Costa Rica

July 9-18, 2012

Penelope and Sophia Bowen

This was the year for taking Sophia on a trip and she chose Costa Rica right at the beginning. I decided to take each grandchild on a trip when they were around 12. I had heard about the Road Scholar intergenerational trips and thought that sounded like a great idea and it was. We left from Colorado Springs on July 9 and arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica around 3 in the afternoon. Same time zone so no jet lag, which was nice. We were picked up by a driver along with two other grandparents and their granddaughter, McKenzie. It was nice to meet someone right away and it turned out that McKenzie and Sophia clicked and were good friends throughout the trip. Our hotel was near the airport but not in the best neighborhood of San Jose. But it was gated with a strong fence around it and we had a very large area to enjoy. Our room was actually an apartment with a front room, two bedrooms and a kitchen. Since we didn't cook we hung our laundry in the kitchen - it took two days to dry. After getting settled in we went to the pool looking forward to a good swim - but it was cold. Lots of the pools were not heated and the air temperature wasn't enough to warm up the water. There were a few other family groups there (the rest arrived very late). The girls quickly got to know each other and soon found there was a hot tub to which we all moved. There, with a raucous game of Marco Polo, the girls got to know each other by name. They did much better with names than the adults did. After a good dinner in the dining area Sophia and I were glad to go to bed for a good night's sleep. (Casa Conde Apartotel & Suites)

San Jose, July 10. This morning we all met after breakfast in a meeting room where we met the other participants. There were 17 grandparents and 13 grand children (12 girls and 1 boy). The children were all between the ages of 9 and 12. We met our leaders and learned a bit about them and the trip. We had another teacher come in to teach us a bit of Spanish - especially as spoken in Costa Rica. I was pleased that we all received water bottles to reuse instead of being given throw away bottles of water each day. Also these bottles will decompose in about 3 years which is a great idea (except mine started decomposing by the end of the trip!) Most of the water in the places we stayed was safe to drink from the tap which was great. After this we went to the National Institute for Biodiversity which is a park with representatives of the different habitats of Costa Rica along with some of the wildlife. It was a general introduction to the conservation and biodiversity that we will be seeing. While we had lunch there we were introduced to the type of rain we will be seeing, the sudden, heavy, street flooding, clothes soaking rain. We all were delighted, especially the kids who were all taking pictures. Fortunately, although our dinning area was open, it had a good roof with just the sides open. It was fun. After this we went to the Children's Museum in San Jose. It was all right but nothing to write about, some of us thought that could have been skipped. Back at the hotel the kids wanted some time in the pool and then we cleaned up for dinner which was very good. The two vegetarians were given special plates which were very good; I even ate some of Sophia's because she couldn't eat all of her's. There were several adults who just couldn't understand vegetarians but they got used to it after a while because the girls were very casual about it. The other girl who was a vegetarian was from San Francisco; maybe it is a west coast "thing". Anyway after dinner a movie was shown and popcorn served but not all of us stayed for the whole movie, we were too tired.

