The Highlands of Costa Rica

Trip Schedule:

• Wednesday, June 4, 2008 – Arrive in San José
• Thursday, June 5, 2008 – Central Highlands, Volcan Irazú, Orosi Valley Drive
• Friday, June 6, 2008 – Río Sarapiquí
• Saturday, June 7, 2008 – Guayabo Nacional Monumento
• Sunday, June 8, 2008 – Pacayas Town and Celebration of Corpus Christi
• Monday, June 9, 2008 – Fly Home

Some friends are meant to last a life time. When my mom was in college she made some lifelong friends. Some of those friends became missionaries in Costa Rica. So when they announced that they were soon retiring and moving back to the United States, my mom asked if I wanted to accompany her on her first international trip to visit her friends before they left the country they’d called home for more than 30 years. I’m pretty sure my “yes” came before she even finished her sentence. The best part of a trip like this is I mostly just had to book our flights, and leave the rest up to the “locals” – no planning needed. The easiest kind of trip!

View from the House

Costa Rican Pineapple

Day 1 – Arrive in San Jose. Our first day consisted of flying from Florida to San Jose, Costa Rica, clearing customs, being entertained watching my mother in a foreign country trying to figure out where to go in the airport, and meeting her friends, Harry and Lydia. We did some walking and brief shopping in San Jose before heading to their home in the highlands of Costa Rica, near Pacayas, which is about 90 minutes to the east of San Jose’s airport. The views from their home are stunningly beautiful. They had built their home on a hill with the intention of having a gate below, so as not to have the typical bars on the windows, and thus, being refreshed each day with the rewarding mountain views. I’m pretty sure it’s a view I could never tire of.

View from the House

Cute Duck

Day 2 – Central Highlands, Volcán Irazú, Orosi Valley Drive. Our second day in Costa Rica was a day of driving and sightseeing. We started with driving to the Volcán Irazú, which is an active volcano and has a green crater lake. This volcano is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica and is at 11,260 feet high. On clear days you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but we’re told those are rare days, and the usual weather is overcast, such as it was when we visited.  It was here at the volcano that we spotted coatis, and gosh are they cute!

Volcán Irazú

Volcán Irazú

Volcán Irazú Green Crater

 

Baby Coati

Coatis

From the volcano we then went on a drive through the Orosi Valley, which offered serene and peaceful views of both the highland mountains and of the Reventazón River which winds its way through the valley.

Orosi Valley

Reventazón River

Orosi Valley

We stopped at the Iglesía de San Jose de Orosi church, which was built in 1835, saw the Lago de Cachi, and stopped at La Casona del Cafetal, which is a lakeside coffeehouse. We also stopped at the Presa de Cachi (cachi dam),  spotted toucans along the drive, and best of all, visited the ruins of the Church of Ujarras. The Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion in Ujarras is one of the oldest churches in Costa Rica, built between 1575 and 1580. Along the drive we also had to stop for photos of the monkeys hanging out on the wires crossing the road. While our first full day in Costa Rica was a packed day, it was a lot of fun, and a day filled with nature and beauty.

View from Casona del Cafetal

Toucan

Iglesia in Ujarras

Iglesia in Ujarras

Iglesia in Ujarras

Monkey

Monkey

Monkeys

Day 3 – Rio Sarapiquí. Today we woke up very early to drive to the Río Sarapiquí for a scenic boat ride. To get there we drove through the Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, which has both the Cloud Forest and the Rain Forest. I do wish we’d had time to explore this area more. However, the boat ride down the Río Sarapiquí was great, and we saw the following things: anhingas, “Jesus Christ” lizards, which are green and walk on the water, crocodiles, alligators, howler monkeys, a sloth, kingfishers, kiskadees, collared aracaris, keel-billed toucans, and long tailed tyrants. On the way back to Pacayas we took time to stop at the La Paz waterfall.

Boat Ride down the Rio

Day 4 – Guayabo Nacional Monumento. Such an awesome day! We visited Costa Rica’s only archeological park, which was inhabited 1,000 BC until 1,400 AD. Guayabo was estimated to have had 300-500 residents, with as many as 10,000 living in the surrounding villages. This is the largest and most important archaeological site in the country, and although Guayabo is not nearly as breathtaking as the Mayan and Aztec archaeological sites, excavations here have unearthed sophisticated infrastructures and mysterious petroglyphs. Guayabo had an impressive aqueduct system and used enormous stones hauled in from far-off Río Reventazón. The site was mysteriously abandoned by 1,400 AD, and the Spanish conquistadors, explorers and settlers have left no record of having found the ruins, so much of its history is a mystery. If you visit this site, don’t expect pyramids and structures to be found; instead, expect the see the mounds that remain from the buildings, the pathways, and the entrance guard squares. I’ve visited many Mayan ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, and while Costa Rica’s ruins aren’t impressive in size, this site still ranks in my mind as most definitely worth the visit.

Guayabo

Guayabo

I’d have to say that the best part of the day was just outside of the park when we discovered a sloth hanging from a tree. Oh my goodness, how I love sloths. They’re so fascinating to watch, and I could literally have spent hours just keeping an eye on him. I loved his face, and how he looked like he was staring right at me for the picture. We also saw (and heard!) the oropendolas for the first time, and enjoyed watching them fly around in the trees. But the sloth stole the show, in my opinion.

Sloth!

Sloth!

Day 5 – Pacayas Town and Celebration of Corpus Christi. What a treat today was. We were lucky enough to still be in Costa Rica and the town of Pacayas on the day of their holiday, the Celebration of Corpus Christi. The local people get up early in the morning and spend hours decorating the streets with patterns and designs made from flowers and seeds that create a beautiful natural carpet that welcomes the priest and parade in procession. All of their beautiful efforts are then scattered and destroyed by the parade of people walking over the designs. It was almost sad to see, but we felt very lucky to have been in Pacayas to see this celebration, as it’s primarily only celebrated in Pacayas and Cartago.

Pacayas Celebration

Pacayas Celebration

Decorating the Streets

College Friends for Life

Day 6 was spent traveling back to San Jose’s airport, and flying back to the Florida.

Summary. Most tourists travel to Costa Rica to visit the beautiful  beaches and untouched forests, but small towns like Ujarras and Pacayas offer a truly unique experience into the culture and history of Costa Ricans that most tourists are probably missing out on. I’m so glad we had the “locals” to give us a genuine experience of what Costa Rica has to offer. It was a great trip spent with my mom and her friends, and one I’ll always treasure. And hands down, we had the best fruit bowls for breakfast I’ve ever had. There’s nothing like eating fresh Costa Rican pineapple while visiting Costa Rica.