from WillametteLive

WOU turtle protecters headed to Costa Rica
By Eric A. Howald
from WillametteLive, Section News
Posted on Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 09:58:38 PM PDT

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Help the turtle team reach its goal:

For ten days this summer, a group of Western Oregon University students will act as heroes to halfshells. Provided, that is, they can raise the funds necessary to make the trip.

Six WOU students and two staff advisers are planning a trip to Costa Rica to assist La Tortuga Feliz, a non–profit organization dedicated to the protection of sea turtles.

“We’ll be walking the beach to make sure the turtle eggs are safe from poachers,” Sam Goodwin, a sophomore and one of two project leaders, said.

“I’m sort of hoping our presence is enough to deter them,” quipped Melissa Ineck, one of the staff members accompanying the trip.

Students and staff are planning the trip as part of the university’s Alternate Break program, which dispatches groups of volunteers around the country and the globe to participate in service learning projects.

In Costa Rica, the group will “patrol” the beach in Tortuguero National Park and the harbor of Limón, the site to which the four largest species of marine turtles journey to lay their eggs.

Past trips have included projects in Alaska, New Orleans, Peru and Vietnam.

To raise money needed to finance their travels, the group members have planned midnight movies, a dance, bottle and can collection drives, flower and water sales at graduation ceremonies, and offered babysitting, housework, and yard work services to faculty and staff.

“We’re always looking for new ways to fund-raise. We’d even be open to local businesses letting us put out donation cans at their workplace,” Stacey Walen, a WOU freshman and coordinator for the Costa Rica trip, said.

The Costa Rica-bound students still need to raise about $10,000 to cover their travel and associated expenses, but the group won’t be lazing in the sun at five-star hotels.

“It’s going to be pretty much like camping,” Ineck said. “We’ll have plumbing, but that’s about it. We’ll spend each night in the outdoors.”

Goodwin explained that the trip is something of a departure from past Alternative Break programs.

“We’ve never planned a trip with a mission of conservation,” she said. “Up to this point, most of the trips have dealt with human needs.”

Goodwin traveled to San Diego as part of the Alternative Break program last year. She and other students spent the trip volunteering at the Storefront Emergency Shelter for homeless and runaway youth. She came back a changed person.

“It definitely made me realize how fortunate I had been to come into contact with teens that had been so abused we couldn’t even touch them. It’s a whole other level of reality,” she said.

As part of their schedules, the students selected for Alternate Break trips have weekly meetings to learn about their intended destination.

“We’ve had everything from cultural lessons to lessons about the turtles to Spanish lessons,” Walen said. “One of our trip members made a mock travel video to show during our meeting.”

Given recent economic hardships, the trip members understand that they are asking for a lot to make the trip a reality, but they’ve got a compelling reason driving them.

“We’re asking the community to support us because they’ve raised us to want to help. To do something for the world. To do something right. What we’re asking for is the opportunity to do it,” Goodwin said.

For more information about the alternative break program or to make a donation, visit www.wou.edu/student/career/ASB.php. Local businesses willing to host a donation jar for the trip can contact Walen at swalen07@wou.edu.

Tyler Sprecker

Tyler Sprecker

Living abroad in Costa Rica:

As I approached graduation my final year of college I was confronted with a very important decision: what to do with myself. I hadn’t lined up a job like some of my classmates, nor had I applied to graduate school like a few others. With no real prospects lined up, I decided to take the time to see another part of the world and improve my Spanish. After reviewing several programs I settled on a language school in Costa Rica.

Aside from a skiing trip in Canada and a couple of cruises in the Western Caribbean, I had never been outside the US before. I knew I wanted to travel and see other cultures but I was not entirely sure what to expect. I didn’t do much research on Costa Rica prior to my departure, either (I think my mom did more research than I did). All I knew was what everyone else did: Costa Rica had nice beaches and rain forests. For all the research I did, watching one episode of National Geographic would have better prepared me for my journey.

There are certain luxeries that many of us as Americans have come to expect as part of our living arrangements. A few days without power after a lightening storm becomes more than an inconvenience. If one of our computers breaks down on us, raplacing it becomes our top priority. As an American, I had become accustomed to a certain standard of living that is not enjoyed by many others outside the developed world. I won’t compare my time in Costa Rica to my friend’s experience volunteering in Niger, but living with a family of modest means in Costa Rica was an adjustment.

Luckily the family I was living with had electricty and running water, usually. Occassionally during the rainy season the power would go out for a few hours or a few days, and along with it, the water. The few times that my family was able to foresee the large storms they would fill up buckets with water so we would have something to bath with while the water was out. The power outages weren’t the problem, though; it was the cold showers. I grew up going fishing and camping, so I like to think I can tolerate some pretty extreme conditions, but in my day to day life hot showers is where I draw the line. Unfortunately, I was forced to adapt, but I was not enthusiastic about having to do so. The cold showers were nice mid-day during the summer when it was so hot and humid outside that walking to the pool was almost too great a burden, but cold showers in the morning were significantly less welcome. The shower situation was something I did not discover until the morning after my arrival, but my adjustment began the night before.

Waiting in the bathroom to welcome me the night of my arrival was a cockroach. Having had been to New York and Washington DC, I had seen cockroaches, but not like the ones I would learn to live with in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican variety were bigger than the ones I had previously been acquainted with. My host family had insect spray that was rather effective at killing the cockroaches, so managing the cockroach problem was not especially taxing on my sensibilities. Much to my dismay, however, dead cockroaches were quickly replaced with live ones. They were pretty good at finding hiding places as well, as I discovered the hard way. One day, I was brushing my teeth and was about to spit into the sink when a cockroach climbed up out of the drain as soon as I turned on the faucet. Perhaps even cleverer was the one I discovered a short while later. On the sink was one of those plastic tooth brush holders with slots for the tooth brushes and a hollow underside. I discovered a cockroach had claimed the underside as its home when I saw the cockroach’s antennae sticking out from underneath.

The cockroaches were just the beginning of my insect worries, however. Directly above the bed in my room was a light that would attract various insects (mostly small beetles). The insects would collect on the light and then fall onto my bed, requiring me to sweep off the top sheet before going to sleep each night. At least the ones that managed to find their way into my bedroom were usually not large enough to cause much alarm. The larger wasps and moths tended to confine themselves to the living room.

