Mostly travel, a bit of culture

The last few days have been mostly travel, with a little bit of culture on the side.

On Monday I allowed myself a bit of a late start, and spent some time meandering around Manuel Antonio making sure that I hadn't missed anything. My Interbus pickup arrived a few minutes before the scheduled 1.15pm, and after a brief stop to pick up another family going to San Jose we hit the road.

The journey passed uneventfully, and I was checking back in to the Best Western Irazu a little bit before 5pm. Handily, this was right around Happy Hour at the local bar, which included a free drink.

Scott from Package Costa Rica caught up with me, and we spent a bit of time over a drink talking what had and hadn't worked on the vacation, and he gave me the promised refund for the abseiling that wasn't. I'd cheerfully recommend them to anyone else who's considering a Costa Rica vacation and wants local experts to handle the itinerary.

I retired back to the room, and discovered a small problem -- the walls were exceedingly thin. It seemed to be a double room (with connecting door) that had been converted in to two singles. To make up for it the WiFi was marginally less intermittent in this room than last time, so after catching up on a bit of e-mail it was time for bed.

Tuesday was overcast, with rain threatening but never actually appearing. My flight was at 6, so I had some time free in San Jose. Reading through guide books had recommended the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum to me, so after a quick breakfast in the Denny's attached to the hotel (!) I jumped in a taxi and paid 5,000 colones to get there.

It turns out that the same building also houses the National Coin Museum, so I started there.

As well as (obviously) having a large number of samples of Costa Rican currency over the years the museum also has displays on the history of currency around the world, exhibitions that showcase the various categories of designs that have appeared on Costa Rican coins and notes over the years (animals, national symbols, plants), and background information about the types of scrip that coffee plantation owners used to use to pay their employees.

Considered to be one of the most beautiful bills in the world

I moved in to the gold musuem section, and quickly realised there was more to this than just gold.

Arranged over three floors the museum covers the history of the people of the area, how they moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more setteld agricultural one, and where gold first started to figure in to their culture.

There are thousands of examples of gold work on display; human representations, animals, jewelry.  Detailed displays also show how these were made using the lost-wax casting technique.

It's not all gold though. As part of putting this in the wider context of cultural evolution there are videos and dioramas reproducing what's believed to be the lifestyles of the population at the time.

And even a few artworks that aren't made of gold.

Just when I thought I'd exhausted everything the museum had to offer I discovered a section set aside for an art exhibition, and ended up being captivated by a video display showing musical animations from musanim.com. Rather than describe it, just watch this video.



I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours poking through the museum, and can heartily recommend it to other visitors to San Jose.

With some time still spare I wandered out on to the streets of San Jose in search of lunch. I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to exactly where I ended up, eventually choosing a restaurant based on the facts that first, it didn't seem to be part of a chain, and second, there was a healthy number of locals eating there.

With that I jumped back in a cab to the hotel and then to the airport. To leave Costa Rica you have to pay a US $26 departure fee before checking in. This was straightforward to pay at the airport, but on trying to check in I bumped in to a problem. ESTA.

More specifically, the fact that although I'd filled out the ESTA forms a couple of years ago I didn't have a copy of the form with me, or my reference number. I'd never needed it before. This seemed to cause the Costa Rican authorities some consternation that I might not be admitted in to the US.

Eventually a combination of pointing out the numerous US entrance stamps in my passport (the most recent being less than four weeks old) and filling out a green visa waiver form placated them.

The flight itself was uneventful, arriving at LAX 10 minutes or so ahead of schedule. I could have done without the one hour queues at immigration on arrival though.

After queuing for the shuttle bus to La Quinta LAX I finally arrived at about 12.30am local time, and set about crashing out. The hotel was a perfectly serviceable place to stay. Mid-size room, decent breakfast, 10 minutes or so by bus to LAX, and not too much noise despite the proximity of the airport.

Wednesday was another early start to fly to SFO, and then drive up to Tahoe for the last few days of vacation. Fog at SFO meant that we took off an hour later than planned (the only flight delay so far, not bad given there have been six so far on this trip). I picked up my car from Hertz, and headed out to Tahoe.

This is a pretty boring drive, right up to the point where you enter Eldorado national forest about an hour out of Tahoe, at which point the view becomes much more scenic. It's a very different kind of beauty to the forests of Costa Rica (or the mountains of Switzerland for that matter), the range of plants and trees on offer is much reduced, and there's more bare earth to be seen than Costa Rica.

I checked in at the Seven Seas Inn, which is a lovely little place just by the California/Nevada state line, a couple of blocks from the beach and the main strip through the town. After drinks at McP's and a browse around the casinos over in Nevada I'm back at the Inn surrounded by leaflets for local attractions trying to figure out what to do tomorrow...

More time in the Pacific

Hangover, what hangover? Any lingering cobwebs from the night before were going to be shaken loose by a few hours on a jet ski.

I've done this a couple of times before (San Diego and Denia) so knew what to expect, but I'd forgotten just how much fun this was.

As with the previous day, I was collected from the hotel reception, and we embarked from the same marina as yesterday's sailing trip. Six jet skis set out, our guide on one, me on another, and a couple of families riding two-at-a-time on the others. We moved out perhaps a kilometre or so from the shoreline and opened up.

