenal. I think we would have been better off turning onto Hwy 142 in Canas. The sun set shortly after 6, while we were driving down the east side of the lake, and I had to stop a couple time for photos. It was amazing how quickly it got dark after that. As Arenal volcano came into view, we could even spot some orange lava spilling down the side of the cone. We soon crossed a long bridge (I think it was the one on top of the dam), which was crowded with people sitting along both sides with lawn chairs, blankets, grills--and even an occasional bonfire. It was the day before Easter, and I thought they must be waiting for a fireworks display. Later we found out that the fireworks display they were waiting for was a natural one from the volcano! Evidently, the locals like to gather there to socialize, watch the lava etc. We should have stopped to watch the lava too, but we were really exhausted by that time, and still had a fairly long drive.
We finally reached our hotel, Los Lagos, a little after 7PM. There were lots more papers to sign, and deposits for the room, room keys, safe deposit box keys, pool towels—with cards to be exchanged for the actual towels. They gave us a map of the grounds—and showed us where our units were—in a building about halfway up the hill. In the dark, we drove around in circles a couple times before finding our building. Our rooms were adjoining in an 8 unit building—4 units up and 4 units down. The rooms were quite large with a balcony in the back with, weather permitting, a great view of the volcano. However, the lava flow is currently on the other side of the mountain, so we couldn’t see that. The rooms had 2 queen beds plus 2 single trundle beds that pulled out from the foot of the queens—so that the room could have easily held 6 people. There was also a cable TV, mini-frig, coffee pot, a big area to set suitcases on top of low shelving units, a closet with lots of hangers, safe deposit box, bathroom with tub and shower and large vanity sink. Very well laid out. My 11 year old grandson elected to share a room with me, and he expressed his pleasure at having his own bed—because he and his sister usually have to share when they travel.
We quickly stowed our luggage, and decided to stay at the hotel for dinner, since we were all so beat from our very long day. Also, I felt a cold coming on that I had probably caught from my husband, who had come home from golfing in Florida with a bad cold and no voice. At the restaurant, I showed them the card I had printed out in Spanish which explained my gluten-free dietary needs. The waiter conferred with the cook and was able to recommend some dishes that were wheat-free. I had tilapia au gratin with an avocado sauce (delicious) and the adults shared a bottle of wine. Everyone’s food was good, if a little expensive. By this time, my head felt like a pumpkin. Back at the room, I refrained from falling into bed promptly and took a little time to get organized. Tomorrow would be a busy day.
Apr 17th, 2008, 12:47 PM
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Your initial driving experience in the country sounds a lot like some of ours! It's always an adventure and we always get a bit lost once or twice, but overall we really enjoy it!
Very cool that you caught the lava flow on your way into Arenal! That's something I've yet to see (the volcano was clouded over each night of our visit...).
I hope you didn't come down with a full fledged cold. That's never a fun thing to deal with when on vacation!
Very cool that you caught the lava flow on your way into Arenal! That's something I've yet to see (the volcano was clouded over each night of our visit...).
I hope you didn't come down with a full fledged cold. That's never a fun thing to deal with when on vacation!
Apr 17th, 2008, 02:01 PM
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karinkz,
Wow! What an arrival day. I can feel your exhaustion just reading. But also jealous--I love Costa Rican exhaustion! LOL!
I think it's so cool that you took your grandkids. I hope our granddaughter will still want to go with us when she is older. We take her every year now and she is 3. She knows her butterflies!
Wow! What an arrival day. I can feel your exhaustion just reading. But also jealous--I love Costa Rican exhaustion! LOL!
I think it's so cool that you took your grandkids. I hope our granddaughter will still want to go with us when she is older. We take her every year now and she is 3. She knows her butterflies!
Apr 18th, 2008, 03:18 PM
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Cmerrel--How many time have you been to Arenal without seeing the lava flow? What a bummer! I do wish we had taken the time to stop and watch the lava for awhile, for, little did we know, that was our last opportunity. My cold did get worse, but I didn't feel terrible--but I almost lost my voice. It was strange trying to talk to people with a croaking voice.
Shillmac--If I'm going to be exhausted, I rather do it in Costa Rica than anywhere else! I'm sure your granddaughter will love Costa Rica as she grows older. We met a little 6 yr old on the horseback riding trip whose father had been bringing her every year, and she told us all about how much she just LOVED Costa Rica. So cute.
SiteC--we swam under the large LaFortuna waterfall (details in the next installment) and a little waterfall near MA--on our horseback riding tour.
Shillmac--If I'm going to be exhausted, I rather do it in Costa Rica than anywhere else! I'm sure your granddaughter will love Costa Rica as she grows older. We met a little 6 yr old on the horseback riding trip whose father had been bringing her every year, and she told us all about how much she just LOVED Costa Rica. So cute.
SiteC--we swam under the large LaFortuna waterfall (details in the next installment) and a little waterfall near MA--on our horseback riding tour.
Apr 19th, 2008, 07:07 AM
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I've only been to the Arenal area once, karinkz (I've just visited CR twice...so far). We had 3 nights there and then moved on to MA. We did have one nice, clear afternoon where we got to see the entire volcano. It is such an impressive sight! Unfortunately, by sunset the cloud cover had rolled back in with a vengeance. It was sort of overcast and drizzly for much of our visit to the region, but I loved it there! I definitely plan to get back for another crack at the lava flow.
