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Limerence Update #27 June -Inland Tour of Costa Rica Gulf of Nicoya, Costa
Rica July, 2001
In late June
we returned from a two-week trip to the States and welcomed a visit from son Jake Decker.
He flew into San Jose from Columbus, Ohio where he is a Captain for Executive Jet. EJA is
a jet time-share company, and part of the Warren Buffet group. Jake’s job as Captain
also includes being a check airman and instructor.
We have
rented a car for the months we are here in Costa Rica so traveling inland is relatively
easy. We introduced Jake to the funky surf town of Jaco that is less than fifteen minutes
from Los Sueños Marina here in Herradura.
Jaco has developed into a major beach resort in the last twenty years and is an oddball
assortment of cabanas, restaurants, t-shirt shops, and disco-pizza joints. It attracts the
weekend party crowd from San Jose that is less than two hours northeast. It features two
grocery stores, a laundry, bakery, liquor store, bus station, medical clinic, and tattoo
shops. It took us awhile to appreciate Jaco, but it does offer everything . . . It just
takes awhile to find it. Our favorite place for breakfast is the friendly Canadian-owned,
Chatty Cathy’s. The pasta at La Cicala is homemade and excellent, as well as great
dinners at the Cococabana. For Costa Rican gourmet food the best bet is up the mountain to
Villa Caletas Resort where the sunsets are astounding. Of course the Marriott Hotel has
several fine restaurants if you don’t mind the prices they charge to their captive
audience. One of the
most popular destinations in Costa Rica is a 90-minute drive south of Jaco – Manuel
Antonio Park. It is a tropical jungle set along the Pacific coast with white sand beaches
and stunning islets. We hiked several hours in the park with a guide who pointed out
white-faced monkeys, sloths, bats, boat-billed heron, and various types of flora. A guide
typically charges $20 per person for a two-hour guided tour. It is a good value because
they are knowledgeable and can spot specimens in the tree canopy that we would never see!
All the parks offer many different trails of various degrees of challenge and endurance.
Costa Rica lures you forward into the jungle until your bones ache! The next day
we packed overnight bags and left Limerence to the security of Los Sueños Marina. A bone crunching four-hour drive took us
northwest to the cloud forest of Monteverde. We drove up, up, up on a pitted and twisty
gravel mountain road high into the dense clouds of Costa Rica. The lush green farmland
surrounding Monteverde was settled in the 50’s by Quakers from Alabama who came in
search of peace and good grazing for their cattle. They left the high forests above their
farms to conserve rainwater and prevent soil erosion. It has become one of the most exotic
and sought after parks in Costa Rica.
The moist
winds along the continental divide in Monteverde create constant mist and rich nutrients
for giant trees covered with vines, ferns, mosses, bromeliads, and flowers. The forest feels dark and spooky and you expect to
see elves and fairies hiding in the dense jungle. We stayed
near the park entrance at the Fonda Vela Chalets. Our huge rooms had polished wood floors
and panoramic picture window views of the forest from a delightful sitting area. The
grounds were serene and lovely. Early the next morning we had a guided tour of the park.
As we hiked up and down the thick trails we heard a constant “BONK”. It sounded
like one stroke of a drum. “BONK” again. We learned that the sound is the mating
cry of the three-wattled bellbird. These large whitish birds have three strange wormlike
wattles hanging from their beaks. The wattles give the bird the appearance of having black
worms around their beaks. . . this apparently attracts the female. We saw a total of eight bellbirds on our morning
hike, and had close-up views through the telescope the guide toted with him. We found
Monteverde very different than the jungles we have seen thus far. There are few flying
insects like mosquitoes or flies, and many more hummingbirds and rare species of plants
and bromeliads. It is a serene experience to climb the trails in the misty and quiet cloud
forest of Monteverde. Later that
day we drove northeast to the Volcan Arenal. We have visited this area before, and this
time stayed with Jake at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. The Lodge was built in 1987 for
researchers and while rustic, is comfortable and awfully close to the Volcano. Our rooms
faced the cone and we could lie in bed and watch the Arenal Volcano through the picture
window at the base of the bed. The tree next to our window was full of howler monkeys that
entertained us with their antics leaping from branch to branch. In the evening the rain
poured and the howlers nestled together and moaned long mournful sounds as they got
soaked. At four in the morning they howled their distinctive guttural howls that can be
heard for a mile. It was a unique experience, but not one that you would want to hear
every morning before dawn.
The rain
clouds covered the display of the volcano’s evening spewing of lava and rocks
skyward, but the next morning we enjoyed a hike through the jungle to a huge lava field.
It is acres and acres of porous black rock boulder fields. The Arenal Volcano has been
active since a huge eruption in 1968 that killed nearly 100 people. Our guide told us the
history of this century’s eruptions, and some recent fatalities of the Volcano. It is
not an area to be treated lightly. The ride
back from Arenal goes around the Arenal Lake that is a man-made dammed lake that provides
power for the Guanacaste Province in northern Costa Rica. The strong winter winds make the
Arenal Lake one of the top windsurfing spots in the world. This area is becoming so
popular that one can find many charming bed and breakfast hotels, art galleries, and
botanical gardens. Our favorite spot to stop for lunch and shopping is the charming Toad
Hall. It is a must see! Another unusual place is the Lucky Bug gallery and restaurant.
Our week
with Jake included hikes in Biologica Carara and the Rio Tarcoles where we saw at least 50
crocodiles basking in the river and scarlet macaws flying two by two overhead. We observed
several Toucans in the jungle and small mammals called agoutis. At one point a guide
showed us an eyelash viper which is a very poisonous snake, neatly coiled around a fern
along our hiking path. One learns quickly not to reach out and touch the inviting ferns
and flowers that may harbor danger! Our visit
with Jake went quickly and we had a wonderful time getting caught up on his work and
activities, as well as showing him around this unique and wild country. Fair winds
friends, Captain Doug and Judy |
