Saturday 5 april 2008

 Rotterdam - Amsterdam - Madrid - San José: 18,5 hours of travel

We rise at 3.30am. Our taxi comes to collect us at 4.30. In just a few minutes we arrive at the rear entrance of Rotterdam Central Station. At the station we have to wait another half hour for the 5am train. In less than an hour it takes us to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. We check in for our Iberia flight, have coffee and buy a newspaper. We walk to gate B12, where our aircraft for Madrid is waiting. We take off at 8.05am and land around 10.30. Then it is a 40 minute walk from our arrival gate at Terminal 4, to our departure gate in terminal 4S. A train connects the two terminals. During boarding our flight to San José de Costa Rica we get the message that we will be upgraded to Business Class Plus. That is a very pleasant surprise! We sit very comfortably in our spacious seats and are being pampered all the way.. We get a welcome glass of  cava (Spanish sparkling wine), good food and wine, individual tv-screens etc. And when we get tired we can comfortably stretch out for a nap.

It is a ten and a half hours’ flight to  San José. We arrive around 3pm local time. The time difference is 8 hours during the European summer. As soon as we get out of the plane the humid heat of Costa Rica falls upon us like hot damp blanket. On board of the plain we have already filled out the landing forms. Immigration and customs controls go very swiftly. Our driver, arranged by our hotel is waiting for outside the terminal building, carrying a sign with my name on it. Within half an hour he brings us hotel Kekoldi. The area, Barrio Amon, is half way between run down and trendy, but the hotel is excellent. It is a short walk from the centre. It is on Avenida 9 and just 3  blocks from downtown. We go there for some food and drink in a Sod called, La Vasconia on Avenida 1. A soda is a traditional kind of watering hole cum eatery, where blue collar workers have lunch dinner or an after work drink. It is busy with locals enjoying a beer (Imperial or Pilsen) and the soccer match on the big screen. We are tired and walk back to our hotel around 7.30pm.  

Sunday 6 April 2008

San José - Tortuguero National Park: 6 hours by coach and boat

We get up at 6.10am, bright and fresh to go. We skip breakfast, because we will get that later. We check out of the hotel but leave our suitcases here, taking only baggage we need for the next three days. We are going on a tour to Tortuguero. The bus arranged by our hotel in Tortuguero, the Pachira Lodge comes to collect us at 6.45. The coach trip takes us through the mountains of  a national park (Braulio Carillo) with dense rain forests. After that, beyond the continental divide, we descend to the lowlands. It gets sunnier and warmer. We break for breakfast in a big restaurant by the side of the road. After breakfast we leave the main road and continue for an hour on unsealed roads passing hosts of banana plantations, who produce for big brands like  Chiquita and Delmonte. Bananas are one of the major exports of Costa Rica. Our fellow passengers are an international lot: Uruguay, Spain, Belgium, France and some Dutch.  Around 11.30 we arrive at Cano Blanco, where we board a boat for the final leg to Pachira Lodge, where we will stay for 2 nights. The boat takes us over rivers and natural canals. Around 1pm we arrive at the lodge and get a warm welcome with cocktails. We get our room a nice walk from the reception through lush gardens and forest. The hotel consists of cabins with 4 hotel rooms each. The rooms have windows, but with mosquito screens instead of glass panes. All the sounds from the nature (and neighbours) surrounding us, fill our room. It is very nice. Around us we hear birds, frogs and crickets. We have lunch (a fair but not memorable buffet affair) and take some time to rest.

Later in the afternoon we cross the river by boat to the village of Tortuguero. The village is not much to write home about. It nice to be able to walk to the beach and watch the Caribbean Sea. The beach is the setting for large numbers of green turtles getting on land to lay their eggs. Unfortunately not now. The seasons is from June through October. We are told it is an amazing sight. This time of year the beach sees some Leatherback Turtles, but that concerns only one or two per night on a coastline of dozens of kilometres. Our guide, Julio tells us all about the plight of the turtle. The waves here are high, but surfing and swimming may not be such a bright idea, because of the sharks in the waters. We wander about town a bit and buy a telephone card. This enables to make calls from any phone using a credit connected to the card. Mobile phones have only sketchy coverage in Costa Rica and surely no coverage out here in the jungle. Back at the lodge we take a refreshing shower and a pre dinner drink at the poolside bar, before we have our (buffet) dinner. After dinner we hang out at the bar and enjoy the river view. The sun has set some time ago. It gets dark around here around 6.30. We go to bed early.

Weather: sunny, 31°C  / 88°F

Weer: zonnig, 31 graden

Maandag 7 april 2008

We get up at 5 and shower. We were already awake because of the noise made by the howler monkeys. We also get acquainted with a Costa Rican sanitary phenomenon. The sewer pipes are very narrow, so that it is not permitted to flush toilet paper through the toilet bowl. You have to deposit it, in a waste can next to it. Not a very attractive idea, but you get used to it. We remember it from our Mexico trip, a few years back, that it is better to follow the rules, in order to avoid very embarrassing problems

Coffee, tea and cookies are waiting for us at reception. At six we go aboard for a tour through the natural canals of  Tortuguero National Park. The sun is just up and sets the jungle in a magnificent light. On our tour we meet many water birds like anhingas , herons, tucans, parrots, jacanas, black vultures and many more. We also see some iguanas, a river otter, river turtles and of course the howler monkeys, which we heard already. These small monkeys make a terrible noise to mark their territory. In the reeds we see a cayman hiding away. Julio, our guide, tells us lots about the animals and trees we get to see. After three hours we come back to the lodge and have breakfast.  

