Tag: Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio:

Our final three nights were spent relaxing on the popular west coast of Costa Rica, enjoying the hot tropical sunshine and abundant wildlife.

The 195km journey from Monteverde in the mountains to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast took over 5 hours. 15kms down the road and we had a half hour wait at roadworks, before continuing down the mountains on the worst roads we’ve ever driven on. We would have been lucky to average 15kph for the first 40 kilometres as we swerved around potholes and bounced over deep corrugated ruts. Finally, the gravel ended, and we were on the main road to the coast.

We needed a break to stretch our legs. Looking out for somewhere to stop we saw a lot of tourist buses and cars parked by the bridge crossing Rio Tarcoles and a small brown sign saying “Cocodrilos en su habitat natural”. We drove to the other side of the bridge weighing up whether to continue on or well stop for a look. We really didn’t expect to see anything, I mean really, how likely would a wild crocodile be lolling about in full view. We started off across the bridge and I could see something on the mudflats ahead of me, something crocodile-shaped. Halfway over the bridge and there they were right below us, all 27 of them relaxing the shallows. And, to top it off stalking about on the shore was a huge iguana. Unbelievable. Once again Costa Rica has delivered on the wildlife front. We were gob-smacked. We walked the rest of the way along the bridge then crossed to see if more crocs were visible on the other side. There were two more. There is no footpath along the bridge, and this is the main road. Thankfully truck drivers were used to the flocks of tourists stopping and slowed down, even courteously waving people across in front of them.

Not far past the crocodiles and we were driving parallel to some of the most famous surf beaches in the world including Playa Hermosa near the town of Jaco where top surf competitions are held. It also featured on the cult surfing movie Endless Summer II. We drove down to see it. It was deserted. Just a few beach shacks under the palms and signs warning of strong rips and unpredictable waves. The black iron sand was unbearably hot. Further on, we drove down another a beach access to see if there was somewhere to get lunch. More colourful beach shacks and some surfboards leaning against palm trees, but otherwise it was also deserted, apart from a couple lying under a palm tree drinking rum.

Driving on route 34 from Jaco and Quepos it is impossible to miss the expansive plantations of African palms. At first, it looked like a natural palm forest, but the straight lines gave away that these were planted. The palms are used for palm oil production. We passed many trucks laden with the dark brown fuzzy bunches of palm fruit. Palm oil gets bad press but unlike palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia, most of Costa Ricans palm oil is produced sustainably and ethically in accordance with the international standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. With Costa Rica’s strong stance on the environment, deforestation is not an option and any companies not acting ethically are called out, and there have been a few that have been criticised for encroaching on forests and on using child labour.

We finally reached Quepos, the town closest to Manuel Antonio. It’s a reasonably big town; an overgrown village filled with a haphazard array of basic buildings. We drove through, up a hill and over the point to Manuel Antonio, the gateway to Manuel Antonio National Park. Clustered around the entrance to the park close to the beach were a number of resort hotels, backpackers and restaurants, along with a couple of superettes and the usual souvenir stalls. Our accommodation was lovely; a poolside cabin with a spacious terrace set in tropical gardens and surrounded by rainforest.

Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest of the national parks in Costa Rica and the most popular. Probably because of its location near the west coast beaches and resorts that draw tourists. It costs $16 US to enter the park without a guide and about $52 US for a guided walk. We decided not to go as we had a rainforest track behind the hotel to walk through, and we were surrounded by creatures just sitting in the pool.

We had jumped in the pool when we arrived and barely left it for the next two days. Using the intense tropical heat and its sloth-inducing properties as an excuse, most of our time was spent doing little else but relaxing. Better still, 95% of the time we had the pool all to ourselves and there was a continuous parade of wildlife visiting us.  Monkeys swung through the trees above us. A gorgeous yellow-throated toucan arrived and perched only a metre from me. There were butterflies, frogs, and birds who dived into the pool beside us catching insects. My favourites were the lizards of all shapes, colours and sizes. An iguana sat in the gutter above the pool all day, every day, sunning herself and watching the world go by. The only time she moved was to occasionally bob her head up and down in some sort of dance and once to protect her spot from another intruding iguana.

I was taken by all these reptiles and took hundreds of photos of them in various poses. I was photographing a particularly large iguana, over a metre in length and quite thick-set, when he started running straight at me. I was sure he was charging me and almost jumped out of my skin trying to get out of his path. Andrew also had to leap out of his way as he raced past the pool and across the driveway before stopping as quickly as he started, lying down on the concrete in the sun, where he stayed for the next hour.

