Costa Rica, an Escorted Tour

Day 1 [7/10/05]

Continental airline did a great job. Two on time arrivals. Caravan's reps were there to meet us. Nice 44 passenger coach. Ricardo Bolanos is to be our tour guide. He gave us a surprise, our 2 day stay here at the "Barcelo Palacio San Jose" is All Inclusive.

We have a very large king room. Nice spacious patio outside. Pool, spa, workout room etc. The restaurant is buffet style. We fat guys really like the desert bar.

Day 2 [7/11/05]

Breakfast at 7:15. Depart for the Poas Volcano. Hiked to the rim & followed the trail through the jungle. [ My cardiologist would be pleased with me].

Lunch @1:30. 2:15 off to the National Museum . It is closed on Monday's, but they opened it for our tour. It depicts the highlights of most of Costa Rica's history. They also have a nice butterfly garden there called The Secret Garden. It was raining here this afternoon, so we didn't see as many as we would have liked. Then it was back to the Barcelo for dinner.

Day 3 [7/12/05]

Bags outside room door @ 6am. Depart @ 7am after breakfast. Today we go to Tortuga National Park.

First stop The Rain Forest Tram. We needed to depart the hotel early to avoid the lines from the cruise ships docking in Limon. Very good tour. 1 hour areal cable car ride followed by 45 minute nature hike. Captured a Poison Dart Frog and several Toucans on digital. Left there and drove to the Caribbean coast. The mountains give way to the plain with no foothills.

We caught our boat and had a 1-1/2 hour ride to Laguna Resort. The pilot stopped the boat so we could watch a couple of Spider Monkeys playing in the trees.

Supper, was buffet, very good. These 2 nights we cannot have all our baggage due to weight limits on the boats. However it isn't hard to put what yo need into the 25 lb. Limit. The grounds are beautiful and every one lives outside. There were screens on the windows of our room, but the dinning room & bar were all open. No AC, but none was needed as they have installed unique ceiling fans that are entirely adequate for sleeping.

Day 4 [7/13/05]

All meals good, as usual. AM boat trip to Tortugeria village. Kellie wouldn't like teaching in their school. PM boat trip to the southern part of the park. Abundant wildlife here. A birdwatchers paradise. Our tour guide said he likes to get up early [4 am – UGH] so he offered to take as many as wanted to get out to the beach at 4:45am on a Green Sea Turtle walk. We went. All the turtles were off the beach, but there were quite a few in the surf near the beach. We also found a new nest that a raccoon had torn up shortly after the turtle laid her eggs. Several were still viable, so Ricardo reburied them. They will hatch in about 3 weeks now. Then the little turtles will scamper to the ocean to face whatever predators happen to be waiting for them. Ricardo also mentioned that on this same tour a year or so ago he had one avid birdwatcher who tallied 103 species of birds that he had seen. Of those 63 were new to him. However a specialized birding tour can be set up as there are other parts of the country that he knows about where other species can be found as well. Needs 18 to 36 avid birdwatchers to establish a tour just for birders.

Day 5 [7/14/05]

Our 43rd Anniversary, 1-1\2 hour boat ride back to the bus then on to Fortuna. Stopped at the suspension footbridge in route. Got good pix of 2 more Poison Dart Frogs. We also had to make a stop at the town where Ricardo's Mom was born. We got to photograph some of his “relatives” Actually they were large Iguanas. His Mom was really born there, but had nothing to do with the Iguanas, they are “kept” by a local restaurateur. Needless to say we did not have lunch there even tho we were assured that these particular lizards are perfectly edible. They taste like stringy chicken we were told. We checked in at the Cabinitas Resort. Small cabins here. Very cozy with a king bed and all rooms at all the resorts we stayed at had private bath.

Had a surprise anniversary cake for us at supper, so we had the kitchen crew divide it so everyone could have some.

Day 6 [7/15/05]

Today we went to the Cano Negro wild life refuge on the Rio Frio river. Many varieties of life. We also saw the only blonde howler monkey in the world!. After lunch we watched as a group of local school children performed for us. Later we went to the hot springs and it rained pitchforks and hammer handles. Wow, how relaxing that was the rain was warm so it didn't matter [except the towels got wet].

Day 7 [7/16/05]

This AM we are on our way to Jaco on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Stopped at the Cloud Forest. Hiked for about 1.5 hr. Only moderate huffing & puffing [another HOO-HA from my cardiologist]. Lunch at Los Angeles where we were immediately accosted by an expat who wanted to sell us a lot to build a house on for our retirement. Made our way to Jaco and our hotel. The Amapolis. This is a nice hotel with comfortable rooms. Ours was 2 doubles. A short walk brings us to the beach. I was able to get a stunning [at least I think so] sunset shot. They even have timeshare units there and are affiliated with Interval International.

Day 8 [7/17/05]

Early rise today and we are off to the playa [beach] @ Manuel Antonio National park. Very nice beach, warm ocean water, with clean beaches inside the park. Joyce and I both got a great sunburn there in spite of using sun blocker. It seems that the sun is much stronger at 4 degrees north longitude. Free time this afternoon. Light drizzle set in so no chance tor another sunset picture.

Day 9 [7/18/05]

This am we set off on the final leg of this very impressive tour. As we make our way back to San Jose there is a stop at lunch time that allows the ladies to do a bit of souvenir shooooping!

Then we head for the Cafe Britt coffee plantation. This is a tour not to be missed even if you are only in San Jose for a brief time. The folks who run the tour there are Mo, Larry and Curly, except it would have to be Larry, Moetta and Curly. Funnier than a rubber crutch, all the while being very informative as to what makes a really good cup of coffee.

We end the trip back at the Barcelo Palacio in San Jose with a banquet in the fancy restaurant at the hotel.

Day 10 [7/19/05]

Off to the airport for to more good flights on Continental. And we are back in Michigan.

I was able to hear absolutely no complaints about the trip from any of the 42 people on this tour. Not only is the tour itself impressive, but the tour guide and bus driver were both great. Anyone in moderately flabby condition or better will have a great time on this Caravan tour. It has to be their "flagship" tour.