Costa Rica

On August 18th I joined Kris,Brad, Tyler, Alanna, Kayla and Isaac for our trip to Costa Rica.  This trip was replacing a trip that we had planned for Disneyworld in March of 2020 which was cancelled just days before due to Covid.  We flew out of Victoria on the red eye and unfortunately had a 12 hour lay over in Toronto due to flight changes but finally arrived at our destination where we first went to Poas Volcano which is in the central part of the country.  We stayed at a delightful family run hotel the Poas Volcano Hotel where Kris, Brad and the boys had the whole old farm house to themselves.  We spent the next day at the LaPas Waterfall Park with our very informative guide Manuel.  The park is an excellent mixture of wildlife, nature, culture and beautiful waterfalls.  We saw so much and due to Manuel’s extensive knowledge we learned a lot about his country.  For our first day it was very full and enjoyable. Back at the hotel we enjoyed an excellent meal before retiring early as we had an an early start the next morning.

View of the countryside from our room

Kris and Brad’s private house with the boys in Poas. A very unique stay

Bunches of red bananas. These are eaten by the animals but generally not by people

Parrot populations in Costa Rica are making a come back now that they have put a stop to poaching for the black market

Beautiful colourful butterflies abound throughout the country

The butterflies were very friendly and had to be coaxed off one’s arm 

White faced monkeys are one of the four monkeys that are found in the countryside 
Spider monkeys are also found throughout Costa Rica 

The waterfall gardens were lush with well maintained winding paths that made for a very pleasant introduction to the plants and trees of the country

Bright coloured odd looking frogs could be found clinging to the moist plants

A display of an old farm house with an oxen cart made for a perfect picture opportunity 

A long climb down rewarded us with some beautiful waterfalls 

Our guide had his favourite picture places and we took advantage of his foresight 

Costa Rica is also home to six different wild cats. The ones at the waterfall park were rescue animals

The name of these ones escape me but he looks so cheeky with that long tongue 

These plants with the huge leaves grow wild all over and are referred to as the poor man’s umbrella. They are also used in emergency situations to stop traffic by being put down in the middle of the road if there are no cones available.