As travelers who love to try the local food wherever we are visiting, Steve and I were keen to check out a traditional Costa Rican soda. A “soda” is what Costa Ricans call their local restaurants – there’s a whole range of them, but they are often mom and pop concerns, serving traditional Costa Rican food, and often open air. It seemed like just about every town and village we drove through had at least one soda, and we were determined to check one out and eat like locals. We were also hungry after hiking through Tenorio Volcano National Park, and Soda Rancho Irma Posada, on the road from Tenorio to Arenal, was calling our name.
As was the case with many of the sodas we saw on our travels, this one was open air. You placed your order at the window and then waited while the kitchen prepared your meal and placed it, piping hot, on the counter.
Very excited for our traditional soda experience!
I ordered this blackberry smoothie milkshake situation – I don’t know what it was exactly, but I do know that it was absolutely delicious, refreshing, and hit the spot after a long, sweaty hike in the jungle.
While I waited for my lunch, I wandered around the grounds and checked out the rows of potted plants. It was such an absolutely delightful place to have lunch.
Each table had a selection of popular condiments. The Lizano salsa – that’s the brown bottle with the green and white label above – was my favorite. Felix, our guide in Monteverde, had liberally doused his lunch in Lizano when we ate with him at the park cafe in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and I decided to give it a try. YUM.
Food’s here! This is a pretty typical Costa Rican lunch plate; we ate this sort of thing rather a lot, and zero complaints here. I’d read, before the trip, that Costa Rican food was not especially exciting or anything to write home about – I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, it’s heavily based on the rice and beans combination, but always accompanied by fresh vegetables and delicious sauces. I loved the food.
Full of lunch, we tumbled back into our rental car and hit the road. Before we knew it, Arenal was rising from the fields, off in the distance. Are we driving into Pompeii?
Next week: hiking around an active volcano. Check in with me then!
A few weeks ago, my parents and their friends stopped by on a flying visit on their way back north after a trip to Hilton Head (lucky people). I planned some fun activities to entertain them while they rested their wheels before the next leg of their journey – starting with a hike at Great Falls in the morning. In the afternoon, Steve wanted to watch football but I suggested that those who would like another walk might check out Embassy Row. I used to work in the neighborhood and walked up and down Embassy Row on many a lunch break, and I’ve attended parties and open houses at several of the Embassies, but somehow never think to bring guests here. It’s just such a uniquely D.C. thing, I decided I was remiss. My mom, her friend, and Peanut chose to come along – so it ended up being a girls’ outing. We parked near Dupont Circle and wandered up Massachusetts Avenue. One of the first big Embassies spotted – the Greek Embassy! I’ve actually been in this one, for an open house during Embassy Days, waaaaaaaay back in 2009 (feels like a lifetime ago!).
The Indian Embassy!
Several of the Embassies feature statues of their most illustrious citizens either on Embassy grounds or nearby. The Gandhi statue is one of my favorites.
Another freedom fighter – Nelson Mandela, who raises a fist just outside the South African Embassy.
One of my favorite things about Embassy Row is how different each of the Embassy buildings are. I love to check out the architecture and grounds. The Japanese Embassy is a massive compound set back from the street.
Many of the Embassies were flying the Ukrankian flag alongside their own flags, showing support – it was so heartening to see.
I have walked Embassy Row more times than I can count, and I swear I have a different favorite building every time. This time, it might have been Cote d’Ivoire, with its modern architecture, big glass windows through which cultural artifacts were proudly displayed, and this:
Elephant statue! I love elephants – they’re my favorite land animal – so naturally I found this enchanting.
We made it our goal to walk all the way to the British Embassy, which is up near the U.S. Naval Observatory – I love a long walk and I always want to make it at least this far. Another one of my favorites – I love the modern building and the subtle nods to the U.K., like the lion, crown and unicorn in the brick.
Hello, Prime Minister Churchill! (Peanut thought he was giving the peace sign – I explained that no, it’s a V for victory.)
