The adventures just get better and better!

It seems like a long time since I have written, and indeed it has been almost a week.

We left Puerto Viejo to head up to Tortuguero. Our transportation included a minivan to Limon for breakfast and quick shopping for long socks that we would need in our rubber boots! Yep, more on that later. Then we jumped into an open air type passenger boat that transported us up the coast in a canal which runs parallel to the Caribbean Sea. Tortuguero is accessible only by boat. This is where many different species of turtles come, a little later in the spring, to lay their eggs.
Our boat ride was about 4 hours along a river system. It really reminded me of the Otonabee (river that the cottage is on), tree lined, no signs of humans (except in passing boats), and wildlife galore. The waters are murky, and I can tell you that we were thankful for that. This waterway is absolutely filled with crocs! Yep, croc sightings everywhere. That was very cool, I have never seen a croc in its natural environment, we even saw two of them jump up a bit out of the water to catch something or maybe they were just showing off for us.
We saw many species of birds. In fact, this would be excellent birding territory since many of the birds are coming down to the water's edge to feed, or to nest. There was also a large number of monkeys, who would shake the branches that they were standing on in an attempt to look big and scary, pretty funny considering they probably weigh about 20 pounds. Howler monkeys and Kapuchin monkeys were the more common sightings. We also saw iguanos, including the Jesus Iguana which can walk on water, otters, turtles, and lots of two and three toed sloths. This ride was very enjoyable and a lovely means of transportation.

We stayed in Tortuguero only for one night. It was really a stop over for our more interesting stop- Rara Avis! We left Tortuguero early in the morning, by boat. A 2 hour ride, which included entering Nicaragua. Paid the nice border man the $9U.S., used the outhouse, got a stamp in our passports and away we went!
After the boat ride, we headed by minivan to the office of Rara Avis, Rara Avis is a lodge/biological station in the northwestern inland region of Costa Rica. To get to the lodge, we had to travel 15 km from the office. This took 4 hours! Yes, I am serious. The road was filled with huge potholes, stones, bolders and small pond like flooded regions. First we rode for about 1 hour in an army vehicle, then we were transferred to a tractor for 1.5 hours, we then hiked through the forest for 1.5h, finally reaching our lodge where dinner was waiting- Ahh! The Rara Avis was set up as a for profit research station and a way to preserve some of the rain forest. It is working, they have managed to convince the Costa Rican government of the importance of the rain forest and have not been de-foresting the area since its inception.
Rara Avis is right smack in the middle of a rain forest. It is so very dense with plants that when you look through the forest, you can see vines (many different types) hanging in front of your view, many epiphytes hanging onto branches and tree trunks of moss lined trees. It is the greenest sight that you can imagine. As you are walking, if you close your eyes and just listen you can hear frogs calling, cicadas singing, birds calling and often a waterfall cascading over the rocks in the distance. It is almost a religious experience - simply beautiful. Sometimes during our hiking I would just grin to myself and sigh a great big sigh of satisfaction.
During one of our hikes, we went to a the bottom of a waterfall swimming. We all loved it. Our hike had been about 2 hours through the very humid, muky rain forest, when we hit an open area the sun would be shining down on us as if to try and dry off our moist, sweat-laden bodies. But it was far to humid for the sweat to be evaporated. Imagine how absolutely wonderful it felt to dive off a boulder sitting 7 feet above the surface of the water into a pool of cool, fresh spring/river water. We were all elated to new levels - if that is even possible on such a great adventure.
We stayed for two nights at Rara Avis.
Our trek out was as it was heading in, but a few of us decided that we should just walk down the road and avoid the motion sickness that came along with the tractor ride. After walking about 1.5 hours through the forest, we then came to the road where some people waited for the tractor to reach them. But not the Canadians! Yep, team Canadian was like the native trooping through the muk, ruts, jumping over boulders heading to the town. Team Canada is Tania, now living in Mississauga, Elaine and Martin from just west of Montreal, and me. During our hike down from Rara Avis we passed a cow on the road. The poor girl looked pregnant (although who can say really?) and was laying in the full sun quite obviously not in good shape. We gave her some of our valuable water, which she lapped up and seemed like she was so greatful she almost smiled. We walked along farther to find some farmers. So here we are, none of us can speak spanish, in the country side where the population is probably 20, trying to explain to this farmer that there was a cow laying on the road. Elaine is trying to motion pregnancy and the following birth of the calf, I am laying on the ground panting, and Tania is trying to figure out the spanish word for cow. It was quite funny, but we thought that we were quite clear - until the fellow, in very quick spanish says something about a car and Limon (a city about 200 km away). What the heck? Doesn't he understand body language and Spenglish? We found out later that the farmer did actually understand - the others who were on the tractor, saw a farmer heading towards the cow armed with a syringe in hand. Yes, victory for the Canadians!

Now we are in La Fortuna, leaving tomorrow morning. La Fortuna has become a bustling town known for the active volcano Arenal, an abundance of hot springs, and many adventure tours. The first day, we took a hike up the side of the Arenal to view the lava flowing out of the volcano. You would be very lucky to see any lava, but not us. However, we did hear the very loud rumbling of the volcano. It sounded almost like thunder but was very deep sounding and localized to the volcano. That was worth the visit.
We then headed to Baldi Hot Springs. This was a wonderful treat after all of our hiking and roughing it during our travels to and from Rara Avis. There were 20 pools of varying temperatures. We tried as many as we could, what a completely luxious thing to do.
Enough resting for the Canadians, the next day we rented bicycles and went for a gruelling, and I mean gruelling ride outside of town. There was NO relief from the sun, and it was a very hot out. After riding for 2.5 hours, we found out jackpot - a swimming hole. We all changed at the side of the river and jumped in - boy did that feel great. The ride was worth the stunning views of Arenal and its surrounding country side.
That was not quite enough action for Tania and I - nope, need more adrenaline please! So we went Canyoneering/Rapelling. We were rapelling down Canyons that had a waterfall, or just rocks. It was so exhilerating! Imagine standing 60m above a waterfall and being told that you are going to jump off the platform and head on down. It was so exciting, I was laughing, screaming and grinning ear to ear all the way down each and every canyon. We all thought that we would make great Tarzans for an action film!
That brings me to today. We had a quiet relaxing day filled with strolling in the town, reading and having lunches that were overfilled with calories. It was a much needed rest after all the activities of the past days. Besides tomorrow we are heading to Mondeverde where the Canadians will be Ziplining throught the canopy of a cloud forest!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!