Pictures from Bocas del Toro, Panama

CLICK HERE for pictures from Bocas

Bocas del Toro, Panama: A place you could get used to

Bocas (the town and provincial capital) is the largest settlement on Bocas (the archipelago of six islands that make up the majority of the province…which is also called Bocas – hmm?). The other islands and little towns are mainly within a 5-15 minute water taxi ride of the main town. Parts of these islands make up a national marine park. You can see little thatched roofs, cabins on stilts, and lancha water taxis everywhere. There are also A LOT of banana plantations (think Chiquita).

Bocas seems to be full of characters you would find in a gregarious storybook, or a weird TV sitcom. Many of the local people we met were American ex-pats. Some have made Bocas their permanent home, others come and go on a seasonal basis. They all either seem to be running away from, or running to, something (many by their own admission!). A perfect example was an article that came out in a Panamanian tourist magazine, 980, while we were visiting – it was showcasing 10 American women entrepreneurs who had started up successful businesses in Bocas over the past few years. From a spa, to a yoga studio, restaurants, property development, gourmet deli, and more, these ten women were just a sample population and didn’t include any of the ex-pat couples or single men who run businesses, nor any of the local enterprises. All this, in a town with a population of 12,000. Even with all the ex-pat and tourist presence, Bocas still feels like another country, with lots of Panamanians milling around and living their daily lives.

Bocas is a funny little place. It’s billed as the Caribbean sun destination of Panama…except there is really not a beach accessible from the main town…and it’s located in one of the rainiest places on the continent. It is also Panama’s primary tourist destination. However, what it lacks in “walk out your door to lay on the beach”, it more than makes up for in activities.

So what adventures and activities did we get into during our 10 days in Bocas?

Surfing

Early in the week, John convinced me to go out for another surfing lesson, this time on a reef break. A small boat dropped us and our surf instructor from Bocas Surf School out at a restaurant hut near the break. We had a little chat about the site and he told us that surfing is 90% paddling. Well that explains why I find this sport so difficult, I thought, I can barely swim. We then had to paddle out at least 20 minutes to the edge of the break. I was already worn out. To make it just a little extra challenging, in order to keep out of the 6’ waves threatening to crash on your head, you had to constantly paddle out into the channel. We spent over two hours moving between trying to catch the waves in the break, surviving inhumane treatment in the washing machine of waves that followed, and paddling like maniacs to get back into the channel. Repeat. It was exhausting but fun, and definitely rewarding. Especially the case of beer that followed.

Which I guess explains why John was able to convince me to go back for another session a few days later. This time we tried out a spot that was quite a bit tamer and with less threat of punishment. That also meant that it required more waiting and effort to get up on the waves. It was a successful day for both of us, as we became much more confident in reading the water and getting up on our boards. John signed up for a third session on his own a few days after that, solidifying his new skills.

Caving

We met a lovely couple from New York while drinking gin on the deck of the Rip Tide (see below in the Eating section) one afternoon. Ten hours later, they had convinced us to go meet them on the nearby Bastimentos island to go on a cave tour. I must have been drunk, because going into a cave is right near the bottom of my list of things I want to do in life. However, everyone else seemed stoked to go, so I pulled up my big-girl panties and agreed.

The four of us headed out in a lancha with a driver/guide in the morning. He took us around the island into a river surrounded by mangroves. Part way there, the water was too shallow for the engine so he handed out paddles to the menfolk. Another half an hour and we landed on the edge of a small plantation, which we had to walk through in order to get to the cave entrance. Along the way we were lucky enough to see a mother and baby three-toed sloth just a few feet away in a tree, as well as some of the bright orange frogs common to the area.

At the entrance to the Nivida cave, our guide handed out helmets and headlights, and we were off. As we walked in, it was difficult to decide whether I was more disturbed by the bats flying by (and at!) my head or the putrid smell of guano everywhere. Either way, it did nothing to alleviate my disgust for these rats with wings. Everyone else seemed to think it was interesting. We moved further into the cave, wading through shallow water, climbing over stalagmites while the bats and the smell both dissipated. Admittedly the rock formations were pretty amazing once I got the courage to look around.

