This weekend was spectacular. It
was our first CEA excursion to Bahia Ballena and Manuel Antonia along the coast
of the Pacific Ocean. Right after our morning Spanish courses, we packed up and
headed to the CEA building. A small blue and white bus was sitting there
waiting for us. The driver set off through the chaos of San Jose and out into
the hills and mountains of Costa Rica. As the labyrinth of buildings and city
roads diminished, the landscape transitioned into a mosaic of deep emerald
mountains and bright flowering trees. The hills directly around San Jose were
somewhat dry and many of the trees were bare as if it was winter back home. The
roads curved through misty blue mountains and slowly the vegetation became lush
and dense. The mountains sketched an elaborate jagged horizon across the deep
blue Costa Rican sky. Eventually, it felt like we were surrounded by thick
rainforest. The trees were dripping with moss and lichen and draped with
profuse vines. Some of the tallest trees were a brilliant yellow color that
created a fantastic contrast to the dark greens of the jungle. This country is
beautiful.
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| Crocodiles |
Our bus stopped right before a long
bridge over a river between the mountain slopes for a rest break. Immediately
upon exiting the bus, humidity and heat engulfed us. The intense tropical
weather made me grateful for the wind and cool in San Jose. We inched along the
narrow sidewalk on the edge of the bridge to look into the water for
crocodiles. On the right side of the bridge were copious crocodiles basking in
the afternoon sun or wading in the slow-moving water. I was glad to be so high
above the massive reptiles; they each appeared to be at least 4 meters long.
Chomp chomp.
After we were finished examining
the crocodiles from above, we were back on our way towards the Pacific. We
passed Jaco beach and you could see glimpses of the turquoise ocean peaking
from in-between the trees. We stopped briefly to take a photo at an overlook by
the side of the road. The ocean was far below us and you could see out across
the glittering pacific waters for what seemed like miles. A breathtaking view
with the rainforest-covered mountains cascading into the tropical sea.
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| The pacific |
As our bus reached the coastal town
of Manuel Antonia, someone shouted, “Monkeys!” and I looked over my shoulder
out the window to see little white faced capuchins and a couple squirrel
monkeys running along the hotel roof and crashing through the trees followed by
a pack of zealous tourists. I dropped my bag off in the room and within seconds
was outside looking at the monkeys. They came incredibly close to us and would
stare and tilt their heads in our direction. One lady was feeding the monkeys a
banana she had purchased down the road. In all honesty, it was difficult for me
to watch the capuchins clamber over cars and street signs and eat from human
hands. How much longer until they become pests?
Our hotel was located across the
street from the beach. And what a gorgeous beach it was! The sand was fine and
white and the sea was clear and warm. As the sun began to set in the west
across the waters, we walked along the sand through the gentle waves. It was
the most majestic, spectacular sunset I have ever experienced. A brilliant
mirage of reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, blues, and deep purples lit up the sky
and reflected across the ocean surface. I cannot deny that there is a God, for
there is no other explanation for such beauty.
Saturday morning we were up bright
and early to go to breakfast before our whale watching tour. Then, the bus took
us about an hour away down the coast to a little town called Bahia Ballena.
When we arrived, we went directly to a small somewhat run-down office for the
whale tours. A guide gave us all life jackets and we walked down a path and
into the Bahia Ballena national park and onto the beach. The ocean tide was far
out, making the beach wide and flat. We were told to wear our life jackets at
all times and then walked out into the surf to enter the boat.
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| On the boat |
Our boat was just a simple motor
boat with two benches lining the outer sides and one bench at the very front.
It had a canvas covering sheltering us from the sun (thank goodness, it is so
easy to burn in the central American sun). We began by boating out to the
whale-tail shaped formation composed of sand and rocks and the guide handed us
each a snorkel! One by one, we slipped into the warm water to snorkel the coral
reef. It was beautiful. The corals created massive formations underwater that
were frequented by colorful reef fish. There were schools of turquoise parrot fish
and exotic wrasses that swam underneath me. I loved watching the tiny blue fish
dart between the rocks and some of the larger fish defend their plots of coral
from intruders. Such a fantastic ecosystem under the sea. We were called back
to the boat all to soon and I saw a yellow puffer on my way out!
Our boat driver then pushed the
motor into full gear and we bounced across the waves out to the open sea.
Flying fish flicked out of the water next to our boat. You could see the layers
of mountains on the shore in the distance with white bulbous clouds clinging to
their peaks. We drove towards two other boats huddling together and found a pod
of dolphins jumping and swimming along the surface. Some of the dolphins had
spots along their backsides and some of the dolphins were the well-known
bottlenose. It was exhilarating as our boat dashed back and forth in attempt to
follow the dolphins swimming patterns.
