Staying at Nayara Gardens was an over the top beautiful experience - a breakfast and dinner view of the spectacular Arenal Volcano and grounds abounding in rainforest flora and fauna.
We booked a tour (just the 2 of us for most of it) of the 1968 Arenal Trail, the Hanging Bridges, and the La Fortuna Waterfall. The Trail was spectacular- over the lava that covered the landscape in 1968 and is now the beginnings of a rainforest. Lake Arenal looms in the distance. The Waterfall was incredible - 500 steps down (stairs) and 500 steps up but well worth the hike. A lightning storm threatened the Bridges but we went on anyway......all alone in the forest with our wonderful guide, Erika, and a closed park in the rain!
The next day we booked a tour of the Bogarin Trail ( only 3 of us!) in search of sloths and other fauna. The sloths and frogs and ants and all things rainforest were incredible. Well worth doing. It is family owned and operated, right in the town of La Fortuna.
The rest of our time was spent soaking up the beauties of the grounds and feasting on their cuisine. We were a bit out of our element in such a luxurious place (not typical for people who started in youth hostels) but got used to it pretty quickly.
Next - 0n to Tortuguero
A very long car/bus ride across the country, through a banana plantation (on a dirt road) ended at the inland waterway took us then, by boat, to the town of Tortuguero and the Mawamba Lodge. I had stayed here with my rainforest kids years ago and we thought it was paradise. Clearly, we had been staying in very primitive places. No special amenities, no air, no champagne, no infinity pool or chocolates on the pillow but ironically, it was the place Andy loved the most. It is a very real experience - original family owned lodge where the owners live in the poor town and work hard to make life better for their children and the rest of the community. It is famous for its nesting spots for Green Turtles ( I did see them years ago!) but we were out of season. Tortuguero is on a narrow spit of land between the waterway and the multiple fresh water canals that stretch like spider webs in every direction and the Caribbean.
We started with a tour of the grounds - not manicured but incredible abundant with flora and fauna. We did have a great pool that we spent some wonderful relaxing hours by. The pool area has a "red eyed tree frog garden". I remember shooting the iconic frogs years ago. But none to be found! I asked the spanish speaking gardner ( I don't speak Spanish) if he had seen any. He found two tiny babies for me!!!
With a guide who had lived his whole life in the area, we walked thorugh the town and were delighted to have a spider monkey show on a back alley! We watched for at least 30 mnutes while they played in the water apple trees and munched on the water apples. The realness of this whole experience was in direct contrast to the perfect ( but gorgeous) experience of Nayara Springs.
We took a guided waterway tour exploring the canals and discovering toucans, iguanas, anhingas, caimans and so much more.
Another guided tour ( just us) took us up Tortuguero Mountain, a long ego extinct volcano, that immersed us in a primoral rainforest. I was disappointed to find steps! The last time I climbed the mountain, it was climbing up vines and through mud! Tourism has changed in Costa Rica.
A night hike complete with snakes and bullet ants ( the worst!!) was a great way to end our Caribbean experience. We flew out of an "airport" that is just a cleared pathway in the jungle with a bit of cement. The view of Costa Rican landscapes from the air is stunning.
Last stop - Manuel Antonio
We flew to San Jose and had a driver take us to Shana by the Beach, a lovely hotel just a few miles away from the treasured Manuel Antonio Nathional Park. It is the most visited park in Central America. It is a small chunk of true rainforest on the Pacific Coast. The hotel was delightful and the Biesanz Beach, at the foot of the mountain the hotel sat on, was incredible. The Manuel Antonio Park is well worth a visit (amazing sights) but a cement pathway with tons of people was disconcerting. My experiences, with my rainforest kids, had been in the very remote Corcovado area. The scenery is just as stunning but too many people!! Next time we go remote. But the rascal Capuchin Monkeys and the two toed sloth, trying to shake off a very rainy night and bad hair day, won our hearts at the Bisesanz Beach. Fortunately, that was shared, early in the morning. with only a handful of people. The sloth sleeping right under our hotel balcony was pretty cute, too.