As I reminded myself that there was lots of air and space even though I was feeling closed in, we got to a rock platform area where our guide suggested we leave everything. Now wearing nothing but bathing suits and hard hats, we proceeded into deeper water as we continued to explore the cave. We got to a few places where we had to swim for a few meters, and then reached a spot where we had to put our heads most of the way underwater in order to fit through the crevice. Good times in guano water. We went as far as an underwater waterfall and deep pool, and then returned the way we came. Three hours later, we emerged back into sunlight.

Yoga

I was very excited to find out that there were regular yoga classes held in Bocas for only $5 a session. This was one of the first times on the trip that yoga had been both accessible and affordable, so I went over to Bocas Yoga on the first day we were in town for a class. It was energizing and lovely and Laura Kay was an amazing instructor!

John had talked about wanting to try a yoga class, so he came along the next day. Laura Kay was thrilled to have a new student, especially a man, in the class and was very encouraging. She decided that it would be worth the yoga street credit for John to do a bridge in his first yoga class, so she assisted him to accomplish that. John was beaming after his first yoga experience, although somehow I suspected it was more due to the hot yoga instructor in a tiny outfit bending over him than to the positive karmic energy of deep breathing.

We returned to yoga class every day we were in Bocas. It was definitely a highlight of our stay there. I have tried to convince John that all yoga classes will not be that visually exciting or entertaining, but it was a great way to get him into it!

Catamaran sailing

The weather in Bocas had not been that conducive to snorkeling, even though that is one of the main advertised activities there. The winds and rains had affected visibility, and we had not really wanted to go out for a full day in an open boat in the downpour. We finally decided to go out for a day on a catamaran that included a couple of spots for snorkeling. It turned out to be a great decision!

As we headed out from the dock, John asked the skipper if he had a spinnaker for the boat. They hoisted it up, and within half an hour of stepping on board, John was flying the spinnaker through the channel. The day continued to be lovely with a couple of snorkeling spots where we saw a fair amount of small fish and coral. After lunch, the captain handed the wheel over to John and there he stood for the rest of the day. We did go through several small squalls and lots of rain, but they were short-lived, and the cabin provided ample shelter.

Eating

No adventure would be complete without mentioning the food. Bocas has an enormous amount of restaurants for its size. There were many recommended that we didn’t get the chance to try, but most of the ones we did were certainly worthwhile. On the posh end, the Indian restaurant Om served authentic North Indian dishes with delicious drinks. Their white wine sangria with pears and rose water was divine. We had good pizza a couple different places, and tasty fig and goat cheese stuffed chicken (as well as bacon-wrapped dates!) at a Mediterranean restaurant, La Casbah. The Gourmet Deli was the place to shop for imported foods as well as the location of an organic chocolate counter where new treats were made daily. Yum!

On the not-so-posh end of the spectrum was Rip Tide, a restaurant bar on a boat tied to the dock. The drinks were cheap, the service was crappy and the food was greasy but the experience is what had us returning several times during our stay. Lots of old sailors and randoms passed hours there. Their slogan is "Get ripped at the rip tide, where it's happy hour all day long." Enough said. At one point I ate a “RIP sandwich”: two large breaded and deep-fried chicken pieces with bacon and cheese between two pieces of toast soaked in butter. Served with blue cheese dipping sauce. And fries. It was aptly named, as I felt my arteries slowing considerably. Even John raised his eyebrows at this menu choice.

There is something about going to an island that makes it immediately different from other places.  Often on paper, these are places that should not be a cool as they end up being. Bocas is a place on the “return to” list and it would be difficult to truly explain why.  One girl mentioned that she was on the 50^th day of her 7 day trip to the island. We totally understood how that could happen.

