Costa Rica, March 2012

 A year has passed since our adventure to Nepal last March. Sadly, there was no time to blog in Nepal and no time to blog once we returned home. That chapter of our traveling journey remains unfinished. In an attempt to avoid a similar pitfall, we are using the quiet evening hours to chronicle this trip. Our original plan was to go to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Last June, armed with hundreds of thousands of Aeroplan points, we were unsuccessful in securing reasonable flight times to this dreamy destination. So we went back to the drawing board. Costa Rica was a possibility, but Craig had already been there for a week in the late 1990s. Clearly, this was going to be a different kind of vacation, so once he assented, we found the flights and made the booking.

 After nine months of waiting, we boarded a US Airways flight to Phoenix with great excitement. For one of the few times in our lives we were traveling First Class. Admittedly, First Class on US Airways is not First Class on British Airways, but the seats are bigger, and we only had to share the bathroom with 12 people and the flight crew . Also worth mentioning was the rich, moist chocolate cake they served. It was delicious. Once in Phoenix, we changed planes and flew directly into San Jose. We were booked into a room at Casa Bella Rita, a very highly ranked bed and breakfast on TripAdvisor.com. The owners, Steve and Rita, were supposed to pick us up or send a representative to get us. In this case their representative was a shiny red taxi and driver. There is always something unnerving about arriving after dark, having no idea where you are going and putting blind faith in someone else to get you to your destination safely. After about 20 minutes of winding roads and toll booths we arrived at Casa Bella Rita. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Steve and Rita were having a small gathering with some of their ex-pat friends. After the introductions, we settled in with plates of food and some cold beer.

 At 9:45 am the next morning, we got into another taxi and headed to Pavas airport. We decided to trade 8 hours of car travel for 1 hour of flying on Nature Air. It was a bit unnerving, seeing as how the plane was so small, but the windows were huge and we were easily able to pick out coastal landmarks, the Osa Peninsula and Corcovado National Park as we flew south to our destination. Landing at the Puerto Jimenez airstrip, we were welcomed by colourful signs painted on the side of the graveyard and our driver Frank in his 4x4, from Bosque del Cabo. For forty five minutes, Frank drove us the last few bumpy miles.
 Our assigned cabina perched atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific, turned out to be the honeymoon suite. It was cute with a covered wrap around deck and outside shower facilities. Over the next few days we unwound, enjoyed fabulous meals, dipped in the pool, and took both guided and unguided walks around the 750 acre jungle property. Many animals call this place home, including coatis, sloths, toucans, macaws, and ants. After taking a primary forest tour with Phil, we have a whole new appreciation for the tiny, hardworking ants.

Poison Dart Frog

 While at Bosque del Cabo, we experienced a little adrenaline rush on an afternoon of rappelling down four successive waterfalls. Our guides were very experienced in all the safety procedures, as well as trained to spot the vicious fer de lance snake which camouflages itself in the dead brown leaves along the side of the river. Lucky for us, there were no snakes on this trip, only frogs.

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