You may be wondering why so many insects managed to find their way into the house in the first place. The answer is simple: they did not have screens on their windows and doors, all of which were left open during the day to air out the house. As they had a television set and the father had a cell phone, I could only imagine that they had enough money to get screens if they felt it was necessary, but for them it wasn’t a problem. They had grown up that way and were more accustomed to insects around the house than I was. They even had a solution: geckos. Crawling on the walls of the kitchen and living room (and occasionally, my room) were geckos which fed on the insects. Aside from their evening chirps I did not find them to be a nuisance, and seeing as how they fed on the insects I disdained, I counted them among my Costa Rican friends.

The insects are something you learn to live with. I was considerably more squeamish about them when I arrived than when I left five and a half months later. Likewise, I had learned to live with cold showers in the morning. It was an adjustment – one of many – that I would have to make during my time in Costa Rica.

Sugar Beach, Costa Rica (from personal collection)

Aside from the issues described in my previous article my experience in Costa Rica was rather enjoyable.

My host family lived in a small town off the coast of Potrero Beach, about a 40 minute walk along the bay from Flamingo Beach where I attended the Centro Panamericano de Idiomas. The town itself was rather simple: a soccer field, two supermarkets and two bars/restaurants. My house was located about a ten minute walk outside of town, about 100 meters past an excellent Italian restaurant called Marco Polo. Every morning a small school bus would meet me and a few other students outside the restaurant to take us to school.

Village life pretty much revolved around school events, which consisted of the occasional school dance or parade. Select days throughout the year (such as Mothers Day) featured school parades across the country. Not even the language school escaped the festivities. Once a month the school had “Cultural Events” that required the participation of all students. Events included plays, music, poem recitals and dances (yours truly acted as one of the wise men in a nativity play, participated in an arts and crafts fair and recited original poetry).

There was one event that did not involve the local schools, however. Every Wednesday night, the best bar in town had ladies' night where the women drank free. In a town with nothing else to do after the sun went down, ladies' night was a popular event. In my five and a half months I attended exactly two ladies' nights, and if you ask me, it was two too many. The man to woman ratio was about 14:1. All the local women knew better than to go, which left mostly female students from the language school looking to have a good time. If I were a woman I can’t imagine I would have gone more than once just to see what it was like. Most of the men there would get drunk and watch the people on the dance floor. I know several women that tried dancing but quickly left the floor after being groped repeatedly. Aside from the “hands on” dancing, however, I am not aware of anyone having had any problems.

Although the night life was somewhat relaxed during the week, there were plenty of ways to stay occupied. As I mentioned, the beach was only a ten minute walk from my house, and although Potrero Bay was nothing to write home about, it bordered some more attractive beaches with whiter sands and bigger waves. Most days a group of students would meet at the beach or one of the nearby pools. Students that wanted to escape for a while could take the bus to one of the nearby towns. Tamarindo, a touristy city along the beach with rows of shops and restaurants, was only 40 minutes by bus. The school also offered various day or weekend trips for an additional expense, such as trips into the rain forest, a nearby nature preserve and nearby cities.

Perhaps most fun of all, however, was just hanging around with the other students. During my tenor at the school, I met other students from France, England, Ireland, Brazil, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Canada, the United States, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, all with their own experiences, perspectives and reasons for learning Spanish. I had a lot of good times with the some of the people I met while I was there, but I’ll save those stories for Part 3.

alled Mariner’s Inn, a place I would later rely upon for an after class banana split everyday like clockwork, an addiction matched only by my reliance on the school’s coffee, which served a double purpose: satisfying my palate and keeping me awake. At my peak I was consuming about six cups over the course of the four-hour school day, though my coffee regime was later pared back.

The day that Katrina left was a sad one. Not long after her departure, however, I began spending time with a young guy that had recently finished his army service after 18 months in Afghanistan. Quiet by nature, getting details about his time overseas was a bit like getting a politician to admit he was wrong about something, though he indulged me a few stories, one of which stands out among the rest.

Among the ranks of the animal kingdom in Afghanistan is the camel spider, a spider that can reach the size of a dinner plate. One fine day my friend and his unit were out for a patrol in their humvees using a dried riverbed as a road, when one of the humvees drove over a camel spider. After the humvee had passed, the spider then picked itself up and scuttled out of the river bed. I cringed at the thought of an indestructible spider-monster lurching in the shade. Luckily for me I was on the other side of the world, where my biggest problem was grasshopper-like insects one foot in length; scary in its own right, but better than robo-spider.

I made my next group of friends with two months left to go: an affable woman from Denver named Nancy, a man between careers from South Carolina named Grant, a recent Oxford graduate named Emily, and a dance instructor from Germany named Stefanie (who, oddly enough, didn’t have a German accent). The four of us took to spending time at the pool, eating at Marco Polo and hanging around on the porch of Grant’s duplex. Time slowed down after Katrina had left, yet it managed to pick up again after these four arrived. Despite our day to day shenanigans I think our most memorable time together was our trip into Santa Cruz for Costa Rica’s Christmas parade. One of the others rented a car for the day and the five of us made the leisurely drive into Santa Cruz. After accessorizing ourselves with Santa hats (or devil horns, in Stefanie’s case) we made our way through the throngs of people to watch the parade. Thousands of people crowded the streets that night; street vendors lined the streets selling confetti and food and beverages. It was a good way to celebrate our approaching departure dates.

The friends I made in Costa Rica alone made the trip worthwhile. Fortunately, my friends were not limited to the students I met, a topic for Part 4.

Living abroad in Costa Rica: Part 4

While most of my friends were fellow class mates of mine, one of my closest friends I made in Costa Rica was a local. Although originally from Nicaragua Nelson, like thousands of his fellow Nicaraguans, had come to Costa Rica in search of work. While most of them took advantage of the boom in Costa Rica’s tourism industry by signing up for jobs in construction, Nelson was a security guard for a nearby compound of duplexes. Nelson was my age, and had a great sense of humor. While he had a great desire to learn English, his schedule did not permit him to take advantage of free classes offered by a hotel located not far outside of town. To compensate, he would write down random English words he had heard and later ask me to translate them. This practical if inefficient system often yielded some interesting words, such as “caboose” and “string cheese.” I would often visit with Nelson in the evenings and accompany him on his patrols around the two compounds for which he was responsible. My conversations with him probably did more to improve my Spanish than anything else I did there, and given our similar goals to learn a foreign language, laughing at each other for our failures of communication was almost mandatory. Of course, Nelson wasn’t the only local I befriended.

