Tour Day 6: San Carlos Valley

7/13/2013

This morning we set off from our stunningly beautiful hotel in San Carlos Valley to travel to Guanacaste, which will be our final destination of the tour. En route to Guanacaste, we visited the hanging bridges. We were given the choice to take a guided tour or venture off on our own, and thinking the guides would be able to spot wildlife and supplement our information, we chose the guided tour. Unfortunately, we were sorely mistaken. 

The hanging bridges were beautiful! Gorgeous greenery, a little bit of wildlife consisting of snakes, birds, and monkeys, along with streams and waterfalls made for an incredible afternoon. Our guide Fernando was not a great contributor to our experience, however. His strategy was to walk up front and tell something to one person. That person would then, out of either kindness or pity for the rest of the group, relay the information through our group (passing through both English and Spanish speakers who would attempt to translate to each other) until it reached the last person. It was similar to the common game played in childrens camps, telephone. Our guide would generally say about three words to the first person, along the lines of "There's a frog." By the time it would filter down to the last person, however, the information would be that of "There's something on the right side of this giant forrest." Needless to say, Fernando did not receive a tip from anyone except the first guy. Rolando however, always on top of things, tossed him a water bottle as we were driving away to supplement his low income.

(Above: my parents and I at a waterfall by the hanging bridges)

After the hanging bridges we made a pit stop at a shopping center. My mom made a b-line to the shops, while my dad and I hung back at an ice cream shop. We noticed that in the little standard rides that children can take for a quarter, which are the same as in North America, there is honking programmed in to the music! It never ceases to surprise me how nonchalant honking is in this culture.

When we returned to the bus, there was a bee on my window. I removed my shoe and asked Rolando permission if I could kill it, and he proceeded to both de-wing it and be-head it all in a half a second and with one hand! This guy is unstoppable!

Our day ended with us arriving at our beautiful hotel, which is right on the beach and also has the largest infiniti pool in Costa Rica.

Another great day in Costa Rica! Another benefit of this hotel is that there are free drinks for three hours every day. Needless to say, there may not be a posting tomorrow. Pura vida!

Tour Day 5: Los Chiles (and Nicaragua!)

7/12/13

This morning we set off for a wildlife boat tour on a river along the Nicaraguan border called Rio Frio, which translates to "Cold River."

On the bus ride to the river, we passed a restaurant with a lizard theme. Rolando informed us that people recreationally eat lizards in Costa Rica, and even that some restaurants will serve it in the place of chicken to unsuspecting people. I made a mental note to switch to beef for my next month here.

(Above: there were seemingly hundreds of lizards on a bridge outside of the lizard restaurant)

The boat tour was amazing! We saw monkeys, "Jesus Christ" lizards (I've heard two explanations as to why they are nicknamed Jesus Christ: one idea is because they can walk on water, and the other is that, when they walk on water, you yell "Jesus Christ!"), cows, birds, ducks, and more. We lucked out to have beautiful blue skies instead of the standard lightning storm, which was an added bonus, and perhaps even allowed us to see more wildlife. We were also fortunate enough to see "Blondie," a mutant yellow monkey. We were told that she is the only blonde monkey to exist-- however, to be honest, they could pretty much tell us anything and we'd believe it!

                 (Above: a Costa Rican bird)

               (Above: Blondie and her son)

             (Above: a crocodile of some sort)

We then headed off to Nicaragua! Our tour company has some sort of deal set up with the border patrol, so we were allowed to be temporary illegal immigrants for a few minutes. While our group was taking tourist pictures with the Nicaraguan border sign, Rolando enjoyed carrying around a giant black grasshopper of some sort and parading it around.

        (Above: my mom and me in Nicaragua!)

                                      (Above: crossing the border)

  (Above: Rolando carrying around the giant grasshopper)

Afterwards we were off to a hotel with a wide variety of hot springs for an afternoon of swimming. We enjoyed the warm water, with springs ranging up to 130 degrees! I think the consensus was that our favorite part was riding the fast and furious water slides. My dad and I went on the fastest slide, and I think we're partially concussed from smashing our heads so many times against the slide. I'm skeptical of the safety regulations required here in Costa Rica.

One benefit from today's events that I can take away is that now I can officially cross being an illegal immigrant off my bucket list. Pura vida!

Tour Day 4: Fortuna

7/11/13 

This morning we nostalgically left Limon and set off to Fortuna! To get out of our hotel in Tortuguera, we took an hour or so boat ride to reach land. At the tourist pit-stop, there were many people on bus tours similar to ours all taking a break and getting situated. I saw one little girl petting and hugging a dirty homeless dog with her mom looking on and smiling. To top it off, they fed the dog a bag of Cheetos. I wonder if my laughter at this typical Gringo situation means that I have officially lived here long enough to have made the transformation into a Tican.

We stopped off for lunch at a private restaurant in Civolo en route to our hotel in Fortuna. At the restaurant, a few people performed a dance portraying the Costa Rican cavemen becoming friends with the animals. It became awkward when the main character forgot his dance moves. We were then allowed to walk around the beautiful grounds of the hotel, where we saw a giant tree, a few sloths, and a venomous frog of some sort. Rolando was not afraid of the poisonous frogs, however, and scooped one up to show us. Not even the fear of venom can slow this guy down.

