Visit marvelous cloud forests, waterfalls, huge volcano, unique butterfly, snake and coffee farms. Get acquainted with indigenous population and its cultural heritage.
Tour Itinerary:
Day 1, Friday: The leader for this adventure, will meet your arrival at 6:45 this evening and whisk you away to the west of the metropolitan area into the lush hillsides of the coffee country. At dinner with your leader, who is with you the whole adventure, you'll get a chance to figure out what to expect from the days to come.
Day 2, Saturday: It's your first day, so you get to sleep in — but remember that this is the last day for sleeping. After breakfast we'll start the drive across the central mountain range, but stop to spend the day and tonight in a very special place on the way. We take you to our friends' quiet effort to preserve, for generations to come, the mysterious and awesome cloud forest in his private forest preserve. Here we'll hike among spectacular waterfalls and pre-Jurassic plants, some more than 900 years old. Here the resplendent Quetzal bird nests, and in nesting season this shy bird appears frequently.
Day 3, Sunday: After a few hours' hike (Rose has to let us know when it is time to carry her) we'll drive the rest of the way through the mountains to the ever erupting Arenal Volcano. Tabacón is here, the fancy big tour bus resort style hot springs, well manicured pools and beautiful bodies in swimsuits, and catering to hundreds. And we also know a wonderful place where only the local people come, and a few world-wise travelers, and we have to slide down a muddy path, and take our waterproof flashlights for the way back after dark - it is your choice.
After dark (here almost on the equator sunset is 5:30 pretty much year round) we'll head around the back side, or the left side, to find a place for viewing — remember, the volcano changes its lava flow pretty regularly, much like a sand castle gets dribbled on from the top. The roads are nearly imaginary lines on the map here, so thank you, 4x4! And if this still doesn't work, we can try climbing a short distance up the slope to see under the mushroom cloud of steam (the volcano forms its own cloud; steam coming from cracks on the side of the cone manage to condense just enough to block the view of the glowing lava). But even if the visibility is poor, the sounds are enough to fire your imagination - if we get close enough, and far enough from the tour buses and party folks at Tabacón Resort.
Day 4, Monday: Hope you are up to some silence today. We'll inflate our Duckies for a quiet float down a small, isolated stream with riverbanks full of nature, watching for birds and monkeys and lizards and crocodiles. Silence is so important here! We're lucky that we're a cohesive group totally afraid to endure Rose's angry glare if we screw up and make a sound. Crocodiles, for example, will slip into the river to wait under water for noisy tourists to go by. With the little Duckies we can truly creep up on the birds, and lizards, and a few other interesting animals (there are sloth in the trees, but they move so infrequently, so slowly, that you'll need an expert eye to catch sight of one).
There are other "treats" here, too, extremely well camouflaged - fruit bats, which look a lot like wet leaves, and snakes, quiet and inactive, coiled on branches to absorb the sun. And birds, lots and lots of birds, hiding below the lowest branches or sitting in the brightest sun possible, wings stretched to dry their feathers. And then the monkeys scream challenges to everyone, and be prepared for some particularly aggressive male to "relieve" himself from a safe height above us - they have pretty good aim.
Day 5, Tuesday: After breakfast we travel by horseback across rivers, through pastures and cane fields, and into a primary flatland rain forest. The culmination of this ride is a 700 year old strangler fig tree. Rose says she wants to get to the tree via 4x4, which is also an option. The hollow center of this tree has natural "steps" which invite ascents. The wildlife inside the tree provide added excitement. You will emerge through an opening in the trunk above all but the tallest trees in the forest, then rappel back down to your horse before galloping back to the ranch house. And Rose? Once she get to the tree, she'll be the one sitting in the tree giving everyone else very precise directions.
Day 6, Wednesday: Sunrise is the most serene time of the day, and most stable for the balloon. The rain forest between our launch place and Arenal volcano is filled with toucans, howler monkeys, iguanas, sloth, and brilliant birds and butterflies — and these are only visible in full color from above. We try to descend into the forest to play with the animals, and we also try to ascend to see Arenal above its halo of clouds. But we can't guarantee the direction - the pure joy of flying is enhanced by the freedom of direction of these giant bubbles, and the landings are always a source of curiosity for local people.
