Costa Rica Trip Report by Gregor Hutch and Tarissa McGregor

Arenal Volcano and its Lake, the Monteverde Cloud Forest and the Tortuguero Rainforest, National Park and Natural canals. We also visited Manuel Antonio beach and national park in Quepos, about a two hour drive from Puntarenas.

Our journey included the areas we were recommended by one of our friends who had been travelling to Costa Rica over the past  4  years, at least twice a year.
We told him that we only had 11 days available, and that we wanted to see the most representative of Costa Rica. He then suggested the areas included and we scheduled and arranged a trip including these areas with a local travel agency. We requested a rental car, since we never like to travel in a mini van with other tourists. We got a Daihatsu Begos, a small 4  x 4  similar to the Toyota Rav 4, just narrower.

Although we took the advice of our friend thankfully, we knew there were many other areas we were interested in, and that we worth a visit, but we didn’t have enough time for all of them,  and we didn’t wanted to stay only  1  night in each areas, without really enjoying it either.

So here are our comments in a brief description…

Roads: The roads were terrible in some areas. Although most of the roads, st5eets and highways ARE paved, I think they’d much rather be just dirt roads. Huge craters appear all of a sudden and sometimes when you try to avoid them you have to drive-out in huge turns which I think is pretty dangerous. We much rather have dirt roads, at least you know where you are driving on and it won’t let you speed either.

Tortuguero: We loved it. It has this special something… We felt as in the Amazon  Rainforest. We also saw many animals, including crocodiles, caimans, turtles, both sea and freshwater turtles,  lots of birds, monkeys, a sloth, racoons, a Coati Mundi and a large fresh water fish, did`t remember what it was. The Lodge we stayed in was great. Mawamba Lodge.

Manuel Antonio. A bit touristy for our taste, but still worth the visit. We were amazed by the services and facilities the hotel had. We also liked the number of restaurants, bars and shopping areas in Downtown Quepos. The park is just a short walk from the hotel ( we stayed at Costa Verde ). The beaches inside the park are much nicer than the ones that are public. They are smaller, and not as crowded. We saw lots of White- Faced monkeys inside the rainforest in the  2  hours walk from beach to beach. You can skip it and just cross the little peninsula and you get to the beach we got at the end of our hard but interesting walk.

Monteverde We loved Monteverde-. The Cloud Forest there was the most alive and rich wildlife we had ever seen. We loved and really suggest the Hummingbird Gallery, the Santa Elena Refuge. We loved the walk through the Monteverde Refuge too. ( The difference, as we were told by our local guide, is that Santa Elena has more wildlife, at least, wildlife you actually get to see ) while Monteverde is more famous because of its name and history. The famous Golden toed was found there for the first time. We saw the bell Bird and the Paradise Bird. ( Quetzal in Spanish )

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