That's neat that your granddaughter knows her butterflies, shillmac! As a young child, I used to know my trout and the various flies used to catch them (my dad is an <i>avid</i> fly-fisherman!).
For SiteC-er:
You can also swim at Los Chorros falls just outside of Alajuela on the way to Grecia and Sarchi, if you plan to stay in the Central Valley for a few days...
That's neat that your granddaughter knows her butterflies, shillmac! As a young child, I used to know my trout and the various flies used to catch them (my dad is an <i>avid</i> fly-fisherman!).
For SiteC-er:
You can also swim at Los Chorros falls just outside of Alajuela on the way to Grecia and Sarchi, if you plan to stay in the Central Valley for a few days...
Apr 22nd, 2008, 10:01 AM
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Easter Sunday, 3/23 Arenal
I awoke at 6:30 after a good night’s sleep—ready to go. Thought I’d make a pot of coffee—but discovered that there was no coffee—just the pot. Later, we learned that you have to buy coffee packs from the gift shop. Oh well. There was a stunning view of Arenal Volcano from our balcony, so we spent some time admiring that. Then, John, the kids and I went down to breakfast (included). My daughter doesn’t eat breakfast—she just wanted us to bring back a Diet Coke for her. Breakfast was great—lots of fresh fruits, breads, cereal, scrambled eggs, rice & beans, sausages, and made-to-order omelets and pancakes. I had to pass up the pancakes, unfortunately (no wheat allowed). However, I had plenty to choose from without resorting to the gluten-free granola I had brought along. Because it was Easter, Stacy had brought along chocolate bunnies for the kids.
After breakfast, we got into our swimsuits, and drove down to the pool area. Our rooms were up a steep hill—which would have been OK going down, but quite a climb back up. Thank goodness we had a car! Usually, you can call for a shuttle from your room, but all the telephones were inoperative because the country was expanding everyone’s telephone numbers. So, they had the shuttle driving around the resort, but you knew it would never be there when you needed it. At the pool, we went immediately to try to get pool towels with the cards given us. The hotel has a good system—you put a deposit down for a pool towel card, exchange that for a towel, and then get the pool card back when you finally turn in your towel (you can exchange it for a fresh one as often as needed), and turn in the card at checkout to get your deposit back. As I recall, it was a fairly hefty deposit, so everyone was very careful with their towels. I think it was good, because there wasn’t a bunch of old towels just lying around from people who had left the pool and not bothered to properly dispose of them. However, we hadn’t realized that the towel vendor did not open until 10AM, or we would have picked up our towels the previous evening. We discovered that the water was so warm, though, that we really didn’t need towels to hop from one pool to another. There were about eight pools in all—a large cool water swimming pool with a loooong water slide, a warm water swimming pool with a swim up bar and a shorter water slide—plus a children’s shallow wading pool at one end. Then, there were about six other small soaking pools with varying degrees of heat scattered up the hill. The landscaping was just beautiful. Before I even got in the pools, I took my camera to explore the other side of the road—the crocodile pool, butterfly farm, and frog pond. There were 2 or 3 large crocs that looked pretty mean—and luckily the pond was enclosed by a heavy wire fence. The little butterfly enclosure didn’t have a lot of butterflies, but I got a few good photos. I didn’t see too many frogs. It was very pretty in that area, though, with some gorgeous flowers and plants. It was almost 10, so I went back to the pools and began trying them out. Very nice. The kids were having a blast on the water slides.
We reluctantly left the pool and changed to drive to our 11:30 reservation at Sky Trek/Sky Tram zip-lines ($66 for adults, $42 for kids). It is located on the other side of the volcano from Los Lagos—on the road to Arenal Observatory Lodge. We allowed 45 minutes to drive there; it took about 30 minutes. The road around the backside of Arenal was pretty rough! After checking in, paying, and getting suited up with harnesses, helmets, hooks, etc., we watched a few people from an earlier group on the lines. It looked pretty scary with very long lines. My granddaughter, Paige, age 9, was really frightened. We told her that one of the guides would go with her if she wanted. I suppose, if worse came to worse, I would just stay with her and skip the zips (I had experienced it once before on my previous trip). We took the sky tram up to the top of the mountain—with gorgeous views of Lake Arenal on the way up. The guides demonstrated how we were to position ourselves on the zip lines (laying back, with knees up and ankles crossed to minimize wind resistance), how to “land” (uncross our feet and spread our legs to slow down), and what to do if we stopped before getting to the platform (turn around and pull ourselves along hand over hand). I was proud of Paige, because she agreed to go first on the short “practice” line—and by herself! The next line was really long—I could barely see the other end. Paige went with a guide on this one and all the others until the final line. Ryan (my 11 yr old grandson) went next, and didn’t quite make it to the next platform, so had to pull himself along the line. Ditto for me, but Stacy & John made it across OK. Then it was one line after another. As soon as we got to one platform, they sent us off on another line. They had told me I could take my camera, which I had on a strap around my neck. On the first long zip, however, it was flying around pretty wildly, and I was just lucky the strap didn’t break or it would have been the end for that camera. Then, I unbuttoned my shirt and tucked it inside. There really wasn’t the opportunity to take any photos until I was finished. On the last zip, I asked to go first, so I could take photos of my family as they came across. Of course, a professional photographer was there too. He got decent photos of all of us except my daughter—his camera malfunctioned! So that was a disappointment. I told them she should be allowed to go through the course again so we could get that photo! Just kidding, of course. Everyone enjoyed this experience—and my grandkids usually mention it as their favorite activity on the trip!
