Day 9 Whitewater, Toucans and Banana Republic

An adventure that we had all been waiting for was the whitewater rafting.  We were on the scenic Sarapiqui River and were not disappointed. It was mostly class 2 rapids and a great place for beginners and for swimming along the way.  We got to see a pair of rainbow-billed toucans fly across the river.  The birding on this trip has been phenomenal.  We have many more pictures of all our activities, but we will have to wait until we get home to upload more.  Here are a few from today's adventures.  We followed the rafting with lunch overlooking the river.  Our next stop was a banana plantation.  Margel used to work on such a plantation and gave us a wonderful explanation of the history of the Banana Republic, crop and trade.  Our last stop before returning to San Jose was a fruit stand.  We tried all kinds of fruits and homemade goods.  We could have stayed there for several hours and still not have learned all the fruits and vegetables.  They have an amazing variety, and they are very different from those down home.  Our last evening has been filled with another visit to the San Jose market.  With all souvenirs purchased, we settle into packing and getting set for a 7:15 am flight.  Wow, what a week and a half this has been!  

Our guide gives the safety briefing to begin the adventure.

We were in two rafts.  This raft carries Rick, Taylor, Madi, Victoria and William. 

Sarah enjoying her first whitewater rafting experience.

Our guides prepare a snack of fresh pineapple.  Many pineapple farms are just down the road.

It was exceptional pineapple!  Right, Victoria?

One of our guides entertained us with his kayaking expertise after the snack. 

All the bananas are ripened and protected in these blue bags.   

Mr. Scott tries peach palms for the first time.  

Calley tries the sweet beans, while Margel, in the background, is getting passion fruit ready for us to try.  

Day 8 Sarchi Culture

We visited the quaint town of Sarchi for shopping and lunch. The souvenir shop was much more than that. It was a working wood and metal shop, which was the original facility for making the wagon wheels for the country's iconic oxen carts.  Many of the souvenirs we have seen all over the country are made there and they still make wagon wheels.  Oxen carts are still used in rural areas. The workshop runs completely on a belt system turned by the waterwheel on their creek. An amazing system!  Items are hand painted by local artisans. We then took a tour of the Britt Coffee facility.  Everyone learned a great deal about the growing of the Arabica coffee plants and enjoyed tasting the various blends of coffee, as well as chocolates.  Dinner was in an amazing location. The Tiquicia Restaurant is high up on the side of a mountain.  The entire Central Valley in lights could be seen from this vantage.  A show of Costa Rican traditional dancing followed dinner.  Madi and Rick joined in the fun, as they were pulled from the crowd to dance.

Sarchi workshop for wagon wheels and souvenirs.

Hand painted souvenirs.  The artwork was beautiful!

Sarchi is home to the largest oxen cart in the world.  This is the BCC crew along with the Ohio State University group.  Margel, our tour director, is on the top left and Alex, our amazing bus driver, is on the bottom right.

This was our restaurant for dinner.  It had an incredible view of the entire Central Valley area in lights.

There was also a show at Tiquicia after dinner.  Rick and Madi were pulled into the dance.  

Day 7 Adventures in Paradise

A good deal of our day was spent in the beautiful Manuel Antonio National Park.  We hiked to a picturesque cove, protected by rocks and a coral reef.  Once there, Margel took us on a nature hike through the transitional rainforest.  The water was a crystal clear blue with little current.  We had to protect our bags from raccoon and white-faced monkeys, who were searching for food.  They were remarkably brave thieves, but a lot of fun to watch.  We also had black, spike-tailed iguanas bumming lunch.  It is illegal to feed the animals.  We all returned with a bit of equator sun.  That adventure was followed by either horseback riding for some or a crocodile boating trip for others.  Both proved to be exciting experiences.  Calley, Sarah and Victoria got to gallop on the beach.  The crocodiles were amazing.  The river we visited is famous for having the worlds highest concentration of crocodiles within a 20 mile stretch of the river.  This area is also a swampy mangrove, which is a very unique ecosystem.  The most exciting event was seeing a tree full of wild macaws at the boat landing.

Beach bandit looks innocent.  No lunch was safe on the beach.

The spike-tailed black iguana was also a bum for food.

The white-faced monkeys were also very bold and watched every visitor for a chance at their food.

The swimming BCC crew in Antonio Manuel National Parque.

A truly beautiful area of the Pacific Coast.

The crocodile boating tour on the Tarcoles River.

This about 16 foot crocodile is named Osama bin Laden, because he can be hard to find.
  

