Costa Rica

[Melalvai]

I'm listening to the howler monkeys and the tide right now sitting on the balcony in front of our apartment at Villa Vista Mar. They remember you, Catrin*. The view sure is easy on the eyes.

Forecast back home this week, the HIGH will be right at freezing. Right here in the coolest time of the day I'm barely shivering in my shorts & tshirt.

I could get used to it!

*Edit: The owners of the Villa, not the howler monkeys.

[Melalvai]

I'm listening to the howler monkeys and the tide right now sitting on the balcony in front of our apartment at Villa Vista Mar. They remember you, Catrin*. The view sure is easy on the eyes.

Er, that should have been Cataboo of course. Sorry, this Spanish is hard on my brain and I have trouble remember English and names! (At least that's my excuse, next week I'll have to think of a new excuse.)

[Catrin]

Er, that should have been Cataboo of course. Sorry, this Spanish is hard on my brain and I have trouble remember English and names! (At least that's my excuse, next week I'll have to think of a new excuse.)

I figured that was who you meant, wasn't going to mention it I am certainly looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

[Cataboo]

I'm listening to the howler monkeys and the tide right now sitting on the balcony in front of our apartment at Villa Vista Mar. They remember you, Catrin*. The view sure is easy on the eyes.

Forecast back home this week, the HIGH will be right at freezing. Right here in the coolest time of the day I'm barely shivering in my shorts & tshirt.

I could get used to it!

*Edit: The owners of the Villa, not the howler monkeys.

Hey Melavai,

I finally just saw this - I was actually close by when you were posting this. I was in Costa Rica for a day on the 29th. We just went around Puntaranes for the day. It was brutal getting back to the US and the cold after 2 weeks at 90 degrees.

I'm actually really surprised that Lorrie & Ed remembered me, I only stayed 1 night, but really should have stayed more! They really were super sweet and nice people when we stayed there. I'm glad they took care of you as 'travel agents'

How was your trip? I was worried that maybe I had you stay somewhere too remote (we had a rental car when we were there). Did your daughter manage to zip line? We want details!

[Melalvai]

Hey Melavai,

I finally just saw this - I was actually close by when you were posting this. I was in Costa Rica for a day on the 29th. We just went around Puntaranes for the day. It was brutal getting back to the US and the cold after 2 weeks at 90 degrees.

I'm actually really surprised that Lorrie & Ed remembered me, I only stayed 1 night, but really should have stayed more! They really were super sweet and nice people when we stayed there. I'm glad they took care of you as 'travel agents'

How was your trip? I was worried that maybe I had you stay somewhere too remote (we had a rental car when we were there). Did your daughter manage to zip line? We want details!

Yes, she zip lined, so did I. She loved it! I am glad to have done it once, and I don't really need to do it again ever.


We were going to get a car and drive to Rincon de la Vieja, but that didn't work out. However Ed & Lorrie were able to hook us up with a driver who was very affordable. He isn't really a tour guide but he was happy to accompany us on the trail, and tell us what he could about the volcano. A few days later we hired him again to take us to the Congo Canopy Tour for ziplining. I thought "Congo" was a funny name for something in Costa Rica, then I learned that is the name of the howler monkeys.

SO many monkeys! We heard howler monkeys every morning and evening. I went for a lot of walks, and I saw a family of them one morning. Another morning I saw a family of quiet spider monkeys, which surprised Ed & Lorrie. They've only seen howlers & white-faced monkeys.

A family of white-faced monkeys put on a show for us at Rincon de la Vieja. At the Congo Canopy Tour, they have a butterfly house, where we finally got some pictures of the blue morpho. We kept trying to get pictures of blue morpho at Rincon but it was elusive. They also had a monkey refuge, and we could walk into the cage! The monkeys climbed all over us and pulled my hair out!



Rincon de la Vieja is a volcano. It had fumaroles (smokers) and boiling mud pits. The waterfall was my husband's favorite part of Costa Rica. My daughter's favorite was ziplining, and my favorite was the monkeys.

We loved eating in open air restaurants. The villa apartments each have a kitchen with dishes, so we cooked several meals and only ate out once a day or less. Our driver took us to a little place in Liberia for lunch, which seemed the most genuine food we ate, the places in Coco being geared toward tourists.

In fact we didn't really need to speak much Spanish, and my daughter's translating skills didn't get put to the test much. I bought a couple t-shirts at the grocery store and then discovered they were sized too small. Since I got them at the grocery store, we were able to exchange them, and I had her handle the exchange. She did a wonderful job! I was SO proud of her.

We walked down to the ocean nearly every day. Playa Azul and Playa Ocotal are both black sand beaches. I loved and hated the ocean. The tide pools and rocks were really cool. The rocks are volcanic, black and pink. The Pacific was pretty cool but I had a bad panic attack at high tide and I really was never comfortable in it. (I swam in the Atlantic a couple times years and years ago, otherwise I've never even seen the ocean.) Kind of ruined the ocean for me.

More pictures at http://gallery.ruhlendavis.org/main.php?g2_itemId=29, and more details at http://www.kemenel.org/melalvai/ (start at Dec 16 and work backwards).

[emily_in_nc]

Is that your husband with the monkey? That is such a sweet photo. The monkey seems to be so comfortable and loving towards him! That just warms my heart.

[Cataboo]

Oh great, I'm glad that you guys had such a great time! I just finished reading your blog. Rafael driving you to Rincon de la Vieja is handy - the road north of Liberia gets kind of sketch and dirt. I liked Rincon de la Vieja much better than Arenal - Everyone goes to see Arenal, but generally that volcano is always covered with a big cloud and you don't see the volcanic activity as much as you do at Rincon with all the fumaroles. did you stop at any of the hot springs to take a dip? The combination of rain forest and almost dry savanah type areas there is really very interesting. It's funny that i can recognize some of the trees that you past.

Did you have the large apartment on the 2nd floor down from ed & Lorrie's level or the one that's all by itself on one floor?

[itself]

I have a friend from Tucson that is moving to CR with her husband. They are building a home for $70 a square foot! They are moving to the Playa Bejuco area.

We too are planning a trip as this is a good place to retire. It's too bad the Caribbean side is so dangerous (pirates come in and raide the homes), as we do prefer the aqua blue water.