A continuation of our Costa Rican adventures

Ok, so where was I? That’s right, our first few days in Playa Negra….
After we got home (aka – Kev’s place) we got ready to go back out again. Kevin worked with a guy in Montreal who was also living in San Jose and he had access to the the NHL streaming package and a projector. Hello?!?! Thursday was the first night of the playoffs and we were dying to see our Canucks in action. We grabbed some stuff for a BBQ, some bevies and headed to his apartment complex just up the hill from Kev’s place. What a sweet setup!!! Alex had basically taken over the communal outdoor area and mounted a projector screen to the wall. It was awesome!!

Like I mentioned before, lots of places in CR have security guards posted outside of the gates. This place wasn’t any different. The only obvious difference was the security guards at this place had shot guns draped over their shoulders…some were even sawed off!!!! That was something we’d never seen before!

Once we were let in we met Kev’s friends and started to watch the Montreal/Washington game. Alex is a hardcore Montreal fan and while we were there we had to cheer for Montreal or else we would be asked to leave :) A Canadian team to cheer for…no problem! On a side note…..I would die to see Alex’s reaction to how the Canadiens are doing now!! AWESOME!! Gooooo HABS goooooooooooooooo!!!

Before the Canucks game started one of the security guards started walking around with his shot gun. I said quietly to myself…or so I thought….”I wonder if I can take his picture.” Alex, overheard me and in a drunk, boisterous tone said, “You want a picture?” I said, “No no no no, it is ok.” At this point he was talking to the security guard who came over to me. Then Alex said, “Do you want to hold it. C’mon, hold it, it’s fine.”  To which I replied again, “No no no no, it is ok.” Before I knew it I had the gun in my hand and thought “Holy s***, I have a GUN in my hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a first” Then the pic was taken…..

I cannot believe the security guard was totally ok with all of it! As the guys said afterwards, “That’s what you get in Costa Rica and the thing is these guys are not even trained to use those guns.” YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally the Canucks game was on. It was painful to watch! Long and boring, when we should have killed LA. All good! We won the series and now we are onto Chicago! Goooooooooooooooooooooooo CaNuCkS!!!!

The next day while Kev was at work, Jamie and I went on a tour. We woke up bright and early (5am) to catch the tour bus. We were sleepy because the game the night before went into overtime, but the morning was gorgeous and the sun was shining!!!! Sun = a very happy Sara :-) We went around to several other hotels to pick up the rest of the people in our group. We met people from Colorado, Mexico, Miami, NYC, Brooklyn and one dude from N. Alberta. A cool group of peeps!

Our first stop was a coffee plantation about an hour outside of San Jose. There we learned and saw all of the steps from when a bean grows to when it is bagged and ready to sell. It was pretty cool. I wish I had listened to the speech part of it, but I was too busy snapping pix. I much prefer that anyway!

Oh ya….first we had breakfast at the plantation. My favorite, gallo pinto. It looks simple, but it is flippin DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
 **Imagine being the person who has to shovel all of the beans drying on the pavement?!?! And it was HOT out when we were there at 9am!!!**

One thing I did hear and learn was that coffee beans get their dark color from being roasted. When they grow on the tree and are cracked from the shell they look like a peanut. It is common to get two beans within a shell, but in some cases you only get one. That is the best quality coffee bean.

 

After chowing down on several chocolate covered coffee beans and buying LOADS of coffee to bring home (I love, love, love coffee), we hopped on the bus bound for Poas Volcano.

About halfway there we were told that they were denying people access to the volcano because it was spewing too much gas, which was not safe for people to inhale. So instead of going there, we went to our other destination La Paz to check out the rainforest, wildlife and waterfalls.

While we drove there it felt like we were driving into the clouds. The blue sky had totally disappeared. Once we arrived we walked around the rainforest checking out all of the wildlife. Before we went to Costa Rica there were three things I wanted to take pictures of: a toucan, a red eyed frog and a turtle.

When we first got there I saw tons of toucans!!! I was soooo happy :-) Because we were roaming around in their territory, those I managed to see were high up in the trees and very camouflaged. I didn’t have a lens big enough to get the shot, but that was ok. At least I saw them :-) Little did I know that we were about to enter an enclosed part of the rainforest where there were numerous toucans flying around!!

So you’ve learned I have a phobia of the ocean and now you are going to learn something else. Things that fly FREAK ME OUT!!! When we were at Playa Negra at dusk bats would start flying around and I would freak out! Well, we entered an area full of birds! Let the freak out session begin!!! Not only were there tons of birds, but there were loads of people feeding the birds fruit! They were buzzing all around me and I was DYING! The people on our tour were getting a kick out of my reaction every time a bird passed me by. But…I …had…to…..get….a….pic!!!!!!

Here is one of Jame and his new friend, Sam :-). People were trying to get me to do the same. HELL NO!! Hahahahahaha…..

