Hi. I'm in Manuel Antonio.

Well, that was a drive and a half. As previously mentioned, despite Costa Rica being a small country, it is not quick to travel across. You’re travelling on narrow roads that aren’t in great shape in a lot of places and are going up and down through the mountains and it’s just a lot. Especially in rainy season. Which is the season we are currently in. So the drive down to Manuel Antonio took FOREVER. Oscar, our driver, wasn’t sure if the roads were even going to be open in some places. Happily, the roads were open so we didn’t have to backtrack. Unhappily, there were a few times I thought we wouldn’t be able to get through because it was so tough going. We hit some rain, of course, including pretty much torrential downpours as we finally arrived at our hotel.

Luckily, we had a stop for a chocolate tour part way through. And it wasn’t pouring rain for that! We had learned much of what we heard already at our farm tour but we got to see lots of tiny frogs, participate in making some chocolate and sampling it in several different stages, including a delicious beverage stage. Of course, I loaded up on the chocolate, though where we went, they don’t manufacture their own bars, they are more of an education centre and work with families in the area with their cacao growing. But it was very interesting seeing all the tiny flowers on the cacao plant that will turn into flowers and seeing the cacao beans in their varying stages.

Once we finally made it to our hotel (in the pouring rain, which did not bode well for the major hike planned the next day. It also pretty much forced us into the hotel restaurant for dinner, which turned out to bode VERY WELL because I had a palm fruit pasta that was sort of like an Alfredo but somehow even more delicious. We’re fairly far from Manuel Antonio so it’s a good thing the restaurant is good so that we don’t have to travel far for dinner. Breakfast was also quite delicious and happily, the rain had stopped and we were able to enjoy an incredible view from the restaurant, including watching 2 scarlet macaws sweep by in front of us. The hotel also hosts a macaw sanctuary so while I didn’t have my camera at the ready, there’s a good chance of seeing them again while we’re here.

We weren’t entirely sure if our big hike was going to end up cancelled or not - with the heavy rain, things have been washed out and are so wet. But, it went forward! And wow, it was a really big challenge, particularly for someone with short little legs, like me. Our Coastal Challenge started in Quepos, the town not far from Manuel Antonio, at the market where we picked out a delicious mango for a mid-hike snack. Then, we started out from town, along the coast, seeing a bit of town and then starting to head upwards into the hills. And I got to see my THIRD type of monkey, the spider monkey. They were running and playing in the trees and were so adorable. I did ask very politely but none of them wanted to relocate to Canada to be my pet. They do move pretty quickly so I now have a lot of photos of spider monkey butts. Soon after the spider monkeys, we headed into the real challenge-y part of the hike. We were into the forest with steep climbs and drops and paths that had washed out from the rain. At one point, our guide had to pull a massive knife out of his pack and essentially chop down a tree so we could keep going. At another point, he pulled out a rope so that I could have something to hold on to as I tried to get down one of the drops. There were a lot of points where ropes had been fastened into the trail, so needing some help wasn’t unexpected but there were no built in ropes at this point. We got to see a number of little beaches as we hiked along the coast and FINALLY saw a sloth when we were stopped for a water break. Poor sloth was a little waterlogged. Later, we realised it was a momma sloth and a baby sloth! That was an exciting discovery. The challenge was absolutely a challenge - and much harder than I expected it to be and I was pretty muddy by the end. But we did it and then I had DELICIOUS mahi mahi for dinner so totally worth it.

