Something you hear in Costa Rica everywhere, all the time – for hi, thank you, cheers, have a good day, see you, nevermind… anything. We planned this trip a year ago, the post-high school graduation trip for Max. The options varied – Turkey, Greece, and Belize, but CR singlehandedly won with the variety of adventures and nature species it offers. The agenda was packed with adrenaline activities, making me slightly uncomfortable for two reasons. One, CR is known for the most arachnid species – awesome – about the last place I’d pick for a relaxing vacation. Two, jumping off cliffs and testing gravity plus individual elegance of landing styles was about as attractive as a colonoscopy. I was outvoted and bailed on the coffee/chocolate/sugar farm option, instead choosing 5 different ways of how to potentially disable one or more of your body parts.

Arenal – the rainforest

Landing in Liberia, a northern town in the province of Guanacaste, our first stop was this volcano area, situated in the middle of the rainforest. A three-hour-long, very windy, trip from the airport through an insane rain and storm that hit a transformer and it looked like CR was giving us a proper welcome. Upon arrival to our hotel of Manoa Hot Springs, I realize that the hotel rooms are actually hotel huts or chalets right in the middle of gorgeous but tall and overgrown fauna. Kids and B head out to the hot springs deeper in the hotel territory while I am paralyzed in the hotel room. Why? It is dark at night in the rainforest, and I have these visuals – I touch anything green, and a spider will land on me or run across my feet – how am I going to survive this? Brian returned to walk me to the pool/hot springs but I was tense – me, dark, rainforest – we no friends.

The next day was our first activity, a slow raft cruise on a river, bird, and animal watching. This sounds like a great start. We barely leave the hotel premises and already see a sloth with a baby and a toucan – we quickly pick up on where to look for them up in the trees (a bit like a koala) and see a few more. On the raft itself, we pass a huge crocodile, a few more toucans, a basilisk, and a large number of howler monkeys who, if you heard them in the woods, would convince you that a grizzly is coming after you – so loud and scary! A few macaws, iguanas, and snakes – this place was buzzing with activity.

Today was a hike to the Arenal 1968 park – if you are wondering on a date, this is when the volcano unexpectedly blew up. Literally, it was dormant for centuries and then just one day blew from 3 various craters on the mountain – not the top . Lots of damage, multiple villages destroyed. The nature is already beautifully recovered but still a lot of lava rocks and gravel which is slippery. We hiked around a bit with Mao and his binoculars tripod and saw more animals again. I mean this place is like one big botanical garden and a zoo together.

This was a busy day, as in the afternoon we were off to canyoning. I had no idea what this entailed and had to be convinced that this was worth choosing over a visit to a coffee, chocolate, and sugar farm. Hmm.

We drove about an hour and got all buckled up with lots of belts and wires and helmets. Not super reassuring for someone who doesn’t like heights. Anyways, we walk through the woods to a platform, hand you a rope to manage your speed – and you sit down into the abyss. I was a bit stuck first as didn’t really want to let go of the rope to descend. Mind you, all this is happening with water moving down the rock, so it’s in your face and a bit cold. And it doesn’t help that your children are down under watching and having a time of their lives seeing their mom scream her head off while “falling down.”

If you think you see a snake above, then you are not wrong. This was on our way back, just leisurely sleeping. I actually couldn’t see it at all, only the picture – mostly because I was looking for a tiny one – and could not imagine actually being so close to such a huge serpent. We, mostly I, survived and even ziplined a few times at ridiculous speeds. I overcame my fear of heights and bugs by just closing my eyes for most of it. Honestly, the worst part was moving in between the falls to the next one, as it was slippery and rocky, and my glasses were all wet, and I couldn’t see anything.

Our next trip was whitewater rafting. While we have done it at least 3 times, as I get older, I get less confident in all these adventures. Give me snake blood to drink and I am in – give me something to climb or jump off and I am not sure. Our guide was reassuring that rapids levels III-IV are totally fine. Now, logically yes, we did the highest rapid in the world in New Zealand in 2004 but do I want to repeat that? Well, I was about to.

