CONSERVACION: COSTA RICA
- SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION PROJECT
-SCHOOL VISIT
-ARENAL VOLCANO
-LA FORTUNA WATERFALL
-JAURI TROPICAL FARM
-HOT SPRINGS
-CANOPY TOUR
- SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION PROJECT
-SCHOOL VISIT
-ARENAL VOLCANO
-LA FORTUNA WATERFALL
-JAURI TROPICAL FARM
-HOT SPRINGS
-CANOPY TOUR
Daily Blog:
Starting April 20th!
We arrived! Saturday, April 20th
Our flights went relatively well, although I've decided I'm not the biggest fan of Jet Blue. But, the important thing is we arrived safely and we arrived on time. (actually early). Our guide, Daniel, was waiting outside, and we made our way to our hotel about 10 minutes from the airport. We needed to start pretty early to try and get to our destination today, and with the time change being two hours behind, it wasn't to hard to get going by 7:45. Along the way our guide talked a lot about the history of C. Rica, it's climate, and the many forces that shaped its land and people. We stopped a couple of times. Since there aren't many stores located near our Gandoca area, we stopped at what you might call a "Big Box store" and picked up a bunch of the items to donate to the local school here. About 5-6 hours later, after a 10 km very rough gravel road. We arrived to a little house which is in the Gandoca Manzanillo Wilderness Reserve. We are staying in a very rustic house. There are bunks, and no hot water. I think it was a bit of a shock for the girls, especially seeing a gecko in their room. But, I hope after getting to know the place a bit more, they will feel more comfortable. Let's hope. In any case, our next destinations we can hopefully pamper ourselves a bit more. The hosts here are very kind, and our guide can seem to spot something really far away, take out his scope and share a hawk, or a special bird. The house is about 200 yards away from the beach, and the girls spent a good hour riding the waves and enjoy the water. The water is refreshing, but not cold at all. The sand is black here due to the volcano. I felt like it was sticking to everything, and said it was like it was magnetic, and they said it was! No wonder it was sticking to everything. They are making dinner for us now. A couple of the girls weren't too crazy about the plantains, which is kind of like their mashed potatoes. So, we'll see how it goes with the food. :).
I'm having trouble posting more photos, must be the wifi is super slow. Hopefully I can upload some galleries soon.
Starting April 20th!
We arrived! Saturday, April 20th
Our flights went relatively well, although I've decided I'm not the biggest fan of Jet Blue. But, the important thing is we arrived safely and we arrived on time. (actually early). Our guide, Daniel, was waiting outside, and we made our way to our hotel about 10 minutes from the airport. We needed to start pretty early to try and get to our destination today, and with the time change being two hours behind, it wasn't to hard to get going by 7:45. Along the way our guide talked a lot about the history of C. Rica, it's climate, and the many forces that shaped its land and people. We stopped a couple of times. Since there aren't many stores located near our Gandoca area, we stopped at what you might call a "Big Box store" and picked up a bunch of the items to donate to the local school here. About 5-6 hours later, after a 10 km very rough gravel road. We arrived to a little house which is in the Gandoca Manzanillo Wilderness Reserve. We are staying in a very rustic house. There are bunks, and no hot water. I think it was a bit of a shock for the girls, especially seeing a gecko in their room. But, I hope after getting to know the place a bit more, they will feel more comfortable. Let's hope. In any case, our next destinations we can hopefully pamper ourselves a bit more. The hosts here are very kind, and our guide can seem to spot something really far away, take out his scope and share a hawk, or a special bird. The house is about 200 yards away from the beach, and the girls spent a good hour riding the waves and enjoy the water. The water is refreshing, but not cold at all. The sand is black here due to the volcano. I felt like it was sticking to everything, and said it was like it was magnetic, and they said it was! No wonder it was sticking to everything. They are making dinner for us now. A couple of the girls weren't too crazy about the plantains, which is kind of like their mashed potatoes. So, we'll see how it goes with the food. :).
