Day 5 

Tamarindo Beach 

Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica

We said goodbye to Arenal this morning and survived a five hour van journey to Tamarindo Beach.  The ride was a narrow two lane road through mountains with at least a million curves.  Mrs. Ogle said she felt like she was on the Mind Bender roller coaster at Six Flags after eating six corn dogs and not being able to get off.  Travel tip of the day:    We are also learning that you need to sit as close to the front as possible in a shuttle van. Being in the back, as we were, was like riding Fu Man Chu at the rodeo.  

However, the rough ride was all worth it when we arrived at our nice resort.   Our room was not yet ready so we ventured down the shady rainforest path which opened up to the Pacific Ocean. The beach was quite a surprise.  Unlike our white sandy beaches in the Gulf of Mexico, this beach has brownish sand.   Black and brown pillow lava jutted from the shore out into the surf about 40 yards.   We could see the barnacles and marine life that were waiting on high tide to cover them. Black crabs darted all around the sand and the lava.   

A close up picture of the beach lava

While we were unpacking in our room, we heard a strange sound so we went outside to investigate.  Here's a video of us hunting... Mrs. Langford's ribs hurt from laughing at this!  

We found the monkey up in a tree.  We had been told that howler monkeys will try to poop on you if you get too close, so that thought was in the back of our mind, as well as being attacked by a rogue monkey!  The monkeys also woke us up before dawn the next morning by 'howling', hence the name Howler Monkey.  

We ate dinner at a restaurant on the beach.  Afterward, we saw a beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset as we walked along the beach.  Below is Mrs. Ogle.

Below is the Pacific Ocean sunset.  Why can't you see the sun set on the Atlantic Ocean?

Day 4 Cano Negro River

                                             Day 4

Today we took a boat trip down the Cano Negro River, which is on the Nicaraguan border.  It was a two hour trip, with two other families with us, both from California.  One of the couples were great photographers, and they are going to send us some of their pictures. Our iPhones did not take great pictures because many of the animals were high in the trees, so even though we saw lots of animals, we don't have many to post.

For example, we were thrilled by a family of Howler Monkeys.  The male was howling at us as a sign of protection because his baby and four other family members were there with him.  We saw numerous colorful birds, such as egrets, herons, and anhingas (piano birds).

Below are a few of the animals that we were able to capture on our phones:

This is a cayman (or caiman).  It is related to a crocodile because it has a pointed snout and its teeth are on the outside of its mouth.  The difference?  The cayman is smaller and has stripes instead of crocodile spots.

The White-Faced Monkeys, or Capuchins, were so exciting to watch. There were about ten of them, and they were climbing all over the tree branches. One tried to sneak up on a Jesus Christ Lizard (yes, that is the real name), but the lizard got into the water before a) he was eaten, and b) before anyone got a picture of him. Two of the monkeys came within 2 yards of our boat, showing their teeth to scare us away. It was adorable!

Mrs. Langford and Mrs. Ogle on the Cano Negro River

Day 3  

Arenal Volcano

We arrived at our hotel and it was dark and storming. We had no idea what to expect when we opened the door this morning!  Were we ever surprised! This is what you call a room with a view! 

                    Video of Arenal Volcano from our room!

Our third day began with a trip to the Hanging Bridges tour. Oscar was our guide and made the tour even more fascinating.  He started off by finding an eyelash pit viper coiled up inside in the bananas.  Yikes!  It reminded us that we had to be very careful.  

The Hanging Bridges is a great example of how Costa Rica is using its resources to produce income, as well as preserving the rainforests.  The family that owned the land created these bridges through the forests which draws a lot of money from tourism.  We learned that the forests are now protected and people have to get permission to even cut down a tree on their own land.  

There were 9 hanging bridges.  They would shake and sway a bit when you walked across, which is a bit scary when you are 900 feet above the forests!

The leafcutter ants were working hard.  One group can take all the leaves off of a tree in one day!  They cut them and take them off the tree and take them underground to make a compost which cultivate into fungii which they eat.  It is an example of symbiotic relationship in nature.    

The rainforest trees and plants were amazing.   Strangler Fig.  It actually strangles the tree and the tree dies. 

                                                         The base of a Kapok tree. The wood is used to make boats and canoes, and the fibers are used to make pillows and life jackets.  

                                                   The bromeliad plant grows in trees.  Pineapple is a type of bromeliad!

Waterfall at the bottom of the rainforest.  

REALLY??  

Walking Palm tree.  The roots keep spreading out, making it look like it has legs.










