Manuel Antonio national park

April 2, 2016

Today here in Costa Rica we were up bright and early at 5:30am in the town of Santa Elena. We had to get our luggage out the door to our bus driver Santiago and our tour guide Christen at 6:30 and then had breakfast and left by 7:30. 

The Journey today began with us traveling 5 hours to the town of Bjuco. On the way to the national park Manuel Antonito, Christen pointed out these trees that were growing all along the highway. They were called African oil palm, they aren’t originally from here in Costa Rica. The palm of the trees are extracted for oil for the kitchen and also bio diesel. Also on the way to the national park there was a semi-truck that stopped suddenly on the road. The trailer that the truck was carrying caught on fire and was about to tip over, we passed it and other cars stopped to help. 

We finally arrived at national park, it was such a beautiful place where many tourists stopped to visit. Before entering the gate to the park there was monkeys that would literally walk up 5 feet in front of you- It was amazing. The group was warned about the monkeys coming up close and snatching your belongings. The walk from the gate to the beach where we were was about 1.8 km. When we arrived at the white sandy beach the view of the ocean waves crashing on the bright black rocks was breath taking. Some of us went in the water and others wandered the beach to explore. When we went swimming in the ocean and got up from under the waves and washed our face with our hands the taste of salt lingered in your mouth until you washed it out with bottled water. Loved the beach and view! 

After the beach and national park visit we headed back to our hotel where not far of a walk was a beautiful beach again! We were told that we could get a good view of the sunset at 5:45, so we went. I would have to say that with the waves crashing into the beach and the bright orange sun illuminating the sky it was absolutely the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen! The sunset was stunning. 

We ended our day with a delish supper, tasty pineapple drink and swimming in the pool. Today over all was one of my favourite days, despite being +34! I had an amazing time here in Costa Rica and would do it again in a heartbeat! 

Santa Elena Cloud Forest & Zip line tour

Today we had to get up early, so we could eat breakfast and hit the road by 7. It was a good thing everyone threw the towel in early to try to recover from the burns we got from the Kayaking and Hot Springs the day before. We had to drive 4 and a half hours to get to the middle of the country, and see the cloud forest, where the majority of the group climbed to the top of the tower. After the cloud forest we went for lunch at the cloud forest. After we ate we went to the Extremo zip line, where we went on 14 different zip lines, some of which we did in partners. Some of the group went on the 30 meter Rappelling line down to the 60 meter Tarzan Swings, which then led to the Superman zip line, where about half of our group went on. Since today was the free for all day for supper half of us went to the grocery store to buy some fruits and things, since we didn't want to go out. 

Don Juan Eco Farm

Today, we got up and had breakfast at 7 am. Immediately after, we drove 4 hours to get to La Fortuna, a smaller town than San Jose. We stopped for lunch at the Don Juan Organic Farm, and had food that was grown and made directly on the property! After lunch, we did a walking tour of the farm and tried many different foods, like cacao seeds, sugar cane, and lemon basil. After the farm, we went to the hotel and we walked around the town and did some shopping until dinner. After a delicious dinner at a local restaurant, we had a little more time to hang out and do more shopping until it was time for bed. 

school visit & dance class

The day started early the same as yesterday, we left by 7:50am. We stopped at a grocery store to get supplies for the school, so we got some pencils and pens. The school was for elementary students.   There were bars everywhere just like a prison, but I think they were actually there for safety.   The kids were very friendly. Asking questions, and giving hugs by the time we left. We joined them in soccer and jump rope. They were excited to show us their grades on the English worksheets they have done.   Everyone was very helpful despite the language barrier.  From there we went to the "zoo" where they had dozens of species of animals that were unable to be released back into the wild.   My favourite were the tortoises (and the emus). We had a few hours to play in the pool and lounge around.  Dancing was definitely the best time so far. Despite my lack of coordination, I really enjoyed the experience

Poas volcano & La Paz waterfall

After we left the hotel we drove about an hour and a half to the Poas Volcano National Park, we visited the active volcanic crater. After the volcano we took a hike to the Laguna. On our way down the mountain we stopped at a small shop for strawberries with condensed milk and chocolate. After we stopped for a snack we drove to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The area was also am animal reserve so we had the opportunity to see Tucans and Wild cats including a mother and 3 leopard cubs. After seeing the animals we went for lunch ay the reserve and then for another walk to the waterfalls, which included a lot of stairs. On our way back we had a fun interaction with another tour bus filled with locals heading to the football (soccer) game with a Costa Rican team vs a team from Jamaica, we gave them a bag of Canada, Alberta, and Grande Prairie pins so they knew where we came from. 

Catamaran tour & Ram Luna

Sunday April 3, 2016

Today we got up at 5:40am to be ready for 6:40am. We loaded our luggage first and then had breakfast at 7am. For breakfast I had fruit and pancakes. I was lucky enough to have peanut butter on my pancakes because two days before Christian and Santiago went shopping for some for me.

We drove about half an hour to Quepos and met our guide Black Jack Thomas where we got on a catamaran for a tour of the bay. It took us a while to get our sea legs, we were walking wobbly for the first bit. We had hoped to see some wildlife but they must have still been sleeping. They played fun music for us while we practiced our Merengue and then we also did the Macarena. We went snorkeling and saw Parrot fish and a striped fish that Black Jack Thomas called Sargeant Majors. There were so many of them and they swam right up to us. I spent the whole time trying to catch one but only touched one quickly, they were too fast and I was not sneaky enough. We then got called back to the boat for lunch and we had rice and beans (surprise!), carrots, broccoli and either chicken or beef skewers that they BBQ’d right on the boat. As we reached the shore Black Jack Thomas sang and played the guitar while we played maracas.

After the boat tour we had a three hour drive back to San Jose and stopped part way at a rest stop and got fresh fruit smoothies. In San Jose we checked into the Park Inn, which was the first hotel we stayed at. We had a few hours before we left for dinner so we were able to shower and rest for a bit. 

We left for dinner just before 6pm and had a 45 minute drive into the mountains and went to a restaurant called Ram Luna. It was beautiful. The stairway leading up to it was lit with orange candlelight lamps and inside had so many different types of nick nacks; teapots, badminton racquets and even a juke box. There was a beautiful view of all of San Jose lit up at night and they even had a bonfire for us after dinner. 

Before driving back to the hotel we gave gifts to Christian and Santiago to thank them for all their amazing hard work taking care of us. We also had gifts for their families as we really appreciated that they had to be away from home for ten days. After our last group photo on the pretty front stairs we drove back to the hotel and packed up to fly home tomorrow. 

Photo collection link

Hello everybody,
Below is a link to a shared photo collection of our travels

Google Photo Album link: https://goo.gl/photos/yLGdgb8E4tbPtj3w6