Pixie Dust and Escapades in Costa Rica

Quesera Beach at the Curu National Wildlife Reserve

Costa Rica's wild and untamed nature, along with its beauty, makes it the perfect place for an exciting adventure or a total relaxation vacation. There are many who visit Costa Rica and accomplish the latter, but, I fear, they miss out on getting to know Costa Rica and it's true allure. We went to experience Costa Rica, learn about the people, the environment and, as much as we could in our short time there, the way of life. That we did, with a few very exciting moments along the way!

We started our trip on a Wednesday, meeting our friends, Trisha and Ron. After enduring the bumpiest, dustiest roads (it's the dry season in March) for the last hour of our drive, Santa Elena appeared. Santa Elena is a very charming adventure tourism town in the cloud forest of Monteverde. We arrived at Cabañas La Pradera and were greeted by the warm smile of young Tony, who is the main host of his family's small resort-like collection of cottages. He told us he would be with us shortly to show us to our cottage, but, in the meantime, added, "Would you like see a sloth?" pointing to a small paparazzi -like crowd around a nearby tree. A beautiful two toed sloth, only a mere six feet above us, seemingly smiled as he posed for his admirers He was the first of our jungle animal encounters in Costa Rica.

The next morning we went into town for a walkabout in Santa Elena, and after lunch, visited the Don Juan plantation for a coffee, cocoa and sugar cane tour. I found this to be very interesting realizing I knew very little about the production of coffee, chocolate and sugar. Did you know that coffee was believed to have been discovered in the 13th century when a goat herder noticed his goats acted very energetically after eating berries from the Coffea Arabica tree? He tried the berries and he noticed the same effect. A monk witnessed this and brought berries back to his fellow monks but leaders threw them into a fire to destroy them thinking them a tool of the devil. The delicious aroma of the roasting bean inside led them to give the berries another chance. They tried the roasted beans in hot water, done much like tea, and, lo and behold, coffee was born. The monks would use this coffee drink for maintaining energy during long prayer sessions.

We sampled some coffee, and freshly ground cocoa, mixing in hot water first and then other desired ingredients from sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili, vanilla, and a few others. We then chewed on sugar cane stalks, and pressed some for a sweet sugar cane juice. The grounds were beautiful, our host was charming, and we learned that Don Juan Cruz himself, now in his 80s, still visits his farm most days but leaves the business in the capable hands of his son and nephew. We met Don Juan, a man full of smiles and waves, as he travelled back into town on our shuttle.

One allure of Costa Rica, especially for visitors from the north, is the diverse wildlife, and what better way to view the jungle but at night. Trisha and Ron had been to Costa Rica before and Trisha felt she had missed doing a Night Walk Tour on her last visit, and Mike and I were all in. We were encouraged to keep our eyes peeled for any movement in the trees and to tell our guide when we think we might see something. It wasn’t long and I spotted two aligned moving lights on the ground and found it was a headlamp beetle, whom have two bioluminescent spots just behind their heads and another spot on their underside that is usually hidden. They are common in Costa Rican cloud forests. On our tour, we did see, to name some highlights, leaf cutter ants parading with their leaves back to their nests to use for compost which helps them grow the mushrooms they live off of, a tarantula and a nearby Tarantula Hawk Wasp which preys on the tarantula, and can also produce the second most painful sting in the world after bullet ants, a hummingbird nest with baby’s down and needle beaks poking up over the edge, a sleeping hummingbird, a red eyed frog hiding in a wasp nest, a long tailed Manikin bird (which our guide was super pumped about), and a green pit viper (which we didn’t get close to but our guide took our phones and went in for a close up shot). Maybe we were hoping for a little more excitement, but it was fun to wander the jungle trails in the dark with the unknown waiting around every corner.

Thursday brought us to 100% Aventura for ziplining, rappelling, and, possibly, a Mega Tarzan Swing. Trisha, whom was hesitant due to her fear of heights and last ziplining excursion, was determined to conquer her fear, but insisted on getting a “taxi”. I was proud of her for attempting, again, to “have fun” zipping high over the treetops on the longest zipline in Latin America. (Note: doing a really scary thing a second time, doesn’t always make you like it better, but it does help you learn something about yourself - sorry, Trisha, but when it came time to jumping off the Mega Tarzan Swing, I, too, learned something about myself.) This organization was very well set up and all the equipment seemed fairly new. Guides were great and safety was emphasized. The thrill of the long ziplines and the two superman ziplines was amazing. I’d do all that again in a New York minute but the Mega Tarzan Swing left me feeling like a big chicken. Something I definitely know about myself is that I do not like free fall activities. I walked to the edge of the platform where I was promised that the short free fall would end in a couple of gentle large sways of a swing, but when the brave young man in front of me jumped and then yelled like panicked child, I turned on my heel and made my way off the platform, wishing my hubby good luck on the way by. Mike, on the other hand, who has bungee jumped before, and bridge and cliff jumped many times throughout his history, loved it. Not for me.