Crocodile, Rio Tarcoles

Crocodiles, Rio Tarcoles

Iguana, Rio Tarcoles

Iguana, Manuel Antonio

Iguana, Manuel Antonio

Yellow-throated Toucan, Manuel Antonio

Lizard, Manuel Antonio

Iguana, Manuel Antono

The rainforest track at the back of the hotel ran alongside a small river. It was lizard heaven and we saw many varieties and also found some tiny brown frogs, less than a centimetre in length.

Panamanian White-faced monkeys are the most common in this part of Costa Rica. They are very entertaining and engage with tourists, sometimes taking things too far and stealing bags. They move so quickly, there’s no chance if they like what you’re eating or carrying. There’s also the smaller Central American Squirrel Monkey. They are much shyer, but they still let us get quite close to take photos. We’ve now seen all four breeds of monkeys in Costa Rica – the Mantled Howler Monkey, Geoffrey’s Spider Monkey, Panamanian White-Faced Capuchin Monkey and the Squirrel Monkey. Box ticked!

In the evenings, the bats came out, swooping past us barely making a sound. On our last evening, we were having a pre-dinner swim and two deer walked through the garden, completely oblivious to us. Apparently, they come to drink from the pond at the back of the garden.

Manuel Antonio beach is beautiful. It was not too crowded and there is a simple, natural feel to the place, not yet too developed. We walked along the beach to where the rainforest of the National Park meets the sand. It’s spectacular.

We went to the beach each evening when it was cooler. The sunsets are stunning here, with fiery skies that burn bright and fast. Almost the moment the sun dips below the surface it is pitch dark.

Sadly, it had to come to an end. Sun-kissed and contented we threw our case in our car one last time and hit the road to San Jose. We had a plane to catch to Panama City the following morning.

Panamanian White-Faced Capuchin Monkeys

Panamanian White-Faced Capuchin Monkeys

Central American Squirrel Monkey

Central American Squirrel Monkey

Tourists feeding the monkeys, Manuel Antonio

Heron, Manuel Antonio

Sunset, Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

San Jose:

Once away from the coast we drove through rugged hills, noticeably parched by the scorching sun. There were signs of fire, perhaps intentional burn-offs. There were mostly cattle farms or unused scrub-covered land, and occasionally coffee plantations. April is the end the dry season here and this year it’s been particularly dry. In May the rain will start.

San Jose is 1,172 metres above sea level and thankfully, after some very hot days on the coast, it was much cooler. This sprawling city surrounded by forest covered mountains is home to more than 2 million people, 40% of the country’s population.

Earlier in our trip we had commented on the state of the cars in Costa Rica, all aging and most with dents and dings. There were very few late model vehicles on the roads and after driving over the rural roads that we had we understood why you wouldn’t want to invest in an expensive car. However, in San Jose it’s a different story, there were many luxury cars about – Lexus, Mercedes, Range Rover, Audi. They must leave them at home when they head to the country.

Our hotel was across from the National Stadium at the end of La Sabana Park, a huge rectangular park filled with sports fields, ponds and walking paths. We walked through the park to the main street leading into the city centre. Trumpet trees covered in rose pink flowers lined the streets. Andrew noticed a large number of MacDonald’s and Subway outlets. The streets of San Jose are in a grid and most are named in numerical order: Calle 1, Calle 2, Calle 3 etc. dissect through Avenida 1, Avenida 2, 3 and so on. The layout, along with the many plazas (squares) are a reminder of the Spanish Colonial influence on this city.

Avenida Central is a long pedestrian-only street in the heart of the city that leads to Plaza de La Cultura. The Central Markets are halfway along. This maze of stalls and food outlets occupying an entire block has been open for business since 1880. For the centre of a large city, the shops are noticeably low-end, selling trashy clothes and cheap shoes. It is hard to notice much of San Jose is shabby and grubby. There are some lovely old buildings though, like the exquisite 19th-century National Theatre and the grand early 20th-century burnt-orange Post Office. We were lucky, there was an outdoor exhibition of the works of Costa Rican sculptor Jimenez Deredia underway.  27 of his sumptuously curvaceous monumental bronze sculptures were scattered around the central city area. Their presence certainly lifted the city.

After loving our experience in rural Costa Rica, we felt bad that we were not warming to San Jose. It’s a city trying to push ahead in a country that is eager to shake off its “developing country” label.

We caught a bus back to the hotel and got ready for our flight the next morning.