While waiting for the photos to be developed, we walked down a short path to their butterfly garden. As I walked through the screened entrance area, a blue butterfly escaped. Drat! The caretaker said it was OK. He was very enthusiastic about showing us his butterflies, pupa, and explaining all about the life cycle of the butterfly. It was just happenstance that we went there, but we all enjoyed it.
After collecting our photos, we were all ready for lunch. There is a small lunch spot at Sky Trek, but they just had hot dogs, and a couple types of sandwiches. Nothing looked appealing, so we got in our car and went in search of something to eat before heading for La Fortuna Waterfall, which we thought was nearby. We followed the signs for a steakhouse, which turned out to be the restaurant at the Linda Vista hotel. The prices were high, the food was average, but the view of the volcano and Lake Arenal were top notch. Afterward, we considered continuing on to Arenal Observatory Lodge—just to see where it was, in case we wanted to go there for dinner and to see the lava flow on our last night. However, lunch had taken a long time. We learned from the desk clerk that, to reach the waterfall, we would have to go back around the mountain and through the town of La Fortuna. If we had known this, we would have just stopped in a “soda” in La Fortuna for lunch—but we did enjoy that view!
So off we went. The signage was good, and we had no trouble locating it, but It was after 3:30 by the time we paid our $6 entrance fees. First, we changed into our swimsuits in a changing room there. Near the top of the steps descending to the waterfall, we met quite a few people who had just returned. Their huffing and puffing was not encouraging, but I had been forewarned that the climb was long and steep. I sent the young’uns on ahead, and just took my time descending—and all was well. There were several hundred steps, I estimate, of varying heights and widths, so you really had to watch your footing. It took me about 15-20 minutes. The waterfall was just gorgeous! There were lots of teenage girls in bikinis swimming in the pool underneath—they were on a school trip from the U.S. (In my day, we were lucky to get a field trip to our state capitol). To reach the pool you had to climb over a lot of boulders, and they said the water was really cold, so I elected to stay on the platform, take photos, and keep an eye on the backpacks. My granddaughter, Paige, was having a whiny spell because her new swimsuit was too big, so Stacy told her to just swim in her clothes. That didn’t satisfy her either, but finally my daughter was able to tie the swimsuit top a little tighter. Luckily, that was the only meltdown on the entire trip. So, they all swam for a little while, and then we walked to a spot downriver where I could get my feet wet. It was almost 5, and we had a reservation for Tabacon Hot Springs tonight for 6-10, so we really had to get moving. Of course, the climb back up was pretty grueling, especially since the cold I was developing was getting worse, and my voice was going. Finally back at the gift shop area, I treated everyone to ice cream bars—and I bought a bottle of iced tea with peach, which I had heard was pretty good (it was).
On the way back through La Fortuna, I needed to stop at an Internet Café to send an Email home, notifying them of our safe arrival. While I did that, the kids went to a market to buy some water and a few snacks for our drive to Manuel Antonio. There were about 15 computers in the place, and they were all taken! And there were two other people waiting. So, I despaired of being able to get off that Email, but I finally got a computer, and was just finishing up my Email when the kids returned. As we drove back to our hotel, we noticed that the volcano was beginning to cloud over—and we never caught sight of it again during our stay!
At our hotel we dropped off our daypacks and picked up the things we needed at Tabacon—water shoes for the pebbly pool bottoms, etc. Tabacon wasn’t far from Los Lagos, but trying to find a place to park was interesting. We were directed out of the hotel parking lot down the highway, then across it to the back of a vacant lot. However, we didn’t have to pay for parking, and I’m not sure how we escaped having to pay a couple thousand colons to a car “guard”. By, the way, when we reached our hotel the previous day, we took in the GPS and locked it up in our room safe for the duration of our stay. We knew not to leave anything of value in the car. It was about 7PM by the time we arrived at the desk to check in. Because we had a reservation, we were able to get in ahead of a rather long line of people paying at the door. They had the same towel system as Los Lagos re towels—you pay a deposit for a card to get a towel, then reverse the process at the end to get your deposit back. Unfortunately, however, they were out of dry owels! “Come back in an hour”. Our first stop was the swim-up bar, since it was definitely time for a drink. John got a little irritated with the bartenders, because it took quite awhile for them to take our order. Stacy & I decided to try the mango daiquiris. They were OK, but tasted more like smoothies. We couldn’t taste the rum, even after they put another shot in. Later, I switched to a marguerita, which was definitely better. With our drinks in hand, we scampered from one hot spring to another, so that we didn’t get too chilled in between without any towels to wrap around us. According to the map they gave us, there are 7 river pools plus a regular swimming pool with the bar and a water slide. The slide was fairly short, but Stacy said it really shot you out at the bottom. One of the larger pools had a waterfall across the back, and you could actually go behind the falls to sit. Except for the waterfall, I didn’t think Tabacon had any advantage over the hot spring pools at Los Lagos. I couldn’t really compare the landscaping, because it was so dark at Tabacon that I really couldn’t see much of it. After 90 mins., it was time to get dressed for our dinner reservation (included in the cost of our pass: $60 for adults, $35 for kids) at 8:45. The buffet was Mexican and it was pretty good. On the extensive dessert table, the only thing my diet allowed me was the rice pudding—but there was none left. However, a waiter managed to find another one in the kitchen and brought it to our table.
