Our first stop on the tour was the Doka Coffee Estate. Mom had to try her hand at raking coffee beans.
It was pretty interesting to see parrots sitting in the trees. We also saw monkeys in a tree beside the road.
Our first hotel (for Tuesday and Wednesday nights) was the Tamarindo Diria Beach Resort in Guanacaste. The location was on the Pacific Ocean and in a city so I was happy with the shopping. The bathroom in our room left a lot to be desired. The shower drizzled down the wall and water came out from around the spout, and water was leaking from our bathroom sink. The pool was nice and we took a ride on a catamaran Wednesday afternoon and saw whales and stingrays. It was a little challenging getting from the boat onto the catamaran, but it was worth it. The sunset was beautiful. Drink and lunch (BBQ chicken) were included. The captain said the cooler held "beer and Budweiser." Guess Bud doesn't count as beer there.
The bad part of the catamaran was my "injury." I stubbed my toe on the metal rim of the boat's bathroom door. It turned blue immediately and I was limping for the rest of the trip. I was surprised I was able to get my gym shoes on for the Cloud Forest part of the trip and all the walking/hiking we did.
Here's the bus (a Mercedes) we took to tour the country and luggage for 37 people waiting to leave Tamarindo Thursday morning. We were headed to the Monteverde Cloud Forest and our second hotel (for two nights) in the mountains.
Here's the three of us in the Cloud Forest on Thursday afternoon before arriving at the hotel. Way too much walking and climbing there for me.
Cindy and I walked all eight of these hanging bridges in Selvatura Park, a cloud forest reserve in Monteverde on Friday. We also saw a hummingbird garden and a butterfly house. My legs and little toe were really hurting when we got down with the bridges. Mom and I went with the group to lunch while Cindy and mom's roomie stayed at the park to zip line. We went to the Tree House restaurant and I ordered a chicken quesadilla which turned out to be one of the tastiest lunches on the trip.
We left the mountain hotel early Saturday morning and took a boat tour on Lake Arenal, the largest lake in Costa Rica. This is a view of the Arenal Volcano.
Here's the three of us Sunday morning at our final hotel, the Mountain Paradise Hotel. The volcano is in the background. In the morning we could see the top of the volcano and it was smoking. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that.
That morning we went on a rain forest cruise through Cano Negro.
Our boat captain was really good at finding the animals camouflaged along the river. This is a white-faced monkey who ended up getting a little mad at our group. Guess he doesn't like having his picture taken.
And here we are at the hotel before leaving for the trip back to San Jose Monday morning.
Along the way we stopped in Sarchi to see a factory where they paint ox carts. Here's me giving it a try, although they told me not to touch the wheel with the paint. We flew out of Costa Rica early Tuesday morning, caught another flight in Dallas and returned to St. Louis that night. I headed back home early this morning.
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