Grano de Oro Hotel in San José

Okay.  The Grano de Oro is an upscale hotel in San Jose, the capitol.  It's got all the characteristics and flavor of other big cities in Latin America.  Noisy buses, crowded sidewalks that are like concrete obstacle courses.  It's imperative to watch where you walk--it would be easy to take a spill in such rugged terrain.  The hotel is a block and a half off the main drag of Paseo de Colon.  So it's quiet and pretty luxurious for $155 a night.  Staying here is like being more than half way back to America.  I even watched the NBC Nightly News last night via satellite TV in the room.

I left the real Costa Rica a little after 9 AM and arrived in San Jose about 12 noon. It's not that difficult getting back here from Platanar though I had a close call with a semi truck taking more than half of his side of the road on a hairpin curve.  Once here I followed the hotel's directions and immediately got lost.  I wandered around a bit, gassed up the rental car, then tried to head back where I thought I'd missed the turn just past the Pizza Hut.  Stopped for directions and got back on the main street, found the Pizza Hut and the hotel in fairly short order.

I checked in and made arrangements for a taxi to pick me up and take me to the airport Sunday at 11:30 for my 2 PM flight to Miami.  The desk clerk drew on a map of downtown the location of the Gold Museum and after I got settled in the room I started off on foot.  Paseo de Colon turned into Avenida Central, a pedestrian mall.  Half of the Costa Rican population was shopping diligently.

I think the guy above was selling Spiderman masks--I guess there's a market here for them.  A number of stores along the way had clowns and hawkers trying to pull in the shoppers.  I only had to ask for directions twice because I was using my map to find the museum.  When I found it I was disappointed to learn that it was closed for renovations.  Oh, well, that's the way it goes.

I had another mission on my walk and that one was more successful--to buy a CD of typical Costa Rican folk music.  That also helped me use up my supply of colones.  You can't exchange them back in the States.  I found a Lebanese restaurant that the hotel clerk told me about and came back there for dinner--spending another good chunk of colones on a dinner platter that was pretty tasty compared to typical fare here--not as good as the "authentic" Lebanese food you can get in Jacksonville.

After an uneventful Saturday night in the room and a good sleep I got up and had a Tico breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel.  It's fancy but the prices aren't too steep--especially for a hotel catering mostly to tourists.  Here's the view from my breakfast table:

I can sum up my two weeks in Costa Rica with two words:  Pura Vida!

The Fruits and Vegetables Store

Signs aren't perfect here--it's supposed to say "Frutas y Verduras".  I discovered this little roadside store on the way back from the supermarket in La Florencia.  The woman who runs the stand is very nice and the quality of the produce beats whats on sale at Flosanco.  It's a good idea when in Latin American countries to be very careful when consuming uncooked produce.  I figured that wouldn't be a problem if I bought, washed and prepared things myself.

I've had a couple of excellent avocado sandwiches and yesterday I went so far as to include a fresh tomato.  I bought some sliced turkey at the supermarket and that's been serving me well, along with tortilla chips and an interesting sauce that is called salsa picante but is like nothing we have in the States.  The papayas and mangos are amazing here, just take a look at these:

The woman running the store had a crockpot on the counter and had boiled some fruit that I didn't recognize. When I asked her what it was the name didn't ring a bell.  She peeled one and cut me a chunk, telling me that locals really liked them (boiled and peeled both = safe to eat).  I wish I could say it was an incredible taste of the tropics but it turned out to be as bland as cassava--another staple here.  The Costa Rican diet is long on starches and short on other vegetables.

When you order a typical meal you will always get boiled vegetables on the side.  Guaranteed to be a mixture of carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.  You're also likely to get black beans, rice, plantain and even fried cassava if you're eating dinner. This picture shows the owner of the stand, said crockpot and an appealing display of hanging wares.  

I only went yesterday morning to take a few pictures but of course I ended up with a few purchases.  The photo below shows what I bought for $5.  She threw in the tomato gratis because it had a spot on it.  Pura vida!