Tortuguero, July 11 & 12 We left early this morning with just a snack for breakfast. We were headed for the Caribbean Coast. The road has only been in existence for about 15 years. I know when I was here in 1996 it was partly a dirt road and at that time was blocked by an avalanche from heavy rains. Along the way we stopped for breakfast at a rather productive spot. In addition to a good breakfast we saw both kinds of sloth and some frogs - the blue jeans type. Also this place had a glass blower on site and Sophia found a lovely souvenir to bring to her Mother. Then we walked around the area and saw a huge kapok tree plus other frogs, the sloths, birds, and flowers. It was a good break on our long drive to the coast. We had quite a bit of rain along the way so when we arrived at La Pavona it was pretty muddy. We waited here for a while at a bar with a solid roof while our luggage was loaded onto our boat. Then we climbed aboard for our three hour motorized boat ride on the Rio Tortuguero to our lodge. Our boat had a roof so we did not get sun burned or wet when it rained. We did have open sides so we had good views along the way. We saw lots of wildlife along the way, many birds, some bats, and wonderful scenes. Since the only way to Tortuguero is by boat (or flight) we saw many water taxis along the way. Eventually we arrived at the town of Tortuguero, along the banks of the river but far enough back to not fall into the river from erosions. Our lodge Pachira Lodge was across the river from the town. We were very delighted with our accommodations - out in the middle of the jungle. We could not drink the water but they had several places with bottled water available so we kept our water bottles filled. Our room had a ceiling fan which helped a lot in cooling us off. There are only screens on the "windows" so we had plenty of fresh air. Each building cluster had four rooms each with two beds and a bathroom. We had plenty of washing water in the room and had warm water. We could not put the toilet paper in the toilet so we had to remember that. Most of the buildings were connected by a deck with a roof so we could walk to meals with only a short dash in the rain. After a buffet lunch we boarded another boat to visit the Sea Turtle Conservancy, billed as the longest ongoing sea turtle conservation project in the world. It was started in the 1950s and 60s when American Biologist Archie Carr started his studies in the area. We saw a short film about the turtles and then walked along the beach where the Green Sea Turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. Of course all the kids played in the ocean and got wet feet (a few adults too). Then we visited a man who has lived here all his life and he explained a bit how the area has changed with the conservation efforts that are supported by tourism. He showed us how to make coconut candy. Then we spent some time walking the few streets of Tortuguero Village and we bought a few souvenirs. Even bought some post cards which we didn't have time to write - let alone mail them. I think we got back in time for the kids to play in the pool. Every place we stayed had a pool and the kids always wanted to go swimming - they never needed to rest. I finally realized that I could combine pool duty with my pre dinner drink and relaxation time so Sophia got to swim almost every day on the trip.

The next day was definitely monkey day. First we were awaked early in the morning by the Howler Monkeys. Then we went on boat rides both in the morning and in the afternoon. Tortuguero National Park has many miles of rivers and canals to boat through. We were entertained for a long time by a large troop of Spider Monkeys running through the trees - swinging from branch to branch, throwing things down, babies on the back and so forth. We also saw the green basilisk - lots of them and some walking on the water. They are so funny. We had plenty of turtles and iguanas, caiman and lots of birds. I even ended up with 5 new species on my world list and 15 new Costa Rica species. (I had been in Costa Rica on a birding trip in 1996.) In the afternoon we also saw the White-faced Monkey (capuchin), River Otter, and another 2 toed sloth. We got back in time for a swim and dinner and then at 8:00 we went across the river to visit the Green Turtles coming in for the night. It was a hard trip because it was totally dark and some of us grandparents couldn't see a thing as we shuffled along. But we were fortunate in that we did see two wonderfully large Green Turtles. One had already laid her eggs and was covering them up. It is amazing how hard she has to work to get sand over them all. Then we saw a second one in the process of digging a hole. The hole is so large and she only gets a small amount out at a time. It is so much work and then this turtle found roots in her hole so she gave up and went back to the ocean. You just had to feel sorry for her. But it is an awesome experience to be standing out there in the dark - almost one with nature - watching one of the great marvels of the natural world. Tortuguero is the most important Green Seat Turtle hatchery in the western Caribbean. I'd love to come back someday and see the turtles hatch.

July 13 Departure morning - almost sad to leave this place and for our farewell we had a Rain Forest rain during breakfast. I had heard the rain during the night and tried to wake up Sophia but she was fast asleep but she got the full enjoyment of this rain. First we had to borrow umbrellas from reception in order to get to our rooms to pack up our stuff to leave. She just fell in love and said she was moving to Tortuguero when she was 18. If we had stood out from under the umbrella in 2 minutes we would have been soaking wet. I remember when I first encountered this kind of rain and that was when I fell in love with the rain forest. It was in Venezuela around 1993. It was special to share that same feeling again with my granddaughter. We loaded up our boat and headed back to the loading dock and the road at La Pavona. Our trip took about 90 minutes because we didn't stop to do as much bird watching as we did on our way in.