Five of us on a raft with lots of instructions in Spanish and commands to remember. Let me just say, I will never forget adelante, lean in or vamonos. Lucas and Max took the first row, B and I the second, and Mia with the guide in the last. Off we went. I plugged in my foot so tight that if we were to flip, I would hang off the boat all the way to Panama. My hip flexors felt it immediately. I was focused on two things: hanging onto the raft and remembering all the instructions, especially in the rapids when the water was everywhere. Lucas and I were to be coordinated and not stop paddling until the guide said to stop. That didn’t work super well, as he got most of the water and stopped, which made me nervous and scream, “al dente, Lucas, al dente!” One rapid got under us and leaned us to the right, and all I saw was Lucas flying, Max flying, Mia out, and Brian hanging off the raft, feet tucked under the seats. I let go of the paddle and was determined to stay on the boat, which I did! Success, but where is everyone? In the water. So much for my brave campers, who were all bravado that they did wild rivers in North Carolina. 14 kms on a wild river and we made it. Thank God for good breaks on the river to catch your breath.

Monteverde – the cloud forest

Next destination: 3 hours away in Monteverde. We took a boat across Lake Arenal – a private transfer, followed by a windy road, up and down, no tar, all rocks. This was rough, and I understood why the driver asked if we got sick – good thing I didn’t understand him and we didn’t get sick. Still, I was queasy. The road to our hotel, Cloud Forest Lodge was a good 45 degrees steep, so I was praying the engine makes it.

Another hotel where your room is a cottage, nicely fitted into the nature. This one had a nice balcony/patio, rain boots, ponchos, and umbrellas – ok, getting the message. Trails all around the property and ocatis (sort of a brown raccoon) walking around in beautiful flowers. Quiet, no TVs in the room, serene place. The biggest surprise – the restaurant – absolute gem. I literally stood up after the dinner and went to meet the chef to congratulate them on the best dinner I had in a very long time. Five-star level. Gorgeous fireplace with couches, patios with hummingbirds, ocatis walking around.

The highlight of Monteverde was the nature walk in Cloud forest. Honestly, to me, a forest is a forest. Not so fast. Andres was our guide through it, and boy, was I wrong. With his Swarowski binoculars on a tripod, we walked into a park that didn’t look that special. But the passion of this naturalist who has lived there for over 40 years was unmatched. He knew every sound, every bird, every bug, every bee, centipede, caterpillar, frog, sound, and visual – it was surreal. He mesmerized the kids, for which alone he deserved a prize. I can’t even count the number of animals, flowers, moss, bugs, birds, insects, and other mobile things that we have seen and gotten a little story or lecture on. The change of nature and climate within a few hundred meters was also amazing – the mist of being in the clouds was very visible, and it felt completely different.

On our last day in Monteverde, we did Treetopia which was the most commercial thing we did. Thankfully, it was raining (or cloud misting, as we were told), and it wasn’t packed. 7 ziplines in a row and rain (and it was surprisingly cold up there), and we were done – and pretty dirty (I am not tanned on the picture below, just muddy). Apparently, the rust from the wires makes quite the mess, so we looked like something pooped all over us. The last part was a hanging bridge walk, which again tested my fears of heights and balance. Sigh, how much more of this is coming? Where is the spa?

Tamarindo

Our last stop was the beach, and we were so ready for it. The hotel Cala Luna was beautiful and, as we got used to it, a small house inside of a mini jungle with orchids everywhere. Mosquitos for the first time. A cat in our hut, or around. The beach is a few minutes away, gorgeous and very natural, meaning rough but real – serious waves but warm water. The only plan here was to go fishing and relax. I got a Thai massage – which was outside and with sounds and meditation. Fishing was as expected, they threw the rods in, we waited for something to bite it and then they handed it to us to pull – well to Maxie and Lucas – as it was a lot of work for two huge mahi-mahis. Beautiful scenery, gorgeous water and weather – what else can you wish for? We had the fish prepared for us as ceviche and blackened for dinner to finish the trip.

Overall, this is a beautiful country with amazing people and service. Everyone is extremely welcoming and happy to help. Not as affordable as I thought – food prices were higher than in the US. The fauna and flora are unmatched with any other place I have been to. Coffee – excellent.