Vintage Costa Rica

My recent travels inspired me to dig up some pictures from my last trip to CR.  A trip around Arenal to hike, then off to the beach- Playa Grande and Playa Azucar.  This seems to be a theme...

In retrospect, I am happy that I've splurged on a DSLR.  Oh, those pixels!  Digital photography has really come a long ways.  

Rincon de la Veja

Getting up really early and hiking is one the best things I can think to do.  Granted, I am usually a lounge around in my robe waiting for the coffee to kick in sort of gal, but being someplace nature-full always inspires me to get up and get out.  Having the trail to myself is also a good motivator.  

Which was great- not only did we have a tight schedule, but this part of the Park was actually pretty crowded and well-hiked compared to the sector we had hiked the day before.  Even though they two park entrances were only 7 km apart, they offered completely different, yet equally crazy landscapes.   

So the trail we had really wanted to do was a peak hike to the cone of the volcano.  That was closed when we were there- a couple people have died and the volcano is unpredictably active and spewing lava and ash from time to time.  We settled for the more traveled loop trail that took you past some eerie and weird sights.

There was some really lovely tropical rainforest to hike through.  We saw groups of howler monkeys in the treetops.  The forest here is so dense, you could walk around all day without seeing much of anything, but if you pause and you are quiet, the forest will come alive around you.

We reached a spot where hot sulfiric steam was wafting out of the ground.  It turned the forest into a misty, enchanted place.  While it took a lot of effort to keep my camera lens from fogging up constantly, I think I captured the other-worldliness of the place.  When the breeze kicked up and blew the clouds of steam in your direction, you could barely see your hand in front of you.  When the breeze died down, the light filters through in a magical sort of way.

A dead tarantula was spotted, along with a giant predatory wasp nearby.  The wasp lays its eggs in a live tarantula, which then use the spider as sustenance.  They literally eat their way out of the host.  Nature is horrifying sometimes.    

There were fumeroles and  boiling mud pots and sulfuric ooze seeping from cracks in the ground.  All around this turmoil and inhospitable land wast beautiful and resilient flora.  

The trail turns  out of the rainforest and into what they are calling a dry forest.  This is what years of re-growth looks like after the land has been clear cut:

Dry scrubland.  Once you cut down a rainforest, is is loathe to grow back.  This was once pastureland that they are letting revert back to a natural space.  

There were boiling mud pots though.  Too hot to sit in.  Maybe close to 200 degrees F.

It was nice to have one last swim (really, it was my bath for the day) in a waterfall pool.  Sigh, Costa Rica.  You are a lovely and strange and beautiful place.  I spent a lot of time rescuing (catch and release!) large moths out of my cabinia when I would have normally killed them, and brushing away large beetles when I certainly would squash them, and becoming oddly fascinated with grasshoppers half the size of my arm.  It makes you feel a bit more part of the food chain when there are leopards running about.

I guess the only thing I continued to swat at with no mercy were mosquitoes and other biting blackflies.  They are truly terrible creatures, and my skin looked like a relief map of the Alps with all the bug bites that I was trying really hard not to scratch.  

 I did enjoy that swim muchly, as the next couple weeks would be spent in the charmless Land of the Polar Vortex.

Primordial Soup Bathtime!

Alas, it was time to say goodbye to the beach, and move on with things.  Up next, we drove back to Liberia, past the town, and up a rustic road to get to Rincon de la Veja park for some steamy hot volcanic action.

It was rumored to be less crowded than nearby Arenal, which has been dormant for a few years now.  It was also very close to the airport, so it worked nicely to maximize our time there.  Also, excellent hiking.  

The downside:  the road leading up to the park has several private "adventure lodges".  Take your pick, they are all the same, and they are the only place where one could possibly stay in this area.  No cute B&Bs, not a single hotel or hostel once you leave Liberia.  Just...adventure lodges.  We chose the only one that had availability, but they were all pretty much the same.  They try to sell you activity packages of rafting and tubing and horseback riding and ziplining, all within the confines of their property.  Which is all well and good, but I tend to like more quiet nature activities.  I want to go rafting, but I don't want to go rafting with drunk college students.  

Speaking of which...our hotel had plenty of college students, along with a pool with a swim-up bar that appeared that no one had gotten out to pee outside of the pool in quite some time.  There was a busload of students from a state school in Kentucky which I will not name.  Ugh, they were terrible.  Sitting at breakfast, having a group of boys three tables over loudly discuss which sorority sisters they want to bang, and who banged whom, and how much they can competitively drink, and who passes out the most, and what "nasty skanks" they declared certain ladies in the group to be.  Thanks for embarrassing yourself and looking like complete douche bags in a foreign land, you terrible wastes of your parent's money.  I wish for the pox to afflict them.  