Clockwise from left: papaya, avocado, banana, mango, limón, apple, tomato  

Sky Tram Near the Arenal Volcano

Sky Tram is a way to ascend through the forest to get a great view of Lake Arenal and the Arenal volcano, weather permitting.  Sky Trek is a set of zip lines that facilitate a very fast descent from the top tram station.  The people in this picture paid for the combo Tram/Trek, unlike me--I only planned to ride the tram up and back.  I already checked the zip line check box at Eco-Glide with Briana last week.  Thus the gear on the people in the tram car pictured above.  It was interesting to see the trepidation people had about zip-lining while we were waiting for our appointed tram time.  I could definitely relate so I refrained from making any comments like, "I hope you have your will updated because there's a good chance you will die."

The Sky Trek version of zip lining is different from what we did at Eco-Glide.  It's easier in methodology but scarier in that you watch the previous group take off down a verrrrrry long zip line.  One guy decided to pass after seeing others take off and the guides took his gear off.  Can't say that I blame him.  Zip-lining is not the most natural way to get down the side of a mountain.  But it's definitely an adrenaline rush and something you wouldn't do every day, so why the heck not do it in a beautiful country like Costa Rica while on vacation?

Anyway, the volcano wasn't in a cooperative mood on this morning; it remained covered in clouds.  I did get a fantastic view of Lake Arenal from way up high:

It's not that far to drive from the villa all the way to the Arenal Observatory Lodge.  I left here at 7 AM and arrived at 8:45. Sky Tram and Sky Trek are about one kilometer's drive on a rocky road from the Lodge.  I went early and even with having to wait a half hour for a group that I could join up with I was still home by lunch.

And I saw a couple of toucans in a tree near where I parked my car!  I couldn't get close enough to them to take their picture before they flew away. One bird can fly and certainly "toucan"!

Pura vida!

Boating on the Rio Frio in Caño Negro Wildlife Preserve

This is the boat I took on the Rio Frio to cruise with a group of gringos in the Caño Negro wildlife refuge.  It was a guided trip and the van picked me up at the gas station about 5 km from the villa.  Esteban arranged the trip for me.


We made a short stop in Muelle, a little town not far from here where we found the aptly-named:

The restaurant must have these guys under contract because we saw a bunch of them sunning themselves in the top branches of trees along the river.

Then it was onward to the boat ramp, a special pavilion owned by the tour company.  We had plenty of room on the boat to stretch out and there was a canopy so we didn't get baked while we cruised.  The Caño Negro is a very important bit of land because many migratory birds use it as a place to hang out and recharge their batteries before returning to the US.  The guides were great at spotting monkeys, birds, and caimans then the boat driver would maneuver the boat so those who wanted to could shoot pictures.  We had to get really close to this guy to enable me to shoot this picture using my simple camera with 4X zoom.

Here's one more shot of the river; a beautiful and serene location--also one of the most important ecological sites in the Americas.

And a final one of me, living the Pura Vida in Costa Rica at the pavilion.  Gringo tourists are very handy for shooting pictures of each other!

Aguas Termales Del Bosque

Briana and I had this one on our list the day we went shopping at Sarchi.  But finding the right rocking chairs at the right price took its toll so we headed back to the villa instead.  I went yesterday afternoon and the closer I got to Aguas Termales Del Bosque (Hot Springs of the Forest) the harder it rained.

Costa Ricans go to this hotel and hot springs--it's way off the beaten tourist track.  And the springs aren't just a few steps into the forest/jungle (think Jurassic Park) they are about a quarter mile via patented concrete block walkway.  It offers great traction even in the pouring rain.

I went but I didn't stay long.  Toy folding umbrella enabled strategic dry spots on my clothes and day bag.  Still... a beautiful location.  The sound of the river flowing over the rocks is one of Nature's sweetest and most soothing sounds.  I dressed and had a quick cerveza Imperial before making my way back out of the forest to the parking lot.  As I reached the top of the stairs out came the sun.

