We will have a very long day of travel. We've rented a vehicle - which in Costa Rica is an adventure in itself. It is highly recommended not to drive at night - no sidewalks, no signage, potholes, people, animals, you name it - so with the 2 hour time difference and no direct flights from Vancouver, the only way to arrive early enough in the day is to fly overnight.
Costa Rica is on central time - though as far as my family is concerned we all believe it should be called Saskatchewan time instead right or at least Rider Time....so we will fly via Seattle, then a long layover in Los Angeles then arrive not so bright but early in San Jose on Wednesday morning.
Costa Rica makes liability insurance mandatory for all car rentals there. You can't use your regular car insurance or any credit card to cover liability. It must be purchased from the car rental company. To make matters worse, different companies refer to it by different names, some companies (the more reputable ones) include it in their quotes, while others do not. Travellers who reserve online with sites such as Expedia, are often in for a nasty surprise upon arrival when they discover their $300 weekly rental is now more like $700. It opens the door for some unscrupulous rental agencies to take advantage of desperate and confused tourists so doing one's homework, and dealing directly with a reputable Costa Rican car rental agency is usually the best way to go. Which is what we have done...we hope!
So after picking up our rental, hopefully with no nasty surprises and buying a SIM card for Costa Rican navigation with Waze, off we will go to our first adventure - the Projecto Asis wildlife refuge (not a zoo), where we will participate in their volunteer tour, which includes preparing the food for the animals and then feeding them. Hopefully, it will educate us about the monkeys, birds, sloths and other wildlife that we hope to see later in our trip, and get up close and personal with them too.
We will then check into the Tree House Hotel, where we will spend 2 nights...including a guided night hike through the jungle each night. Now, how do I spell TARANTULA....got it.
In the morning, the Tree House staff will bring us some Costa Rican coffee, as well as food for the birds and monkeys. So we will sit with our coffee and enjoy the wildlife, before heading to La Fortuna, near the Arenal Volcano, to join up with Desafio's White Water Rafting Adventure on the Rio Balsa. Class II & III rapids only, nothing too adventurous for our first time rafting.
The next day we head south to Tarcoles, where we will board a small river boat to visit with some rather large crocodiles. Remind me to keep my arms inside the boat.
After a one night stay at a local hotel, we will continue our trek south to the Osa Peninsula for a 4 night stay at a rented home on the beach, very near the Panama border, called Tucan Terra. I think this may very well be the highlight of our trip. A long drive, fording rivers, off the electricity grid (solar power), keeps the less adventurous tourists away, and as the Osa is considered one of the most bio-diverse areas in the world, it should be 4 days with quiet beach time, surfing, trekking to a local waterfall, and plenty of wildlife.
Then we start our return north, to another rented house near a small town called Ojochal for another 4 nights. More beach and pool time, more wildlife to enjoy.
Continuing our return to San Jose, we climb up to around 10,000 feet for one night in San Gerardo de Dota, more of a cloud forest environment than tropical, with high temperatures similar to Vancouver's in the mid-teens at this time of year. Perhaps see the Resplendent Quetzal, a truly remarkable bird.
Nearing the end of our adventure, we will visit one or maybe two volcanoes - Irazu & Turrialba - depending on weather, spending one night at a nearby lodge, where sometimes the beds rumble at night with the volcano activity!
Then a final night near San Jose airport, for another long day of travel coming home.
That phone app now shows 12 hours to departure. Wonder what that howler monkey is thinking now...
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