Back to our rooms by 10, we all fell into bed. It had been a very full day, and tomorrow we had an early pickup time for our Sunset Rio Negro tour.
I awoke at 6:30 after a good night’s sleep—ready to go. Thought I’d make a pot of coffee—but discovered that there was no coffee—just the pot. Later, we learned that you have to buy coffee packs from the gift shop. Oh well. There was a stunning view of Arenal Volcano from our balcony, so we spent some time admiring that. Then, John, the kids and I went down to breakfast (included). My daughter doesn’t eat breakfast—she just wanted us to bring back a Diet Coke for her. Breakfast was great—lots of fresh fruits, breads, cereal, scrambled eggs, rice & beans, sausages, and made-to-order omelets and pancakes. I had to pass up the pancakes, unfortunately (no wheat allowed). However, I had plenty to choose from without resorting to the gluten-free granola I had brought along. Because it was Easter, Stacy had brought along chocolate bunnies for the kids.
After breakfast, we got into our swimsuits, and drove down to the pool area. Our rooms were up a steep hill—which would have been OK going down, but quite a climb back up. Thank goodness we had a car! Usually, you can call for a shuttle from your room, but all the telephones were inoperative because the country was expanding everyone’s telephone numbers. So, they had the shuttle driving around the resort, but you knew it would never be there when you needed it. At the pool, we went immediately to try to get pool towels with the cards given us. The hotel has a good system—you put a deposit down for a pool towel card, exchange that for a towel, and then get the pool card back when you finally turn in your towel (you can exchange it for a fresh one as often as needed), and turn in the card at checkout to get your deposit back. As I recall, it was a fairly hefty deposit, so everyone was very careful with their towels. I think it was good, because there wasn’t a bunch of old towels just lying around from people who had left the pool and not bothered to properly dispose of them. However, we hadn’t realized that the towel vendor did not open until 10AM, or we would have picked up our towels the previous evening. We discovered that the water was so warm, though, that we really didn’t need towels to hop from one pool to another. There were about eight pools in all—a large cool water swimming pool with a loooong water slide, a warm water swimming pool with a swim up bar and a shorter water slide—plus a children’s shallow wading pool at one end. Then, there were about six other small soaking pools with varying degrees of heat scattered up the hill. The landscaping was just beautiful. Before I even got in the pools, I took my camera to explore the other side of the road—the crocodile pool, butterfly farm, and frog pond. There were 2 or 3 large crocs that looked pretty mean—and luckily the pond was enclosed by a heavy wire fence. The little butterfly enclosure didn’t have a lot of butterflies, but I got a few good photos. I didn’t see too many frogs. It was very pretty in that area, though, with some gorgeous flowers and plants. It was almost 10, so I went back to the pools and began trying them out. Very nice. The kids were having a blast on the water slides.
We reluctantly left the pool and changed to drive to our 11:30 reservation at Sky Trek/Sky Tram zip-lines ($66 for adults, $42 for kids). It is located on the other side of the volcano from Los Lagos—on the road to Arenal Observatory Lodge. We allowed 45 minutes to drive there; it took about 30 minutes. The road around the backside of Arenal was pretty rough! After checking in, paying, and getting suited up with harnesses, helmets, hooks, etc., we watched a few people from an earlier group on the lines. It looked pretty scary with very long lines. My granddaughter, Paige, age 9, was really frightened. We told her that one of the guides would go with her if she wanted. I suppose, if worse came to worse, I would just stay with her and skip the zips (I had experienced it once before on my previous trip). We took the sky tram up to the top of the mountain—with gorgeous views of Lake Arenal on the way up. The guides demonstrated how we were to position ourselves on the zip lines (laying back, with knees up and ankles crossed to minimize wind resistance), how to “land” (uncross our feet and spread our legs to slow down), and what to do if we stopped before getting to the platform (turn around and pull ourselves along hand over hand). I was proud of Paige, because she agreed to go first on the short “practice” line—and by herself! The next line was really long—I could barely see the other end. Paige went with a guide on this one and all the others until the final line. Ryan (my 11 yr old grandson) went next, and didn’t quite make it to the next platform, so had to pull himself along the line. Ditto for me, but Stacy & John made it across OK. Then it was one line after another. As soon as we got to one platform, they sent us off on another line. They had told me I could take my camera, which I had on a strap around my neck. On the first long zip, however, it was flying around pretty wildly, and I was just lucky the strap didn’t break or it would have been the end for that camera. Then, I unbuttoned my shirt and tucked it inside. There really wasn’t the opportunity to take any photos until I was finished. On the last zip, I asked to go first, so I could take photos of my family as they came across. Of course, a professional photographer was there too. He got decent photos of all of us except my daughter—his camera malfunctioned! So that was a disappointment. I told them she should be allowed to go through the course again so we could get that photo! Just kidding, of course. Everyone enjoyed this experience—and my grandkids usually mention it as their favorite activity on the trip!
