24 Dec - moving into the Bunkbed Palace

After our Christmas Eve hike, we entered our new accomodations in the centre of the village.  It was an apratment in the small building opposite the serpentarium, actually owned by the same people.   

On the up side, we were told we could hang-out at the serpentarium's restaurant balcony, lounge on the hanging rope seat and use the wifi.  However, the apartment turned out to be one big room stuffed with bunk beds, having an extra bed roughly walled off.  There was the smallest 'kitchenette' I'd seen, with very little in the way of plates and dishes, a small gas stove set on the counter and a little bathroom.  After the Hacienda Encantada it was admittedly a depressing sight - no sofa or dining table.  Just two wooden chairs.  And to top it off, no water - the entire village was out.  This happened more regularly in the village we were told.

Had it not been the place we would be staying for Christmas through New Years Eve and had we not had two teenage girls now in our group,  we would have made the best of it.  But given the holidays and our bigger family, I called our fixer, Nancy, to ask what could be done.   She is a star and soon had managed to contact friends who own a two-story farm-style house up on the next ridge and made an agreement for us to move into this home at a very good rate --- on the 26th.

So we had a couple of days to stay at the Bunk Bed Palace.  I fgured this would be fine.  Having no place to sit and hang out, we wandered over to serpentarium where we found our guide Juan and others we had met there.  Sam fell head over tails, erm , heels, for the serpentarium dog, Peluche.   We had coffee on the balcony, gazed at the amazing view and caught up on wifi with our iTouches and iPhones.   The kids wandered freely from the apratment to the serpentarium and we all had chances to walk through the village, stopping at the little church and supermarket to chat with locals.

When I mentioned that we were moving on soon, the boys were devastated.  NO! they said.  We like the village, the serpentarium, Juan, Peluche.    And we had also met our new neighbours from Alaska, Chris, Mimi and their 22 year old son Alex.    All of a sudden I wondered if we had made a mistake and should adjust our standards a bit.  The girls and I discussed this for awhile - but we jointly decided that the novelty of the village would wear off as soon as the 3 boys, the girls, and Justin and I were stuck in the house with a bit of rain and no privacy at all.

24 Dec - hanging bridges rainforest hike

I woke up Saturday morning and sat in bed watching my now familiar group of hummingbirds going about their business in the flowery bush outside my window.   Howler monkeys howling off in the distance and all of our bird symphony doing it's thing.   Thhis was the last morning in the Casa Encantada.

We packed up and set our bags out before we drove to Sky Trek further down the road.  This was our day to have a guided tour of the local rainforest on a jungle path with  hanging bridges across the higher levels of the forest canopy.

I'm not sure what we all had in our minds about this, but my pre-formed image of this adventure consisted of a gentle stroll over a few high-set gently hanging bridges.  I hadn't seen any brochures or heard further about this experience.

We quickly found that this was not a gentle 30 minute stroll ... but a 3 hour hike up and down the rainforest paths and along high bridges.  It was undoubtedly a gorgeous walk, and we learned a lot about the rainforest vegetation.

However, the kids were not as impressed.  They hadn't expected a 3 hour trek and, after the first hour, began complaining constantly for the duration of the hike.  It was too long.  They were dying of thirst.  There were no animals visible.   They had to pee.   To top it off, our guide was the least enthusiastic and charismatic of any we'd had thus far.

OK, not a great start.  But all of us (well, with the exception of the youngest two) agreed later that it had been reasonably interesting.  While our guide was not able to point out any living non-vegetative life other than an ant,  she was able to tell us some interesting tidbits about the trees and plants.

To start with, we hadn't realise that there are 4 kinds of rainforests in Costa Rica.  The one we are in is a 'tropical rain forest'.   There are also cloud forests like the Montverde Cloud Forest.  The tropical rainforest is obviously the wettest, but also the coolest of the rain forests.  And the rain forests are broken into primary and secondary froest growth - the primary being the stereotyically tall trees seen in photos and the secondary being the newer, lower growing, jungle style growth.  

Our guide showed us one of the most common trees in the area:  the trumpet trees.  They are hollow inside and very tall - growing at the rapid pace of 3 meters per year until they 'die' around 25 years.  Their distinctive long trunk-like roots are visible for a few feet above the surface of the ground before they join up into the tree trunk.   This tree has a symbiotic relationship with a species of leaf cutter ants, providing a home for them in the hollows and good in the stems of large leaves.

