Costa Rica - Not just beaches

Both Ron and I like beaches, or at least the sound of the waves. (Sand is overrated in my humble and unpopular opinion.) Is that why we came to CR? No, we came for the hiking and wildlife. The whole transit cop things put us off driving overly much, but we girded ourselves up and headed out to Parque Nacional Barra Honda, which boasts lots of bird life, monkeys and caverns that can be visited. What could be more interesting than hiking through the "dry" rain forest - so called because it only gets rain for half the year - and scrambling down slippery ladders to investigate the world underground?

View from the bottom of the ladder

Further in, a look back at the entrance

The Elephant trunk, baseball bat
and shark tooth

The Abyss, not a place to lose your footing

Moving further into the darkness

"The Cathedral"

"The Trees" formation

One piece of advice, if planning on touring around Costa Rica in a vehicle: get a 4 wheel drive. You can hope for an upgrade (we got one because we took out the very expensive full coverage), but some of the roads to these spectacular places really require a vehicle with high clearance and independent traction. We haven't even been on a road that "requires" doble traccion yet and we've been grateful to have it.

As Barra Honda is a national park, there is an entrance fee of 6,500 Colones each ($29USD) to access the caves or 6,800 Colones ($12USD) just to hike around. The extra money gets you a guide and spelunking equipment.

Perfect camouflage

Mama and baby Potoos making like logs

Roadside Hawk

White-throated Magpie Jay

The best part of having a guide is that they can show you unexpected things. We managed to catch a few different bird species on camera, because of our guide's diligence and we also got to see Howler monkeys in their natural environment. Their calls through the jungle are quite haunting, and I can imagine terrifying, if you didn't know what was making all the racket.

Another early start sent us off to Tenorio National Park (same entrance fee as for hiking through Barra Honda) to see the much lauded Blue Lagoon. (No not the movie from the 70s, but a lagoon so blue that it defies imagination. The water turns blue when volcanic minerals coming from thermal springs merge with the river water.) As we're here in the rainy season (May to October) there was a chance that the lagoon wouldn't be blue at all, but we decided to risk it. It's a three hour drive from our accommodation, so we wanted to leave by around 7am. There are restrictions on how many people are let into the park, both at one time and per day. The best reference site for information is the Costa Rican Parks site, but it's all in Spanish. Nothing a translate button can't handle, I'm sure.

Pretty spider

Stunning bloom!

Taking in the amazing colour

River changing colour

We managed to time it perfectly, as we missed most of the rain and several tour busses full of school students who were entering just as we were leaving. We did have to drive through a torrential downpour reminiscent of some drives out to Maple Ridge for family gatherings. Considering that this is a tropical country, we thought we'd come across more of that, but so far, we've been lucky. (It's currently raining as I type this, though.)

A little blue butterfly

The money shot...quite amazing!

My green flying bug - he has orange wings!

Yellow bamboo amongst the greenery

As we drove out of the park, we were graced by the appearance of a band of coatis (white nosed coatis, to be specific), around 15 or so, crossing the road with all their babies, kit and kin. All I have is a bit of blurry video (darn you cell phone!), but it was such a lovely surprise. The video is just the tail end of their mad dash to safety.

They actually look like this (there were more babies, though):

Source: http://www.mightymac.org/costarica/08costarica03.htm

So, I think it's safe to say that Costa Rica has a little something for everyone.

Next up, beaches and other adventures! 

Costa Rica...the unknown country

We've been a fair amount of places, but really haven't spent any time in Central America, if you don't count airports. We decided that it was an opportune time to drop by, as it was between home (Canada) and home-away-from-home (Ecuador).

Playa Junquillal, near Paraiso, where we're staying

We embarked on our 6 week hiatus from real life, renting an Air B&B and car (Alamo) to get us around the diminutive (relatively speaking) country. This portion of the blog will cover the first week of our new experience.