My ride

These things are fast. They don't really become maneuverable until 20mph, and will cheerfully hit 40+ at full throttle.

I spent quite a lot of time at full throttle.

We followed a similar route to the catamaran sailing, at one point pulling past Tomcat on their tour. Even when the sea was calm 40 mph is pretty bumpy, and as waves started to build up the ride became more and more exhilarating. I discovered the best approach seemed to be lean forward as much as practical, and give and take with your arms, a technique not too dissimilar to being on a galloping horse.

The jet skis ride very low in the water, so you get an excellent sense of the rise and fall of the ocean as you crest each wave, something that's not nearly so readily apparent when sailing.

We passed the mooring point from the previous day, and pressed on for another 20 minutes or so, rounding in to a secluded bay. Pulling up almost to the beach we cut the engines, and dived in to the water to cool off and give our arms a rest from the incessant beating they took during the ride.

No snorkeling though this time.

After reapplying sunblock (essential all over in this heat, and forget about trying to keep a hat on at the speed the jet skis were going) we started to head back. We took a slightly different route this time, keeping a little closer to the shoreline

Events took a turn for the entertaining when a passenger on one of the tandem jet skis got it in to their head to pitch over the side. No harm done though, nothing damaged except their pride.

After far too short a time (but in reality about two and a half hours) we were back at the marina and mooring up before catching the bus back to the hotel.

After a quick shower to wash the Pacific out of my hair I've spent the afternoon up in El Avion downloading and futzing with photographs.

Tomorrow it's back to San Jose for one night, and then fly back to Los Angeles, before heading on to Tahoe for a few days.

A dip in the Pacific

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early for an 8.20 pickup to go sailing and, with a bit of luck, catch sight of dolphins and whales.

When the bus hadn't arrived by 8.30 I called the tour company, Planet Dolphin, and discovered that because of unplanned road works the pick up time was now 9.20.

Ah well. I took the opportunity to explore a little more of the hotel grounds, and waited for the bus.

Slow for monkeys, sloths, dogs, and Darth Vader

After picking up a few people this deposited us about 20 minutes at Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, 15 minutes drive up the road.

Our vessel was "Tomcat", a 60-something foot catamaran.

Once all 42 people were onboard we motored out of the marina and towards our lunch time appointment, snorkeling in the Pacific.

Departing the marina

The crew explained the safety features of the boat in English and Spanish, and also covered the very important information that although beer was $1 a can, drinks with spirits were free. As a lifelong non-beer drinker I resolved to take advantage of this opportunity, and quickly had a very good rum punch in my hands.

Standing watch

I've messed around on boats a bit, but this was my first time on board a catamaran, and I was surprised at how stable it was. I spent a lot of time stood on the bow (the pointy bit at the front) feeling the rock and fall of the boat under my feet.

A few of the guests had decided to sunbathe on the netting slung between the two hulls toward the front. This turned out not to be the smartest move, as they discovered when the first wave crashed over them. Cue sudden gasps.

There was a brief moment of excitement when we slowed to go past a very large sea turtle that was slowly swimming out to the deep ocean, and just visible below the water. But no other signs of large marine life.

After about an hours motoring we stopped for 10 minutes and everyone had their first opportunity for a bit of a swim. Just to get our feet wet, so to speak. Once everybody was back on board we continued on for what felt like 20 minutes or so to our final destination, a small not far from a small rock formation breaking through the waves.

Duly adorned with fins, mask, and snorkel the crew suggested we swim close to the rock. It soon became apparent why.

I was snorkeling along enjoying what was, to be honest, not much of a view underwater. Although the water was clear it was very deep, so tailed off to a green haze, with no clear idea how far away anything was.

And then all of a sudden I was surrounded by fish. Sergeant Major fish to be precise, hundreds of them. The rock and the things that grow on it provide food for them, so they cluster around it. I was quite happy to float upright in the water, head under, watching these blue and gold fish dart this way and that, quite oblivious to the people that had invaded their environment.

After about 20 minutes of this it was back to the boat for a simple lunch; fish kabobs and pasta.

And then we set sail back to the marina. Literally this time, the wind having picked up enough that they could at least unfurl the jenny for a bit of sailing.

The hoped for dolphins and whales continued to prove elusive, and there were no sightings on the journey back.


View Planet Dolphin in a larger map

The afternoon followed a familiar pattern. By which I mean it rained, heavily. After a few drinks in El Avion I resolved to wander down the coast road to find somewhere suitable for dinner. Outside the main entrance to the Costa Verde complex I bumped in to four people on a package vacation from California. After helping them take the requisite group photo we fell in together in search of food and drink.

After stopping off at La Cantina, another of the Costa Verde hotel restaurants, we made our way slowly down to the beach. By this point the thunderstorm and rolled out to sea, and the frequent lightning flashes were lighting up the sky, silhouetting the islands that dot the bay against the grey of the night sky.

After that it gets a little hazy, although I have some recollections of a bar in town, and getting a taxi back at some late hour...