Around 10 we leave again for a walking tour. It is not a big a tour, around Tortuguero hill. Our guide this time is Luis, who talks endlessly about everything thinkable and unthinkable, which does not interest us too much. In the end we see lots of plants, a few lizards and a couple of fiery red dart poison frogs. Back at the boat we a treated to a look at a green snake, held by its tail by a couple of village kids. We take the boat back to the lodge, where we have another buffet lunch. We have the afternoon to ourselves and we spend it lazying about at the pool, sipping a nice drink. Evening time brings us our dinner and some entertainment at the bar. We have a cocktail and call it a day.

Weather: sunny, warm 30°C / 86°F. It gets cloudy in the afternoon and a bit cooler

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Tortuguero National Park - San José: 30 minutes flight

We get up at 5.30, pay the bill and have breakfast. At 6.55 the boat comes to collect us and take us to the air field. Air field is big word for a tiny landing strip in the bush.   We fly with a tiny prop jet carrying only 20 passengers. It is only half full. In less than 30 minutes we land in San Jose. We take a taxi to Kekoldi, where our bags are waiting. Our room is not ready yet. We walk about town and have coffee at the  Café Parisienne inside the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, near the Teatro Nacional. This splendid theatre from the latter part of the 19th century can be visited. Beautifully decorated lounges and hall. We also visit the cathedral (not so special) and walk to the main post office to buy stamps. We continue to the Jade museum, based on the ground floor of the office of an insurance company. The museum shows the history of pre-colombian society and the use of jade. Interesting stuff, but small in size. We see it all in half an hour. We go back to the hotel, just 5 minutes walk from here.  

We lunchen in nearby in  Café Moro. This is a trendy and luxury restaurant, frequented by office workers for lunch. Around 4pm a thunderstorm starts. Later when it is dry again we ventury into downtown for a cocktail at the President Hotel. We have a view on the shopping crowd on the Avenida Central. Lots of things happen here, both legal and not so legal. 

At night we eat at Café Mundo in the Otoya district, about 10 minutes walk from our hotel. The area has lots of fun eateries. Nice dinner, but we are still a bit filled by this afternoon's lunch. Later still we take a taxi toPuchos Night Club, a gay club with five  bars and a somewhat - amateurish - show. It is remarkably busy at this early hour. On hour way back the taxi driver gets us in a totally wrong direction. I intervene at the right moment. We think he wants to rip us off, because when we tell him that he is going the wrong way he turns the car and drives straight to our hotel. Although the metre has reached unprecedented levels we just pay the same amount we paid on the way out: 700 colones (around one euro).   .

Weather: sunny 28ºC / 82ºF.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

San José - La Fortuna: 150km

After breakfast we have to wait for Budget Car Rental to bring our rental car. The car comes promptly at 8.30. Not the Toyota Rav4 we were looking forward to, but a Daihatsu BeGo. We are a little disappointed, but it is a somewhat similar model. After the usual paper work we are on our way. We guide ourselves through the complicated one-way system of San José and soon find our way out west past the airport. At San Ramon we leave the main road and head north towards La Tigra en La Fortuna de San Carlos. In La Fortuna we take out cash (the ATM gives out both US dollars and Colones) and have a simple lunch at La Parada. Then we continue to the Arenal Observatory Lodge. On  our way out there we see the Arenal Volcano in the distance. The top is shrouded by clouds. After some 15km we turn left off the paved road onto a dirt road we have to follow for 8km uphill to the lodge. The road is in very bad condition, full of potholes, bumps and rocks. After 8 miles we get to the porters lodge. The porter checks his guest list, before he opens the gate. The lodge has a perfect location with a magnificent view of the volcano. We are staying in the  Smithsonian Room with a panoramic window facing the volcano. At four we go on a guided walk around the volcano through the Arenal Volcano National Park. The young guide is a master at spotting  birds and howler monkeys. With his strong telescope he is able to let us see a rainbow bill tucan and a howler very close up. The howler makes a lot of noise. By imitating their sound the guide gets a response and is able to locate the monkey. We wander off the track and  in no time we find the the monkey, who is high up in the tree tops howling. The guide takes us through secondary rainforest to a viewing point. That is where we find a couple of Chestnut Mandibled tucans up in a tree. The rainforest here has recovered after earlier deforestation. It was left to grow again and why it is called secondary. The volcano is about 3900 years old and very active. On 29 July 1968 there was an earthquake blowing the top of the volcano. The result is the mountain in its present shape. On that day 78 people died. Gas emisisions, avalanches and ash rain are the order of the day now.  We hear loud thundery sounds coming from the volcano quite often. We walk back and arrive at the lodge shortly before dark. After dinner we watch the volcano spilling glowing streams of lava. It is a breath taking sight, which we can observe through the big window from our bed. It keeps us fascinated for quite some time. 

Weather: sunny 28°C / 82°F degrees. One heavy shower late afternoon.