Scouting and Surfing in Manuel Antonio

On Thursday, we left the cloud forest for the Pacific coast. At Manuel Antonio, we felt as if we arrived in humid paradise immediately. Our hotel, Costa Verde (whose motto is: "still more monkeys than people"), was beautiful. Our room was huge with a kitchenette and a sitting area, a terrace and gorgeous ocean views. We went to lunch and while we were waiting for our food to arrive, some other visitors arrived first: monkeys! We didn't know what was happening at first when what had been a serene setting, suddenly sounded as if the roof was about to collapse. And then one by one monkeys leaped off the roof into trees all around us. They were adorable and hilarious and we were completely distracted by them that we were surprised when our food came so quickly.

Afterwards, we found a supermarket to get food for shabbat and found that everything lies alone one very steep hill. Armed with peanut butter and nutella, we ventured way down the hill to the beach. It was so incredibly beautiful there. The sand was hot and the waves were somehow gentle and rough at the same time. At high tide, the waves completely covered the beach and reached the forest.

We walked along the beach as the sun set and then discovered that we didn't bring money and would have to trek back up the steep steep hill to our hotel.

Friday, we went with a group to tour the national park and saw frog eggs on a leaf, birds, crabs, snakes, bats, sloths (2- and 3-toed) and 3 different types of monkeys! At the end of the tour, we followed a trail on our own for a little hike before heading back.

At one point, we were crossing a little bridge and the girl ahead of me with an Israeli family asked to no one in particular "מה השעה?" When no one answered her, I responded with the time. They all turned sharply around and asked how I knew. I told them I speak Hebrew (mind you, the exchange was in English at this point) and they exclaim: "But you don't look Israeli!"

Surfer Couple

True, we aren't Israeli (well, Josh thinks he is because he is but whatever) but we definitely wanted some falafel from the #1 rated restaurant on Trip Advisor for lunch. After fueling up, we returned to the beach to learn to surf. We had such a good time and we both were standing up and riding waves after a few tries.

On Shabbas, we read and relaxed and returned to the beach and played in the ocean all afternoon, reflecting on how fun and different this vacation was. In the morning, would have 3 flights back to NY.

The airport

When we were dropped off at the first airport, we had a really hard time finding it. Not because it was hidden but because we were standing in it and didn't realize. The entire airport was a single room without walls, which had a check-in desk, a bathroom, and some chairs. They must have heard my theories on airline procedures because while the rest of the world told me my idea of weighing passengers with their luggage was ridiculous and illegal, the airline did just that. Our plane was tinyyyy. There were 9 passengers and a pilot and co-pilot. We flew so low the mountain tops were higher than our plane. It was so much fun and a little scary -- it felt more like an excursion than transportation.

Yes, we really flew in that 

We landed in Miami and cleared customs there. They had automated kiosks for passport control and then we brought our tickets to an agent to stamp our passports. The agent asked if I had anything to declare and I promptly told him that I declare that I had a wonderful trip. Josh thought we were going to get arrested and dragged me away to baggage claim.

We did have a wonderful trip though. I was fun and adventurous and quite rejuvenating.

Discovering Our Inner Monkey in Monteverde Cloud Forest

Balagan at the vans

Yesterday, we took the jeep-boat-jeep transfer from Arenal to Monteverde. As the name implies, we were picked up in a van and driven to Lake Arenal, where we boarded a boat. It was a beautiful and relaxing journey until we reached the other side of the lake. Then, all craziness broke loose. The process of unloading luggage and passengers was pretty disorganized. When we finally reached the top of the hill with our luggage to load a van, there were people and dogs running in all directions loading 4 different vans. No one seemed to have our reservation and we ran from van to van until someone admitted to having us on his list. From there, the road was unpaved (much to Josh's dismay) and quite bumpy. I finally understood why my parents were devastated when Katie and I refused to look out the window on the scenic drive from San Francisco to LA. The ride was bumpy but beautiful and the girl sitting across from us never looked up from her iPad!

We arrived in Monteverde and had a quick lunch before heading to Selvatura Park for a walk across 8 hanging bridges through the cloud forest. The walk was very nice and we saw monkeys up in the trees.

