Blowing Off Steam at Arenal Volcano

We had heard and read about the awesome hot springs in Costa Rica near the hot springs town and tourist paradise of La Fortuna. We stayed at the Arenal Volcano Observatory and Lodge located right outside Arenal National Park and, as you can see below from the picture from our balcony, a frisbee pull away from Arenal Volcano. 

The Arenal Lodge has 7 miles of trails on the property through primary and secondary forest, but is much more developed and accessible than the lodge at Pocosol and would be perfect for traveling with extended family. The forest was also different and reminded me more of the temperate rain forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, made up of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest. Our first morning there we saw spider monkeys off of the restaurant balcony. 

Our first day was reserved for Hot Springs. The one I wanted to go to, Kalambu Hot Springs, was closed so we went across the street to the very swanky, very over the top, but also amazing Baldi Hot Springs. They boast 25 different pools of varying temperature. 

Sybil just learned to swim this spring, and she can't get enough, so we were in the water from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with a quick 45 minute break for a buffet lunch. We played "whales" for about 3 hours, and  (thankfully) she found another kid to play with (kid travel tip: bring sinking pool toys for hours of entertainment). It rained the entire afternoon, but it was perfect to sit in the warm pool and have cool rain falling from above.  

The next day we went on a tour of Don Olivio's family finca, or farm, where they grow cacao and coffee. They also had about 12 different fruits growing on the property, and we got to taste about 8 of them right off the vine (banana criollo, papaya, pineapple, guyabano, sugar cane, orange, cacao, and mango)! They had lychee, star fruit, dragon fruit, and vanilla, but they aren't in season. 

It was really neat to see the whole process of growing and processing chocolate from start to finish. Sybil loves to eat the fruit around the seeds (the seed, or "bean", is toxic for all animals except humans, which is why the Maya/Aztec societies considered it sacred and special). We had a coffee/hot cocoa snack with beans straight from the trees we walked through. We also saw the tiniest sliver of sloth, so Sybil picked a stuffed sloth as her trip souvenir at the end of the tour, Slothy, who will feature heavily in future blog posts. 

On the way back to the lodge we stopped at Arenal 1968, a hike that winds through, on, and over, lava flows from the last major eruption of Arenal Volcano in, you guessed it, 1968. 

Sybil on the 1968 trail. You can see the dark black rock and large boulders that blew off the top at times, but mostly it's covered with vegetation and just a nice walk through the forest. 

We finally found someone else to take a photo of the both of us, and Slothy. 

We passed the afternoon hanging and swimming in their enormous jacuzzi hot tub with a couple of other kids, and then I dragged her on a quick walk to the frog pond at night. We saw a snake curled up on a leaf, and another red eyed tree frog. 

The next day we went on the hanging bridges tour at Mistico Park. It's a very accessible and short walk over about 16 bridges (many of them, suspension) that give you a pretty awesome view of some of the canopy. It was terrifying at first, but Sybil's boldness inspired me and I got over it. We saw coatis, lots of hummingbirds and butterflies, and some spider monkeys very close up. 

We were also treated to beautiful trees and flowers.

We wrapped up our time in Arenal with more afternoon swimming in the hot tub with new trip friends, a trip to La Fortuna to eat lunch at an awesome local soda and drop off laundry, and a night of gaming in the hotel game room (Sybil has learned checkers and chess...kind of...on the trip). The next day we were off to our next destination, Monteverde, and on the way we were very excited to pick up Mike and Parker at the Liberia airport. 

Sybil was an awesome adventurer the whole week, but the volcano wasn't the only thing blowing off steam in Arenal. Sybil was getting pretty sick of me, so it was really nice for her to meet other kids at the hotel and gave her an opportunity to play. 

Can't wait to get the band back together and continue exploring this awesome place together!

 

Soaking Up the Rainforest in Pocosol

I was looking forward to getting into the mountains and forests and experiencing a tropical rainforest, and frankly just moving forward since the last couple of days had been stressful and static waiting for news about Parker. So after hearing that Parker just needed a juice cleanse Sybil and I started our Costa Rica road trip. Our first destination was the Pocosol Biological Station, a remote lodge and research station in the Bosque Eternal de los Ninos (Children's Eternal Rainforest). 

