4th January – La Fortuna, Costa Rica

We got up this morning to see impressive views of cloud covering the volcano Arenal. After a late start, the bus arrived to raft on the Class two and three rapids of the Rio Balsa (Balsa River). The sun once again had some fleeting glimpses through the cloud in the valley in the distance, though it didn’t shine on our hot water-less accommodation. Along the way, we saw another sloth! This time we got out to see this less than impressive creature wrapped up in the tree doing what they do best…. Nothing.
On arrival at the Rio Balsa, the rafts were ready and the river was flowing quite quickly. There were rapids immediately out from the river bank and our launch place. The safety instruction was informative but Tan was a bit unsure having not rafted before. We had a quick trial in the raft on the waters edge and it wasn’t that long until we hit our first rapid.

Paul and I took up the front corners, while Sal, Tan and Wendy sat in the middle. Ariel, our Columbian instructor, was great chirping out commands of “forward, back paddle, forward hard and get down”.

The team work was impressive with both sides in unison with the forward paddlers as shown in the photo below.

Our first Class Three rapid was close to a steep embankment and the boat folded up slightly going over it. The water was cool but the adrenalin was up so it the temperature balanced out perfectly. In some places, we were close to over hanging branches and others we had to paddle very hard to switch from one side to the other. The sun come out in some sections and we all commented on how good it felt. We have been surprised with the weather in Costa Rica. It has been wet and quite cold for most of the time we have been here. Some rapids had a high wave length which obscured the raft.
By the end we were laughing and weren’t afraid of the rapids. By looking your feet in the foot straps and under the seats, we felt really safe.
All in all, we had a really great day on the water. The shower back at the hotel was ummmmm…. cold, so Wendy, Paul, Dana, Tan and I headed back to Baldi hot springs again.

We bid good bye to Larry and Ellen who had to head back to Washington DC, as Ellen wasn’t feeling too good. The group is down to nine now.

The water slide, which we missed the previous time was open so we had a couple of shots. The speed out of thing was impressive to the point you got airborne. My third and final shot started with a flying take off. This in hindsight was a stupid idea as I got a lot of air on the final corner and landed a fair way down the flat. When my head hit the slide my body had tingles all through for a second and I was a little disoriented when I finished in the water. That was about time to stop the water slides, and we ended up relaxing, this time with Mojitos and mango daiquiris in the top swim up bar.

Afterwards we hit the Soda La Parada for pizza and beers. Another great day in Costa Rica.

2nd January 2008– Tortuguero – La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Another travel day, though this was different. We packed up and then placed our packs in black garbage bags. These were then placed on the luggage boat which later sped past us.We cruised slowly down the canal and then the rain came (again). Not much fun with in blowing in the side of the boat. Lucky this one had a cover over us. Eventually we rolled down the clear plastic windows and had our hour boat trip back to port.

We jumped in the bus, stopping once to see a sloth in the tree.
We stopped again at a “Banana Crossing”. Yep, to carry the bananas out of the plantation they use a zip line, like a banana flying fox. All along these roads, retractable banana gates are dropped down to let these banana convoys pass. We were lucky enough to see one of these go through!

It rained and we arrived in a cloudy and wet La Fortuna and organized the tomorrow’s activities. The highlight of today was definitely the Baldi thermal springs. After a quick dinner, we hit the series of pools ranging from very hot (like unpleasant to be in) to hot baths to warm with a few frigid cold plunge pools. We made our way up through the pools and eventually stopped at the third bar. We sipped on Caiparinhas and dacquiris in the swim up bars watching the rain range from light to heavy. The contrast of lying in a hot pool with cold rain falling on you was a pleasant and memorable experience. After we finished Tan and I decided we are going to the hot springs again.

31st December – San Jose - Tortuguero, Costa Rica

As you all know, the planning for the Costa Rica trip was done quite hastily. We are doing a GAP tour called the Costa Rica Explorer. Have a look at the map below which will give you an understanding of where we are going. We’ve gone for a better class of travel for this tour (mainly because there was nothing else available) and our group is significantly older than our last one with representation from Canada, US, UK and of course Australians. We also thought being a better class of travel would mean less early morning starts… wrong! Up this morning at 5.45am to leave for 6.20am.

We drove for approximately an hour through the dense greenery of Costa Rica when our driver caught sight of a sloth lying in a tree doing what sloths do best… that is nothing. We all hopped out for a photo opportunity. This is where I considered a change of career- tour bus driving!!
We stopped off half an hour for breakfast which also included for those that were keen the traditional Costa Rica breakfast, gallo pinto or beans and rice. Full up, we hit the road again passing small pineapple plants in large paddocks. They grow around 60,000 pineapples per hectare on these lands and it is a top export earner. We stopped briefly at a banana plantation but mainly just to stretch the legs. To get to the banana plantation we had to drive through huge puddles (almost rivers) and some poorly maintained roads. Banana plants were everywhere. Those with white bags on them indicated that they were almost ready for harvest and those with blue bags indicated that they still had a while to go. Out in the field they had a wire system where the banana’s were strung up and made there way back to the factory for sorting and cleaning and then some went to the local market, simply thrown in the back of the truck. The remainder (most of them) were boxed for export. It was quite interesting to see.

Outside the factory though was a man selling coconuts and on his stand he had a huge rhinoceros beetle that was handed around as a photo opportunity. These things and enormous, although not poisonous (we hope!!). Dan thought they looked much tastier than the banana’s. As we drove along we would continue to see them in trees and in the strangest spot, hanging off power lines. After a long drive we finally made it to the port where the boats take off to bring us to our final destination for the next couple of days, Turtle Lodge Hotel in Tortuguero, population 750. Tortuguero is the rainiest of all rain forests and it is impossible to drive here. You must go by boat, through the canals. Tortuguero is sometimes called “the mini amazon” due to its many canals and abundance of wildlife but is biggest drawcard is that is a turtle breeding site with approximately 40,000 turtles laying their eggs per year.

Our bags were separated from us in our small boat and each individual bag was placed in a garbage bag to protect it from that rains that can (and do) come quick and hard. The boat powered off very quickly for around 30 minutes with our guide stopping on occasion to point out wildlife to us, such as turtles, spoonbills, monkeys and other bird species. We finally arrived on the main town of Tortuguero where we stretched our legs for 45 minutes, admired the Carribean Sea and had some hot apple pie… as you do! Back on the boat we turned into a small hidden canal, slowed right down and made it to our hotel, complete with a 4 foot crocodile perched in the water out the front metres from where we landed. Our room is has three sides covered with fly wire and no glass. The beach is only 100m away and the jungle is just behind us. Noises from birds, frogs and the occasional roar of a howler monkey come from behind us but the sound of the surf is constant and relaxing. It’s like paradise inside paradise!! We checked in, had a late lunch and then relaxing in hammocks and around the turtle shaped pool with a Dan partaking in some body boarding action in the ocean were the order of the day. We were told not to swim in the canal (crocodiles) or the sea (sharks) so Dan went out in waist deep water to catch some waves, in the brownish water. We met for drinks at 7.00pm (this place makes a mean cocktail) followed by dinner. We decided to see in the new year and went back to the bar at 10.30pm but we were just to tired and went to bed waking to hear the fireworks. Happy New Year everyone. We hope you have a fantastic 2008!