Discovering Costa Rica

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Saturday, 20 February 2005 - Drove from Arenal Volcano to Monteverde , a long, slow, rough-road journey around Lake Arenal with wildlife sightings including curious coatis at the roadside, a stop at the Arenal Botanical Gardens despite rain, a lakeside lunch hoping for toucans, scenic bird-watching views, and finally arriving in Monteverde with a flat tire before settling into the hotel and dinner in town.

Costa Rica 2005 — This day's activities consisted of a 4-5 hour drive from the Arenal Volcano to Monteverde. On the map it is a very short distance - 50 miles or so - but the roads do not travel straight to the town and are very rough.

This little animal is much like a racoon and is called a Coatimundis. While we were excited to see the Costa Rican wildlife we soon learned that they are like bears in Yellowstone.

Costa Rica 2005 — Due to the number of tourists and the poor roads these little guys have a racket. They come on the road and beg for food - tourists like us - stop and give them food. Here they ask our car for more cookies - and of course we fed them.

Costa Rica 2005 — A family simply feeds them outside their car. We were not that adventurous preferring the Coatimundis on outside and us on the inside of the car.

Costa Rica 2005 — We stopped at the only attraction marked on the trip route - the Arenal Botanical Gardens. While a nice display (2,500 rare tropical species) it was not like many of the parks we would see in Monteverde. Additionally, it was raining so not the best time to visit a botanical garden. Beautiful plants and our first introduction to the jungle - as well as the first introduction to the climate on the Continental Divide.

Costa Rica 2005 — About halfway around the expansive Lake Arenal we stopped at a restaurant which provided birds food in the hopes a Tucan would stop by. This is the view from the deck of the restaurant.

Costa Rica 2005 — Well no Tucans but there were several other birds including this brightly colored woodpecker. Or at least I think it is a woodpecker.

Costa Rica 2005 — The backend of the same bird - pretty colors.

Costa Rica 2005 — Some little green birds were also feeding in the area - sorry this is the best shot I could get.

Costa Rica 2005 — At the very northern tip of the Arenal Lake is a windmill farm. There are several (20-30) of these windmills attesting to the spot being the windiest place in Costa Rica. There are several hotels in the area providing lodging to the windsurfers.

Costa Rica 2005 — With the moderate water temperature - 65-70 degrees - and the constant wind this is a great place for windsurfing. This picture was taken at Tilawa Viento Surf Center. Here Johnny wanted to get out in the surf - he is a big windsurfer. You can see the white caps on the lake - the wind was really blowing.

Costa Rica 2005 — The road after Tilaran - only a few miles from the windsurfing spot - became very rough. While there was only 25 miles it would take us over 2 hours to cover the distance. The trip was broken by a stop in El Dos - named after a gold mining camp, the second in a string of camps. We had lunch in El Dos and it was a highlight of the trip.

Costa Rica 2005 — As we traveled the rough dirt track we were moving from rain to mist to sun at each turn. This provided a rainbow at several turns - the number of rainbows became hard to count - they seemed to follow us.

Costa Rica 2005 — We finally arrived in Monteverde - with a flat tire. After changing the tire and checking into the hotel we walked to a nearby restaurant. Here are Johnny Vega and Alejandra Bastida, Cal, little 4 year old girl Alejendrita, and Virginia Ann dining at Johnny's (no relation) Pizerra. The meal was great - very good pizza in the middle of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 2005 — Actually Monteverde was very busy with all the hotels full and a line at every restaurant. Most of the tourists were on eco vacations.

As we settled in this was the dusk over Monteverde.

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