Fun in the Sun

Friday was sunny, clear, less humid, a little cooler. Mom headed out early to go bird watching, while dad did a round of golf. So Maki, Alex, CJ and I headed for the beach. 

We took out one double kayak and one paddle boat. Maki and I started out in the paddle boat, while CJ and Alex were in the kayak. I had forgotten how hard it can be to paddle against the current, but boy was it fun to be out on the water. We were warned not to go past the mountains, but there was no danger of that; it took forever just to get close to the cliffs! Since we were all wearing vests and the water was very calm, CJ and Maki jumped into the water and played around. On the return trip, Alex and I paddled, while Maki and CJ were in the kayak. CJ, of course, cannot use an oar, so he told us all where to go.

It's our last day and we thought it fitting to just laze around the pool, so we spent some time in the pool and on the deck chairs. There are several connecting pools, including a really cool shallow area with rocks, perfect for sunbathing. There was a water aerobics class happening in one pool, and CJ seemed interested, so CJ, Alex and I joined along for about 10 minutes. Who knew what a workout you get from dancing and jumping in the pool. I just hope our little class doesn't end up on YouTube!

After a nap, we headed back for one last visit to the beach.  CJ, Alex and I had a great time running in the sand, making a sand castle, and playing the water.  We headed to a less crowded part of the beach (this wasn't hard, we just walked to the left 500 yards) and enjoyed the sounds and sounds of the surf.  Check out the photo of Alex, left, being zen o the beach.

Dinner was at one of the nice restaurants on the property: Cauri, which features an international a la carte menu. Spices, our first choice, which features Asian fusion cuisine, was totally booked. The food here at Paradisus is great. Our favorite meals were at Chimera and Sofia, but we have been pleased with the resort food.

We met some families who had been here for a week. I thought about that for a second. Could we stay at a beach property for a whole week? I don't think so. It's been fun to relax in the sun, but I love the adventuring and sightseeing that we have done. Plus, Costa Ricans seems to be proud and aware of their rainforest and ecology so much that it would have been a shame to miss the other parts of our trip. Yes, getting to Monteverde was bumpy and long, but totally worth it.

On the other hand, ending our vacation with a couple of days at an all inclusive resort where your wristband gets you everything you need has been luxurious and fun.

Vamos A La Playa

After 5 days of sightseeing, we headed for a couple of days on the beach. We left Monteverde at 9:00am on Thursday. It took us four hours to drive to Guanacaste and check into our hotel, the Paradisus Playa Conchal. The road out of Monteverde was ridiculously bumpy, as reported before. I got to sit in the front passenger seat and see that we were traveling, on average, about 20 kilometers per hour. We traveled that way for about an hour and a half. Our drive called it a road massage. Then we hit asphalt and it was smooth driving all the way to Guanacaste.

Paradisus Playa Conchal

Guanacaste is on the Pacific side of Costa Rica and it is gorgeous. The Paradisus is a gorgeous, all inclusive resort with 6 restaurants and a host of activities. I didn't actually know much about the place when we booked it, but the travel agent recommended it, so we agreed. When they say all-inclusive, they mean it. All the meals even alcohol), room service, and activities are included. There isn't even tipping when you order room service. The activities include kayaking, paddle boating, deep sea fishing, snorkeling, diving, ziplining, horseback riding, and ATV rides. There's yoga, water aerobics, bird watching, cooking classes, even kids programs. There are off property excursions that include ziplining and nature tours that are extra, as is the golf, but so far, we haven't spent a dime extra, except for the Internet cafe. The rooms are gorgeous with two sitting areas, a flat screeen TV and balcony. The bathroom even has a toilet and bidet.  CJ: mama, there are two potties in here!

We hit the beach in the late afternoon. The beach is beautiful.  The sand was nice and smooth in one part, rockier and full of shells in the part next to the cliffs. The water is clear and blue-green, warm as bath water, with no jellyfish.  CJ is totally my son when it comes to the water. We walked to the beach and within a few minutes, he was entirely drenched, rolling around in the water, running into the surf.

We were beat afer a half day of travel and beach time, so we ordered room service (which was excellent and CJ got his salmon, which he had been pining for all day), then hit the hay early.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yep, we booked our vacation during the rainy season in Costa Rica. The dry season (really, it's the drier season since it rains year round) is from December - May, but we decided to take our chances.

