Nature Air Hop from Coast to Coast

On Sunday we flew in a 18 passenger plane from Bocas (Caribbean) to San Jose, through customs, then back on the same plane for a 20 minute flight to Quepos (Pacific) through a lightning storm. We are landing there!? A small runway cut into the forest. Quite an experience... more exhilerating than our zip-line or rafting tours! Once in Manuel Antonio, just down the road, we fell in love with the Verde Mar Hotel (right on the beach/in the jungle/upgraded to a suite) so we added a third night. Day one: rafting the class IV Naranjo River. Beach walk in the afternoon during/in and intensive rain and lightning storm¨ON TOP¨of us. Day two: hiking, animal spotting, and beaching it in Manuel Antonio National Park, followed by surfing the head high beach break infront of our hotel. Day three: Heading south for more beach time in Dominical before we head back to San Jose and then off to Ecuador. Having the time of our lives, the tans are coming along nicely!

Deeper South Into Panama...and Bocas

We ended up taking advantage of a shuttle service from Puerto Viejo, across the border into Panama, then over to the Bocas del Toro islands by boat. Crossing the border was quite the experience. The van stopped at a bridge over the river that marks the border. After checking out of Costa Rica at a little building we walked across the old funky bridge, checking out the huge crocodiles basking in the sun below, then checked into Panama on the other side. A couple more hours in the van through banana plantations, small towns, and then over some beautiful mountains led us to the port where we boarded a boat for the trip out to Bocas Town on Isla Colon. Our hotel is ver cool, we have an amazing room overlooking the ocean with our own little private deck. The extra $10 was well worth it! We spent our first full day in the islands on a boat tour with snorkeling, dolphin watching, and stops at beautiful mangroves and beaches.

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Our second time down the Pacuare was equally amazing, even if it was not quite the same "exclusive" service and great companions. At the river take-out, a 2 hour Nastar style bus ride deposited us in Puerto Viejo on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean shore. This is where Bob Marley lives and so do many ex-pats who forgot to go home. Quite the different spot than I visited 20+ years ago with my father. Imagine Caribbean postcard vistas, and you got it. Yesterday we rented bikes and toured around during our 4th sunny "green" season day in a row. Today the rain is back and after a lazy morning we are heading south across the border into Panama, then by boat to Bocas del Toro...

Pacuare River and Lodge

Words can do no justice to describe how amazing every aspect of this three day two night rafting trip was. The Costa Rican rainforest left us speechless, so we suggest you get down here and experience it for yourself. I took over 200 photos in less than 3 days! Each group is assigned a guide who takes you down the river, acts as your naturalist, accompanies you on the canopy tour, serves as your waiter, and leads you on hikes to amazing waterfalls. Max, a fun loving Tico, entertained us along with two other very cool and fun couples. Our bungalow in the jungalow, remember words can´t describe it, was problably the coolest place either of us have ever stayed. Even if there was a tarantula in the bathroom. After a rain most of the first day, we were treated to two sunny days in a row! Meals were gourmet and served over candle light, because there is no electricity at the lodge. This picture is midway down the river canyon between class IV rapids. We bought a CD of pictures taken by our safety kayaker and hope to post a few action shots if we are able to soon. Check out the Pacuare link if you are curious. Tomorrow we were to raft one of Costa Rica´s most difficult stretches of whitewater, but the river is running high. We were the only ones signed up (Jessica thinks Bill is crazy), and the company just called and hoped we would switch rivers, thus we will be running the Pacuare again tomorrow as a day trip. We couldn´t be happier! At the take out we will be driven down to Pueto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. Pura Vida!

Our Adventure Is Under Way

We have arrived at our historic/funky hotel in San Jose. The first thing we did when we arrived last night was turn on the TV just in time to watch the Lakers win in overtime! When we look out our window, we see the National Museum and a lot of traffic; including train tracks complete with a train that makes for a great alarm clock at 6:30 AM. One note about the museum, the corner adjacent to our hotel is festooned with bullet holes from a revolutionary war! SJ is a crazy, loud, smoggy place and it has poured rain most of the day. However, we spent a couple great hours exploring the city and checking out the plazas, people, and markets. Tomorrow we head down the Pacuare River to our Bungalow in the Jungalow.

One More Day and the Adventure Begins!

Our bags are packed, reservations are reconfirmed, and we are finally just hours away from beginning our trip!  Checking the weather it looks like we are in for temperatures in the upper 80's, lots of rain, and high humidity for our time in Costa Rica.  All we can say to that is raft-o-rama baby.  You can't get any wetter when you are running Class IV white-water through rain-forest canyons.  Found this map that makes for a perfect reference for our time in Central America.  After a day in Costa Rica's capital city San Jose we head down the Pacuare River with two nights at the lodge.  After another night in San Jose we head down the Reventazon, said to be the most difficult commercially run stretch of water in Costa Rica.  At the take out we will then head south down the Caribbean coast to Puerto Viejo  for a couple of days before crossing the boarder into Panama and then heading on to the islands of Bocas del Toro.  A Nature Air flight will then transfer us over to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast.  After another raft trip on the Savegre River and day in C.R.'s most famous national park, we head down to Dominical for a week relaxing at the beach and surfing.  Then it is back to San Jose and on to Ecuador.  That's our plan...wish us luck...we'll do our best to keep you updated.