While waiting for the photos to be developed, we walked down a short path to their butterfly garden. As I walked through the screened entrance area, a blue butterfly escaped. Drat! The caretaker said it was OK. He was very enthusiastic about showing us his butterflies, pupa, and explaining all about the life cycle of the butterfly. It was just happenstance that we went there, but we all enjoyed it.
After collecting our photos, we were all ready for lunch. There is a small lunch spot at Sky Trek, but they just had hot dogs, and a couple types of sandwiches. Nothing looked appealing, so we got in our car and went in search of something to eat before heading for La Fortuna Waterfall, which we thought was nearby. We followed the signs for a steakhouse, which turned out to be the restaurant at the Linda Vista hotel. The prices were high, the food was average, but the view of the volcano and Lake Arenal were top notch. Afterward, we considered continuing on to Arenal Observatory Lodge—just to see where it was, in case we wanted to go there for dinner and to see the lava flow on our last night. However, lunch had taken a long time. We learned from the desk clerk that, to reach the waterfall, we would have to go back around the mountain and through the town of La Fortuna. If we had known this, we would have just stopped in a “soda” in La Fortuna for lunch—but we did enjoy that view!
So off we went. The signage was good, and we had no trouble locating it, but It was after 3:30 by the time we paid our $6 entrance fees. First, we changed into our swimsuits in a changing room there. Near the top of the steps descending to the waterfall, we met quite a few people who had just returned. Their huffing and puffing was not encouraging, but I had been forewarned that the climb was long and steep. I sent the young’uns on ahead, and just took my time descending—and all was well. There were several hundred steps, I estimate, of varying heights and widths, so you really had to watch your footing. It took me about 15-20 minutes. The waterfall was just gorgeous! There were lots of teenage girls in bikinis swimming in the pool underneath—they were on a school trip from the U.S. (In my day, we were lucky to get a field trip to our state capitol). To reach the pool you had to climb over a lot of boulders, and they said the water was really cold, so I elected to stay on the platform, take photos, and keep an eye on the backpacks. My granddaughter, Paige, was having a whiny spell because her new swimsuit was too big, so Stacy told her to just swim in her clothes. That didn’t satisfy her either, but finally my daughter was able to tie the swimsuit top a little tighter. Luckily, that was the only meltdown on the entire trip. So, they all swam for a little while, and then we walked to a spot downriver where I could get my feet wet. It was almost 5, and we had a reservation for Tabacon Hot Springs tonight for 6-10, so we really had to get moving. Of course, the climb back up was pretty grueling, especially since the cold I was developing was getting worse, and my voice was going. Finally back at the gift shop area, I treated everyone to ice cream bars—and I bought a bottle of iced tea with peach, which I had heard was pretty good (it was).
On the way back through La Fortuna, I needed to stop at an Internet Café to send an Email home, notifying them of our safe arrival. While I did that, the kids went to a market to buy some water and a few snacks for our drive to Manuel Antonio. There were about 15 computers in the place, and they were all taken! And there were two other people waiting. So, I despaired of being able to get off that Email, but I finally got a computer, and was just finishing up my Email when the kids returned. As we drove back to our hotel, we noticed that the volcano was beginning to cloud over—and we never caught sight of it again during our stay!
At our hotel we dropped off our daypacks and picked up the things we needed at Tabacon—water shoes for the pebbly pool bottoms, etc. Tabacon wasn’t far from Los Lagos, but trying to find a place to park was interesting. We were directed out of the hotel parking lot down the highway, then across it to the back of a vacant lot. However, we didn’t have to pay for parking, and I’m not sure how we escaped having to pay a couple thousand colons to a car “guard”. By, the way, when we reached our hotel the previous day, we took in the GPS and locked it up in our room safe for the duration of our stay. We knew not to leave anything of value in the car. It was about 7PM by the time we arrived at the desk to check in. Because we had a reservation, we were able to get in ahead of a rather long line of people paying at the door. They had the same towel system as Los Lagos re towels—you pay a deposit for a card to get a towel, then reverse the process at the end to get your deposit back. Unfortunately, however, they were out of dry owels! “Come back in an hour”. Our first stop was the swim-up bar, since it was definitely time for a drink. John got a little irritated with the bartenders, because it took quite awhile for them to take our order. Stacy & I decided to try the mango daiquiris. They were OK, but tasted more like smoothies. We couldn’t taste the rum, even after they put another shot in. Later, I switched to a marguerita, which was definitely better. With our drinks in hand, we scampered from one hot spring to another, so that we didn’t get too chilled in between without any towels to wrap around us. According to the map they gave us, there are 7 river pools plus a regular swimming pool with the bar and a water slide. The slide was fairly short, but Stacy said it really shot you out at the bottom. One of the larger pools had a waterfall across the back, and you could actually go behind the falls to sit. Except for the waterfall, I didn’t think Tabacon had any advantage over the hot spring pools at Los Lagos. I couldn’t really compare the landscaping, because it was so dark at Tabacon that I really couldn’t see much of it. After 90 mins., it was time to get dressed for our dinner reservation (included in the cost of our pass: $60 for adults, $35 for kids) at 8:45. The buffet was Mexican and it was pretty good. On the extensive dessert table, the only thing my diet allowed me was the rice pudding—but there was none left. However, a waiter managed to find another one in the kitchen and brought it to our table.
