Costa Rica 3: Quepos & Manuel Antonio National Park

It was another half day drive to reach Quepos from Monteverde. We stopped half way at a bridge so the group could walk across it and the van picked us up the other side. This was specifically to show us the river below the bridge, which was teaming with crocodiles. The last time I saw this many crocodiles was at the Australia Zoo (which was run at the time by our famous Crocodile Hunter). A member of our group bought the hat off a local's head before we proceeded further towards Quepos.

Crocodiles on the way to Quepos

We checked in briefly to the hotel, which was actually about 10 minutes drive from Quepos town. There was a public bus that stopped nearby on the road to go direct to town so that wasn't an issue. After about an hour to check in , everyone in our group elected to spend a little extra to catch a scenic sunset boat tour. The ride included a fresh cooked meal as well as cocktails.

Boat ride from Quepos

It was relaxing to be on the boat for a few hours, especially after all the adventurous activities that were arranged on the days beforehand. The sunset on the water was incredible - I have never seen an entire sky turn the rose colour I saw that night, and the clouds made it even more surreal.

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We were all still a bit peckish after the mid-afternoon meal and lazy enough to dine at the hotel restaurant. I can't believe that I could forget the name of the hotel was the Hotel California, it just took a bunch of googling to finally remember it. I want to mention it because we liked the accommodations and mostly because we had a great meal at their restaurant. I ordered the sesame seared tuna - I usually don't eat tuna but have since tried to replicate it at home to no avail. Mike got the ribs which were spectacular, and this was the meal that I discovered that pork can be delicious. The restaurant was on the pricey side for Central America but it was wholesome and well prepared.

Manuel Antonio National Park

The next day was free for us to self-discover Manuel Antonio National Park. We took the bus in to Quepos and after catching a cheap breakfast in town, walked the rest of the way to the park. You can tell how much more tourist focussed Quepos is by the number of people selling chachkas outside the park. Unlike elsewhere in Central America though, when locals approach you to "sell you tickets", they are directing the tourists to the ticket desk which is situated over 100 meters away from the park entrance. We ignored them a few times, thinking they were trying to resell tickets, then were embarrassed when we reached the park entrance and were directed to return to the ticket desk to buy our entrance tickets.

Curious raccoons on the beach

We saw a few sloths in Manuel Antonio Park. Most of the sloths are found up in the trees, and I didn't have a good camera for zooming in on them back then so I'm afraid I don't have any adorable pictures of them. I hear there is a sloth sanctuary elsewhere in Costa Rica though, where tourists can get close up to the adult and baby sloths.

We walked a few trails to the several beaches available in the park. Some were busy, some were very isolated, all had white sand and clear blue water. There are monkeys everywhere, putting on shows of aerial acrobatics for all the tourists. We also caught some raccoons on the beach, trying to dig through someone's unattended backpack.

Manuel Antonio Park is a day trip, get there early to ensure that you can get one of the limited daily tickets available. We left the park in the afternoon to see more of Quepos. The beach in town has surf and many more tourists, compared to the quiet and serene beaches featured in the park. It's worth paying the entrance fee to spend at least one day at the more secluded beaches.

We grabbed one of our favourite treats of the whole trip - a Trix icecream sandwich. We had one of these whenever we got the chance, since one of our groupmates brought us one to try in Arenal. I still wish I could just go to a supermarket to get a Trix sandwich over here. We lounged on the Quepos beach for a short time while part of the group took surf lessons.

For dinner we went to the El Avion restaurant, which you won't miss on the way into town from the Hotel California. The restaurant is set around an old cargo plane, and the atmosphere is charming. The charm ends there though, as the service was slow, the food was pricey for the area and mediocre at best.

Mike in the cockpit at El Avian Restaurant

We were given an option by our CEO to spend a little extra and take private transport back to San Jose on our final day in Costa Rica, or go by the itinerary and spend most of the day taking public transit back to the city. The group unanimously preferred the private transport, so we spent the last day of the tour lounging around Quepos and the hotel, before returning to San Jose.

Mike and I left San Jose before dawn the following morning for our return flight home.

Previous: Monteverde

Costa Rica 2: Monteverde

View from the boat

It was almost the entire day of travelling to transit from Arenal to Monteverde. The journey started with a short drive to the lake, a transfer to a scenic ferry, followed by a few hours of a bumpy van ride to the destination.