Pura vida!

La Fortuna Waterfall

We're having sunny weather one day, cloudy and rainy the next.  Not bad I adjust my plans accordingly.  And I always take a ZipLoc baggie for the cameras.


Yesterday I took a short trip to the Catarata La Fortuna.  It's 30-40 minutes away on mostly good roads.  It was one of the sunny days so the short hike down steep stairs and back up after spending some time viewing the bottom of the falls was challenging.  Lots of tourists in evidence, but not too crowded.  A few people braved the climb over the rocks to swim in the pool but I didn't do that.  Rocks were slippery--I saw one woman take a fall trying to get down into the pool.

Here's a shot of me at the viewing point for the falls:

After climbing up the stairs to the parking lot the AC in the car felt really good.  I was sweaty and it was really hot so I decided to return to the villa without spending any time in La Fortuna, the jumping-off spot for lots of activities near the Arenal volcano.  


Took a swim, made some lunch (avocado sandwich and chips) and tuned in the last of the US Open on the satellite TV.  Saturday was the first time in the time I've been here that I turned on the TV.


I'm taking a low-key approach to activities this week since Briana and I were so active last week. I have a boat trip planned to the Caño Negro wildlife refuge for tomorrow, probably just a trip to the grocery store in La Florencia today, reading books on the Kindle, swimming in the pool, checking the jacuzzi for temp (so far it's been too hot or not hot enough).


Without a doubt, though, everything here is Pura Vida!

On Horseback Through the Fields and Across Rio Platanar

Here are two intrepid riders on tour near our villa.  We have a guide, Michael, leading us through fields of pineapple and sugar cane in the beautiful Costa Rican countryside.  Our ride lasted about 3 1/2 hours and for us that was more than enough.


We crossed several creeks and a river during the ride.  We used bridges for most of these crossings but we had to cross the Rio Platanar on horseback.  Here's a short video of the crossing.  Scary!  Rivers here don't have smooth flat bottoms; the riverbed is made of rocks.  I had asked the guide if the crossing was dangerous (thinking I'd put away the cameras in a ZipLoc bag if so) but he assured me it wasn't.  It got the old adrenaline flowing, for sure.


We took a break for lunch at a nearby restaurant, La Hacienda, where we have eaten before.  We had been there in the evening but not for lunch.  At lunchtime there's a great view of Arenal volcano on a clear day like yesterday.  Here's a view of Arenal I took on the trail:

After horseback riding in the hot sun we had to go back to The Springs Resort to use the second day of our 2-day pass.  It's much closer to the volcano than is the villa where I'm staying--it's past La Fortuna.  Briana had read about a restaurant, Las Brisetas, in a guidebook so that's where we ate dinner.  Lots of tourists but the food and service were good.  Then we drove back, passing Platanar and going along to La Florencia to pick up a few things at the supermarket Flosanco.

I have an open agenda now that Briana has returned to the States; I've discussed a couple of options with Esteban.  We'll have to see what develops.  Stay tuned for more adventures!


Pura vida!

Hanging Bridges & The Springs Resort

Here's a self-portrait on one of the Hanging Bridges.  The Arenal Volcano is in the background.  We took a 2-hour hike through lush tropical jungle/rain forest and crossed many bridges like this one.  The bridges are suspended 200 feet or so above beautiful creeks that are flowing below.  The whole time we were hiking we could hear the sound of the water flowing in the creeks--Nature's very own feng shui.

Later we stopped for a small bite to eat and a glass of wine before moving on to The Springs Resort.  It's a 5-star resort that offered a 2-day pass for locals who aren't staying there--only $40.  As hot springs with amenities go that's a fantastic deal. The cheapest room we could find online at the place is $340 in the slow season.   We'll return this afternoon for our second day of soaking while enjoying adult beverages with the volcano nearby.

Here's a shot of one small man-made waterfall--there are many of these all over the pool and hot springs area of the resort.

