Part Two



Of My Costa Rica Adventure

Pura Vida: Adj. (slang) Literally means “Pure Life”, fine, cool, very well or everything is okay. It can be used as a greeting, farewell, to express satisfaction or wellness! It is a term used throughout Costa Rica, much like Hawaii’s, Aloha. Costa Rica is very much like Hawaii at a fraction of the price, in my humble opinion.

On Monday, the fifth day of our adventure, my husband and I hung out by the pool. The DoubleTree has beautiful landscape, so we were able to bird watch while we planned the rest of our ten day stay. We booked a 6-1 tour with Rainforest Adventures located in Braulio Carrillo National Park for Tuesday and although I prefer to book straight with the organization, we caved to the convenience of booking our snorkeling trip with the hotel’s tour guide for Thursday. My daughter wanted us to go exploring on our own and planned to have us over for lunch on Friday. Of course, no trip to Costa Rica would be complete without seeing Los Bolas, the mysterious Balls found in the Disquis Delta and Isla Del Cano. Our schedule filled up fast as our flight to Fort Lauderdale was scheduled for 2:00 a.m. early Saturday morning.

Zip Lining in Braulio Carrillo National Park.

[image error]Braulio Carrillo National Park!

Tuesday morning we set out on our adventure to go Ziplining in the Braulio Carrillo National Park. We drove through the scenic landscape and the masterfully engineered Zurqui Tunnel.

There are over 40 national parks in Costa Rica. Over one million hectares or one quarter of the country’s land is dedicated to natural reserves.

Braulio Carrillo National Park is named after Costa Rica’s third president to honor his proposal for the development of the Guapiles Highway from San Jose to the Carribean in the mid 1800s.

The Guapiles highway was needed to make shipping coffee easier. Without the highway, shippers would have to travel all the way around South America to deliver coffee to Europe. Environmentalist fought to protect the forest before construction began. In order to build the road they had to tunnel through the mountain. Construction of the 12 meters wide, 10 meters tall, and 600 meters long, Zurqui Tunnel began in March of 1983 and was completed in September of 1984. All the land around the highway and tunnel are protected.

Today Braulio Carrillo National Park is 183 square miles, or 108,970 acres, located in the volcanic Cordillera Central mountain range, just east of San Jose. There are 6000 identified species of plant life, 450 species of birds, 150 species of mammals catalogued within the park. Many are in danger of extinction.

[image error]I only wish that I caught sight of this Margay, slightly bigger than a house cat and in danger of extinction.



[image error]Located one hour from our hotel, the Braulio Carrillo National Park is shaded in green.

The Rainforest adventure 6 in 1 tour consists of Aerial Tram, Zip line Tour, Adrena-line, Butterfly, Hummingbird and orchid garden and terrarium.

As soon as we arrived at the park we checked in at the front gate and boarded a bus that took us deeper into the jungle.

We got off the bus with a group of people and were immediately suited in our harnesses as the guides explained the equipment. We signed our waivers and were ready for instructions.

One of the guides did a demonstration to teach us how to stop, turn and sit in order to have a safe zip lining experience.

[image error]Showing us the map of our journey.



[image error]Adventurers slowly advance starting with short runs working their way up to the adrena line that is 700 meters long, just 300 meters short of a kilometer!



[image error]Each run builds upon the other until you are speeding over the terrain.

Along with zip lining, we hiked to get from one platform to the other and along the way we saw a couple different snakes, leaf cutter ant trails busily working, tree sloths and toucans flying about with their mates.

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[image error]With the safety of the harness one can let go and enjoy the adventure.

After Ziplining we had a delicious lunch while bird watching and then took a walking tour of the grounds and visited the Butterfly garden.

[image error]Morpho Butterfly taken in the butterfly garden at Braulio Carrillo National Park.

[image error]I saw these butterflies while hiking but they were always too quick for me to capture.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any hummingbirds, but we did learn a lot from our informative, congenial guide.

[image error]Blood of Christ Plant.



[image error]Here we can see the many stages of the morpho butterfly.



[image error]The red eye tree frog is nocturnal so this is what it looks like in the daytime.

Our last adventure was the 30 minute tram ride, a silent running ski lift that takes you though another section of the park.

[image error]It is amazing, the eco system within one tall tree, housing a multitude of life.



[image error]My favorite shot from the tram ride.

We finished our adventure at the gift shop and another day was complete.

Look out for my next installment, Taco’s in Jaco and Calypso Cruise Snorkeling tour. 

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Until next time, Pura Vida!

About the author:

[image error]Carly Compass has a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing and English from Elmhurst College. She is an avid reader, reviewer on Goodreads and Amazon, as well as a member in good standing of Phi Theta Kappa and Sigma Tau Delta International Honors Societies. 

 

Find her poetry and prose published in: The Prairie Light Review, Black Widows, Web of Poetry, and the Middle Western Voice.

Her first series, Electric, published in the fall of 2014 received critical acclaim and five star reviews across the board for all three books. 

She became a best-selling author on Amazon when Book 4 came out to the waiting arms of her readers in April of 2015. 

Electric, The Beginning Book 1 is available for a free download.  

Books 1, 2, 3  and 4, 5 & 6 are also available in a discounted combination set. All books read well as stand alone, but you’ll want to read every word and leave no page unturned. 

New in 2018: About Life, About Love, About Family, A Collection of Short Stories and coming soon, The Ivory Tower and Rituals Lost, A Pagan/Wiccan tale, Books 1, 2, and 3!

Pick up your free copy today and let the world know what you think by leaving a review! 

Carly loves hearing from her readers, feel free to connect across the board on all social media.