Like all students that stayed longer than a week, I had my favorite teachers (students were given new teachers weekly). Since I was there for so long I had the opportunity to be taught by nearly every teacher on the school’s roster (the only reason why I didn’t have every teacher at least once is because eventually I was allowed to choose my teachers). Mario, without a doubt my favorite teacher of the bunch, was in his late twenties/early thirties, very laid back and loved to have a good time. He had attended college for eco-tourism, a subject he was delighted to speak about. He was also very fond of cooking. He was always sharing with me recipes of his, including one for turtle eggs. As Mario explained to me, although it is illegal to poach turtle eggs, they would often times find their way onto the market after being confiscated from poachers by the police. He also took me hunting for scorpions one day after learning that I had not seen one in my (then) five months in Costa Rica (we found one under a log in the school yard). Mario was something of a rarity among his fellow Costa Ricans as he also spoke English and Italian (although the region of Costa Rica in which I was living was home to a large Italian community that shared that particular linguistic trifecta).

Also among my favorites was Lorena, a motherly figure in her mid-twenties. She was a very kind and light-hearted person and was more than happy to share with me various ghost stories from her childhood. A friend and colleague of hers, Marionella, was another one of my favorites. Fun and easy to talk to, Marionella stood out among her fellow Costa Ricans for her dancing in a country whose culture is strongly tied to music and dance. Every week day for four hours I would sit down with my teachers and review verbs, discuss sentence structure, summarize news paper articles and talk about whatever came to mind. Naturally my favorite teachers were the easiest and most interesting to talk to. For those that needed assistance inspiring conversation among their students, various tools were employed.

As I discovered, asking students their opinions about controversial topics was often the most effective way to get them talking. During my first few weeks of school, I was surprised to be asked by some of my teachers about my views regarding abortion and the war in Iraq. Given the complexities of such issues, I did not feel I had an adequate grasp of the language to discuss them. It felt strange to be asked such questions at first. Only after it became obvious that such questions were merely used to initiate discussions did I feel comfortable talking about them. I was surprised to see that while many of my teachers had their own strongly held views about such issues, they had no difficulty listening to others express theirs. Whether that ability to listen to others was a special talent learned by language teachers or more broadly a characteristic of Costa Ricans I am still not sure, but it was something to be admired.

My other major point of contact with the Costa Rican people was, of course, my host family. While many of my friends did not particularly like their host families, I somehow managed to win the host family lottery. They were a young family that was quick to accept me as part of the group. The father, Ignacio, was an English teacher for two elementary schools. Although our day-to-day conversations were always in Spanish, having an English speaker in the house proved to be invaluable the few times I became sick, for which I was taken into Santa Cruz for a blood analysis on one occasion. The mother, Yorleni, was an Ama de Casa (stay-at-home mom). She was shy but very kind, as I was told is often the case with Costa Rican women. Their oldest child Lauren lived with her grandparents an hour away in Santa Cruz during the school year, though she would return during her breaks. At 13 years of age, she remains one of the most mature people I have ever met and without a doubt the most mature for her age. As far as I could tell she was an adult living in a child’s body. And finally, the youngest child Ignacio, at five years of age, was one part curiosity and two parts trouble. As if to provide a counter-weight to his sister’s unnatural level of maturity, Ignacio was seemingly mischievous beyond his years. By way of introduction, he punched one of my class mates in the groin that had dropped by to say hello. I would also find him urinating off the porch from time to time, as if taking four steps into the bathroom was too large a burden for his small bladder to bear. And as I recall, my words of advice to him in my departing letter were not to bite people so often (I had the honor of bearing his teeth marks on my back after accepting what I erroneously thought was a simple hug from behind).

Little Ignacio notwithstanding, my host family was terrific. They were very accommodating and more than willing to explain things to me. Yorleni’s parents lived in the house next door, and two houses down lived her sister, a living arrangement that is quite common in much of Costa Rica. They were all frequent visitors to the house and very kind people.

I was fortunate to have met the people I did. My experience in Costa Rica would have been much less memorable without them.

Jaco

Jaco Beach


Jaco is one of the most popular Costa Rican beaches. Playa Jaco is about 3 km long and is best reached by catching an International flight to San Jose. Besides Jaco Beach itself, more of Costa Rica’s best surfing beaches.
Continue reading For People which Have a Dream

source : http://www.wayfaring.info/category/countries/costa-rica/

Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Playground

Central and South America > Costa Rica

Costa Rica Any Way You Want It

White-water rafting on the Pacuare River. Michael Nagle for The New York Time

By ETHAN TODRAS-WHITEHILL

Published: March 22, 2009

THINK of Costa Rica as a Rorschach test for travelers. Outlined on a map, it has no recognizable shape. But enclosed in tropical lines of latitude, with appropriate squiggles for mountains, coasts and interior borders, it's an inkblot for projecting travel fantasies. Beach lovers trace the craggy coasts and see hammocks swinging in the sunset breeze. The eyes of the nature-minded glaze when they note all the national parks. And adrenaline fanatics fixate on the mountains and rivers.

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Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Playground

Costa Rica is tiny, smaller than West Virginia, but huge in versatility, with coasts on two oceans, coral-lined beaches and active volcanoes, luxury resorts and surf camps, roaring streams and rich biodiversity. Planning a trip for myself and my father last November, I set myself a challenge. How many Costa Ricas could we sample in just eight days? I settled on three: the rich primordial forest, the adventurer's playground and the beachfront paradise. After subtracting travel time within the country, we would have a day and a half to two and a half days at our chosen location for each one, time enough for a taste, at least, of the country's riches.

Eco-Tourism:
Monteverde

I stared into the dark jungle, hoping to see something staring back. The blackness was not complete; overhead the outlines of banana trees let in a little starlight, and, of course, for walking through the forest at night we all carried flashlights. Like most tourists, I had come to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in hopes of seeing big mammals like jaguars, ocelots or tapirs. I didn't. Almost no one does. But 10 minutes with a guide on a three-hour walk our first night in the reserve proved that the plants and insects can be just as captivating — and as deadly.