I'm having trouble posting more photos, must be the wifi is super slow. Hopefully I can upload some galleries soon.
Day 2: Sunday
Today has definitely felt more relaxed. We had another early breakfast at about 7:30. Our hostess made us banana pancakes. They don't have syrup here, but they have pineapple jam and other kinds of fruit preserves. Most students put honey on top. We set off for our beach project. Each student carried about two coconut palms and our guides help them plant them. Planting the palms can help with the erosion problem on the beach. We also helped pick up trash along the way and clear out some of the debris that washes up to help the beach look a little cleaner. They also planted some mangrove tree seeds, hoping they may also eventually help with the erosion. We worked hard gathering up garbage, and made our way down just about to the Panama border. In fact, some students had notices on their phones when we returned that said, "Welcome to Panama." There was a pretty tranquil spot where the ocean came into an estuary that we swam in. We started in the estuary, but there were too many little baby crabs that were sticking to us, and the girls didn't like the feel of the grasses, so we headed to the beach. It was absolutely lovely. The water was so warm, the waves were easy and we just floated around and played with our guide and his two girls that accompanied us. After about an hour, our guide Daniel was worried about too much sun, and we made our way back to where we started with two large garbage bags full of plastic, and all kinds of debris. It was good he was worried about the sun, as we do have some red on us :) . I do have to say I think of bottle caps a little different now. They were everywhere! It was hard to comprehend the plastic and garbage that are washing up on the beaches, and this was relatively clean. After listening to our sea turtle presentation last night and how some of them are critically endangered, it definitely felt like we had a purpose to try and help them. We had a delicious lunch of chicken with rice, french fries and what they call an :"ensalada rusa" which is like a potato salad with eggs and beets. We definitely needed a siesta after lunch. The heat index was about 106 I believe this afternoon. We rested as best we could and met to see the local village soccer game. It was quite the event! Lots of yelling and excitement. Our host Gilberto scored two of the goals! The town went wild cheering. They call him "Messi" for fun. We saw a cayman and a toucan along the way with our guide's scope. Really cool! We are going to have dinner soon, and probably try again this evening to see if we get lucky to see a leatherback turtle nesting. We walked the beach for quite a while last night, and gave up as we were soooo tired. Hoping tonight we might have some luck. The wifi here is very slow, (almost like at home, lol) so I'll upload more pics when we get to better service. Oh, and we had to shoo away some geese on our way back. Pura Vida!
Today has definitely felt more relaxed. We had another early breakfast at about 7:30. Our hostess made us banana pancakes. They don't have syrup here, but they have pineapple jam and other kinds of fruit preserves. Most students put honey on top. We set off for our beach project. Each student carried about two coconut palms and our guides help them plant them. Planting the palms can help with the erosion problem on the beach. We also helped pick up trash along the way and clear out some of the debris that washes up to help the beach look a little cleaner. They also planted some mangrove tree seeds, hoping they may also eventually help with the erosion. We worked hard gathering up garbage, and made our way down just about to the Panama border. In fact, some students had notices on their phones when we returned that said, "Welcome to Panama." There was a pretty tranquil spot where the ocean came into an estuary that we swam in. We started in the estuary, but there were too many little baby crabs that were sticking to us, and the girls didn't like the feel of the grasses, so we headed to the beach. It was absolutely lovely. The water was so warm, the waves were easy and we just floated around and played with our guide and his two girls that accompanied us. After about an hour, our guide Daniel was worried about too much sun, and we made our way back to where we started with two large garbage bags full of plastic, and all kinds of debris. It was good he was worried about the sun, as we do have some red on us :) . I do have to say I think of bottle caps a little different now. They were everywhere! It was hard to comprehend the plastic and garbage that are washing up on the beaches, and this was relatively clean. After listening to our sea turtle presentation last night and how some of them are critically endangered, it definitely felt like we had a purpose to try and help them. We had a delicious lunch of chicken with rice, french fries and what they call an :"ensalada rusa" which is like a potato salad with eggs and beets. We definitely needed a siesta after lunch. The heat index was about 106 I believe this afternoon. We rested as best we could and met to see the local village soccer game. It was quite the event! Lots of yelling and excitement. Our host Gilberto scored two of the goals! The town went wild cheering. They call him "Messi" for fun. We saw a cayman and a toucan along the way with our guide's scope. Really cool! We are going to have dinner soon, and probably try again this evening to see if we get lucky to see a leatherback turtle nesting. We walked the beach for quite a while last night, and gave up as we were soooo tired. Hoping tonight we might have some luck. The wifi here is very slow, (almost like at home, lol) so I'll upload more pics when we get to better service. Oh, and we had to shoo away some geese on our way back. Pura Vida!