That afternoon took us off the beaten path, even more so, to a little farm that offers horseback riding. We had read that we would be able to hike, for a small fee, to a waterfall and a thermal water fed pool that is often quiet and private, on the farm's property. We set out with some snacks and refreshement, and our bathing suits and towels. The terrain was rocky and very hilly, but the view was awesome. Passing some wandering cows along the way, we eventually came to a forest lining a brook. We followed the path and came to some rock constructed stairs that led to a concrete pool that had pipes pumping in some thermal water. From the pool, we were able to see a beautifully cascading waterfall below. The water wasn't hot like some thermal springs closer to the many volcanoes in Costa Rica, but it was warm enough following our sweat inducing hike. It also was peaceful and provided us with a private experience that was definitely unique.

We finished our time time in Santa Elena with a nice meal at The Treehouse. This is definitely worth a visit for the experience itself. Entering the restaurant requires climbing spiral stairs that rotate around the trunk of a massive tree within an open aired courtyard. It was colorful and unique: a live band was playing on the second of three floors and multi colored lights lit up the trees branches and space. The second and third floor has a perimeter of mezzanine for live edge tables which are spaced between the large branches of the tree. A light mist (it is the cloud forest) didn’t deter anyone, and if it did, there was an adjoining dining area out of the open air.

The next morning we headed back to the Liberia airport to meet our friends, Kim and Dave, as we headed to the Nicoya Peninsula. We were happy to enter our rented villa, Cerro Ala Blanca, high in the hills overlooking the Bay of Nicoya, and see that it was overwhelmingly beautiful. The wall of windows featured an amazing view just beyond an infinity pool with a flowing, waterfall feature. We were especially pleased as the last 20 minutes of our drive has us back on dirt, narrow, windy roads leading to what looked like an isolated no man’s land.

We relaxed, swam, cooked a meal, and had an exciting first night in our new digs. The jungles of Costa Rica bring many creatures among the humans. Creatures such as the noisy green toads would visit the pool serenading prospective mates. And along with them, the Giant King (or Cane) Toad, that were massive but quiet, would make appearances. The King/Cane toad can grow up to 10-15 cm long, and secrete a very poisonous toxin when threatened. It’s recommended to stay away from “toad licking”, apparently a dangerous practice by some, so we were so glad we were not tempted to do this.

Besides the toads, we were treated to a rare sighting of, get ready for it, a RATTLESNAKE! As the wind died down, and we enjoyed the evening on the pool deck, I heard a “shhhhhhhh…..” sound behind me a few different times. I got up to investigate, and in the darkness, I saw a coiled shape on top of the waterfall rock feature that I didn’t remember seeing before. As I stepped closer and turned on my phone light, I could see it was a snake. Cool! We were excited to take some pics, some of us closer than others, but it then started to dawn on us, that in Costa Rica, there were poisonous snakes! We looked up Costa Rican snakes to find one with the same markings using the CLOSE UP pictures we had just taken, and it was a RATTLESNAKE! We sent a pic to our caretaker, Raul, and his response was, “I’m on my way,” and then, “It’s a rattlesnake. Go inside and close all the doors now.” And he showed up shortly after. With a SHOTGUN! Apparently, he doesn’t like snakes. Unfortunately, it was now gone, and, upon a search the next day, it was determined it didn’t like us either and left the scene. Raul then told us that the “shhhh” sound I heard was the snake rattling because it was mad about the wind that had been blowing the last couple of days (snakes hate wind), and we were lucky it didn’t take a leap at us. They can leap the length of their body (6-8 feet, we guessed) and one has about an hour to get medical help if bitten. Yikes! But exciting!

