I'm back!

[jethrien]

So. Costa Rica? IS AWESOME.

- Animals seen include: vine snakes, eyelash viper, coatis, agoutis, iguanas, gecko, sloth, spider monkey, howler monkeys, at least four species of frog, leaf cutters, walking sticks, a lot of weird spiders and beetles, and so many birds I can't remember them all: wild parakeets, a toucanette, tanagers, at least five species of hummingbird (including one on a nest!), warblers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, egrets, herons, kingfishers, a trogan, wrens, motmots, and the endangered and amazing quetzal. (Yes, as in quetzalcoatl.)

- Plants seen include: wild begonias, wild impatiens, about 80 billion different kinds of orchids, every tropical flower you've ever seen in a movie or flower shop, mahoghany trees, balsa trees, citronella trees (which smell amazing), strangler figs, giant ferns, vines like whoa, and other assorted colorful things.

- Awesome things done: cloudforest hike, rainforest hike, night hike, coffee/banana/sugar plantation tour, hanging bridges, canyoneering, white water rafting, ziplining, and hot springs soak.

The travel agency was amazing. The hotels were gorgeous. The people were ridiculously friendly. Highly, highly recommend.

(I'll get some pictures up at some point, but I'm tired now.)

Comments

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

...pics or it didn't happen. :p

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. I never got around to getting my Yosemite pics up.

Thing is, half the pictures are on lithoglypic's camera, so I still need to swap with them.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

What agency did you use? Just curious because feiran and I were looking at trips to warmer climes.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Costa Rica Expeditions. They were awesome. We went mid-level in expenses, but they seem pretty willing to be flexible. The really key thing is that if you're planning to go to more than one location, they handle all the connections for you. The roads in Costa Rica are pretty bad--a lot of gravel and switchbacks and sharp inclines and cows, with not very much in the way of good markings from what I saw. So having a Spanish speaking driver who's invested in getting you where you're going is really, really helpful.

If you wanted to just fly to a resort, it would be less important.

We went to Monteverde and Arenal, which were both cool. Arenal had more mammals and adventure sports; Monteverde had some more interesting birds and was much cheaper, activities-wise. But you'd probably also want to consider places like Manuel Antonio, Corcovado, and Totugera (I think I spelled those all out correctly), depending on what you want to do and what your tolerance for small planes is. But you can tell the travel company "I want to do activities x and y and try to see animals a and b" and they'll suggest some possible itineraries to different locations.

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lithoglyphic/

My photos are slowly being uploaded and annotated on Flickr. I'm only about half-way through them, but check back. And friend-request me to get access to the private ones (basically all the ones with people in them, per my usual practice).