Monday, Day 3:
Today was another early morning with breakfast at 7, so we could head to the school at around 8. We had some arepas and eggs, which are kind like a fried bread, and that seemed to be a real hit with the students. We took our bus to the school because it was too far to carry all our donations. When we arrived to the Gandoca school, they were in the middle of finishing a quiz, so we waiting a bit to interact with the students, but I'm sure they weren't concentrating very much. There was about 3 classroom areas and a lunch area, along with a field that is used for their activities. The students were excited to open their supplies, and immediately grabbed the hands of the students and led them out to play games. Some played with the soccer balls right away, and others wanted to play games like hide and seek, or other games using their hands. It was very hot and humid, and I thought about how we get hot in our classrooms as we get near summer, but that doesn't even compare. In the inside classrooms, they had fans in the ceiling, but they were broken. Perhaps some of our donation money will go to buy them fans. They can definitely use them! After about an hour, the students needed to return to work, so we said our goodbyes and got some nice hugs. When a little girl came up to hug me goodbye, she made me get tears in my eyes. I know I don't teach elementary students so I'm not used to that, but it was just so very sweet how they welcomed us.
We returned back to our lodge, had lunch of black beans, rice, a kind of meat with potatoes and fried yucca. The girls seemed to like it as well. I think they are getting a bit more used to the Costa Rican food, so they are eating more. Yay! A few of us decided to opt for an extra excursion by boat to see if we could see some dolphins, and the other two decided to take it easy and go on a nature walk with our guide. The four of us went out on a pretty simple boat for about three hours. We saw dolphins! There were several groups feeding and frolicking in an area. There were bottle nosed dolphins and tucuxi, which are smaller. I tried to get some video, but didn't do a very good job. Gilberto, our host, got some better video, so I'll post it here later. We then journeyed around a little island they call the "Isla de Monos" (Island of Monkeys) but we didn't see any. The water was clear off that area and the girls enjoyed the water some more. The other two students went on a hike and really enjoyed seeing some monkeys, toucans and lots of birds. They also went swimming again, and said they had a great afternoon. All is good!
This is our last night in Gandoca. It's almost a full moon, so hoping for some good turtle karma. We missed our turtle by a 1/2 hour last night. It came on the beach right where we were standing. Hoping tonight is better luck!
Today was another early morning with breakfast at 7, so we could head to the school at around 8. We had some arepas and eggs, which are kind like a fried bread, and that seemed to be a real hit with the students. We took our bus to the school because it was too far to carry all our donations. When we arrived to the Gandoca school, they were in the middle of finishing a quiz, so we waiting a bit to interact with the students, but I'm sure they weren't concentrating very much. There was about 3 classroom areas and a lunch area, along with a field that is used for their activities. The students were excited to open their supplies, and immediately grabbed the hands of the students and led them out to play games. Some played with the soccer balls right away, and others wanted to play games like hide and seek, or other games using their hands. It was very hot and humid, and I thought about how we get hot in our classrooms as we get near summer, but that doesn't even compare. In the inside classrooms, they had fans in the ceiling, but they were broken. Perhaps some of our donation money will go to buy them fans. They can definitely use them! After about an hour, the students needed to return to work, so we said our goodbyes and got some nice hugs. When a little girl came up to hug me goodbye, she made me get tears in my eyes. I know I don't teach elementary students so I'm not used to that, but it was just so very sweet how they welcomed us.
