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The Monteverde Lodge is nice and the staff is very good, but it is dark and damp – a downside of being in a perpetual rain forest. The rooms were a nice size but with dark paneling and not great lighting. The windows faced out to spectacular mountainside view, which was best taken advantage in the morning when the birds were most active.

We woke the next morning to sunshine and mostly clear skies. After an early breakfast we headed over to Selvatura Park for some zip-lining through the canopy. It was great fun and while there is really no chance of actually view any wildlife while zooming across the treetops, it is a thrill and we had major fun at this very touristy attraction. Afterwards we grabbed an early lunch and then headed over the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve for a hike.

We were pelted by a sudden, hard rain as we arrived, so we dove into the gift shop and forked over a couple of bucks for some ultra-cheap plastic ponchos (but yes, they work!). Of course, a few minutes into our hike, the rain stopped and the sun actually peeked out. We lucked out and had the guide all to ourselves. Though we didn’t see animals like in Arenal or Tortuguero, the guide was able to show us some amazing plant, insect and bird diversity in this, our first “old growth” forest visit. At times it felt almost pre-historic.

Upon the leaving the park, we picked up two friendly young German hitchhikers and took them back to town. Natalie was delighted to share with them all of our Costa Rican adventures. We were pretty beat after our morning zipping and afternoon hike so we headed back to the hotel. Edie splurged for a massage (if you are in Monteverde and want a massage, ask for Natalia – she has her own table, comes to your room and was fantastic). Natalie and I headed out to the lobby for some card games. While playing one of the hotel workers came up and informed us a sloth was passing by the back of the lodge. He led us through the kitchen, to the loading dock, and pointed up into the trees. Sure enough there was a sloth, in perfect “hanging upside-down sloth-like” position. She had a baby clinging to her and also grabbing some leaves.

We met a nice couple from New York and their two daughters. Natalie played with their girls, in and out of the hot tub and then they sat together for dinner, while the adults grabbed a table. All very civilized with a roaring fire to keep us warm on a damp raining evening.

See More Monteverde Photos!

The Next Day: Costa Rica: From Monteverde to Osa Peninsula
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary

We woke to brilliant sunshine, crystal blue skies and an amazing view of the volcano. A perfect day to travel by car to our next destination, the Monteverde Rain Forest. After breakfast we quickly packed, jumped in our car and headed out for a lovely drive around Lake Arenal. The roads here were paved and curvy, following the outline of the lake. Private residences and resorts are tucked along the way, but the area still feels mostly undeveloped. Though it does appear to be changing, as there were many signs regarding new planned gated developments, with golf courses, no less!

We stopped for lunch at the Hotel Guadalupe in Tilerán. We just happened to stop in this place and highly recommend it. The restaurant was very clean and charming and the food delicious. We were the only patrons there as it was early (11am), but we wanted to fuel up for the remaining drive.

Then the interesting part of the trip began! We read many times about the roads, but you think, how bad can it really be? Well, pretty bad. I drove and never left 2nd gear. The road is very rocky and pot-holed the entire rest of the drive. It was a back-breaking bone-crunching trip, with Natalie serenading us from the backseat singing Kennolyn campfire songs and the American national anthem (at least the verses she knew – well, pretended to know). Next came one of those “when it rains it pours” moments, as it literally started pouring rain. Pouring! But it’s all good when you’re on vacation and we eventually made it to the town of Santa Elena, and our destination, the Monteverde Lodge.

When we arrived it was still raining, with lots of lightning and thunder – Natalie was enthralled. We checked in, changed clothes and then decided to explore the area by foot. Chris realized quickly that the jacket he brought really wasn’t rainproof, but thank goodness we had borrowed an umbrella from the hotel. We hiked around town to the closest indoor attraction, the Ranarium (Frog-arium) and took a tour to see all the little frogs and toads of Costa Rica. Chris got a great photo of the red-eyed tree frog (made famous for being on the Care2 logo of course!), sitting on Natalie’s hand. It was an educational tour, but weird to go so far into the wild to experience these creatures in aquariums.

Tired, we grabbed an early dinner at the Treehouse Restaurant (which ended up being the equivalent to TGIF in the US and was not a highlight of our trip), walked back to the lodge, hopped in the hot tub for a warmup, and crashed in our beds for the night.

See More Photos of the Drive!

