Pura Vida-Costa Rica 2005





I would like to introduce the wonderful trip Susan and I took to Costa Rica by first providing an itinerary of our travels, and then showing some of the more interesting pictures we took.

To get you up to speed, Pura Vida translates to "pure life" but refers to the maximum, the best. It is often used as a response to "como estas?" (how are you?). Pura Vida.

Costa Ricans refer to themselves by the nickname "Ticos" because they add a -tico to some words. For example gato (cat) becomes gatico (little cat).

On the map below, the arrows indicate our path of travel. We started in San Jose, travelled to volcan Arenal, Monteverde, and ended in Manuel Antonio National Park (and returned to SJ for our flight home).



Itinerary:

Saturday: Arrive in San Jose at night
Sunday: Travel to La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal area and arrive by noon
Monday: To Monteverde and the Cloud Forest Biological Preserve
Tuesday: To Quepos, near Manuel Antonio National Park
Wed/Thurs: At the beach adjacent to Manuel Antonio N.P.
Friday: Late bus back to San Jose
Saturday: Tour of San Jose and central market
Sunday: Return to Salt Lake City


Saturday (November 5th, 2005): We arrived in the capitol city of San Jose, Costa Rica at 8:45pm and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel Real, a gorgeous hotel in the Escazu region 10 minutes outside of the city. We only caught glimpses of the city that night. However, we woke up to this view:



Sunday (Nov. 6th): We left San Jose at 9 am via Interbus, a convenient shuttle service connecting most of Costa Rica. $25 and 3 hours later, we arrived in the town of La Fortuna near the Arenal Volcano and checked into the Albergue Ecoturistico La Catarata (recommended in our tour book! Thank you, Insight Guides!). Rooms here were $35 (simple cabinas without TV, room service, etc.) and included breakfast. This is a shot of the gardens, the cabinas on the right, and Volcan Arenal (still very active) in the distance, enshrouded by clouds.



We hiked to the Rio Fortuna waterfalls (~3 hours round trip) that afternoon, and walked into the city of La Fortuna for dinner and ice cream. Susan and I had delicious meals with 4 Imperials (Costa Rican beer), and the total was less than $20. Dusk came around 6:00pm. Fed, and tired from the day's adventures, we took a taxi back to our cabina and were asleep by 8pm.

Monday (Nov. 7th): Awoken by a loud downpour of rain, we left Catarata lodge at 8am for the "Jeep-Boat-Jeep" trek. This 4 hour trip took us (as the name suggests) on one dirt road that led from La Fortuna to Lake Arenal, a boat that ferried us across it, and then an incredibly bumpy, slow, steep and mud covered road into the mountains of Monteverde. This leg of the journey took the most time, relative to the rather short distance covered. It was also the most picturesque, taking us through acres of coffee crops and small mountain side villages where people stopped what they were doing to watch us pass.

We arrived in the afternoon, and set out to zip through the forest with one of the many available tour companies - Canopy Aventura. Zip rides are performed on cables carefully strewn across the forest, while the rider hangs on a pulley connected to a climbing harness. Gravity propels one to upwards of 30 m.p.h. The harnesses and webbing looked pretty new. As for the cables, well, vaya con dios amigo.

Below is a link to a video of one of the longest and highest zip lines of the twelve we rode. It is approximately 600 meters in length and about 80 meters off the forest floor. We are zipping along at an average of 22m.p.h. Usually a guide sends you off from one platform, and you ride alone. You control your speed by pulling (or not pulling!) with a thick glove on the cable behind you to produce friction. A guide at the receiving platform signals to you if you are coming in too fast, and can stop you in case of emergency. They take care of all the swtich overs of pulley and safety gear. In this video, a guide and I are riding tandem so that he can brake for us, and I can shoot video. The majority of the rides were through denser vegetation similar to the end of this particular ride. Click here to see the video. It is 52.5mb so it may take a while.

Tuesday (Nov. 8th): Rising 4662 feet out of the sea, Monteverde straddles the continental divide and is home to over 100 species of mammals, tens of thousands of insect species, and over 2,500 species of plants (420 of which are orchids!). Maps are provided at the entrance for free, and the information center can offer up suggestions for good hikes in terms of distance, time, etc. The paths are well marked and venturing off trail is almost impossible due to the walls of vegetation on either side.

True to name, our hike was rainy, drippy, dense and beautiful like a forest in the clouds. However, the conditions precluded us from taking a lot of pictures...and in retrospect, I don't think anything captured on film would accurately convey the density of green forest life that surrounded us while walking the rain forest. But, we tried...the trail here can be seen wrapping to the right of the large tree. It doesn't look very clear, but when you're standing in the forest, trust me, you know where the trail is.