Such a fun walk – I couldn’t believe I’d never taken my mom up to Embassy Row before (the parents have driven past some of the Embassies at various points, but never actually spent time walking around and really looking). We wrapped up our afternoon with tea and cookies at Teaism, so basically, it was a perfect girls’ day out in D.C.
Wrapping up our time in Monteverde, Steve and I hit the road to head to our final destination in Costa Rica: the Arenal volcano region. Since it was a drive of a few hours, we looked around for something to break up the travel time, and I immediately hit upon visiting another of Costa Rica’s gorgeous national parks: Parque Nacional Volcan Tenorio, home of the spectacularly beautiful Rio Celeste. It was a hot day, and we waited in line in full sun for over two hours to get into the park – fair warning to aspiring travelers – but it was well worth it. Once we finally made it through the park gates, we struck off on a shady trail that climbed up, up, up, and then WAY down to this:
Catarata Rio Celeste pours into a milky, electric blue, pool surrounded by mosses and overhanging trees and spilling out onto a rocky streambed – absolutely enchanting.
Full disclosure: the hike to the waterfall was surprisingly tough. We are experienced hikers and I think we’re decently conditioned to the trail, but this one was actually quite difficult. There were quite a few long staircases – including the last one to get down to the waterfall (and then back up when you were done gorging on beauty) – and sections of sticky mud and uneven rocks and roots. And yet the trail was crowded with Sunday walkers hiking along in delicate sandals and seeming to have an easier time of it than we were. I wonder if it was the altitude? The maximum altitude of the park is over 6,500 feet, and I don’t know how high up this trail was – it did climb a fair amount. So I’m going with altitude. That’s definitely what it was.
I mean. Look at that.
According to my guidebook, local legend holds that when God finished painting the sky, He washed His paintbrushes in Rio Celeste. It definitely checks out.
The scientific explanation is that it’s a mineral in the water, composed of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen, that gives the water that milky, but bright, blue color. (I have to say I like the God’s paintbrushes explanation better…) Well, whatever the reason, it’s stunning.
The water continues cascading down the rocky streambed. It’s so beautiful it doesn’t even look real – but I assure you, it is.
After we’d stood and drunk in the view for awhile, we turned and began the agonizing climb back up the stairs (oof) and then had a decision to make. The trail continues on for miles through the forest, past multiple beautiful landmarks – we could keep following it, or we could turn back (having seen the main view we came for). The next stop on the trail was Laguna Azul, which was only a little more than half a kilometer onward. Now, how could we resist a blue lagoon? Clearly we had to keep going, at least to that point. The mud and uneven ground and climbing continued – if anything, the trail got more intense (but less crowded, so that was something). Was it worth it? See for yourself:
Laguna Azul was cool to see because it’s actually the point where the waters from upstream mingle with the first introduction of minerals, and you can actually see the water changing from clear to milky blue. It was hard to capture, because the camera angle was not good – but look at the far right of the picture above. See how the water is clear, and then it hits the minerals in the lagoon, mingles, and turns opaque? Amazingly cool to see.
Just super, super fascinating and beautiful.
From the blue lagoon, the water continues off downstream – headed for Catarata Rio Celeste, the beauty spot we’d just hiked up from.
I’d have loved to stay and explore more along this captivating trail, but we were hot, tired and hungry – and we had a long road ahead to Arenal. It was time to turn back, and catch one more glimpse from way above Catarata Rio Celeste as we moved on to our next stop. This was just a short interlude, but about as memorable as they come.
Next week: we eat some Costa Rican food! Pura vida!
On our last afternoon in Monteverde, I had a solo adventure planned – ziplining! Steve had no interest in joining me, but I didn’t want to leave the home of ziplining without putting on a harness and finding out for myself what it feels like to fly. At first, I was thinking of doing the Original Canopy Tour, which I had heard was the very first recreational ziplining experience anywhere in the world and is still in operation today – but after chatting with a few different people (including our dive buddies from Osa, Garry and Donna) it seemed like Selvatura Adventure Park, another option, was the most popular. So I booked it, and when the time came left Steve relaxing at the hotel and waited anxiously for a bus to pick me up and drive me to Selvatura.
