Now We Have Time To Travel

This morning was a free morning but there were several optional excursions available.  They included a hike to the volcano, river rafting or the one Joan, Butch and I signed up for.  It was a tour through Arenal Natura Ecological Park with a great guide named Roy.  We toured a butterfly garden, a crocodile lagoon, snake garden, frog garden, orchid garden, also saw turtles and two caimans, Sophie and Marvin.  Before we even entered the park, Roy pointed out a sloth in the tree out front.  It was a large male two toed dude, but he wasn't moving around much and it was hard to get a good look at him.  Also in the front of the park, there was an abandoned hummingbird nest with two eggs.  Roy guessed there was too much traffic in that area and people drove the mom away.  Kind of sad. Hummingbird nest and eggs The park was beautiful inside.  We especially enjoyed the butterfly garden, where Butch acquired a hitchhiker that stayed with him almost the entire time we were in that area.

Today we walked across the suspension bridge to leave Sueño Azul resort.  It was such a nice place, I hated to leave, but then again, I felt that way about all the places we've been.        Joan heading across the bridge We headed south to Sarapiqui Heredia, Costa Rica to the Hacienda Pozo Azul.  We were welcomed by Don Alberto Quintana, the owner.  Don Quintana gave us a presentation on some interesting Costa Rican history and also on Pozo Azul.  Back in the 1960's only about 25% of Costa Rica was forested.  The government realized the bad path the country was on and started paying people not to cut down trees for farming.  They would find out how much the person applying to clear land expected to make off that land and they would pay them that amount to keep the forest intact and encouraged steps to restore the trees.  Now >55% of the country is forested and additional conservation efforts are ongoing.  25% of the country is protected as a national park or rese

This morning the rainforest sounds awakened us about 0530.  Butch got up and showered and went for a walk down by the ocean.  I laid in bed, savoring the peacefulness I felt as I listened (with my one good ear!) to the wonderful oropendola and other birds.  Suddenly, that peace and quiet was interrupted by what I thought was a big barking dog.  I couldn't imagine first why someone would bring a dog to this quiet paradise and secondly why they weren't shutting it up.  The din finally drove me out of bed and into the shower.  Butch came hurrying into the room and asked me if I heard it -- like I could miss it!  He said there were howler monkeys in the trees right behind our rooms and they were making the noise.  I threw on some shoes and went out to see and hear them, so exciting.  I read later that they don't seem to mind people but if they do get annoyed with you, they might defecate on you from up in the tree --- and they have amazing accuracy.  Good to remember for our ne

Today was all about Tortuguero National Park and the Tortuguero village. After breakfast, the entire group boarded 3 open air boats and glided through some of the canals and waterways of the protected wetlands around Tortuguero.  Each boat had a local driver and guide -- our guide was Donnie and he was great! The first thing we saw was a small pod of Bottlenose dolphins.  Even though they are salt water mammals, they come into the lagoon in the early morning to feed.  They were heading back out to the Caribbean. We followed them to the place where the two waters meet but our flat-bottomed boats couldn’t go into the ocean, so we turned around and headed into the Tortuguero waterways.  I wasn't able to get a great picture of them because you never knew when or where they were going to surface, but there appeared to be about 4 of them swimming together.  Bottlenose Dolphins We had to stop to register and get tickets at the park entrance.  The area is protected and they

The adventure begins!  We met our awesome bus driver, Julio, this morning and boarded our sturdy luxury coach. Joan and Julio MB and our coach Because we are traveling part of today and the next several days on boats with weight restrictions and limited storage capacity, we could only take carry-on items that were less than 25 lbs. The bigger luggage was going to catch up with us once we were back to traveling on land. Today is Easter and also happens to be the Costa Rican Presidential Election.  It is a run off from an election in February in which there wasn't a clear winner, so the two top candidates were in this run off, which is always held on the 1st Sunday of April.  It turns out that the current party's candidate won the election. We drove by the active Irazú Volcano, which is the highest volcano in the country.  There are 6 active volcanoes in Costa Rica and they result in very rich, fertile soil.  The Irazú Volcano erupted in 1963 two days befo

The day has finally arrived!  We are leaving on our Costa Rican Eco Adventure, which we've been planning since January through Grand European Travel.  Joan arrived in Tucson on 28 March and we spent a few days getting ready and had a  fine send off Mexican dinner with Bob and Maria. Bob also left today on a cross country bicycle trip following Route 66 from LA to Chicago.  Bob is blogging as he rides Route 66.  Here is a link to his blog: Bob on a Bike We got up at 0245 and left for the airport around 0400 as our flight was at 0640.  Finley was very sad when we were leaving but I know he will be in the good hands of our house sitter, Kris, as will Rocky and Chiku.  Everything went smoothly at the airport and the flight left on time at 0640, which was good since we only had 45 minutes in Houston.   We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at about 2:30 pm - one hour later than Arizona time and the same as Montana time.  We were met at our gate by a Trafalgar agent and we and another