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Costa Rica

January - February 2024
  • Debra Kooy
A 19-day adventure by Debra Read more
  • Debra Kooy

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  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    The Nest: 156 steps up to overlook the tree canopy
    4The muddy and slippery River Trail. The most challenging trail of all we hikedOur one and only frog sighting from two frog ponds!! They all took cover today21Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree. Each tree was like a painting. So beautiful1Kwati. It was very curious and came right up to the car. Their tails look like monkey tails12Gee, just like hiking back home in the rain😂Danta Waterfall. We could have swam in it but we were wet enough!

    Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa Trails

    January 28, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Anthony and I were up early in hopes of clearer skies to hike in before the worst rain at 1pm. No such luck. It was socked in and raining hard on the drive to the Observatory and hiking trails. We hiked almost 10km of trails. We saw some birds, one 🐸 frog, a monkey waaay up high in a tree and a pack of Kwata Mundi or Kwati's for short. They are pretty friendly and walked right up to our car in hopes of us giving them some food.
    The most beautiful parts were the flowering plants and my favorite, the "Rainbow Eucaluptus" tree.
    We climbed what is called "The Nest" which is 146 steps up to a platform overlooking the tree canopies. We couldn't see the volcano with the cloud cover today. We had an interesting time on the River Trail which was very muddy and slippery. We got to a point where we had to turn back because the steep trail looked like an accident waiting to happen!!
    We saw a beautiful waterfall, a few hanging bridges and a museum with the timelines and history of the Arenal and Cerro Chado Volcanoes, and the wildlife, birds, frogs, snakes and plant throughout the park. We were absolutely drenched walking through the museum!! We drove back to our airbnb and had a hot shower then headed back to Chocolate Fusion for another hot chocolate😋😋. We ate at a different Soda this evening and then it was back to pack for our last leg of the trip to Monteverde.
    Though we did not have sunshine here to see the volcano, it did not stop us from exploring the beautiful sites. What's a little rain in the midst of a rainforest and cloud forest!!😂 All the wildlife, majority of birds and frogs were under cover today in this rain.    Read more

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    Pom Pom shrubHot Lips!The orchids grow right at the top of the bambooI named this the cheerleader tree!! Looks like the pom poms cheerleaders useLooks like giant dill

    Arenal Observatory Flowering Plants

    January 28, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    I cannot stop taking pictures of the beautiful and unique flowering plants. So this is dedicated to this one lodge area and Trails we visited today.

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    Our Authentic La Fortuna AirbnbOur smoothie bowl22No luck seeing the aqua blue today, but we made it to the end of the trail👍12The yellow eyelash viper. Check out those eyelashes😱1

    Breakfast in LaFortuna, next Rio Celeste

    January 29, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Anthony and I packed up this morning. We had brighter skies so took a look at Arenal Volcano this morning and we could see the cone at the top. It didn't last long before the clouds moved in. We ate at Jungle Bowls and shared the best, huge smoothie bowl. Once fueled up, we drove to Rio Celeste, the site of the Blue Lagoon ( water is a beautiful aqua blue). It is supposed to rain and in that case the water will not be aqua blue, but brown. We prepaid to go into the park so we are committed rain or shine. We had some really rough roads going in with lots of potholes. It was slow going, then just 3 km from the park the roads were good again!
    It was pouring rain by the time.e we started the hike. We decided to trek in our Teva's because our runners got so wet yesterday. We hiked to the site of the Blue Lagoon over rocks, mud, streams, bridges to see the brown muddy water and Sulphur bubbles percolating. We hiked to the end of the trail then headed back to the waterfall. We walked down and back up 253 stairs. 8 km today. Lots of great exercise this week!! On the way back out of the trail, a guide was stopped with 2 people. We asked what they were seeing and there was the snake I was hoping to see before we leave Costa Rica, the yellow eyelash viper. Highly venomous. It was curled up on a low branch. You could see it's eyelashes clearly. I never thought I would say this, but it made my day.
    We got back to the car and drove to our next stop, Monteverde. The roads were winding, mountainous roads coming out of the Volcano Tonorio National Park. We had some nice highway driving with some different landscape from our previous area. It was very open with the mountains in the distance. Once we turned off the main highway following the Monteverde signs, we were in for a shock. The roads were so bad and rough. We had to drive so slow for 20km. The view once we got to the top of the climb were spectacular. We were treated to a few rainbows on the way into our Ecofarm where we are staying. This farm is an ecolodge, sustainable and family run. We are in a basic Cabana. So far the food for dinner was fabulous.    Read more

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    3The Barbie doll the dogs were all fighting over!! She's a weird Barbie now🤪
    1

    Rancho de Lelo Ecolodge

    January 30, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We love the family-run sustainable farm. The farm was started by the parents and named after the mom. The daughters and their husband's run the restaurant, reception and work the farm. They have 5 dogs that are so friendly and accompany us wherever we go on the property.Read more

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    1Our pura vida $5 rings which were $2 down the street🤭😂 we won't make it as hand models🤣
    2 fisted drinker!! Kombucha on left, gin & tonic on the right.1A toucan. These pics are through powerful night scopesGreen side-striped palm pit viper1A large tarantula hiding. You can see a part of its hairy leg and bodyA plate of fruit was the first course for breakfast.1Anthony's version of the yellow eyelash viper!!😂3 of the dogs accompanying us on our walk. They all love to play and playfight.Our CabanaA bees nest Anthony spotted on a tree bordering the propertyThe toucanSleeping bird!Our guide says this is so rare to see these vipers open their mouth. It was hunting.How the guides spot these creatures at night is unbelievable. They all work together to share findsThe second viper on the ground amongst the plants2