Arenal July 13-14 After our luggage was loaded on our bus we climbed aboard for our drive towards Arenal Volcano. Most of the kids listened to their iPods and/or slept on the way. Our long bus rides were hard for them (for adults too) but they were good sports. Also most of our trips were broken up with meals and hikes. We stopped for lunch along the way and after lunch took a walk in the forest where we saw several of the tiny poison frogs, particularly the Strawberry Poison-dart Frog and the Green and Black poison-dart Frog. Also saw an armadillo on our walk. Then we arrived at our hotel Arenal Paraiso, another lovely place. We are just a short distance from the Volcano on a very large complex. We each have a separate cabin with an enclosed porch with rocking chairs. We had a perfect view of Arenal Volcano and fortunately one morning I was up early enough to take a perfect photo of it with no cloud cover. The next morning it was completely covered and didn't even look like there was a mountain in front of this. The kids were delighted that we were there early enough to take full use of the pools. One large pool was fed by a series of hot springs coming down the mountain. The highest one is the hottest and so on down. So we climbed to the top and worked our way down. The kids were so excited we grandparents had trouble keeping up with the supervision of them. Eventually they ended up in the regular pool where they could play their games and right next to that was a pool bar, I could swim over and sit at the bar and drink a beet and watch the kids - Great. Dinner as usual was a buffet in a restaurant. Most of our meals were buffet. There were always beans and rice. Some kinds of meats, sometimes fish, cooked vegetables and always a green salad and bread. Fortunately we were able to eat the salad so that was good as I like a salad every night and it gave Sophia something to choose when she began to get tired of beans and rice three times a day every day.

July 14 There was some discussion about horse back riding at this stop. Pauline and John were interested and when Sophia heard about this she really wanted to go. So I asked Pauline how she would feel taking Sophia too as I have not ridden a horse since I was a teen-ager and this was not the time to try again. She said she would be happy to let Sophia go with them - by then she knew that Sophia was responsible and she and McKenzie were good friends. So we started looking into making arrangements. At first the answer was no because the time interfered with the groups plans in the morning. But in the meantime two more girls wanted to go so Natalie decided she would go to. Finally the horse people realized that they could take no one at the time they wanted to go or 7 people at a time that fit our schedule so the kids were delighted. But first we had our morning activity - a hike on the Arenal Hanging Bridges. There are 16 bridges covering about 2 miles that take you up into the canopy of the forest. Since only 15 people are allowed on each bridge we divided into two groups and proceeded on a delightful 2-3 hour hike. We saw so many birds and amazing flora - it was wonderful. On the way back to our hotel we stopped for views of the volcano but we still made it back in time for lunch, a quick change of clothes and the horse back riders were off. I spent the time catching up on a few things and barely had time to take a shower before Sophia can back - higher than a kite. She just couldn't stop taking about what a great ride it was. They rode to the base of the Volcano and up a bit and she said at one point she just couldn't believe where she was. The scenery was beautiful and they all agreed that if it had been better advertized more people would have gone on this ride. She even said it was worth missing swimming in the hot pools so that really speaks to the ride. She had time for a shower and then we went to dinner, Sophia still floating along with the excitement of the ride. I'm so glad she got to go. Our dinner was in the town of Fortuna, near our hotel. We drove into town and were given an hour or so to wander around town before dinner. Our guide, Edwin warned us about crossing streets, it was different in Costa Rica from America. But I said no worries; I grew up in San Francisco and had no problem crossing a street. Sure enough when a truck waited for us to cross and Sophia wasn't sure, he blinked his lights for us to cross. I just laughed. Anyway we walked around town, we went in a few shops and looked at souvenirs. I'm not sure if we bought anything here or not. I do remember we decided some things were too expensive and sure enough the next day we found better prices. It was Saturday night and there was a big truck parade - the cabs that haul big containers so it was very noisy. I tried to explain to Sophia why the men got so much excitement from making all that noise but she has grown up in a different culture and time so it really didn't make sense to her - or to any of the kids. We walked through the town square and by that time she had relaxed a bit ad enjoyed the feeling of being in another culture. It is so different from our own. We had a good dinner at the restaurant, a fish dinner and then went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