Manuel Antonio National Park

Friday dawned fresh and clear. I needn't have bothered setting an alarm, the sun streaming through the thin curtains and the sounds of jungle wildlife a few feet from my door were enough to gently wake me. The bus down to the national park was prompt, and we got there after about 10 minutes driving.

The tour itself took several hours, but we were only on the move for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time was spent in different spots with the guide explaining various bits of information about the flora and fauna that we were looking at. Equipped with a spotting scope he made sure that we all got the chance to see the various creatures in the park as close as was practical.

The route through the park is very straightforward, consisting of wide gravel tracks, with towering trees on either side.

The first animals we saw were three-toed sloths, getting ready to slow down for the day. The first one was quite distant, and after looking through the scope I was idly glancing this way and that while the other members of the group took their turn. Looking up I was a bit startled to see another sloth slowly moving along a branch not 20 feet away. We took turns peering at it through the scope, and it peered right back at us.



We carried on along the path towards the beach, along the way seeing bats, spiders, Halloween crabs, raccoons, more sloths, and hearing howler monkeys off in the distance.

Spider in the middle of the web

Halloween crabs

There's a lizard sunning himself in the middle of this photo

This raccoon was no stranger to people

The beach was to be our first encounter with white-faced Capuchin monkeys, who are very comfortable around humans. Unfortunately, people have shown themselves incapable of following the "Do not feed the animals" signs around the park, and this meant that the monkeys have learned to fish trash out of the bins for any scraps that have been thrown away, and to distract owners from their backpacks before making off with them and unzipping the various compartments looking for food.

Yes, that's a discarded crisp packet. But they fetched it out of the trash themselves

The beaches themselves were straight out of a brochure; golden sand, blue skies, palm trees, little islands off in the bay, and we spent a bit of time on the beach (with bags safely secured) before continuing the last quarter of the tour.

Non-indigenous fauna

Up in the trees was another sloth, but this time of the two-toed variety. The guide's description of him as "Costa Rica's Chewbacca" was very apt.

Our guide proved to have sharp eyes; as we were walking carefully along a path by the lagoon he spotted a caiman lurking in the undergrowth. Members of the crocodile family, they're distinguished from crocodiles by the shape of the snout and position of the eyes. They also tend to be a fair bit smaller than crocs.

There's a caiman hiding in this photo

Not 30 feet further down the path we discovered two small boas curled up in the branches of trees overhanging the path.

Because it was high tide the tour finished with a 30 second boat ride across a small lagoon, before heading back to the tour bus for very welcome fruit and water.


View Manuel Antonio Hike in a larger map

I spent the rest of the day enjoying a lengthy siesta, the heat having brought on a bit of a headache. I felt it best to self-medicate with a couple of drinks by the verandah and let the day go by.

Arriving in Manuel Antonio

On Thursday I traveled from La Fortuna to the Hotel Costa Verde in Manuel Antonio. There's not much to report about this; the bus journey took five hours or so, arriving at the hotel at about 1.30. There's no free WiFi at the hotel (really, in this day and age), and as general rule I never trust my passwords to public internet terminals (and refuse to pay on principle), so these next few posts have been written offline over a few days.

The hotel itself is spread out over a number of different locations. My room is one of two overlooking the ocean beneath the El Avian restaurant. This restaurant's claim to fame is that there is a reconstructed C-123 cargo plane in the bar.

Actually, it's a bar in its own right.

Normally, to find a plane with a bar I have to go Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic

To quote from the details on the back of the drinks menu:

Our Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest scandals in the mid 1980s. During this time the Reagan administration had set up a bizarre network of arms sales to Iran designed to win release of US hostages being held in Lebanon and raise money to find the Nicaraguan, counter-revolutionary guerilla fighters, commonly referred to as the "Contras".

...

With the CIA's help, they purchased several items, including two C-123 cargo planes (one of which is our plane), two C-7 planes, a Maule aircraft, spare parts, and munitions. They also built a secret airstrip on an American-owned 30,000 acre ranch in northwest Costa Rica.

On October 5th 1986 a US cargo plane (the twin sister of El Avion's own Fairchild C-123) was shot down over southern Nicaragua.

...

As a result of this successful Sandanista strike on our Fairchild's sister plane the cargo operation was suspended and one of the C-123s was abandoned at the International Airport in San Jose.

In August 2000 we purchased the abandoned Fairchild for $3,000. We then disassembled and shipped the pieces of the Iran-Contra relic to Quepos. From San Jose the fuselage was shipped via ocean ferry (from Caldera to Quepos) because it was 10 inches too wide for the antiquated Chiquita Banana railroad bridges! After hauling all seven aircraft sections of the Manuel Antonio hill, the C-123 finally found its current cliff-side resting place.

The room was large and clean, and equipped with its own local wildlife - I spotted at least two very small lizards scampering along the walls. They proved to be quite camera-shy, skittering away if I got too close.

Friday and Sunday were supposed to be free days with nothing planned, but I'm not really a "lie on the beach and soak up the sun" sort of person, so I took a look through the excursions that the hotel could arrange, and settled on joining a guided tour of Manuel Antonio National Park (highly recommended in the guides I'd seen) on Friday, and some time on a jet-ski tour on Sunday.