Tuesday night we had a hike around the base of Arenal volcano.  Arenal was emitting lava flows until 3 years ago.   We walked along the hardened lava rock trails.  We saw huge boulders hardened from the eruption of cinders and lava bombs.   

 Mrs. Ogle standing next to a cinder bomb that exploded out of the volcano.  Notice how far away it landed from the volcano!

The night ended with a relaxing soak in the geothermal hot springs.   The springs are heated from the geothermal energy from the magma underground.  This might be one of our favorite parts of our trip!  The pools closer to the top were the hottest, then got a bit cooler as the water flowed down to the lower pools.  

                        Soaking in the hot geothermal pools. 
                        Best professional development ever! :-) 

Day 2

Hey!  What time is it anyway?? 
This morning our smart phone alarms woke us up at 6:30 am so we could meet our driver at 8:30 am.  We walked out at 8:30 am and did not see our driver.  We noticed that the hotel and the street seemed very quiet, but did not think much of it.  When the driver did not show up we asked the bellhop the time, and he informed us that it was 6:30 am!!!!! He said he wished he had a video of our faces when we learned we were two hours early!  Our 'smart' phones showed 8:30, Mrs. Ogle's watch showed 7:30, and the clock in our hotel room showed 6:30, but, of course, we trusted our smart phone technology over a hotel wall clock.  Silly teachers.  Remember when we taught you about time zones?  Well, WE failed that test today!

  
We are leaving now to travel to see Poas Volcano and the La Paz waterfalls, which should be amazing! We will see coffee and sugar plantations, as well as a butterfly sanctuary on our three hour drive. Maybe we can catch up on our lost sleep on the ride. haha! We will end our journey today at the Arenal Volcano, which is Costa Rica's most famous volcano. More to come tonight!

Coffee Plantation on the side of the Poas Volcano.  Our guide told us that Starbucks buys most of the coffee beans from this plantation.

 Coffee plants grow best at an altitude of 3,000-5,000 feet.

As we continued to drive up Poas we could see that we were higher than the clouds.  The forests in the high altitude are called "Cloud Forests".  

We are at the top of Poas Volcano. This plant is nicknamed Poor Man's Umbrella.  You can probably figure out why.

We are at the summit! Only, it blew up in 1953 and left this huge crater lake.  You can see the steam coming up because the crater's water is over 40 degrees Celsius - very HOT!  This huge crater is unbelievable.  It takes volcanologists 5 hours to walk down to the water.

Here is a video of Poas' crater.

Mrs. Langford and Mrs. Ogle walking through the cloud forest.  Look how thick it is.  It is also very cool this high up - 6,000 ft.

Mrs. Langford sitting on volcanic rock.  This igneous rock has a lot of iron in it.

Mrs. Ogle petting a real, live Toucan. He just sat there and enjoyed it.  Smart bird!

The highlight of the afternoon was seeing the La Paz waterfalls.  Amazing!  

     

We drove to our next destination, the Arenal Volcano.  We drove through rural countryside and saw a lot of farmland.  We passed tapioca fields, coconut field, papaya farm, banana trees, and a pineapple field.  We were surprised at how many people were walking on the roads.  When a car came they did not even get over on the side or even look. Our driver pulled over and the guide told us to look in a tree that was hanging over the river.  There were a dozen large iguanas in the tree.  If they iguanas became frightened, they fall off into the water below.  

                        There were 12 iguanas in one tree!  

Next stop is the Arenal Volcano!  

Day 1 San Jose to Poas Volcano

Day 1 of Costa Rica

WE MADE IT!  This was our first view of Costa Rica from the window of our plane!  Just a short clip for you to get an idea of the green lush forests and tall mountains.  There was a good bit of turbulence as we passed through many clouds to land.  We are spending our first day and night in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose.  

Here is a pic of Mrs. Langford standing in the rain on a busy street in San Jose.  The streets do not have lanes and drivers love to use their horns.  Pedestrians have to be careful because they don't have the 'right of way' like we do in Alabama.  All the small red cars are taxis.   We did pass a hospital and it does not look like our hospitals so we are really hoping we don't get sick here! We walked for about two miles looking for the National Theater but never found it. It's hard to ask for directions when no one speaks English!  We are the foreigners and it feels really strange!  The best four dollars we spent was on a taxi ride back to our hotel!! :-)  

This 'Gi-norous' plant in in the courtyard of our hotel.  It is huge!! 

Tomorrow morning we will travel for about three hours to hike the Poas Volcano!  We are exploding with excitement!  (get it??)