Pura Vida En Costa Rica - Part 2/3
6. Ziplining at Quespos
Ziplining is a form of aerial trekking through the trees. The participants glide from aerial platform to aerial platform on a series of wires and pulley. Often there is a downward slow between platforms to let gravity do most of the propelling. The steeper the slope, the faster the glide. Of course you are quite secure in your safety harness so there is no question of anyone falling. If you let go, you may end up hanging upside down all the way. Some people actually want to zipline that way!
A van picked us up and took us to the nearby city of Quespos for ziplining. The guide told us that Quespos is actually 3m below sea level so is prone to flooding. The residents simply deal with the floods as a matter of fact and move right back in after the water subsides. Just another day in Quespos apparently. As we drove to their site, the guide told us a lot about the Costa Rican economy. It is still very much agrarian based. Pineapple, mangoes and palm etc. We drove through acres of palm tree plantations. Palm Oil manufacturing is big business in Costa Rica. Palm Oil is exported to Mexico and North America and forms the basis of much of the oil used in manufactured foods in the US. The Palm Tree is a cash crop in the sense that it can be harvested every two weeks unlike mangoes which have a six month turnover. So many prefer to grown Palm over other agri crops.
Some 20-30 people gathered for the day trip. The company we went with, El Santurio, said they had extra braking systems on their ziplines for safety. Online reviews had said that they were very family friendly. I would say they were totally special needs friendly too. I was assigned my own helper, a teen named Ynoc. My problem was the holding on part and that too holding onto the grip provided by them and not the overhead wire. Before starting guidelines and instructions were given and everyone was buckled into their respective harness and gloves.
Ziplining in Costa Rica of course is a marvelous experience for the sheer scenery that you glide through. What's not to like about gliding through a lush green rainforest and sometimes above it. The experience which lasted around 2 hours included quite a bit of trekking uphill and climbing up the steps around tall trees to reach the next platform from which to zipline. We had to cross several rope bridges which swayed quite wildly as we walked across. Of course all of us had a safety cable on our harness which was attached to an overhead wire to keep us safe. There were a total of around 10 ziplines in all. One of the ziplines was particularly loooong, almost 1/2 km and quite high off the ground too. Maybe you were a macaw flying above the forest canopy. A couple of others were quite steep and so really fast. Others went between trees - so you could imagine what Tarzan must have felt like. In fact a couple of times the gap between the trees was quite narrow and if you were swinging wildly you could have actually hit the trees.
An interesting plant we saw on our trek through the rainforest was the Walking Palm tree or palmito amargo which are found only in Latin America. It is said that these trees put out aerial roots in the direction they want to move, while letting older ones die on the other side and thus be able to move almost a foot every year. Thus they move from shade in search of the sun. In one place, two of the walking palms were actually chained up to prevent them from moving. Moving trees reminded me of the Ents in the Lord of the Rings except they looked nothing like Treebeard in appearance. Of course, like the Ents, the legend of a walking palm is for the tourists. It has been scientifically proven that the Walking Palm don't actually walk, though they may appear to lean in one direction. We also saw a number of butterflies at many of the places along the way.
A delicious lunch was served at the end of the zipline activity back at their starting camp.
7. Damas Estuary Tour
That afternoon was spent on a leisurely boat cruise around the Damas Island Mangrove Estuary near Quespos. The twice daily incoming tides flood the mangrove forest forming a series of canals between the trees. The ride took us along the canals. The guide of course gave us lot of details on Costa Rica and on the estuary itself. There are actually almost some some 50 or so different species of mangrove itself. The mangrove wood was heavily harvested for charcoal in the past but now this estuary too is protected as a National Park. The presence of the mangroves with their stilted root system help decrease the salinity in the seawater giving rise to a unique ecosystem and habitat for wildlife. We saw osprey, egrets, herons resting on bits of flotsam, so the estuary must provide an important nesting site for birds, along with the stray fish and crab. The estuary houses both monkeys and crocs which reminded me of a song that I’d learnt as a toddler. It went
3 little monkeys swinging in a tree.
Teasing Mr. Crocodile. You can’t catch me, you can’t catch me.
Along came Mr Crocodile as quiet as can be.
SNAP!
2 little monkeys...
1 little monkey…
No more monkeys swinging on the tree
Away swam Mr. Crocodile as fat as can be.
We literally got to see multiple groups of monkeys swinging from the trees chasing each other noisily. And just like in the song, the enmity between crocs and monkeys is all too real. The monkeys are a lip smacking snack for the croc should he catch one. Costa Rica has 4 species monkeys - Capuchin, Howler, Squirrel and Spider Monkeys and there were Spider monkeys in abundance there. My friend Adit who’d come with his family to Costa Rica with us is especially fond of animals, so this trip was right up his alley. The boat trip was followed by a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.
8. Manuel Antonio National Park
It had rained the previous night and hence the air was humid and sultry. The planned activity for the morning was a visit to the Manuel Antonio Forest Reserve or the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. This forest reserve, though small is quite charming. It houses all variety of wildlife of course, but of course, wildlife as such seldom volunteer to come out and put on a show for tourists. We did manage to see a few frogs, grasshoppers and coatis. The coati has the face and snout of a raccoon but the latter half of their body seems to resemble an opossum. There were Howler and Capuchin monkeys in abundance amongst the foliage of the rainforest. There were birds too and I saw a toucan take flight. A few sloths were sighted as well. The sloth drapes itself over the tree branch and lies there looking like an extension of the branch. Their slow metabolism contributes to their seeming laziness.