Pictures of Puerto Viejo

CLICK HERE for pictures of Puerto Viejo & Animal Rescue Centre

Puerto Viejo (Costa Rica Caribbean beach)

We expected that Puerto Viejo was going to be mainly a staging point on our way to the Bocas del Toro islands in Panama. It was a long day crossing the country from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast. We passed through San Jose en route and it gave us a brief opportunity to scout out the city before returning to it in a couple of weeks. As our taxi driver said it, “well San Jose, it isn’t anything special…have you been to Monteverde yet?…that place is great!” He was also the equipment manager for one of the local American football teams (as we found out there is a competitive league in Central America which is pretty good).

So back to the trip to the coast.  After San Jose, heading east on the highway we climbed up into a mountain range and passed through one of the very cool tunnels that always feels like a video game moment similar to those in British Columbia. As we came back down towards sea level it was obvious that we were somewhere else. The air changed and by the time we got to Limon, we saw miles of banana plantations (Chiquita) and 3-mile long surf breaks with no one on them. It was still another hour until we got to our next stop, which was a fun little town with a wide variety of people, including dreadlocked hippies, Rastas, travelers and other interesting characters. Puerto Viejo has some incredible hostels and a beach town life that seems to leave people in a perpetual staging point in their lives. It definitely felt like a place where you could get sucked into and swing life away in a hammock.  In fact the sloth seems to be the defacto symbol of the area.

The highlight of the town, and potentially one of greatest highlights of the trip to date was a trip to the Jaguar Animal Rescue Center – www.jaguarrescue.com – we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but my niece Olivia is always telling me about Diego and Dora and their animal rescue center from the cartoon.  It was absolutely phenomenal!! The Centre is a private group (with no government funding) and run by a biologist couple – the guy loves snakes and the lady loves monkeys, so it was amazing right from the beginning. Their mission is to help animals who are sick, injured or abandoned and take care of them until they can be (re-)released. 

We had a tour of all the snakes that they have and are currently taking care of and breeding for release into the wild.  So, that is cool, but did not sit well with everyone because some of these snakes like the Fer-de-lance can kill someone with a bite in a couple of hours and they actually like picking fights. 

They also had a margay (a wild cat) that they have been working with for over a year.  The training involves hunting mice and other smaller prey so that the cat can develop enough skills without a mama cat so it can be released with a reasonable chance of survival. Well, in a classic Lisa Simpson moment, they let the cat out of its cage for its morning training and unbeknown to the biologist, one of the beautiful spectacled owls who lived in the next cage had gotten out during the night. The cat must have known, because once the gate was opened it charged and took down the owl in one attack.  The biologists had also been working with the owl for a couple of years and it was part of a pair. The female owl has been in her house crying for almost a week now and we could only see the top of her head and eyes as we walked by. That was certainly the Circle of Life. It is sad and funny at the same time.   

So next were some birds; no big deal. Especially because the biologist told us that we are not only going to see the juvenile howler monkeys up close, we are going to get to visit their holding area and play with them. It was the most exciting news I have had in a long time. We went into their home and there were about 8 young monkeys that were relatively used to humans and like people; some were interested in us and others didn’t care. They all showed distinct personalities – some were shy, some wanted to show off their jumping abilities, and others were clingy (especially the youngest one, Frida). One of the monkeys climbed up onto me and was on my shoulder and then started to climb down my front and wrapped his tail around my forearm and hung there. Its tail was so strong that there was no doubt that he could hang from it for the whole day. Catherine had another monkey climb onto her shoulder and immediately start eating her hair. We played with the monkeys for a while and got to meet all of them before we left. We were all supremely jealous of the volunteers whose work it was to cuddle and play with monkeys all day. I am still smiling now. 

Next was the red-eyed green tree frog that is the famous symbol of Costa Rica.  We went to an area where the frog gang hangs out and found lots of eggs and remnants of the party that the crazy raving frogs had the night before. One of the biologists then pointed out one of the frogs – it looked like a light green lump on a leaf. It looked nothing like the pictures we have seen (for example, on the Vancouver Aquarium swag). But then, our guide touched the frog and it came to life like a cartoon character. It was incredible to see how vivid the red eyes were that protruded from its little face, its legs were orange and it was doing its best Zoolander poses, like it knew how freaken cool it was. Then it happened…it looked right at me while the others were taking its picture…and jumped onto my shoulder. I froze as it looked at me and then in a moment it decided to jump off. One of the other people on the tour freaked out and caught the little guy mid-air like he was attempting to end his life.  The whole time I am pretty sure that it was putting on a show for everyone. 