Nearly every small town has a church at the center, vestiges of Spanish colonization. This one in Grecia is impressive because it's entirely made of metal steel plates and was built in the late 1800s when oxen carts were the only way to transport on dirt, and often muddy, roads. 

Most of our short stop in Grecia was taken up by a comedy of errors involving me trying to legally park. You have to pay for a parking ticket in specific stores that are listed on a sign near the parking spot, but there's no map or indication where these stores are. So you then have to leave your car to go on a quest to find one of these chosen stores (turns out, not close!) and then come back to your car to post your ticket in the window. But if you get a ticket while you are on this trek to find a store, what then? By the time we found a farmacia that sold them, they needed the license plate of our rental car, which I did not have. So,  dispirited, we shuffled back to the car and just quickly admired their church building on the way out. 

We stopped for lunch in Sarchi, a beautiful little town in the mountains that had a colorful town square with a playground and giant oxcart. 

Then we drove the 2.5 hours further to get to our rainforest lodge at Pocosol in the Bosque Eternal de los Ninos (BEN). They weren't kidding when they said you needed 4 wheel drive to get there! The Cactus Killer (our new to us 4WD adventure mobile back home, aptly named by Parker) would have really rocked these roads. 

The BEN is the largest private reserve in CR, owned by a non-profit called the Monteverde Conservation League. The land was purchased using the funds raised by school children from around the world (starting in Sweden) who wanted to save the destruction of the rain forest in the 1980s. Over $2 million was raised, which was used to purchase adjacent tracks of land to create a large reserve. They have a few rooms for people to stay in, a classroom, and a dining hall. 

We arrived right before dinner and got straight to adventuring with a guided night hike in the pouring rain. Sybil and I were the only ones on the night hike so we got to ask a lot of questions and go at our own pace. We only walked 15 meters (metric country, baby!) before encountering this red eyed tree frog. In total, we walked for about an hour and a half and saw: a snail eating snake, leopard frogs, masked frogs, toads the size of Sybil's head, freshwater crabs in the streams, and a bat. Even though we were soaking, it was really neat to experience the forest as the animals do. 

The view from the dining room balcony. We sat here for most meals (which were provided and delicious), and it was a great place for hummingbird and toucan viewing and for watching the rain in the afternoons. 

The first morning there we went for a hike to the fumeroles, a vent where steam and gasses come out of the Earth due to volcanic activity. There is secondary and primary rain forest in the BEN. It's all incredible, but the primary rain forest feels magical. No picture could capture the vertical layers going a hundred plus feet up, the verdant vegetation, the sounds of insects and birds, or the sense that you can feel the forest respiring around you. 

Gunnera insignis, AKA. "poor man's umbrella". Apparently they can grow up to 3 meters wide. 

We returned to each lunch at the lodge, and Sybil spotted a coatimundi from the balcony. 

Since rain is in the forecast pretty much every afternoon through the evening, this is what our afternoons looked like. I updated my journal or read while Sybil "read" Dog Man, did art, or came up with elaborate situations for her stuffie. 

The second day at BEN, we went on a hike after breakfast to a waterfall. We saw leaf cutter ants, peccary tracks, and some cool lizards. 

Waterfalls can get old pretty quickly for me, but this one was impressive. You can't get too close, so there's a mirador, or scenic viewpoint, to check it out. 

On the way back from the hike we stopped at the lagoon. Good bird watching and a great chance for Sybil to spend an hour building a sand city with the sand/mud. 

Cool mural on the side of the Pocosol lodge. 

Pocosol was awesome. Rugged, rustic, and not crowded (there were only 2 other people there, a wonderful couple of like minded travelers from So Cal who are soon moving close to Asheville, North Carolina to live off the grid). The trails were well maintained, the food was fresh and tasty, the accommodations were comfy, and the wildlife viewing and authentic rainforest experience was unforgettable. 