The guide, who introduced himself only as Christian, combined the laid-back attitude of a surfer with the taxonomic command of an evolutionary biologist. He showed us an alligator tree, whose broad, conical spikes were developed to repel the elephant-size sloths that roamed the Americas as recently as 10,000 years ago. He grew animated as he called us over to look at a strangler fig, which begins life as an innocent epiphyte delivered into an unsuspecting tree's branches by a bird, then grows vines up to the sunlight and down to the ground, eventually enveloping the host tree and strangling it.

In a hole in the dead tree, behind the sinewy crawl of fig roots, Christian shined his light on an orange-kneed tarantula perched at the entrance, waiting for its prey. Why didn't it hunt out in the open, someone asked? Christian explained that tarantula wasps live in the area, waiting to paralyze a tarantula with their sting, lay eggs inside it and wait as the wasp larvae slowly consume the still-living spider from within. Let's see an ocelot try that.

Situated in the Tilarán Mountains northwest of San José, Costa Rica's capital, Monteverde is a Disneyland for eco-tourists. With its verdant cloud forest and 1,000 endemic plant species, Monteverde offers the pilgrimage to nature that many seek from the tropics. Since tourists are unlikely to spot all the wildlife they might wish to, private guides have always operated in the reserve, and in recent years, privately run zoo-like exhibitions have popped up: a bat jungle, a frog pond, a butterfly garden, a serpentarium. Add an organic cheese factory, a fair-trade coffee plantation and a half-dozen high-end hotels that vie to outdo one another with their recycling programs and renewable energy projects, and Monteverde has all senses of the word “green” covered.

Twenty-seven percent of Costa Rica's land area is devoted to national parks and reserves, one of the highest percentages for any country. Monteverde, which is the primary place marketed to eco-tourists, is between two reserves — Monteverde and Santa Elena — deep in the Costa Rican highlands. It is well developed, with hotels, several restaurants, shops and art galleries. It even has an asphalt road connecting the two reserves and villages between, which is curious since the four-hour drive through farms and orchards to get to the area from San José is rocky and rutted — a result, locals say, of an earlier desire to keep down the number of visitors (now, most would prefer that the government pave the road). It is an oasis of infrastructure amid the rural and the wild.

We stayed at the Hotel Belmar, off the main drag between the town and the Monteverde reserve. Most people make reservations for the various activities through the hotels because guides are recommended. For those with keen wilderness eyes or their own binoculars or both, it is possible to walk through the reserves unguided.

The next day, our only full day in the area, brought sunlight and a decidedly more benign face from nature. Inside the Monteverde reserve, weaving among clusters of people with their own guides and tripod-attached spotting scopes, our tour group passed huge, leafy elephant ear plants and miniature orchids no more than a millimeter or two across. Monkeys howled and birds twittered overhead, and we spotted a sloth sleeping out the day, matted gray fur tucked into a cradle of branches 20 feet up.

The real joy-bringers were the hummingbirds, sporadic companions within the reserve but constant ones just outside it, where sugar-water feeders were set up. The names by themselves were enough to force smiles: green-crowned brilliants, purple-throated mountain-gems, coppery-headed emeralds! The most dramatic were the violet sabrewings with their white tail feathers and iridescent bodies, purple like a royal robe. Around the feeders, the hummingbirds buzzed by our ears like a squadron of propeller planes. No wonder: with only nectar for food and heart rates of as high as around 1,200 beats a minute, these birds live in a nonstop sugar rush.

Looking for animals in a nature preserve is a bit like playing blackjack in a casino: you know the odds are against you, but at least it feels like skill when you win. Not quite sated with birds and bugs and plants, I decided to stack the deck and take a taxi to El Ranario, a private frog pond. But the frogs still required some effort to spot, blending in against the leaves and soil of their somewhat dilapidated cages. The blue jeans frog (red with blue legs) was no larger than a thumbnail, while the bodies of the glass frogs were completely translucent. But by far the best frog to find behind glass was the “chicken-eating frog” — a bull frog the size of a small cat that is said to eat chicks when given the opportunity. Confronted with that monster frog in the jungle at night, armed with only a flashlight, I may well have turned and run.

Adventure Tourism:
Turrialba

“Will there be cliffs we can jump off of?” Jana Hoffman asked our guide, her native Minnesota accent creeping in. We were in a lull on an 18-mile white-water run down the Pacuare River near the town of Turrialba. Ms. Hoffman and her husband, Dan, on their honeymoon, were on the starboard side of the raft. My father and I held the port, paddles at the ready. Rudolfo Camacho (called Chalo), the guide, a burly, mustached man in his 40s, grinned and nodded to Ms. Hoffman.

But we had rapids to navigate first. The one coming up was Class IV: major obstructions, big, unavoidable waves, distinct risk of flipping — in short, fun.

“Forward hard!” Chalo cried. We dug into the foaming water, Chalo in the rear steering us between two huge boulders. The current picked up as the river drove us through the funnel, waves far larger than our dinky craft dragging us up and down, smashing into us sideways. The funnel wound around the boulders, and at the end of it I saw the hole: a deep depression in the river that sucks water down and shoots it back up, creating a permanent huge wave. This one was so tall it blocked our view of the river beyond. We went down hard and then up, up, up, until the raft was almost completely vertical.

But this was routine for Chalo; he needed a little more excitement. Just as we crested the wave he jumped headfirst into the froth. “Whoo!” he cried, shaking his face dry as he surfaced. He climbed back into the raft as the river calmed.

Among the adreno-scenti, Costa Rica is known as one of the best and closest foreign adventure tourism destinations to the United States. The surfing, particularly on the Nicoya Peninsula, is known to be first class. The volcano hiking and Caribbean scuba diving are not far behind. With but two days to sample Costa Rica's blood-pumping options, I went for the main course: rafting near Turrialba on some of the most scenic whitewater an amateur can access — and some of the most challenging.