The Next Day: Costa Rica: Monteverde
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary

Morning at the Lost Iguana started with a quick dip in the “hot” pool followed by a buffet breakfast and then off for a “Volcano Hike”. We had a terrific guide, Hector, who was very knowledgeable about the area and it’s history. The hike was interesting for flora and the intermittent rumbling from the volcano – slightly unnerving to hear huge boulders crashing down the mountain side, out of view. When we reached the bottom of the active lava flow we could see huge lava boulders, the size of buses according to Hector, tumbling down the side of the volcano, trailing smoke. This was the same lava flow we had seen at night, quite different in daylight. And unfortunately, during this tour, the top of the volcano was hidden in the clouds.

Then, back to the lodge for lunch and off again for another intense hike through the high-elevation rain forest. This hike was unique in that it crossed 15 bridges, 6 suspension-hanging bridges, some 100s of feet in the air. We had yet another well-informed guide, Johnny, who pointed out the complexity of the jungle plants, insects and animals. A fascinating example was a certain fig tree excretes nectar that attracts a certain ant that aggressively protects the tree from anything that might want to eat the tree’s leaves. The highlights were a poison-dart frog and then a troop of howler monkeys with the alpha male doing a lot of yelling and a momma monkey with her baby hanging on her belly.

The day was complete with a drive to La Fortuna in the driving rain and lightning storm, followed by a search for a recommended restaurant. Going in circles for a bit, driving the wrong way down a one-way street, going head-on with two tour buses and stopping twice to ask for directions finally got us to the right spot. We had an amazing dinner in an open-air casual place, on a side street called La Mesa de Mamá for just about $10 US. Natalie especially enjoyed her arroz con pollo. By the time we got back to the room the sky was clear enough again to enable another fascinating lava show. The volcano gods were definitely smiling on us.

See all of the Arenal photos!

The Next Day: Costa Rica: From Arenal to Monteverde
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary

Our final morning at Tortugero was a blur of last-minute pool visits, breakfast and packing to depart. Getting out of Tortuguero involved a two-hour boat ride through some amazing canals through jungle and farmland, followed by a one-hour drive over an unpaved road, followed by a 30-minute ride over paved roads (hooray for paved roads!). At that point we met up with the rental car. The meeting point was a restaurant in the small town of Sequires, called Caribbean Dish. It seemed to be the meeting point for many tour groups. Quite the melting pot (and not just because it was hot). Quite chaotic. Because we were a little early we had a chance to try the buffet. Not bad. The rental company finally arrived with our car, a tiny dihatsu 4-wheel drive. We opted for the $10/day GPS, which turned out to be a lifesaver on several occasions. Our first driving experience, a 3 hour drive, was sunny and then rainy, then sunny and then rainy again. It was a Saturday and the roads weren’t too busy. Approaching the town of La Fortuna we got our first view of the Arenal Volcano. This is what we had come to see, and we were pleased to see it was puffing smoke. We had heard from several travelers who had come before us that the cloud cover can hide the Volcano for weeks at a time, so we felt privileged to get this first viewing. We then drove through La Fortune, completely around to the other side of the Volcano, and across the dam which holds back Lake Arenal to reach our lodging, The Lost Iguana.

Our first evening at the Lost Iguana consisted of immediately checking out the pool and bar scene, which fortunately at this hotel, were combined. The lower pool is regular temperature, but the upper pool is almost like a sauna it is so warm and it has bar stools that belly right up to the bar. Chris and I sat at the bar having a few beers while Natalie frolicked in both pools. The rain continued, but in this position it didn’t really matter. What one would imagine heaven might be like.

Later we found ourselves at the hotel open-air restaurant with a front-and-center view of the volcano. We had a so-so dinner (the food was the most disappointing part of the Lost Iguana) with amazing views of the fiery lava flows. All of the rooms at the Lost Iguana face the volcano and have spacious balconies. The night sky was cloud-free and the volcano gave us a great show and Chris got some fabulous photos of the volcano is action. Then for some strange reason we all woke up around 4 AM to discover the Volcano was putting on an even more impressive lava show. Completely unreal.

See more photos of the trip from Tortuguero to Arenal!!

The Next Day: Costa Rica: Arenal
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary

The sun rises early in Costa Rica and the walls made of screen allowed our room to be fully illuminated 6am. Fortunately breakfast was ready by 6:15 and we were right there ready to eat. This morning, Edie was adverturous and ordered gallo pinto, the national breakfast staple, fried rice & beans – delicious! The morning is a busy time at the hotel as it is when the guests are either arriving or departing or starting off on tours. We decided to take a short walk on the beach to see the turtle nesting sites in the daytime. A quick boat ride and walk across the airport runway and we found the spot. The egges we say layed and buried had been disturbed. Already a couple of eggs were visible and crabs were starting to swarm around the nest. A guide later told us that raccoons will decimate a nest if they find one. The odds are really against the individual sea turtle. We were told only 3 of 1000 make it to turtle adulthood!