While all this was happening a deer (who is basically the equivalent to a pet dog at the Centre) was hanging out with us watching the frogs and looking for someone to scratch behind her ears. It was so cute that you really had to laugh. I am sure that Diego and Dora (and all of the kids that watch the shows) would be very proud to know that people are actually making a difference and working with animals while creating a small significant impact for not only the animals but people that leave the center with a new relationship with the monkeys and an unforgettable experience.   

So our staging place ended up being another amazing highlight in the trip.  It continuously seems that you can never underestimate places and people.  Often, it is the places that you did not have any expectations about that end up creating the most profound and lasting memories.

Pictures of Costa Rica Pacific Coast Beaches

CLICK HERE for pictures of Playa Coco, Playa Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio!

Costa Rica – Pacific Beaches

We left Monteverde with a great feeling about Costa Rica and their efforts to conserve their beautiful natural resources and landscapes. We hired a van to take us out to Playa Coco on the Nicoya Peninsula. The drive was a great opportunity to work on our Spanish and our driver was very interested in also learning English. The driver and I traded car-related vocabulary. We made a lunch stop at a crossroads where once we opened the doors of the air-conditioned van it was like getting blasted with a hair dryer. The feeling was an extreme change from the misty mountains around the cloud forests. The stop had a number of macaws, toucans, and peacocks all hanging out together, seeming personally offended that the other birds existed.

Playa Coco

Now down in a hot, arid climate, we must have passed 25 sandina (watermelon) stands before finally reaching Playa Coco. We didn’t really know at to expect, but the condo turned out to be lovely; we were really living it up and capitalizing on the buying power of four people. We had a nice pool surrounded by 9 other units populated mainly by Canadians and Americans. It worked out that the whole town was more or less for sale with many deals available on every block. We got to know our neighbours and it led to many interesting conversations on the pool deck over the course of our stay. I even had a chance to put the ole lifeguarding skills to the test rescuing a small crab from the chlorinated pool. I am still not sure how it got from the ocean all the way into a pool 2 blocks away. Crossing traffic, avoiding dogs, birds and other animals that would have enjoyed a crab for lunch, only to attempt a suicide in a swimming pool.

Without too much to do in Coco we spent a lot of time on the beach, beside the pool, and wandering around the small town. It was really nice to again be in a place where you could go out at night without feeling unsafe.  Well…we were told by some of the new neighbours that no one should go down to the beach at night because of the drunks and druggies.  So on the way home from having a drink Catherine and I walked the beach and met some folks having a bonfire on the beach.  Playing guitar, swimming, and hanging out were a bunch of Utah Mormons in the country doing missionary work.  We had to laugh at the overly cautious folks that probably have never gone to the beach at night. I guess points of view are always relative to experiences. I may be afraid of missionaries as well if I was coming from Louisiana.   

A nature highlight was a family of Howler monkeys that were often found in the trees across from the condo. We would watch them run down the power lines each evening to a mango tree where they found dinner. They were great and I have really started to perfect my Howler call, sometimes even getting them to respond. By a serious fluke (I decided to go for a run) I also got to see a mama turtle on the beach beginning to lay eggs, but the downside was that there was 30 people there with cameras and talking, kids that were too excited and did not understand their impact, and even people with dogs off leash that were getting too close. It was a bad scene and it was a shame with the turtle turned and headed back out into the surf without completing the Nature of Things moment. The police and biologist types were present but were either overwhelmed with the situation or did not have a protocol for dealing with the situation. It was hard to see it happen.

