Costa Rica April 2010

    It was April 2010, and after surviving another Vermont winter, it was time to go somewhere warm!
I put out my idea for an 11-day trip to Costa Rica on Facebook and asked if anyone wanted to join me, and one of my friends from college said yes. So we planned our adventure ad headed south.

We flew out of Connecticut down to DC, then El Salvador and finally to our destination. ( I like to get the best deals possible on flights, so sometimes end up having longer layovers and more stops;))

Immediately upon exiting the airport, a wave of amazing heat engulfed us, and I for one was glad to be warm again! We were picked up by a driver who let us stop at a grocery store before dropping us off at our first accommodation. We spent our first 3 nights at Campo Verde near Arenal volcano, an active volcano that we couldn't go too close to!

Campo Verde below Arenal Volcano

Swan towels in our room

While we were there, we went on 2 day tours. First, we went on a SkyTram up a mountain and walked to a spot to view the volcano from a different angle.

SkyTram

This was both my friend and my first time hearing howler monkeys in the trees!

Howler Monkey

The next day we went on a boat tour in the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge. We saw lots of wildlife, including more howler monkeys, Spider monkeys, cayman, iguana (known as 'chicken of the tree'), and many types of birds, such as a cormorant, who was drying its wings on a nearby branch.

Spider monkey

Cayman

Iguana

Cormorant

This boat tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Me on my 1st jungle river cruise

We briefly crossed the Nicaraguan border before turning around and stopping at a place for lunch, where I learned how pineapples grow.

Nicaragua border

Pineapples

We then left Arenal and went further up into the mountains to the cloud forest of Monteverde. The temperature was cooler and I even had to wear a sweatshirt at times!

We took a tour of the cloud forest and went over several suspension bridges (also one of my fav parts of the trip!) above the jungle canopy.

Monteverde cloud forest

suspension bridge through the jungle canopy

We saw hummingbirds, butterflies and many exotic flowers as well.

hummingbird

jungle flower

We also had a guided tour in the cloud forest and saw and heard many musical birds.

birdwatching through a monoscope

airplant

We then took a bus and a boat to get to Samara, a beach town on the west coast. This was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean. And if it was cool up in the mountains, it definitely wasn't down there! We got put in an upgraded apartment because the room I had booked was being renovated, which was nice, but all we had to cool ourselves with was a ceiling fan!

upgraded apartment

Even the water in the ocean was like bath water that time of year, but we still enjoyed walking on the almost deserted beach!

Samara beach

Since it was April, it wasn't exactly peak tourist season, but we did see some people riding horses.

horses on the beach

After sweating for 2 days, we were glad to go back north and cool off!
We took a bus back to the airport and headed home, spending the night in a DC airport before arriving back in Connecticut and going our separate ways.
It was a fun trip, and my 1st down to Central America. A nice change from my usual more temperate climate destinations!

Happy Travels!

Rachael

#CostaRica  #Jungle #CloudForest #exoticwildlife #travel