| 
April 15 - 25, 2007
Highlights and Guest Itinerary
Sunday, April 15 - Arrival at San
Jose International Airport. Transfer to Poas Lodge. Our
quaint family owned and operated lodge lies between the
Poas and Barva Volcanos. The views from the house include
not only the volcano, but also the western area of the
Braulio Carillo National Park as well as the Caribbean
plains. No special activities are planned for this day
so that you can arrive at your convenience. (TG)
Monday, April 16 - Today enjoy a
walk through the surroundings of the area. A hearty picnic
breakfast including homemade whole wheat bread, as well
as homemade strawberry jam and milk collected every morning
from the farm's dairy begins our day. Walk through the
countryside through strawberry fields and nurseries where
ornamental plants are grown for export. Guided visit to
a local coffee plantation. Tonight will be our Welcome
Reception and candlelit dinner. (BLD)(NG)
Tuesday, April 17 - After an early
morning breakfast, depart to Poas Volcano National Park.
The Poas Volcano is famous for its huge active crater
with smoking fumaroles, you will admire the beautiful
tree fringed crater lake and birds such as the Blackbilled
Nightingale and Fiery-throated Hummingbird, as well as
myriad bromeliads, ferns and mistletoes.
Trails lead through shrubs, dwarf forest
and cloud forest covered with epiphytes. Coyotes, rabbits,
frogs and toads are common, and at least 79 bird species
are at home here. Hummingbirds are easy to see, and you
might also have the opportunity to spot an Emerald Toucanet,
Brown Robin, Black Guan or Masked Woodpecker.
After our visit to Poas, continue to La
Paz Waterfall Gardens where we will enjoy a buffet
style lunch. The restaurant offer a view of the Poas Volcano
Mountain Range and the La Paz River Valley. La Paz Waterfall
Gardens is designed around five waterfalls accessed by
three kilometers of paved trails that we will walk and
viewing platforms. It also includes a butterfly observatory,
and a hummingbird garden. In the afternoon we will continue
on to Arenal. (BLD)(NG)
Wednesday, April 18 - After breakfast
we will walk the Arenal Hanging Bridges a new attraction
in La Fortuna de San Carlos. The visit consists of traversing
15 bridges from 5 to 100 meters long that cross the rain
forest. It will be a chance to appreciate the contrast
of the highly diverse flora and fauna along with the imposing
vista of Arenal Volcano.
In the late afternoon, we'll host one of
the best evenings of your entire stay in Costa Rica. We'll
visit Ecotermales Fortuna, owned by the Hidalgo
family. The family has built a hot spring swimming pool
like you have never seen before. It consists of cement
walls that are built in the shape of a rectangular pool,
the water enters the pool on one end and out the other
end and on down the river. Filled with clean hot spring
mineral water you'll receive a natural massage from the
small cascade of hot spring water. Doña Mireya, our host
has a small very rustic little kitchen where she will
prepare a delicious Costa Rican cuisine dinner. (BLD)
(NG)
Thursday, April 19 - After breakfast,
drive to Arenal Lake where we will board a boat that will
take us on a 30-minute ride across the lake until reaching
Rio Chiquito. Here, 4X4 vehicles will be waiting for us
for a 2 hour drive through gravel roads to the Monteverde
Cloud Forest Reserve.
Monteverde is a peaceful community made
up of dairy farmers, naturalists and tourism service providers
who have joined together to create a model for sustainable
development and protection of the environment that is
becoming known throughout the world. In the early evening
we will walk to the Ecological Farm, accessible by a short
trail across a ravine from Monteverde Lodge. This small
private reserve provides the chance to see flora, birds
and mammals by evening light and darkness of night. (BLD)
(NG)
Friday, April 20 - After an early
breakfast, depart for a full morning's visit to Monteverde
Cloud Forest Reserve. Originally just 4,000 acres, the
Monteverde Reserve now protects an area of approximately
25,000 acres, comprising six different life zones. We'll
spend the entire morning walking and hiking.
So many habitats in such a small area, along
with extensive trail improvements, allow visitors to enjoy
a rich diversity of flora and fauna with relatively little
and easy walking. There are 8 different trails at Monteverde
Reserve for us to choose from.
After lunch back at the lodge we will make
our way to the Monteverde Butterfly Garden. Very Interesting!