We returned back to our lodge, had lunch of black beans, rice, a kind of meat with potatoes and fried yucca. The girls seemed to like it as well. I think they are getting a bit more used to the Costa Rican food, so they are eating more. Yay! A few of us decided to opt for an extra excursion by boat to see if we could see some dolphins, and the other two decided to take it easy and go on a nature walk with our guide. The four of us went out on a pretty simple boat for about three hours. We saw dolphins! There were several groups feeding and frolicking in an area. There were bottle nosed dolphins and tucuxi, which are smaller. I tried to get some video, but didn't do a very good job. Gilberto, our host, got some better video, so I'll post it here later. We then journeyed around a little island they call the "Isla de Monos" (Island of Monkeys) but we didn't see any. The water was clear off that area and the girls enjoyed the water some more. The other two students went on a hike and really enjoyed seeing some monkeys, toucans and lots of birds. They also went swimming again, and said they had a great afternoon. All is good!
This is our last night in Gandoca. It's almost a full moon, so hoping for some good turtle karma. We missed our turtle by a 1/2 hour last night. It came on the beach right where we were standing. Hoping tonight is better luck!
Tuesday, Day 4.
Well, not too much to report today. We spent most of the day in the van getting from the Caribbean side of the country into the middle. The Costa Rican roads are an adventure, and things go very slowly, which is good. But, it does take a while to get somewhere. We left Gandoca around 8 am, and said our goodbyes. There was no sighting of the sea turtle for us, which was disappointing. However, I guess that means we have to return, since it would have been really cool to see one. We stopped a couple times along the way and had a nice lunch. The girls got to order off the menu, and practiced a bit of their Spanish at checkout. When we arrived to the town of La Fortuna, at the bottom of the Arenal volcano, we had about an hour to look at some of the shops and go around to get some souvenirs. It's a busy little town, and lots of tourists. We were the only American in our first location, so this is definitely a change of pace. We are heading out for our dinner shortly, and looking forward to a good night's sleep hopefully! Our hotel cabins feel like the like of luxury. They are in a beautiful location with the volcano in view. Clouds are covering the top, but hopefully we'll get a view tomorrow. Well, I guess it's not the wifi, it's this website that makes it difficult for pictures. I'll try and post some later this evening.
Well, not too much to report today. We spent most of the day in the van getting from the Caribbean side of the country into the middle. The Costa Rican roads are an adventure, and things go very slowly, which is good. But, it does take a while to get somewhere. We left Gandoca around 8 am, and said our goodbyes. There was no sighting of the sea turtle for us, which was disappointing. However, I guess that means we have to return, since it would have been really cool to see one. We stopped a couple times along the way and had a nice lunch. The girls got to order off the menu, and practiced a bit of their Spanish at checkout. When we arrived to the town of La Fortuna, at the bottom of the Arenal volcano, we had about an hour to look at some of the shops and go around to get some souvenirs. It's a busy little town, and lots of tourists. We were the only American in our first location, so this is definitely a change of pace. We are heading out for our dinner shortly, and looking forward to a good night's sleep hopefully! Our hotel cabins feel like the like of luxury. They are in a beautiful location with the volcano in view. Clouds are covering the top, but hopefully we'll get a view tomorrow. Well, I guess it's not the wifi, it's this website that makes it difficult for pictures. I'll try and post some later this evening.