Coco was the last part of our adventure with Doug and Sheila and it was tough to see them go after such a great month. We parted ways, us on a public bus heading to Tamarindo and them on a 1^st class bus to San Jose. The ride was pretty good and I had the opportunity to have a great conversation with a guy from Nicaragua. It is amazing how many people from Nicaragua are working in Costa Rica keeping the economy going and really how negatively a lot of Costa Ricans feel about the situation. I really started finding a deeper respect for Nicaragua after meeting more and more people working in Costa Rica.

Coco was also a very different picture of the classic Costa Rica marketing.  It was relatively dirty, there was no recycling, multi story condominium building were going up on every vacant lot while many of the houses that appeared to be owned by locals were up for sale. The majority of people that we encountered in Coco were either ex-pats or immigrant workers from Nicaragua. We got some information from a group that were selling fractional shares in the new properties and they explained to us that the strategy is to keep the housing market growing artificially by 15% a year to increase prospective values and to force locals out of the market. It is clearly not sustainable, and is going to create a market bubble. It is pretty obvious that Costa Rica has some major issues to deal with as it balances out conservation with the rapidly growing and important tourism industry. Not to mention the imbalance between well-off foreigners and exploited Nicaraguans, with Costa Ricans in the middle.

Playa Tamarindo

Tamarindo was a classic surf town but with big city prices. We found a great hostel, inexplicably called La Botella de Leche (The Bottle of Milk), and immediately found out about surfing prices. “Super cheap” was the answer, and at least that part of the hype was true. It was three days of me vs. the waves and getting my ass kicked. It is truly becoming an abusive relationship. Catherine did some surfing and also enjoyed the hot sand on the beach that was almost like velvet. The beaches were long, wide, and picturesque and Tamarindo had an interesting charm, although it is one of the most touristic places we have stopped during our trip. We left the town thinking about the incredible sunsets, fun travelers that we met at the hostel, and a major hangover from a last great night out.

Quepos and Manual Antonio

Other then Vancouver quality sushi, Quepos was really just a place we stayed in order to access the Manual Antonio National Park. Now, everything is relative and we have been very fortunate to visit a number of amazing nature reserves. Manual Antonio was like walking along a crowded street for most of the day. There were packs of tourists with cameras snapping pics of everything, which is fair. It was just harder for us to get excited about ants and trees after Monteverde. We tried to get to a couple of different less travelled trails but it was tough. It actually closely resembles of the layout of Stanley Park in Vancouver: a forest surrounded by exceptional beaches. 

The beaches were definitely worth it, especially because in the late afternoon we had an incredible encounter with multiple families of squirrel monkeys. They are the smallest of the four types of monkeys found in Costa Rica and were the last on our list to see. We were less than 10 feet away from at least four sets of these tiny monkey mamas with babies on their backs, accompanied by the rest of the tribe. It was incredible.  The next day we also got a close encounter with a troop of white face monkeys that were trying to get food from the tourists and were as close to us as we had gotten to monkeys so far on the trip. A plethora of monkeys and ice-cold coconut water drinks. It was all worth it. 

The Pacific coast beach towns of Costa Rica are extraordinary beautiful and the costal drive is a life experience all in itself.  Lushes trees boarding the highway with a wide variety of beautiful flowers woven with spectacular views of waves breaking on the shoreline. We can understand why so many travelers fall in love with the coast and really hope that the country can find equilibrium between the prospect of tourism dollars and ensuring that the natural beauty continues to exist. 

One Side of Costa Rica: Interesting Critters and Giant Trees

By means of a pleasant fast boat and van combo ride, we entered Costa Rica from Nicaragua, arriving in the town of La Fortuna. We had all decided that based on the guidebooks and other travellers’ recommendations we should stop in La Fortuna to see the Volcan Arenal and take a dip in the neighbouring hotsprings.

