Dazzling Sights in Chiang Mai

On January 21, 2018 By apadams223In Asian Travel, TravelLeave a comment

It has been well over a month since we returned home from our nearly three week trip in Southeast Asia. With the holidays, building a home and life just getting in the way, I haven’t had the time yet to write about this experience. Lack of writing aside, I have had plenty of time to reflect and be grateful for such an amazing trip and hopefully this next series of blogs illuminates which moments were most significant to us. I considered breaking this blog series up into two parts: activities and food (the food was just incredible and so different everywhere we went, it deserved it’s own post!). In the end, however, I decided to continue writing about each, individual place as a whole experience.

On my list of places I would most want to revisit Mykonos (from a trip I went on without Scott in 2011) and Chiang Mai would be at the top. I hope that the photos throughout this composition make the excellence of this place obvious and fully explain why we would want to return so badly.

Scott and I traveled for 30 hours before landing in Chiang Mai. This is BY FAR the longest day of travel I’ve ever had. We flew EVA Air from Seattle to Taipei, Taiwan to Bangkok and then took a regional airline to Chiang Mai. For the longest leg of our flight, we took Advil PM and we will now be doing this for any flight we have that’s over 7 hours. We were dead asleep for 8 straight hours. One thing of note during this travel was the Taipei airport: it’s full of themed waiting rooms and shops that make it quite obvious you’re in Asia. The most popular of which was a Hello Kitty waiting lounge which looked like something straight out of the cartoon. We also had some of our first Asian cuisine while waiting in the Taipei airport and it set me off on a dumpling obsession that continued for the rest of the trip and likely for the rest of my life.

Finally arriving in Chiang Mai, we couldn’t find the car that was supposed to be waiting for us to take us to our hotel so we ended up waiting in the WORST taxi line of all time. We checked in at Amata Lanna Village Hotel after dark, but even without light we could see that it was an incredibly beautiful place to call home for the next three nights. We walked over a koi pond on cement stepping stones to a lobby with traditional Thai architecture. The doorways to each room were fully carved and each feature seemed to have detailed artwork incorporated into the design. Most exciting of all was that we could see the first night of Loy Krathong (the Thai paper lantern festival) taking place in the background. It seemed as if Chiang Mai was greeting us as we watched thousands of paper lanterns drift through the sky and over our hotel from the doorway of our room.

Our view of the lanterns from right outside our room

IMG_0664C798B5C2-1 — View from our hotel room towards the city during daylight

Our room was second from the right on the top floor!

These sculptures were placed throughout the hotel property…so cute!

On our first morning in Thailand, we were scheduled to visit the highest peak in Thailand, hike some waterfalls and visit Doi Inthanon. We ended up getting so much more out of this day. The hotel we were staying at was owned by a family and they were amazing hosts. Breakfast begins at 6AM with a menu of fruits, sticky rice, bacon, sausage, eggs, porridge and more. We were given an appetizer of Chinese fried bread and fresh fruits. I had my first taste of Mango Sticky Rice and I will now be seeking this out for breakfast whenever I can.

After breakfast we were picked up by our tour guide and started our first day of sight-seeing in Thailand. Our first stop was going to be the tallest peak in Thailand, but we stopped and purchased some fresh fruit from a street vendor on the way up the mountain. Our tour guide wanted to make sure we got to try everything. Our first new fruit to try was called a longan (a small version of a lychee with a tough peel and squishy, grape-like insides). We also tried persimmons, Thai sweet potatoes, fruit wine, and several different dried fruits. We ended up purchasing plenty of samples for our family back home.

One of the many markets that lined the streets

Peeling and tasting a longan in our karaoke/tour van

My favorite thing of all, however, was a sweet pork dumpling that our tour guide bought us from another street vendor. I spent the rest of the trip looking for more of these delicious, warm, sweet rolls filled with ground pork.

