Day 1-2 arrived at the airport in Liberia,. Rented 4X4 AWD Van/SUV for the self-drive . Started with the drive to the area around Tenorio Volcano National Park. This region is famous for its volcanoes, misty cloud forests, and jungle trails. The star of the show, however, is the Celeste River and its namesake waterfalls, whose ethereal, sky-blue waters are the result of volcanic mineral content and the sun's reflection.
Rio Celeste Hideaway Resort is a wonderful place to stay overnight Easy to see the birds and wildlife even from the room ( Night walk tour was OK)
Photo albums( click for the Slideshow, F11 For the full screen)
Lasa Hornillas Volcanic Activity ( Hornillas = Hot Stove)
Yoko Termales
* Parque Nacional Rincon De la Vieja ( to be covered in the next trip)
2) Poas Volcano National Park
* Pre booking and purchase for the entrance through the SINAC is a must.
Poás is one of Costa Rica´s most active volcanoes, and one of its most frequently visited and prominent ones. It contains a green acid crater lake and during some of its frequent phreatic eruptions, water from the lake is ejected like a geyser.
Poás has two summit crater lakes. The southermost one, Botos, is cold, clear has not eruptied for about 7500 years. The other crater lake is geothermally heated and -after Kawah Ijen in Indonesia - is probably the world's second most acidic natural lake. Its pH is near zero
Hotel: Poas Volcano Lodge is a stunning and unique mountain lodge nestled into rolling pastures, with breathtaking views of Poas Volcano . Very Rustic , Spansish colonial style decor inside a very huge cattle ranch.
3) Carara National Park
Carara NP is a favorite with bird watchers, especially for the Scarlet Macaw, One of the most brilliantly beautiful tropical birds. When you do sight a Scarlet Macaw in the wild, they are breathtaking – fire engine red bodies with sunshine yellow and royal blue wing feathers tinged with a bit of green, and a distinct stark white patch around both eyes
Professional Guide with good knowledge and powerful telescope is strongly recommended.(We had Andres +50684230485 whatsapp)
Highlights:Pura Vida
Gallery –Pura Vida (POO-rah VEE-dah), a very popular expression used by Costa Ricans literally translated means "Pure Life." Contextually, it means "Full of Life" "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great!" It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction.
Pura Vida is the most significant expression, I learned in Costa Rica ! Costa Rica furnished tons of tourist
trivia, tracks and Tushar’s tidbits abouttuanis topics. This includes the traveling from Tortuguero( First Day) to Tamarindo(Last day), Tarnatula(Spider like insect) , Tucan (exotic bird), Tortuga(turtle), Tequilas, all about Ticos (Costa Ricans) was truly Tuanis( Cool). What Ticons call Pura Vida ! (.). These all "T"s in the land of Coffee Richa ! Turtles and Toad gave me extra introduction to the world of
Herpetology, lava and magma to the world of Volcano logy.
Costa Rica is Pura Vida ! “ Costa Rica is paradise according to National Geographic, July 11 2008” – per the official web site of Costa Rica.
WILDLIFE
The land with size smaller than West Virginia in the USA, it encompasses one of the one of the world’s most diverse natural
landscapes . Nowhere else in the world are so many types of habitats squeezed in to such tiny area. The unique geography, creates rich diversity of
flora and fauna. Costa Rica is home to roughly 5% of the world’s biodiversity and is credited with having the 615 of species per 10,000 sq km in the world. Hundreds of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians can be found here, along with a staggering 10,000 plant and tree species! Compare this statistics to the wildlife rich country
Rwanda that has 596 ( and USA has 104) . This makes Costa Rica a premier destination for the nature lovers in the word. We were not that fortunate enough to many of the well-promoted birds and animals, part due to the season, weather .
You may try the sounds of these wild
life of your choice one of the fifteen animals at a time. ( yes , we also
often went wild but has not included our sounds though that too is
available on demand!
Niral, Amit, Madhu and myself has a wonderful trip. We landed to San Jose (Day zero) and departed from Liberia (Day11). On both weekend, Daniel (
Costa Rican, who stayed with Madhu and family as exchanged student and Amit’s friend), I grouped the travel log and the picture album in five sections .
You may see the
overall summary highlights ( the
"Pura Vida" Gallery) for a quick overview.
Here are the five photo albums also
in miniature slideshow on the page .
For more details , captions and better view click
each one of the following links,
Click the "slideshow" and hit F11
key for the full screen view.
It’s the Caribbean version of the Amazon in Brazil. One may compare it with the backwaters in Kerala as well. The Tortuguero Canals are an extensive system of natural and man-made waterways used both for simple transportation and jungle exploration. Traveling through the canals is a fascinating experience rich in wildlife that includes monkeys, iguanas, and colorful tropical birds. Picture on the left shows the topology of the place with tiny strips of land between canals, rivers and the ocean.
