We departed from San José with mixed emotions — pleased to be going home, but sad to be leaving such a beautiful, exciting and interesting country and sad that such a great trip had finished. Our thanks go to José and Alex, our guide and driver: we could not have asked for two finer travelling companions, and they made this trip all the more educational and enjoyable.
by D. M. Lowe and D. J. Carr
An early rendezvous of 6.30 a.m. at Edinburgh Airport on the day after the Exhibition was the start of an exciting adventure to Costa Rica. The twenty pupils that took part were accompanied by Dr Carr and Mr Lowe, who were as excited about the trip as the pupils were. Our long journey to San José, the capital of Costa Rica, was smooth and painless, even though we had a short delay at Edinburgh before departure. On arrival in Costa Rica we were greeted by our guide, José Cocozza, and our driver, Alex Fonseca, who would accompany us on our tour around their country. José’s first task was to sort out the retrieval of a wallet left behind on the plane by one of the pupils, a fact not discovered until we arrived at the hotel.
Day 2
Day 3We left the Central Valley and San José behind and headed south and east to Manzanillo, near the border with Panama. It was a long drive, but it was made thoroughly educational by our guide José, who gave us a wonderful tutorial about the volcanoes and the mountain ranges over which we were driving, as well as lots of insight into the infrastructure and politics of Costa Rica. We broke the long journey with a stop for lunch, and an impromptu game of touch rugby on the beach, which led to James Clark getting very wet when he had to retrieve the ball from the Caribbean Sea. Before James could dry out, we continued on our way south to the Almonds and Corals Eco-Lodge and the Crazy Monkey Canopy Tour, a series of eight zip-lines through the canopy of virgin rainforest that finished on the beach. We all went to sleep that night listening to the sounds of the rainforest; howler monkeys, tree frogs and cicadas — a stunning soundtrack in an equally stunning location. Day 4Due to the seven-hour time difference we were waking early, so coffee and cricket on the beach at 6 a.m. was an enjoyable start to the day. After breakfast we headed off into the Caribbean Sea on sea kayaks to a beach with a small coral reef offshore, where we swam and snorkelled. This was good exercise and a lot of fun due to the size of the swell and breakers that day — the fact that a few pupils were tipped off their kayaks seemed to add to the enjoyment. When we had dried out it was time to leave the south and head north to Puerto Viejo di Sarapiqui, a long journey, but made very bearable by the stunning scenery that Costa Rica has. Day 5
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Day 6
Day 7Our destination today was underground in the Venado Caves. Plenty of bats had made the caves their home, including many vampire bats, along with many weird and wonderful invertebrates. There were a few small spaces, and plenty of wet ones, that we had to squeeze and splash through on our underground excursion. When we turned the torches off we experienced a different kind of darkness and had a brief insight into what it might be like to be a bat! Day 8
Day 9Another early start, but well worth it to hike through the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and to stand on top of the Continental Divide. The forest here is well protected and they do not let too many people in, although with the number of people that are trying to visit it is close to turning into an Eco-tourism Disneyland. The Costa Rican government and people are working incredibly hard to maintain their natural environment, and are well aware that they have created something that many people want to see, but too many visitors could destroy it. So far they are managing their Eco-tourism industry incredibly well, but there is defi nitely the fear that greed to exploit it could cause it to be damaged very easily and potentially beyond repair. We left Monteverde on a road that was even worse than the one on which we arrived; again our driver was exceptional and we completed the 40km stretch of unmetalled road in a highly enjoyable two hours. We stopped for lunch beside the Pacific Ocean before heading back to San José for our final night. |
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After a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast, we
headed to INBioparque, a tropical biodiversity research
facility just twenty minutes from downtown San José. It was
a great introduction to the flora and fauna that we could
expect to see on our trip. Agouti, deer, three-toed sloths,
butterflies, caiman and snakes were just a small selection
to whet our interest. We also had our first taste of rain,
Costa Rican style — sudden, very heavy and warm. The £2
plastic capes made their first of many appearances. After
lunch we visited a shopping mall, where we discovered just
how in danger of becoming Americanised the country is. We
then headed off to the Britt coffee plantation to discover
how coffee production helped Costa Rica become one of
the richest countries in Central America. The interactive
presentation at the coffee plantation was informative and
very entertaining, and turned the whole group into coffee
fanatics!
We started the day with a visit to OTS La Selva Biological Station, a research facility that covers more than 3000 acres, with more than sixty kilometres of paths. We only had two hours there, but we all agreed that we could have spent at least two days there wandering on the paths and observing the spider monkeys, iguanas, sloths, leaf-cutter ants, peccaries, toucans and snakes that live wild within the boundaries of the facility. We were then taken for a river tour on the Rio Sarapiqui, where more wildlife was seen, including crocodile, caiman, terrapin and many different birds. After a lunch of casados (a meat stew with rice and beans) we visited a pineapple plantation, where Dole is pioneering organic pineapple production. We were treated to pineapple fresh (and still warm!) from the field, after we had seen it being harvested. We left the pineapple plantation during a dramatic tropical thunder storm and made our way west to the Arenal volcano.
A three-mile hike through the
rainforest near Arenal, crossing a
series of suspension bridges, was an
excellent start to the day. Lots of
wildlife was spotted, the most impressive being a
family of coatis that came down out of the trees
and crossed our path. We followed that up with a
two-mile hike to the base of the volcano to stand
on the old lava flows and witness the boulders
rolling down the sides of the active volcano.
There was plenty of smoke coming out of the
crater and many side-chimneys to let us know
just how active the volcano still is. After lunch
there was some time to buy volcano souvenirs
before heading to the volcanic hot springs for
some well-deserved relaxation.
We left Arenal and headed to Monteverde along some
of the most treacherous roads in Central America; we were
delayed for a short time while a tree that had fallen across
the road was removed. The scenery beside the road was
stunning and our driver did a fantastic job dodging the
numerous large potholes. On arrival in Monteverde we
visited the Butterfly Garden and were educated about
the enormous variety
of butterflies, moths,
beetles, spiders and other
invertebrates that live
in Costa Rica. We then
made our way to the
Serpentarium to see the
diversity of reptiles that live in Costa Rica, including the bushmaster and fer-delance,
two of the most venomous snakes in the world. The
day finished with a visit to the Frog Pond, where we saw a
good selection of the different amphibians that have made
Costa Rica their home. The night was spent in a beautiful
Swiss-chalet-style hotel, with the sound of frogs and birds
just about drowning out the dodgy piano-playing by some
of the pupils in the lounge.