2008 Costa Rica Southern Skies Fiesta, Volcanos & Rainforest

Feb 10, 2008 – Sunday – San Jose to Poas Volcano to Sarapiqui Rainforest, Costa Rica

I have a nice omelet for breakfast this morning in the Marriott before we leave San Jose. Our new, smaller group departs a little after 8am, driving north out of the city through coffee plantations in Alajuela. Our first stop is Doka Estate Coffee Plantation for a rest break, where I have a very well-made cappuccino, and I purchase a coaster with a Costa Rican frog motif embossed on it.

Nearby Póas Volcano is our next destination. Since this is Sunday, the place is crowded with Costa Ricans. The weather is notoriously fickle on top of this volcano. Our group hikes from the visitor centre to the main viewpoint, and as we arrive the clouds part for about a minute. Unfortunately I don’t take any photos before the clouds completely obscure everything again!

Steven O’Meara is on this trip as an expert in volcanoes. While we wait for the clouds to part, he stands on his Pelican case and gives us an impromptu presentation on the special features of Poas, and shares a general dissertation on global warming and how volcanoes are contributing to the problem in a major way. After about a half hour, the clouds blow away for 10 minutes or so, giving us a good photo opportunity before we leave Poas Volcano.

Our next stop is to see some spectacular falls along the road that follows the Sarapiqui River northward and then east over the mountains through the town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. We have a late lunch along the way at Hacienda Pozo Azul Adventures, where the restaurant has a butterfly house with some very nice tropical butterflies. It’s free admission, however I only have a few minutes to take some photos before we depart, heading southeast.

We pull off onto a side road and park while our luggage is loaded into a pickup truck and taken to the Sueño Azul Hotel. We drive a bit further, and everyone walks across the river on a foot bridge, directly to the hotel grounds. Once I am settled in my room overlooking one of the many lagoons on the property, I observe several birds from my deck: a Snowy Egret and a Green Heron are fishing in the lagoon, and also several colourful birds are in the nearby trees.

We leave the hotel after dark for the Tirimbina Rainforest Center, where we are given a wonderful introduction to the bats which are found in the area. One of the rangers catches several bats and brings them inside so we can look at them up close. They are fascinating creatures, and so small and cute. Their little faces are all screwed up, since they are so frightened by being handled, but they are soon released back into the night by members of our group. After returning back to the hotel and navigating the foot bridge once again, we have a very nice late dinner at 9pm.