 

A Shitty Situation in Costa Rica

We had been looking forward to traveling internationally with the kids since our summer adventures to Japan were cancelled in 2019 due to COVID.  We've been getting out of dodge each summer since COVID started with epic domestic camping road trips but the itch to go abroad this year was strong, so we landed on Costa Rica. 

Then two weeks before school ended Mike got COVID. Then I got COVID. We both missed the last week of school, which was a bummer. Then Sybil got sick, then Parker got sick. They rotated vomiting for a few days, with a few other symptoms. We think, "it's gotta be COVID, right?" They continue to test negative for COVID, and we hear that one of Sybil's classmates has rotavirus, so maybe it's that? Parker continues to vomit sporadically. Then I read that a batch of HEB strawberries was infected with Hep A, and I'm certain I bought and froze those strawberries, and Parker has been chowing down on them for weeks. She spends most of the night vomiting 2 days before we are supposed to leave for Costa Rica, and now has been complaining of abdominal pain for 5 days. We're spooked, and we get her tested for Hep A the day before we leave. 

With low energy from COVID and the threat of Parker being really sick, we are suddenly dreading a trip that we had been looking forward to for months. She seems to be improving, so we decide to go anyways and if she's positive for Hep A, just keep an eye out (there's no treatment, it's not easily contagious, she was vaccinated against it, and you basically just wait it out). 

No one had vomited for at least 36 hours when this was taken, so we were feeling confident and excited on our way to the airport! 

We're almost to the point of everyone carrying their own stuff!! Big time. 

So, we get Parker's Hep A test results back 15 minutes before we board the plane: she's positive. After a rushed conversation with her pediatrician, my dad, and Nurse/Aunt Ellen, we decide to go anyway for the same reasons above. 

First time everyone is in their own seats! They enjoyed the snacks and beverages, listening to the Descendants soundtrack, looking out the window, and flying through the clouds! 

It's raining when we arrive in Costa Rica, and the girls are exhausted. Parker has been complaining that her stomach hurts for a few hours, it's distended and hard, and she violently vomits on the door step to the hotel the minute we arrive. We call our people for advice, but we're scared and very wary of navigating a foreign medical system. So, we make a shitty decision that Mike and Parker will fly back to Houston on the 3:00 a.m. flight to seek immediate medical attention. 

Sybil and I will wait in the hotel for another day for word. If it's good news, we'll do a seriously shortened trip and come back early; bad news means we fly home that next afternoon to join them back in Texas. Mike buys the tickets, then I see an email from her pediatrician that said the lab did the wrong Hep A test, and she might not have Hep A (it picked up her antibodies from her vaccination). We're still worried, since she's clearly sick, and don't regret our decision. 

Mike and Parker flying back to Houston in the middle of the night after spending a whopping 6 hours in Costa Rica. Clearly feeling better, Parker was just excited to get to ride on a plane again and slept most of the way back. 

Sybil and I had to spend another night in the hotel by the airport waiting for news to determine if we stay and do a truncated trip, or come home asap. 

We whiled away the time watching the parakeets outside our window, walking around the hotel looking at the awesome and different plants, and trying the exciting new fruits in the hotel breakfast (grenadilla is a big thumbs up for Syb). 

We also ventured out in our rental car to the local mall in search of a car adapter for our wifi hotspot, and accidentally came across the town center of Alajuela, which I've read a lot about in the awesome book Costa Rica Reader: History, Culture, and Politics that a coworker passed on to me. We found a playground, a famous statue, and bakery in the town square. But I was mostly proud of myself for navigating, driving, and parking (incomprehensible). Sybil most enjoyed going up and down the escalators in the mall and eating meat soup in the food court. 

We also updated our travel journals with the mundane things we were doing that no one cares about except for us, much like I've done with this blog post. 

Meanwhile Mike was driving Parker back to Austin for a pediatrician visit since our insurance isn't taken outside of Central Texas, and he called us with the results. 

Parker was full of poop. She was severely constipated. The doctor ordered an all liquid and laxative diet for the next 1-3 days, so it turned out to be a good thing that they were home. 

Sybil and I would forge onward and, if it all went well with Parker, we talked about them returning to meet up with us in a week (thanks to points from our airline credit card).