Booking these was marginally more difficult than it needed to be. You book them via the hotel, so I phoned up reception and was told that they could book them, but needed a deposit. In cash. Delivered then and there. By this point the afternoon thunderstorms had arrived, so I made the rather lengthy trek to the nearest ATM to withdraw some cash, and then the even lengthier trek to reception, ~ 10 minutes from my room. Why they couldn't just bill it to my account I don't know.

Riding, sliding, and hiking

It's been a busy day.

It started early, with a 6.45 alarm call for 7.40 pick up. When I opened the curtains in my room I was confronted with bright blue skies, with nary a cloud in them.  The one cloud that was marring the view had decided to provide a halo around the local volcano.

A quick breakfast, and I was met by representatives of Athica, who drove me about 15 minutes out of Fortuna to their base of operations. Today was going to start with some horse riding.

I'd been anticipating this for weeks. I used to ride a lot when I was younger, going as far as competing in a few local show jumping events and doing passably well, but I haven't been on the back of a horse for at least 16 years, maybe more. I hoped that it would all come flooding back.

It did. Within seconds of being back in the saddle it felt as though I'd never left. It was a bit odd that it was Western style, which is much more relaxed, and not the English that I'm used to. I mean, what on earth are you supposed to do with a pommel on a ride like this?

Due, no doubt, to the earliness of the hour it was me and the guide on the ride. We started by riding up to one of the local look out points for the Arenal volcano. The weather continued to be perfect, and the volcano made an imposing backdrop.

That's me there on Mareno, just in case it wasn't obvious. I gathered that "Mareno" is the Spanish for "maroon" (or similar) due to some pointing and gesturing towards the colour of the saddle and other bits of tack.

I couldn't resist taking my own photo of the view.

From there we went off the beaten path, and on to slopes used for grazing cattle by local farmers. The horses proved sure-footed, and given that the terrain was rougher than that I'd negotiated the day before I couldn't help but think that these were the original all-terrain vehicles.

The half way point on the ride was the Green Lake, so called because of the algae that grows on the surface. We paused for a few more photos, before starting to head back.

Algae on the Green Lake

On the way the guide and I swapped riding stories. It turns out the dictum "You're not a real rider until you've fallen at least seven times" is known outside the UK, and he entertainingly described a recent fall where he'd been trying to rodeo some cows only to discover that he was heading towards a fence at high speed. His horse stopped, and the laws of physics intervened to send him flying overhead, landing in the mud. Laughing, he explained that the only thing he hurt was his pride.

We rode back to Athica's base, and stabled the horses. All told we'd been gone about an hour. It was time for part two of the activity.

Zip wire.

This is something else I've done in the past.  About seven or eight years ago a friend organised a trip up to Cumbria in the UK for an adventure weekend, and as part of that we took part in a zip wire event there.

For those not in the know, this is a cable strung between two points. You sit in a harness attached to a pulley on the cable, and slide down at speed, taking the opportunity to admire the scenery as you go whizzing past.

Athica have eight zip wires set up of various lengths; the first is the shortest at about 80 metres, the last is the longest, at about 750 metres. They also have a "Tarzan" swing, of which more later.

Again, I was the only person on this activity at this time of the day. We spent a bit of time getting the harnesses on and tested, and then the staff ran through a demonstration of what to do, and equally importantly, what not to do. Essentially you're clipped to the pulley by two different ropes on four different carabiners (two attach to different parts of the pulley, two to different parts of the harness).

Safety was emphasised multiple times during this, and this safety-consciousness continued throughout the rest of the event, with the staff being very conscientious about ensuring that I (and they) were attached to something solid at all times, by dint of only ever unclipping one carabiner at a time.

In short order I was flying through the air on the first wire, watching bits of green scenery go flying by.

If you were there you'd note that I was rapidly becoming much larger

The wire stations are generally linked -- the end station of one wire is the start point of the next one (with a couple of exceptions where there's a short walk), and it wasn't long before we'd gone around seven of the eight.

By way of an interlude the "Tarzan" swing is between the seventh and eighth. Unlike the zip wire this is a single long rope suspended over the middle of a gorge. There are two platforms, an upper and a lower. You clip to it, and launch yourself in to thin air from the upper platform, swinging back and forth as you go, getting a little lower each time. After maybe a dozen swings you're low enough to land safely on the lower platform.

This was probably the most adrenaline filled part of the event. With the zip wire you can see what it's attached to, sit in the harness and bounce on it, and convince yourself that it's very solid. You can't do that with the Tarzan swing, there's more of a leap of faith required to step off the top platform and go. But once you feel the rope take up the short slack and you're swinging out over some incredible views the fear just disappears.

I know it looks like I'm not moving, but the photo caught me at the top of one swing

And with that we were on to the eighth and final zip wire. I've got video evidence of this but at the moment my Internet connection is not really up to uploading a couple of 200MB videos, so that'll have to wait a day or two at least.

And with that, we were done, and back to the hotel. I spent a bit of time exploring some more of La Fortuna (although not too much, the heat was oppressive at this point).

At 2.45 I was picked up representatives from Sunset Tours for a hike around and through the forests at the base of the Arenal volcano.

