Walking
Connection®
Costa
Rica
Walking
and Hiking Adventure
April
17 - 25, 2010
Guest Itinerary
(Subject
To Change)
April
17 - Arrival at
San Jose International Airport. You will be met at the airport and
transferred to the charming Hotel Grano de Oro.
Situated on a shady street our hotel is a true oasis, a sanctuary
in the heart of a bustling city. Converted from a Tropical Victorian
mansion, the hotel maintains the warmth and comfort of a private
home. No guided activities have been planned so that you can arrive
at your convenience. Overnight Hotel Grano de Oro. (TG)
April 18 - After
breakfast enjoy a guided walk at Poas Volcano National Park.
This area is famous for its huge active crater with smoking fumaroles.
We will walk to a beautiful tree fringed crater lake and admire
birds such as the Blackbilled Nightingale and Fiery-throated Hummingbird,
as well as myriad bromeliads, ferns and mistletoes.
In the afternoon we
will continue on to Arenal to arrive at the Lost Iguana
Resort with luxury rooms with amazing views of the volcano.
That evening 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. 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. (BLD)(NG)
April 19 -
After breakfast we will walk the Arenal Hanging Bridges
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 afternoon we
will experience the peace of the rainforest floating on the Peñas
Blancas River. Find monkeys, sloth, iguanas, tortoises,
crocodiles and numerous bird species. Our boat doesn’t use
a motor so we we can enjoy the sounds of nature as we paddle down
the river offering the best opportunity to take photos. (BLD)
(NG)
April 20 - After breakfast, it is a short 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 mornings drive through
gravel roads to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.
Check in to your lovely
room with one wall floor to ceiling windows that overlooks the tops
of the trees of the thick cloud forest. Enjoy the view - White
Faced Monkeys have been known to be scampering through
these trees.
This is a peaceful
community made up of 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)
April 21 -
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.
After lunch back at
the lodge we will make our way to the Monteverde Butterfly
Garden. Enjoy releasing butterflies for their first flight
in the gardens. Very Interesting! (BLD) (NG)
April 22 -
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. (BLD)(NG)
April 23- 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.
Our accommodations
for the next two nights are inspired by French-colonial architecture
and the style of Victorian homes and is 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)
April 24- Morning
at Carara National Reserve. We'll meander one of the trails that
also provides shelter for howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys,
white-tailed deer, red brocket deer and collared peccaries.
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)
April 25 -
After breakfast transfer to the San Jose International Airport with
an approximate noon arrival. (B) (NG)
# # #
Optional
Stay (and Highly recommended!) -
You will not want to leave! Extend your stay either by relaxing
on the coast at Xandari
by the Pacific in an ocean front villa with the best walking
beach anywhere right at your door! Or head back towards San Jose
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. Enjoy dinner at
the hotel as the city lights twinkle below.
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