For a town so well regarded for its rafting, Turrialba itself has relatively few tourists. That is because it is less than two hours east of San José, and most rafting groups begin and end their day in the city. Turrialba's mostly bare-bones hotels, hostels and rest houses combined number in the single digits, many fewer than the number of rafting companies that operate in the area. We were staying at the Hotel Interamericano, a colorful but spartan hotel run by an American woman.

Booking a rafting trip in Turrialba is a local affair, in which company owners (some of them expatriate Americans) will come to your hotel common room to discuss the trip in person. Entertainment in the town itself is nonexistent. In the evening, we strolled up to the main square to watch teenage couples canoodling on blue stone benches and old men arguing in pairs as the sounds of evening Mass echoed from the nearby church.

The Pacuare started off difficult enough, but Chalo, who had captained the Costa Rica national rafting team from 1994 to 1998, was almost too good, lulling us into a state of absolute trust with his pinpoint control. Even the cliff jump Ms. Hoffman had requested — 20 feet off a moss-covered boulder into a calm pool — had my heart racing only for a moment.

After a second jump, we drifted in our life vests down a steep vegetation-lined gorge under a rickety wooden bridge as drizzle dimpled the calm water. The narrow patch of sky visible through the moss-covered leaves and branches was gray, but upriver the sun shone bright, misty rays illuminating our passage like some heavenly corridor — wonderful for the aesthetically oriented centers of the brain, but doing nothing for the adrenal glands.

The next day changed all that. We tackled mighty Reventazón, a brown powerhouse of a river. “Today a little more agresivo, yes?” Chalo asked. He explained that the day before, in deference to my father, who is 63, he had been running the “chicken line,” the safest path through the rapids. On this day, my father was staying behind.

The Reventazón has 20 Class IVs back-to-back. Still flush with the previous day's confidence, we told Chalo to go for it. I was scared from the moment we launched the raft in the middle of a rapid, pulling hard from the start. We took the first waterfall sitting on the floor for ballast but tried to power through others, despite occasionally reaching the paddle over the side and finding only air. Even the Hoffmans, who own and use their own raft in their hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colo., looked nervous.

And then we flipped. It was at a hole like the one we'd seen the day before, but instead of going straight up and over, the raft twisted, upended as easily and callously as a child's toy in a bathtub. Chalo guided us over to one of the cliffs on the bank as we clung to the raft, the tanklike press of the water trying to rip us away. Chalo had the raft upright again in a matter of moments and in less than 30 seconds had us all back in our spots, dumbstruck. He caught the boat on a rock before the next rapid to let us find our breath. I looked into Dan's eyes and then Jana's, as the river roared by the unmoving raft, and they both nodded to me. I informed Chalo of our decision: the chicken line, please.

Luxury Tourism:
Manuel Antonio

After Turrialba, we took an 18-seat propeller plane to the Pacific coast. It was time to sample what legions of visitors come to find in Costa Rica: sun, sand and sybaritic relaxation.

Some of the country's best beaches are preserved in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica's smallest and most popular national park, with about 4,000 acres and 150,000 annual visitors. Twenty-five years ago the area nearby held no more than a few cheap cabanas. Now a luxury infrastructure has grown up. Compared with Mexican resort towns like Cancún or Cabo San Lucas, the area still doesn't feel overdeveloped. The airport that serves the park, at the town of Quepos, is served by two local airlines that land on an asphalt runway surrounded by jungle. Flying in feels as if you're heading to a sea of African oil palms, the favored crop of nearby plantations.

The half-hour drive down the coast from the airport to the park is a strip of tourist restaurants, spas and hotels, with a turnoff midway to the high bluff where all the luxury lodgings are. The Hotel Parador, where we stayed, sprawls over the tip of the bluff like a Mediterranean villa and falls toward the high end in the local scale of luxury. In high season, the room prices are $200 to $400.

We arrived on a Sunday to immediate disappointment. It was too late to get to the park that day, and we couldn't go the next day either: Manuel Antonio is closed on Mondays. The sky was dimming from gathering clouds and a retreating sun as we walked a muddy road to Espadilla Beach, a public beach.

The beach was at the end of a long cove, bounded on one end by a brackish moat formed by the skirmishes of a freshwater stream and the salty tide, and on the other by a long wooded promontory. A brown pelican dived from the steel blue sky into the sea but came up empty. The wind picked up, unheard over the crash of surf but felt in the goose-pimpling of flesh. It seemed idyllic enough.

But then my father and I sat down on a set of beach chairs, and although aside from some surfers we were the only people on the beach, a man scurried over after a couple of minutes and insisted we pay for the seats. It began to rain. The cries of souvenir sellers pierced the air as they covered up their wares, and the black tarp roof of an unappealing beachside restaurant flapped incessantly in the wind. Espadilla was nice, but with so many other coves dotting the shoreline, surely Costa Rica's famed beachfront could be better.

We lazed away the next morning in our hotel's infinity pool, counting the languages and accents of the other guests who floated by us. In the afternoon, we walked downhill through the jungle to Biesanz Beach, a tiny cove where igneous boulders the size of small dogs to small trucks break up the waterline. The water itself was a lovely turquoise, as if someone had mixed the blue of the sky and the green of the jungle, and the beach was quiet, with only two other visitors. But the water was still. We craved waves.

Back at the hotel, I went in for a massage at the spa. The aromas of lavender and mint guided me to my masseuse, under whose capable hands I let the day seep out of me to the music of chirping tree frogs in the dimming twilight. We had dinner at Kapi Kapi, a restaurant with both Costa Rican and Thai influences, where we had a brilliant macadamia-crusted mahi-mahi, sugar cane-skewered prawns and a slice of magnificently tart mandarin lime pie. I fell asleep as soon as we returned; relaxation, it turns out, can be difficult work.

The park itself is a relatively short stretch of trails on upraised concrete blocks under cotton-silk, almond and coconut palm trees. Stepping out of the steaming jungle on Tuesday, onto the breezy beaches, had a “Robinson Crusoe” feel — until we saw other people already sunbathing. Even the park's farthest beach, called Puerto Escondido, or the Hidden Port, filled up quickly when the tide receded, leaving the path accessible without a scramble over sharp rocks. In the end, I felt more like Goldilocks: this beach was too small, this one too rocky, and all were too crowded, with negligible waves.