Our final adventure in Costa Rica was another guided nature walk in Manual Antonio National Park. We had an early start with our guide, and were expecting rain again for the day, which absolutely happened. At the start, things were in good shape. We saw lots of lovely animals, including a ground wood nib hummingbird, tree crabs, glass frogs, green anole lizard, a red skimmer dragonfly, a common tent bat and two basilisks - a helmet headed basilisk. There was also another snake in there but I can’t remember what it’s called other than it kills about 5 people a year. And another sloth! Also a little damp from the rain so couldn’t see too much at all but hey, still saw her. This was a three-toed sloth and after reviewing the photos from the coastal challenge sloth, the guide declared her a four-toed sloth so I got to see both kinds! We’re also starting to get pretty good at taking photos through a telescope so we’ve got some good ones of the small animals we saw from far off today, which makes me very happy. The original plan had been to stay in the park and have some beach time but that was not in the cards since the rain had started again. Instead, we headed back to the hotel and waited for the rain to clear up a bit before taking the shuttle back down to Manuel Antonio for some lunch at a little food truck that’s run out of an old school bus - fish tacos for the win! And then we went for drinks where I found my FINAL MONKEY! The capuchins. And they are little assholes. They didn’t hesitate at all to come right up into the restaurant, where staff had to shoo them away. So they just went onto the next one. I think they would have eaten one woman’s lunch if she hadn’t picked it up and moved. They are super fast so it was hard to get a good picture but at last, my monkey quartet is complete.

Hi. I'm in La Fortuna.

Where did we leave off? Oh right, with the most insane dinner (Glass pod in the sky? 7 courses including 2 desserts? Wine pairings that included 2 ounces of rum? That’s insane.) So, it was our last night in the area and in the morning, after breakfast, Oscar picked us up for the incredibly long 100km to the hanging bridges of Mistico Park.

So the thing about Costa Rica is that even though something seems close (or, at least, close by Canadian standards) it will still take forever to get to because the roads are narrow and windy and up & down mountains. So our 100km drive took us about somewhere near 3 hours? In Costa Rica’s defence, we did stop at a lookout at one end of the Arenal Lake to take in the stunning views of the lake, all the way down to the volcano. And we also stopped to see some howler monkeys at the side of the road.

Anyway. This volcano and its lake. There was a massive eruption back in the 60s, which ended up burying a couple of small towns and activity in the volcano continued on well into the early 2000s. Somewhere in there, the lake was expanded with the creation of a massive dam and is now the largest water reservoir for hydroelectric power in the country. The expansion of the lake led to 2 towns now being in the lake, so those were obviously abandoned and relocated. There’s a church steeple of one of the towns that still pokes up out of the water when the levels are low. So it’s a big lake and very beautiful. And there’s LOTs of wild life around. As we were nearing the Mistico Hanging Bridges, our main activity for the day, we stopped along the side of the road to see the first monkeys we’ve seen so far - howler monkeys. I’m on a quest to see all four kinds so this was very exciting. And noisy. But mostly exciting. Soon after, we arrived at the park and met our guide for our guided nature walk through the nature reserve with it’s 6 hanging bridges.

A guided nature walk sounds very fancy but honestly, if you don’t go with a guide on these walks, you will miss so much. We weren’t even on the trail yet when our guide spotted a viper. A VIPER! Much smaller than I expected, actually. But the point is, we saw so many interesting birds and bugs and whatnot and we never would have seen them otherwise. Like the broadbilled motmot! He’s so pretty. AND MORE MONKEYS! This time, its was the spider monkey. And I think we were pretty lucky to see them - they were just young little fellas having a play in the trees on our way out.

Once our guided walk was done, it was into La Fortuna for lunch, which was delicious, like everything else we’ve had so far, and then to our hotel for the next couple of nights, which has it’s own hot springs (also something that sounds fancy but it’s not - there’s a volcano heating everything up and EVERY hotel has its own hot springs) and has views of the volcano! We’re told not to expect to be able to see it much as the clouds generally cover it so we took in our fill of it while we had the chance. Once we were settled into our room, we definitely went down the hot springs, which were gorgeous and had a bar! So we enjoyed a lovely cold beverage in the warm waters, trying a couple of different spots as it was essentially like a long river that has been divided up into areas. Dinner was a bit of a bust - the hotel really caters to tourists, including the dining options. Certainly not our best meal.