The scenery on the road from Arenal to Monteverde

The total distance covered was not that far (about 50km), and the several hours it took to get there is an attestant to why I wouldn't want to drive these roads myself.

On the way to Monteverde, we stopped by the El Trapiche coffee plantation tour. The tour took a couple of hours, where we walked around the coffee farm and learnt about how coffee is made, from how the coffee beans are grown and harvested, to when they are dried, shelled, and roasted to the beans you see at the supermarket.

Part of the coffee plantation tour

They also showed us the ox and cart that used to be used for transportation, and we all got a turn at a cart ride. After this we made taffy from sugar cane, which we spent the remaining van ride munching on. The tour also provided a tasty lunch for us.

Ox pressing the sugar cane into juice

Taffee made from sugar cane

Next up was ziplining. This is definitely the best zipline I've ever seen. I've never felt an adrenaline rush with a zipline before, I've never exactly thought of it as a thrillride. But here, the course offered a bit of everything.

Ziplining in Monteverde

Bird just chilling out at the zipline office, socialising with passers by

We leapt off a platform holding onto a tarzan rope for dear life. And the final show - the superman zipline. The ride was 1km (takes about 60 seconds) trekking between two mountains at a significant elevation over the valley between them. In classic superman pose we were face down, arms spread, flying in the wind on this one. Around the centre, you can feel the slight wobble in the wire from the wind pushing you sideways as you race forward. Not a ride for those with fear of heights, but you can still do the whole course and the final 1km line in the seated position if you want.

The 1km Superman zipline

Arriving in Monteverde, we had the evening to ourselves. Mike and I took a brief walk around town and up to a sunset viewpoint recommended by our CEO. There was a cute puppy running around by the viewpoint that was very friendly, so Mike gave it a lot of attention. It then followed us all the way back to the hotel.

View of sunset from Monteverde

There was an option to do a night walk later that night. I decided against it after the guide joked that it was mainly looking at spiders and other creepy-crawlies.

Cloud Forest

Tree snake

Quetzal bird
(His head is looking the other way)

The following day we took a tour of the cloud forest. The tour started with seeing a little coati making his way through the parking lot, then one of the guides showed us a green tree snake (not necessarily a Green Tree snake species though, like I could tell them apart), also in close proximity to the parking lot.
We followed the guided tour through the cloud forest, which has a diverse array of flora. Costa Rica, for it's small land size, has a huge concentration of differing species of plant and wildlife. We were lucky enough during the tour to get a view of the national bird - the beautiful quetzal.

Coati at the Cloud Forest park entrance

After the Cloud Forest, Mike and I diverged from the group to go horse riding. This is the best horse riding tour I've ever taken, and I'm an experienced rider. Marvin was an impressive horseman, as he showed us after the 2.5 hour ride when he did a short horse-whisperer style show with his most trained horse. He has trained all of the horses himself, and all respond well to very subtle gestures and voice commands. The horse I rode was equipped with a sadle and head halter - no bridle or bit needed.

Marvin with his horse

He asked about our experience levels beforehand, and set me up with a racey enthusiastic horse that couldn't wait to go as fast as I would let him. Mike was put on a quieter horse that had a slower loping gait to suit his experience level. We saw a few viewpoints and spotted some sloths in the trees from the trail. At the end of the ride we visited Marvin's farm, where he showed us some tricks that no one should try at home, and even let me ride the horse in the pictures. Needless to say, we loved the whole experience from head to hoof.

Don't try this at home.

Ont the second night in Monteverde, the group went to town at a local bar. We grabbed dinner and several drinks and had a fun party, dancing the night away. We had a bunch of excitement as we stumbled back to the hotel. Smoke was coming out of one of the buildings, and it was apparent that a fire had broken out. I should note that an entire block of housing was attached to the one on fire, and the nearest fire station didn't really exist. One of our groupmates happened to be a fire fighter back home. He rushed into the property to assess the situation, and found the family filling cups with water and attempting to throw them on the fire, which they had oddly enough managed to reduce it's intensity. They were screaming in Spanish that it was under control now and he was trying to tell them in English that he was trying to help. They weren't really understanding him, so he grabbed a broom and broke through the wall in their house - where the fire was raging on behind the wall. Together they did manage to successfully put out the fire. That was awesome, talk about having someone in the right place at the right time.

