We did a thing.
Monteverde, Costa Rica
We went to Costa Rica during one of the busiest travel weeks in Latin America, if not THE busiest travel week. Despite tons of potential plans when we first moved to Bogota, the pandemic has limited our Latin American travel to Colombia until now.
Chocolate
Costa Rica was worth the wait. The scenery was beautiful, we saw just about every animal we could have wished for, and the kids were troopers with a high adventure and low relaxation trip!
Rescue toucan.
We started by flying into San Jose, which might be the easiest international airport experience of my life. We met a driver and headed to the La Paz Waterfall, where we hiked and met various animals who can’t be released into the wild (they were pets), as well as butterflies and hummingbirds.
Caroline and the mariposa she carried around for at least thirty minutes.
Ellie used fruit to coax this butterfly onto her hand.
Waterfall
The following day, we headed to Monteverde for two days of zipline fun and cloud forests. I saw a coati (missed the pic) and we enjoyed a short hike as well.
Cloud forests are pretty.
Unfurling fern.
Hanging bridges in Monteverde.
Just a walk at our hotel.
After Monteverde, we took a boat transfer to La Fortuna, near the Arenal Volcano. This experience was awesome but also hilarious. As Americans temporarily living in Colombia, we recently went on a vacation that involved taking a boat to our ecolodge. The bus driving down a dirt road to literally, a dirt boat launch didn’t bother us, but we noticed that many stressed out gringos were in our midst. (And one Colombian dude we chatted up for a long time!). The boat ride was peaceful and beautiful, and then we arrived in La Fortuna!
The volcano.
Caroline birdwatching.
La Fortuna is a tiny town with a hippie, backpacker vibe. We spent mornings in the pool and went on a river raft float, a night hike, a coffee tour, and a visit to the termales, or hot springs. I didn’t bring the big camera on the raft, on the night hike, or to the termales, so just trust me, they were awesome.
The coffee and chocolate tour featured some pleasant surprises. While the coffee part was fine, the chocolate part was great for the kids and super hands on. We also saw a sloth, some cool lizards, and poison dart frogs while on the tour, the kids ate bananas off a tree, we learned how pineapple grows, and we experienced both the chocolate and coffee making processes.
Cool looking lizard.
Baby coffee plant.
Look for the tiny green frog who can kill you!
Making chocolate.
Holding chocolate.
Costa Rica was amazing. Prices in the country were higher than I realized, and it probably makes other people happy that you can use dollars. (We had to visit the ATM for dollars, as our wallets hold Colombian pesos!)
Costa Ricans also get props for their constant praise of my crappy Spanish! Everyone spoke English, and you really can get by without any Spanish at all there. All of our guides and drivers used English readily, and we had to ask them to switch to Spanish at times!