We left Monteverde in the afternoon and headed to the sunny beach town of Quespos near Manuel Antonio National Park. The 5 hour trip descended us to sea level through steep, muddy, windy roads. Arriving at night, Quespos was a bit "rough" and didn't seem safe; we were warned to stay away from the beach as some tourists had been mugged there. We found cheap ($16) and relatively safe lodging (barred windows and the owners were built, mean looking guys, who turned out to be really nice). We dashed into town for some dinner and briskly walked back to our lodging for an early night.

Wednesday (Nov. 9th): The morning was filled with sunshine and blue skies. In this picture, the mountains are ahead of us, the ocean a few blocks behind us.



The bus from Quespos to Monteverde costs about 20 cents and comes every 15minutes. We found lodging about 20 steps from the exit of Manuel Antonio National Park. Less than 5 minutes away by foot was the ocean and the entrance to the park. Again, maps are provided by guides at the entrance, and we spent the day wandering the many trails inside the park. We saw HUGE iguanas, 3 species of monkeys (howler, spider, and capuchin), a three-toed sloth, leaf cutter ants, beautiful parrots, tons of crabs, and beautiful beaches and vistas. There are more pictures below, but this picture is from one of the many secluded beaches that can be found within the park. This was a cool tide pool we poked around in.



Thursday (Nov. 9th): We spent the entire day relaxing on the beach. I got in the water and caught my first wave in over 5 years....it was a beautiful right...



....yeah right that's me. This is actually one of the local surf pros killing it. I was a bit more rusty. But the waves were fine. ;-)

We needed a day like this. It was just perfect. "Miles away from ordinary."




Friday (Nov. 10th): I caught some more waves in the morning while Susan read by the beach. We discovered the local bus system. For a little over $3 (a tenth of the cost of the chartered shuttle!), we were able to ride with Ticos and listen to their music (which turned out to be alot of Guns and Roses, a little bit Bon Jovi, Queen, Credence, and Richard Marx). We were definitely the only tourists onboard, but we made friends. We arrived in San Jose, back at the Intercontinental, and had an early dinner to retire for the next day's activity.

Saturday (Nov. 11th): We ventured into the heart of San Jose: the shopping district, central market, cultural plaza, and National theater. The city was packed with people.



And children have a place to play (note the golden arches!)



We bought some souvenir and gifts, and attended a fine program in the evening at the Teatro Nacional.



We headed back to the hotel, packed, and we were on a shuttle back to Salt Lake at 5AM Sunday morning. ¡Hasta luego, Costa Rica!


Below are some pictures from various places in Costa Rica. The are roughly categorized into transportation, animals, people, mountains, ocean, and San Jose.

Transportation:


A local bus in the mountainous region en route to La Fortuna.



The holes in this bridge looked clear to the bottom. Some (ok, most!) of the bridges are terrifying when viewed with western eyes.



Jeep, taxi, and bus.



Local transport: ATV.
Tourist transport: Interbus shuttle.



Our shuttle from Monteverde to Quespos. A KIA AWD mini van.



Dirt bikes are also very popular.



Our local bus at a rest stop en route from Quespos to San Jose.


Animals:


Two butterflies, one in flight.



I see you.



Hovering




Leaf cutter ants busy at work. Look how strong they are!




Don't mess with me!



Basking

Capuchin Monkeys in Manuel Antonio National Park. Can you see the baby's head on the back of her momma?












Video (large 144.5mb) of the capuchins here




This guy hung out with me at the beach while I took pictures at dawn.



24 hour security system at the cabina in Manuel Antonio.



A rainy day in Monteverde


People:


Susan enjoying cafe with boys.



Yuseth took care of us at our first lodge (La Fortuna). She was great!



Susan and I at the La Catarata Rio Fotuna.



Papayas and cocinas



A sleepy morning at Manuel Antonio.



Going surfin'



Susan picked up this local Tico on the beach...



Inside Manuel Antonio N.P.



A road side market.



Central mercado in San Jose.



Inside the Teatro Nacional.

A girl on the bus



A guy at the beach


Mountains


La Catarata Rio Fortuna



A gigantic fern in Monteverde Cloud Forest.



Lush jungle brook in Monteverde Cloud Forest.


Oceans


The pacific



Manuel Antonio N.P.



Early morning at the beach



A bird (heron?) in flight


San Jose


Souvenirs



Typical food in the market



Fruit cart - look at the size of those papayas!



The Intercontinental Hotel Real.

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This was an awesome trip. We felt relatively safe the whole time, and budget travel is definitely possible by using the local bus system. We also heard that the Sarapiqui region, and the Caribbean coast are equally beautiful and we look forward to visiting those in the future!
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A shout out to our equipment:

Canon EOS 350D/EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Nikon Coolpix 4200

Posted: Tue - November 15, 2005 at 12:19 PM          

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