The
resort
Arenas Del Mar is a beautiful beach resort on the Pacific Ocean and
adjacent to the Manuel Antonio National Park. The 11-acre property is steeply sloped, as it lies on the mountains
that run right to the shoreline.
Making the climb from the beach to anywhere -- our room or
the main open-air communal area, which sits at the top of
the property and features a pool, dining room, tiny gift shop, health spa, bar,
and the front desk --
is an exertion that reminded me of just how out of shape I am. Temperatures
around 90 degrees and humidity befitting a rain forest compounded the fatigue. Yes, I promised myself, I will start
working out again when we get home. Luckily, golf carts are always available to
make getting around easier.
The
rain forest
The forest is dense and lush. Donna and I hiked a
trail on
the property early one morning. It was quiet and peaceful,
belying the violent battles for survival that are ongoing there. The great
towering trees are under continuous assault by massive vines doing their best
to pull them down, termites that burrow inside and the woodpeckers
jackhammering the trunks to harvest the termites. The trees themselves are in a
death-match against each another as they vie for life-giving sunlight.
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| Find the sloth |
The forest is teeming with insects, beautiful tropical
birds, butterflies, and mammals. We saw a monkey on our walk that day and on
another day, with the help of staff members, a toucan and a sloth. As we walked
among this natural battlefield I was thinking about the food chain and had a
chilling thought: For whom are the abundant monkeys a meal? We kept our eyes
wide open.
The
beach
After breakfast on our first
morning at Arenas Del Mar, we headed down to the beach. One of the first to
arrive, we chose lounges in the shade -- unusual for Donna, a devout sun
worshipper -- but it was a smart move. Being only nine degrees north of the
equator, the sun was extremely strong. That part of the Pacific Ocean is
incredibly warm – like bathwater – and the waves at high tide are higher and
stronger than what we’re used to. The sand is courser, and is heavily
trafficked by sand crabs. Surprisingly, there are no seashells to be found.
The people are wonderfully friendly. The staff would
do anything to help us. We were determined to see a sloth but had been
unsuccessful – they blend into the treetops where they live and move very
slowly. Whenever workers would see us craning our necks in search of one, everyone
stopped what they were doing and helped us look. When Pedro finally found one, he
and the others were as happy for us as we were.
They are obviously proud of their country and eager to
tell you:
- There is no military
- They have a great healthcare system
- Their economy is far stronger than that of their neighbors, Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south, as well as other Central American countries
- Illegal immigration from Nicaragua is a big problem (Nicaraguans come for agriculture jobs that pay relatively well and that Costa Ricans are unwilling to do)
- It is very difficult to get into the U.S. on a travel visa (just wait!).
No one we spoke to had ever seen snow or left the
country, and most had never ventured much past their village.
The country
Costa Rica places heavy emphasis on ecology – “pura vida,” or pure life, is the national slogan. Protecting the rain forests, which are being decimated by development, is serious business. Also serious business is tourism, which comprises fifty percent of the country’s gross domestic product, and the two have a complex relationship as the government works to protect its forests while building the infrastructure to support the millions of tourists who want to experience Costa Rica’s beauty.
Costa Rica places heavy emphasis on ecology – “pura vida,” or pure life, is the national slogan. Protecting the rain forests, which are being decimated by development, is serious business. Also serious business is tourism, which comprises fifty percent of the country’s gross domestic product, and the two have a complex relationship as the government works to protect its forests while building the infrastructure to support the millions of tourists who want to experience Costa Rica’s beauty.
Arenas Del Mar also adheres to being eco-friendly.
For instance, the delicious ham served at breakfast comes from pigs farmed on
site. They are fed scraps from the kitchen and the methane they emit is
captured and converted to fuel for cooking.
Volcanoes
There are several active volcanoes in Costa Rica. The
week before our arrival, there was an eruption of Turrialba
that spewed so much ash that flights were cancelled. Luckily we were not
affected by any eruptions.
Speaking of eruptions, one night after dinner, Donna
became ill. Not ill, as in, “I’m not feeling well,” but ill as in, 12 hours of
volcanic-like eruptions. Again, the people there were extremely helpful,
bringing her toast and plain rice. In particular, Ruben was especially helpful,
as was the housecleaning crew. Others who were kind and friendly included
Freddy, Alex, Melvin, Carlo and Valeria.
