Wanderlust,
Don't forget where you are going for your two days! No way are you going to be disappointed no matter WHAT you do. Just isn't possible! That's rather unique, don't you think? You could almost draw your plan out of a hat and be guaranteed an absolutely fantastic time! So relax and enjoy!

Okay, I just booked everything for my trip! I waited a day too long on my flight and had to pay a few $$ more but still a good deal. I ended up booking the Las Orquideas Inn for 3 nights and am customized two days worth of touring that would be Arenal one day (with Canopy, Hot Springs, Horseback riding and lava viewing if possible) and a combination of Poas Volcano, La Paz and Sarapiqui white water rafting another day. That should be plenty to make some memories to take back home with me. I sincerely appreciate all your advice and will write a report for you when I return!

You are sure to have a great time!

I am back from my weekend trip to Costa Rica. I had a wonderful time and I owe many thanks to the people on this message board who provided suggestions for me. Things worked out quite well and I got to see and do a lot in 2 days. I will write more tomorrow.

Are you ready to go back? Glad you had a good time! I am anxious to hear more of your quick trip!

Did I miss you report Wanderlust?? It's been a couple days since you said you would post but I've not seen it!

And here it is, the trip report you have all been waiting for......

Weekend Trip to Costa Rica
September 3, 2004 ? September 6, 2004

At first I wondered if it was reasonable to expect to do any sort of trip to Costa Rica for a weekend. I would only be there for two days, arriving Friday evening and leaving Monday morning. My first thought was to ask the people on Fodor?s travel talk message board if they could suggest activities, places to stay, etc., but more importantly I asked if it was even feasible to do enough to make it worth going for a weekend.

I got excellent suggestions from this website and did some research and selected a hotel and travel arrangements. I promised to report back on how things went once I returned. Well, I have to say that I had a wonderful time. First of all, I would like to express my thanks to all those on the message board for their advice and suggestions.

Day 1 ? September 3, 2004
Worked half a day since my flight was scheduled for 2:35 PM. Started to leave work when I got a flight update message that my United Airlines flight was delayed leaving Cleveland. I headed for the airport and found it had been further delayed. Upon expressing my concern that I would not make my connection through Dulles, the gate attendant said that they would have me in Costa Rica by tomorrow, by way of California. I said that would not work out very well since I was only going to be in Costa Rica for the weekend. She then promptly found me alternative routing on a Continental flight through Houston, arriving at the same time as my original flight. I arrived in Costa Rica at 8:16 PM that evening. On the flight, I met a wonderful young man, a Costa Rican by birth but raised in Michigan as an adopted child. He had found his birth parents recently and was in the process of visiting them. He had plans to go on some out of the way roads to beaches with friends.

I had booked a room at Las Orchideas based on recommendations from the Fodor?s folks and pre-arranged transfer from the airport. However, upon my arrival in San Jose, there was no car and driver from the hotel to greet me. I had not even thought about that possibility. I then realized that it was probably due to the fact that I was early, had checked no bags and therefore cleared customs in a short time, making me even earlier than expected. I had two choices: wait or try to call and see if they could come earlier. I tried to ignore the multitude of taxi drivers begging for my business. One young man in particular stood out however. He politely asked if he could help me. I explained that I was waiting for a pre-arranged ride. After waiting a bit, I decided I would let him make a call to the hotel for me. He did that, apparently using some sort of free phone service at a phone outside the terminal. A backup driver was being dispatched to pick me up because the original driver got tagged to transfer some other people to dinner. The backup driver arrived, but not in the van I had been told to look for. I wondered in the back of my mind if everything was above board, but decided when they had the sign with my name, flight number and hotel name on it, that he must be the right guy. So I followed him to the van.

The hotel is advertised as being ?10 minutes? from the airport. It is more like twenty. It took so long that I kept wondering if we were going the right way. I was glad it was not farther from the airport. Finally we pulled in. It was quite dark so I couldn?t get a full appreciation of the place, but the driver waited for me to check in and then drove me and my bag up to my room. I thought about going down to the bar to check that out since they had given me a free drink coupon, but I decided to get situated in my room and get some rest instead.