Dispirited, we left the park and returned to Espadilla Beach, where we had been before, as the rain again began to fall. We stopped in the restaurant with the plastic tarp roof and had a plate of surprisingly delicious pork ribs, then sat on chairs again. The same man came to take our money, but recognizing us, he stayed and joked around with my father for a while.

As the rain intensified, the sky darkened and all but the most hard-core of surfers left for drier places, I took a second look at Espadilla Beach. Of all the beaches we had visited, it was the only one with any waves. Nestled between two knobby bluffs, the arc of its cove was smooth and sweet, and the little islands offshore broke up the horizon just so. How had I missed it?

It is amazing how the character of a beach can change when the dingy restaurant becomes a local gem, the pushy entrepreneur becomes a friend, and the rest of the tourists clear out. We waded into the surf, savoring every swell and break that buffeted our bodies, drifting in the gunmetal sea.

BEACHES, WHITE WATER AND HUMMINGBIRDS GALORE

GETTING THERE

Continental flies nonstop from New York to San José, Costa Rica. A recent search for a week in April turned up flights as low as $350. From San José, local buses can easily be found to Monteverde, Turrialba and Manuel Antonio for as little as $5 or less. Interbus (www.interbusonline.com) offers hotel-to-hotel shuttles to the most popular tourist destinations for around $30 to $50, depending on distance.

MONTEVERDE

The high-end hotels all employ innovative green technologies and are reasonably budget friendly. The Hotel Belmar has dark-paneled rooms near the jungle and overlooking gardens (506-2645-5201; www.hotelbelmar.net; double rooms are $89 to $99; U.S. dollars are widely accepted in Costa Rica). The Monteverde Lodge & Gardens (www.costaricaexpeditions.com) offers all-inclusive stays, including meals and activities. Lodging alone is $88 to $198 for a double, depending on the room and season. A visit to the Monteverde Reserve is a must; your hotel will make all the bookings.

TURRIALBA

There are two choices for lodging worth considering: the Hotel Wagelia if you need creature comforts (like air-conditioning) between days of adrenaline (506-2556-1566; www.hotelwageliaturrialba.com; $82.50 for a double) or, if you do not, the Hotel Interamericano (506-2556-0142; www.hotelinteramericano.com; $22 to $35). Run the Pacuare River with Rio Locos Tropical Tours (506-2556-6035; www.whiteh2o.com; you can request that Chalo be your guide) or Rainforest World (506-2556-0014; www.rforestw.com).

MANUEL ANTONIO

To reach the town if you don't like buses, fly to Quepos from San José on Sansa (www.flysansa.com) for $56 each way. The Parador (506-2777-1414; www.hotelparador.com; doubles from $210) is the best bet for standard resort-spa luxury, while Makanda by the Sea (506-2777-0442; www.makanda.com) rents private villas for as low as $200 a night. Dinner for two with wine at Kapi Kapi (506-2777-5049; www.restaurantekapikapi.com) is about $50.

Manuel Antonio National Park is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Mondays.

ETHAN TODRAS-WHITEHILL last wrote for the Travel section about adventure tourism in Bolivia in August 2008.

Costa Rica

Source :

The Complete Guide To: Costa Rica

The name means ‘rich coast’, and this stretch of Central America is just that, with hot springs and cloud forest, jungle and volcanoes. Andy Szczuka reveals a wealth of holiday options

By: The Independent

Riches aplenty?

Costa Rica is Spanish for “rich coast”, and was the conquistadors’ name for this stretch of Central America. Yet this peaceful gem – tucked between Nicaragua and Panama, and covering an area slightly larger than Switzerland – is far removed from the Spanish Costas. And for a country of such a modest size, it packs a real punch in the entertainment stakes.

You come to Costa Rica for cool cloud forest, hot springs – and a hyperactive volcano. In a region that has experienced frequent conflict, Costa Rica is a model of good order: in a most un-Latin-like move in 1948, the army was abolished (though it was replaced by a highly efficient and heavily armed police force).

Adrenalin junkies will be spoilt for choice, and those looking to flop in sun-drenched bliss will soon feel in tune with Costa Rica’s many two- and three-toed sloths, usually found asleep in the trees. The surf is high, the ambience is relaxed, and the prices are low.

Costa Rica possesses a staggering diversity of scenery, nature and culture. The eastern coast retains a strong Caribbean vibe, while traditional sabaneros (cowboys) patrol the Pacific. Sandwiched between both, high in the mountains, are the Monteverde-Santa Elena biological reserves, home to some of the most extraordinary swathes of cloud forest on the planet. Intrepid adventurers can head further south into the deep, humid jungles of the remote Osa peninsula. It is easy to get carried away when describing Osa, whose Corcovado National Park has been described by National Geographic magazine as “the most biologically intense place on earth”.

Where do I start?

Most international flights land close to San José, the scruffy capital city, although an increasingly popular alternative is to fly to the Daniel Oduber Quirós airport in Liberia – handy for many beaches on the Pacific coast.

Many visitors leave San José as quickly as possible, eager to explore the plethora of natural attractions on offer, but a stay in the capital is essential to understand Costa Rican culture. The city holds a trio of modest attractions worth visiting: the Gold Museum (00 506 2243 4202; museosdelbancocentral.org; open daily 9.30am-5pm; $9/£6.40), which contains a remarkable collection of pre-Columbian creations; the impressive National Theatre (00 506 2221 1329; teatronacional.go.cr; open Monday-Saturday 9am-4pm; admission free, performance ticket prices vary); and the exquisite exhibits on display at the Jade Museum (00 506 287 6034; open Monday-Friday 8.30am-3.30pm, Saturday 9am-1pm; $2/£1.40).

From San José, a relatively short bus ride could take you 3km above sea level into the clouds, deep in the jungle, or down to the glorious coast. Most visitors ensure that they see the nightly fireworks of the erupting Volcá*Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, but after that, the list of possible sights and activities is endless.

Costa Rica Expeditions (00 506 2257 0766; costaricaexpeditions.com) can offer tailor-made itineraries to match your priorities.

Getting warmer?