The food
Fresh and local are the mantras for
Costa Rican food. Standard breakfast fare includes strong local coffee, fruit
plates with mango, pineapple, watermelon and papaya, wonderful mixed fruit
juice, and huervos -- in a casserole with tostada, thick salsa, ham, jalapeños
and avocados, or cooked to order. Dinner menus are heavy with locally –
and what they call “humanely” – caught fish: mahi-mahi, tuna, snook.
Zip-lining
We took an excursion to a park deep
in the mountains for a zip-lining adventure. Our guides gave us instructions,
harnessed us up, and loaded us onto the back of a flatbed truck for the
ascension to the mountain top. From there we zipped down a series of nine
lines, through incredible scenery. It was exhilarating and like nothing we had
ever done before. We were completely immersed in the rain forest, zipping
along, suspended on a wire hundreds of feet above the forest floor, with the
most incredible views imaginable. 
At one point an enormous butterfly hovered just ahead of us for some time. It was brilliant, electric blue, so vibrant that it seemed to be computer generated, like something in "Avatar." Later one of our guides spotted a toucan, and one of the other zip-liners showed us centipede plants that shrivel up when touched -- a mechanism that protects them from being eaten by deer -- and then re-emerge a few minutes later.
When we finished, we repelled down
from a 20-foot-high platform, degeared, and enjoyed a fine lunch prepared by
local women and served in a rustic pavilion with three other zip-liners.
On the ride to the mountain we
passed through expansive groves of what we learned are African palm oil trees.
The massive heads are cut down by workers, mostly immigrants, using saws fixed
to long aluminum poles. They earn six U.S. dollars per ton. Other workers
follow, picking the oil-filled beans from the head. They earn two dollars per
large sack they fill. In addition to their pay, they are provided housing in
tin-roofed shacks, many of which have satellite TV dishes, and many with
chickens and little children running around.
When the trees reach 20 or 30 years
of age, their production declines and they become too tall to harvest the
heads, so they are killed, and new trees are planted to replace them.
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| Bachelorette |
Romantic dinner
Every dinner was romantic, but we
had arranged for a special private dinner on the beach for our last night in
Costa Rica to celebrate our anniversary. Twenty minutes before our reservation,
however, a squall came off the ocean, threatening to ruin our evening. The downpour only lasted a few minutes, and by
the time we had made it down the trail to the beach, the staff had moved our
table into the bar, which was closed for us.
Tiki torches provided a soft light,
and a recording of Liberace-esque covers of 70’s music created a charmingly romantic
mood that made me think of Bert and Ernie singing to George and Mary Bailey on
their wedding night in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It made Donna think of an episode of “The Bachelor,”
being on a private beach for an elegant dinner, except that her date looked
like me.
Donna was still recovering, and didn’t
partake of much of the mainly seafood feast, but she looked as beautiful as I
have ever seen her, and it was a splendid evening for us both.
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| Quepos airstrip |
Returning to Maryland: Terror in the sky
When it
was finally time to return home, we took a van to the little Quepos airstrip.
There were more people there this time, almost all Americans returning from
vacation. Security was non-existent. I walked out onto the landing strip to
take photos of planes taking off and nobody gave a hoot.
Our flight
took off right on time. During our trip down to Quepos the previous week, a
fellow passenger in a U.S. Air Force tee shirt who was a frequent visitor to
Costa Rica noted that the foggy conditions actually made for a smoother flight;
and that often clear days brought considerably more turbulence.
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| San Jose baggage claim |
He was
right. About ten minutes after takeoff we encountered the most turbulence I had
ever felt during a flight. The little plane was violently pitching and yawing, like a dog shaking a toy, and
we were all being tossed around. The pilots kept the plane aloft, even when on
two occasions an alarm went off. After a few prayers we touched down in San
Jose and the passengers gave a collective sigh of relief and a long applause to the pilot. We
collected our bags, made the trek to the main terminal, and flew home.
Costa Rica
was not on either of our bucket lists; we had gone there almost by accident.
But however we ended there, it was amazing. Donna and I learned about a culture
new to us, met wonderful people, and enjoyed incredible experiences together.
We will never forget this fantastic journey.
Here are more photos:
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| View from our balcony |
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| "Oh Lord" bridge leading to zip-lining camp |
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| Parasailer at sunset |
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| On the rain forest trail |
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| Donna on the balcony |
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