Costa Rica Travelogue (Day 4-8)

Day 4: We took a break from all the adventures and saved this day for a bit of site seeing. We walked up to the rim of Poas, an active volcano crater. Although there was no rain that morning, the fog was too heavy for us to see the crater at all. We are told that the sight is something to behold. After the crater we went to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This is a walk through the Vara Blanca Cloud Forest and goes through 5 waterfalls. The entire walk is paved but wet, so easy for both adults and kids though the length and the climb can be tiring for adults.

Day 5: We headed south towards Dominical area (Pacific ocean side) where the mountains meet the ocean. The drive to the beach was long and tiring. We passed over the mountains as high as 13,000ft high. We stayed at an Inn called Necochea, a private home tucked up in the mountain and surrounded by the jungle with a nice gurgling stream right outside the kitchen. A short drive down, the stream ended in a nice swim hole where my husband loved going for a dip. It felt like a private stream with its own waterfall and a swim hole. We used to wake up to the sounds of howler monkeys and toucans.

Day 6: This was a rappelling day, over the Nauyaca (Baru) falls, a beautiful double-decker falls. Basically you get to the bottom of the fall by rappelling down and then hike to a small but beautiful swim hole. The rappelling was initially scary, especially when it is time to go over the edge of the cliff. But when I got down and looked up, I wished I could do it all over again. Our 7 year old was too young for this, but our 10 year old was able to rappel. Of the three activities (zip lining, whitewater rafting and rappelling), our 10 year loved zip lining, rafting and rappelling in that order. Because of his light body weight, rappelling was a bit of hard work for him and he had to be assisted by the guide who was rappelling alongside. Our 7 year old hiked down to the swim hole with one of the guides and waited for us. After rappelling, we hung out by the falls, our really fun guides (a family of three) had prepared a nice lunch for us that we ate right there for a very relaxing afternoon.

Day 7, this day we had the option of going sea-kayaking, spending day at the beach or go whale watching. We chose to go whale watching. We saw two humpback whales, and few dolphins. Because of the rain the previous night, the water closer to the beach was very muddy so we chose not to snorkel, but in clear season, the water in the bay is supposedly very clear and supports a huge variety of fishes and beautiful snorkeling.

Day 8: This was our morning on the beach. The rocky coastline was lined with awesome beaches some of them with caves that people could paddle around in kayaks. We found a beach with two caves that connected the beach to the ocean creating a blow hole. These caves were perfect for body surfing or surf boarding. Such pristine beaches are what Costa Rica is all about, a place where the rainforests meet the ocean with nothing but a small slivers of sand in between...Costa Rica is Pura Vida.

Pura Vida: Pure Life