The next morning, we were off to our Rio Celeste Full Day Adventure! That sounds really exciting, doesn’t it? Well, it started with a really long drive - nearly an hour and a half. But once we arrived at The Tenorio National Park, our guide took us unto the park where the river is this incredible bright turquoise colour, which is caused by two rivers coming together with very different makeups but when they combine, you get this stunning turquoise, which is just amazing. Unfortunately, there were some closed paths so we couldn’t do the full hike and see where the two rivers combine but we were able to see where another river joins the already turquoise river so that was pretty neat. But extra unfortunately for us, this wasn’t a private tour and we had someone who had vastly overestimated her abilities and someone else who wanted to stop and look at every single tree in the forest. Which was frustrating for us as we wanted to be moving! But lunch after was delicious and made up for it.

Once back at the hotel, we took another trip down to the hot springs, knowing a bit better about where we thought the best spots were and then headed into La Fortuna for dinner. And this is how we really knew we were at a hotel meant for tourists who don’t tour the way we tour - the front desk wouldn’t call us a proper cab. We used their “shuttle” service which cost us an arm and a leg but we did have a really good dinner plus ice cream after (and even got some chocolates and hot chocolate for back in the hotel room.) We also wandered around town a little to make the trip into town worth!

For our last day in the area, we had some good stuff planned - ziplining and a farm tour. The farm tour came HIGHLY recommended by our friends who were here a few months ago and yep, they were right. We took a cam out to Finca Educative Don Juan where we were the only people on our tour so yay! Private tour! We were taking around the farm, shown all sorts of awesome things like cinnamon bark and stevia plants and most excitingly, cacao! We got to try a cacao pod and then saw the process used to make chocolate. We also got to use our muscles and juice some sugar cane! Oh, and got to try what is basically moonshine, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Then it was onto a yummy lunch that is made with what is grown on the farm. So good!!

We finished up with the best zip lining we’ve done so far on our travels! We were a bit worried because it was getting rainy and foggy and who knew how it was going to go but it turned out pretty well! We started with a short ride up a to the top of the lines, seeing the forest below. Once up at the top, we saw a lovely toucan, which was unexpected. Then, it was time to get back down to the starting point through the series of 6 lines (and a practice line) - one of which is almost an entire km long. It was much different than zip lining we’ve done before where you didn’t have to keep a hand on the line, which was good cause I HATE that part of zip lining. But it also meant that I was really bad at stopping myself and plowed into the end barriers with pretty much every line since you have to watch for the guides’ signals and I never saw them. It’s fine. The barriers were padded. But because of the clouds & mist, the early lines were a bit of a mystery, you just got sent off and had no idea where the end was or how long til you got there. The later lines cleared up a bit for us, including for the longest line, so that worked out pretty well. We were able to get some glimpses of the volcano from another perspective, too - I think we’ve seen it from all angles now :)

Now, it’s off to Manuel Antonio for our last leg of the trip. We have a long drive to get from where we are to where we need to be but we’re heading to the spot where I have my best shot at seeing sloths and where all the capuchin monkeys are!

Hi. I'm in Santa Elena.

Today, EDP made friends with a tarantula.

It was an early start today with breakfast at 6:15 and a taxi at 7 to take us up to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve for our guided walk through a cloud forest.

What’s a cloud forest? It’s a forest in the where the canopy is in the clouds. It’s an incredibly biodiverse forest because of the amount of moisture brought to it by the consistent cloud cover. In the case of the Santa Elena cloud forest, it’s on the continental divide so the winds sweep in from the Atlantic side and settle, forming clouds that sit in the forest, resulting in the equivalent moisture of TWELVE FEET OF RAIN a year. It’s pretty cool.

Anyway. Our taxi took us further up the mountains to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. There are 2 near where we are - Santa Elena and Monteverde. Santa Elena is less popular and a bit higher up in elevation. It’s also run in partnership with a local high school so students take part in caring for the reserve and part of the entrance fees support the school. Once it was time, our guide, Johnny, started us out in the parking lot where he was pointing out several lovely birds, including a bright red bird that he typically doesn’t see. Then, we tried to find a very rare frog that they thought was extinct until a few years ago. While Johnny spotted it, it snuck into the growth before the rest of us could. We also saw a very tiny frog that was almost purple in colour, sunning himself on a leaf.