When were arrived here 11 days ago we didn’t know what to expect. This lovely little country tucked away in Central America where everyone genuinely welcomes you as their amigo and even the wildlife is friendly has surprised us more than we thought possible. It’s charming and real and we loved it.

In Costa Rica they have a saying: “Pura Vida”. Simply translated it means “pure life” or “simple life”. The phrase is on every t-shirt and fridge magnet that’s for sale here, but it’s more than just a saying or tourist gimmick, it’s a way of life that the Costa Ricans are proud of. Pura Vida is about being at one with nature and the environment, being true to who you are and appreciating the important things in life.  It sums up Costa Rica perfectly.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Sculpture by Jimenez Deredia, Costa Rica

National Theatre, San Jose

Old Post Office, San Jose

View from our hotel, San Jose

Sculpture by Jimenez Deredia, San Jose

San Jose, Costa Rica

Arenal:

After three days in Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, we picked up our rental car and headed towards our next destination; Arenal a volcano in the middle of Costa Rica. The roads were mostly single-laned highways with speed limits ranging from 25 kph through the blink-and-you-miss-them villages to 60 kph through the countryside and occasionally 80 kph on the small stretches of double-laned highway. Pineapple plantations were plentiful as were signs advertising an array of nature tours from sloth spotting to frog stalking. It was very lush, very green. The villages were made up of shabby but colourful box-like houses with open terraces and almost always two rocking chairs sitting beside the front door. Signs warning of fauna crossing the road were frequent and we noticed narrow wire swing bridges strung across the highway from tree to tree. These must be for monkeys or sloths to cross safely.

A volcano appeared in front of us, but it wasn’t ours. The road skirted around it and it disappeared behind us. Finally, there it was, the perfectly symmetrical single cone of the Arenal volcano rising up behind the small town of La Fortuna. It was dusk and we drove through the town without stopping. The place was bustling with tourists, browsing souvenir shops and taking photos of the volcano from the town square.

Our hotel was out of town, almost at the foot of the 1,633-metre-high volcano. It was dark when we arrived, and we were hot and tired. There was a lovely pool set in tropical gardens and a swim was exactly what we felt like. However, a swarm of insects beat us to it and the surface of the pool was thick with drowned bugs. We stood there considering whether to jump in anyway and then saw two giant toads wallowing in the shallow end. That was enough for us. We gave it a miss.

It was overcast the next morning and we enjoyed a slow start to the day. The hotel staff had given us a long list of activities on offer in the area: thermal pools, zip-lining, rafting, horse-riding, hiking, coffee tours, chocolate tours, and more. We booked a chocolate tour for the following morning and decided to spend the afternoon walking in the Arenal Volcano National Park. Like the Tortuguero National Park, the cost to enter this park is $15 US per person. The ranger at the gate gave us a map and pointed out the best senderos (walking paths) to follow. She was particularly enthusiastic about the nearby peninsula trail that she described as “muy bonito” (very pretty). We started by walking to the main lookout, but the volcano was hiding behind a shroud of clouds. The terrain was typical of a volcano, very rocky and covered in scrub.

Arenal was dormant for hundreds of years until July 1968 when it erupted violently burying three villages and killing 87 people. The eruption affected a huge area and crops were spoiled, property ruined, and a large amount of livestock was killed. The volcano hasn’t been active since 2010 and is a magnet for tourists, primarily for the picture-perfect peak itself but also for the thermal resorts that have popped up around the base of the volcano.

We decided to try the peninsula walk that the ranger had recommended. It was a short distance down the road and was through much lusher bush than on the mountain itself. At the end of the Peninsula there was a beautiful view over Lake Arenal and up to the volcano which had dared to reveal a bit more of itself. Colourful birds flitted through the undergrowth and a trail of ants carrying leaves crossed the path from one nest to the other. We were quite taken with these guys; they were very entertaining to watch. Not all ants seemed to be connected to the collective intelligence of the colony and were going the wrong way, bumping into their comrades. Back at the beginning of the track Andrew pointed out a sign warning of how to act if you encounter a Jaguar. I’m just glad we saw that after our walk.

Driving back to La Fortuna we passed lots of luxurious looking thermal resorts enveloped by greenery. In this heat we couldn’t think of anything less appealing than soaking in hot springs. We must be the minority as the volcanic mineral waters are a huge attraction in the area.