Another interesting tree is the Stranglefig (also known as Banyan) tree.  We see may of these here and they are typically huge.  The strangling fig is actually a series of vines that grow up around another, establised large tree and suffocate the primary tree, using it's structure to grow a new outer trunk out of the vines that have grown into trunks surrounding the original tree.  These are very beautiful trees, very wide and tall with intricately inter-winding trunk lengths.

Us in front of a stranglefig (banyan) tree

We aso investigated the rattlensake plant, marantasia.  WIth flower stems that appear as large rattlesnake rattles, this plant is often home to snakes that hide in it to await small creatures coming to drink water from the beautiful rattle shaped flower stems. 

We looked around at the 'Heart of Pam' trees that grow high alongside the hanging bridges.  Parts of the trunk are harvested for sale as an exotic food.   Because of this, it has been made illegal to cut down wild Heart of Palm trees and they must now be farmed in order to produce product for sale.

We finally finished off our jungle trek through the paths of this privately owned 250 square km section of rainforest by stopping off at the butterfy conservatory at the end of the trail.  Phew! It was a long mornings' hike and not only the children were tired!

all the pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111224CRHangingBridgesNatureWalk

23 Dec - rapelling with Pure Trek

It was a rainy soggy day as we made our way down to La Fortuna for a Pure Trek rappelling adventure - prompting the slightly overused phrase 'well, they don't call it a rainforest for nothing'.

Pure trek offices have a 'corporate team building' look and feel to them, complete with coplimetary coffee and t-shirt rack.   We were all grouped together with the other 34 people that we would be rappelling with that day and feed a lunch of rice, beans and chicken before we were loaded into vehicles to take us to our rappelling site.  

The road to the site was bumpety and, loaded up onto benches in the back of a canvas covered pickup, we bounced all over the place.  But that was all part of the adventure.   Our guide Albarro was so funny and entertaining that we didn't really notice the time.  Albarro is an extreme sports junkie who likes to long board down roads at night with his friends and has done some heavy-duty rapelling... once, injuring himself into bed for 7 months!

We suited up into blue smurf suits (blue helmet, rainjacket and harness, oh so attractive!) and listened to a brief before heading off down paths through the rainforest.   As we arrived near the first of 4 rapelling sites, we were strapped onto a safety line so we wouldn't bring ourselves to harm while we waited.

The first jump off a cliff was the most nerve-wracking - and it didn't help that the first one was the tallest by far (165 feet!).   The process of connecting our ropes and getting us to turn around in preparation was done so fast that there was no time to think about anything.  But there was a second or two when, just before jumping, you have a chance to look down and scare the holy terror out of yourself before being told to jump out!!   There was just no backing down at that second though, imagine the shame!  Sam was the perfect example for all of us as we kept saying 'if a 6 year old can do this, ...'

I have to admit, my lower lip was quivering on that first rappel down the side of a waterfall .. and it was not due to the cold.    Even though I had done some rock climbing in my dubious past, I had never just freely jumped off a cliff into the air (unless you count a few much-shorter jumps into water).   But it all happens pretty fast and before I knew it I was done and feelign a little disappointed that it didn't last longer.

My only negative comment about the rappelling layout would be that the jumps should be in the reverse order because once you've done the first one, the others seem a bit boring.  Whereas it would've been fun to jump a little further each time and enjoy pushing the boundaries.  But it was all adrenaline-packed fun all the same.

The Pure Trek staff are extremely professional and, if anything, the rappelling experience they provide is a super-safe taster for those who may want to take on rappelling challenges later.  There were two clips for the harness and in addition to a rope that we each guided through a carabeener to lower ourselves, there was always a Pure Trek guy at the top and and bottom attached to a separate rope that could just lower us all the way down if we lost the nerve and passed out, or happened to be disabled or too small to manage the rope.

