We went to a couple of hot thermal springs, thanks to the volcanoes. One was in San Carlos, right at the hotel. There were pools at different temperatures and a steam room that came right from the thermals. This felt really good on a cool, rainy evening! The next one was Ecothermalis, a privately owned hot springs oasis near Arenal Volcano. Here there were waterfalls, beautiful lights, and pools of different temperatures. There was a tiki bar for cocktails and then we were served a wonderful dinner.
On the road to a boat ride on the Rio Frio in Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge we stopped to see an area filled with Iguana's. On the boat ride we saw the Jesus Christ lizard (named because it walks on water!), Cayman (a small gator), white faced monkeys, and lots of birds and unusual trees.
The food in Costa Rica consists mostly of beans, rice and some chicken or beef, or maybe a little pork. There is a potato-like vegetable they serve called Casava. It grows from the trunk of a tree and has to be prepared a special way or it is poisonous. We did not have much in the way of fish or seafood. They have a special drink called Guaro Sour which is made from their sugar cane. Costa Rica exports pineapple, banana's, oranges and coffee to the USA.
The roads are pretty bad. There were times that the bus was traveling on dirt roads with huge pot-holes and land slides. Some of the roads we took on the rainy days, were washed out! Waterfalls were washing over the road. Some of the bridges were recently replaced with new ones and we wondered about the ones which were not!
At the Monteverde Cloud Forest, there is a choice of how to see it. There is a Zip line that you get hooked up to and it zips you over the tree tops, or there is a series of suspension bridges that you can walk along. We took the bridges. It was very tempting to do the zip-lines, as there were people in their 80's doing them! Not only did I promise Ron that I would not do it, but I thought I would like to see the scenery instead of zipping passed it. Of course it was raining pretty hard and there was not much to see but steaming trees.
OK, now we finally have some sunshine and get to the Pacific Ocean to the beach! It was a long ride along some pretty bad roads but worth it. The hotel was all inclusive with great food. Except for one thing...I came down with a virus and could not eat or drink. What a way to end a vacation.