I got to the park, went through an equipment fitting and briefing, and then hopped into another bus to be driven to the first zipline. Along with about twenty other people in my group, I watched two park employees perform a demonstration and before I knew it – it was time to climb the stairs and try it out for myself.
What have I gotten myself into?
There were thirteen (lucky!) ziplines in all, and the final line – pictured above – was a whopping one whole kilometer long. What a rush!
Clipped in and ready to go!
WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
What an experience! I loved it – did not find it at all scary; it was totally exhilarating and even meditative at times, as I soared over treetops and valley floors, hundreds of feet in the air at times, on the longest of the lines. Really the only thing that would have made the experience better would have been to share it with someone – especially on the longer ziplines, which require two people to zip together; being by myself, I had to go with a park employee and that was a bit weird. But it was 100% worth it, and I’m so glad I had this experience. I’ve always wanted to try ziplining, and in my younger days I would have just sat it out (and been disappointed) because Steve didn’t want to do it. These days, I am more sure of myself and more willing to go out and have an experience that I want, and I’m fine if it means I have to go it alone. (I’m glad that most of my adventures are shared experiences, though – Steve is the world’s best hiking partner and dive buddy.)
Zip on, Monteverde!
Have you ever been ziplining? Did you love it or were you terrified or both?
For our second day in Monteverde, I planned the adventures – starting with an early morning hike with breakfast, tea, and hopefully some more exciting avian sightings. The hike was guided, and arranged through our hotel, so we were in the lobby waiting at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
It was a small group – just us, one other couple (who were from San Francisco and adding a few days in Monteverde after a two-week Ayurveda retreat; we hit it off immediately) and the driver and guide. We drove a mile or so, still on hotel property, and then set out for our walk. Almost immediately, we heard a quetzal calling – but weren’t lucky enough to see one two days in a row. (We were still walking on air from the previous day’s sighting, though, so it was okay.) Our guide led us through the woods, pointing out the occasional bird, and soon we approached our breakfast destination: a platform built into the trees, sitting almost on top of the Continental Divide.
A few hotel employees had arrived ahead of us and set up a delicious looking spread, but in order to get to it we had to cross a hanging bridge. Not a big deal at all for me – I’m very comfortable with heights and had been hoping to get my feet onto one of Monteverde’s famous hanging bridges. But Steve has vertigo and a strong fear of heights, and he was not happy. He made the crossing, but realizing that it wasn’t necessary to get to the next part of the hike, he quickly grabbed his breakfast and hightailed it back to solid ground.
No such scruples for me! Roped in and ready to go.
I had way too much fun. Give me a harness and a helmet and I’m happy. (I’ve often suspected that I missed my calling and should have been a window washer.)
Breakfast! There were three ham sandwiches (for Steve and the other couple) and one turkey (for me – I don’t eat four legged friends). The ciabatta bread was delicious, and I loved the little sprig of rosemary tucked into the wrapper, a very nice touch. The breakfast included fruit kebabs, juice and fabulous Costa Rican coffee, too.
Also, how can you argue with breakfast in the treetops right on the Continental Divide? The mists were rolling in over the cloud forest and it was just beautiful. I felt a little bad about staying on the platform to eat while Steve was back on the trail, but I figured it would be okay, since how often do I get to have a meal a hundred feet above the ground?
Pretty happy!
(Thanks to the nice other couple for taking this picture of me. Why didn’t I take off my mask?)
While I ate breakfast, I checked out the flora around me in the treetops and watched the skies clear. What a beautiful spot!
So cool. After we’d all had our fill of the giddy air in the treetops, it was time to clip back in, cross the hanging bridge, and continue on our way. (Steve had a long list of the birds he’d seen while he waited on solid ground.)