This time there were nine of us on the tour, including another honeymooning couple. We started at the same lookout point that I'd ridden to earlier that day. By this point the weather was starting to turn, and clear blue skies were becoming altogether more cloudy.

We spent 20-25 minutes at the lookout point. As well as admiring the view our guide gave us an excellent overview of the history of the volcano, and the devastating effects of its eruption on July 29th 1968. Amazingly, before then no one had realised that this conical mountain was, in fact, a dormant volcano. This was to cost 78 people their lives when Tabacón, a nearby town, was buried.

The volcano is still active, regularly belching a mix of water vapour and sulphur in to the atmosphere, and I realised that much of what I'd thought had been thunder over the last few days was these mini-eruptions.

As if on cue, as soon as the guide had explained this we were treated to puff of smoke from the top of the volcano.

After ooh-ing and ah-ing at that we set off on a gentle hike through the forest. By this time the cloud and fog was closing in, and the first few drops of rain were falling.

True to form this rapidly became a downpour. I'd expected that we'd get some shelter once we were properly in the forest, but it turns out that although the canopy might block out a huge amount of light, much of the rain will just fall straight through and land on me. I was quite glad of the poncho I'd bought the day before, but put my camera away with some regret.

Much of the local wildlife appeared to be in hiding due to the rain, but we were fortunate enough to see a several Eyelash Vipers, and a pair of Toucans (is that a Fourcan?).

The hike was only a mile and a half or so, but what with stops to look at wildlife or shelter under vegetation it took over an hour before we completed the loop and arrived back at the bus.

The next stop was another look out point. This time though we were looking for lava flows from the volcano, which show up best at dusk.

Dusk fell with exceptional beauty.

Our attempts to view the volcano slopes were rather hampered by the fog that by this point was enshrouding the whole mountain. While we waited for it to clear we explored a little, and one member of the party, with exceptionally sharp eyes, noticed a family of Spider Monkeys in far-off trees. We all took turns viewing them with the telescope the guides had brought, periodically checking to see what the state of the weather was.

Well, it was improving. Now, at least, you could see the top of the volcano just breaking above the cloud. But nothing of the slopes.

A thunderstorm was brewing several miles over to the right of us, and the regular lightning flashes kept us amused while the fog continued to dissipate. Another five minutes of waiting and we had this view.

Better, you might agree, but notice the distinct lack of glowing red lava on any of the slopes that we could see.

We hung around for another 15 minutes or so on the off chance that something might happen, but tonight was not destined to be our night, and we climbed back in to the bus, and headed to our respective hotels.

This was probably the best day of the vacation so far. A combination of horse riding memories coming flooding back, the adrenaline of the zip wire, and the plethora of interesting information I picked up in the afternoon meant that I've finished the day very satisfied with how things worked out.

Being better prepared for the rain probably helped too.

Tomorrow I'm off to Costa Verde. Probably six hours on a bus to get there. Hmm...

ATV and Eco Termales

Today was a later pick-up than normal, 10.50, so I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of lie-in.

This was something of a tactical error, as when I turned up to breakfast at 9.05 feeling a bit peckish I discovered that breakfast stopped at 9.

Ah.

I took the opportunity to stroll around La Fortuna for a little bit while hunting down something to eat. The sky was blue, and dotted with clouds, and the volcano continued to maintain a lofty presence, the summit wreathed in drifting cloud.

It was unsettlingly hot, so I decided that staying out of the sun was a good idea, and ducked in to the nearby Rain Forest cafe for a Mono Loco -- as far as I can tell this is a double espresso with some chocolate and a fair amount of banana. Damn tasty too. That washed down a couple of slices of toast, and it was clear the staff could tell I was English, as it was only done on one side.

With that, back to the air conditioned comfort of the hotel to wait for my pickup. Today was going to start with about three hours on an ATV, exploring the area. Again, I was the last one to be collected. There were four others going on the trail, a pair of newlyweds on honeymoon, and a father and son from the UK come to explore.

The activity was put together by Fourtrax Adventures, and started with an introduction to our beasts of burden, a Honda 250cc ATV (or quad-bike if you prefer). This is mine.

They're simplicity themselves to ride, with a simple throttle on the right thumb, motorcycle style brakes on the handlebars, and automatic transmission, so we were soon on our way round the small test field.

With the test over and done with and everything verified as being in working order we headed out on to the main road, and shortly thereafter took a right on to what I can only describe as a dirt track.

I was surprised at how well the ATV handled the pot holes. I'd been expecting to come away a little bone-shaken, but the ride was fairly smooth.

The level-but-potholed terrain started to pitch and roll and the bike continued to chew through it with aplomb. The biggest problem I had was fighting the urge to put my foot down going slowly over particularly rough bits as the bike rolls a bit alarmingly.

Along the way we passed fields growing local fruit of all shapes and sizes, small houses, and crossed over a couple of narrow bridges.

I wasn't keeping too close a check on the time, but after about nine miles we came to our first destination, this broken down bridge.

The guide explained that this was the first bridge that crossed this river, and had significantly helped in connecting La Fortuna to the rest of Costa Rica. It's since been superceded by a more modern bridge futher up-river, and, as you can see, has fallen in to significant disrepair.