Back to our rooms by 10, we all fell into bed. It had been a very full day, and tomorrow we had an early pickup time for our Sunset Rio Negro tour.
Apr 22nd, 2008, 04:10 PM
#13
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What a whirlwind first day. I’m so glad your flight wasn’t cancelled, and that you finally made it to Los Lagos. Sounds like you had a wonderful time there, and that the kids really loved it. What a wonderful way to spend spring break with your grandchildren.
How smart to have dietary instructions written up in Spanish to carry on a card with you. I am going to suggest that my vegetarian niece do something similar for our trip this summer.
Your second day was almost as busy as your first: ziplines, LaFortuna, and Tabacon. And you even managed to fit in your email home. Thanks for all of the detail on your activities, and also on restaurants. We’ll be in Arenal in July, also with children. I hope we’re as lucky as you and are able to see the lava flow.
How smart to have dietary instructions written up in Spanish to carry on a card with you. I am going to suggest that my vegetarian niece do something similar for our trip this summer.
Your second day was almost as busy as your first: ziplines, LaFortuna, and Tabacon. And you even managed to fit in your email home. Thanks for all of the detail on your activities, and also on restaurants. We’ll be in Arenal in July, also with children. I hope we’re as lucky as you and are able to see the lava flow.
Apr 25th, 2008, 02:13 PM
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Monday, 3/24 Arenal
This morning was a repeat of the previous one, except that we had a pickup time of 7:25 AM for our Cano Negro tour, and it was a little difficult getting everyone up and out so early. We were also slowed down a little when we (John, Ryan and I) stopped on our way down to breakfast to give a ride to a couple and their luggage who had been waiting for the hotel shuttle to swing by. I was there on time, but everyone else was late, so I had to give them a little lecture about showing up for tours on time! “Yes, Mom”. We were the first to be picked up, after which they stopped at a couple places in La Fortuna to pick up two additional couples—one young couple from Germany and another young couple from Israel. I wondered if that would be an uncomfortable combination, but it turned out OK. Besides the nine of us, there was the driver, our guide, Jaime, and Jose, another tour guide that was hitching a ride to a town we passed through. A very full van! Jaime and Jose spent quite a bit of time talking to each other in Spanish, which I thought was rather rude. It made it rather difficult to ask him questions.
In less than an hour, we made a rest stop at a restaurant which is known for all the iguanas which reside in the trees in back. We were able to see several iguanas from the deck of the restaurant; however, we were not allowed to walk out on the bridge where we could have seen more. We were told this was no longer permitted because a woman tourist had been seriously injured when she fell from the bridge. Evidently she actually jumped to avoid being hit by a car whose driver was under the influence. I think this was a fairly recent incident. I remembered stopping at this same restaurant four years ago, on my previous CR tour. At that time, there were not too many iguanas because the owner said a lot of them had recently been poached. Why? “To eat”. I asked the owner through the tour guide about this, and he confirmed it. Since then, the protection for the iguanas was increased, and their numbers have grown to about 350 currently. The owner then pointed to a tree in front of the restaurant—and lo and behold, there was a sloth up there. We were all fascinated.
Continuing on, we passed by acres of pineapple fields, and the van stopped so that we could get out and take a closer look. Across the road was a huge ramshackle building that Jaime said was a sugar cane factory. He said much of the sugar is used to make rum. Along the way, he also pointed out star fruit, orange, and teak trees. Although not indigenous to Costa Rica, the country has the perfect climate for growing teak, and they are turning out to be an important cash crop.
We arrived at our destination around 10AM, used the restroom and ordered lunch for later. Then we set off on a river boat. As I had been told, they did not enter the Cano Negro sanctuary itself, because it was too crowded with other boats, and the wildlife was just as abundant on the river outside the refuge. Within a couple minutes, we had seen several caimans (a type of alligator) and a Jesus Christ lizard (so-called because it appears to walk on water). Our boat captain reached down and grabbed a small caiman, which he brought on board for us to see up close. John actually held the baby caiman, while the rest of us were satisfied to just touch it. Continuing on, we saw (and heard) several howler monkeys up in the trees, including a baby albino. This was quite interesting, because on a similar cruise four years ago, we had also see an albino monkey, and our guide at that time said it was the first one he had ever seen. Jaime said it was about that time that the first albino monkey appeared, but now they were getting more common—with a half-dozen or so currently in the area. On the trip we also saw white-faced Capuchin monkeys, Ringed and Green Kingfishers, Ahingas drying their wings, workers cleaning up the trash along the shore, iguanas, Northern Jacanas, Cormorants, Green Herons, a flock of Black Vultures, Long-nosed bats, Spider monkeys, White and Green Ibis.