A tree full of wild macaws were at the boat landing.  A magnificent sight!

Victoria, Calley and Sarah on a second horseback ride.  This time in Jaco.

Day 6 Passion for the Pacific

Austin collected some school spirit!

Monday was a trek from Monte Verde to Jaco (Hotel Mar de Luz) on the central Pacific Coast. The roads up in the mountain are all gravel and quite difficult for a coach bus to maneuver. Our driver is amazing. We did have some mechanical difficulties, but we were transferred to a very good local restaurant in short order. We had another bus take us on into Jaco. We all hit the beach. Madi, Rick and William rented surf boards. The water was surprisingly warm and salty, and the waves equivalent to what we have at the Outer Banks.  It was a beautiful sunset. More to come.

From this vantage, it is easy to see why the area we came from is called a cloud forest.

Surf is up for Madi!

William catches some wave action.

Rick works the Pacific shore break at Jaco.

Sunset at Jaco

Day 5 Zippity Do Dah All Day

What a day!  We began by zip lining w Extremo Adventures. We expected maybe 3 or 4 runs. Oh no, there were 13 of them and some very long runs with long hikes up in between.  It was breathtaking, spectacular and phenomenal all rolled into one. It was over three hours of zip lining over and through beautiful terrain. That was just the beginning. We visited the La Cruz Elementary School (1-6 grades). It was Sunday, plus their teachers are on strike, so school was not in session. The children dressed in traditional attire and danced for us, then we danced with them. Ecotourism is a major source of donations for the school.  We stopped on the way to lunch by a new preserve that is working to reestablish vegetation for an important biological corridor, called the Bellbird Corridor.  Students received an explanation from the Project Director, Sergo, of the vision of the grand project. We were just a drop in the proverbial rainforest, with our planting of 8 trees, Sergo explained that we helped keep it moving in a positive direction. Bellbird corridor will eventually connect the summit of continental divide to Nicoya at the coast.  Whew, that was just half the day. After lunch, we went horseback riding. It was scenic and exciting, as we wondered through fields of coffee and trotted up and down paths on the side of the mountain. As if we were not rubber-legged enough, we then went on a night walk to see some of the nocturnal wildlife. Everyone slept well Sunday night and Marguel gave us an extra 30 minutes (7:30 am) to be packed up in the morning for moving down to the Pacific Coast. More pics to come.  There is trouble with wifi.

Our entire tour group receiving zip lining instruction. 

Victoria ready for takeoff on the longest and last run, #13. 

BCC zip line style!

Day 4 Diving Dolfins of BCC

We moved to a new motel yesterday in Monte Verde and it does not have internet service.  I am uploading from a local pizza place.  I will only upload a few of our many pictures, because time is short.  Saturday began with a visit to the La Fortuna Waterfall.  The fall is about 120 feet in height and quite a climb to get down to the bottom.  Many of us decided to swim and the water was beautiful.  More will be posted when wifi is available.  Keep following, as today, Sunday, was spectacular!

Sarah on the way down to La Fortuna Waterfall

The BCC crew prior to dive in. 

Madi and Victoria enjoying all the action at the bottom of the fall.

Costa Rica has a large wind energy project under way.  We learned about it as we drove through it.

Day 3 - Caimans and Coffee

Another full day. Marguel hosted bird watching at 5:30 am. Two of our group made it. Breakfast was at 7, then on the road to Los Chiles by 7:30 am.  We took a boat ride down the Caño Negro River to look for wildlife. Our local guide, Pedro, was very knowledgeable and personable.  We saw many types of beautiful birds, such as the parrots, green herons, jacanas, kiskadees, passerini's tanger and kingfishers. Several caimans, turtles and even a Jesus lizard (the kind that walk on water) were sunning.  We cringed at the sound of the Howler monkeys and were amazed to see the White-faced monkeys feeding.  The afternoon was spent with iguanas, via a visit to the Iguana Restauranté.  After returning to La Fortuna, we had a lecture on the sustainable processing of coffee.   Tomorrow is another early morning, as we are headed to a different hotel in Monte Verde.  Check in tomorrow to see how our swimming at the La Fortuna Waterfall goes.

River boat landing in watercolor by Sarah Lague. 

The BCC Group on the river tour with guide, Pedro in the white shirt up front.

White-faced monkeys eating palm nuts.

A Jesus lizard sunning on the shore.  He was amazingly camouflaged.  

White egret

A piano bird.

Caiman smiling for the cameras!