Day 2 - September 4, 2004:
I woke up way too early the next morning. It is two hours earlier there than at home. I think I was awakened around 4AM. Apparently someone had an early flight and the sound of their departure woke me. I am a light sleeper and it was really 6AM at home so it wasn?t so bad. I didn?t hear anyone the other two nights. I stayed in bed for a while and when I couldn?t do that any longer, I got up to do a little exploring. The room was comfortable and roomy and clean and tastefully appointed. I could hear the tropical birds outside. The view from the patio is lovely and the grounds are quite nice and I decided to go down to see what was offered for breakfast.

En route, I met a retired school teacher, Mary Anne, from South Carolina and her daughter. She was able to direct me to the breakfast area and we had a nice chat while having fruit and a glass of juice. Mary pointed out the resident Chestnut Mandibled Toucans and the Macaws and there are nature trails and a little waterfall, but I didn?t have time to tour much of the grounds. She told me of this wonderful guide and driver that they had the day before, named Louis. As it turned out, Louis took them to the airport that morning and then returned to become my guide and driver for the next two days. He works for Wady Tours which is associated with the hotel.

After Mary left I visited with a man from Austria named Mario and a couple from California. Everyone was nice and interesting to chat with. I became fully relaxed hanging around waiting for breakfast. That had never happened to me before so quickly into a vacation. There was supposed to be a buffet by 8:00 AM but none appeared. I had heard (from Mary) that the hotel served delicious cheesy potatoes, wonderful black beans and rice and eggs in addition to the fruit. At 8:15 I decided to wander back to the kitchen and ask if I could have breakfast since my guide was supposed to meet me at 8:00 AM in the hotel reception area. I quickly ate my breakfast and ran up to the reception area where I met Louis.

He was everything Mary had said, and I was not disappointed spending the next two days with him. I had worried some about the possibility of rain affecting what I might be able to see and do but I hadn?t seen a drop yet and Louis and I discussed what our day?s activities might be, based on his prediction of the weather. We agreed to go to Arenal Volcano for the day, first stopping by the bird zoo (Zoo Ave) because I wanted to see the Quetzal. We probably could have skipped that considering my limited time in Costa Rica, but we were there and gone in less than an hour. We made it to Fortuna by 12:30 or so, with a reservation for the canopy tour at 1:00. Louis signed up to go with me as he was apparently free of charge. That was so nice, having a traveling companion as well as a guide and driver. He did everything with me over the two days.

I left my day pack at the Canopy Tour?s registration office and took only my little digital camera with me for the canopy tour. I had checked ahead of time to ensure that this particular canopy tour operator was certified. I like a sense of adventure but also like to try to be sensible about things. Included with this canopy tour is a horseback ride, necessary to get us closer to the canopy area. I was told that my horse was named ?Killer? and I was asked if I could ride a horse and I replied that I could ? so we galloped nearly the entire way there. En route, the clouds lifted from Arenal, exposing the entire cone. And the day just kept getting better.

We deposited the horses in a shaded corral where we met Eric, one of the canopy guides. Apparently since I was the only client and Eric had relatives visiting from out of town, he was in a hurry to complete the canopy tour so he could join his family. I think that is one reason we galloped the horses. After we had a few swallows of water from the cooler, Rafael, who had accompanied us on horseback, said would now get our aerobic workout. He said there were 525 steps up to the first canopy platform. I didn?t count them but he was right about the workout. I think it was designed that way so that clients would be so tired by the time they reached the top they would not have enough energy left to be afraid.