Here's another that I call "Feet, Jacuzzi, Volcano":

And another taken in the bar where you can submerge yourself in regular-temp water while enjoying food and drink.

This morning we take a guided tour on horseback here on the ranch.  After lunch we'll head back to La Fortuna and The Springs.

Definitely Pura Vida!

Shopping at Sarchi

We wanted to buy a few souvenirs. Esteban told us the place to shop with the best selection and the best prices is Sarchi.  That's a small town normally 1 1/2 hours away.  Yesterday's driving conditions were not normal.  

This is high visibility compared to what we faced earlier when we could barely see 2 cars ahead of us due to clouds/fog.  This blockage of the road was of undetermined length but we saw some people peeling off to the road at left.  

When I saw an ambulance go that way I figured it was an established shortcut.  And if we had a problem medical care would be at hand!  It took us back to the main road but it was a challenge.

Bottom line: we made it there and back safely, bought souvenirs (including 2 fine rocking chairs that we're each shipping home, bought a take-out pizza at Pizzeria Tsunami in the little town closest with the best grocery store and called the whole day a success!

Today we're looking at Hanging Bridges near the Arenal volcano for a canopy tour of the rain forest.  I have a new basic camera that I bought in Ciudad Quesada (thank goodness for the time I invested in brushing up on my Spanish) on the way to Sarchi.  It's charged up and ready for more adventures in Costa Rica.

Pura vida!

Whitewater Rafting Rio Sarapiqui

Tuesday was a beautiful day for risking your life on Rio Sarapiqui!  It's true it was a glorious day but not true we were risking our lives on the trip booked for us by Esteban with Desafio Adventures.  The company's 2 priorities: 1) Safety and 2) Have great fun!

The company van picked us up at 9 AM at a gas station about 3 miles away from the villa and we were off for a 1 1/2 hour ride to the river. Once there we donned our gear, listened to a short lecture from one of the guides and then pushed off for a little practice before the first rapids.

In this picture can you guess what we said instead of "cheese"?  No?  PURA VIDA!

The river was beautiful and the surroundings were tropical.  At one short rest stop we saw a toucan winging its way over the river.  And one stop offered great views of the Poas Volcano.

This is the start of the rainy season so the water was pretty low, making the rocks in the riverbed and along the sides more prominent and dangerous.  There are only a few commands from the guides to the rafters--the main ones being "forward" and "stop".  Meaning paddle forward on the count (1,2,1,2) so everyone on board works as a team, making it easy for the guide to steer from the rear.  Other frequently heard commands are "lean in" and "get down".  "Get down" is sometimes voiced as "Oh my god!", meaning we are in for a really bad spot and there's nothing to do but get down and try to ride it out while staying on board the raft.

It was in one of the Oh-my-god spots where three of us went overboard, leaving Briana and the guide in the raft.  I didn't get all the way out because I was in back right next to the guide and he grabbed my life jacket and hauled me back in.  The couple in front were both thrown in the river.  The guy was close to the raft (I think hanging on to the rope attached to the side) so he was easily hauled back in.  The woman was floating along and we had to throw her a rope to get her reeled in.  I lost my paddle in the process but we retrieved everything with no problems.  The woman got a nasty scrape on the knee from a rock but was otherwise ok--definitely shaken up though.

We had a fruit break and a cliff dive break during the 2-hour trip.  Most of the travel time we were in white water.  The guide told us many of the rapids were Class 3 and 4.  I won't argue--plenty of  them were hairy.  We were too busy following commands to be scared.  Definitely an in-the-moment, adrenaline-raising experience.

Here are a couple of shots of the cliff dive.  It was only 10 or 12 feet down to the river but plenty high enough to freak you out if you were to take time to think about it.  And we had to swim across to get to the jump then swim back after taking the plunge.