IMG_20171103_212631 Snapchat-901847463

Next, we arrived at Doi Inthanon National Park and peered over the tallest peak in Thailand. There was pretty dense forest surrounding the peak, so there wasn’t much of a view to show off, but stay tuned for some killer views of Chiang Mai we got the next day!

After leaving the highest spot in Thailand, we traveled winding roads towards the stupas of Doi Inthanon. Along the way, we saw several Buddhist offerings nestled into the forest and I was fascinated by the intricate details and the effort put into these works of art.

The primary attractions of the day were the stupas and gardens of Doi Inthanon built for the king and queen. Each stupa was the same number of feet tall as the monarch was old. Inside each stupa were statues of Buddha corresponding to the day of the week the queen/king were born. Each stupa and corresponding garden were designed around the personality of the queen and king. The queen’s was ultra feminine with purple glass tile decorating every surface while the king’s had more of a brown and brass tone throughout. It was truly something to behold and it is difficult to pick any number of pictures to represent it’s beauty because Scott captured so many gorgeous images of this place.

IMG_20171103_211738_1 — A view of both stupas over the garden pond

The view from the gardens over the cliffs

Some of the tile work outside of the queen’s stupa

DSC_0042 (1) — The Buddha inside of the queen’s stupa

DSC_0030 (1) — More of the incredible view from the gardens

Some of the tile work outside the king’s stupa

DSC_0013 (2) — The garden was getting some maintenance

About to head up the long stairway to the stupas

After spending a lot of time gawking at these masterpieces and wandering the gardens, we were off to have lunch and visit some waterfalls. Lunch was at a huge gathering place with several restaurants and one communal outdoor cafeteria with a covering. We had cashew chicken, a Thai omelette, steamed veggies, and one of our favorites: Thom Kha Gai (a spicy coconut based soup with chicken, mushrooms and lemongrass). On our way to the first waterfall, we got to hike past farms and rice fields and were able to see some of the canal systems and methods for farming in the region.

DSC_0099 (1) — The tour guide prompted me to test the strength of the vine so I pretended to be Tarzan over a farming canal.

The first waterfall we visited was called Siriphum Waterfall. After Costa Rica, we had seen our share of jungles and waterfalls, but there was something truly special about this national park and we loved hiking over the rickety bridges to get closer to the powerful spray of Siriphum.

Trying to show Scott something cool from the bridge viewpoint

The next waterfall we visited was the largest in Doi Inthanon National Park: Wachirathan Waterfall. After seeing this beauty, we continued on a path that followed the flow of the water and found some of the most vibrant rainbows I’ve ever seen. Usually rainbows are hard to capture on film, but these were not camera shy one bit.

IMG_20171104_004853 — Not our best photo, we were getting hit directly in the face with cold waterfall spray

Wachirathan marked the end of an amazing first tour and we were driven back to our hotel. We decided to rest for a brief period, change our clothes and head out on the town to get our first taste of an Asian city. We decided to go on foot (which we would later regret) and walked over the river towards the Nawarat Bridge which was supposed to be the center of the town. As soon as we started our walk we could tell something special was happening in the city. There were street vendors set up everywhere selling toys, sweets, lanterns and other celebratory wares. We decided to get dinner at River Market Restaurant so we could stay near the bridge and watch as the celebrations picked up in fervor. We enjoyed spring rolls and massaman lamb curry (YUM), and Scott had a Chang beer (this would soon become one of his all time favorites) and I had some Chardonnay. As we ate, we began to see people practicing the lighting and releasing of lanterns. We were shocked to see lit lanterns landing in trees or lawns and continuing to burn and then just going out. The vegetation was so wet that fires just never started. Coming from Washington State this went totally against our prevent-forest-fires nature!