We were on the river about 1 ½ hours, then spent an hour over lunch in the restaurant. The cruise was great, and the lunch was fine. We had a choice of a couple main courses, and they made sure that mine didn’t contain wheat. My only complaint was that we hung around the restaurant much longer than necessary. I would have rather spent that time either on the river or back at the hotel. With only a week’s vacation, it was difficult to settle back into the very slow time schedule of Costa Rica. Finally heading back, we drove straight through, and arrived back at Los Lagos by 2:30.
As soon as we could change into our swimsuits, we headed for the pool area to spend the rest of the afternoon. It was very enjoyable to just relax, have a pina colada, and soak in the hot springs. The kids, of course, made good use of those water slides.
We had tentatively planned to drive somewhere for dinner—maybe Arenal Observatory Lodge to see the lava flow. However, the volcano was completely clouded over, so we scrapped that plan and headed for El Novillo Steakhouse instead. I had read lots of recommendations for this restaurant on Fodor’s. We had to run through a heavy rainshower just as we were arriving, but luckily, it was very brief. That was our only rain on the entire trip. The restaurant is very casual, with picnic tables set up on a large open-air, covered slab. While waiting to order, and get our food, the kids entertained themselves by climbing up on the big bull statue sitting out front. Steak isn’t normally my favorite, but I had heard about the wonderful, large steaks for only $8. Well, either the price and/or the exchange rate had gone up, because the El Novillo Special Tenderloin with Grilled Mushrooms was the equivalent of $12. That didn’t deter us, though, especially after seeing the same dish served to another customer sitting nearby who highly recommended it. Stacy and I split the steak, while Ryan and John had their own, and it was really delicious. Stacy said it was the most flavorful steak she could ever remember having. After eating, John went back into the kitchen at the chef’s invitation to see how he did it. He saw the lineup of spices, but possibly the steak was also marinated with something which he didn’t see. He also said they were cooked on a flat griddle—not on a grill.
Back at the hotel, it was time to get repacked because we were driving to Manuel Antonio tomorrow. We were told it was a 5 ½-6 hour drive. Our goal was to leave by 8-8:30. We would be sorry to leave Arenal, and Los Lagos. There was so much do in the area that we didn’t even see everything on the hotel grounds—the hiking trails, the lookout point, the zip-lines. I think it was the perfect choice—especially with kids in tow. They had told me more than once how much they liked the hotel. Ryan said “It should be classified a 5-star hotel! Or, at least a 4 star!” Already a hotel expert at age 11! I warned the kids that our next hotel would probably not be as great as this one.
This morning was a repeat of the previous one, except that we had a pickup time of 7:25 AM for our Cano Negro tour, and it was a little difficult getting everyone up and out so early. We were also slowed down a little when we (John, Ryan and I) stopped on our way down to breakfast to give a ride to a couple and their luggage who had been waiting for the hotel shuttle to swing by. I was there on time, but everyone else was late, so I had to give them a little lecture about showing up for tours on time! “Yes, Mom”. We were the first to be picked up, after which they stopped at a couple places in La Fortuna to pick up two additional couples—one young couple from Germany and another young couple from Israel. I wondered if that would be an uncomfortable combination, but it turned out OK. Besides the nine of us, there was the driver, our guide, Jaime, and Jose, another tour guide that was hitching a ride to a town we passed through. A very full van! Jaime and Jose spent quite a bit of time talking to each other in Spanish, which I thought was rather rude. It made it rather difficult to ask him questions.
In less than an hour, we made a rest stop at a restaurant which is known for all the iguanas which reside in the trees in back. We were able to see several iguanas from the deck of the restaurant; however, we were not allowed to walk out on the bridge where we could have seen more. We were told this was no longer permitted because a woman tourist had been seriously injured when she fell from the bridge. Evidently she actually jumped to avoid being hit by a car whose driver was under the influence. I think this was a fairly recent incident. I remembered stopping at this same restaurant four years ago, on my previous CR tour. At that time, there were not too many iguanas because the owner said a lot of them had recently been poached. Why? “To eat”. I asked the owner through the tour guide about this, and he confirmed it. Since then, the protection for the iguanas was increased, and their numbers have grown to about 350 currently. The owner then pointed to a tree in front of the restaurant—and lo and behold, there was a sloth up there. We were all fascinated.
Continuing on, we passed by acres of pineapple fields, and the van stopped so that we could get out and take a closer look. Across the road was a huge ramshackle building that Jaime said was a sugar cane factory. He said much of the sugar is used to make rum. Along the way, he also pointed out star fruit, orange, and teak trees. Although not indigenous to Costa Rica, the country has the perfect climate for growing teak, and they are turning out to be an important cash crop.
