My taxi arrived at 3.00 am to take me to Heathrow to fly to Amsterdam, meet Faith then fly with him to San Jose, Costa Rica. Kath and Martin were flying up from Columbia, due to arrive about 3 hours after us. My flight from Heathrow was delayed due to low cloud at Amsterdam. It was a rollercoaster - thinking I would miss the connecting flight with Faith then thinking it was possible as all flights would be delayed out of the airport too. We were given Gate numbers and, on arrival I ran to the Gate, arriving out of breath to a queue for boarding. Faith was already on board and had kindly bought me a bar of chocolate which I ate straight away.
We were then delayed again due to the low cloud problems but also needing a spare part for a plane in Costa Rica. So it was an extremely long flight during the day so not much sleep was possible. On arrival, because we were late we only really had time to put our new Sim cards into our phones, top up with water then go to arrivals. It was lovely to see Kath and Martin after so long apart.
We got a taxi to our Airbnb in the Alejuela suburb of Costa Rica where we relaxed by the pool and caught up with each other. The owner cooked us a meal and did a load of washing for Kath and Martin, and we were in bed by 8. We were up early the next morning and chatted to 2 German girls just starting their tour of Costa Rica over breakfast.
We all took a taxi to the hire company and had our worst car rental pick up experience ever - aggressive sales of added extras. Finally we both left going our own way - we were due to link up with Kath and Faith in a couple of days time.
Martin and I drove to a supermarket which was a bit like Waitrose so a bit pricey. We stocked up on snacks, fruit and milk. Just over an hour later we arrived at Tapirus Lodge in Braullio Carillo for our 2 night stay - we were very early but our room was ready and we drove down the hill on the 1 way road to the reception area. We were in the rainforest and it was raining as it did on and off throughout our stay. We chatted to a guide called Marvin whilst we waited for the rain to subside a bit and he pointed out a Toucan in the nearby trees. He said he was leading a night walk later so we decided to sign up.
We were in our room when it got dark - no windows, just mesh so we heard the incredible evening chorus of the frogs and crickets. There is 1 frog which sounds like a cat. We went to the dining room for dinner and were the only ones in there until Jo and Karsten (Irish girl and her German partner) came in, started chatting and joined us for dinner and the night walk.
The night walk was fabulous - we were out for over 2 hours and saw so many incredible insects, frogs, snakes etc.
The next morning at breakfast Marvin took us to see a mother and baby Tapir feeding nearby. Jo and Karsten joined us again and told us they had been discussing how to have our life!
We hired Marvin again to guide us on the aerial tramway and on paths at the top in primary rainforest. It was worth the cost as we learnt and saw a lot. Coatimundi, wild boar, lots of different birds, we heard howler monkeys and also a swarm of African bees. We walked around the site again on our own and saw an anteater which then climbed trees which I didn't know they did and lots of leafcutter ants.
That night the power went out at dinner so we were in the pitch dark until the staff got the emergency lights going. Luckily we had already eaten. On the way back to our room we used our torches and had our own night walk trying to spot things. During the night I was kept awake by the night noises including an owl and the next morning the orchid which apparently only flowers for 1 day was open.
We had a super stay, learning loads about the flora and fauna - a great start to our trip.
We had a journey of about 3 hours to La Fortuna and I had booked a private ecological reserve to visit on the way, Pierella. We were greeted on arrival by Krystal who runs it with her husband William. They export butterfly chrysalis but also encourage wildlife. Krystal took us on a tour and we saw so much; 3 sloths, frogs, so many butterflies, caterpillars, huge stick insects, an enormous cockroach, white bats (which the Japanese in particular come all the way just to see and photograph), woodpecker...so much. Lunch was next with hummingbirds literally flying around our heads. Then we made and ate chocolate!
After settling in to our apartment in La Fortuna with a view of Arenal volcano we met up with Kath and Faith in a very noisy bar for a drink. They weren't so happy as they had done a night walk and not seen much and they couldn't recommend either of the hikes they had done during their time in La Fortuna. Breakfast for us was in another hotel 5 minutes walk away and was delicious. The restaurant was open to the elements and we saw a variety of birds on the bird feeders whilst we ate. Back at the apartment in the courtyard there was a thrush nest in a hanging basket, the adult birds feeding the chicks despite footfall of residents going past.