Punta Leona July 15-16 We left early this morning headed for the Pacific Coast. First we stopped along the way for a rest/snack break. The place we stopped at had the most complete supply of souvenirs of all the places we had stopped, best prices too. Sophia and I were glad to finish up our shopping, she is a very quick and efficient shopper, knew what she wanted and got it when she found it. In travel you buy what you want when you see it as you may not see it again. The place also had a nice butterfly garden which every one enjoyed. Getting up close to the Blue Morphos never got old. Then we stopped at a nice place for lunch - served outdoors under a sheltering roof, near the river. I can't remember if it was there or someplace else along the Tarcoles River we went on a crocodile safari. These crocodiles are huge - some 20 feet long. They came too close to the boat for me, one even diving under the boat. In addition we also saw some lovely birds. After this we headed for our hotel. On the way I recognized the area where I had stayed when I last visited Costa Rica, it was along the Tarcoles River. Again we had a lovely room at Hotel Punta Leona. We all stayed in the same area - there were four separate rooms in a cluster around a courtyard. Each room had two beds and a bathroom and was quite comfortable. We did have air-conditioning which was nice - mostly to help dry out our clothes. We had a nice little swimming pool next to our room which the kids enjoyed. Our meals in the dinning area were again buffet style and the area had a roof but was open to the wildlife on the sides.

July 16 - today was a very busy day. In the morning we went to the Vista Los Suenos Canopy Tour - a rather elaborate name for zip lining. I had my doubts about doing it but my doctor said it would be all right so I did. Most of the grandparents went and all of the grandchildren were delighted they did. I figured I earned a lot of extra Gramma points by going. It was all right - I wasn't afraid but I can't say I enjoyed it as much as Sophia did. She was ready to go again. But I am glad I went. After lunch we went on another adventure - Outriggers and kayaks on the Pacific Ocean with Jaco Outriggers. Sophia was allowed to go in a kayak with another girls, Page and the two of them went on their own the whole distance to the beach. There were four 2 person kayaks and four 7-person outriggers. I was afraid to do the paddling because of twisting my back so I didn't. We spent the afternoon on the beach, the kids playing soccer and going snorkeling. I don't know why the adults didn't get to go snorkeling but we didn't - we just cooled off and swam in the ocean. Then back to our hotel for major clean up and dinner.

July 17 We had all morning free so Sophia and I decided to walk the 10 minutes or so the beach and we spent a lovely time there walking along a beautiful beach and swimming in the water. A couple of other families came so the kids enjoyed playing together with the more energetic adults. After a while we moved to the beautiful hotel swimming pool - a much larger one than the one by our rooms. I walked around the area but made the mistake of leaving my pack on the chair. A raccoon discovered it and managed to get inside and grab my bag of almonds before someone rescued my pack. He didn't go far to eat them and didn't even blink when I tried to shoo him away. When he was done I went and picked up the plastic bag and he eyed me the whole time. He knew there was another bag with trail mix, and one with apricots so I had to carry my pack around with me. I left the area for a while and he eventually left. I missed those almonds but at least he had a healthy snack. After a good swim and lunch we packed up and left for San Jose - another sad good-bye to a lovely place. I could go back to Costa Rica and repeat every place we stayed but double the days, do just one activity each day and then spend time enjoying the location of the hotel.

San Jose July 17 - We were pretty tired by the time we arrived at our hotel in San Jose, another nice hotel chosen because it is close to the airport: Hotel Herradura. After checking in we had to - of course - go check out the swimming pools. They had three but none of them were heated. We went in one for a while and it felt good to do a few laps and then the kids decided the other one was warmer so we moved. But it wasn't long before they decided the hot tub was the place of choice. I'm sure the two men sitting in the corner drinking and smoking look in horror as a group of energetic kids dash for the tub. They didn't last long - it wasn't the first time our group took over the hot tub!

We had our farewell dinner tonight in a private area with lots of photos, speeches, and food. We all told what was our favorite part of the trip and many of the kids mentioned the zip line and seeing their grandparents doing it too. I can't remember what Sophia and I said but all in all the best part for me was sharing with my grand daughter all that I love about traveling especially in the type of habitats we were in. I love all kinds of travel but being out in nature is absolutely my favorite kind of travel - that feels like where I "belong". Sophia was a good traveler and adjusted very well to all the inconveniences travel demands. She never complained and was a great roommate and also helper. I hope we travel together again in the future.

Epilogue On the day after we arrived home (in Colorado Springs) we gave out the souvenirs that we brought back. Tee shirt, money, and hot chocolate for Vincent plus a key chain for him and his friend Jet. Coffee, Pure Vida sticker and coffee for Kenneth, glass ornament and cutting board for Judy. Everyone was delighted, Sophia was a good shopper. She also bought some key chains for her friends plus some coins for other friends.

written from memory by Penelope Bowen on July 30, 2012