    Venturing into Monteverde & Santa Elena

    January 30, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    Today was action packed and the worst and steepest roads I've ever driven on. Our little rental car is the little engine that never quits. No flat tires so far on these roads is a miracle🤞🤞We had an incredible breakfast at our Ecofarm then took a walk around the property to see what they grow. I found out this morning that the tilapia fish I had for dinner last night was from the ponds on the property. They have so many fish in the ponds. The 6 dogs came with us on our walk. The littlest one we discovered this morning had to be picked up from one of the family because it just wanted to follow us, but it's just too tiny!!
    The family owns a lot of land here and grow lemons, oranges, guava, bananas and have cattle, chickens and likely a lot that we are not aware of. After a walkabout we drove into Monteverde and Santa Elena. We found our Night Tour location, then drove out to the site of the Tigre Waterfall. The tour was too long so we had a coffee and drove the very narrow, steep roads back to town to the main town center and shopped around. Anthony and I bought PURA VIDA rings to renew our vows to live a content, happy and pure life!!!! ❤️❤️ Then we went for coffee because some of the best coffee is grown here in Monteverde. Following coffee, we drove to a restaurant at Belmar Hotel that one of the guests at the Ecolodge recommended. It had such great views to the ocean. We could see the cloud moving in, then clearing, continually. I had an amazing kombucha, locally made with strawberry, watermelon and ginger. It was so good. Then I also had a gin and tonic which was different than how ours typically taste. Anthony had a flight of craft beers. The fish tacos, nachos and snacks with the beers were all really flavorful. Our last adventure of the day was the Night Walk at El Refugio in the cloud forest. This was an incredible experience and the pictures our guide was able to get with our phones was amazing.
    We saw two types of birds that were sleeping and don't move at all when the lights shine on them. We saw a bright rainbow toucan, a tarantula, a 🦂 scorpion that glows with a black light on it, 2 green side-striped palm pit vipers, a sloth, a porcupine, a hummingbird that visits 2500 plants for the nectar as well as fruits and seeds to feed its high use energy to keep warm in cooler temperatures here, army and leaf cutter ants ( saw the massive nest), and a 500 year old strangler fig tree that has another tree that grew inside it and choked the outer tree. It was a giant. We then had to drive these crazy roads in the dark back to the Ecolodge!    Read more

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    It's a bit moody this morning. We never did get rain, just a light spritz at times
    The steep grades on these roads are unbelievableA Quetzal, the King of the Forest. A very special bird to seeA hummingbird nestA Kawati eating fruit from the forestAt the highest point of the falls, even with the log in the water was the hummingbird and nestA rare type of avocado the animals eat in this areaAnother cute and colorful bird1Can you see the 2 babies in this nest?Us and our guide, MarioA howler monkey. They are so dark for photos, hard to see detail2A wasp nest. Last night on the night walk our guide shared how some wasps can get to 1-4 in long🫨2 beauties in the hummingbird gallery2Momma hummingbird came back to feed her babiesThe howler monkeys only howl in the mornings. You will see a momma with her baby in this video

    Monteverde Cloud Forest Tour

    January 31, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌫 18 °C

    After a poor sleep of under 6 hours for both Anthony and I, I got up and showered at 5:45am. Our hosts are incredible and woke up early to have breakfast ( which is included every day) ready for the guests that have the early morning tours. They had fresh papaya juice, papya and watermelon with eggs and/ or pancakes. We got on the road with a full stomach and ready for another adventure. The guided day tours are at 7:30 am or 1pm. The best time we were told is the morning so we reserved that time. Our guide, Mario, was very friendly and found some special wildlife for us. We saw 3 Quetzal birds which are considered the King of the Forest. The males have a beautiful red breast and aqua and green feathers with a cool crest on its head and yellow beak. They eat small avocados specifically grown in this forest region, fruit, small frogs, insects and berries. We saw a Kawati and a big agouti rodent. We were lucky to see two very small hummingbird nests and one had the babies in it and we lucked out as the momma came back to feed them. We saw another type of hummingbird from afar that nests on the sides of the creeks. It has the longest beak of the hummingbirds. At the end of the hike we saw two more types of birds and some howler monkeys and a huge gathering of army ants that we had to get through quickly or they climb onto you and can bite as we found out with just one bite each, luckily😬 The reserve has a hummingbird gallery where they feed the hummingbirds so visitors can see the many different varieties of hummingbirds in the forest environment. Their colors are spectacular. Again, these guides are amazing to spot these animals. Sometimes they know where things are from the day before or if some habituate to an area, or they just share information and make the best experience for all guests. Anthony was the driver today and got to experience these rough, hilly roads. We stopped at a viewpoint looking to the Pacific ocean (also for sunset viewing) on the way back to the Ecolodge. We had a short siesta, used up some of our food, fruit and beer for lunch and now just enjoying our last afternoon and evening here. We love listening to the winds moving the trees as we are so high up and the sounds are amazing.Read more

  • Debra KooyTravelerCosta Rica
    1The first cat we saw reminded us of our Scratch back home😻This pup had painted blue nails! He kept running from his owner every time he came closeThis pup waited with us for our Kayak tour guideThese white faced monkeys were the closest we got to monkeys this tripThis guy gave me a strong warning to stay back by bearing his teeth3A chihuahua with attitudeBig and just yikes!Our little cutie cat that was so affectionate and we showered with loveOur first up close and personal slothThe sloth we worried about trying to get back to a treeSo happy he made it🥰This guy chased our carStunning colorsThe only toucan we saw in the wildPlayful ecolodge pupsHowler monkeys

    Costa Rica friendly pets & wildlife

    January 31, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Going all the way back to Tamarindo, I am posting our memorable furry friends🥰😻🐕
    and other amazing wildlife.

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