Finally, the sun went down and we went to the bridge to join in the festivities. We chose not to purchase a lantern because we had no clue what we were doing or what was being celebrated and felt like imposters. We truly felt lucky just to watch. We had a great viewpoint on the bridge and watched several people try and fail to set off lanterns (who knew it would be a challenge?!). Eventually, lanterns started successfully taking off all around us! After watching several successful launches, we decided to help a group of young travelers from San Diego launch theirs after many failed attempts. They were gracious enough to give us a lantern to launch of our own. We succeeded on our first attempt thanks to all of our observing. We learned that the releasing of the lantern symbolizes letting go of negativity and sending blessings into the New Year. The festival takes place on the evening of the full moon in November which is the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar and, therefore, the end of the lunar year. It was such a happy accident to arrive in Chiang Mai during this festival and getting to share it with the local people is something we will never forget.

IMG_20171104_031558 — View from our restaurant

When we felt it was time to leave the festival, we walked all the way home. We dodged traffic (mostly scooters and tuk tuks) and walked through narrow unlit streets for what felt like several miles. I was wearing sandals and ended up having blisters on my feet for the rest of the trip, but it was totally worth it.

The next day, we had another jungle hike and temple tour booked. Again, we were served a delicious breakfast and then we were off to Doi Suthep. The previous day, Scott and I were the only members of our tour. This day, we were joined by four Asian Canadian students and a Dutch couple. Unbeknownst to us, we actually had quite an extensive hike through the jungle to arrive at today’s temple. Luckily, we were both dressed for the miles we had to trek through dense forest and my blisters decided not to give me too much trouble. At Sai Yoi Waterfall we did get to take off our shoes and frolic in crystal clear waterfall pools and climb some giant boulders to cool our feet. During the hike we were surprised to come across monks leading individuals into the jungle. They are portrayed very accurately in art and media and seem to radiate a kind of peace and tranquility in their mannerisms. Eventually, we arrived at a kind of cabin resort for temple visitors at the top of the hike and were able to rest before exploring the temple itself.

DSC_0135 (1) — Our group at the first waterfall before the hike began

IMG_20171104_212613 — Waterfall pools with small catfish in them!

IMG_20171104_224321 — Finally arriving at the cabins with one of the temple’s gold pagodas in the background

Since we had just hiked straight up a mountain through the jungle, our group was starving. At the bottom of the stairs into the temple there was a huge, bustling market where we found a cramped noodle place and had our first authentic phad thai and thai iced tea. Honestly, they were quite like what we were used to in the U.S. and super delicious! We enjoyed getting to know the Dutch couple and learned that they were from Amsterdam so we got all the travel tips we possibly could for our upcoming 2018 Europe trip! Finally, it was time to enter the temple. Everyone made sure there knees and shoulders were covered (most of the girls had to buy sarongs to enter) and started a secondary hike up a long, ornate stairway.

The temple was so stunning it’s difficult to describe. There was genuine worship taking place all around us and the smell of incense was sweet and heavy as soon as we crested the top of the stairs. Every square inch of the structure was decorated and dazzling. Gold, jade and other precious jewels were everywhere you looked. This is by far one of the most incredible manmade sights I’ve ever beheld. I hope these photos can portray some of the wonder this place instilled in all of us, but it’s definitely something difficult to capture.

IMG_20171104_234210 — A close up of the dragons on the stairwell

IMG_20171104_235359 — An epic entrance way

IMG_20171105_000011 — Each of these Buddhas represents the day of the week you were born. You are supposed to pray to your own Buddha. I was born on a Sunday so I am the first buddha called “in pensive thought Buddha”. He stands upright with his hands clasped low contemplating his wisdom. Scott is Thursday so he is the meditation Buddha (fifth from the left).

Elephants represent good luck in Thai culture

DSC_0175 (1) — You have to kneel inside of the prayer rooms, we were fortunate enough to watch a monk lead a mass blessing in a similar room.