After meeting the birds we walked around the rainforest some more. The variety of plants and flowers was amazing! Everything was so beautiful and lush and colorful!

 

We eventually made our way to the butterfly garden. Anywhere you go in CR you will definitely see butterflies. They are so beautiful. So beautiful from afar! NOT BEAUTIFUL when they fly around you and land on you! Again….the fear of things that fly! And once again the people in our group got a good chuckle out of me.

**Butterfly eggs**

Another animal that is quite common is the hummingbird. That was it! I couldn’t hack it anymore! Those things were buzzing by my head so fast I thought I was going to hyperventilate. One guy was laughing so hard at me, he said “What are you going to be like when we see the snakes?”  **CHERYL, I will warn you to scroll down faster!!!!!!!!!!!** Don’t worry, I got your back ;-)

I said, “Oh no worries!! Snakes, spiders, cockroaches etc. do not bother me at all1! Only things that fly :)” Needless to say the hummingbirds were too fast and I was too uncomfortable, so this is the only pic I have…

After the crazy birds, we went to check out the frogs. I was soooo hoping to see a red eyed frog and get a sweet picture. We were instructed not to touch the leaves or the frogs because we wouldn’t know which ones were poisonous. I saw a lot of frogs, but it was hard to get some decent shots because they were hiding. I did manage to find this lil’ guy. How cute….

I did see my red eyed frog, but it was so not interested in getting its picture taken….

Eventually we made our way to the snake section. I have never seen so many different kinds of snakes ever!!! Very cool!!! See….I am weird!!! It was too dark to get any decent pix, so this is the only one I have. We had a staring contest. He won….

****CHERYL, either scroll down FAST or close your eyes! Love you!!!!******

 

Finally we made our way to the jungle cat area. I dislike zoos because I feel so bad for the animals in captivity. I didn’t even know this tour included jungle cats. I didn’t really pay attention to any of them because I felt so bad, but I will say that I was extremely entranced by this jaguar we saw. I have never seen one in real life and it is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen! I guess that is why they have zoos, eh??

It was just lying there so regal looking. We stared at it and it stared back at us. We noticed that a huge rope was half in it’s “home” and half where we were. Jame picked it up and tried to coax the cat to play. It didn’t show any interest and Jame was getting tired, so he gave up. We all continued to stare at this gorgeous creature when all of a sudden we heard a little girl run around the corner. As soon as she came into view the jaguar got this insanely intense look on its face and puffed up. The little girl said “Look mommy, the cat is looking at me.” I swear to god it was the freakiest thing ever! Had the wall of glass not been separating it from us, that girl would have been dinner! Her mom even caught on and grabbed her daughter’s hand and nervously said, “Hahaha…I see that, honey. Let’s go.” All of us were looking at each other saying “Whoa!! That was weird!!!”

We were just about to leave when a guy in our group picked up the rope to trying to get the jag to play one more time before we left. Low and behold it worked!! Buddy was kind of playing tug of war with a jaguar!! It was wild!!!! Pardon the pun! ;-) It was cool because the cat came really close to the glass and we were able to get some great shots. Jame helped me out on this one :) He laid on the ground and got as close to the glass as possible for an up, close, and personal shot. I love them!!!!!!!! Such a beautiful animal!!!

 

Now it was time to check out the waterfalls. Being in the rainforest and all it did rain. In fact, it POURED! Go figure!! On our way to the falls we had to walk down hundreds of stairs. Tons of stairs! Not so bad going down, but the way up was a different story. I only have a couple of pictures because it was too wet to leave the camera out.

Once we made our way to the top we had some hot sugar cane milk. It was delicious. Outside of the hut where we had this drink was a farmer and his cows. The carts used to transport goods are very bright and decorative. Sorry you can’t see that…I liked the black and white version of this photo better :)

After three hours of touring around the rainforest we had a nice lunch. After that we got back on the bus and made our way to Poas Volcano, one of the oldest/active volcanoes in CR. I didn’t think we were going to go since it was sooooo cloudy and soooo rainy and I didn’t think we’d be able to see anything. They said that the volcano had calmed down and they were just starting to let people through to view it. Yay!!

As soon as we got there we couldn’t see the crater or the lake :-(. The volcano was emitting so much gas and smoke, but all of a sudden a gust of wind came through and all of the smoke blew to the side and everything came into view. Yay!!! :-) Our guide said that because the volcano is located in the rainforest that it isn’t often that people get to clearly see the crater and lake. Pretty neat. Again, I don’t have to many pix because it was POURING. It gives you an idea though :-)

  **A BIG thanks to Jame for holding his jacket over my camera so I could get this shot. He got so wet because of it! I LOVE you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

And ten hours later we headed back to San Jose. We did so much and saw so much that day. It was awesome!!! When we got back to Kev’s we hung out and went to a delicious Asian fusion restaurant.

Thanks for stopping by. Part III is coming soon :)