Fun, fun, fun in Costa Rica

There is so much to do here and so little time. We are now down to four as Dave, Andrea and Andrew have left us. Actually Andrew is in San Jose right now waiting for his flight early Saturday morning. It was great having them here with us and they kept us busy.  Here are some of the fun things we did.

4 x 4 ATV Adventure

Here we are all set to go

Our group

Andrew .. his white shirt was toast

Andrea ... sorry Dave, no photo of you

Monkey Man Tour Through the Mangroves

This was so much fun and absolutely stunning scenery. We went by boat, at high tide through the Mangroves and did get to see the monkeys. They jumped all over the boat and we each got a monkey on our heads.

Needless to say, our hats all needed to be washed.

Manuel Antonio National Park

This is the most famous National Park in Costa and the smallest. It only allows 600 people a day into the park. We hired a guide who took us through the jungle and showed us so much more than we would have ever seen on our own. The park also includes about 6 pristine beaches. It was a very hot day, so the beach felt great.

Toucan

Howler Monkey

3 Toed Sloth

One of the lovely beaches

Dave eating termites

Andrew eating termites

Three bats

Sunset

The end to another wonderful day

Next blog ... chocolate factory in the rainforest .....

Rainmaker Canopy Walk

We did a lot of research on canopy walks and Rainmaker seem to be the one most highly recommended. So far, we had not had a bad experience with our excursions and this one turned out to be another fantastic time. Andrea, Dave, Eric and I got our cameras, water bottles, hiking shoes and set out for another adventure. The place is only about 10 km south of our house and about another 10 km inland, through the Palm Oil groves. Of course, we drove through many little villages and were amazed by the local flora and fauna. 

The place is owned by a man from Washington, DC. it has been in operation for over 22 years and this man is in the process of converting it to a conservation area. It cost us each $15 US and the trail of 4.5 km long and basically goes up to near the top of the rainforest (the canopy) and descends down to the river at the base. We have been to 4 rainforests in Tobago, Brazil, Puerto Rico and here and this one is absolutely the best.

The bridge walk up to the top and along the top had many bridges of variable lengths. They were restricted to the number of people allowed at a time on the bridges and were quite an engineering marvel. I figured if Eric would cross them, they must be okay. At the top of the canopy, the bridges literally went from tree to tree, with platforms on the trees. It was a challenge to take photos on the bridges because they moved around quite a bit. At the top of the canopy, it was literally breath taking. There was no way a person could capture the magnitude and beauty.

Once we descended to the river, we cooled off under the waterfall. When we returned to the main house, we were able to buy a wonderful lunch for $5. It was a typical Costa Rica lunch consisting of rice, black beans, rice and chicken mixture, salad, plantains and tortillas. They also served a delicious fruit drink that put Eric's blood sugars up over 10! I have many photos and here are just a few.

The main building, where we had our lunch

Eric testing out one of the bridges

Andrea near tree roots

View half way up. That's the Pacific Ocean out there.

Butterfly on water bottle

Tree station half way up. 1,000 meters high!

Long bridge

Top of canopy

Another long bridge

Resting on another tree platform

Cooling off at the waterfall

Interesting insect

Return trip along river

It was a great trip but an intense hike. We were all pretty tired, but managed to stop off at a beach and enjoy taking more bird photos. So far Eric has logged almost 70 birds.

All for now ... love to everyone and we do NOT miss the snow??

Neofauna Butterfly Farm

This tour was spectacular. We were able to see many frogs, toads, snakes and butterflies. Other than the butterflies, all species are kept for only 2 months and then released back into their natural environment.  Our guide was a young fellow, who studied biology. He had a real passion for all the insects and reptiles.  Here are a few of my many photos ...

These little green frogs remained in the cage because they are highly poisonous. All the frogs have some degree of poison.

The snakes were very interesting. The yellow viper was the smallest, but most dangerous snake.

The deadly yellow viper. Can strike in a mini-second. Very small, deadly snake.

The very brave Francine wore this lovely snakelace!

The butterflies were my favourite. There were 60 varieties and it was quite a challenge to photograph them.

This is the butterfly's tongue!

Inside the butterfly garden.

The weather continues to be hot and sunny. Absolutely perfect. Andrew arrived today and hasn't left the pool. Down to the ocean in a while .... we can hear the surf pounding from our deck.

Love to all....

Life in Costa Rica

Casa de Sophie - our home for a month

If you have time to spare .... go by air! We were supposed to leave Halifax on January 31st at 1pm, but the high winds caused our flight to be cancelled. We were delayed until Feb 2nd at 6:30 am, but had a great flight to San Jose, arriving at 1 pm. Bob and Francine also had their flights cancelled from Ottawa and they arrived the night before us and picked us up at the airport. We got to our house late afternoon, only one day late.

We flew directly down the US Eastern shore. This is Key West Florida.

Judi relaxing in our pool

Eric and I went for a walk and found these little friends

Bananas from our back yard. Delicious!

On our first full day we drove south to Parrita, which was only about 20 minutes and poled around town. we stopped at one of the many fruit stands and loaded up on all the delicious local fruits. We ate lunch at one of the many outdoor restaurants .... delicious fresh fish  dishes and really good prices.

Waiting for our meal. A lovely hot day, with cool ocean breeze.

On Monday, we headed north for the day, past Jaco to Carara National Park. We hired a private tour guide for 2 1/2 hours to take us through one of the trails. we were interested in birds and any anything else! Our guide Arnando, had little secret places to take us and we saw some wonderful sights. It is not a full rainforest, but a transitional forest.

Ghost Bat

Boa Constricter

Many beautiful flowers

Always an interesting butterfly

Royal Flycatcher. A HUGE sighting. People come to this park just to find this bird and can spends days waiting to see it.

Once again on our way home we stopped at another roadside restaurant and enjoyed more fish beside the ocean.  A wonderful day in a wonderful place.

Andrea and Dave arrive tomorrow, they also got delayed and had to change their flights.  We spent the morning at the beach and are now nursing sunburns.

I will post photos of our house and the beach on me next blog.  Love to everyone .......

COSTA RICA 2013

It has been a very cold month at home here in Nova Scotia and we are more than ready to take off to Costa Rica. This trip has been planned for a year and we hope you enjoy it along with us.

Casa De Sophie, Condominio Casa Del Sol, Esterillos Este, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

This will be our home for the  month of February, click on the link to view the house.

http://www.casadesophie.com/

We fly from Halifax on Thursday, January 31st, arriving in San Jose at 10:30 pm. We will stay in San Jose the first night and then head over to the Pacific Coast on February lst.

This is an aerial map of our location, the red dot on the right

It will be a wonderful family time:  Eric and I, my brother and sister-in-law Bob and Francine and for two weeks, Andrea and Dave and Andrew.

Keep posted for our adventures ziplining, geocaching, ATV adventure, bird watching and lounging on the beach.