DSC_0170 (2) — A close up of the gold pagoda

IMG_20171105_001126 — The breathtaking gardens outside of the temple’s exit

After exiting the temple we walked through stunning gardens like the one above and went up some more stairs to a gazebo that looked over the entirety of Chiang Mai. It was an incredible view and the underside of the gazebo was decorated with carvings of the different Buddhas. I became a little obsessed with learning about my Sunday Buddha and seeking him out in religious artwork. The tour ended with a bathroom break in a ginormous store full of anything you could imagine made out of jade from chess sets to bangles (unfortunately, it was such a quick stop we didn’t get any photos).

IMG_20171105_003004 — Another elephant sculpture on the way up

IMG_20171105_002714 — More stunning architecture outside of the temple

IMG_20171105_001829 — An incredible view of Chiang Mai

IMG_20171105_001637 — Our tour guide helping me find my Sunday Buddha

IMG_20171105_001419 — Looking out over Thailand

I didn’t even know I was doing my Buddha posture!

It was a really intense day of hiking and sensory overload at the temple, but this was our last night in Chiang Mai and we weren’t done with this city yet! After we rested off our tour, we got changed and ordered an Uber (no more walking) and went to the Chiang Mai Sunday Market. We were instantly struck by how busy this place was! Crowds filled the entire width of the street and the smells of street food wafted out from behind the people selling their trinkets. Even more shocking was the price of this stuff! So inexpensive we could hardly believe it. We ended up buying clothes, lanterns, art, and other gifts for people back home. Then we stopped at a restaurant called Cooking Home and I ate one of my favorite Thai dishes to date: Khao Sui. This is a yellow curry soup that you can only get in Northern Thailand and it’s to die for. When the night was over, we took our first tuk tuk (basically a chair rigged to the back of a moped) ride back to our hotel and so ended our time in Chiang Mai.

IMG_20171105_034103 — The huge crowd in the market

Not the prettiest picture but the most delicious dish: Khao Sui

IMG_20171105_055625 — Feeling a little nervous on our super fast tuk tuk ride

Chiang Mai was our favorite part of Thailand and we can’t wait to go back. BUT I can’t wait for my next installment in this series where we visit the insane and massive city of Bangkok!

Costa Rican Honeymoon: San José and the Pacuare River

On December 16, 2017 By apadams223In Latin America Travel3 Comments

Costa Rica is famous for its white water rafting scene. People come from all over the world to raft here and the Pacuare River is destination numero uno. Although I’d never white water rafted before, we decided we couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Plus, there was a hotel nestled in the jungle along this river that I was DYING to experience. We may have gotten a little more than we bargained for, but one thing is for sure, we will NEVER forget our final few days of honeymooning in Costa Rica.

While planning our trip, I Googled the most stunning honeymoon suites in Costa Rica and found The Pacuare Lodge. This lodge is listed amongst the National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World. I didn’t know this, I just thought it was gorgeous. You could book a treehouse with a private pool and we had to try it out. It wasn’t until we were half way through our honeymoon that we realized why this place was so unique. The only way to get there was to get picked up in San José at your hotel, take a bus ride for a few hours East and then white water raft two more hours down river. You are also allowed very limited luggage as it has to also arrive at the lodge by raft.

Scott and I arrived in San José (TERRIBLE TRAFFIC), got a quick bite at McDonald’s, and settled in at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Then we spend the rest of the evening attempting to pack ONE backpack with enough clothes for both of us to last three days knowing that we would also need clothes to get wet on the rafting trip. It was a challenge…I don’t pack light usually.

The next morning we got up super early and grabbed a quick bite at the hotel (I had more amazing mango that I couldn’t get enough of) and waited for our river guide to pick us up. Our luggage would remain at the Crowne Plaza until we got back. Our river guide, Danny, showed up right on time and we drove through the city to pick up another couple. As we drove, Danny told us about his trips to California, Oregon and other parts of the U.S. where he spends time as a river guide and his passion for life on the river. Then we stopped at Bocadito Del Cielo for a bite of second breakfast. This name of the restaurant translates to Little Taste of Heaven because it sits overlooking stunning views of the valley.