Here at the first platform, we received instructions on how to safely sail through the forest on the cable that connected the platforms. Right hand gloved with leather served as the ?brake? with the elbow bent at a ninety degree angle and the left hand clasping the rope between the pulley on my harness and the cable. My head to the left of the rope, feet and legs crossed and tucked up under my body. Rafael connected me to the cable and told me to sit into the harness, and as he let go I gained momentum, sailing through the trees. I ended up on a platform that is 120 feet above the rainforest floor. Howler monkeys played below us, a mother and baby and others. Eric and Rafael took turns with my camera, filming me coming in to a platform, Rafael filming me waiting on a platform as he sailed towards me. The Eric, who had earlier been in a hurry, took my camera and went hand over hand back to the previous platform to try to photograph the howler monkeys. He seemed to relax and enjoy himself as well, no longer in such a hurry. We had a great time. All the while, in the background, Arenal was putting on a show for us, erupting with puffs of dark clouds and spewing boulders.

We sailed slowly across a long, shallow cable, with no braking required and then down a shorter steep cable where Rafael instructed me to ?brake slowly until you reach the creek, then brake hard to the finish? and so I did. On one stretch, I didn?t quite make it to the platform and had to pull myself hand over hand to the platform. Finally we reached the last platform. I loved every minute of the canopy ride and was disappointed when it was over.

We climbed back on our horses and made our way back to the stable, more slowly this time, and watched as the rain moved towards us across the lowlands. Louis and I then found a quaint local restaurant for lunch and had a wonderfully prepared meal as it poured rain outside. The waitress told us that if it rained hard that it would then clear up and we would be able to see the volcano clearly that evening and perhaps the red lava flow. Louis asked me if I wanted to visit the hot springs and I said that I did as my poor muscles could use a little care. He suggested Baldi Thermal. I had heard of Tabacon and had it been earlier in the day and light enough out to actually see the grounds, I would have preferred going to Tabacon. However, since it was already dark, I figured hot water was hot water. So we decided on Baldi. I had my bathing suit with me but did not adequately prepare for a dip in the hot springs. I had neglected to bring some footwear other than hiking boots. So the waitress directed us to a store that had flip-flops for sale and I picked up a pair. It was now pouring rain. Luckily, much of Baldi can be enjoyed under cover.

Once at Baldi Thermal, we changed into our swimwear and checked our clothes and shoes at the lockers. I rented a towel, put my camera, passport and money in my Aquapak waterproof camera bag and kept that with me. The hot springs felt really good. There are 10 pools there, each with hotter water than the last. There are little ?waterfalls? that pour hot water on you like a pulsating shower head. That felt really good. We set out to find an even hotter pool and on the way, we realized that Arenal was spouting red lava and putting on a show for us! We decided that we might get a better view farther up the road so we quickly changed back into our street clothes and took off. We were only able to catch one more glimpse of Arenal?s lava before we headed back to Las Orquideas.

I was not looking forward to the drive back. I wished I had booked a room in Arenal instead because I was so tired. We had had a full day. But I figured with luck we would be back by 10:00 PM. We ended up going through Zarcero, where they have the topiaries. Louis wondered if I wanted to stop and see them but I figured it was dark and we would not be able to see much so I said not to bother. Looking back, I probably should have agreed to see them because just outside of town, we got stopped for quite a while, at least half an hour due to an accident, I think. There were police and an ambulance and it took quite a while before we were allowed to go through. We got back to the hotel around 11:00 PM and I fell into bed.

Day 3 - September 5, 2004:
The next morning, we had agreed to leave a bit earlier, around 8:00 AM to see Poas Volcano and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The day dawned clear and I again felt fortunate that the weather was cooperating so nicely since I had such a limited time in Costa Rica. Today breakfast was the full buffet. I ate fruit (pineapple, watermelon, cantelope, mamon chino and papaya) and had some coffee to start and then helped myself to the potatoes, rice and beans, like yesterday, but it was too early for them to cook eggs to order. Also available were little sausages, cassava root and cheese puffs, plantains in vanilla sauce, and some sort of tamale like thing wrapped in a leaf and tied with string.