We mounted up and headed back the way we'd came. Actually, "mounted up" is an apt phrase, as I found that I was trying to ride the ATV like a horse at various points. Unfortunately, trying to squeeze with your thighs to make the thing go faster doesn't work so well, and just results in you cursing under your breath as you realise you've put your leg too close to the hot engine again.

About half way back the rain started to come -- spotty at first, but becoming significantly harder as we drove on. It wasn't too unpleasant, being very warm, but I'll reiterate my recommendation from the first day, namely, that synthetics dry much faster than cotton, and if I do this again I'm coming out here with a significantly different wardrobe.

Our next destination was La Fortuna waterfall, which is a breathtaking bit of scenery. Unfortunately, the rain was still falling hard, and I elected to keep the camera dry.

From there we rode on to "El Salto", or "jump", a very popular spot for a bit of swimming and Tarzan swinging. By the time we'd got there the rain had stopped, so what better time to get completely soaked?

This, I should hasten to add, is not me. But I could hardly swing and take a photo of myself at the same time.

After spending perhaps 20 minutes at El Salto we dried off and rode on to our lunch destination, Catarata Eco Lodge, for a quick meal of rice, beans, and fish. Once more the clouds opened up on us as we drove there, just as our clothes were beginning to dry off.

And then from the lodge we headed back to base, excursion over.

This was a much more relaxing event than I'd expected, with the terrain never becoming truly difficult to navigate, and plenty of opportunity for short stops as well. I had MyTracks enabled on my phone for the duration, and the route's shown below.


View Quad Biking In Costa Rica in a larger map

From there back to the hotel to shower and change, and figure out what to do until the evening's event. The heavy rain continued, and I shot a few seconds of footage with my phone.




It occurred to me that rain like this could put a severe dampener (if you'll excuse the pun) on the planned horse riding and hiking tomorrow, so, borrowing an umbrella from the hotel I struck out back in to La Fortuna to try and track down somewhere selling plastic ponchos to keep the worse of the rain off.

It turns out that every tourist place in town sells them, but these are the fairly cheap ones that look a little like someone's stuck a hood on a bin bag and poked through two holes for arms. I was looking for something a little more substantial, but it seems they're not to be found, so resigned myself to the "bin bag with a hood" look.

And then it was time for the evening's fun. This was arranged at Eco Termales, a hot springs spa about 10 minutes drive away. With four pools ranging in temperature from 35 to 40 celsius I was looking forward to a luxurious evening.

It didn't disappoint. To avoid overcrowding only 100 people are allowed per four hour session at the spa, so there was an active-but-not-crowded vibe when I arrived. I was also delighted to discover several bars next to the pools. I was a bit concerned about having to keep cash around, but was told that they work on the honour system; simply tell them how many drinks you had when you leave.

Given the effort they'd clearly gone to it seemed rude not to take advantage of the hospitality, so I quickly ordered one of these.

"Walks in the rain", very appropriate given the day's weather.

And followed that up with two others in reasonably short order.

After about an hour and a half of relaxing, moving between the different pools and their different temperatures, and occasional queuing at the bar it was time for dinner. I'd expressed my preference for steak on arrival, and I'm pretty sure that's what I got. Not terrible, but not something to write home about. The side dishes, though, were very tasty.

And then back to the hotel, to haul the day's images off the camera's memory card, and start composing this.

Abseiling that wasn't

Yesterday I wrote:

Tomorrow I'm off to see a volcano, a wildlife refuge, a waterfall, and spend a bit of time on horseback...

Unfortunately, that's not quite how the day turned out.

Package Costa Rica had arranged the transport to the next hotel, Hotel Fortuna in La Fortuna. An 8.20 pickup gave me a little extra time in the morning, and being the last to be collected meant I got the "shotgun" seat.

The three hour journey was broken up by a 15 minute rest stop, which gave me the opportunity to see a bit of nature in action. The light was quite strange -- bright, some sun, but the presence of thunderclouds off in the distance gave it a slightly forbidding air.

You've probably seen nature documentaries showing ants parading to and from some distant location back to their nest, carrying leaves three or four times they size. It's impressive on TV, it's bizarre to see the real thing. Two almost parallel lines of ants marching with purpose, one towards the nest, one away from it.

The rest of the journey passed fairly uneventfully, as we headed north west to La Fortuna. I'm getting the distinct impression that every square inch of Costa Rica that isn't paved or built on has something green growing on it. And speaking of paving, the potholes in some of the roads here would give the 101 in California a run for its money, our driver today performing the occasional practiced slalom maneuver.

I arrived at the hotel at 11.30, whereupon the first problem become apparent -- guest rooms aren't available for checkin until 2pm. This was a little concerning; my pickup for later in the day was supposed to be at 1.20, and I needed to spend some time changing, and applying considerably more sunscreen than I had the previous day.

The hotel pulled out the stops, and got the room prepared in time. So, +1 for them.

I was, however, a bit surprised to get a knock on the door at 1.05 saying the transport for the afternoon's event was waiting. 15 minutes early. I finished getting ready ASAP, and headed downstairs, where I was intercepted by the chap at the front desk saying there was a phone call from me.