The aptly named La Fortuna was fortunate and escaped the 1968 eruption that affected the towns on the Western side of the volcano. The town wasn’t always called La Fortuna and legend has it that it was renamed after escaping the eruption, but the truth, we were told, is that it was renamed La Fortuna before 1968 because it sits on flat fertile land. Its fortune is now linked to the tourists who flock here. It’s a small town and we walked around it in half an hour.  In the centre of the town is a grassed square filled with colourful gardens and across the road is a large Catholic church, the spire reaching up towards the volcanic peak. We have noticed no one smokes in Costa Rica and there are No Smoking signs everywhere, including all parks and outdoor areas. They may well smoke in private, but smoking is banned in all public areas, outside and in.

Andrew was suffering from a head cold and we bought him some oranges before heading back to the hotel. Back at the hotel and we were desperate for a swim. There were no toads this time and we were soon relaxing in the pool. Vivid blue and green hummingbirds hovered nearby, sucking nectar from bright red flowers. Lovely velvety black birds with vivid red wings about the size of a large sparrow swooped over the pool. We’d seen them earlier on our walk. They are very striking and quite friendly. I read later that they are a Tanager bird. Andrew was feeling better, the swim had worked.

The next morning, we filled up on a traditional Costa Rican breakfast of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), tropical fruit, strong black coffee for me and jugo de naranja (orange juice) for Andrew before checking out and heading into La Fortuna for our chocolate tour.

Costa Rica is known for its high-quality cocoa production which is made into some of the best chocolate in the world. Our chocolate tour was on a working Cacao plantation. We had never given the cacao plant much thought, which was exactly why we were there; to see how this amazing fruit gets turned into chocolate. At the start of the tour we were encouraged to wander through the Cacao trees to see the fruit at different stages of maturity. The flowers of the Cacao were surprising. They grow directly on the trunk of the tree and the fruit that forms from these flowers protrudes straight from the bark covered trunks and primary branches. It looks very odd, almost like they are stuck on.

Once the fruit has turned crimson-red they are picked, and the seeds are removed and fermented before being dried, roasted and husked. We tasted the dried cacao seed and it already tasted like bitter dark chocolate and even more so after being roasted. Our guide took the husked seeds, mixed them with raw sugar and put them through a hand grinder and out came a thick crumbly chocolate. We all tasted this. It was just like very dark chocolate. The guide then added hot water to this mixture and poured us each a small cup of pure hot chocolate. It was bitter and strong and gorgeous. They then whipped up a bowl of melted chocolate and we got to taste it with a variety of toppings. I chose chilli, then salt, then coffee beans. Andrew tried salt, then orange, and then candy sprinkles. It seemed such a simple and pure process. Our guide stressed to us that only chocolate made from 70% cacao or more can be considered real chocolate and anything less than 30% is not chocolate at all, merely candy. It was a very interesting hour and a half and we both have a new respect for chocolate.

We were full of chocolate when we left La Fortuna, heading west to our next destination. Ahead of us cars were pulled over to the side of the road and a group of people had gathered under a tree. Ahh, we knew what that meant – a sloth! We pulled over and joined the group. Yes, there she was – a mother sloth with a baby clinging to her back. She was darker than the others we’d seen. I tried to get a photo, but the leaves kept obscuring her. The Costa Rican man beside me said it was very rare to see one with a baby on her back.

A bit further along the road and the clouds were finally moving away from the volcano peak. We had plenty of time so pulled over and waited for a photo opportunity. Others joined us. Finally, we got an almost-full shot of that perfectly symmetrical cone and then headed off.

We wound our way along the shores of Lake Arenal. Above us, some very nice houses sat in large lush gardens with views of the lake. There were lots of signs advertising sections for sale, many in English. Apparently, Americans and also Europeans are choosing Costa Rica as a retirement destination.

The lake was behind us and the land changed to farms; first beef ranches with those floppy-eared white cattle and then to dairy farms with the more familiar Jerseys and Friesians. Every farm seemed to have a herd of horses as well. We’d been told the Costa Ricans are great horsemen.

Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna

Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

Brahma Bull, Costa Rica

Cacao plantation in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Cacao fruit protruding from the trunk of the tree.

Flowers and very small fruit on the trunk of a Cacao tree

Very ripe Cacao fruit

Fermenting Cacao seeds to make chocolate

Drying Cacao seeds to make chocolate

Pure hot chocolate, La Fortuna

Monteverde:

75kms into our 120km journey and the road turned to gravel and with it our speed reduced. Potholes, dust and very slow going: it took 3 ½ hours to cover 120kms. The terrain got hillier and we were rising quickly. Coffee plantations replaced farms. We passed through a few small villages, each with a handful of colourful houses and always with free-range dogs.