Aside from spending as little time around the hotel as humanly possible, it's quite a nice area totally worth exploring.  We found out later that you can camp at the park for just a few bucks a day.  We should have done that instead.  Oh, the odd thing about Costa Rica is that they have their own currency which is tapped into the US currency fluctuations.  Most places will accept US dollars, except for small local places and street vendors.  

When we got to our lovely adventure lodge on Sunday afternoon, we saw a big sign on the wall : Rincon Park is closed on Mondays.  

Really?

We drove all the way out here and the Park was going to be closed on the day we planned to go?  Costa Rica is a bit disorganized with getting this sort of information out on websites and whatnot.

We hopped in the car and despite the late hour, tried to make it to the Park before the gate closed.  There, the ranger informed us that no, we can't hike at this late hour, yes, the park is indeed closed on Mondays, but...there is another sector of the park that IS open on Mondays, and it wasn't too far away at all.  We decided that it wasn't the end of the natural world after all, and planned to come back to the park for a very early morning hike on Tuesday before our flight.  Living dangerously is our specialty.

Meanwhile, the park ranger directed us to a private trail with a waterhole and swimming hole.  What would be a more perfect place to cool off then a waterfall in the middle of the jungle?  

No place.

The volcano was completely obscured under cloud cover, and occasionally, the wind would blow in rain drops.

The next morning we woke early, drove down a series of very rough roads to the Maria sector of the park.  It was indeed open, and we were there early enough to be the first ones on the trail.

Through the enchanted forest we hiked, seeing so many birds and butterflies.

This sector of the park is known for its springs, so it's a good idea to bring something to swim around in.

 This strangler ficus was busy strangling a boulder:

Which was really interesting to get a clear view of how it does its thing.

There were plenty of really lovely spots.  I had a nasty spill at this waterfall- trying to scramble over slippery rocks is clearly not my specialty.  I ended up badly bruising my hand, my wrist, and my hip, but nothing was broken so I kept hiking.  The hip bruise was enormous though.  I took pictures.  I don't think I've ever gotten a bruise that large before.

There were Blue Morpho butterflies everywhere!  They were enormous, but too fast for me.  When they rest, they do so with their wings folded up and they look like a brown leaf.  When they fly, you see brilliant flashes of blue.

We reached a hot sulfur spring, where water was bubbling up from under ground and into a stream.  People had walled off a bit so you can sit and bask in the hot water.  While sitting in hot springs was much more gratifying when we were in Iceland, it did feel oddly good to have a warm soak, with occasional dips in the fresh cold stream.

The sulfur turned the water the most magic shade of aqua, and the surrounding rocks were the tell-tale yellow.

The downside: you will smell like sulfur for the rest of the day.  So will your clothes.

They also had a cold spring, with sulfuric waters bubbling up in pots in what looks like a landscape that a brontosaurus would find comforting.

It was a really nice hike.  The ranger had said it would only take two hours, but we were there for at least six, basking in pools and springs and really taking our time and observing birds and butterflies.  Afterwards, we stopped at a commercial enterprise which ran a well-known hotspring and mudbath.  There were a series of man-made pools built up along a stream, and each one further away from the source spring was a bit cooler than the last, so you can take a nice soak in whatever tub you felt most comfortable.  For about $10 you could sit there all day.

Santa Elena

Another beautiful sunrise in the tropical rainforest.

This part of Costa Rica is filled with adventure lodges.  Ziplines and canopy tours and canyoning.  All the outfitters vying for the longest, largest, highest titles for their adventure.

Unfortunately, all the racket of people screaming down the ziplines tend to scare the animals a bit, and very few are to be seen.  

It was even hotter and drier on this day.  

I managed to spot an Ocellated Turkey, a large bird that runs and flies through the treetops.  

And finally, a miracle to top all miracles:  our rental car found us.  Thank you Alamo.  You shouldn't have screwed up so badly in the first place, but I'm happy you made it right.  

Santa Elena is kind of the hub for the area, with hostels and a couple small grocery stores, a really useful pharmacy and some good places to eat.  Taco Taco soon because a favorite, and it was always packed with anglo backpackers.

Costa Rican cuisine is nothing to write home about.  Beans, rice, fried chicken, queso fresco.  There's enough expats here that bring in all sorts of good things though, and you can get really fresh seafood on the coast.  Monteverde has a cheese factory that makes all sorts of interesting cheeses aside from queso fresco, like a gouda and a blue.  Aside from that:  pizza seemed to be an option in every town where tourist flock, and open-air local bars that served comidas were found in every town with more than 10 people.  You won't starve, but you won't be waxing poetic too much either.

Off we drove , down the mountain side that was basically like driving down a dry creek bed, and on to our next destination.  Time for surf.