The boat view on the way from Arenal to Monteverde

Monteverde also had a small township to explore (definitely worth a good walk through in the least, it takes an hour or two to explore adequately), a snake museum, and a butterfly garden which we didn't see.

Previous: La Fortuna & Arenal   Next: Quepos

Costa Rica 1: La Fortuna & Arenal

It was February 2012, and Mike and I were standing in the searing cold blizzard at Toronto Pearson's long term parking, waiting for a bus. I couldn't help but bring my warm windbreaker with to the airport.  Luckily, I wouldn't need it for the rest of the week. We were going to Costa Rica.

Boat ride in Quepos

We travelled in a group tour, which was a first for us, with G Adventures. We chose them mainly for the price, because it's a Canada based company, and the website really inspires you to go on their Costa Rica Quest. We thought we'd see how the group experience would enhance our travels, and for this tour it certainly did. We had a great tour group of about 12 people, and a fantastic guide in Randy. In all my experiences so far, Randy is the best guide I've ever had for any group tour.

There are definitely some good reasons to go with a group rather than a self-guided tour in this country. The main reason is the roads. We didn't travel very far by distance, but at times travelling 20km could take 5 hours on these roads. These drivers change their suspension twice a year because the roads are so rough on the cars. Above that, I barely saw a road sign in the rural areas, especially on the way to Monteverde. Coming to a T intersection with no signs can be pretty irritating as a tourist, and you can't assume that the locals can speak English to help you out.

Of course there was the social aspects too, we did more partying, and Costa Rica is certainly a place to party it up. It was great to have the guide to provide us information for all the sights we visited, and just in general make sure things went smoothly.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Costa Rica is not a cheap Central American getaway. All places accept US dollars, and prices are similar to what you'd find in the states, especially around tourist areas. But you won't get people hounding you to spend money in their stores or on the streets either, and you won't be hit in the face by poverty. As the tourism board suggests, Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth. Even the poor appear to the outsider to be enjoying their simple lives, and the country thrives on tourism revenue without socially pressuring money out of your pockets. No one is asking for a handout here.

9 Day Costa Rica Itinerary

Trip Style: Group tour

Transportation: 4x4, minibus, ferry

Average daily cost: CAD$170/night (generally including tour, accommodations, all activities, all meals)

Travel dates: February 11-19, 2012

San Jose

We arrived in San Jose late in the afternoon, so we only had time to join the group introduction, have dinner with the group, and buy some snacks for the road at a local supermarket. We never got to see much of San Jose, except for the drive through it the next morning. It gives the overall impression of most South American cities I've seen though, and we never felt we were missing anything here. This was reinforced by our group mates who had spent a day or two in town before leaving on the tour.

White Water Rafting

We departed for Arenal early on the second day of the tour. Mike and I had signed up for the Adventure package which included a rafting tour. We were dropped off before reaching Arenal for the white water rafting. The coordination between our CEO (Chief Experience Officer aka G adventures guide) and the companies that provided the activities was like clockwork. We had just enough time to sunscreen up and sign a waiver before the boats were in the water and we were drifting downstream.

This rafting had some fun and challenging waves. Our boat accidentally got stuck in an eddy, well it started off intentional until we couldn't get out. Our guide had to get out of the boat and find land to try and pull us out of the tide. That was a thrilling 15 minutes for all of us, and our exercise requirement for the day. One of our teammates had purchased a waterproof action-camera for the trip. He pinned it on his lifejacket, and it fell off and was lost at the first hint of a tumble.

A photographer provided pictures of our group for purchase at the end of the trip. We purchased the group's photos and shared them amongst ourselves afterwards.

Arenal

We arrived in Arenal later in the afternoon. We checked in at the Hotel La Fortuna, which was beautiful and tropical, it felt all the more classy following our basic San Jose accommodations. The afternoon was spent roaming around town, enjoying the park, and then a group of us shared a taxi to the La Fortuna waterfall.

The trail to La Fortuna Waterfall

There's a short 15-20 minute hike from the park entrance to the waterfall, with a few viewpoints for the waterfall on the way. We brought swimsuits and the weather was perfect to hop in the water at the bottom. We sunbaked on the rocks for a bit, and were dry by the time we got back into the taxi. When we returned to the park entrance we had the ticketer call the taxi for us because there were none waiting.