Then, it was into the rainforest to see what we could spot. Johnny has been a guide for over 20 years and he was so good at spotting things. Over the course of our time with him, we saw lots of orchids, birds, a few frogs & other bugs, and perhaps the highlight for EDP - a tarantula. I ran for the hills when that fella came out of his little hidey hole. Once our tour with Johnny was done, we stayed in the forest for a bit to hike some of the other trails. Of course, without a guide, we didn’t see any wildlife but the surroundings were lovely.

Sadly, climate change is really affecting the cloud forest. Animals are having to go higher up than usual to find the climate they thrive in and that means some animals are being pushed out. But Costa Rica has been working to restore it’s natural environment - in the late 1980s, deforestation had taken coverage of the country down to 27% but now, with efforts to restore the natural environment, the country is nearly 60% forest again.

After leaving the cloud forest, we headed back down into Santa Elena for some lunch at an excellent taco place called Taco Taco. Obviously, I had fish tacos. And because it was a bit cool, spiced hot chocolate, which was delicious. Then, it was a bit of rest before our treetop dining experience.

Okay, so we expected this to really wow us because we saw photos. But wow, it really wowed us. Let me explain…

When we were talking to Julio and Sarah Joy, we said we often like to do a fancier meal at some point in the trip - something special & memorable. And they came back to us with the San Lucas Treetop Dining Experience, which was described as a 7-course tasting dinner in the treetops with only 8 tables, which looked to be fairly separate from each other. Happily, we found a little shortcut gate from our hotel onto the road that runs beside it, which saved us from having to walk all the way down to the bottom of the hill on the hotel’s drive just to turn around and walk right back up. We arrived a bit early but our server was already waiting for us at the entrance and led us down to the restaurant’s foyer. We got a little glimpse of the bar, reviewed dietary restrictions and added the wine pairing onto our dinner. Then, we posed the obligatory photo before being led down into our private glass pod in the sky.

PRIVATE GLASS POD IN THE SKY.

Each table is in its own glass pod, suspended over the forest with a view of town and beyond. And we happened to be the only table at our 5pm seating. While 5pm is early for dinner, it was recommended over the later seating so that you could watch the sunset. It was a bit of a cloudy night (but they all are when you are near the cloud forest) but we still had a lovely sunset to watch while we had a culinary tour through Costa Rica with a 9-course tasting dinner, each course representing a different province in the country. The food was incredible, showing off the best of each region. We had corn FIVE ways in one dish. We had coconut soup with lobster (or eggplant for those of us with shellfish allergies), we had puffed rice, we had TWO desserts! And a new wine with almost every course - with the last wine being TWO OUNCES OF RUM. We were stuffed (and a little tipsy) by the end but it was definitely memorable & special.

Hi. I'm in San Jose.

Okay, not exactly because we spent this afternoon travelling but today was our day in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

We were up early and breakfasted in the hotel (traditional Gallo Pinto for Kevin and Costa Rican pancakes for me, which really were just normal pancakes - I feel swindled…) with some very good coffee before Julio and Sarah Joy picked us up and drove us into San Jose. I wish we had a little longer at this hotel, it was such a beautiful, peaceful spot. We do end our trip back here so maybe we’ll have time to enjoy it more. On the drive into the city, Sarah Joy told us about these enormous spiders we saw in the plants at the hotel - golden orb spiders. Not poisonous but their webs did inspire kevlar, so that’s pretty cool. We also learned about the devastation that the pineapple industry is wreaking on the country. Basically, only perfect pineapples get exported - and Costa Rica makes up a HUGE portion of the global pineapple market. The large growers don’t own their fields, they rent them. And they destroy the soil and the local water supply in pursuit of perfect pineapples with pesticides. Then, after 2 or 3 years, when the soil can’t grow anything anymore, they leave and move on to somewhere new. It’s pretty damn bad and we’re probably not going to be eating much pineapple anymore. At the very least, we’ll be switching to organic.