The next brief stopover (for water and restroom) was this little hideaway, tucked into the woods. We looked at an exhibit about the insect life, hydrated, and moved on.
Our ultimate destination was a garden, tucked away in an out-of-the-way corner of the hotel property. It was packed full of flowers, herbs, and enchanting little corners. The hotel staff had set up a table with homegrown herbal teas for us, and we were treated to a crash course in the benefits of each herb (all of which I have now forgotten, but it sure did taste amazing).
After tea, we were turned loose to explore the garden. I couldn’t get enough of the flowers. Considering the wintery landscape we’d escaped back in D.C., this was paradise indeed.
I could have stayed and taken in these flowers for ages, but we had to move on eventually – we had more stops to make. Our guide explained that if we drove a little further into the countryside, we could possibly see the bellbird – another iconic Costa Rican species, and one that Steve and I had not spotted on our treks through Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve or Reserva Curi-Cancha the day before. We all agreed eagerly, and after a bumpy car ride (at one point, I grabbed the side handle in order to scoot away from the other woman on the tour – we were crammed together in the backseat and I didn’t know her well, so wasn’t that keen on snuggling – and our guide got the impression that I was scared of the road and advised, “We call it a Costa Rican car massage. Just sit back and let it happen to you.” LOL!) we arrived at the spot where our guide thought we may see a bellbird.
Bellbird check! I wish I could show you a video – this bird really did sound like a ringing bell. We hiked a little ways along the road into the countryside and it sounded like bells were ringing all around us. Just magical.
Ended the morning at a beautiful overlook, drinking in the sight of rolling hills and the Pacific Ocean rolling into the Gulf of Nicoya. Gorgeous!
Next week: my afternoon’s activity involved a little more adrenaline…
When Steve booked a full day with Felix, our guide to the best of Monteverde, we were given a list of different options for activities to do. We knew we wanted to hit Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and we briefly considered doing something non-hiking and non-birding in the afternoon, just to mix it up. But because hikers gotta hike, and birders gotta bird, we dismissed that idea pretty quickly. The most appealing afternoon activity was, predictably, another hike with plenty of bird-spotting, this time in Reserva Curi-Cancha, another of Monteverde’s best spots.
Curi-Cancha had more open spaces than Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which was mainly wooded trails. There were plenty of wooded trails in Curi-Cancha as well, of course, but mixed in were some beautiful vistas.
Masked tityra! A very cool find.
Even the trails were a bit wider and more open at Curi-Cancha than they had been at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. (That’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing – both parks were equally beautiful. Just an observation.)
Leaf-cutter ants! These guys are so adorable and hardworking. They’re my favorite ants by far – definitely better than the ones that come investigate the anklebiters’ trails of snack detritus.
The hummingbirds were a highlight of Curi-Cancha – like at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, they were everywhere. Here we also had the extreme treat of seeing two hummingbirds in their nests! The nests were about the size of a teacup – darling. And beautiful.
Purple throated mountain glen in its nest!
Another treat at Curi-Cancha – spider monkeys! They were hard to miss – very, very noisy and exuberant, just like the white-faced capuchins in Osa. Seeing monkeys in the wild, though, is just really something special.
I didn’t get any really spectacular pictures, because they were all moving so fast, and they were so high up in the trees. But just seeing them was incredibly cool!
What a red-letter day this was! Steve and I were so grateful to Felix for sharing his favorite spots with us. We loved learning from his expertise on the birds of Monteverde, and even more we loved hearing about his personal experiences and life growing up in Costa Rica. Definitely a day that we will remember forever.
Next week: a different kind of Costa Rican forest experience – breakfast in the treetops! – and another of Costa Rica’s legendary birds.