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| Humpback whale mother |
When the dolphins had swum too far
for reach, our boat again sped along the sea surface back towards the shore. We
stopped several hundred meters from the shore and the boat driver began to
exclaim that there was a whale in the water. We all stood up and strained our
eyes to see. Suddenly, a large dark fin protruded from the water just 20 meters
away. Our guide told us this was a humpback whale and her calf. The pair came
within 10 meters of our little boat and you could see the barnacles on the
mother’s back and watch her spray water lightly out of her blowhole. It was
incredible, I have never seen a whale before.
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| Costa Rican sunset |
After several hours on the ocean,
we arrived back in Manuel Antonio. A few of us walked to the beach and waded
through a river/swamp connection and walked over a small volcanic island and
onto a beautiful deserted beach. The swamp was labeled with a sign that said in
Spanish “Be Careful, crocodiles, do not swim.” Oops. However, the beach we
emerged onto was well worth the risk. Apparently it was located in Parque
National de Manuel Antonio, but no one was monitoring the gate and we snuck in.
The jungle crept right up onto the pure white sand of the beach. Palm trees and
mangroves lined the shore and the Pacific ocean was calm and clear. It was a
spectacular sight as we swam in the tropical waters and watched the sunset
begin to paint the horizon with vivid colors.
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| A white faced capuchin monkey |
The next morning, we all woke up
early so as to be at breakfast and then out into the national park Manuel
Antonio by 8 AM. The initial road leading into the park is wide and was clogged
with tourists and tico guides with telescopes and lenses leading around
clueless mobs of white visitors. With that amount of disturbance in the forest,
there was little chance that we were going to see anything. We had acquired a
map at the entrance and decided to find a secluded trail as soon as possible to
leave the tourist hordes. We found a trail that led to an overlook near the
ocean and quickly entered into the jungle. Almost immediately you could here
the forest come alive around you: insects hissing, howler monkeys bellowing,
and birds singing.
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| Sloth |
The forest became denser as the trail narrowed and we were
surrounded by massive palm trees and buttress roots laden with dark mosses and
fungi. Our group soon began to split into three as some people walked swiftly
down the trail and other people, like myself would stop to listen and watch
everything. Courtney, Jordan, Lani, Michele, and I found ourselves left far
behind the rest of the students as the five of us silently walked through the
rainforest in attempt to see all that we could. Later, when we got back, we
learned that we had seen more animals than anyone else because we had taken our
time and reserved our talking. It wasn’t long before we saw a sloth dangling
from a palm branch and a troop of capuchin monkeys foraging high in the canopy
above. We hiked up crude steps and found little lizards and insects scampering
beneath our feet. At one point, we heard an animal gnawing on a nearby tree and
turned to see a small tailless rodent consuming his mid-morning meal.
Apparently he was an agouti. The overlook at the end of the trail was
spectacular. If this place is not paradise, then I do not know what is. The
jungle canopy opened up to look out over the magnificent Pacific with clusters
of bright red hibiscus flowers in the foreground. You could see the shore
curving in the distance and the jungle hills meeting the turquoise sea.
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| The view of the pacific from the rainforest with Lani and Courtney |
On our way back down the steep
trail, we encountered a troop of howler monkeys foraging in the trees above us
and saw another small family of white-faced capuchins. We decided to take
another trail out onto a land formation called a tombolo that the park had
named the “cathedral.” We passed a beautiful white sand beach with groups of
tourists picnicking and raccoon families scavenging on the left over food
scraps. Then, the trail turned into a series of staircases as we hiked through
the coastal palm forest. There were fewer animals in this section and we only
saw raccoons and an iguana that ran ridiculously fast. However, the vista
points along the hike were well worth the climb. The views of the ocean kept
getting more and more unbelievable. Eventually, we ended up on the beach that I
had visited last night before sunset. The beach only had a few tourists basking
in the hot tropical sun. We walked all the way down to the far end nearest our
hotel and went for a quick swim to rinse off the sweat from the rainforest.
Besides the Indian Ocean, I have never felt an ocean so warm.
When we got back to San Jose, we
were all exhausted but exhilarated with the wonderful experiences we had just
had. This country is more than I could have wanted with all its biodiversity
and beautiful landscape and intriguing culture. I cannot wait to explore more.
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| The beautiful beach |
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| "Pura vida"- the pure life |
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| Squirrel monkey |
