Costa Rica Vacation…
Went to Cosa Rica for two weeks. The first four days were spent canyoneering, led by a local guide. A local guide makes the approach and exits on private land go more smoothly, as it’s normal to have to pay the land owner a fee for entering or exiting on their property. Plus, the guide was very helpful on the highly technical waterfalls, like the Gata Fiera falls. During these four days we stayed at 4700’, in an Airbnb, in the small town of Bajos Del Toros. Average temps were in the mid to upper 60’s. Here’s a link to the four canyons we descended… Gata Media Canyon , Ciudad Esmeralda Canyon , Gold Canyon , and Gata Fiera Canyon .
Our next four days, we moved to an Airbnb in the small town of San Gerardo. This town sits at about 7200’ in elevation. The average temps were in the lower 60’s, and the nights got down in the lower 40’s. Since the Airbnb had no source of heat, the mornings were pretty cold. While in San Gerardo, we explored the local forest trails, including hiking up to Cerro Frio, a 11,380’ peak, with lots of radio towers at the summit. There is also a short road that one can walk to the summit, but you would not see the tropical forest that we saw coming up from our Airbnb. This hike is crazy beautiful, hiking up through the tropical forest jungle.
After spending over a week up in the mountains of Costa Rica, we moved to an Airbnb down at seal level, to the small community of Bahia Drake. There is only one road in to this small community, and it’s a long, rocky, bumpy, gravel road…with periodic short sections of smooth asphalt. The scenic aspect of the drive made the long bumpy road worth it. Many people take a boat, and land on the sandy beach in Drake Bay. Also, we saw building contractors, propane deliveries…etc delivering and picking up from the shores of Drake Bay. Very interesting to watch. I guess it was easier and faster than driving the long bumpy gravel road. While in Bahia Drake, the temps averaged in between the upper 80’s and lower 90’s with 90% humidity. While I loved the heat, the humidity sucked the energy from us PNW gringos. We took a 10-mile hike along the shore-line, stopping at several small beaches, through thick coastal jungles. We also took a night hike through a small patch of jungle near town, looking for the night creatures. Saw lots of large insects, frogs, and toads…We even saw the reflective eyes of the caiman crocodile.
Since it was a long way back to the airport, for our flight back home, we booked a room at an old beach hotel on the Pacific Coast. A little less humid, but still in the mid 80’s. While there the neighbor decided to burn a large brush pile in his backyard, at 8:30pm. The fire got quite large, threatening the neighbor’s property, including the hotel we were at. The fire started to catch surrounding vegetation on fire. I’ve never seen a coconut palm go up in flames till that evening. The one-engine fire dept. showed up and doused it with water where it soon smoldered out. It was still smoking in the morning. Crazy event…
The next morning, we packed up, drove to the San Jose, Cosa Rica airport for a long, multi-stop flight back to Eugene. Showed up to 4” fresh snow at home.
