Monday, November 05, 2007

Beautiful, amazing Costa Rica

We have just returned from 10 days touring around Costa Rica. We visited San Jose, the capital plus the Tortuguera National Park, the Arenal volcano and the Manuel Antonio National Park.
My wish for my birthday was to see monkeys and, boy was that wish granted!We saw howlers, spider monkeys and white faced monkeys. We also saw crocodiles, sloths, tree frogs, snakes, lizards, toucans, macaws, lots of birds native to the area, giant spiders, scorpions, and so the list goes on.
While we got a little weary of riding on the bus, it truly was a great way to see the country. It's also hard to complain when the bus was a brand new Mercedes-Benz luxury motorcoach! We just used the time between stops to get to know some of our trip-mates.
I think our favorite stop in many ways was the Arenal volcano. The Arenal Springs Resort where we stayed was just wonderful. We could view the active volcano right from our bed! We also took a horse ride up the side of the volcano. The horses were so clean and well trained and our guide was great. One evening was spent at the natural hot springs where there are something like 11 different hot water pools. With only two days in the area, we weren't able to see and do everything so this is a place to which we would really like to return.
I will be downloading pictures later this week and, believe me, there are some great ones!