The second day of our vacation began with a beautiful view of the top of the Arenal Volcano from the deck of our cottage. Unlike the previous night where there was heavy cloud cover at the top of the mountain, this morning, you could see the peak of the volcano clearly. Since Costa Rica produces some of the worlds best coffee, it's easy to get a great cup anywhere in the country. Unlike in the US where the little in-room coffee package you get at hotels tastes like ground acorns, the complimentary coffee in Costa Rica was all great. At Lomas del Volcan, the in-room coffee was organic shade-grown that was produced locally in the Northern Central Valley. In the US, whenever I travel, the Starbucks iPhone app is my friend when I'm hunting for a decent cup of coffee. In Costa Rica, great coffee is widely available everywhere.
I made coffee and sat down on the porch in the back of our cottage to relax. As I looked back through the trees, I saw a yellow spot bouncing around. With the binoculars, I saw that it was the beak of a Toucan. I yelled for the boys and Marcela and we all sat and watched as three Toucans bounced through trees behind our place for a while and, eventually, flew away. They look strange in flight because their beaks are so long. It makes them look like they're going to fall out of the sky.
We had another spectacular Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto and fresh fruit and then got ready for our rafting trip. We went out with a company called Aventura Infinita. They picked us up at the front desk of the property and we took off. The guide, Danny, turned out to be the owner of the company as well. He had worked for a couple of the other rafting companies over the years and had finally started his own outfit. We decided on a trip down the Balsa river which is rated Class III. On the way to the entry point, Danny explained how tectonic collisions had created the Costa Rican terrain and gave us an overview of the different volcanoes in the Northern Valley region. We stopped at a soda for snacks and jumped back in the van. On the way, Danny asked the driver to stop and we all got out to take a look at a three-toed sloth in a tree by the roadside. As we were watching this guy, Danny got excited and called us over to another nearby tree where we saw a mother and baby sloth resting. This turns out to be fairly typical and Costa Rica. Pretty much everyone we met was eager to point out the local flora and fauna. It was very common for Ticos to ask us if we'd seen sloths, monkeys or some other wild animal and then point them out to us. They all seem to care about the natural environment in the country and are genuinely excited to share it with visitors.
After watching the sloths for a few minutes, we jumped back in the van and headed to the river. The guys quickly took the rafts down from the top, inflated them and we were geared up and ready to go. Our guide, Mario, took a few photos of us before out trip and we set off down the river. We took a few minutes to get settled and learn the different commands Mario would give us to guide the boat: paddle left, paddle right, stop paddling and lean in. They are obviously concerned about safety and want to make sure that everyone knows when they need to do what. The river was clean and we were the only raft in sight. Danny came by in a kayak and would paddle down in front of us, set up with his camera and, as we passed, he'd take photos of our groups going by. This was a nice touch since there was no way to keep a camera on the rafts.
The Balsa river is known for the Balsa wood trees that grow along its path. It's not uncommon to see monkeys, iguanas and sloths in the trees along the river's edge. We paddled down for a while, went through some small rapids which made the boys very happy, and then stopped on the river bank for a snack of fresh fruit. This stretch of river was shallow and fairly slow moving so the guide showed us how you could walk back up the riverbank and then float back down feet first holding on to your life vest. The spot where we stopped was pretty popular and quickly filled up with other rafts. After the boys had floated down the river a few times, we ate some fresh fruit, jumped back in our rafts and took off.
We floated through a few popular swim spots where local Ticos were relaxing. They were all very friendly and waved as we passed. Eventually, we came to a spot where a couple was sitting in a gondola above the river. They'd strung a cable from a tree on one riverbank to a platform on the other side. There was a small metal gondola where two folks could sit facing each other hanging from the cable with a handle that could be used to pull it one way or the other. They waved as we passed underneath and kept going. We finally got to a point where the Balsa river is joined by another river. This created a strange effect in the water. The water in the river we were on was silty and brown where the water coming from the other river was clear and blue. When they met, the two colors mixed together and made a cool looking kaleidescope of waves and whitewater. As we neared the end, Mario got two of us on one side to turn around backwards and showed us how to spin the boat in a circle. This got the boys going and we all had a good laugh before paddling over and pulling the raft up at the departure.
We deflated the rafts, packed up all of the gear and were back on the road in about 10 minutes. On the way back in to town, we stopped at a small restaurant and ate lunch. Another super casado meal of rice, beans, fried bananas, yucca and pork chops. Every meal is usually served with a glass of fresh juice and this one was no exception. The country is so fertile, fresh fruit is available everywhere. Surprisingly, Connor, who is usually a picky eater, ate his lunch happily. There's no way I could get him to sit down to casado at home but here, he was happy to eat what they served. Danny set up his computer and showed everyone the photos he'd taken. They were all great shots and he burned cds right there in the restaurant and sold them to us. As we went on other trips throughout the country, we figured out that this is common. On every trip we went, there was always one of the guides whose job it was to take photos and video of every group. At the end they'd offer to sell you a disc of the photos and the price seemed to always be $30 USD. We were happy to pay it after seeing the great photos he'd taken.
Tipping is a little different in Costa Rica than in the US. At restaurants, there's almost always a 10 percent tip added to the bill automatically. That usually accounts for the tip. On guided trips however, it's customary to tip your guide. We would usually tip 15 percent of the cost of the trip to our guide. Mario took a couple more photos with us and then we were dropped off back at Lomas del Volcan in the late afternoon. Marcela needed to be in San Jose since she had to be at work Monday morning so we jumped in the Daihatsu and headed back. The drive back was relaxing and we saw many Tico families out socializing on the road side. We got in to San Jose about 7:30 at night and checked in to the Clarion Hotel. Thankfully, the GPS led us right to the front door. If you're patient, you'll eventually get where you need to be in Costa Rica but driving at night can be difficult. The highways and roads are not well lit. Once you get into any of the towns, the streets are only occasionally labeled which makes finding places tricky. Again, the GPS was indispensable since it understood the Costa Rican addressing system. When you wanted to get somewhere, you didn't enter an address like you would in the US. Instead, you put in the name of the place (which usually worked) or, in a pinch, a reference point near where you wanted to be.
The Clarion has a casino inside which was going full bore when we got there. The rooms were clean if not a little dated. We ordered a small meal from room service and all collapsed to sleep.
Here's a slideshow of photos from Day Two.
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