Costa Rica Trip 2008

Four of us flew to Costa Rica on a basic exploratory trip. My friends wanted to see the Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, and I really wanted to return to the Osa Peninsula and Corcovado Lodge. I also wanted to drive along the coast. We managed most of it! We flew in and taxiid to the hostel. From there we drove through beautiful country to the hotel "Observatory" where we had a modest room with a great view and wonderful food. We had a free guided tour our first morning, and hiked into the volcano viewing area that evening. To pass the day we visited a wonderful snake zoo which also sported frogs, orchids and a butterfly area. The guides were very helpful and friendly and this really set us up to understand and recognize much of what we were to see later. Lunch was at ____________, where a couple of us ordered the "Tico" dish. I love that beans and rice recipe, and I have no idea how they created such a delicious pork chop! Our third day was spent driving around the "lake" or reservoir to Monteverde. We stopped for lattes in a nice expatriate inhabited town of __________. Our funniest moment was in ______________ where the sign to Monteverde was missing, but a group of locals were wildly pointing in the correct direction while we were naively driving in the wrong direction around the central square. Eventually we found the town and where hit by a culture shock of a traffic jam of tourists, taxis and buses which clogged a four block span. Eventually, after driving around in circles, we found our sleeping destination, the Cloud Forest Lodge. It was peacefully located amongst it's own forest and sported it's own clouds which came and went, allowing us to see a couple of nice sunsets off the enclosed deck, from comfortable couches. We took a nice afternoon hike along trails behind the lodge, and ate a great dinner right there. The next day we decided to visit the _______. After all, it helps the local schools. We had a bi-lingual guide and aside from his vaste knowledge, it was fun to hear about the forest flora and fauna in English and then in Spanish - helping us with the language. After our walking tour, we opted for the zip line tour next door (after indulging in a great Tico meal). Off we went, zipping through and above the treetops! We even had a suprise - jumping off a platform (or in my case, a bit of a shove) to swing only five feet above the ground. Truly an adrelanine rush. For a change we visited a Tapas restaurant ___________ and were amazed by the variety on the menu - not to be dissapointed by the fare! Following this (and a bit of wireless work on the Asus) we drove away from the cool and refreshing mountains to the heat of the coast. We ate lunch at the ________ in _____________ (after a very long wait), decide to skip _____________ and head for Dominical. At this point I felt we were seeing much of what most tourists don't see - long dusty roads through miles of palms producing oil. Truck after truck kicked up dust, rickity houses lined the road, and salesmen sold stuffed animals and coconuts with straws bored into wells of milk at bridge crossings. So many people involved in the bottom levels of production - oil, coffee, what else? It was a time to reflect. After an exciting moment of seeing our first white-faced monkeys, we missed the little right turn onto the muddy main road of Dominical. After much time and help we regressed and ended up with a reservation at __________, along with free rum drinks! The only restaurant open was the ____________, after which we all turned in. This is where I started getting up early to catch the sunrise. I walked through this town of alternating real estate offices, restaurants, surfing schools, wireless internet cafes and restaurants to one of the best surfing beaches you could find. Already people were heading out with their boards while others jogged or just stood around causually sporting bikkinis. The sun was just peaking over the hill, promising a hot day. We got some recommendations from our host and headed our for Puerto Jimenez. I had heard it was just a dusty town. We flew past the chocolate farm, much to my dismay, but made it in time to get into the _______________. Just as promised, a group of monkeys showed up the next morning right next to the open air bar! I managed to get images of a mother, father and baby in one of the trees - the youngster really wanted dad's banana but he managed to keep it out of reach while gazing affectionatly into his youngsters eyes. Not to be disappointed, dinner at __________ was spectacular - a New York chef creates meals in a Costa Rican setting. In the morning we met friends flying in on ______________ and shopped for groceries for our stay at _____________ in Montepolo. From there we went to the Corcovado Lodge for two nights. We were blown away by the service and the food - each meal was an event to look forward to - as I vaguely remembered from my visit there in 1992, fifteen years ago. The meals are hard to describe but always sported a delicious purreed soup, interesting layered salad, fantastic entree and always a desert. Following are links to images - they are a bit broken up as some were taken with a Pentax and others with a Nikon D100. My favorite are Dominical and Corcovado, but there are some nice images in other categories too. Arenal to Dominical