The path through the rainforest reserve meanders all the way to the stunning Playa Manuel Antonio. Playa Manuel Antonio is separated by Playa Espadilla Sur (the beach near our hotel) by just a little piece of jutting land. The cove shape of the Manuel Antonio Beach not only makes the water very sheltered but makes it very very swimmable especially given the warm sweaty weather on shore. The beach sparkled with its white sands flanked by the deep green foliage of the forest at its edge. Indeed it is one of the most picturesque beaches I have seen.
9. Monteverde - Dirt Roads and Windy Slopes
All too soon, the stay at Manuel Antonio had some to an end and it was time to head for our next destination - Monte Verde. A late lunch was at the beach town of Jaco where the restaurant advertised “Big Ass Smoothies.” Indeed they were huge and very refreshing in the heat.
It gets dark early in Costa Rica; around 4-4:30pm itself. We were told the last 10 miles or so of the road to Monteverde would be a little rough. But that was an understatement. Monte Verde is 4600 ft above sea level, so drive was up through steep curvy roads. The last 10 miles turned out to be unpaved roads so it was quite the ride - bumping over the winding curving unpaved roads littered with potholes along with a crazy wind that was buffeting the mountainside. All this in the dark and with the temperatures dropping with the altitude increasing - a sea change from the warmth of Manuel Antonio. Monte Verde did not at all look appetizing in the night. Apparently there had been a storm of sorts the previous nights, resulting in the high winds. The winds had died down by the next morning and the place appeared a lot friendlier on the eye.
10. The Monteverde Cloud Forest
What brings the tourist to Monteverde is its world-famous Cloud Forest. That begs the question - So what is a cloud forest? Cloud forests are generally moist forests that have a persistent low level cloud cover at the canopy level.. This gives the forest a somewhat misty and mysterious look. The plan for the day was to visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve otherwise known as Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde. Unlike Manuel Antonio, this one is a massive reserve with the largest number of orchids in the world. It is home to a whole host of fauna and flora. As we trekked through the reserve, we saw howler monkeys, a paca (which is a type of large rodent), a few toads and the quetzal. As a toddler I used to have a video of animal alphabets and I had learnt that Q is for Quetzal (a mouthful to say) so it was intriguing to see this mostly green and quite magnificent bird camouflaged amongst the trees there. The famed quetzal plays quite a significant role in South American myths. We also saw a muskrat (another rodent) foraging on the forest floor. The reserve also has a number of hanging suspension bridges which offer an excellent view almost halfway up off the forest floor. Since the forest is so moist, a lot of the plants have adapted to absorb water from the mist such as the epiphytes which dominated the scene. Epiphytes climb on trees to reach to reach the sunlight and were very visible from the suspension bridges. A brief stop was made at a waterfall (La Cascada) inside the reserve on the way. What was a little disappointing was that as it was midday, there was much less of the “cloud” in the cloud forest.
11. Hummingbirds in Hand
Near the entrance of the Monte Verde reserve was the Hummingbird Gallery. There were almost two dozen hummingbirds of all colors hovering nearby. They seemed so unafraid of tourists. The gallery had a number of hummingbird feeders and the hummingbirds would descend on them to feed on the sugary nectar inside the feeders. If you put your hands on the edge of the feeders, the hummingbirds actually sit on your hands, which is super cool. I’ve never had the opportunity to see hummingbirds up so close and personal before. Just amazing.
12. And a Sky Tram
Later that day, a sky tram ride from the nearby Santa Elena offered spectacular aerial views of the entire forest. The cloud element in the cloud forest was very much evident. You could really feel you were above a misty magnificent cloud forest. We could also see some folks ziplining. Now that must be something - ziplining over a cloud forest canopy! Looked a little scary too as they were way up over the canopy.
13. Volcán Arenal
Next stop was the Arenal area which centers around the Arenal Volcano and Lake. More mis-road adventures on the way from MonteVerde to Arenal. First were the dirt roads followed with the roads with pretty steep curves - almost like hairpin bends - lots and lots of them. It really required the drivers entire concentration (poor Dad, he was the one driving). The pitch black darkness once night falls does not help road visibility.
We got some excellent vistas of both the Arenal Volcano and the Lake on the way before it got dark. The volcano towers the land around for miles at a height of around 5400 ft so can be seen from quite a distance away.
The weather in Arenal is quite lovely. It rains some 90% of the time, so the air feels fresh and smells fresh. Since it was “dry” season, there were frequent light showers when we were there. The weather was not too hot or too cold either so the net effect was very pleasant. Its a pleasant town and seems to be geared towards tourism, given the number of activities it offers for the tourist.
The meal I will remember most from my Costa Rica vacation must be the ones at Arenal. For lunch one of the days, I had a Volcano Fried Rice which was very creative in its presentation. The volcano was the fried rice in the shape of a cone and the carrot strings flowing on the side was the lava flowing down. Very creative and tasty too. I can say that I thoroughly enjoy Costa Rican food.
PREVIOUS - Part 1 [From San Jose to San Jose to San Jose, Bridge at Rio Tárcoles, Macaws at Jaco, Manuel Antonio - Views from Costa Verde Hotel, Playa Espadilla Sur @ Manuel Antonio]
NEXT - Part 3 [ Canyoning. La Fortuna Waterfalls. Geothermal Hot Springs. Ticos, Ticas, Pineapple Plantations and More.]
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