Then we were in Santa Elena, a bustling little tourist town with craft galleries and restaurants sitting on forested slopes. We were staying 6kms further on. Our hotel, Trapp Family Hotel is the closest to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and we had been upgraded to a mountain suite with huge windows and stunning views over the forest. It was remote and beautiful. The first thing we noticed was the significant drop temperature. Monteverde is over 1400 metres above sea level.

We decided to drive back into Santa Elena for dinner over the roughest roads we’ve experienced, and worse still in the dark. Dinner was a traditional Costa Rican dish, Casado. Casado means married in Spanish and this dish is literally a marriage of many foods. Our plates contained rice, beans, salad, tortillas, fresh white cheese, fried platano maduro, and a chicken wing slow roasted in “grandma’s” secret sauce.  Although it looks like a lot on the plate there’s barely any fat and the flavours are fresh.

Back at the hotel after bouncing over those awful roads in the dark we were walking up the path to our room – me in front, Andrew lagging behind – and there on the path was an armadillo! I shrieked with excitement; the worst thing to do. He froze and looked at me with a bugger-I’m-busted expression, turned and shuffled into the undergrowth. “Quick, Andrew, hurry…it’s an armadillo”. Too late, he’d gone. Andrew didn’t believe me. I clambered behind the hedge trying to find my armadillo. Andrew stood shaking his head muttering; “crazy woman.”

The wind picked up overnight and the windows shook, waking us. There was a heavy downpour too. The next morning it was still overcast, windy and cold. We waited for the weather to settle then walked up the road towards the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. On the way we found a dead armadillo in the gutter.

In the 1950’s a group of Quakers from the United States moved to Monteverde to avoid being drafted into the Korean War. They settled here and lived a simple life centred on dairy and cheese making. The Monteverde dairy factory is well renowned. One of these original Quakers was Wilford Guindon who in the 70’s when the rain forest was threatened by the expansion of farmland teamed up with some scientists to create the reserve and forever protect this beautiful forest.

It costs $22 US per person to enter the forest. Knowing that all the funds go to protecting the incredible biodiversity of this region with its abundant animal and plant life makes the high price more digestible. Inside the park there is a network of well-marked trails that wind up and down the mountainside. There weren’t many people about. A few groups taking guided walks were sporadically clustered not far from the entrance, but the further you walked the fewer people there were and we were soon alone. We walked to a beautiful waterfall and then up along a ridge to a valley where a hanging bridge took us across through the forest canopy. Because of the altitude, the forest is quite different to the rainforest we had experienced on the coast. It’s a lot more like New Zealand bush. Birds were plentiful.  We found a nest in a bank with two small robin-like birds busying themselves with renovations.

Back at the park entrance there was a café with hummingbird feeders hanging in the veranda. The air was filled with hundreds of tiny hummingbirds stopping for a drink. Bright green, blue, violet and yellow; each bird looks different.

We had signed up for a night forest tour that evening, and the bus picked us up from the hotel at 5.20pm. It gets dark early here and by the time we’d picked up other tourists from various hotels and the bus had wound its way down a narrow lane to a remote rural property it was pitch black. Our guide told us the rules: watch where you put your feet and do not touch anything on the side of the path in case creepy-crawlies are lurking. For the next two hours we walked through the forest and peered into the blackness on the hunt for weird and wonderful creatures that only come out at night. We found scorpions, a bug with a light on its bum, a thin striped snake, katydids, fire-flies, crickets of varying sizes, sleeping butterflies, sleeping hummingbirds and sleeping brown jays, a very awake owl, a possum, lots of ants carrying leaves along huge ant highways (apparently they work 24/7), and to my great excitement an orange and black tarantula sitting snugly in her hole. It was great fun creeping through the dark. We felt like kids again, going spot-lighting. I think some people were disappointed we didn’t see more, but that’s wildlife. Nature doesn’t appear on demand. I’m just glad I had my armadillo encounter the night before.

The next morning it was time to head down the mountain to the Pacific coast for some relaxation on the beach. After breakfast, we started off on our 200km journey to Manuel Antonio.