Desafio's photographer was in a kayak and took some great shots from the riverbank.  I'll post a number of them in the photo album.  If you ever go on a whitewater trips buy the CD with the pictures--Briana and I had great laughs last night looking over the pictures and re-living our Rio Sarapiqui adventure!

Today we go to Ciudad Quesada to look for a replacement camera for my Nikon that died on the vine (really zipline) Monday. Then we'll press on to Sarchi, a town known mostly for its excellent souvenir shopping.  We'll have an interim stop at Zarcero and go do another hot spring, Termales del Bosque, at dusk.

Pura vida!

Zip Line Under The Volcano

Here we are at Eco-Glide, a zip line canopy near in the shadow of the Arenal Volcano.  We're outfitted and ready to attend "Cable School" to get a quick lesson in the finer points of zip line techniques.  Like stopping at the end of each cable.

I'll write more about this later. It was an amazing experience; we both enjoyed the heck out of it. On the ride to the first platform in the back of a pickup truck we were soaked by a heavy rain shower.  I had my camera in a baggie with the wrist loop passing through a small hole in the bottom of the bag and then attached to my helmet strap.  

There was just enough room around the strap for a few drops of water to get into the baggie to kill the Nikon.  Briana's camera survived with the same protection and I'll put a couple of her canopy pix in the web album.  Then in the next day or so I'll work on getting another camera.  It shouldn't be a problem here where the country rolls out the red (and eco-green) carpets so magnificently.

A brief description of zip-lining:  It's simple. The guide clips your personal pulley-wheel onto one cable.  The pulley is attached to your harness; a safety line is attached to another parallel cable. The harness supports you in a sitting position hanging from the cable with the roller on it.  The guide holds your roller until the previous person arrives at the platform below (a matter of seconds).  Then he releases the roller and gravity does its thing.  You move rapidly from Point A to Point B.

You hold one hand on the cable behind you, wearing a thick leather device on your hand so you can slide along the cable as you go.  You wear a leather glove on the other hand and with that you grasp your harness.  That keeps you from spinning as you descend.  As you approach Point B you slow yourself down (in theory) by pulling down on the cable with both hands.  You're not supposed to brake until the guide gives you a signal.  Guides were stingy with signals so I used my best judgment.  I only stopped short of the platform twice.  When that happens you swing yourself around and pull yourself to the platform, hand over hand.

The journey from Point A to Point B can't be described easily.  You zip along at a breath-taking rate of speed while way below you is lush tropical jungle going by so fast you don't have time to notice because you are focused on watching for the "stop" signal from a guide.  Survive the majority of the zips from platform to platform and you're ready for the Tarzan swing--it's like a bungee jump without any elasticity in the cord.  It's guaranteed to evoke a primal scream and it's great fun to do.

We also went to Eco Termales near Arenal, a super nice and low-key hot spring.  I'll post pix taken at the springs in the photo album.

Today we have lined up another adrenaline-packed adventure.  We're taking a guided white water rafting trip starting at 9 AM when we meet the van and guide a couple of miles up the road at a gas station.  We're going with a company recommended by Esteban--one both of us read about in the guidebooks. I've been rafting before but it will be the first time for Briana--she doesn't have an inkling what's in store...  Should be a fun day!

Pura vida!

It IS the Rainy Season... Photos Link

I woke this morning before dawn to the sound of rain on the tile roof and lightning flashes in the distance. No worries, we had planned on adjusting our tourism to allow for some rain.  We met Esteban last night when he returned from a business trip.  We'll meet again this morning to plan a loose itinerary of must-do-and-see things.


I've started a picture album if you'd like to see the scenery around the villa, shots from the verandas and a few shots taken at the Hotel Garza.  I'll add to the album as I take more pictures.
Pura vida!

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Pura Vida!

A Trip to the ATM and Grocery Store

We had not visited an ATM to withdraw some colones, the Costa Rican currency, so after a late breakfast at the Hotel Garza in Platanar nearby we headed to Florencia--only 15 minutes via curvy mountain road.  Mission: go to the ATM and to the Flosanco grocery store, what passes for a supermercado in these parts.  At  the ATM we had a crisis of conversion calculations--but all went well and we each got 100K colones ($200) from our respective accounts.