IMG_20170913_063027 — Some views of the drive through San José

Finally, we arrived at the Pacuare River. We were taught on the spot how to raft while we were geared up and our luggage was handed over to a skilled rafter named Rafa. We were taught commands so we knew when to paddle forward and backward and when to jump inside the raft or lean.

At first, I was terrified of rafting. Especially since I was brand new and would be starting out on Class 3 and 4 rapids. Scott had been rafting in Oregon, but failed to mention this until after I’d had a few moments of panicking. It only took a couple big rapids, however, for me to LOVE it! I was smiling and laughing pretty much the entire trip and the two hours which had seemed so daunting went by in a flash. We did have one break where we were able to visit a secluded little waterfall and take a swim. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity and we were the only ones to jump right in the river, clothes and all. We did learn later that the Pacuare River is full of piranha, but they have soft teeth and aren’t dangerous to humans. We also saw the biggest spider I’ve seen to date sitting on a rock that our raft got VERY close to, and enjoyed watching different birds in their natural, untouched environments.

Eventually, we rafted by a couple of extremely remote and off-the-grid cabins before arriving on the banks of the Pacuare Lodge.

We were then escorted to the Honeymoon Suite which was a short hike up from the main lodge and restaurant for seclusion. Our suite was nestled right up against the jungle and raised up a hillside so as to be in the canopy and turned into a treehouse. This was by far the most gorgeous hotel room I’ve ever been in. It was made out of rich woods with a tree platform, hanging bridge, hammock, private pool, 4-poster bed, glass walls, and an outdoor shower. We were then informed that there was no electricity except for in the main lobby and we would need a solar flashlight, rubber boots and an umbrella. We also told that when we came down for dinner (which was served at a very specific time) a worker would come to our room and light a whole bunch of candles for us. Being near the equator, the sun sets around 6PM all year round. We were given two choices for dinner and were asked to make our selections and were left to rest after the long travel and rafting day.

IMG_20170913_111743 — The pool and the bridge to the tree platform

IMG_20170913_111816 — The cute little sign they made for us

IMG_20170913_111852 — View to the tree platform

IMG_20170913_112130 — Walking back towards the room

IMG_20170913_112208 — View of the room from the tree platform

IMG_20170913_112313 — Enjoying the hammock and the deck

IMG_20170913_154001 — A teeny tiny lizard we found in our curtains

We were so secluded that we didn’t even both to unpack our swimsuits to test out our private pool. It was cold but so refreshing after a rafting workout in the humid jungle. Then we quickly changed into dry clothes and went down for lunch. Our river guides became our servers and chefs at the lodge restaurant! They served us an elegant spinach soup, mushroom tomato penne, coconut flan and some DELICIOUS beers that they brewed onsite. After lunch, we went upstairs from the restaurant to the bar and ordered some tasty sangria, the spiciest margarita ever and sweet coconut mojitos.

Finally, we were just exhausted. We went back up to our paradise room, watched some downloaded shows on our iPad and had a long nap with all the doors open.

Since dinner was at a specific time, we had to get up from our nap and head down not long after. The restaurant was also without electricity so we were seated with candle light and had to bring our solar lamp everywhere. We enjoyed really good wine, bread, and squash ginger soup. Scott’s entree was steak with eggplant puree and potatoes while I had a tuna steak with green beans and rice. Dessert was a passionfruit mousse for me and a chocolate torte for him (he made the right choice this time…yum). The daily menu was designed and executed by locals without formal training but with an inherent love for cuisine. I thought it was super unique and everything we ate was awesome!