View from our room at Trapp Family Hotel, Monteverde

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

Birds at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Walking through the forest canopy, Monteverde

Hummingbird, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Lots of gravel roads in Costa Rica

Owl, Monteverde Costa Rica

Female Tarantula in her nest, Monteverde Costa Rica

Traditional Costa Rican dish, Casado

It’s strange arriving in a new place at night. It’s disorientating and at the same time a bit like having a present in front of you that you can’t open till morning. We were dazed when we landed in San Jose. Thirteen and a half hours to Houston followed by a three-hour connection and then another three-hours thirty to San Jose, and that wasn’t including the drive from Tauranga to Auckland.

The clinical like airport with its chill air-conditioning gave way to the embrace of a humid tropical night and the craziness of taxi drivers jostling for business. We smiled and pushed past. We were looking for our name on a board. There he was, our driver waiting for us.

We had found a local Costa Rican company online who had arranged our 12-day itinerary, providing suggestions for places to visit and booking accommodation, a rental car and transfers for us. The company, CRS tours, is part of the international Pack for a Purpose programme where tourism companies sponsor local projects and encourage clients to bring worthwhile donations with them on holiday. We were asked to bring stationery for one of the three schools that CRS sponsors in remote and impoverished areas of Costa Rica. Andrew had had some fun at Warehouse Stationery and at least a quarter of our shared suitcase was filled with writing pads, felt-tip pens, pencils, rulers, highlighters, Sellotape and the like. Our driver was impressed with the bag of goodies we entrusted him with to take to the agency.

On the drive to the hotel he told us a bit about him and his country; how he owns the transport business with his uncle and that he has never the 3 years of operating had picked up any New Zealanders; and how life in Costa Rica is pretty good and that it’s the most stable country in Central America and as a result living standards are much higher than its neighbouring countries.

We arrived at our hotel. It was 9.30. The woman who checked us in told us that there are no water bottles in the hotel rooms because Costa Rica is trying to reduce all plastic and drinking from the tap is fine. Recycling bins sat in the hallway outside our room. In the information CRS provided us on Costa Rica there were a lot of references to the country’s strong environmental stance and they even sent us a link to an App with our itinerary so we wouldn’t print anything.

We hadn’t eaten much in 24 hours and didn’t want to go to sleep too early, so put our bags in our room and walked 100 metres down the ill-lit street to a very cool corner bistro with dark walls dripping in vintage memorabilia and a pretty jazz singer crooning in the corner. The restaurant specialised in Argentinian steaks, but the menu was mostly Italian influenced. We ate bruschetta topped with some of the best prosciutto we’d had, then cannelloni for me and lasagne for Andrew washed down with a velvety Argentinian Malbec.

The alarm went at 5.30am. We were to be picked up at 6.15 to start our 3-day adventure to the Tortuguero National Park. There was time for a coffee and oh, that breakfast spread was too enticing. A true Costa Rican spread with fried plantains, rice and beans, soft tortillas, white cheese and tropical fruits. And that coffee was superb. I had made the mistake of accepting what they call coffee on Air NZ. Big mistake.

We were on the bus and off towards the Caribbean coast. The city quickly gave way to coffee plantations and market gardens and then we were driving up the mountains through the Braulio Carrillo National Park. Over 25% of Costa Rica is protected conservation land and the surge in Eco-tourism has helped turn this spectacular nature into income, no doubt keeping those keen to cash in from the exploitation of natural resources quiet. The road rose to 1000 metres through dense cloud forest. We were told it’s always wet and cloudy up here. The huge plate-like leaves of “poor man’s umbrella” or Gunnera keep the forest floor obscured from view. We saw a few monkeys high above us, dangling precariously over the road. It was Saturday but there were many trucks on the road, mostly dump-trucks carrying rocks. The roads are like the majority of New Zealand roads, not wide and with no barriers. We were taking it all in, as in 3 days’ time we would pick up our rental car and be joining the throng.

It took 2 hours to reach our breakfast stop. Yes, we’d already eaten, but this was all laid on for us so why not have some more? It was a similar traditional spread, not nearly as nice as the hotel, but the fried plantains were delicious, and I don’t eat bananas.

Outside the restaurant, we encountered our first sloth. High above us in a tree, he looked like a sodden old jumper that had been thrown over a branch. Then he moved. My only goal in Costa Rica was to see a sloth in the wild. I actually thought it would be similar to expecting to see a kiwi in the wild in NZ, so to see one outside a restaurant beside a main road was quite unreal.

Below the tree we found lots of tiny red frogs with blue legs. These are the poisonous dart-frog or blue-jeans frog and they’re only a centimetre long and have a very distinct chirp. Nature is everywhere here.