We came back to the lodge after watching a couple of little prop planes take off. We had the whole day in front of us and decided to take a hike in the Tortuguero National Park. A guide named Norton, from the Tortuga lodge accompanied us, along with a strange little dog that just decided to tag along. It was hot and way humid. We coated ourselves in sunscreen and more importantly, bug repellent and then sweated our way through the hike in our heavy black rubber boots.

The trails were wide and well maintained and because it hadn’t rained in awhile, not muddy at all. We tooled along and immediately came upon a troop of howler monkeys. They remained high in the trees and barked at us a bit, but mostly went about their business. The jungle was quiet except for the cicadas. We didn’t see many birds at all, except one little bird that was sitting on its nest.

Toward the middle of the hike, we came upon a troop of spider monkeys. Or did they come upon us? They were low in the trees and we found ourselves constantly moving in order to stay out from underneath them. All of the monkeys make a racket and clambered around, over and past us except one young female who stayed behind. She became fixated on the little stray dog and stayed above the dog make lots of threatening gestures – shaking the tree branches, etc. It was amazing to watch. She didn’t seem to care about the humans at all. Made for a perfect photo op. Eventually we moved on and she did not follow.

A blessedly cool boat ride back to the lodge was followed by a race to suit up and get in the pool. Divine after the sweltering heat of the jungle. Later, hanging out on the deck outside our room (#7 – great location), with Chris on the hammock, me in a chair and Natalie laying on one of the beds just waiting for lunch to be served. Life is beautiful.

The afternoon called for rest and relaxation and Edie took full advantage with a lengthy siesta. Chris and Natalie took the opportunity to explore the lodge grounds and discovered iguanas aplenty. They came upon a friendly grounds keeper who led them to a tree, and pointed up saying “sloth”, “sloth”. Sure enough, there was a sloth. They’re pretty cute, in an incredibly dirty way. This one was a mother with a little baby sloth on her lap. Neither one moved much. It as kinda like looking a clump of dirty carpet in a tree (but cuter).

Our last dinner at Tortuga lodge was delicious – a swordfish delicately dressed with a sweet pineapple sauce along with seasoned veggies. As usual, it didn’t take long to hit the sack. Chris and Natalie slept through, but I was awakened by a powerful rain storm, complete with thunder and lightning. The rain pounded on the roof and reminded me of Louisiana summer rain.

See more photos from Tortuguero!!

The Next Day: Costa Rica: Tortuguero to Arenal
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary

At Tortuga lodge there are only 4 tours offered: boat canal trip, hike through the National Forest/jungle, kayak the canals and a night turtle walk. Because the weather was so great and we didn’t want to risk waiting another day, we also elected to check out the turtles on our first day.

Visiting egg-laying turtles on the beach at night is a highly regulated activity. The Caribbean Conservation Corps, in conjunction with the Tortuguero National Park go to great lengths to protect the turtles, even from the well-wishing tourists like ourselves. There are a very few park rangers that patrol the beach and look for turtles. Once they are spotted, groups of tourists are led by guides and carefully approach the turtles only after they are in active egg-laying mode. Prior to that the turtles can get spooked by people and will turn back to the ocean. When we arrived on the beach there was already a turtle making her nest. We were instructed to wait very quietly until she was done and had entered her egg-laying trance. While we were waiting we observed a second turtle emerge from the ocean and make her way across the beach and start to nest (they do this by digging and flinging sand to make a deep hole).

We got to observe the first turtle lay 20-30 eggs (she will lay approximately 100 total). Other small groups of tourists were also there and cycled in and out looking at the turtle. A group of 5 of us crowded around the turtle, close enough to touch it. The guide lit up the egg-laying with a red light that apparently doesn’t disturb the turtle. The eggs are the size of ping-pong balls. It was all somewhat odd, but wondrous too. Kinda like barging into some random hospital delivery room. Our guide, Geraldo, had been guiding for 30 years and was clearly very proud and passionate about the turtles. The experience was very much focused on turtle conservation and care, and not at all about tourist experience. We got lucky – tourists only get 2 hours on the beach and sometimes don’t get to see a single turtle!

At the very end, we did see a third turtle coming up the beach, but unfortunately a group of about ten tourists led by a guide didn’t see the turtle in time and came right up on it. The turtle quickly (pretty fast for a big turtle) turned and headed back to the ocean. This was upsetting to all of us, but the guides seemed to think she would come back later once the beach was empty of human tourists. We hoped so. Our guide indicated the tourist restrictions put in place are making a difference, and every year the population of turtles are increasing.

The Next Day: Costa Rica: Tortuguero – Part 2
The Whole Trip: Costa Rica: The Summary