Next, we visited a pineapple plantation! We were given a crash-course on useful tips about pineapples. We learned that, to pick an ideal, ripe pineapple, you should look at the eyes; the bigger the riper the pineapple. The pineapple should be green on the top and yellow at the bottom, and have symmetry.

We also learned a little bit about the daily life of a pineapple farmer at this particular plantation, which has caused me to cross pineapple farmer off my list of potential future careers. The life of a pineapple farmer sounds extremely rough; these men stay bent over for long hours sticking the fronds of pineapples into the ground-- it hurt my back just hearing about it! Another interesting fact we learned was that an average of seven pineapple field workers per year get struck by lightning in Costa Rica, since there is so much open space. As soon as the presentation was over and I returned back to my seat in the bus I started doing homework-- I've never been more motivated to earn my degree!

The pineapple plantation itself, however, was stunningly beautiful. A diverse collection of plants, blue skies, and thousands of pineapple fronds made for a great afternoon to just look around and soak in the beauty. 

        

(Above: pineapples! A worker has to poke a hole in the tarp each time before they stick a frond in.)

We arrived at the hotel around three and were given the rest of the day to just relax, which was lucky for us because the hotel is stunningly gorgeous! I keep looking for Oprah or another A-list celebrity to walk by, as there is no way this place can go unnoticed by the rich and famous. Flowers, greenery, waterfalls, ponds, streams, warm hot springs, pools, and a three-hour happy hour all made a great afternoon for us. The cherry on top is our view from the hotel: an active volcano! I feel like this place is too good to be true.

                                                  (Above: the volcano)

                        (Above: towel animal courtesy of our hotel maids)

Today marked the half-way point of the trip; I can't believe how fast time is flying! Pura vida!

Tour Day 2: Limon

7/9/13

This morning my parents and I woke up around 5 a.m. to set off to spend the next two days in the province of Limon, Costa Rica. Limon is a poor, relatively dangerous town full of English- and Spanish-speaking Jamaicans. I was excited to learn we would be traveling here, because it is a place I would be too nervous to travel to alone or with friends. In the safety of the tour bus, however, with Rolando our guide knowing every person in Costa Rica and their mother, I feel safe and excited for this experience.

We started off the day by driving through the busy city of San Jose, which I am familiar with, and I was able to quietly supplement Rolando's information to my parents. For example, when he pointed out the theatre, I told my parents that on Thursdays plays are only $2.00. Once again I felt like part of the elite having this small piece of knowledge.

The route to Limon was very pretty, with trees and greenery looking like large pieces of broccoli, and at one point we passed a yellow river. We also passed pineapple and banana fields. Fun fact: in the banana plantations men rope 25 bunches of bananas together and run them from place to place as the main method of transportation. These runners make around $25 a day, which is big money. Another fun fact: bananas start out as flowers, and only half of the flowers turn into bananas.

        

       (Above: the yellow river)

       (Above: the yellow river)

       (Above: pineapple field)

We entered Limon after approximately an hour and a half and made our first stop at a butterfly garden. My mom's favorite part was looking at the blue butterflies, my dad liked the women dressed in butterfly outfits, and I enjoyed the diverse greenery in the garden, and the cookies offered in the waiting room.

    

                (Above: a banana runner)

                          (Above: casaba root, which is similar to potatoes)

                                             

As we drove through the town of Limon, my suspicions about the safety were confirmed. Police were everywhere! I told my dad to move his wallet into his front zipper pocket and to be very aware, and to take away all money from my mom for safekeeping (which, let's be honest, he should probably do anyways).

 (Above: a Limon police checkpoint onset by a recent robbery)

As we approached the hotel, Rolando warned us not to be surprised by finding a frog, beetle, or other kind of creature in our hotel room. He told us that if this was the case, not to freak out, and he suggested that if we're having trouble adjusting to the uninvited company to try giving it a name, which might take the edge off. I have pre-named my room critter "Peter," in honor of my host dog.

The Tortuguera province, where we are staying, is only accessible by boat and plane; we were driven by boat. We saw plentiful wildlife and greenery on our trip, including a few monkeys! Our guide's name is Willace and I enjoyed speaking to him in Spanish and listening to his Limon accent.

                         (Above: Willace)

(Above: workers on the lake digging up sand to fill the holes in the houses to prevent water from getting in.)

We arrived at the hotel and were greeted with thousands of mosquitos who were eager to get a taste of our exotic Gringo blood. in addition, the mystery critters Rolando spoke of ended up being bats! We spent the afternoon eating, walking along the beach, and lounging at the hotel before our evening tours.

(Above: the bats in the hotel. Notice the "Wake up Knock" sign, because there are no phones in our Tortuguera hotel rooms.)

      (Above: the definition of "tranquila," or "calm")

We ended the day with a tour in a Limon jungle with the intentions of spotting some red-eyed tree frogs. To our surprise, however, they were everywhere! In trees, on the ground, and even jumping and climbing on people! My dad, ever the explorer, ventured into the wilderness when the guides weren't looking and surprised everyone (himself included) by discovering two iguanas! When he pulled the leaf back to reveal the iguanas, he almost grabbed one by its face-- possibly the reason the tour was guided. My rebellious financial advisor father, however, cannot be tamed.

       (Above: a red-eye tree frog)

                     (Above: two geckos)

After a post-dinner swim in the pool we are off to bed (yes, at 8:30...) in preparation for the 5 a.m. sunrise hike along the beach my parents and I have planned for the morning. Buenos noches!