Back on the bus and another 2-hours’ drive past banana and cassava plantations and then cattle ranches with white Braham cattle – the type from India with floppy ears and accentuated withers; they’re good in the heat so are the main breed used in this part of the world.

The scale of the banana plantations is incredible. Signs outside these vast plantations are emblazoned with renowned brands; Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte. Each banana bunch is wrapped in a blue bag to protect it and when they are picked, they are hung on a moving wire that takes them through the plantation to the processing plants. Our bus had to stop while a draw-bridge-like arm came down across the road and a succession of suspended banana bunches sailed across in front of us.

Finally, we arrived at the port of Cano Blanco and we were all loaded onto a fibreglass longboat. Two seats on each side, an aisle down the middle, open sides and a canvas roof. The only way to reach Tortuguero National Park is by boat or air and the boats are strictly commercial tourist boats.

It took just over an hour to travel 40kms up the canals to our lodge. The further we went the denser the rainforest got. We saw spider monkeys swinging through the trees, great white herons stalking in the shallows and an unnerving number of vultures circling.

Banana bunches arriving on at the processing plant

Braham cattle, a popular breed in Costa Rica

Our transport to our lodge

En route to Pachira Lodge

Pachira Lodge, Tortuguero

We were welcomed to Pachira Lodge with a luscious tropical fruit cocktail and then ushered off to lunch. Pachira Lodge is an Eco lodge nestled in the forest across the canal from the village of Tortuguero. The lodge makes every effort to minimise the environmental footprint of their operation and there is no plastic to be seen. The lodge is made up of cabins set in lush tropical gardens and connected by concrete paths above which large orb spiders hang in their intricate golden-silk webs. There’s a beautiful pool area and lots of shady outdoor areas to relax and take in the remarkable environment around you. The rooms have no air-conditioning, just a roof fan, and there’s a wide gap around the top of the walls covered with mosquito nets for air flow. Monkeys frequent the lodge and a young Spider monkey played up for our cameras not long after we arrived.

There was no time to rest our jet-lagged bodies. After lunch we were off on our first excursion; a 2-hour canal tour to spot wildlife. Tortuguero National Park covers 31,174 ha with a network of canals and waterways running through it. The best way to see it is by boat. We were in a small flat-bottomed boat with an outboard motor and no sides or roof to obscure our view. It costs $15 US to enter the Tortuguero National Park and the park office was only 5 minutes boat ride from the lodge. We pulled up to the jetty at the Rangers’ office and our guide jumped off to pay the fees. It must be an honesty system as there’s no “gateway” to the park as such. We then raced up the canals, slowing when we reached the narrower areas where we were much closer to the forest. It was stunningly beautiful. Greens of all shades overlapping and stabs of colour from tropical blooms: the bright red lobster-claw plant, magenta ginger flower and soft mauve clematis clambering across the canopy. Ficus trees dipped their long shapely roots into the tannin-stained waters. We saw a Jesus Lizard. A few Howler Monkeys walked over the branches above us, black and woolly with thick set necks. Cute spider monkeys swung by, chattering away.

Tortuguero means Turtle Catcher, named because of the Sea Turtles that nest along the Caribbean coast from July to October. It wasn’t the season for the Sea Turtles, but we were lucky enough to see a good-sized river turtle sunning itself on a log.

Then we saw more sloths. The slightly smug, slightly spaced out half-smile on the face of a sloth is oddly endearing. I have a lot of affection for this funny creature. Because they move so slow when they put one arm in front of the other to climb a branch their arm hovers like they are waving at us. Our guide told us the sloth only comes down to the ground once a week to do a poo. Why they lumber down to the forest floor to defecate is not entirely known but it is a ritual they follow fastidiously.

Our attention turned to a flock of toucans, too high to see properly, and then to the macaws, herons and anhingas, or snake birds, drying their large wings. There were more vultures, twelve tiny bats under the roof of a jetty, and three very large spiny-tailed iguanas.

Spiny-tailed Iguana

Sloth, Tortuguero National Park

Anhinga or snake bird

Male Anhinga

Tiny bats

Toucan in Tortuguero National Park

Tortuguero National Park

Female Anhinga Tortuguero National Park

River Turtle, Tortuguero National Park

Ficus tree, Tortuguero National Park

Heron, Tortuguero National Park

Research centre, Tortuguero National Park

The sky was darkening, from both clouds and the early sunset of the tropics. The sun sets before six here. It was time to head back. We were feeling quite exhausted and a swim to freshen up was just the thing we needed. Then a beer while looking over the canal into the inky blackness, listening to the symphony of insects.