Costa Rica has no fewer than 112 volcanoes, five of them active. The touristic heart is at Volcanoville - or La Fortuna as it’s officially known. It’s become a real backpackers’ hub for one reason: wherever you choose to eat, drink or sleep, there’s no escaping Arenal, which was considered dormant until it decided in 1968 to clear its throat in violent style and remind everyone that it was still there. Despite the crush of tour operators and upmarket accommodation on offer here, it has a surprisingly laid-back ambience. This is one of those rare locations where Mother Nature has kindly laid on all the entertainment. Plenty of places have sprung up to tap into the many hot springs, and there is a wealth of exploring to be done by mountain bike (or should that be volcano bike?) in the surrounding area.

At the Tabacon Resort (00 506 2519 1999; tabacon.com), they’ve harnessed Arenal’s power and added a few diversions to create an enormously opulent spa, although it comes at a price, at $60 ($43), or $45 (£32) after 7pm.

For something a little more understated (and more affordable, at $29/£21), Eco-Termales is a highly recommended alternative, although you should book in advance (00 506 479 8484; tiny.cc/ct9qV).u

oBut Mother Nature has a sense of humour, it seems – whereas previously those in La Fortuna could enjoy nightly displays from their hotel balconies, the lava flow has recently diverted and instead now heads in a more westerly direction, forcing the tour operators in La Fortuna to drive their customers on a bumpy route each evening around the base of the volcano to get the best views. La Fortuna’s misfortune has been a boon to others, with peaceful mountain villages such as the tiny El Castillo thriving with its new-found prime location.

Nido del Colibri (00 506 8835 8711; hummingbirdnestbb.com) is a delightfully intimate little bed and breakfast perched on a hillside overlooking the volcano. From here you can spend the evening soaking in the outdoor hot tub with a drink in one hand and Arenal in all its explosive glory performing right in front of you.

To feel the earth move on a more regular basis, the Arenal Observatory Lodge (00 506 2479 1070; arenalobservatorylodge.com) is situated only two kilometres from the menacing crater and offers front- row seats of the action. Built as a scientific research station, the lodge has since tacked on an increasing number of amenities over the years, such as professional massages to revitalise weary limbs after a hard day’s exploring. The rate of $59 (£43) for a double room during low season includes breakfast and a tour of the lava flow and the forest – where it’s easy to forget that there’s a volcano with a very bad temper nearby. The contrast is amazing: up near the lava flow, it’s a scene of natural devastation; down in the rainforest, there’s a cacophony of animals and birds, intense colours and the scent of the jungle.

How deep in the jungle?

With tourism now such an integral part of the economy, Costa Ricans (who refer to themselves as Ticos), have tried hard to preserve the natural treasures with which they have been blessed. The result is that it is still possible to disappear into remote, thick jungle for days on end, and to live alongside teeming wildlife.

Perhaps the most remote location of all is the Peninsula de Osa in the far south, just above the Panamanian border. Here you can find prime examples of pristine undergrowth. A great base for exploring the area is the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge (00 506 2741 8001; esquinaslodge.com), an Austrian ecological aid project that is a lot more than just a hotel; there’s a centre for research into biodiversity. It’s a blueprint for sustainable tourism. And by choosing to stay here, you are in some small way helping to save the rainforest. Doubles start at $95 (£70) per person per night, including meals, as much trekking as you can handle, and a regular jungle chorus as your morning alarm.

The crown jewel of Costa Rica’s national parks is, arguably, Corcovado, on Osa’s southern tip. Corcovado Adventures (00 506 8384 1679; corcovado.com) is situated nearby and offers tented accommodation from $80 (£59) per person per night including meals. Activities here are as varied as your interests; galloping along empty beaches, whale- watching, diving, hiking and canopy tours are just a few of the ways to pass the time.

High in the clouds?

Shrouded in mystery, Costa Rica’s cloud forest is an extraordinary natural spectacle and a magnet for adventurers. It is centred on the tourist town of Monteverde. From here you can either slump in one of the trendy cafés or restaurants, or strike out into the mist in search of the resplendent quetzal, a bird of such dazzling colours it’s a wonder that they are so elusive.

Monteverde has turned into a kind of eco-theme park. A high-pitched shrieking heard from somewhere high in the branches above is just as likely to be a terrified tourist whistling through the trees on a “canopy tour” as it is a troupe of monkeys. The zip lines used in these tours can be seriously fast, and in some cases stretch for nearly a kilometre. They provide high-speed views of the rainforest. Selvatura (00 506 645 5929; selvatura.com) is a huge complex catering for pretty much every possible way of experiencing the cloud forest.

If imitating Tarzan is not your preferred choice, a host of hanging bridges, horseback riding tours and, of course, plain old hiking trails are on offer. Many of the most interesting inhabitants of the cloud forest come out to play at night, which is why an increasing number of outfits offer guided night tours of the forest. While the prospect of wandering the cloud forest with a flashlight looking for tarantulas the size of one’s hand may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s an excellent way to get a different perspective on the forest.

The central mountains also serve as a starting point for some furious whitewater that can test the best, especially when the rains come from May to November. Rios Tropicales (00 506 2333 6455; riostropicales. com) offers multiple day tours of most of the country’s best whitewater; a two-day guided trip on the Rio Pacuare, including a night at the Rainforest Eco-Lodge, gloriously sited on the river itself, starts at $285 (£204).

The ‘rich coast’?

Costa Rica’s Pacific shoreline is nothing short of superb, with miles of beautiful sand, tremendous ocean breakers, and as many, or as few, tourists as you want. Spots such as busy Tamarindo, immortalised in the classic surf film Endless Summer II, entice partygoers, while quieter spots such as Dominical or Manuel Antonio National Park provide quintessential travellers’ hangouts where you eat banana pancakes and listen to Hendrix. With warm water and abundant marine life, there is excellent diving to be had here, too.

Costa Rica has its fair share of world-renowned surf spots, including Witch’ s Rock and Ollie’s Point in the north-west near Parque Nacional Santa Rosa. There is plenty of scope to learn the ropes, so to speak, with surf shops up and down both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Tamarindo and Jaco are good bases in the north-west, as is Pavones in the south and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean coast.

The real excitement, however, is at the end of a 36-hour boat trip into the Pacific to Isla del Coco, often referred to as a Costa Rican Galapagos. The number of marine animals is breathtaking. Undersea Hunter (00 506 2228 6613; underseahunter. com) organises tours from San José.