Unfortunately, I would miss breakfast my last morning here because of my early flight departure. We left Las Orquideas and headed up towards Poas. The scenery is just breathtaking. Louis pointed out many things en route. I am particularly interested in the agriculture in Costa Rica, having grown up on a farm in the US. We reached Poas and hiked the rest of the way to the Crater Lake. It was absolutely unbelievable. The milky azure blue color is amazing. I heard that it is so acidic that just about anything will dissolve in it. Had it been a clearer day, I would have been able to see the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans from here but was happy that I could see the crater and that it was a beautifully sunny day and not raining. I had talked to Mario at breakfast and he said that he had gone to Poas yesterday (when I went to Arenal) and it poured rain on him. He had video footage where the roads looked like rivers and he was unable to see anything at Poas except clouds and rain.

Louis and I then went to Boton Lake at Poas, which is an up-hill hike that taxed my already sore body. But I did not come to Costa Rica to rest so I trudged onward. WE got into the van after that and drove to our next stop, which was La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The overhanging mist foretold rain so we needed to make haste in order to stay dry. The grounds are lovely. I almost stayed at the Peace Lodge instead of Las Orquideas, as Peace Lodge was recommended by others on the travel board. However, because I only had two days in Costa Rica, it did not make sense to me to stay somewhere that was so far away from the airport. I really enjoyed my visit there, however, and would consider it for a future stay. We first went to the butterfly gardens which is as large as a football field, enclosed. I was actually able to photograph a lovely blue morpho with its wings open. Next was the hummingbird garden. Boy, those little guys are fast. Here was when I really missed my SLR camera but after taking about 20 shots with my little C750, I was able to call two or three acceptable.

Then the tour group guide in front of me and Louis hollered something about seeing the waterfalls before it started raining. So Louis and I hurried down the ?path? ? again a misnomer. It was actually a series of steps, downhill, some quite steep, some wooden and some metal, and some were wet. The scenery is beyond imagination, so lush and beautiful. I had no idea it would be like this. The brochure pictures it as if the trail is along the water and rather flat. Not so. This path winds its way through the dense tropical forest and the rising mist only adds to the air of mystery. Each waterfall was more wonderful than the last and the trek was over much too soon. The bus was waiting at the end to take us back to the hotel and it was a good thing! I was so sore from all the physical activities I was not sure I would have made it back up all those steps.

We had prepaid for the lunch buffet there at La Paz (although we could have gone down the road for something to eat as well) and I thought the food was really good. It was a nicely laid out buffet with enough variety and tasty options. Louis and I then got back in the van and headed to Grecia, the cleanest town in Central America, and where the steel church is. It was worth a quick stop. Next we went to Sarchi. I had expected to see all the craftsmen making their wares but Louis said they were not out because it was Sunday. I had imagined taking photos of all the little painted carts, etc. but the only ones I saw were in front of a souvenir place. That was sort of a disappointment. I had though that if we finished early enough, we might try to go to Zarcero and see the topiaries but just when I thought about asking Louis if we might go, he asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel or if I would like to meet his family. That was a no-brainer. I readily agreed to go with him to his family?s home.

About ten minutes from the ?main? road, winding up the hillside, along the steep valley planted in coffee, we arrived at a small but well-maintained yellow house with flowers in the front. Nestled in a farming community, his family has a coffee plantation on the steep side of the valley. We walked into the house and there were brothers and cousins and neighbors all singing Karaoke. In the kitchen were his parents, playing cards with some neighbors. It was a Sunday, a day when families and friends all get together. He explained to me that in this town were two main families, his and another and that everyone belonged to one or the other. On the way to his home, he showed me the place where he owned property and would be building a home of his own, after which he could marry his girlfriend of five years.