La Fortuna Waterfall

We grabbed cocktails during the happy hour downstairs, then went to a restaurant as recommended by our guide. One thing I notice about the tours I've taken with G Adventures, is they tend to take the groups on outings to gringo restaurants. I'm not sure if part of this is for food safety and regulation reasons - they surely don't want to be responsible for participants getting sick - or if it's trying to give tourists what they think we want. I'm sure it's partly to provide good business for certain local restaurants, which of course charge the 'tourist rate' on their menus. I would prefer to be taken to places that feel more local.

Park in Arenal town centre

The next day we had lunch at the restaurant across the road from the hotel entrance. We spent about $3-4 each on Casado - rice with beans, plantain and fried meat. This was my favourite meal of the trip. And no one got sick from it either (or for the whole trip, for that matter).

Canyoneering

As part of our adventure pack, we had arranged to go canyoneering in Arenal. This was a lot of fun, scrambling our way down the streams and absailing down some small waterfalls. The last waterfall was a tall one, and we took more of a leap of faith and glided to the bottom of that one. You can't bring your own camera for this activity because it's guaranteed to get wet, but the tour provided a photographer that sold us the photos at the end of the tour.

Canyoneering

There was a hiccup at the end of the canyoneering tour, when it was unclear if transportation had been arranged for our group or not. We all just ended up walking back into town instead of waiting to see what would happen.

View on the drive to Canyoneering

I only wish we had the time to also climb the Arenal Volcano, the people that did the climb said it was challenging but worth the sight at the top.

Hot Springs

On the third night in La Fortuna our group visited the local hot springs. Dinner was included, towel service was at a minimal extra cost but we brought our own. The lower pool had a water slide and wet bar service. The upper pools were smaller and quieter, and they got warmer the higher you walked uphill. One of the hotter pools also had a cold dunking pool next to it, so you could slip between the two. If you're in La Fortuna, these hot springs were relaxing and clean.

Arenal Volcano as viewed from the Hotel La Fortuna

After three nights in La Fortuna, we spent the next day travelling to Monteverde.

Next: Monteverde

The Inca Trail Tips

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu must be one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. It definitely reached my "things to do before I die" list. Now, the only way to hike the Inca Trail is with a guided tour. There's a lot of options for tour leaders out there, I personally chose G Adventures for this trek because of previous good experiences with this provider. I'm telling this just because some of this information may be specific to this tour company.

I did the Inca Trail in early May 2013, and even after some fairly heavy research into what to expect and what to bring, I was still in for some surprises. So here is my synopsis of general need to know FAQs, some of which I wished had been clearer to me before I departed.

Ours was a 4 day trek, with 3 days of about 8 - 10 hours of hiking each day, and the final morning we completed the extra 90 minute walk to the Sungate. Some tour groups walked longer on certain days, some tour groups were more relaxed and took 5 days to complete the hike.

Activity level: Personally, I found it very demanding, mainly due to the altitude. Everyone in our group felt the altitude at 4200m at Dead Woman's Pass. I don't think this was related to fitness levels, this was not "feeling the burn" of worked out muscles, but an overall breathlessness when you can feel like you just aren't getting enough oxygen. I don't know of a way to train for that, though some people suggest some cardio training beforehand can help.

Packing: We were allowed 6kg that the porters will carry for you, in bags that G provides. This 6kg includes the sleeping bag you will be taking - the ones G provides you with is 2kg. If you choose to rent the extra air mattress, that is another 1 kg. Meaning you will have 3-4 kg of belongings that the porters will carry, depending on if you rent the extra mattress. You will have access to your duffel bags at the campsites only.

Sleeping bags: The bags offered to us were clean and warm enough for the cold nights - and I am one that tends to always feel cold. We arranged to rent sleeping bags during the initial tour introduction in Cusco.

Daypack: You'll need a rainjacket (+/- rainpants if you have them), a hat, sunscreen, insect repellant, hand sanitiser, toilet paper, camera, pain killers, and room to pack your sweater/warm hat/gloves - you'll be removing these as you warm up. I packed about 1.5 litres of water capacity and I never ran out of water (I drink large volumes usually). Asthmatics bring an inhaler because it can get very dusty.