(BLD) (NG)
Saturday, April 21 - Today we will
head to Santa Elena Reserve, which provides a less developed
but increasingly popular cloud forest experience. The
reserve was created out of a community's determination
to help preserve the unique cloud forest surrounding them
and to use tourism as a tool to benefit community development
in Monteverde.
Entrance fees are used for the protection
and management of the Reserve and to provide higher quality
education for schools of Monteverde. It is an example
of what people can do to preserve and learn from their
environment.
The afternoon will be free for you to visit
the local town, art galleries, frog museum, horse back
ride, tour a cheese factory, walk some more or just relax
in the hot tub or beautiful gardens of our lodge. After
this fun and interesting day, say goodbye to Monteverde
with a special dinner in Monteverde Lodge Gardens (weather
permitting). (BLD)(NG)
Sunday, April 22 - After an early
morning breakfast, depart from Monteverde to Carara area
and the Pacific coast. Carara is a region of mountain
ranges, marshes, meanders, forests, swamps, rivers and
ravines, of crocodiles and macaws and of archaeological
sites.
The gallery forests that grow along the
riverbank are thick and tall, with few species, mainly
the espavel, but their appearance likens them more to
a rainforest type of growth. The marshes are covered with
water hyacinths, a plant that typically grows in shallow
waters rich in nutrients. Over 100 pairs of scarlet macaws,
perhaps the most beautiful birds on the Pacific side of
Costa Rica, live and nest in the forests.
The reserve also provides shelter for howler
and white-faced capuchin monkeys, white-tailed deer, red
brocket deer, collared peccaries and pacas. Some of the
birds of the region are the Black guan, Great egret, Turkey
vulture and Laughing falcon. Anhingas, Blue-winged teals,
Roseate spoonbills, Bare throated heron and a large colony
of boat-billed herons (a curious bird with a beak in the
shape of a boat) can be seen in the lagoon formed by a
meander in the ancient river basin. Crocodiles, which
can grow 3 meters long and are an endangered species,
lie on the shore here and also on the little beaches along
the River Grande de Tárcoles.
Our accommodations for the next two nights
are inspired by French-colonial architecture and the style
of Victorian homes and it a combination of both a mountain
and seaside resort. We will arrive in time for lunch and
then a late afternoon walk along the beach in search of
the Scarlet Macaw. Before dinner we will make a toast
as we watch the sunset over the Pacific. (BLD)(NG)
Monday, April 23- Full day at Carara
area. Visit Villa Lapas Sky Way, a series of natural
trails and hanging bridges throughout a rain forest of
hundred year old trees. It is located at Villa Lapas private
reserve, very close to the Carara National Reserve. This
attraction consists of five bridges, four of them with
100 meters long each and one 50 meters long. Built in
metal and joined by metallic towers.
For those that wish we will get you back
to the hotel in time to schedule a massage or to relax
by the zero edge pool. This evening we will visit Jaco,
a local town with a surfing "culture". The sounds
of the surf will be the background music at dinner. (BLD)
(NG)
Tuesday, April 24 - After breakfast,
depart for San Jose. Arrive to Xandari Plantation,
private villas on a coffee plantation overlooking the
Central Valley. Beautiful trails leading to waterfalls
for you to leisurely explore on your own as well as world
class spa services. Evening farewell dinner at the hotel
as the city lights twinkle below. (BLD)
Wednesday, April 25 - Transfer to
the San Jose international airport at least three hours
prior to the departure time for your flight out of the
country. (B) (TG)
Our
Itinerary is TENTATIVE! - You are on a tentative
itinerary that is subject to change. We are all at the
mercy of Mother Nature and varying weather conditions
that affect roads, flights, rivers, etc. not to mention
the human factor. Be patient and calm. Slow down!
Learn! Enjoy!
Extend your stay! We know you are
not going to want to leave. Ask us about extending your
stay with a visit to Tortuguero on the Caribbean side
of Costa Rica.
Letter Codes: (B) Breakfast
(L) Lunch (D) Dinner (LG) Local Guide (NG) Naturalist
Guide (TG) Transfer Guide
The Walking
Connection is proud of our association with Costa
Rica Expeditions, Costaricaexpeditions.com, Jorje
Jara, Michael Kaye, Selena Solis, Natalie Ewing, Monteverde
Lodge, Montana del Feugo Hotel, and Villa Colletas
along with Walking Connection host Jo Ann Taylor to
bring you this exciting Costa Rican walking tour and
hiking adventure.
|