Yes, it has rained, but with the exception of one very rainy day in Monteverde when we went to Selvatura, it has rained on and off and the rain has not interfered with our activities. It was glorious the day we went to see the Arenal Volcano, as well as the day that we visited the Monteverde Reserve. It rained one evening in Guanacaste, but otherwise, the weather has been hot, humid and sunny.  In Monteverde, the weather was actually nice and cool, very temperate.

Perhaps we got lucky, but Maki and I have always been in the habit of traveling during the off season. It's less expensive, there are fewer crowds, and it just seems to work out timing-wise with work. I know this will change once season starts school, but for now, it works for us.

Souvenir Shopping in Costa Rica

Whenever we visit a foreign country, I like to purchase local souvenirs. I'm a big shopper, so it's fun to go shopping for local crafts, artwork, jewelry, items only found locally. Heck, I'm even turning into my mom; on this trip, I did a bunch of Christmas shopping. Based on what we've seen so far, good Costa Rica souvenirs include:

• Woodwork, including bowls, placemats, decorative boxes, card holders, small statues, etc. It's apparently illegal to cut down a tree without a permit, so artists must use wood from fallen trees. I especially like the chopping boards made of different colored woods glued together.
• Coffee, coffee and more coffee. We have had some amazing coffee on this trip and I'm coming home with bags and bags of the stuff.  The most famous brand is Britt, but we've seen at least a half dozen brands.  I even picked up a bag of organic, shade brown coffee, which Ricardo says is important to the preservation of the environment.  The Smithsonian has even developed a certification for organic, shade-grown coffee!
• Jewelry, some silver, but mostly made of wood and a native nut that, when polished, looks like beautiful wood.
• Preserved butterflies.
• Handmade paper.
  
• Embroidered bags, clothing and kitchen accessories.
• Paintings and watercolors by local artists.  I picked up some beautiful prints for my office.

I have about a half dozen bags of coffee, which strikes Maki as hilarious since I have pretty much given up coffee in favor of green tea.  On this trip, however, since the coffee has been so terrific, I have been drinking lots of coffee in the morning.

The Cloud Forest

On Wednesday, we had another early morning so that we could leave for the Monteverde Reserve by 7:00am. It's brutal getting CJ up by 6:00am so that he can be dressed and have eaten breakfast by that time. It took a lot of cajoling and bribery, but we did it.

We took a short van ride to the Monteverde Reserve. This ride was even bumpier than our last ride to Selvatura, if that's even possible. We are told that the locals do not want the roads to and from Monteverde paved to discourage hordes of tourists coming to visit. It's definitely true that large buses are not going to survive on these roads and it's likely that some types of travelers will be deterred by the bad roads.

Monteverde Reserve

We were lucky that day at the Monteverde Reserve. It had rained our last two days, but today was glorious. Our guide Ricardo is a first-generation Quaker. His dad is a Quaker from Alabama who founded a dairy farm and helped create the Monteverde Reserve. Ricardo was our guide for four hours. He told us about the primary forest, the pioneer forest (which was planted after the fields were converted back to rainforest), the plants, the trees, the bugs, and the animals. We didn't see any monkeys, but we did see a black guan (bird), a green toucan, lots of butterflies, and lots of beetles and caterpillars. Miraculously, it didn't rain; it would have been less fun and perhaps a little treacherous on the path if it had been raining.

We crossed one hanging  bridge in the rainforest.  A sign warned that only 10 people can be on the bridge at the same time, so we were careful when following another group.

We visited the hummingbird garden at the end of the tour. Mom says the hummingbirds were remarkably well behaved, meaning they weren't fighting and sipped from the feeders very nicely. I know nothing about hummingbirds; they all seemed beautiful to me. We saw blue ones, green ones, purple ones.

Food, Glorious Food

After the cloud forest tour, we got dropped off downtown and lunched at a most unusual place. The Tree House restaurant, which literally has a tree growing in the middle of the restaurant. There is no front wall or roof in part of the restaurant, which means that when it rains, you can only eat in the small, enclosed area. The tables among the branches were taken, so we sat in the enclosed area and enjoyed yummy smoothies and beans and rice.

Rice and black beans is a staple at very meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - and it is delicious. Other staples are plantains (yum!), chicken, eggs and coffee. We've enjoyed some great food here.

Alex decided to stay and relax at the hotel, so the rest of us ventured out to dinner. Mom, dad and CJ went back to Chimera (because CJ said he loved the chocolate mousse and mom loved the shrimp sambal), so Maki and I had a rare night alone at Sofia, Chimera's sister restaurant around the corner. OMG, the food was just as good here. I had a roasted sweet potato and plantain soup, then shrimp with green mango slaw. The best part of the meal had to be the mango ginger mojito - amazing. Maki's cinammon-crusted pork chops were to die for. Food is an important of every vacation for us, and we have realy enjoyed our dinner these past couple of nights.

