April 1

We flew from Orlando to San Juan, Costa Rica on JetBlue and took a taxi to our hotel ,The Balmoral, in the center of the city.  By the time we had checked in and had a rest, the day was almost over, so apart from a quick walk around the city center, we were happy to do next to nothing.

April 2

The next day, we would meet up with our group in the evening, but we had the day to ourselves. Our first stop was the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum which is in an underground vault and is run by the Central Bank of Costa Rica.

The pieces were mostly small, but beautifully made.

There were also exhibits showing how people lived in the Pre-Columbian era. 

After the museum we walked around the town center. There were a few small parks in the Spanish style

We visited the Cathedral, which was nice and cool, although not very decorative.

April 3

We met up with our tour group in the evening of the second day and went over the itinerary. Next morning, we took a walking tour of the city center. As we had done the same thing ourselves the day before, most of it wasn't new.

The Post Office was one of the more impressive buildings.

We ended our walking tour at a local market, which sold all the usual stuff, including food and tourist "stuff". We didn't buy anything!

The one thing we did see that we hadn't seen the day before was a statue of John Lennon. Apparently, it was quite controversial when it was unveiled in 2011. Some people were still angry about Lennon's comment that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

April 4

Next day, we left San Juan by bus for Sarapiqui. We stayed at an ecolodge - The Selva Verde Lodge. The hotel was located in lush grounds with lots of vegetation and wildlife, especially birds.

The hotel put out fruit near the restaurant, so we could watch the birds while having breakfast.

After breakfast, we took a walk around the grounds of the hotel, which was located on the edge of a river.

Later, we took a drive to meet with a local resident, who showed us how to make a local bread, which tasted a bit like a British scone. First kneading the dough.

Then rolling it out to make a flat "cake"

And finally, after baking on a hot stone, cutting and eating with butter and cheese or jam - all for sale of course.

Making coffee the Costs Rican way !

After lunch, we did our white water rafting trip, which actually was quite good fun. Of course, it was hard to take pictures when we were in amongst the rapids, but we had a good time.

When we got back to the hotel, we walked across the suspension bridge which leads to a nature reserve on the other side of the river. We weren't allowed into the reserve, but crossing the bridge was fun.

That evening, we had dance lessons, but it was unbearably hot and after a long day, rather exhausting! Kris did try, though.

April 5

In the morning, we did a peaceful boat ride along the river. The river was very low, but we managed to see quite a lot of wildlife.

Monkeys

An iguana

Various birds

And the most elusive of all, the sloth - very hard to see.

In the afternoon, we visited a pineapple plantation.

The guide, who was also a pineapple farmer, explained how pineapples are grown and all the problems farmers have getting them to market. He also told us how to test a pineapple in the grocery store.

After the plantation tour, we drove on to Arenal, to see the town of La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano. We stayed at the Hotel Lomas Del Volcan.

April 6

In the morning, we drove to a private reserve, the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges.  The walking tour is about 2 miles, although there are several hills along the way.

Sometimes, we had to wait in line to get onto the bridges, although fortunately, the lines weren't terribly long.

The hanging bridges (suspension bridges really) were quite impressive and very safe, although some people did seem to be intimidated by them.

It was cloudy, so we couldn't see the volcano, but the view of the jungle below was quite impressive.

After the hanging bridges, we went first back to the hotel and then into Fortuna, the local town. After Fortuna, we were supposed to go onto a local farm for dinner, but Kris didn't feel well, so we ly went back to the hotel by taxi and spent the evening in our room.

April 7 

Next morning, Kris was fine, but now I had a problem - I couldn't pee! After some discussion, we decided to ride the bus directly to the next hotel, while the group went on a side trip across a lake. The journey to the hotel was terrible - basically a dirt road the entire way. Once we arrived, Kris and I walked to the local clinic, where a doctor was waiting for us. She knew exactly what needed to be done, but said she didn't have the necessary equipment and recommended we go to the nearest hospital - in the capital San Juan, some three or four hours away by road, We went back to the hotel and had a chance to enjoy the view.

In the end, we decided to cut our trip short by two days and go to San Juan, so we took a private car to the hotel in San Juan where we would have stayed eventually anyway. We booked ourselves on the first flight back to Orlando the next day. Once we arrived back in Orlando, we went straight to the ER at Dr. Phillips hospital, where they started my treatment. And that was the end of our trip to Costa Rica !