Trips

Friday, 2/12/10 - Jaco, Puntarenas

This was a fun filled, busy day. Our first stop was a visit to Manuel Antonio National Park, which was an hour and a half from Jaco. We drove past miles of palm oil trees and the plant where they process the seeds. The oil is mostly used in cosmetics.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Playa Tres Beach - Manuel Antonio National Park

At the park we walked the dirt road through the reserve and down to “Playa Tres” with its nice sandy beach. We saw a little green vine snake on the way. It is the only snake we have seen in CR. Guides had stopped all along the road and had trained their large spotting scopes on various birds and insects. We walked on to the beach. Some of our group stayed at the beach and five of us joined Leo for a little stroll on one of the park trails. We saw two-toed sloths not too high up in the trees. We still could only see their rumps! We saw three agouti (the large rodents) rooting in the leaves and dirt for a meal of insects. The best sighting was of several Capuchin monkeys with their old man white faces. The two alpha males in an almond tree were playing right above our heads and hamming it up for the camera. They sat piggyback looking right at us. Next we saw a Basilisk lizard. It was nicely camouflaged with the greenery. We also saw several large iguanas.

Capuchin monkeys

Basilisk lizard

Leo pointed out an interesting beach tree. He called it a Manzanita. People like to hang their towels and clothes on the tree branches to dry and then when they dry off, they start to itch. It has a poisonous oil worse than poison ivy. We stayed away from it.

It was hot and humid and we were glad to get back to the beach and into the water. The ocean was warm and very salty. The cold water “shower” (water from an overhead pipe) afterwards felt good.

Down at the beach there were several college age volunteers taking a survey of some sort while talking to tourists. One of our group (Kevin) was surveyed by two girls, one was a student at Colorado State Univ. and the other was from Philadelphia! They are here for a three-month internship in park services.

Lunch today was at “Ronny’s Place,” a restaurant up on the hillside above the ocean. The view was wonderful.

After a 25-minute reorganization back at the hotel, we headed out for our sunset outrigger canoe excursion. This was as much fun as the rafting and zip-line excursions. We donned our life jackets and took our paddles down to the beach. After brief instructions on getting into the boat and how to paddle efficiently, we pushed off. Our boats had two outriggers and the guide steered from the stern. Each boat had eight paddlers and a guide. Leo and a third guide were in a two-person kayak. We paddled along the coast looking at brown pelicans. We beached the boats at the next cove and went swimming and snorkeling. The water was cloudy with sand but along the rocks we saw many colorful fish of questionable species. I liked the little yellow and blue striped ones and the larger blue angel fish. We were accompanied by a guide in the kayak and felt very safe in the water. The guide who was in the water with us brought up a puffer fish and a spiny starfish. He brought them over to us so we could touch them. The puffer fish was silky. We had good equipment and snorkel life vests. It was strenuous but fun and I am glad I am still a strong swimmer.

We pushed off, jumped into the boats and paddled back to the starting beach. We stayed there and watched a beautiful sunset.

Ready to go

Boat decal

Canoe is "rolled" over the sandbag to get it to the water

Puffer fish and a spiny starfish

The guides used the bottom of the kayak as a table, decorated it with leaves and seeds and served us watermelon and pineapple. The fruit here has been outstanding - sweet and ripe.

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean

We had “dinner on our own” tonight. Some of the group went to a local seafood restaurant; those of us who were tired out stayed at the hotel.

In Colorado the tourist stops ply us with water to counteract the low humidity. Here in CR we are served free juice drinks at each hotel or excursion. We have had mango, watermelon, papaya, and mixed fruits and have liked them all.

Saturday, 2/13/10 - Jaco to San Jose

We settled up our accounts with Leo this morning (paid for our excursions by credit card). He filled out our bill and then “ran” our credit cards by using carbon paper to rub off the impression with the side of a pen! We all wondered when was the last time we had seen anyone using carbon paper.

After breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the bus and made four stops on our way to San Jose. The first stop was at a small souvenir shop where the family made woodcarvings. They had some nice wood and leather rocking chairs and a neat little painted ox cart that would hold tailgate or picnic food and drink.

Decorative ox cart

The next stop was at a wooden jewelry and souvenirs factory and store, Sr y Sra Ese, located in Alajuela. We were given a tour of the factory, which used to employ 300 workers and now has only 150 because of the economy. First we saw the stacks of wood that must dry for 5 to 7 years before they can work it. The purple heart and tiger eye wood were especially pretty. Next we saw how mugs, vases, and flowers are shaped on lathes. The wood pieces for jewelry and place mats are put into a series of tumblers with different grades of sandpaper and the last tumbler is lined with leather. The wood pieces are polished smooth in the tumblers. Then the little pieces are sorted and have holes drilled so they can be strung together as jewelry or place mats or hot pads. They use fishing line on the place mats and black poly-fiber (that is used to make car tires) for the jewelry. They do not waste the scraps. Some becomes mulch and some is given to farmers to use as organic fertilizer.

When we entered their large gift shop we had a greater appreciation for the hand-work necessary to make each piece. The orchids in the garden and the ducks in the lily pond outside made the property very pretty. After visiting the shop, we were offered complimentary fruit juice or coffee and small sweet bananas for refreshment. We enjoyed this stop and bought a string of sample CR woods to remind us of this trip.

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs factory - wood drying

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop - examples of polished pieces

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs factory - drilling small holes in pieces of wood

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop - samples

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop - collage

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop - samples

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs factory - assembling products

Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop - Finished products

Muscovy duck at Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop

Northern Jicara and lily pads at Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop

Orchids at Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop

Bamboo trees at Sr y Sra Ese Wood Souvenirs shop

We drove to a mall near the San Jose airport and got lunch at the food court. It had all the usual US fast foods. We settled for a slice of Pizza Hut pizza. We window-shopped until it was time to get back on the bus. We were surprised at the long, long lines at the banks and electric/phone company office at the mall. Since this is Saturday, people are cashing paychecks and paying bills.

The next stop was at the home of a woman who makes one-of-a-kind leather handbags. She makes up the designs and two leather craftsmen make them right there in her house. She told us her life story and how she got involved in making fine quality bags. Leo interpreted for us. She grew from selling items door-to-door to shipping them out to the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, etc. Her signature is “MY-Yenory” and her web site is www.myleatherfashion.com. She had handbags, wallets, and belts for sale – all very pricey.

We drove through lots of traffic and many pedestrians to the Clarion Hotel in San Jose. We were greeted with another complimentary fruit drink. This one might have been pineapple.

At 6:00 we rode the bus to Restaurante El Aposento for our farewell dinner. Kevin read a funny poetic recap of our 12-day tour. We laughed a lot. We toasted Jose, our driver. It is his last day with us. Jose was the best and safest driver we have had on any of our trips. Dinner was very good.

Farewell dinner

Back at the hotel we swapped e-mail addresses and said our goodbyes to Leo and our fellow travelers. We hear there are snowstorms across the country and hope we all get home without incident.

Sunday, 2/14/10 - Valentine’s Day - San Jose to Estes Park

Our seven hours in the air to Denver with a stop in Atlanta were peaceful and uneventful. Customs was quick and smooth and our luggage arrived with us. Since we were able to “snooze” from Atlanta to Denver, we drove straight home and got in at 2 AM.

This was another wonderful, action packed, and educational trip.

Return to Trips page to view other trips

Return to Top

Return to Costa Rica Itinerary

Return to Dreamcatcher Home Page