The grocery store was well-stocked and we loaded up with 22K worth of foodstuffs for the kitchen at the villa.

We Are Here!

We arrived at the villa after dark due to getting lost on the way once.  Now we're here.  The villa is great; in a beautiful tropical mountainous locale.  We'll meet our host later today to plan activities.  He was called away on business yesterday but will return this morning (Sunday).


Pura vida!


Wikipedia:
Pura Vida

Pura vida literally means Pura = pure and vida = life, but "Pure life" in Spanish would be "Vida pura" instead, so the real meaning is closer to "plenty of life", "full of life", "this is living!", "going great", "real living", or "cool!"^[1] It can be used both as a greeting and a farewell, to express satisfaction, to politely express indifference when describing something ^[1] or even to say "thank you". The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement has been used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956.^[2]

Making a List, Checking It Twice

I won't bore you with lists of the stuff I'm taking with me on the trip.  I have three lists:  clothes, gear and miscellaneous.  I've created a Gear page and there's a link to it in the sidebar.

To be blog-enabled I have to have a computer.  I'm taking along an MSI Wind U-100 that I used successfully last year in the UK and in Paris.

I want to credit the podcasts produced by Radio LIngua of Scotland for helping me dust off my Spanish.  Coffee Break Spanish and Show Time Spanish are both excellent.  I listened to the free podcasts of Coffee Break then subscribed to a Gold Membership for the first season of Show Time to get notes and bonus podcasts.  The lessons are well done and it's a hoot to listen to the Scottish accents during the English explanations (lots of info on Spanish "vairbs".  The professor, Mark, studied languages in school and has put together courses in Spanish, French and Italian.  I highly recommend them.

Okay, enough preliminaries.  Next post will be from Costa Rica... pura vida!

Due Diligence: Where to Go, Where to Stay?

Planning this trip started way back in November.  The idea of visiting Costa Rica, where I've never been, appealed to me for a number of reasons:


1) Everyone I've talked with who's visited has raved about the country.
2) It's a Spanish-speaking country--gives me the chance to dust off my Peace Corps Colombia Spanish from 1974..
3) It leads the world in eco-tourism.
4) CR turned out to be on my daughter's list of places she most wanted to visit.
5) It's not that far away; less flying time than going to Los Angeles.


The first part of the trip was planning how to get there and where (specifically) I wanted to stay. I'd had good luck renting a flat in London using vrbo.com--Vacation Rental By Owner.  I was pretty sure I didn't want to stay on either coast--even though CR has beautiful beaches.  I had heard good things about the Arenal Observatory Lodge near one of the country's largest volcanoes.  I knew from research that the jumping-off point for Arenal is a town called La Fortuna.  So I searched VRBO and found a listing for a villa on a horse ranch.


Here's one of the pictures from the listing:

Hope there's another hammock on the porch to avoid a discussion about who's going to use it!

I contacted the owner through vrbo.  He screens those who want to rent the villa by talking on the phone.  We had a couple of conversations and I decided to book the villa for 2 weeks and use it as a home base to visit places of interest nearby.  It turned out that Esteban, the owner, has his own tourism company.  So it became a value-added situation because he was more than willing to share advice about where to go and what to do.  He also booked a Toyota Rav4 4-wheel drive rental vehicle for me to pick up at the San Jose airport.  He has a toll-free phone number from the US that rings his cell phone so it's been easy to call and ask questions in addition to emailing back and forth.


The biggest piece of advice he has given us is to wait until we get to the ranch before deciding exactly what we want to do.  He's got a list of general things we're interested in doing.  He'll get to know us a little then make suggestions for places to go and things to do.  No additional charge for the concierge service!  That's good enough for me.  Esteban is a native "Tico" but went to university a bit in the U.S. He speaks excellent English, too.