Costa Rica Vacation July 11-26 2008
San Jose July 11-13
- We stayed outside in the suburb of Escazu at San Gildar, which, unfortunately, is no longer open
- To see some of the unique animal species, which you may not find in the wild, check out Zoo Ave. The animals kept here were either abandoned, confiscated, or injured.
- For those who love butterflies, the Butterfly Farm offers a tour explaining the life cycle and shipping of cocoons around the world
- The Heliconia flower fills with water to allow animals to drink and snakes to live
Heliconia
- Caterpillars can be poisonous due to the food they eat, which also changes their colour
Caterpillar
- Poas volcano
- One of my favourite places was La Paz — beautiful walking trails with five waterfalls and various exhibits along the way, including butterflies, frogs, and orchids. The hummingbirds are amazing!
Tortuguero July 14-15
- It takes a long time to arrive at this island, but the boat ride itself is worth it! We saw caimans, blue crabs, roseate spoonbills and much more. Don’t forget that all Costa Rican ants bite!
Blue Crab
- We stayed at Pachira Lodge, which offered jungle tours, night tours, and a stop at Tortuguero village.
- If you get a chance, check out the green sea turtles nesting on the beach. No photos are allowed, and there is no guarantee that you will see them, but we were lucky, and it is a sight that we may never see again. We were wearing all black and sitting on the tarmac waiting for a spotter to call us in. It was only five minutes or so before we were racing on to the beach and watching a turtle digging the sand with her hind feet. It was amazing, although sad to see that our guide needed to move a beer can out of her way!
- On our rainforest tour, we saw butterflies, a wolf spider, strawberry poisondart frogs, and monkeys, which threw branches at us — thank goodness, they usually throw feces!
Blue Jeans Frog
Arenal July 16-19
- It is a long drive between places, but there are plenty of animal stops to see sloths or iguanas! We decided to splurge a bit on the hotel and stayed at Mountain Paradise Hotel, which was definitely worth it. We had a dual shower, one which looked like a true waterfall, and a jacuzzi outside that faced the Arenal Volcano, which is still active. The view was so spectacular that we even had a toad staying in the jacuzzi!
Dual Shower
Arenal
Long Tailed Hermit Hummingbird
- We took a combination tour to the Arenal Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, Arenal Volcano National Park, and Tabacon Hot Springs. This was also worthwhile — the bridges take you up into the canopy, the volcano blew while we were there (it made a very loud noise, smoked and had lava rocks running down the side), we saw an eyelash snake, and the hot springs were fun, although they were crowded and expensive.
Eyelash Snake
Arenal