Wednesday, Day 5:
Today was a really fun day. We were up and going with breakfast at 7 am. The volcano Arenal, was almost in view with just a few clouds at the top. It got more clouds around it as the day went on, so I felt lucky to see it so as much as I did. We went to visit the Don Juan organic farm for a tour. I'm glad our tour was at 8 am, because it was starting to get hot already. A guide takes you through the farm and talks about the plants of Costa Rica that they are growing there, and what medical benefits they offer, We got to try a little bit of them if they were edible. So we saw papayas, guanabanas, something called moringa, pineapple, and more I can't remember. A lot of the plants were immune boosters, or aid with digestion, or offer protein or vitamin c- all things we needed a bit of. They showed how to mangle the sugar cane, and we drank some juice and ate some sugar cane candies. After the tour they gave us a little snack of pico de papaya, which is from the root of the papaya tree, homemade tortillas and yuca chips. We also could try some coffee made the Costa Rican way with a drip filter. We headed out from the farm so the girls could do their horse back riding to the top of the La Fortuna falls. I didn't do it this time, but I think they enjoyed it. We then entered the La Fortuna waterfall park, and made our way down to the falls. It is 500 steps down to the waterfalls. The hike is very beautiful and the falls are just amazing. The girls swam a long time in the colder, refreshing water and then in a smaller pool off of the waterfall. Then it was time to take the 500 steps up. They give you little signs of motivation, and I thought that was a nice touch. We are made it (some a little more slowly than others) and heading to lunch. We all ended up eating lunch together at a cool little place. The girls mostly ordered some familiar items like sandwiches, or pancakes, instead of rice and beans. :)
We took a little break at the hotel, and then headed out to Baldi Hot springs. Using the natural heat from the volcano, there are various thermal pools you can soak in with varying temperatures. It's a really relaxing place. All of us, yes, even me, braved one of the waterslides. There were three levels, and all pretty intense. I think we all had fun. Dinner was served buffet style and there was some pasta, so some of the girls were pretty excited for that. We had a nice, relaxing dinner and headed back to our hotel. Another early day tomorrow- we are heading to go zip-lining and then off to our final stay at Samara beach.
Today was a really fun day. We were up and going with breakfast at 7 am. The volcano Arenal, was almost in view with just a few clouds at the top. It got more clouds around it as the day went on, so I felt lucky to see it so as much as I did. We went to visit the Don Juan organic farm for a tour. I'm glad our tour was at 8 am, because it was starting to get hot already. A guide takes you through the farm and talks about the plants of Costa Rica that they are growing there, and what medical benefits they offer, We got to try a little bit of them if they were edible. So we saw papayas, guanabanas, something called moringa, pineapple, and more I can't remember. A lot of the plants were immune boosters, or aid with digestion, or offer protein or vitamin c- all things we needed a bit of. They showed how to mangle the sugar cane, and we drank some juice and ate some sugar cane candies. After the tour they gave us a little snack of pico de papaya, which is from the root of the papaya tree, homemade tortillas and yuca chips. We also could try some coffee made the Costa Rican way with a drip filter. We headed out from the farm so the girls could do their horse back riding to the top of the La Fortuna falls. I didn't do it this time, but I think they enjoyed it. We then entered the La Fortuna waterfall park, and made our way down to the falls. It is 500 steps down to the waterfalls. The hike is very beautiful and the falls are just amazing. The girls swam a long time in the colder, refreshing water and then in a smaller pool off of the waterfall. Then it was time to take the 500 steps up. They give you little signs of motivation, and I thought that was a nice touch. We are made it (some a little more slowly than others) and heading to lunch. We all ended up eating lunch together at a cool little place. The girls mostly ordered some familiar items like sandwiches, or pancakes, instead of rice and beans. :)
We took a little break at the hotel, and then headed out to Baldi Hot springs. Using the natural heat from the volcano, there are various thermal pools you can soak in with varying temperatures. It's a really relaxing place. All of us, yes, even me, braved one of the waterslides. There were three levels, and all pretty intense. I think we all had fun. Dinner was served buffet style and there was some pasta, so some of the girls were pretty excited for that. We had a nice, relaxing dinner and headed back to our hotel. Another early day tomorrow- we are heading to go zip-lining and then off to our final stay at Samara beach.
Thursday and Friday Day 6 and 7.