After dinner was when the real adventures began. We went back to our room in pitch black and got ready to brush our teeth. As we rounded the corner to our bathroom we saw a HUGE cockroach stuck on his back in the hall. It wasn’t moving so Scott grabbed some tissue to try and pick him up and throw him outside. My job was to hold a phone flashlight so he could see in the dim candlelight. Of course, as soon as he touched the roach it started moving furiously and we both screamed and then he didn’t have any light and comedy ensued. He tried two more times before finally getting it outside.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. Our bathroom was backed right up into the jungle and wasn’t very well sealed. There were two spiders hanging out waiting for us and almost no light to see by. We knew this was going to be a long night at this point. There were a few small insects on the mosquito nets surrounding our bed AND another layer surrounding the entire bedroom. This got in our heads and we felt like bugs were everywhere. After watching some more shows we tried to blow out our candles and go to sleep, but we kept feeling bugs crawling on us (probably just in our imagination) and had to relight a candle and keep it burning all night for our sanity. At one point I got up and went to the bathroom on my own and saw a shadow on the ground. When I put my phone’s flashlight on it, I saw that it was a massive cave dwelling spider. From that point on neither of us went to the bathroom alone or got much sleep. As terrifying and restless as this night was, Scott and I were totally bonded over our mutual fear of creepy crawlies and the fact that we loved each other enough to accompany each other to the bathroom over and over. Like I said, we’ll never forget it.

The next day we were scheduled for two serious activities: an extreme seven hour hike and a candlelit dinner in the treetops that we had to zipline to get to. At breakfast we were surrounded by bees and ants and we had just had a night full of bugs. We realized that a dinner in the treetops where we wouldn’t be able to really see our surroundings was more than we could handle. We knew we would be exhausted from our hike and, frankly, couldn’t handle the idea of new and exciting bugs to befriend. So, we canceled our dinner and got ready for the hike.

This was the most difficult hike we’ve done to date. Due to the wetness and wildness of the jungle, we had to do the entire thing in rubber boots and long socks or pants. We were warned about bullet ants (a bite from one of these will paralyze you and give you extreme fever for a couple of days) and poisonous snakes and spiders. After we were shown the bullet ants we recognized them from right outside our suite…great…However, this hike was a truly incredible experience. We had two guides: a Costa Rican named Edgar and an indigenous local named William. They were incredibly kind and knowledgeable and let us practice our Spanish with them. Their aptitude and fitness for the jungle was astounding.

The jungle was insanely humid and we went through several large canisters of water. Walking sticks were entirely necessary for the steep and slippery terrain. At one point, we crested a hill and could see over the canopy. A breeze from the Caribbean came through and was the most refreshing thing I could imagine at the time. We walked past indigenous villages and farms completely hidden within the jungle. The final destination, however, was a hidden waterfall that we could only reach by repelling down a sheer rock face. Here we had lunch, stripped off our rubber boots, and took a lonnngggg, well deserved rest.

IMG_20170914_072409 — Getting ready: Scott looking fine in his rubber boots

IMG_20170914_085823 — The indigenous village

IMG_20170914_095223 — Trekking through pretty untamed trails

IMG_20170914_095524 — A look up at the canopy

IMG_20170914_101426 — The start of the repel

IMG_20170914_102057 — Finally reaching the waterfall

IMG_20170914_110314 — Our awesome guides

The trek back was long and painful, but it was totally worth it. At one point, Edgar found a jaguar den and we had to be very quiet and walk really close together. Honestly, I was more scared of the spiders in our room, but I had heard of guides and tourists being stalked and snatched by jaguars.

When we returned to the lodge we enjoyed coffee and cookies and hung out near the river for a while before dinner time. This time we I had duck and Scott had pork ribs. I honestly still think about this duck dinner, it was SO good. Night two really didn’t go much better than night 1 and our spider friends returned to torment us.