We arrived at our destination around 10AM, used the restroom and ordered lunch for later. Then we set off on a river boat. As I had been told, they did not enter the Cano Negro sanctuary itself, because it was too crowded with other boats, and the wildlife was just as abundant on the river outside the refuge. Within a couple minutes, we had seen several caimans (a type of alligator) and a Jesus Christ lizard (so-called because it appears to walk on water). Our boat captain reached down and grabbed a small caiman, which he brought on board for us to see up close. John actually held the baby caiman, while the rest of us were satisfied to just touch it. Continuing on, we saw (and heard) several howler monkeys up in the trees, including a baby albino. This was quite interesting, because on a similar cruise four years ago, we had also see an albino monkey, and our guide at that time said it was the first one he had ever seen. Jaime said it was about that time that the first albino monkey appeared, but now they were getting more common—with a half-dozen or so currently in the area. On the trip we also saw white-faced Capuchin monkeys, Ringed and Green Kingfishers, Ahingas drying their wings, workers cleaning up the trash along the shore, iguanas, Northern Jacanas, Cormorants, Green Herons, a flock of Black Vultures, Long-nosed bats, Spider monkeys, White and Green Ibis.
We were on the river about 1 ½ hours, then spent an hour over lunch in the restaurant. The cruise was great, and the lunch was fine. We had a choice of a couple main courses, and they made sure that mine didn’t contain wheat. My only complaint was that we hung around the restaurant much longer than necessary. I would have rather spent that time either on the river or back at the hotel. With only a week’s vacation, it was difficult to settle back into the very slow time schedule of Costa Rica. Finally heading back, we drove straight through, and arrived back at Los Lagos by 2:30.
As soon as we could change into our swimsuits, we headed for the pool area to spend the rest of the afternoon. It was very enjoyable to just relax, have a pina colada, and soak in the hot springs. The kids, of course, made good use of those water slides.
We had tentatively planned to drive somewhere for dinner—maybe Arenal Observatory Lodge to see the lava flow. However, the volcano was completely clouded over, so we scrapped that plan and headed for El Novillo Steakhouse instead. I had read lots of recommendations for this restaurant on Fodor’s. We had to run through a heavy rainshower just as we were arriving, but luckily, it was very brief. That was our only rain on the entire trip. The restaurant is very casual, with picnic tables set up on a large open-air, covered slab. While waiting to order, and get our food, the kids entertained themselves by climbing up on the big bull statue sitting out front. Steak isn’t normally my favorite, but I had heard about the wonderful, large steaks for only $8. Well, either the price and/or the exchange rate had gone up, because the El Novillo Special Tenderloin with Grilled Mushrooms was the equivalent of $12. That didn’t deter us, though, especially after seeing the same dish served to another customer sitting nearby who highly recommended it. Stacy and I split the steak, while Ryan and John had their own, and it was really delicious. Stacy said it was the most flavorful steak she could ever remember having. After eating, John went back into the kitchen at the chef’s invitation to see how he did it. He saw the lineup of spices, but possibly the steak was also marinated with something which he didn’t see. He also said they were cooked on a flat griddle—not on a grill.
Back at the hotel, it was time to get repacked because we were driving to Manuel Antonio tomorrow. We were told it was a 5 ½-6 hour drive. Our goal was to leave by 8-8:30. We would be sorry to leave Arenal, and Los Lagos. There was so much do in the area that we didn’t even see everything on the hotel grounds—the hiking trails, the lookout point, the zip-lines. I think it was the perfect choice—especially with kids in tow. They had told me more than once how much they liked the hotel. Ryan said “It should be classified a 5-star hotel! Or, at least a 4 star!” Already a hotel expert at age 11! I warned the kids that our next hotel would probably not be as great as this one.
Apr 27th, 2008, 10:57 AM
#15
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You had three nights and two full days in Arenal, right? You mention that you didn't have enough time to do everything you wanted to do in Arenal. In hindsight, would have have either traded a night elsewhere for another night in Arenal, or skipped the Cano Negro Tour for other activities?
Apr 27th, 2008, 01:01 PM
#16
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Dana--No we would not have traded a night from our next stop--MA--because we didn't have enough time there either to do all the things we would have liked to do! With only a week, we just did not have enough time, period! And--no, would not have skipped Cano Negro. That turned out to be our best wildlife-sighting experience. If I had to skip anything in Arenal, it would have been Tabacon--because we had some very nice hot springs at Los Lagos. However, that was an evening activity, so it really wouldn't have given us any more time for other daytime activities.
May 21st, 2008, 01:01 PM
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If anyone is interested in seeing the photos for this part of the trip, here is the link to paste in your browser.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
For some reason it's showing up twice when I preview, but I'm unable to edit the extra one out.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
For some reason it's showing up twice when I preview, but I'm unable to edit the extra one out.
May 21st, 2008, 02:13 PM
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Thanks for sharing your photos, karinkz! Very nice and brings back lots of nice memories.
I think the double/single link thing is related to the way this text box establishes the dynamic link to your photo website. The same thing happens if you use html code to specify <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b> or <font color="green">colored</font> text while typing a post here; you'll see the related html code in the post box, but once you submit the post, only the end result shows up! That's my "high tech" explanation at any rate!
Looking forward to your MA photos...
I think the double/single link thing is related to the way this text box establishes the dynamic link to your photo website. The same thing happens if you use html code to specify <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b> or <font color="green">colored</font> text while typing a post here; you'll see the related html code in the post box, but once you submit the post, only the end result shows up! That's my "high tech" explanation at any rate!
Looking forward to your MA photos...