Adventures in Selvatura

On Tuesday morning, we got up early to explore the town and get ready for our afternoon adventure in Selvatura. After breakfast, Mom and CJ relaxed at the hotel, while Maki, Alex, dad and I walked to Santa Elena, the local town. It was a pretty steep walk down to the town, which consists of a couple of blocks of shops and restaurants. I picked up some souvenirs, Maki's dad bought a map, then we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Ziplining and Treetop Walkways

After a hurried lunch, we were off to Selvatura, a nature reserve. Maki and Alex spent a couple of hours ziplining through the forest, while mom, dad, CJ and I walked the trails and crossed 8 hanging bridges. Alex and Maki said ziplining was amazing. They did close to a dozen jumps. Here's how it works. Wearing a helmet, you get strapped into the line, you get coaching about whether and how much to brake (which you do with your gloved hands), and then you get pushed down the steel cable from one platform to the next.

Our walk through the rainforest was wonderful. It seems everyone was zipling, because we only saw 4 other people on the trail. The hanging bridges are literally hanging between the edges of a canyon. The bridges are made of steel and you can see all the way down to the bottom of the forest. Thank goodness there is a protective fence or I would not have let CJ cross a single bridge. As it was, CJ just adored the bridges and insisted on being the first across most of the bridges. He was fearless on the trail and on the bridges.

About halfway through our walk, it started to rain. Actually, it started to pour. My Liz Claiborne jacket didn't hold up to the rain and I got drenched. CJ's LLBean jacket was a champ and kept the little guy completely dry, except for the bottom part of his legs, which were not covered. Maki said it was not fun standing in the rain on the platforms, but once they got going, the rain didn't matter.

Butterfly Garden

We also visited the butterfly garden, the largest in Costa Rica. We saw the famed blue butterfliy of Costa Rica, the owl butterfly (named because of the owl eyes on its wings), the glass wing butterfly and many others. CJ enjoyed taking picture of the butterflies as they fed on fruit and as they sipped nectar from the flowers. What I found most fascinating was the chrysalis. The gardeners gather up the chrysalis (no idea how to make this plural) and tack them onto a board so that they can be monitored. Each butterfly has a distinct chrysalis. Some are light green, some are brown, some are shaped like shells, some are long ang thin. We also learned that while nearly all butterflies will feed from the nectar of any flower, each butterfly prefers a specific plant as its host plant, or the plant where it lays its eggs.

Amazing Tapas

For dinner, we decided to go off the property and ventured a local place called Chimera, which advertised Latin-infused tapas. OMG, we had the best tapas ever. We enjoyed curried shrimp, coconut shrimp, ceviche, roasted eggplant, and stewed chicken. For dessert, our favorites were the apple cake with chocolate-chili sauce, and the chocolate mousse with sangria syrup. The restaurant manager, Cindy, a transplant from Dallas, told us that she came to visit in November and has decided never to leave. Her 12-year is attending the local Quaker school, while she helps manage a coffee shop and restaurant. For her, la pura vida is a reality.

Up to the Green Mountain We Go

After a fun couple of days in Arenal, we headed to Monteverde, which is north of San Jose and up in the mountains. First, we took a short boat ride across Arenal lake. We were lucky; the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed views of the lake, and even got to see birds along the shore. We were told that the boat ride shaved 3 hours from our trip. The rest of the trip was by van, over some very bad, bumpy roads. It took about 3 hours.

Monteverde is an interesting place. It was settled by Quakers from Alabama in the late 1940s. Here, they were free to raise cows and produce milk and cheese. But in an effort to protect the watershed above its 1500-hectace plot in Monteverde, the Quakers agreed to preserve the mountain rain forests, or cloud forests as they are called here.

We arrived in Monteverde around 2pm, just in time for a torrential rainstorm, the first during our trip. We took it easy the rest of the day and had dinner at the fancy Laggus restaurant at our hotel, the El Establo Hotel way up in the mountains. It's a pretty steep ride from front desk to where our rooms are, so we have to take buses to and from the front desk, the restaurant, everywhere.

El Establo is a beautiful resort. Because of its location, we have magnificent views of the valley and it does feel like we are up in the clouds. The weather is very temperate; the room's don't have heaters or air conditioning. The architecture definitely feels European, with pitched ceilings, and a chalet style. There's a lot of granite everywhere, which makes us wonder if there is local granite in Costa Rica.