The kids were hyped up on adreline and so excited about this activity.  Everyone loved rappelling and we'd all love to come back and do it again.  

all the pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111223CRRapellingWithPureTrek

22 Dec - the El Castillo serpentarium (aka EcoZoo)

We've made lots of trips into El Castillo from our little house.  There is only one street so that even we can't get lost, no matter how hard we try.    There is a little soda (restuarant) facing a small one-room church,  a mini-market, a handful of homes,  hotels comprising of cabinas, a serpentarium (also known as the Arenal EcoZoo), and a butterly conservatory. We made the trek into the serpentarium to have a guided tour on Thursday morning.   Our guide was a very cool rastafarian guy with dreads down to his waist - he's really smiley and attentive to all the kids.  His name is Juan and he lives just next door to the serpentarium, which the boys thought was pretty cool.    Juan started by walking us all through the process of making anti-venom.  Apparently, Costa Rica has the one anti-venom producing center in all of the americas (based in San Jose).  They are able to produce anti-venom for all but 1 of the 22 venomous species of snakes in Costa Rica.   He described how the venom is injected into a large animal (horse) through repeated sets of small injections until the blood has produced the antibodies to ight the venom.  Then some blood is extracted and run through a centrifuge to separate the anti-venom before the horse is rewarded with a 2 month  rest period.  One horse is able to 'work' in this way for 3 years before it is set free to retire.  (I have to say, I feel kinda sorry for the poor horses used in this process, couldn't they be rotated out after a year instead of 3?!)  We then visited the venomous snakes in captivity at the zoo - vipers and corals.    I loved the eyelash vipers with their long eyelashes and the super brightly red-striped coral snakes.  Juan pointed out the 4 ways to know a snake is venomous: (1)  eyes:  pupils are slits (like a cat) not round like ours (2)  scales:   scales on head are smaller than rest of body, non-venomous have larger head-scales (3)  nostrils:  venomous snakes have 4 instead of 2 nostrils, with a gland in one set that senses heat, like infrared sensors (4)  shape of head:   bigger head to accomodate venomous gland ducts,  non-venomous have smaller sleeker shaped heads The thought crossed our minds that if you were close enough to be able to clearly see the first 3 items, you may be a bit too late to save yourself!!! So Costa Rica has 117 non-venomous and 22 venimous species of snakes altogether.  The 117 non-venomous snakes use constriction or bites as a form of self-protection and feeding.      We left the highly toxic snakes to continue on and visit the slightly friendlier creatures.   First, inspected a baby iguana who seemed non-plussed about being fondled and passed about - he had been born in captivity there.   Next, we all took turns holding a cartoon-like rainforest tree frog with blue sides and orange feet.   He was so light that it was like holding a leaf.  He pod-ended fingers were very sticky and he loved to climb up our fingers.  When Sam cuddled the tree frog, it climbed under his chin and almost got squashed by a very, ticklish little boy.  We had to hold his head up and pry out the poor frog's fingers ... the possiblity of the fragile little frog falling and getting stepped on in the confusion made us all very nervous! The lovely little tree frog that looks like a toy After we put the tree frog back on his leaf, we moved on to a rainbow boa.    Juan said this was one of his favourites because when the sun landed on it, the scales turn pearlescent and reflect a rainbow of colors.   But when we held him, it was shady and he was just brownish.  Still, he was very docile and let al of us wrap him around our arms and necks, his little head turning this way and that to check us out at the same time. After the rainbow boa, Juan placed an impossibly skinny spaghtteti snake onto Andy's finger.  Coiled up, it looked like a big ring.  Once warmed a bit by Andy's hand, the spaghetti snake came to life, stretching out to a meter or so in length.  So beautiful, but perilously fragile looking.     We all held one of the several spaghettis in the terrarium and they were my favourite.  I was so jealous when Juan said he has one at home as a pet. We walked on and saw various types of small to medium tortoises, a baby crocodile and more non-venomous snakes - including a huge pregnant python, with a lumpy chicken filled  tummy. Juan took us into a small butterfly conservatory and showed us some cocoons.  Most were green, but one was metallic gold, very unusual.  He held the 'head' of a green cocoon and showed how when he stroked the cocoon it wiggled and moved about - that was so fascinating, we had all thought that the caterpillar/butterfly in the cocoon would be sleeping the whole time, like in a coma, so it was so strange to see the cocoon wiggling around like that!    One of the most beautiful butterflies in Central America, the Blue Morpho. The wings appear brown on one side and blue on the other - but there is atually no blue on the wings... just a set of pearlescent scales that reflect all colors but blue. We finished off in the insects section - not my favourite, I'm just proud I can manage to be there and not squeal like a three year old the whole time!   Juan opened all the little enclosures so we could better inspect the scorpion spider and various types of tarantulas.  Even he doesn't seem to love holding any of these, but picked a furry tarantula for us to take a closer look.  When offered a cuddle, interestingly no one accepted. We also enjoyed just hanging out at the serpentarium with Juan, the boys hanging on the tree swing or playing with Peluche the dog.   The balcony there had an amazing view over lake Arenal and some of the most delicious 'tipical' food.  My favourite dinner was the serpentarium's specialty, Casado - a dish of rice, black beans, fried plantain, meat and salad.

more pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111222CRSerpentarium 

21 Dec - Arriving in Costa Rica and a hairy horseback ride

After a 5 AM start, two buses, a taxi, two airplanes, and several hours driving up green mountains, we finally arrived in El Castillo, Costa Rica night before last!   This is our 2nd morning waking up here and my favourite thing (besides having our 2 gorgeous nieces Brittany and Katie join us here) is seeing a group of hummingbirds in the flowery bushes next to our window each morning before 7.

Our lime eating trial on the way to our digs in El Castillo

The howler monkeys have followed us from Belize, we can hear them roaring in the trees outside our lovely rented casita, Hacienda Encantada.   So beautiful and remote here.  People who choose to live up here in El Castillo must be folks who've decided to drop off the grid and get back to natural living, it is a good 40 minutes drive over some rocky roads to get to the nearest town with a supermarket, bank s or doctors' office.  I can't believe the locals here get to wake up each day to the stunning fairytale view of the cloud topped Arenal volcano, misty lake Arenal and endless rainforest ... imagine that for a regular coffee morning on the veranda?!

relaxing in our 1st home in El Castillo

Yesterday, we took a horseback ride with Lilander and his Apaloosa horses up into the Arenal rainforest, stopping at a waterfall before the return trip.  Lilanders' horses were gorgeous, well-cared for  and well-behaved animals.  We loved on all the horses and visited his breeding stallion before mounting up for the ride.

Sam spoke up to request his own horse without a leader - he thinks he knows it all now that he's ridden horses a few times!!  Lilander thought that was ok, as long as he wore a helmet.  The older kids all jumped straight on and got to know their horses too.  

I'm still a little nervous about trotting, not yet a seasoned horse-rider, but getting there!  These horses had a lot of spirit and are all desperate to get in front of the other.  We had little competitions going on during the whole ride where 2 or 3 horses would try to edge past each other on the path and they all loved to break into a trot when given a chance.

We were amazed at the terrain they covered.  At points heading up the mountain, they were literally making their way through knee-deep mud and then over rocky little paths, through fields of cows ... without hardly a hesitation.   Later, we found it amazing that none of us had come off our sadles because sometimes the horses had to literally jump down or up steep 2 foot sections ... and along cliffs that went down perilous trajectories!!  But we had a lot of faith in the horses and Lilander, who all seemed to know their way about the mountain like they could do it blindfolded.

The waterfall at the end was spectacular, if avery c-c-c-c-old!!   A little too cold fo the girls to get into, but the boys and I jumped in right away.  There was a grandma riding with us, along with her son and grandson.    She was crazy, in a fun way, and led the way both on the horses, galloping off way ahead of us and then diving into the falls before our clothes were even off!  I couldn't be shown up by a granny and a six-year old - how humiliating! -  so I really had no choice but to jump on in.  It felt great to be clean and then in dry-ish clothes again.

I was worried abotu Katie riding a horse since she had just had a terrible stomach bug, but she and Brittany both were great on the horses.  They 

On return, we left the 2 big boys at home with Brittany and Katie and headed to the grocery store in  La Fortuna, the nearest small town.  We left around 2:30 PM and were surprised to find that the drive there, a cup of coffee and quick wander through the central square, the grocery store and the ride back took us until 6 PM to return!!

We're all looking forwared to the next adventures!!

 more pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111220CRArriveElCastilloAnd1stHouse
https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111221CRApaloosaHorsebackInMountains