We had 2 days in La Fortuna - the first day we drove out to the 1968 reserve to do the hike. The views of the volcano were impressive and we saw spider monkeys. The second day we went to the Arenal Observatory Lodge. There were lots of toucans on the bird feeders near reception as well as a family of coatimundi roaming through the grounds. We walked on the many trails and were lucky to come across a bench in the shade next to a water tap for our lunch stop. When we got back to the town we had a message from Kath about a sloth in a tree near a bridge and managed to find it.
Steam rising
The 4 hour drive to Santa Elena was long and there were lots of bad roads and potholes to avoid. We stopped once to see the view of Arenal lake. We arrived in Santa Elena in time to eat lunch in our room which had a small kitchen and a table and chairs overlooking the valley. This area has cloud forest and the clouds certainly came in low. We were put down for breakfast for the first shift at 7.30 - fruit, eggs, pancakes. We went to the Curi Cancha reserve where Quetzals (rare birds) can be spotted. We weren't going to spend $200 on a private guide so wandered around on our own. We didn't see much although it was a nice walk.
Our next stop was Uvita on the west coast - another long drive. We were due to stop at a beach village but missed the turn off but a bit down the road was a better place to stop for a drink and cake.
Our apartment was one of 3 in a small complex with a pool and we were the only residents for the 3 nights. We spotted a sloth in a nearby tree which was a bonus. We went to the local National Park Marino Bellina for a walk. We saw hermit crabs and red crabs but Martin got bitten & stung by an ant which was very painful. We had a paddle in the warm Pacific ocean but the beach was a bit smelly so we went back and into our pool.
The following day we drove an hour down the coast to Sierpe for a mangrove boat tour. We were the only ones on the boat which was great. We saw spider and white faced monkeys, smelt a skunk, lots of different types of heron including the boat billed one, lots of iguanas and scarlet macaws.
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We got back to the apartment and went into the pool. We were standing there when there was a big splash and a bull frog had come through the outlet and into the pool. It swam around for a while, seemingly not distressed then jumped out from the steps. Kath and Faith arrived soon after with beer and ice creams. We chilled at the pool and Kath put their clothes through the washing machine under our apartment.
We had some time spare the following day before our trek out from the Hacienda Baru Lodge just up the road. We went to Dominical which was very much a hippy place and met up accidentally with Kath and Faith for a drink. Once at the Lodge we all checked in and sorted our bags so we only had a small bag for the hike. We met our guide Juan Carlos and cook Roy then set out for a 2.5 hour hike up to camp, very pleased that it was only us 4 on the trip. On the way we saw 2 sloths, monkeys and lots of birds including a laughing falcon. We were shown our rooms and advised to always check if there was any wildlife in there - and to call Juan Carlos if we did. We all had showers as we were so sweaty from the trek. Just before it got dark I went back to our hut to pick something up and saw a massive spider on the table. I called for Juan Carlos who exclaimed in shock when he saw it. He killed it with a shoe and chucked it out the door. I don't know how I slept at all that night. The next morning he told me it was a plantation spider and extremely venomous which is why he killed it rather than taking it out alive.
After a lovely dinner of BBQ chicken we went out on a night walk with Juan Carlos and Roy. We saw lots of spiders (not as big as mine), scorpions, snakes, frogs - at one point we put off our torches and the darkness was absolute.
The next morning we had breakfast and watched the birds - there were very noisy Southern Mealy parrots and lots of Toucans. It was a lovely time to sit and listen and watch before we hiked back to the Lodge to get in our cars and drive back to San Jose for our last night.
It was a long drive with steep hills and traffic once near the city. We stopped halfway at a truck stop and Kath and Faith caught up with us for lunch.
Our last night was in a nice hotel with a restaurant for dinner a few minutes walk away. Breakfast was served on the terrace by the pool. We returned the car and had a good journey home - the only issue being having to go through immigration in the US despite just transiting.