Soon, we arrived at the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, which has a focus on the country’s pre-Columbian history but also overviews more modern history, too. Before we made it inside the museum, we learned about the monstrosity that is the new legislative building. It’s this big, ugly cement building with no character. It is quite environmentally friendly, which is good, but the general consensus is that the citizens hate it. And when you see the previous building, which is now all offices, it’s easy to understand. The building was selected through a contest and no one can quite figure out how it won, as Julio told us there were several really beautiful designs that were also very environmentally friendly. As a country, Costa Rica is at the forefront of sustainable energy production. Around 99% of their energy is produced with renewable resources, like hydroelectricity, windmills, and geothermal sources. So it makes sense that they wanted something that supported their commitment to the environment but it sounds like there were more attractive options.

Anyway. We also learned a bit about José Figueres Ferrer, the president who abolished the army in 1948 after a civil war.. Because they don’t spend money on a military, they have lots of money for education and environmental causes, which explains the investment in renewable energy! We also saw some of the famous spheres, which once you see them, they are everywhere! Not all are the actual spheres but spheres are now a part of the visual identity of Costa Rica. The spheres in question are pre-Columbian and made of different types of stone and while it’s unknown exactly what they were for, how they were moved, etc, they have been found all over the country. Many were destroyed because Europeans assumed the indigenous populations were hiding gold in them or other treasure. Many were also held privately but it’s now illegal to own any. We saw several outside of the museum and then many inside, as well.

The museum, itself, is housed in old military barracks and has a butterfly garden at the entrance. It was a bit early for the butterflies to really be out yet but we did see some feeding already and caught side of a few beautiful blue butterflies flitting about. Then, it was into the pre-Columbian section of the museum where we saw lots of spheres and other artifacts, including small tables that would have likely been used for crushing corn or grains. Some were decorative but others were used regularly. We also saw lots of interesting animal sculptures, hopefully as a precursor to seeing some of these animals in person as we travel throughout the country.

Then, it was onto the Museo del Jade, which was very interesting and where we learned that Costa Rica was a bit of a global meeting place early on where people would come from all over and trade their goods. So, jade was often something that was traded and explains why there is so much in Costa Rica. The museum has so many beautiful examples of jade used for religious, medicinal, and artistic purposes along with a lot of gold and other historical items. The collection is vast and so much of it is on display that it’s a lot to take in. Preserving the heritage of the jade is incredibly important and It’s now illegal to purchase it. If you bring jade into the country, you have to prove it’s not from Costa Rica or else it will be confiscated.

Then, we wandered up towards the National Theatre, which unfortunately was closed due a private event so we did an early lunch with Julio and Sarah Joy before meeting our driver, Oscar, who will be shepherding us around while we’re here. The roads can be difficult to navigate when you get out of the city and it isn’t unusual for roads to close during the rainy season or for a 30km drive to take hours so it’s good to have someone who knows what they are doing. Oscar took us up to Santa Elena, where we are spending the next two nights at Senda Hotel, another hotel known for its sustainable practices, where we were greeted with a welcome drink and escorted to our sweet little cabin. Once settled in, we walked into town to find some dinner and landed in a restaurant in a tree. Just a tree growing right up in the middle of the place. With lights on it that change colour. It was both ridiculous and wonderful.

Hi. I'm in Costa Rica.

But are you really that suprised? Okay, maybe specifically the Costa Rica part but not the travel, right? We often travel in the fall!

What we don’t often (read: ever) do is outsource most of our planning to someone else - but with the kitchen reno taking all my brain space and friends raving about the group they worked with and with making a relatively last-minute decision on where to go, some help was not only nice, it was pretty much mandatory.

Anyway. So we’re in Costa Rica. We landed tonight and were greeted at the airport by Julio from Boyero Tours, the small husband/wife company that we used to help plan & book everything for us. Our travel from Toronto to San Jose was quite smooth with no delays and now we’re nestled into the most charming room at Finca Rosa Blanca, a coffee plantantation & inn that is focused on sustainability. After a quick, late dinner (I had flan, which EDP tells me is not a favourite of the Costa Ricans but the internet tells me he is wrong), we’re nestled down to get a good sleep before we get picked up tomorrow by Julio and Sarah Joy to visit some museums in San Jose. We packed for rain since it’s the tail end of rainy season here but we expect it to be sunny tomorrow!