The next day we were due to raft back West towards San José and return by bus to the Crown Plaza. We packed up, said goodbye to the spiders and went down for breakfast and to wait for our river guides once again. While we were waiting, Edgar (our guide from the day before) grabbed us and told us he had something that I’d been waiting to see. He had set up a telescope and told me to look through it towards a treetop. On our very last full day in Costa Rica, I finally saw a wild sloth!!! I was so happy! It was sleeping, but I could still see it really well and watched as it breathed as slowly as you would expect a sloth to breathe. He also showed us a glass frog which camouflages with its eggs perfectly on the bottom of leaves, a blue jeans frog which is very loud and colorful, and a green iguana-type lizard which was so well camouflaged that we had to look directly at it several times to see it.

On the four hour rafting trip back, we went through much more advanced rapids. At one point the guide turned the raft completely backward so we wouldn’t see the size of the upcoming rapid. Apparently he didn’t trust us not to spook and ignore his commands, but it was so fun. We stopped along the banks and the river guides turned our raft into a buffet and served us a lunch of fruit, salad, sweet tea and delicious chicken burritos. This is when we were shown the piranhas. You could throw a piece of cheese into the river and a SWARM of fish would destroy it. We let them eat out of our hands and felt their soft teeth.

IMG_20170915_103953 — On the bank where we had lunch and fed piranhas

IMG_20170915_115001 — For this trip we had to have a safety kayaker for the more dangerous rapids

When we resumed rafting, we came upon a canyon and everyone jumped off the raft to float through the green waters and admire the scenery. It was truly a moment of peaceful surrender for all of us.

IMG_20170915_115015 — The canyon with a primitive bridge

IMG_20170915_115140 — Clearly I’m enjoying the float

Finally, we finished our river adventure, took the bus back to the Crowne Plaza, had some sushi and crashed out in Costa Rica for the last time. In the morning, we returned our rental car which had driven us all over the country, went to the airport, bought some more amazing coffee, and got on the plane that ended our honeymoon.

We chose Costa Rica because we wanted adventure in a beautiful, relaxing place. Honestly, we had mostly adventure and not much relaxing, but that’s more our style anyways. Maybe next time we’ll spend our days on the Caribbean side and take in more of the beach life, but there’s really way too much to experience in the land of Pura Vida.

Costa Rican Honeymoon: Volcanoes and Jungles

On November 1, 2017November 1, 2017 By apadams223In Latin America Travel1 Comment

For Part 2 of our Costa Rican honeymoon, Scott and I travelled inland to visit the cities of Arenal and La Fortuna. We drove quite a distance from Tamarindo to get to our hotel in Arenal. We stopped at a Costa Rican Walmart and tried a ton of local snacks: chocolate covered pineapples and bananas, yuca chips, and palomitas (popcorn). We also enjoyed a scenic drive around the entire perimeter of Lake Arenal which is a manmade lake at the base of an epic volcano.

For this portion of our trip, we stayed at the Arenal Manoa Hotel. This is one of the many hotels in the area with a STUNNING view of the Arenal Volcano and in-house hot springs. We were greeted with a blackberry drink and taken to a villa with a view.

IMG_20170909_145046 — Humid volcano selfie!

After we got settled in, we went down to the pool and swim up bar where we had a few too many mango daiquiris and margaritas. The pool was busy and had a party atmosphere so we enjoyed people watching. Then we got changed for dinner and went to the hotel restaurant, La Saca. We had SUPER rich mushroom risotto and pesto gnocchi and went back to the villa to go into a sugary drink and rich food coma.

The next day we woke early, had a 10 minute breakfast stop at La Saca, and went to catch a shuttle for an all day tour. We were going to tour two major destinations: The hanging bridges at Mystico National Park and La Fortuna Waterfall. These two hikes were very different, but equally incredible.

At the hanging bridges, we saw unique plants, vipers, tarantula, countless birds, loud and fascinating cicadas, howler monkeys, and the most rare sighting of day: peccaries! Upon entering the park, we saw a deadly, baby viper right away. Then we looked back towards where we walked in and saw a small herd of peccaries! The deeper into the forest we went, the louder the buzzing sounds throughout the air became. We learned that these were cicadas and they became the soundtrack for this entire trip. They provide a constant humming melody that differs depending on region. These massive insects live only one day, but certainly make their presence known during their short lives. We had wonderful tour guides who spotted camouflaged animals that we would have never seen. My recommendation after this trip is always to do wildlife tours with a guide!

