Costa Rica Research Trip | Dec 2024 - Jan 2025

A quick trip across to San Jose, Costa Rica and just like that we found ourselves in a huge hall surrounded by Americans in snake lines to Passport Control. Our plane happened to arrive at the same time as 6 flights from USA. Getting through Passport Control was very quick and we were out into the heat and humidity.

The transfer man arrived and we were off to La Fortuna, some three hours away. Travelling in Costa Rica can vary with the road surface; the road to La Fortuna was a main road and sometimes it was smooth and sealed and other times patchy with a choice of potholes.

La Fortuna is a town centered around a dormant volcano and extreme sports. The countryside on the way passed through small hamlets, pastural lands and some forest. It was a relief to arrive at the hotel and have a place to rest.

First stop this morning was Arenal Vida Campesina, an organic farm with a garden full of fresh delights. We tasted our way around the vegetable beds and stopped to spot sloths in the trees or unusual birds coming to eat from the fruit trees and flowers.

A bit of activity was needed as we tried our hand at extracting sugar juice from raw cane. The juice is greenish in colour and of course tastes sweet; it's even better with rum. Next, we made Tortillas by hand, baked them on the grill and added produce from the farm for our lunch.

It was back to the hotel for some down time and change of clothes for our walk on Arenal Volcano. Pepe, our guide turned out to be rather peppy with a great sense of humour. Part of our group were couples from Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, England and of course New Zealand.

The walk started at the visitor's centre and circles up through the regenerated forest, through lava fields and up onto a small plateau. The volcano was very shy today and was hidden by cloud. Pepe was extremely informative and kept us moving along to get good viewing places.

Arriving back at the car park we had a short break before heading off to the Hot Springs. I was expecting something like Rotorua, and we got something without the smell, tepid water and a great buffet dinner.

To get to Monteverde we had to cross Lake Arenal. This piece of water is dammed and is the largest lake in Costa Rice. Once again the transportation arrived on time, tidy with a pleasant drive. The road to the ferry was straight forward (thank heavens) and the small ferries waiting at the short pier looked serviceable if basic. Across the green water we went hugging the shoreline with views to the hills and clouds.

On the other side an even shorter pier waited for us and the vans were almost in the water as they lined up to collect their passengers. I would rather not remember the road to Monteverde, the distance was not far however the road surface was very pitted. 

The drive took longer than expected and we arrived with no time to check-in, just enough for a comfort stop and then we were away to the Cloud Forest. Somehow, I haven’t read the memo about the hanging bridges so when I saw the first one I just knew I had to be brave. Hanging bridges cross valleys and so travel at the height of the tree canopy; this height gives them an amazing opportunity to see the plants, wildlife and birds in the treetops. 

Surprising enough a single tall tree can be host to 200 other plants and we found trees growing on the top of trees. My favourite were the colourful flowers crowning the very top of the trees.

Up there in the clouds were monkeys, spiders, vipers, flowers, trees, vines and many ferns. One strange tree was very much like our Punga but it had nasty thorns - I’ll stick with our version.

Overjoyed to finally get to our hotel room we found we had huge space with a tremendous view across the landscape to the Pacific Ocean. Sun was setting as we had a delicious meal in the hotel restaurant.

We started early as we had a two hour walk in the Rain Forest before lunch. Last night it bucketed down; it wasn’t cold just very wet. This National Reserve has seven main tracks in amongst the trees, streams and slopes of the mountains. Our guide, Henry had been in this forest all his life and was one of those clever people who can spot a bird when the rest of us are standing looking lost. (The gumboots have reappeared as standard footwear for all the guides in this area.)

Henry trudging along carrying a tripod with high powered telescope and he would patiently set this up so we could see the birds clearly and in detail. Well, birds, lizards looking like sticks down the truck of trees, tarantula, wild pig, fungi, bats and of course trees, orchids and other flowers.

Our last stop was the Humming Birds feeding stations and I was delighted to see the rare purple hummingbird. Coffee was very appreciated after the intermittent rain.

Lunch and then a transfer to San Jose. This time the road first went along the Great Divide which runs from North America through Costa Rica and to South America; on one side is the Pacific Ocean and on the other the Caribbean. Coming down to the west we joined the Pan-Pacific Highway. It was definitely zoom, zoom to San Jose - thankfully we did know the way to San Jose.

And that was it, a hotel near the airport so we can catch our flight home, first to Panama, then Santiago and finally Auckland.