Montezuma was worth the one and half hour drive over dirt roads and through construction (they are preparing to pave the main roads though the Nicoya Peninsula). It was a fun bohemian-like beachside town and we enjoyed a little stroll, window shopping and a couple of stops for refreshments. We had glimpsed a beautiful garden through a restaurant in a hotel called Sano Banano Beachside and knew it would be a special place to have lunch. They had delicious cocktails and local beer, traditional Costa Rican meals, with options for vegetarian and gluten free, if that’s what you’re looking for. The Vegetarian Casado was the very best meal I had had so far (I think, as food is so good in CR). This secluded garden even gifted us with a mango that fell from the tree as we sipped on our drinks. We cut it open and all had a taste and it was a perfectly sweet treat.

Kim, Dave and I had reservations for ziplining in Montzuma at Sun Trails Tours. We had a great time zip lining, seeing the ocean view from the treetops and enjoying the waterfalls. The guides were professional and friendly. This ziplining tour was unique as you did some ziplining and then spent some time at the waterfall where you could jump in and have a swim. I was a little nervous to jump from the designated rocks so one of the guides offered his help to a lower spot to jump, and I really appreciated still being able to take the plunge (I’m not as young and brave as I used to be). Trisha and Ron were not ziplining but were able to hike in and meet us here. We also saw, one of many, but the biggest iguana we had ever seen, sunning itself here. We then continued on to finish the last of the lines and as we glided above, we were able to see the falls from this vantage point. At the end, we were treated to an up close monkey sighting, seeing both Capuchin and howler monkeys. Finally, monkeys!!

The following day, Raul was able to arrange a private boat tour for us which gave us some freedom in what we chose to see and do. He came along as our tour guide, and our captain was very professional and his first mate (his 10 year old son) was super helpful and serious about doing a great job. We had read about San Lucas Island which our house overlooked from it’s hilltop, and hoped to check this spot out. San Lucas hosted a maximum security prison which housed the worst and most brutal criminals for 118 years only closing its doors in 1991. Some say it’s haunted by ghosts such as the nurse and the cook who were both murdered by the inmates. We arrived on this ominous island and were immediately greeted by the creepy sounds of the howler monkeys, although we never did see them. The island is in a ramshackle state but there were people there surveying and planning to make this island a heritage site. We viewed the graffiti and art created by the prison’s past inhabitants, some said to have been created with blood, and had mixed feelings about the contrast between themes of restitution and disturbed images such as the depiction of the nurse who was kidnapped, tortured, and then murdered.

Glad to be spending the rest of our boat tour on more happy themes, we stopped at an uninhabited island to see a family of spider monkeys. We moved close to the rocky shore, and Raul called out toward the trees. Soon, we could see the monkeys scurrying quickly over to see us. The family of 20-30 monkeys seemed just as curious about us as we were about them. We then headed towards Tortuga Island where we stopped to snorkel around a small rock just off the shore. We saw an amazing variety of colorful fish such king angelfish, blue tang surgeonfish, three banded anemonefish, and a stripped eel, to name a few. I swam through a school of around a hundred small fish and it truly was like swimming in a saltwater aquarium. We then went to the very touristy Tortuga Island. Tortuga has an amazing beach and is set up like a resort although there isn’t a resort. It’s strictly a daytime venue with chairs for rent, stalls for food and drink purchase, and a souvenir shop. Raul arranged our lunch and called over a local fisherman who makes you an oyster scallop ceviche on the spot served on the shell with fresh lime juice, and hot sauce. Delicious!!!

We swam and enjoyed our lunch and refreshments. We then pet the famous, Filimina, the wild pig who is a Tortuga tourist area fixture. She was a runt and the locals merchants adopted her and now she’s a known attraction. We also played with Mangrove crabs which could be called Halloween crabs due to their purple and orange shells. The deer and iguanas, lurked nearby looking for scraps from the food stalls.

La Perla Negra

When we returned, despite being tired, we checked out the La Perla Negra on Raul’s recommendation. The food was delicious but the place itself is a fun treat to visit. The owner has been adding onto the this pirate themed restaurant and bar and has recently added some impressive features like a massive skull head overseeing the happenings, a couple of levels with an additional bar for party nights, a giant octopus, and some new hostel accommodations. Build it and they will come seems to be the mantra. There is entertainment regularly but we we didn’t get to check this out. We did however check out the hammock and seating near the water, and had a game of pool, and watched the red hued sunset.