Caribbean dream

Costa Rica’s eastern coast is very different from the west, with a distinctly Caribbean atmosphere. This long sandy arc, stretching from Nicaragua to Panama, is home to spicy seafood, nesting turtles, rolling surf and a permanent carnival atmosphere.

The year-round humid climate has resulted in lush, green rainforest in the south and a vast expanse of wetlands in the north. The aptly named Parque Nacional Tortuguero (”Turtle National Park”) is a hotspot for exploring a network of waterways which are home to rich wildlife, including six of the world’s eight species of sea turtle, most of which nest there.

Closer to the Panamanian border, Cahuita is a wonderfully relaxed affair where time has slowed to a crawl, set alongside the unusual black, sandy beach of Playa Negra – perfect for some quality hammock time. The nearby Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is livelier, and has calypso and Caribbean flavours in ready supply. Further along the coast towards Panama is Manzanillo, a postcard-perfect town with spectacular beaches. If it’s wildlife you are after rather than nightlife, this quiet town is the place for you.

Rancho Margot

Surrounded by the quaintly named Children’s Eternal Rainforest, Rancho Margot is a Chilean-owned resort, with the purpose of protecting and reforesting the area.

“Eco-tourism” gets bandied about a lot, but what does it actually mean? The buildings should be made from local materials, use minimal energy and blend in with the environment. Food and water should come from down the road, not thousands of miles away. It should provide jobs and benefit the community.

So how does Rancho Margot shape up? The aim is for it to be self-sufficient, with energy derived from water-powered turbines and the conversion of organic waste. Dairy is obtained from cows reared on the ranch and the water comes from local springs. Pigs, fishing ponds and organic gardens provide food. Those that pick up a nasty bug can be treated by one of the many holistic remedies cultivated in the medicinal garden.

A stay here will set you back from $70 (£50) per night, including breakfast, internet access, a tour of the ranch’s ecological activities and yoga classes.

There’s plenty of adventure-related fun to be had on and around the ranch. It’s also the perfect spot from which to take guided horseback tours and gallop across the open plains and rivers of the Cano Negro and into the Children’s Eternal Rainforest, which is an extraordinary ecological story in itself. In 1987, a group of students in Sweden decided it was time something was done to prevent the loss of our beautiful rainforests, so they raised about $1,500 (£1,070) to buy part of the Monteverde cloud forest. Pretty soon, children from all over the world were getting in on the act. It’s a remarkable tale of conservation and indicative of the kind of atmosphere you’ll find at Rancho Margot (00 506 2479 7259; ranchomargot.org).

Andy Szczuka

Costa Rica: travel essentials

Getting There

Since British Airways abandoned its non-stop link from London to San José, a change of plane has been necessary to travel between the UK and Costa Rica. The US is the main connecting country, with American Airlines via Miami or Continental Airlines via Houston the main options. If you want to avoid applying for online permission to enter the US, and the attendant problems on arrival, travel on Iberia via Madrid or Mexicana via Mexico City.

When you leave Costa Rica, budget for a departure tax of $26 (£18.50), payable at the airport.

Language

English is spoken on the Caribbean coast, and by some in San José and the tourist hotspots. Elsewhere, little other than Spanish is understood, and visitors should attempt to master at least a few essential phrases (particularly the phrase pura vida, literally meaning pure life but deployed by the Ticos for just about everything – you’ll be sure to get a big smile in return).

Language courses are offered throughout the country, and are a great way to meet new people or even to live with local families. One such recommended course provider is Centro Panamericano de Idiomas (00 506 2265 6306; cpi-edu.com).

When to Go

If you are looking for permanent sunshine, December through to April is your best bet. The rainy season runs roughly from May through to November. During this time, some roads become impassable and you may find that you have to disappear indoors for a couple of hours each afternoon as blue skies rapidly transform into heavy downpours. But whitewater rafting is at its most turbulent, the surf can be more exciting, and many animals thrive in the rainy season.

Money

The Costa Rican coló*is currently around 750 to £1. It slides in value constantly, so prices here are given in US dollars. Money changers will find you before you find them; most are trustworthy.

Getting Around

Almost everyone travels by road, with frequent long-distance buses supplemented by minibuses. Many Ticos supplement the local bus service with impromptu hitching. Costa Rica’s railways comprise a couple of lines around San José and a weekends-only service from the capital to Caldera. Air is a possibility, with domestic carriers such as Nature Air (natureair.com) and Sansa (flysansa.com) flying to most parts of the country, reducing, for example, the four-hour trip from San José to Quepos to a 20-minute hop. Baggage restrictions are strictly enforced.

Simon Calder

Liberia

OHMCR: The Best Costa Rica Travel Guide

Liberia Airport Expands Due to Increase in Demand

Authorities have taken immediate action in expanding the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Guanacaste due to the overwhelming increase of tourists to the region. The North Pacific province of Guanacaste has rapidly become a hot spot for tourism as well as local and foreign investment.

Guanacaste has become the preferred vacation spot for thousands of people including high profile Hollywood stars. Infinite beaches, vegetation, biodiversity and adventure attract thousands of visitors each year. The reopening of the Daniel Oduber International Airport (also known as the Liberia International Airport) has definitely played an important role in the region’s development.

However, due to the fast rising demand of air travelers, authorities have just completed a US$7.2 million renovation which allows the airport to receive four more Boeings 767 for a total of 11 planes simultaneously.

The airport’s location in Liberia is quite convenient for those who seek to visit the northern region. The majority of North Pacific beaches such as Coco, Tamarindo, Flamingo, Ocotal, Conchal and Samara are located at roughly an hour’s drive. Costa Rica hotels in the area are quite varied and range from the low rate end to the more exclusive resort locations.

For those seeking adventure, the Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin is located at just 30 minutes from the Liberia International Airport. The Hacienda is located at the base of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano and National Park thus offering its guests great opportunities for adventure and exploring.

Volcanic activity such as steaming vents, hot thermal water and boiling mud pots can be observed during a hike through the Las Pailas trail at the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. The Hacienda also offers a great variety of adventure yours that include white water tubing, rappelling, zip lining, canyoning, horseback riding and much more.