It rained overnight. The guttural call of the Howler Monkeys cut through the jungle. A troop of monkeys ran across our roof at 4am. Most probably they were Spider monkeys, but they could have been Howlers.

The next morning, we took a guided walk through the jungle. We were told to wear covered shoes and mosquito repellent, but it was hardly “wild”. The paths were concrete and there was a rail running alongside. It was interesting though; our guide Marco knew his stuff. We saw large blue land crabs, red-eyed tree frogs, bullet ants (named because their bite hurts more than getting shot), a very small green headed snake, spiders, lizards and lots of beautiful lush tropical plants. It rained briefly but heavily; the dense greenery protected us from getting too wet. This is the dry season in Costa Rica. Back at the lodge, we were told someone had found a Boa Constrictor, in fact two, outside a cabin. The larger of the two was relaxing in the leaves beside the path, the other was tightly curled around a tree directly above. Neither seemed too fazed by the attention they were getting. It was incredible to be so close to these genuinely wild creatures.

Blue Land Crab, Tortuguero National Park

Pachira Lodge, Tortuguero National Park

Boa Constrictor, Pachira Lodge

Toucan, Tortuguero National Park

Pachira Lodge

Spider monkey, Tortuguero National Park

Red-eyed Tree Frog, Tortuguero National Park

More swimming followed, then lunch, then more swimming. Some monkeys visited and a flock of toucans with their comical banana beaks landed in a tree only a metre from us. Then it was off on another excursion, this time to the village of Tortuguero.

Tortuguero is almost directly across from the lodge and sits on the peninsula between the canal and the Caribbean Sea. The village grew from turtle hunters and traders settling here. Before the establishment of the National Park in the mid-70’s turtle hunting was prolific, and the species was quickly becoming endangered. Our guide took us first to the Turtle Conservatory and told us about the effort that was made to educate the locals of the value of the turtles alive, rather than dead. By employing the youth in tourism and science they were able to teach the next generation that they could earn a good living by protecting the sea turtles and end the cycle of hunting. Now the economy of Tortuguero is solely based on tourism and thrives. We walked to the beach where the Green Sea Turtles will start arriving around June and nest here until October. We had to use our imagination as to how it would look with these 1.5-metre-long creatures lumbering up the beach en masse. A local was cutting coconuts and selling fresh coconut water for $2 US, or $4 US with a shot of rum. We opted for the pure version. The US dollar is widely used here.

We were starting to get to know some of the people in our excursion group. Three young women from Madrid, a French family from Lyon, a Costa Rican family with the most energetic wee boy, an American family of 5 from Seattle and two young German doctors from a town in Northern Germany near the Danish border.

Our guide was in no hurry and we all wandered slowly along the beach towards the village, chatting about our travels. Tortuguero village is small and made up of bright-coloured ramshackle buildings that seem to have given up fighting off the encroaching forest. Commerce consists mainly of souvenir and craft shops, eateries and back-packers. A lot of young people who perhaps find the lodges too pricey opt for the more authentic village experience. One of the shops was selling dog food packages wrapped in beeswax for $1. By the looks of the village dogs, this tourist gimmick is working. What a dogs’ life – no cars and everyone feeds you.

The light here is lovely. At 3pm the shadows are already long and by 4.30 it’s evening and everything is bathed in gold and pink. We admired the turtle mosaics on the school walls and the giant installations of a macaw and toucan and then sat in the village square people watching while we waited for our boat home.

That night the Howler Monkeys weren’t so loud, or perhaps we just slept more heavily.

After a leisurely start the next morning it was time to leave. Our Tortuguero experience was almost over. We were soon on the boat and racing through the canals, stopping briefly to admire another sloth waving at us, before arriving back at Cano Blanco where our bus was waiting. A repeat of that 2-hour drive over mostly gravel roads and through picturesque rural Costa Rica followed, and we were then back at the restaurant where we had eaten breakfast the first day, this time for lunch. After refuelling, it was time for us to hit the road alone. We said our good-byes to our fellow travellers and found our rental car representative who set us up in a cute Daihatsu 4×4, our transport for the rest of our Costa Rican journey, and then we were off towards our next destination, Arenal Volcano.

Drinking fresh coconut juice on Tortuguero Beach

The Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

Tortuguero Village

Tortuguero

Bright buildings in Tortuguero

Tortuguero

Mosaic with a message, Tortuguero

Tortuguero

Tortuguero