Getting there is
also part of the fun. The road goes through the verdant coffee plantations outside of San José and pass through the massive BraulioCarrilloNational Park, before heading down to the lowlands of Limón, on the Caribbean coast. Here, the jungle finally gives way to small towns and huge banana plantations, offering a unique glimpse of Costa Rica’s rural life. The unpaved road goes through the banana plantations for
at least 1.5 hours with huge plantations equipped with planes for spreading fertilizers. The loom of Banana is covered with the blue plastic for the protection. Each Banana tree may have enough bananas to feed a village ! Once you arrive at the Canals, the real fun begins. We’ took a scenic boat ride along the canals for another hour and half to a charming jungle lodge.
One of the most important nesting sites in the world for four species of marine turtles, Tortuguero National
Park The Green Turtle, one of the park’s most famous visitors, has existed for over 200 million years and can weigh over 400 pounds. It nests in Tortuguero from July to
October. The egg laying occurs at night, when the females pull themselves out of the pounding surf and up the sand, digging holes with their flippers. After carefully covering their nests with sand, they return once again to the sea. Guided tours are available at night to have us a chance to witness this timeless, primordial act. Like Salmons in Alaska, the Turtles cone back for the nesting at the same place where they born. Costa Rica is one of only a handful of countries that protect turtle nesting sites, and even then, chances of survival are slim, as only one of every 10,000 baby turtles reaches adulthood per ranger. Photography is strictly prohibited and enforced as any light (except for special red light) inhibits the turtle from nesting. We walked there at dark
night, with intermittent pouring rain. However the experience was worth the trip.
US Naturalist and
Herpetologist Archie Carr gets lots of credit for saving the Turtles, His name and work creates deep reverence the way one feels for another US scholar in America like Hiram Bingham when one visits Machu Pichu
The second day began with boat tour through the canals. The boat employs nearly silent electric trolling motors, helping the skipper maneuver close to wildlife without disturbing or scaring it. I got a chance to take some photographs of the wildlife that inhabits this immense ecosystem with my tele-zoom lens but it could have been better ! I learned the necessity of Image Stabilization in the
lens I concluded that 200 MM zoom is not enough for the close up of the wild-life far away in trees !
We had a great view of MountArenal from the room with river Arenal flowing 100 ft away from the room. We hiked to La Fortuna water fall, soaked in hot springs, did white water rafting at the Sarappiqui river. We took taxi few times into town and ate at a cool restaurant called "the Lava Lounge" complete with lava lamps in the bathrooms. There credit card machine was down but they trusted us to pay for the bill next day. The town of La Fortuna is typical tico because in its center is the park and the catholic church.
The Arenal volcano is ACTIVE!!! So you can actually see and hear (the noise coming from) the volcanic activity: fumaroles and rocks rolling down. Here, a picture of the lava river from the 1992 eruption. Unfortunately ( rather fortunately) we were not around to see the grand view of the lava river but we were fortunate enough to see the lava at night on our third night at Arenal. Watching the live Volcano was another unique experience. We could actually see fire coming out of the volcano and the smoke blowing to the west, which was really cool.
Situated along the Continental Divide in western Costa Rica, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve stretches down both the Pacific and
Caribbean slopes. As the elevation increases from under 2,000 feet above sea level to over 6,000 feet, the temperature and humidity also change, markedly transforming the scenery. The Monteverde region is known around the world for its conservation efforts and lifestyle centered around respect for nature. Santa Elena is the area’s main service center with various shops and tourism companies and beautiful art shops.
One of the coolest things was the view from the room. It was great to watchthe clouds passing by you , opening the view of the bay from theheight of 6,600 ft, seeing rich wildlifeand the lush greenery. .
We lived in all- inclusive resort of Hilton at Papagayo. The hotel in Costa Rica is located in a private bay heading the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Papagayo. Mainly we relaxed at the resort. Had fun with the wave runners, beach volleyball, taking
lessons in Spanish and try different drinks. Learned "Te
Quiero", "Tu eres Linda Preciosa" but will soon forget due to lack of
use. Last day we rented a car and I actually drove in Costa Rica for the first time. That was indeed exciting. Visited many towns near by.
Visiting art shops and art galleries of the local artists was new track added to the fine pleasures in
traveling. I specially enjoyed the work of local artists with the depiction of inanimate objects theme of merging still life, plant life and animal life with human life on wood,
jewelry, canvas or sculptures. The sculptures made out of
woods, ceramic, stone and many other kind of materials adding to the
creativity of the artist. The right term in Gujarati is સજીવારૉપણ્ ( Sa jiva ropan; planting
life implying human life to non-human entities )
The artist may intend to convey a more subtle, moral message. CASEM is a
cooperative of artist with non-traditional business model, may be like
"Blue stocking" from Malav or Sewa at Ahmedabad. You will find
some of this art work at our home.
We made stops at several art shop and
also made few purchases as well. The
work of the talented Marco Tulio Bernes, a local artist
from Monteverde took our maximum attention. Bernes take unconventional
material such as old fence posts or wood from decaying or insect-ravaged
trees and creates amazing sculptures.
..
Please give your feedback, comments at
tjshah@yahoo.com till I add the
comment box ~ Tushar Shah