At the entrance for Mystico National Park

A juvenile viper (could kill a human with one bite)

DSC_0354 (1) — Peccaries looking for food

DSC_0397 (1) — A cicada next to his old skin

Our shuttle picked us up from the hanging bridges and took us to our next stop: La Fortuna Waterfall. This was one of my favorite parts of this trip! We had to hike down about 500 steps (which meant we eventually had to hike back up them) and arrived at a gorgeous waterfall and crystal clear pools. We were able to swim in the pools amongst tons of not-so-small fish and mossy cliffside.

DSC_0414 (1) — The hundreds of steps to the pools

IMG_20170910_105710 — Staring at the powerful waterfall in awe

IMG_20170910_110032 — Sitting on a rock and channeling my inner Little Mermaid

After a long day of touring, we all enjoyed lunch together. This was our first experience with a Costa Rican cuisine staple: Casado. Casado consists of meat, tortillas, beans, rice, a fried plantain, salad, cheese and sometimes eggs and sautéed onions.

It was a long day of hiking, so we spent the rest of the afternoon watching American football in Spanish and napping. For dinner we drove slightly outside of the hotel to a delicious pizza place called !Que Rico! which means “How Delicious!”.

The next day we had another tour planned. This time we drove two hours in a shuttle to do the Rio Celeste (translates to Light Blue River) hike. This was one of the most fascinating sights and the photos truly don’t do it justice. The Rio Celeste is full of minerals that create the optical illusion of a light blue color. The water is in fact clear, but the reflection of the light off of the white mineral particles makes the water looks like an opaque, bright blue. We saw many more animals on this hike including frogs, different kinds of insects, spiders, monkeys, snakes, and coati (a raccoon-like mammal). We also saw hallucinogenic leaves the size of a car tire and one of the largest and oldest trees in the country.

Another long hike down to a waterfall, but this one was a no-swim-zone.

DSC_0446 (1) — The water bubbles like it’s boiling here and smells STRONGLY of sulfur.

A very rickety bridge that you had to cross one-at-a-time.

Where the minerals enter the stream and change the water from clear to bright blue.

A female spider who eats her tiny, brown mates

IMG_20170911_081354 — A giant and ancient tree

IMG_20170911_090546 — A poison dart frog

IMG_20170911_090908 — A very well camouflaged cricket

IMG_20170911_105749 — Scott on another rickety bridge.

We finished this day with a delicious meal of arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and a dip in the Termales (Hot Springs). These hot springs were at our hotel and were actually rerouted from a naturally hot river that’s heated by the volcanoes. Of course, the hot springs also had a swim up bar and we had to take advantage on our last night in Arenal.

The following day was the day we were supposed to travel to the capital, San José, but we couldn’t resist squeezing in one more activity while we were here: A Coffee Tour. If you’re ever in Costa Rica, do a coffee plantation tour! I have alway been an avid coffee drinker and this tour completely changed the way I buy and drink coffee. Scott has even been drinking more java after this experience. During the tour we planted, harvested, roasted, and ground beans to see every step of the process. We also made our own chocolate and sugar cane juice which was amazing! We may have gotten bitten by some ants in the process, but it was totally worth it.

IMG_20170912_095145 — Harvesting coffee beans the old-fashioned way

IMG_20170912_103718 — Juicing sugar cane

The coffee tour marked the end of our time in Arenal and the beginning of our journey to San José and the Pacuare River. Another treacherous drive that ended in some horrific traffic began and a whole new scene awaited. Part 3 will outline our time in these Eastward destinations!

Adams Adventures

Tag: jungle

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