Well, the volcano is a serious exercise in false advertising and the racket around the hotsprings would make Walt Disney proud. All of the promotions for the volcano show the top spewing hot lava; although we were aware it was not currently active we figured there still must be something to see…not so much. The top is actually permanently covered in cloud and it is illegal to climb it. After the dozen or so volcanoes we saw in Guatemala and Nicaragua, this was a paltry excuse for a tourist attraction. But we walked in the nearby forest anyways, which turned out to be more exciting than anticipated. At the start of the walk, our young guide narrowly missed stepping on a poisonous viper, scaring himself shitless. Looking like something off of America’s Funniest Home Videos, he then proceeded to jump nervously from foot to foot telling us to remain calm and leave the snake in peace while he poked at it with a stick, provoking it to strike out at him more than once. Then, we were detoured because Will Smith & son were shooting a movie in the woods. As a bonus, during the walk John got to try out his Tarzan call while swinging from vines.

The hotsprings that are a result of the volcano are another story. There are a plethora of hotels and resorts that sell day passes to their facilities; we went with the most over-the-top-Vegas option (not the one touted as “what Eden would look like” for twice the price). It was exactly as advertised – numerous pools of different temperatures, waterslides, swim-up bars and buffet. All of which costs you $60/person. Which is excessive, but we had reconciled ourselves with this cost until we arrived and were each charged another $6 for a 1’x1’ locker. Seriously. Needless to say we felt justified in taking the lock with us as a memento. It was all worthwhile for a lovely afternoon and evening moving between warm-hot-&-hotter pools, and to see Doug and Sheila go down their first waterslide in decades!

La Fortuna, however, ended up as a perfect spot for a ‘descanso’ – a rest. After all the adventure and rustic accommodations on the Rio in Nicaragua, no one (except perhaps the hotel owner) was surprised when John did a happy dance and yelled out ‘woo-hoo’ when we got to our rooms and saw all the space, a balcony, fridge, air conditioning and hot running water (it had been over a month since we had actual hot water).

From La Fortuna, we headed to the (technically) nearby town of Monteverde. On a map, they look like neighbours. In reality, you drive for an hour, take a boat across a man-made lake for another hour (or more, if you’re on the German/French birding tour boat like we were), and then bump along possibly some of the worst roads we’ve been on for another 2.5 hours. Nevermind, it’s all part of the adventure and the road is kept in bad condition to limit development– at least that’s what they tell you. The trip across the lake gives a vista of some beautiful countryside, mainly ranchland and small plantations. The lake was actually dammed in the 1970s in order to provide both hydro power and irrigation to the area. Note: Costa Rica is a major power exporter in Central America based on its hydro, but at the same time charges local residences highly inflated prices – ahh monopolies!

Monteverde is truly the reason to visit Costa Rica (besides the beaches, but that’s another post). This is where all the postcard pictures are taken. This is where you can see a lot of the wildlife for which Costa Rica is famous, walk from a cloud forest to a temperate rain forest in less than 15 minutes, feel the cloud forests in action, see trees and plants that were surely the inspiration for Dr. Seuss, and participate in pretty much any kind of adventure tourism you choose. It was like walking through an episode of Planet Earth, unfortunately without David Attenborough narration. Being there with Doug and John, we split our time between searching for animals and hiking through forests. We visited every type of forest at every time of the day. We were extremely fortunate to see most of the animals and birds it is possible to see in the area, as many tourists visit more than once without seeing half of what we did.

Some of the animals we saw:

Mammals (coati, armadillo, agouti, two-toed sloth, howler monkey, spider monkey, white-faced capuchin monkey, bats, raccoons, variegated squirrel…birders, Germans)

Snakes & reptiles (yellow eyelash pit viper, anoles, geckos, lizards, iguanas, river turtles, hog-nosed pit viper, garter snake, frogs, mombacho salamander, galliwasp lizard…shower frogs)

Insects (tarantula, millipede, leaf bug, stick bug, bullet ant, leaf cutter ants, katydid, giant crickets, rhinoceros spear bearer bug, silk moth, fireflies, red army ants, termites, blue morpho butterfly, monarch butterfly, postman butterfly, yellow barrel crescent butterfly….cockroaches)

 Birds (quetzals, mot-mots, flycatcher, toucan, toucanet, doves, many different kinds of hummingbirds, wood stork, osprey, jays, cormorants, anhingas, parakeets, white-throated magpie jay, oropendula, egrets, blue heron, grey heron, parrots, macaw, woodpecker, kingfishers, turkey vultures, white ibis, spotted sandpipers, honeycreepers, tanagers, warblers, pavo negro)