Humming bird feeding her young

This morning, we went on a private tour of the cloud forest first thing. Our guide, Adrian, taught us tons of interesting things about the flora and fauna. He pointed out so many things we never would have noticed on our own. We saw humming birds feeding their chicks in a next, a sleeping sloth in a tree, a tarantula hiding in a hole. We also saw a toucan, another bird whose name I forgot, a walking sticks insect (which is impossible to see unless it's moving because it looks like thing branches), and a praying mantis. We saw so many different types of orchids and other colorful plants, epiphytes, and flowers, a waterfall, and learned about our new favorite plant: the strangling fig tree. Strangling fig trees suffocate a host tree by cutting off nutrients below and sun above until the host dies and decays and a shell of fig tree air roots is left.

Hot Lips leaves

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We stopped for coffee and empendada at the coffee shop before leaving and met a very talkative Israeli family. After the tour, the driver dropped us off at a strangling fig tree that we could climb. We climbed the inside of the hollow tree, a very cool and surreal experience. Afterwards we wandered toward town and met up with Noa, who is traveling Costa Rica now with Hannah Z. We got fruity milkshakes (the pineapple is really awesome here) and ran all around Monteverde looking for banos and dollares (a bathroom and USD).

Climbing the tree

Climbing inside the tree

Josh and I went on a coffee/chocolate/sugar cane tour on a local farm (Don Juan), which we found informative but not very tasty. Chocolate and coffee are surprisingly disgusting until they're ready for commercial consumption. We also played a little game where we each tried to flavor cocoa to make it taste like chocolate we eat. None were very good.

We ended the day with dinner at a little Israeli restaurant (The Beer House), which was probably the best meal we've had since coming to Costa Rica. Go figure!

Hebrew/Israelis everywhere 

Pura Vida en Costa Rica

Day 1:

photo of frog courtesy of Noa P.

We woke up early and enjoyed a relaxed breakfast. We ate gallo pinto, a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that would become a staple of our diet for the rest of the trip. After fueling up, we went to Cerro Chato to hike the inactive volcano, overly confident that this hike would be easy enough. It was a steep climb through the muddy rain forest with roots coming out in every direction. Needless to say, it was very challenging. We hiked quickly and exhausted early. We reached the top after 2 hours and met a few people on the Red Lava day tour. We continued on to a steep climb/mudslide down to the lagoon in the crater of the volcano. After at most 10 meters, we get stuck on the slippery slope and decide to follow our new friends’ tour guide down to the lake. We dipped in the water, rinsing off some of the mud on our bodies and ate lunch and relaxed. We quickly made lots of friends and decide that we are probably the most popular people in the tour group. We discovered that they are heading to the waterfall next, which was our next stop as well so we decided to stick with the tour. The tour guide didn't realize that we were additions to the group and somehow started counting us in the group and we didn't stop him. We didn’t see much wildlife on the hike (except a relative of a raccoon which was actually pretty cute and unafraid of humans) but the vegetation was beautiful and lush.

We swam in waterfall, which was cold but refreshing and incredibly beautiful. Next, we followed the tour to a frog park and saw the coolest frog ever that looked like a child colored it in. It had blue arms and legs with red hands and feet, red eyes and a green back with polka dotted sides and a white underbelly. 7 colors in all.

At that point, it was getting dark and we decided to cab back to the hotel for dinner. We tipped the tour guide and explained that we weren’t part of his tour but enjoyed it. He was very confused and taken aback that we weren’t actually on his tour. After recovering from the shock, he invited us to finish the tour with the group. They were heading to a hot spring and then returning the passengers to their respective hotels and said they would drop us off too.

The hot spring was the one that the locals frequent. They told us to leave our clothing, shoes, wallets, and everything else on the bus and just wear a bathing suit. We were a little weirded out by the instructions but did as they said and walked down a dark path to a stream. Some people had flashlights and head lamps and candles. Following the stream, we walked through a sketchy tunnel covered in graffiti and on the other side were tons of people all facing the same way as if watching a movie but instead were sitting in the dark in a hot, fast moving stream – the hot spring! We found seats with our new friends Megan and Matt and the tour guides came around with cocktails and volcano mud to give everyone facials.

Eventually we got back on the bus and the guides passed around the remaining vodka and people downed it right from the bottle (germs, ick). Our hotel was super close to the hot spring and before we knew it they called our names and we departed the best accidental tour.