We have about 4 hours of driving today, passing through the volcanic mountain range, through some "backroads" of Costa Rica (no tour buses here!). En route we'll be stopping to have lunch, and we might as well enjoy the highest waterfall in Costa Rica while eating. The Caribbean zone is perhaps the most primitive and ignored part of Costa Rica, and is rich in bio diversity and real people. No large tourist enclaves here, only small, passionate privately organized animal rescue shelters and people dedicated to replenishing our living planet. Of course it rains here — that keeps our coastal area clean and with gently comfortable temperatures. But to put it in perspective, it rains much like the coastal areas of Florida or the Bahamas or Jamaica, anywhere that the Caribbean weather system dominates. And tonight we'll be on that coast, enjoying the animal rescue sanctuary of Luis and Judy Ramirez, with star guests Buttercup and Spiderman.
Day 7, Thursday: The whole southern Caribbean area is eclectic, with the largest concentration of bird species in Costa Rica. But wait, not just birds here. Costa Rica indigenous population, the Bri Bri, operate small communal farms as they have since before Columbus arrived. Our company works closely with INAI, a non-government foundation devoted to developing the Caribbean zone without sacrificing the local heritage. We have opportunity to visit some of these isolated farms, plus our friend Steve Brooks' own permaculture station with hundreds of edible species growing, literally, next to the almost-invisible path through the forest.
Day 8, Friday: Did we say turtles? It's March and the beginning of the nesting season for the gigantic leather backs. The nesting beach is entirely protected, and difficult to access (fortunately for the turtles) and we're making. Turtle watching is a night activity, using red lanterns so we don't disorient the trans-like arrival of the females lumbering onto the shore. The beach area is under the dedicated watchful eye of hundreds of volunteers who come stay here each year to protect this shore. We have come to gaze in awe at this phenomenal primitive ritual, bringing these turtles back to their own birthplaces, as they have been doing since before mankind arrived on this planet.
Day 9, Saturday: Katrina and Greg will take us with them while they continue research on the Taxuci dolphin. What? Taxuci? Yes, Greg and Katrina and Shawn have discovered the small gray Amazon freshwater dolphin frolicking in the coastal waters off Gandoca, here in Costa Rica. Their research is now funded in part by the Nature Conservancy, but more so by people like us, paying for the gas for the boat so they can go out for more first-hand observations and record-keeping.
Day 10, Sunday: Rodolfo, Rose and the family will leave to return to San Jose (civilization? Who's definition is that, anyway?) right after lunch. We have the rest of the day to explore near the city. There's Lankester Gardens, with magnificent tropical plants, and the bird sanctuary where we can clearly see any species we missed during the adventures, and of course butterfly farms and snake farms and coffee farms and museums and shopping - basically tons of tours are based from San Jose, and today you can play conventional tourist.
Or we can pass all this mayhem to go back out into (past the airport) the country on a picnic and a view of the Pacific at the top of Espiritu Santu (not a place where any tour buses go - it's strictly four-wheel-drive) - there's no end of things we can do with Rodolfo enthusiastically showing you his country on this, your last real day here. And the last chance for some adrenaline, too - he'll bring the ropes and harnesses (same ones you used in the tree in the forest), and you can play "murciélago" from the old ruins here.
Day 11, Monday: Your return flight from Costa Rica, alas. We'll head for the airport at 7:00 to catch your flight at 8:55 (they really want you there two hours before flight time - but we know another shortcut). You'll leave behind Rodolfo, guanábana, gallo pinto and the miserable potholes. But you'll take back some great new skills, and memories of Rose doing things she hasn't done since childhood in Joplin, Missouri. And you can come back, any time you get the urge.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Six or more persons, two per room: 3,355 / 3,500
Five persons, three rooms: 3,685 / 3,955
Four persons, two rooms: 3,740 / 3,905
Three persons, two rooms: 4,420 / 4,615
Two persons, one room: 5,160 / 5,400
One person, one room: 8,390 / 8,795
Also see tour packages in:
Central America and Caribbean
Costa Rica
Ecotourism
Volcano Tours
Email it to a friend:
Click here to email this vacation to a friend
|