The reason I chose this area when I planned our trip to Costa Rica was to complete a thing on my bucket list that is a thing of rare natural beauty and invokes wonder. I wanted to swim with the bioluminescent algae. And parts of the Bay of Nicoya provided excellent conditions for these tiny creatures. First off, we had an amazing time animal viewing in the Curu Wildlife Refuge, seeing howler, Capuchin and spider monkeys, an armadillo, a giant blue butterfly, coatis and racoons, and some scarlet macaws flying overhead. We then went to the best little unassuming nearby restaurant called Soda Esmeralda for an early supper. The owner greeted us with a big, warm smile letting us cuddle his small puppy before taking our order. He then cooked up some delicious food and this ended up being a highlight among our restaurant stops. Later, we boarded a boat as the sun started to lower in the sky, and headed to a secluded nearby beach where we swam, the sun set, and we snacked on fresh fruit. After the sun set, we gathered in the boat and anchored just off the shore. We ran our hands through the water and there were hundreds of tiny sparkles. It was only getting darker and darker, so this was only the beginning. We all put on masks and snorkels and climbed into the water. I put my face in and started swimming and IT WAS UNBELIEVABLY HEAVENLY to see! A little later I heard Kim say in the darkness, with a child-like giddiness, “I feel like Tinkerbell!” Swimming through the algae created a small galaxy of what looked like millions of tiny stars. From a distance, when you saw someone treading water with their arms and legs churning, it looked like they were creating a glowing aura around them. It was wondrous and we were definitely not disappointed. As we watched the glowing trail caused by the boat motor on our way back, the almost full, large, orange moon rose on the horizon, also reflecting on the water, treating us to another surreal moment in time.

The next day was a day to chill and get Mike to the nearby air strip in order to take a small jumper to San Juan. Unfortunately, he had to head back home a couple of days early for work. We had breakfast, coffee by the pool, an 11:00 clock beer while swimming and gawking at the view, and then decided to go to the nearest beach for some last minute beach time before Mike had to leave. We only left for an hour.

Did I tell you that it was the dry season in Costa Rica, and about all the fires we had been seeing evidence of? When we reached the summit of our hill, we started to see smoke, and soon after, as our house appeared, we saw flames. Our yard was on fire and the flames were moving fast. We knew the house wouldn’t burn because it was concrete and surrounded by concrete, but there was a lot of smoke and the flames were on two sides. We contacted Raul and he called 911 and asked the guys to use the hoses to hose down the grass near the Rancho. Before we knew it, the fire came in from behind us too, from across the road. At this point, the smoke was getting heavier, and fire was on three sides, and we started to envision the scenes we saw the last few years from Fort McMurray, Alberta, British Columbia and California where homes and lives were lost from wildfires. We decided to grab our things quickly and get out of there, at least until the fire had passed.

After getting some lunch and getting Mike to the Tambor Air Strip, we returned a few hours later. Raul was there and told us that it’s common for the fires to pass by once every year or two. It was getting dark and from our high vantage point we could see glowing coals and fires burning all around us further down the hill. Fortunately, the smoke was blowing away from the house now and we were able to stay outside and open the windows. Our belongings did not escape smelling of smoke though, and we remained conscious of this as we pulled things out of our bags over the next couple of days. We were fortunate that this was our last night at our beautiful house because the house was going to need a thorough cleaning. Ash and dust was throughout the house, in the pool and around the patio, and despite us trying to sweep up, it kept coming. Fires move and behave differently here as they move quick and mostly burn the dry grass and leaves on the ground and burn around the trees, for the most part, depending on the type and health of the tree. Raul told us that as soon as the green/wet season began, it wouldn’t take long for the charred fields and forests to become lush again. We observed that most yards and properties are keep well raked and that they control burn as a way to deter wildfires away from their property.

The next day, Kim, Dave and I left Trisha and Ron, as they were moving on to another part of Costa Rica for a few extra days. We headed to Coco, a beachside town not far from the airport in Liberia. It was a happening little town with beautiful beaches, dozens of yachts moored offshore, a live band playing on a beach boardwalk, tons of restaurants, shops and bars, and, tourists up the ying yang. And, along with tourists, comes panhandling and aggressive selling of wares. Lovely spot but one day and night was my limit in a place so tourist-centered. Our apartment at Villa Silvestre had a beautiful garden and we enjoyed the authentic Costa Rican breakfast delivered to us the next morning.

Places were explored, experiences were appreciated, memories were made. Costa Rica would be a place I would return to, as it was warm, welcoming, and a place where anyone could find what their soul needs, whether it was calm relaxation, or exciting adventures. Pura Vida, as they say!