Well, I'm not sure what happened to yesterday. We had another early day with breakfast at 7. Packed up, loaded up the bus, and said goodbye to our hotel in La Fortuna. We went to do our zipline at Adventure Canopy tours. The six of us went and were combined with another smaller group so we were about 10 people with three zipline guides. For me, it is a very nerve racking experience, but I tried to be brave and enjoy the experience. This zipline was a little smaller, about 8 platforms and a tarzan swing. You get harnessed up and they tell you all the directions, usually with a lot of jokes in between. It is really exciting to be zooming through the rain forest at so high up. The girls all decided to do the Tarzan swing where you are on a high platform and then you fall about 20 feet, and swing back and forth over the jungle basically. It is quite a feeling- I went into the zipline deciding I wasn't going to do it, and then at the last minute I decided to. I had a hard time letting go of the handles, but after some deep breaths, I did it. I'm proud of myself for pushing myself. Kara said she wanted to do it again!
After our zipline, we loaded up the bus, and heading off towards Samara Beach. It is another long journey, as per usual in Costa Rica. We had a couple stops along the way. One stop was at a grocery store, and we stopped for lunch at a very popular place not too far away from the airport called, "El Jardin." It was a buffet style, and I noticed a lot of guides and drivers around, probably after dropping their groups at the airport. We grabbed a couple more souvenirs in their souvenir shop, and headed back to the bus for our last few hours to reach our destination. It seemed to take forever!
Once we arrived to our hotel, "Sol Samara" they informed us that they had no electricity. So, what else are you going to do when it's hot, we grabbed our suits and headed out to the beach. The beach had some fishing boats to one side, and a beautiful vista. The water was easy going, so you could go out quite far, and just relax with the waves. The girls can now say they have swam in the Caribbean and the Pacific. It was just beautiful.
Today we are going to have breakfast, and then a few of the girls are going to try to get surf lessons in the afternoon. We will just relax, go into the little town for our final souvenirs, take a swim, and enjoy our last day in this special country.
Well, I'm not sure what happened to yesterday. We had another early day with breakfast at 7. Packed up, loaded up the bus, and said goodbye to our hotel in La Fortuna. We went to do our zipline at Adventure Canopy tours. The six of us went and were combined with another smaller group so we were about 10 people with three zipline guides. For me, it is a very nerve racking experience, but I tried to be brave and enjoy the experience. This zipline was a little smaller, about 8 platforms and a tarzan swing. You get harnessed up and they tell you all the directions, usually with a lot of jokes in between. It is really exciting to be zooming through the rain forest at so high up. The girls all decided to do the Tarzan swing where you are on a high platform and then you fall about 20 feet, and swing back and forth over the jungle basically. It is quite a feeling- I went into the zipline deciding I wasn't going to do it, and then at the last minute I decided to. I had a hard time letting go of the handles, but after some deep breaths, I did it. I'm proud of myself for pushing myself. Kara said she wanted to do it again!
After our zipline, we loaded up the bus, and heading off towards Samara Beach. It is another long journey, as per usual in Costa Rica. We had a couple stops along the way. One stop was at a grocery store, and we stopped for lunch at a very popular place not too far away from the airport called, "El Jardin." It was a buffet style, and I noticed a lot of guides and drivers around, probably after dropping their groups at the airport. We grabbed a couple more souvenirs in their souvenir shop, and headed back to the bus for our last few hours to reach our destination. It seemed to take forever!
Once we arrived to our hotel, "Sol Samara" they informed us that they had no electricity. So, what else are you going to do when it's hot, we grabbed our suits and headed out to the beach. The beach had some fishing boats to one side, and a beautiful vista. The water was easy going, so you could go out quite far, and just relax with the waves. The girls can now say they have swam in the Caribbean and the Pacific. It was just beautiful.
Today we are going to have breakfast, and then a few of the girls are going to try to get surf lessons in the afternoon. We will just relax, go into the little town for our final souvenirs, take a swim, and enjoy our last day in this special country.