It was from Mike, own of the Package Costa Rica folks, explaining that their supplier had let them down, and they'd rebooked something somewhat equivalent at short notice. Hence the minibus outside earlier than planned.

Fair enough.

We drove for 5 minutes or so, and I chatted to the two other couples taking the same course. We were going to be abseiling, much as had already been planned.

Or so I thought.

We transferred to a 4x4 vehicle for a 10 minute bumpy ride up to base camp. There it became apparent that this was going to be a "wet" abseil, including jumping in to deep pools. This was problematic; I was wearing boots for dry conditions (and for the horse riding I was expecting), and needed these boots to stay dry for the ATV course tomorrow.

Talking to the instructors it sounded like the worst of it would be at the third of four abseiling trails, where ending up in the splash pool at the end is pretty much mandatory. I figured I could just skip that one, and move on to the fourth as the time came, which was by far the longest of the four.

So we drove on up on to the first short abseil. Well, incline descent really, nowhere that was really vertical, but with a large stream and plunge pool at the bottom. Going last, I'd paid attention to where the others had put their feet, and tried to figure out a route down that was going to keep my boots dry enough for the next day, but it soon became clear that although that was just about do-able for this descent (just barely) it wasn't going to be practical for the next two.

So, with some regret I had to call it a day, and walked the 20 minutes or so back to the camp for the journey back to La Fortuna.

I wrote this up for the Package Costa Rica folks, and sent them an e-mail, and demonstrating excellent customer service they've already offered to refund the cost of today, or arrange another excursion to replace it. I need to look over the schedule to see where there's a gap I can fill, but I'm very pleased with how they've responded so far.

Back at the hotel the local volcano was looming majestically over the scene, and as the clouds cleared the smoke emanating from the crater was clearly visible, and quite an awesome sight. The perfect backdrop for a G+T and some time spent writing postcards.

Costa Rica: White water rafting

Yesterday evening I touched down in Costa Rica at about 6.10pm local time.

After pondering a vacation destination earlier this year several friends suggested Costa Rica, and one was kind enough to recommend the company she'd used, Package Costa Rica.

As well as providing a menu of pre-packaged tours they let you go a la carte, picking the activities you want to do, and a timescale, and they work out the itinerary (and price) for you. So a few months ago we chatted about my requirements and they put together an interesting tour, and I find myself out on the balcony enjoying the cool evening rain.

Yesterday's travel was marginally more complicated than it could have been. I'd been working from San Francisco for the previous two weeks, which has the drawback that there are no direct flights between SFO and San Jose Costa Rica (SJO). So I took a two hour flight to Phoenix, and hustled between gates in the one hour layover between flights to catch the connecting flight.

Both flights were operated by US Airways, who proved competent, although nothing much to write home about (although I could have done without the 5.45 start from San Francisco). The one stand-out moment was realising, two hours in to the five hour flight from Phoenix that a meal wasn't included.

A Package Costa Rica rep. met me at the airport, and dropped me at the first of what will be several hotels over the course of this stay, the Best Western Irazu, 20 minutes or so from the airport. It's clean, comfortable, and has a well stocked bar. The WiFi though, is decidedly odd; the phone (Nexus One) connects with no problems, the Mac laptop refuses.

The welcome pack from Package Costa Rica included a suite of tear off vouchers for the various events that have been arranged, along with pick up times and locations, which has meant that so far I've had to do very little beyond show up at the right time. Another plus point.

Today was white water rafting. Not something I've done before, and it'd be hard to think of a better place to do it. It's described as

Experience the thrill of white water rafting on the world class Pacuare River! The scenery while rafting is just marvelous. The vegetation that will surround you plus the power of the waters will transport you in to a great wild adventure. The equipment will be given, and a specialised guide will instruct you on how to manage yourself in to the strong currents of the river.

The tour bus from Rios Tropicales collected me from the hotel at 6.10 this morning (yes, 6.10, I need to stop these early starts). I was the last but one stop, and the mini-bus was already quite full. Collecting two others from the next hotel we started the ~ 2 hour drive to the Rio Tropicales base of operations.

There breakfast was laid on. This would have been useful information about 3 hours previously, as this wasn't in the notes, and I'd got up at 5am (or, as my body viewed it, 4am given that Costa Rica is an hour ahead of San Francisco). Having already eaten I settled for a second coffee to help get jump started, and took a few photos.

This was also the opportunity for everyone to get changed in to the gear they'd bought for the rafting. This was slightly alarming -- I'd assumed that this would be provided. Visions of wet-suit shorts and suitable footwear had occurred to me before leaving, so I was in waterproof walking boots, shorts, and a t-shirt.

Hmm.

Ah well, nothing ventured and all that, and I figured that the worst that would happen would be that I'd have a slightly soggy journey back in the bus at the end of the day, so pressed on. If this is something you ever plan on doing I recommend learning from my experience though, and pack a change of clothes.

Anyway, another 45 minutes drive and we made it to the embarkation point on the river. This included the safety briefing from the guide, covering topics such as what to do if you fall in (try and float with your feet pointing down the river, don't try and stand up), correct procedure for hauling people back in to the raft, that sort of thing. The last 15 minutes were down a very bumpy broken up road that could give California a run for its money in the "terrible road" stakes. But I digress.