(Admittedly, we did see some of these in Nicaragua first, and at closer range, but we forgot to tell you about that). One of the reasons we saw as much as we did was thanks to our guide, Danilo. A professional naturalist, he had eagle eyes during both the day and night and the most amazing hearing – he could pick things out of the forest that no one else could, such as a mother hummingbird sleeping in her nest, and leaf insects that were so camouflaged I still couldn’t see them when they were literally in front of my face. He was also a ninja with his scope, and a wealth of knowledge. He taught us where to look for particular critters, how to recognize sounds, and what different vegetation was good for. Thanks to his instructions, John and Doug found a tarantula sleeping in her hole the very next morning!

We were very lucky to see the resplendent quetzal, the national symbol of Costa Rica and a bird formerly give god-like status by the ancient Maya. They are serene, slight goofy and very colourful. In fact, the colour of their feathers change depending on what light they are in – from brown to blue to green. We saw a pair from a distance on our excursion with Danilo, which was amazing. This was the only point on any of our guided tours that a guide had us run. It was funny to see the motley crew of amateur birders in their Tilly hats and 3 foot camera lenses and backpackers who barely spoke English running up to an makeshift observation point. Danilo and the other guides in the area were thrilled to see the pair, and were reluctant to leave before the birds flew away. Then, the next morning outside of a park entrance, four more quetzals came to feed on a tree right in front of us. This was spectacular enough for even the locals – including the delivery truck drivers – to stop and watch. When we got back to the hostel that day, we spoke with a couple who had been coming to Monteverde for several years in hopes of seeing just one of these beautiful birds.

We found out during our nature excursions in Monteverde that John is a hummingbird magnet. It could be that they are attracted to his red hat, or it could be his natural sweetness. Whichever it is, they regularly buzz in to say hi. John describes them as mini F1race cars or Tinkerbells humming by his head. He now wears his sunglasses when they’re around, in case they mistake his eyes for flowers.

We participated in two ‘adventure tourism’ activities while in Monteverde – one intentional and the other not. On our first day in Monteverde, our lovely Texan Quaker host at the hostel gave us a whole list of things to do around the area – from bungee jumping to free hikes. We decided to get up the next morning and go on one of the free hikes to a waterfall.

We were driven out to the beginning of the trail in a taxi in the morning. It was a picturesque walk in the forest, although it alternated between misty and rainy, and the waterfall was indeed beautiful. The vegetation was lush, the trees were immense, and the air plants ubiquitous. A couple of hours later we came back out and had a sandwich. Doug was excited to see what looked like a ‘mandarina’ (orange) tree at the end of the walk. He climbed a barbed wire fence and knocked a few into the woods. After rummaging around the ground to find them, he triumphantly presented them to the group for welcome refreshment…except they were actually Central American limes, so sour that they were impossible to eat.

John and Doug had decided earlier that we needed to get some exercise, so we opted to walk back to town. This was a 3-hour, 13 km trek, mostly uphill (sometimes at a 45 degree angle) in alternating rain and wind. When we got back to the hostel our host looked at us and said, ‘you actually walked back? No one does that. I just suggest it in case people are a little crazy.’

John and I also opted to go on some ziplines (or as they call it ‘canopy tour’) over Santa Elena reserve. Although it was not a huge adrenaline rush, and we didn’t hang upside down or anything, it was super fun! The view from 100 feet above the ground, but only a couple of feet above the treetops was incredible. A couple of the lines were a full kilometer across, which actually allowed us to observe the landscape from this perspective. In some parts, we really did zip right in between the tops of cloud forest canopy, with branches within reach of our fingertips.

pictures from Monteverde, Costa Rica

CLICK HERE for pictures from Monteverde, Costa Rica

Pictures from La Fortuna, Costa Rica

CLICK HERE for photos of La Fortuna/Arenal, Costa Rica