Trip to Costa Rica, mid-April to early May, 2010

Why did we go to Costa Rica? Because we could. It was that simple. We were waiting in the Denver Colorado airport for a return flight to Portland aboard Frontier airlines. When they asked for two volunteers to give up their seats for two vouchers on Frontier. Who better than two retired people? Of course we volunteered and spent the night in downtown Denver, nice hotel and meals. When we got home we looked up Frontier and found the farthest flights they had were to Costa Rica. Sounded like a perfect fit. We had never been to Costa Rica and the cost was $32.00 total for both of us. Then the really easy part—talking Eric into coming with us. John’s son didn’t need much coaxing as he has spent time with us on trips before and knows most of our little quirks--- and the best part--- he can accept them. Three weeks and lots to see and do.

Initially when we arrived in Costa Rica we thought the bus would be a good fit. Renting a car seemed like a good idea. In Costa Rica you either have really good or really bad roads. The traffic was a little scary in the big cities and really slow in the outlying areas. Once we got caught up in a horrendous traffic jam that back tracking and trying to find a way around just wasn’t possible. It took us most of the day to travel about 25 miles. Thankfully our car had air conditioning.

Finding a place to stay wasn’t much of a problem. Eric booked several places on line and sometimes we just found a place by arriving and asking the locals. Most of the time we had hot water, but the places were always clean and safe. Sometimes, to be honest, when it was really hot, the tepid water felt good. Only one night found us booked in a place late at night in the mountains with cold water. I had to take MY shower (THEY opted not to shower). I likened it to a garden hose, same pressure and cold. Putting toilet paper in the wastebasket didn’t really take much getting used to as most countries require this rule.

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This golden beetle had eyes that literally glowed in the dark

The tours at night were spectacular and John and I did a ZIP line, which I felt was over rated as to its “thrill”. It was cables strung between trees and you hooked up to the cable and zipped between platforms in trees. Interesting, but I felt not really exciting.

The sightings at night of animals were great we saw animals, especially bugs you would not normally see at night. One beetle looked like it was solid gold. We loved the sloth’s which we saw at a nature preserve for injured and endangered sloth’s. We got to hold and pet them. They were very lovable and cuddly. There was lots of opportunity to view wildlife in many reserves. We even spent one night on an isolated island watching a large (1⁄2 ton) turtle lay her eggs. The howler monkeys woke us one morning and since we were close to the ocean my first thought was they were seals. Wrong—these little guys are really noisy. No sleeping when they are in the area.

A young sloth in a sloth clinic. These fuzzy creatures were friendly, and they did move around, although a bit slowly.


The bridge into Panama. Just a single narrow lane with a plank surface. Surprisingly primitive for an international border point.

We made a quick trip to Nicaragua and Panama. The entrance to Panama at this crossing was a bridge from Costa Rica to Panama. Note picture. We had to walk on a very narrow bridge where loaded trucks were crossing at the same time. Once in Panama it wasn’t too much difference than Costa Rica just a little less costly. In Nicaragua the poverty was obvious and people were desperate to get what little they could from the tourists.

When you return from Panama and Nicaragua into Costa Rica you must show a copy of your flight out of Costa Rica. They didn’t ask coming back from Nicaragua but they did ask coming back from Panama, and we had forgotten it in our motel. Eric was in front of us and they asked him for his papers. When they asked us I said “Oh me Esposo” (Oh my Husband) and hit John in the back of the head. They thought that was pretty funny and motioned us to go through.

We came across lots of lizards in various sizes and colors. Some, like this guy were quite large.

That's an active volcano behind us. There a constant rumbling sound as boulders spew out and tumble down the slope

We saw lots of church’s and a live volcano at night. As always you take over a hundred pictures and only one was worth the effort. I got a picture of a small Ocelot that was pretty spectacular. We highly recommend taking a trip to Costa Rica. It was a beautiful country with really great people.