He is the oldest of six boys and has a younger sister as well. Out back is a garage that doubles as an equipment shed. There was a jeep, a tractor, some coffee wagons and a 15 passenger van for their large family. He shared ripe bananas with me. We walked around the grounds and someone mentioned that the first red beans were coming on the coffee plants. His brother told me that Louis was the fastest coffee picker around. I looked down the steep slope and wondered how anyone could manage to not fall down into the valley far below as there did not seem to be any place for a foothold. Louis showed me the difference between the ripe and unripe beans and how it was necessary as a good picker to be able to pick only the red ripe ones. They ripen over a period of several months so it is necessary to continue to go over the plants many times during that period to get all the beans. Not to mention the pruning, weeding, and other care required throughout the year. Apparently about 10 years ago, when Poas Volcano erupted, the acid fumes drifted right over their coffee fields and destroyed the crop. But they managed to recover.

Back inside the house, his mother brought me coffee on what appeared to be her best china. I was treated like a celebrity at first, then more like a family member. Others stopped by to visit and they were fascinated with my digital camera, being able to see the image right after the photo was taken. They consented to having a family group photo and a few candid shots which I have promise to mail to them, and I will. Finally it was time to bid farewell.

We returned to the hotel and it was easy to feel that not only had I made a friend in Costa Rica (Louis) but also that I have a family there as well. I bid Louis farewell for the day and arranged to meet him at 6:20 the next morning to go to the airport for my flight home. After he left, I went to the bar for my free drink and limited it to the frosty and tasty fruit beverage they offered. Next up was my full body massage (I hate to let this secret out but the masseuse there is really good, doing a deep muscle massage. I would go back to Costa Rica just for that!).

Feeling totally relaxed, I decided to have dinner at the bar. I had tilapia fish with lime and mashed potatoes and vegetables and a couple of glasses of a nice white Chilean wine while visiting with a delightful couple from California. Their flight home had been cancelled since it was supposed to go through Miami and -- oh, gee -- they had to stay in Costa Rica a day longer than expected. Too bad I didn?t have that "problem." After 10 PM, I drug myself back to my room and realized that I had not addressed the postcards that I had left at the front desk for them to mail. After returning to the reception to correct the situation, I turned in for the night, and slept soundly.

Day 4 - September 6, 2004:
Time to go home. Louis met me at the reception for the hotel and we made our way to the airport. The line was long, as many had failed to get home the day before due to the hurricane in Florida. I had forgotten my Premier card so decided I would have to wait in the Coach line with everyone else. No matter, I got on the flights, and made it home without any events.

Had a wonderful time but sad that I had to return home....please let me know if you have any questions. You can mail me at [email protected]

One thing I did not emphasis enough was how much I enjoyed the Las Orquideas Inn. It was wonderful and I would definitely recommend it and would stay there again.

Wow! You really packed in some great stuff during your short time in Costa Rica. Aren't you glad you went? Your testimony regarding Louis' family confirms my conviction that the only thing about Costa Rica more beautiful than the scenery are the people! Thank you for sharing. . .it was worth waiting for. :)

What a wonderful report! You had such good luck with the Volcanos too.
I too felt like Luis was an old friend by the time I had spent a couple of days touring around with him. The area where he is from and where his property is is just beautiful and I love the fact that the people up there do not have bars on their homes. We rode horses down through his family's coffee finca and to a waterfall.
You certainly know how to pack a lot into a little time :).

Wanderlust,Patti. I am the Mary you met. You certainly packed much into your time in CR. What a great report of your trip!! Luis is the greatest to travel with as we toured the Orosi Valley with him. We also saw the lava all night long during our 2 days and nights at Arenal. Then to Manuel Antonio for 2 days at Costa Verde Bldg B Room 14-What a view!! Loved the National Park,but disappointed I did not see the monkeys,but my daughter saw at least a dozen around Bldg D. Back to the Hampton Inns and Suites for our last night. Great place to stay-free internet service. We went into the city of San Jose before our flight to see and tour the National Theater where we had a tour with a young lady,Alex, who is also an actress. Great taxi drivers in San Jose Area. One driver(Caesar) took us to the Mega Supermarket and helped us shop as well as let me practice my poquito Espanol with him. The people of CR make CR wonderful as much as the beautiful scenery.
My daughter returned yesterday from 8 days in CR-will write more of our adventures later.