Day 2:

We loaded the bus for canyoning (if you aren't familiar, that is rappelling down water fall) and got the feeling that everyone on the bus already knew each other. Turns out there was 2 groups on the tour besides us: A bachelor party and 2 British families who incidentally are very Jewish.

The excursion was daring and really fun. We jumped off platforms into streams, waterfalls and at ties just the abyss below. We did a 25 meter controlled “free fall,” head-first into water, crossed a hanging bridge, zip-lined across the rain forest canopy, and swung between rock walls on a Tarzan swing. Our new friends promised to send us their go-pro footage of us so stay tuned for that. 

In the afternoon, we went zip lining. We both started the activity a bit put off by the tour: It felt like a factory with tons of people arriving to zip line and they tried to up-sell us to buy pictures before the excursion began. However, it wasn’t long before we completely changed our minds. The first 4 zip lines were over 100 meters each. They were longer, faster, and higher than any other zip lines we had done before. Apparently those were just the “practice” lines. The next 8 zip lines continued to amaze us. We saw 2 different waterfalls, and the vast rain forest from way up high, shooting through the wind to the next platform. The longest zip was 1 kilometer and took about 60 seconds to cross. It started pouring rain in the middle (welcome to Costa Rica). It was still beautiful but it became much harder to see and pretty painful to ride since the rain hit our faces and bodies pretty hard. At one point, I was about to jump off a platform and there was a flash of lightning and the guide grabs me back from the edge and urgently tells me NOT to touch the metal. After a few seconds of standing frozen on the edge of a platform, hundreds of feet above the forest floor, he screams “go now” and pushes me into the open air with rain pelting me in every direction. It was terrifying but exhilarating.

Oh, and we were adopted by 2 really awesome older women whom we became great friends with throughout the afternoon. The women were part of a group of 6 women in their 60s and 70s: 3 couples who are best friends and who have traveled together for 16 years in a row. They recently married when same sex marriage became legal in DC. Somehow it came out that they are also pretty Jewish and met at a Gay/Lesbian pluralistic synagogue in DC. At the end of the tour, we stopped in a Maleko hut/tourist trap and then hopped on horses for a ride in the pouring rain to the base of the mountain.

Back at the hotel, we were wet and freezing so we changed into bathing suits and warmed up in the hot springs at the hotel.

Day 3:

Today, we went rafting on the Balsa River. On the way to the river, we stopped off at a fruit strand pit-stop where we met up with our British-Israeli friends from yesterday. I bought a coconut and drank the milk through a straw straight from the fruit! Delicioso!

Coconut drink in hand

We arrived at the river and were divided up into rafts. We were put with a family of 4, who happened to be Israeli. The guide practiced his Hebrew by shouting his only Hebrew word (“Kadima”) in between instructions and calls of “Pura Vida” – our signal to turn our paddle tips in to the center of the boat in a group high-five and scream “Pura Vida!” This is the Tico motto and literally means "pure life" but essentially means Akuna Matata. Once we got the river commands down and started chatting, the the Israelis promptly told us that Aliza (my Hebrew name) is actually a terrible name and in fact, is the name of every housekeeper in Israel. I guess if medicine doesn't work out, I know what else I can do. 

Tabacon Hot Springs

The rapids were class II and III and were a lot of fun! In the pictures that the photographer got of us, we are looking petrified in each one. At the end of the tour, they took us to lunch and gave us a demonstration of how sugar cane is processed and we tasted raw sugar cane, which was surprisingly only mildly sweet.

The bus dropped us off at the Tabacon Hot Springs, which was possibly the most beautiful, relaxing and romantic place I have been. There was a maze of hot springs set in this exquisite and lush environment. It periodically started pouring rain suddenly and then stopped gradually. The rain here is frequent but it is so fast and commonplace that nobody seems affected by it at all. You just get wet and continue what you’re doing.

After relaxing in the hot springs (which soothed our sore muscles), we headed upstairs for a buffet dinner. It was incredible to finally have a meal that consisted of more than rice, beans, avocado, and plantains!

The other exciting part of the day, which has nothing to do with the trip, is that today, August 10, 2015, the Schlussel clan grew by 1! The sweet Mr. Riley Oliver Schlussel arrived at 695 and is definitely looking forward to meeting his big sister next week. 

Riley Schlussel