Three Weeks in Costa Rica

With the Brownlie's and the Kuntz's, Janet and I journeyed to Costa Rica to participate in a two week tour of the natural wonders of that country (where I previously worked thirty years ago), covering the end of February and first week of March. Following the fantastic tour of Costa Rica, we enjoyed its 'pura vida' with the Brownlie's and Kuntz's with a week's stay in Nosaro, a small beach community favored by surfers.

During the Elderhostel program, we toured, among other things:

• Irazu valcano
• Rafted on the Puerto Viejo River (see above)
• Visited a pineapple plantation
• Stayed in and toured a tropical rain forest
• Took a fantastic boat tour in some wetlands
• Checked out butterflies
• Participated in a crocodile boat tour
• Did a great deal of birding
• Hiked an active volcano (Arenal)
• Hiked hanging bridges near the volcano
• Spent time at a Pacific beach national park (met some monkeys)
• Travelled to a 7,500 ft valley (needed heat at night)
• Toured San Jose, the capitol
  

All in all, it was a marvelous tour where we encountered more birds, butterflies, crocodiles, monkeys, and hummingbirds (where they go to winter) than we knew existed. Pictures of the Elderhostel portion of our stay may be seen by clicking here. Some of us even indulged in full body massages et al at an Arenal spa (I decided to have a "gentleman's facial" - it was great!).Following the Elderhostel program, the three couples flew from San Jose to Nosara, a small beach community, used mainly by surfers, on the Pacific. We enjoyed a lovely villa, and save the one night when we ran out of colones (Costa Rica's currency) and ate in, sampled a wide variety of foods in area restaurants.

When we were not enjoying the pool that came with the villa, we managed to swim in the Pacific (avoiding the surfers), watch magnificent sunsets, go deep-sea fishing (hooked a 100 lb sailfish but lost it as we attempted to bring it on board), safely traverse a 6 1/2 mile zip line that ran between 1,000 and 500 feet off the ground (check out this web site for an idea of the zip line we used by clicking here), and just plain relax. Photos of this portion of our tico trip may be seen by clicking here.