What else are we doing while we’re here? I’m glad you asked:

• Tomorrow is a day in San Jose, visiting the National Museum and the Jade Museum. We’re hoping to see the National Theatre, as well, but the timing might not work out for that.

• After that, we head off to Monteverde where we’re going to be taking a hike in a cloud forest reserve and dining in the tree tops.

• Then, it’s off to the Arenal Volcano area with a guided nature walk at the hanging bridges, stay at a resort with some pretty nice looking hot springs, go on an adventure in Tenorio National Park, take a farm tour, and go zip lining.

• We move on to Manuel Antonio for 2 hikes - a coastal challenge and a mild hike in the national park - with a stop for a chocolate tour on the way.

• Finally, we come back to Finca Rosa Blanca for one last night with a coffee plantation tour on the way.

We’re hoping the rain isn’t too bad while we’re here but we’re prepared with our rain jackets and hiking boots. Even if it does rain a lot, it’s still expected to be warm (low-to-mid-20s)

Terceira (and home again)

For our final day on Terceira, we rented a car to drive around the island. It isn’t a large island so it felt like this was pretty doable in a day. We picked a car up as soon as the rental spot opened up and tried to head off. We assumed it would be easy and didn’t get a map going. It’s not a big town and we just needed to stick along the water. But that didn’t go as expected. After we got further into a residential neighbourhood, we put a map on and got ourselves back on track.

From there, it was pretty smooth sailing. The island is made up of all these little villages, mostly along this one coastal road and they just flow into each other so as soon as you leave one, the next one is right there. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we enjoyed seeing these cute little villages. We stopped a few times, once at a lighthouse and once in one of the slightly larger villages (it had a bank!) before making it to the other large town on the island, Praia da Vitória. This was a charming little down and after wandering along the waterfront and to some of the historic buildings, we sat at a waterfront cafe for a very long lunch, since it had taken us very little time to drive around the island.

With lunch in our bellies, it was off to some caves - Algar do Carvão & Gruta do Natal. Algar do Carvão is actually a volcano that you get to climb down inside. I think it might technically be a vent? I’m not sure. But you get to climb down. It was very damp and felt like it was raining after we descended but it was so neat to see the landscape change from these lush green plants to the volcanic rock. Then, it was on to Gruta do Natal, a set of caves where they celebrate a Christmas mass each year. The caves are quite small and so you have to wear a hardhat inside, which came in handy in several spots, including a very small and narrow section that isn’t much more than about 2 feet tall.

Then, it was back to Angra - and one last dinner. We revisited the excellent spot we went to a few nights ago and each had the fresh fish again. I had trigger fish and EDP had forkbeard, which I believe is what he had the other night, as well. It was much busier tonight with a different waitperson and while the food was still excellent, the atmosphere wasn’t quite the same. We took our time wandering back to the hotel, enjoying the quiet town one last time.

Today, we made our way back home. We were, again, very early for our flight but the airlines systems were down so we waited for quite a long time to be able to get our bags dropped and boarding passes. They eventually had to start tagging bags and writing boarding passes by hand, but they must have gotten things back up at some point because many people on our flight had a printed boarding pass. The hand-tagged bags caused a bit of confusion in Ponta Delgada - obviously, they couldn’t check them through to Toronto as they were but because we had checked in online, they were registered in the system as going to Toronto. It took a few minutes but they eventually figured out how to cancel and recheck our bags. The flight back to Toronto was practically empty - we had no one in front of us, no one behind us, no one beside us… Definitely the emptiest flight I’ve ever been on and a nice surprise. Once back in Toronto, EDP got selected for random COVID testing but despite what we had been seeing in the news, the airport was fairly empty and it was a really quick detour to get him tested.

All-in-all, it felt great to be travelling again. We stayed masked-up when we were indoors but cases are quite low and with tourists generally needing to have negative tests and be vaccinated, the risk felt quite low. With a successful trip under our belts, I think we’ll be venturing out again soon - I heard rumours of another snowboard/city trip somewhere in Europe this winter. And you know I’m not going to say no to that!