Shoes: I wore waterproof ankle-supporting hiking boots and it was great for me. My partner wore leather blundstone boots and was very comfortable. Whatever works best for your feet, just be sure it's a shoe that your foot won't slide around in when on an incline/decline. Ankle support is worthwhile for the downhill parts. We brought second skin just in case, but never developed any blisters.

Walking sticks: I hated them for uphill, but my partner loved them. We both were so grateful to have walking sticks for the downhill descents though, it saved the knees and ankles a lot of trauma. We shared a pair of sticks between the two of us, mainly because I prefer not to carry the sticks when not using them on the uphill climbs. We could arrange to rent the walking sticks from the tour guide at the initial tour meeting in Cusco.

Water: Drinking water will be supplied to refill your packs at the lunch site and at the campsite. I found 1.5 litres of carrying capacity to be more than adequate for my needs. Drinks will be available for purchase on the first day of the hike, but no further food/drink can be purchased until you reach Machu Picchu.

Food: Now, I don't know if it was the exhaustion and outdoors influencing how satisfying each meal was, but our food was really fantastic. Breakfast usually offered tea, coffee and hot chocolate, with some porridge, eggs, toast and bread.  We were provided a packed morning snack - usually a fruit, nut bar or chocolate, and lots of lemon candies (that allegedly help with altitude). Lunch was usually another cooked meal, with juice and coca tea. We were offered afternoon tea when reaching the campsite - tea, biscuits, jams and popcorn. Dinner was often the smaller meal of the day, but it included soup, a main and dessert. You will be offered coca tea all the time. We certainly never felt hungry.

Toilets: For the most part, squat toilets are provided at campsites and lunch sites. Bring your own toilet paper. Some local families provide toilet sites with toilet paper on day 1 (at S/$1 per use), but there are still no seats and these were actually harder to use. I can't stress this enough - BRING TOILER PAPER in your daypack. Who knows when you'll need it, and you don't want to be stuck without it in a pinch.

Washing: We were provided with a bowl of warm water every morning and evening at camp with some soap, to wash our hands, face etc. Some wet wipes can definitely be handy for other times and before meals. Cold showers were available at the second and third campsites, I didn't have the heart to use them as they didn't feel particularly clean to me.

Weather: In May, the nights were comfortable with thermal underwear, a polartec sweater, and my gortex coat (I have a tendency towards being cold). The days were warm enough to wear shorts for hiking, but I wore long sleeves and nylon hiking pants very comfortably to protect from the sun.

Insects: In May, there were a few times where we walked through jungly areas and I saw some mosquitos and I did get bitten there. At camp, I saw some friggin massive mozzies! That being said, they didn't appear interested in biting us - but I was also covered by an impenetrable Gortex cocoon at the times they were around.

Medications: I did choose to take the acetazolamide for altitude sickness, starting two days before leaving to Peru. I feel that it helped and I would take it again, but I know it's not for everybody. I brought antibiotics in case of travellers diarrhoea but I never needed it.

Camera: I took my SLR along with 2 extra lenses and a gorillapod, all packed in my backpack. My camera was hanging from my neck majority of the hike - there's just so much to photograph along the way, and the whole point of the Inca Trail is the journey (which in my humble opinion was more spectacular than Machu Picchu itself). The tripod wasn't necessary - we were never given enough time at any one place to justify setting it up or taking it out of the daypack, until Machu Picchu. I rarely changed camera lenses, and found my telezoom was a bit neglected except to take some photos of the llamas. You'll see lots of llamas :)

Machu Picchu: Now here's where things appear to have changed recently. Tour groups used to get started at 4:30 on the final day, to reach the sungate for sunrise. Anyone you talk to that's done the Inca Trail before, will describe to you the spectacular sunrise from the sungate. You can no longer do this. There is a control gate that lets campers continue their hike at 5:30 am (in May) to the sun gate, and therefore we arrived after sunrise. All campers, all tour groups, all tour providers, were in the exact same position. Don't expect to see the sunrise from the sungate any more, it seems this is a thing of the past. (As you can tell this was a massive disappointment for me - I lugged my tripod all that way just to take a nice sunrise pic). Folks on the Lares trek said they saw the sunrise at Machu Picchu, but not from the sungate.

Value: Priceless. Absolutely the adventure of a lifetime.