To the boats, where we put on the appropriate gear (helmets and lifejackets being provided, as well as a paddle), divided in to groups of six, and met our guide, Henry. All told ten rafts were to set off that day. I took the opportunity to turn on MyTracks on my phone and slipped, wrapped tightly in two plastic bags in to a zip pocket.

Henry gave us a brief tutorial on the various directions he'd give in the raft, including the everyone-in-the-middle-we're-going-to-crash one, and the everyone-come-over-to-this-side-so-we-don't-tip-over one. But really, how hard could it be?

We set off.

Any expectations I may have had that any part of me would stay remotely dry during the journey were rapidly set right. It's no exaggeration to say that it would have been drier to have been floating in the river -- then at least your head would stay dry. The initial Class 1 and Class 2 rapids were enough to throw water over all of us, but it was actually fairly pleasant, being quite warm. The Class 3 and Class 4 we encountered a little later were drenching.

Also, not actually as scary as I'd imagined. Although there's plenty of time to admire the scenery as you're quietly drifting through the quieter spots on the river, negotiating the rapids themselves is a frenzy of paddling, shifting weight to stay in the raft, keeping an ear open for the commands from the back, and gasping as another wall of water crashes over you. There's very little time to actually focus on what's going on around you.

Those lessons on how to rescue people back in to the raft came in useful a few times over the three and a half hours we spent in the water. Not, I hasten to add, because any of the members of my raft would be so gauche as to accidentally fall in. But we did manage to haul aboard a few members of other rafts that had found themselves suddenly launched in to the water. Amusingly, most of this seemed to happen during the quieter stretches on the river.

After about 18 miles, and 3h30m of this we arrived at our final destination. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so difficult to walk ashore as it was, but it turns out that when you've been sat down for that period of time hanging on and paddling, trying to stand up straight and not fall over is a significant test of balance.

Our landing point was only 10 minutes or so from the same base that we'd had breakfast at. Lunch was laid on, traditional fare of salad, rice, beans, chicken, and very tasty that was too. There were also changing rooms and showers, but as already explained, somewhat superfluous to my requirements...

And then the ~ 2 hour bus journey back to the hotel, and a chance to compare notes on the day with fellow rafters.

So far, Package Costa Rica have done an excellent job. Tomorrow I'm off to see a volcano, a wildlife refuge, a waterfall, and spend a bit of time on horseback...

Oh, and the phone survived, staying dry through the whole adventure. Resulting in this map


View Rafting in a larger map

Some useful tips for white water rafting I learned today.

• Bring a change of clothes. You will not stay dry.
• Synthetics dry faster than cotton.
• Any electronics should be (at least) double wrapped in plastic, and in a secure pocket somewhere.
• Don't bring anything you intend to use on the river that's not already waterproof. For example, don't expect to bring a compact digital camera and use it during the slow periods. It's possible to buy waterproof (completely enclosed) disposable film cameras, use those.
• No sun lotion on your face, or the backs of your legs. It'll run on your face, and significantly worsen the grip your legs have on the boat.
• Make sure your hotel room has a hair drier -- this is invaluable for drying out the hiking boots that you're going to need tomorrow.

Review: Audio Technica ANC1 noise canceling headphones

For the last few years I've been travelling pretty regularly -- it's not unusual to be on a 'plane once every six weeks or so. And with my new-found interest in podcasts I finally decided to invest in some noise cancelling headphones to counteract the dull roar of the engines.

After some research I settled on a pair of Audio Technica ATH-ANC1 headphones. Two others I considered were the Bose QuietComfort 15s, and the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7b. The Bose looked to be too bulky to comfortably fit in my carry-on, especially given all the other paraphernalia I typically have with me. The ANC7b's looked interesting, but numerous reviews cited concerns about the sound quality and reported that they leak sound (I like to be a considerate neighbour on long flights), so I went for their cheaper, smaller brethren.

Having put the ANC1s through their paces on three flights in the last couple of weeks I'm pleased to report that they do the job, and do it well.

First, they come with a handy carrying pouch with a pocket for the adapters and extension cords that are included, so these will work with devices with a normal 3.5mm headphone jack as well as the two-pronged jacks so beloved of airlines world wide.

What you get: headphones, carry case, extension cord,
two-pronged jack adapter and one AAA battery

They also collapse to a fairly small size, and slip nicely in to my carry-on, or, at a pinch, jacket pocket.

Folded, ready for the pouch

I was initially sceptical about their performance as the earcups are too small to fit around and over the ear, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Once the noise-cancellation feature is turned on via a simple on-off control located on the headphone cord they prove to be very effective, significantly reducing (but not completely eliminating) the noise of the engines. Once you get used to the quiet induced by the headphones it's quite jarring to have to turn them off during the final descent and landing.

They're also comfortable to wear for extended periods, which is useful if you want to settle down with the in-flight movie. A simple switch turns the noise-cancelling on and off so you can hear when the cabin crew are proffering you another G+T.

All things considered I can highly recommend these, especially to the frequent traveler. If you're interested in purchasing them please consider the Amazon (UK, and .com) links below, and help me feed my technology habit...