View from our patio

View of our patio (it's a shared entrance porch)

Right out of the gate, we got to enjoy (if one can phrase it that way) the transit police corruption. We'd been on the road for 3 or so hours when we got pulled over by a motorcycle officer. He claimed that we had passed in a no passing zone. (We didn't.) The long and short of it was that he wanted money to "help us out" with the ridiculously high penalties for traffic violations. (The high cost is actually true, but  he really just wanted some easy cash.) We were taken aback, not expecting it. (In general, but more specifically, during our first few hours in country.) We weren't equipped to play it cool and handed over enough Colones to make the "officer" laugh all the way to the bank. 

Near Playa Blanca

Needless to say, it ruined our first day. For general information purposes, 10.000 Colones would likely suffice. Play dumb (if you do speak Spanish, don't admit it) and claim only to have a small amount of cash on you. Doing my research (after the fact), some people claim that you can just ask for the ticket, which is unlikely to be produced, especially if they've offered you a "get out of ticket cheap" solution. Asking for a bribe (and paying one, btw, as we discovered later) is against the law here. I've also read that the Transito can't actually arrest you, but have to call the Federales or municipal force to take you to jail. This can make for awkward questions, which the transit cops want to avoid. It's your call and I'm certainly no expert.

These crazy patterns are made by...

...these industrious little fellows

We've also learned that Costa Rica is NOT Ecuador. Of course, we didn't expect it to be, but the CR is much more expensive for many things, including a lot of produce, food staples and gasoline. Happily, wine and our accommodation are both fairly affordable.

A resident lizard

He feels that this is his good side.

Costa Rica is a land filled with butterflies. Everywhere you go, they're flitting through the air, flaunting their colours and giving more sensitive souls heart attacks as they blithely soar on the currents in front of the car's windscreen. We have yet to peel any off the front of the car. While numerous, I've been having problems getting a photo.

Good milk, not so good beef, so we've heard

Barely another beach goer in sight

Other denizens of the nearby area include Brahma cows, crabs and numerous birds. It's also HOT. Of course, we're here at the start of summer, during the wet season, which makes for humid weather. We're finding the heat okay for now, but I do occasionally wilt under the sweat running down me. Thank heavens for the pool!

I'm pretty sure we'll have a good time here, despite the start. So, if you're coming to Costa Rica, bring your cash, a vacant smile that indicates you don't understand a word and lots of sun screen.

Vancouver's Not So Hot Spots

Being a Vancouver native, I've been to almost all of the major tourist attractions (Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, Chinatown, Commercial Street village, Main Street Village, Kitsilano Beach, English Bay, the West End, the Capilano suspension bridge and so many more)  and while always enjoyable, sometimes it's nice to break out of the travel rut and go to something new. Of course, the city is constantly evolving and, continually, offers more for visitors and residents alike.

On my sister's mad rush to fill in her Tourism Challenge book, we had a whirlwind tour of some of the lesser visited and newer attractions.

Here are some of the highlights:

Queen Elizabeth Park (an oldie, but goodie, don't miss the Bloedel Conservatory):

Views of the city

A sure sign of spring.

Pink Dogwood blossoms
(Dogwood is BC's flower)

Sea to Sky Tram (new) and Bridal Falls (an old friend):

Heavy run-off from the winter melt

Overcast, but always stunning

Heading up the tram, will it clear?

A flirtatious look at the Coastal Mountains

BC at its most beautiful...green and blue

Finally lifting

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens (there are also amazing bonsai trees here):

Nestled in downtown Vancouver

The water lilies were stunning

Day lily with interesting veining

Mayne Island (thank you Erin and Darryl!):

Mayne is one of the myriad of coastal islands that can be reached from Tsawassen or Horseshoe Bay ferry terminals. They all have a unique experience to offer, but you can count on abundant British Columbia beauty on all of them.

Rhinoceros tree

Interesting bark development

Inlet near our cabin retreat

 UBC Botanical Gardens:

Heart of a peony

Oriental Gate

Japanese maple

The old vine

'Chelle on the forest walk

A slightly confused leaf...still the symbol of Canada

So what's my point with all of this, you might ask? Vancouver is an amazing city with lots of known and hidden wonders. Go out! Wander! Enjoy every discovery and soak up the nature, the culture and the overall beauty. I'm forever proud that it's my home.