Our report
This is our first family holiday outside the safe settings of a Club Med village.
We decide to visit Costa Rica and worried as we are, we seek the assistance of a travel agency. Through Thika Travel we are in business with Costa Rica Trails. This kind of service comes with a price, but then again, you don’t have to worry about a thing.
A very pleasant flight with KLM to San José and a quick transfer to Alajuela, Xandari Resort. What a start ! If you’re visiting Costa Rica for the first time you get an upgrade to a suite. This resort is located on top of a hill, with beautiful vistas on San José and the airport. Home grown coffee beans and beautiful tropical gardens. One of the heliconias houses a tarantula the shape of a mouse ! What’s next ?
The second day we’re off to the domestic terminal of the airport ( more like a hangar ). Apparently they reserved a Cessna for our transfer to Tortuguero. Our captain Pedro takes us for a tremendous flight over El Arenal volcano and banana plantations. Laura’s enjoying every second of it and is a little bit disappointed when we arrive in Tortuguero, although it’s the perfect timing for our breakfast at this beautiful Caribbean coast.
Tortuguero Lodge is a fantastic hide-away and here we actually realize for the first time where we are: right in paradise between rain forest and ocean. Among several monkeys, birds, crocodiles … One of the gardeners takes us for a walk and reveals the secrets of the forest. He points out, we gaze.
Next stop is the Pacuare Lodge, one of National Geography’s favorites ! Most guests arrive by raft, but the rainy season pushed the rapids into a category four, so Laura ( being an eight-year-old girl ) is not able to make the ride. We arrive in style with a zip line across the river !
The Lodge is superb, amidst 22000 acres of forest. There is no electricity in the cabines and Laura finds herself accompanied by a thousand insects on her way to the toilet at night. Jungle creatures. The rangers have build a beautiful canopy, which makes up for the pouring rain. In the evening we enjoy a great meal with a good glass of wine in the barefoot restaurant.
Other guests are very enthusiastic about their rafting adventures, leaving us very curious.
Life is what you make of it:Pura Vida!
Next stop is Monteverde.
This area is home of some of the most thrilling experiences : rafting and zip lining. Our base camp is Hotel Sapo Dorado. The hanging bridges and zip lines up here are crazy. Forget about rollercoasters and get hooked on one of those lines. When we arrive the weather gets really bad. Not knowing if these conditions are still save, we’re already in the gondola towards the top of the mountain. The guides decide it’s ok to descend, but after two lines, they accompany Laura on her way down. Our skin hurts and it’s damn cold, but what an adventure ! We can’t see our little girl because of the clouds. Fortunately there she is, upside down, with a strong Tico by her side.
Finally after 18 lines we are safe and sound, enjoying a cold beer and sharing our adrenaline boost with the guides. The hanging bridges offer beautiful views on bromelias, toucans and spider monkeys, with an orchestra of jungle sounds on the background.
In this season you’ll get wet anyway, so you might as well go rafting. Laura is once again the youngest of the team and after a short briefing, we’re out on the river. Everyone’s got to participate, otherwise the raft tops. It’s a very bumpy ride and our guide jumps into the water with Laura, just to make her feel at ease… It helps .
After two hours of ooohs and aaaahs we are jumping into little pools and enjoying a marvelous picknick ashore. From the raft we witness the beautiful surroundings and the animals in the trees. That’s why we don’t fancy the hot wells afterwards… A bit boring after all these activities.
The last days are spent near Manuel Antonio. The Pacific coast has some of the most beautiful black and white beaches. Time to look back at our memories of this beautiful country with very warm Tica’s and Tico’s, already making plans for some more traveling…