I love visiting indie bookstores and will try to duck into one (and buy a book – or several!) anytime I am in a new city, or even familiar stomping grounds like my much loved previous neighborhood of Old Town Alexandria. Of course, as a reader and a traveler and a lover of bookshops, I have a running list in my head of famous indies I’d like to get to someday – Powell’s in Portland; Tattered Covers in Denver; the Mysterious Bookshop in NYC, and so on. And Parnassus Books, the famous Nashville indie founded by Ann Patchett, was definitely on that list. So when my team at work decided on Nashville for one of our periodic weeklong offsite meetings, my first order of business was to scan the schedule and figure out when I could squeeze in a visit to Parnassus. Monday afternoon ended up working out the best – I arrived in Nashville on an early flight, put in some time working at our downtown corporate office, and then, with a couple of hours left before the rest of my teammates arrived and we reunited for a late dinner, grabbed an Uber down to Parnassus.
I was surprised to find the legendary bookshop a nondescript storefront at the cusp of the suburbs – all the more magical, then, knowing that there were treasures inside.
First view when you walk into the store – did I do a little dance? Yes, yes I did. I’d left myself a good hour and a half for browsing; this was my one planned solo activity of the week. Cue excitement.
They had two shelves dedicated to bookseller recommendations and books “picked and penned by Patchett.” Now that I am looking at this picture, I’m really regretting not picking up one of those gorgeous hardcover editions of Bel Canto. Well, next time.
The children’s section was in the back, suitably reached through this cute little door with miniature Grecian columns – a playful nod to the name of the bookstore. There were a few little kids who gleefully ran under the portico as I browsed. Adorable… I wished I had my own anklebiters with me, because they’d have loved it.
Suitably for Nashville, they also had a big and well curated music section. Not sure if it was the twinkle lights, the star lanterns, or the general vibe, but the whole place seemed to sparkle.
Now, to what I know you all want to know: what did I buy? Enough that I needed this cute tote bag to carry it all. Don’t mind if I do. Here’s (most of) the haul:
A pretty good haul indeed, don’t you agree? After making sure I took in every shelf in the fiction, poetry and children’s sections, I picked up:
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor – I’ve already read this and had my eye on collecting the Virago editions of Taylor’s books, but I couldn’t resist this NYRB Classics edition (I’m starting to build up quite a collection of those).
The Windsor Knot, by S.J. Bennett – This mystery starring a sleuthing Queen Elizabeth caught my eye awhile ago; it looks cute, and I was still feeling a little weepy about the Queen.
Theater Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild – Another one I’ve had my eye on for awhile. Kathleen Kelly recommends “the shoe books” and we all know Kathleen Kelly is never wrong. (Yes, I know she’s not real. Don’t harsh my mellow.)
How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons), by Barbara Kingsolver – I had no idea Kingsolver wrote poetry! After flipping through this at the poetry shelf and reading a few selections, I decided I definitely needed it for my own.
Unlock Your Storybook Heart and Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things, both by Amanda Lovelace – Every time I go into my favorite indie, Old Town Books, I find myself browsing Lovelace’s poetry. It was time to finally pick some up for my shelf. Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is not pictured above because I’ve already finished it and now I can’t find it. It was gorgeous; highly recommend.
Still Life, by Sarah Winman – This just caught my eye with its striking cover; I don’t know much about it other than that it’s about World War II and art and portions of it take place in Italy during and after the war. Historical fiction isn’t my usual jam, but this one sounds good!
What fun to visit Parnassus and treat myself to more than an hour of book shopping! I don’t think I’ve gone to a bookstore and just puttered around for a long time in ages – probably not since COVID. It felt good. And whet my appetite for more bookshop visits to come.
After a few warm, blissful and adventurous days in Osa, it was time to see a different ecosystem and a different part of Costa Rica – up north to the mountains of Monteverde, and Costa Rica’s famous cloud forests. After a very bumpy ride (literally bumpy, over rough dirt roads studded with rocks – an adventure!) we arrived at our hotel in Monteverde looking forward to a fun adventure the next day.
Steve had booked a private guide to take us through Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and Reserva Curi-Cancha.
Ready to spot some birds!
Our guide, Felix, asked us about our goals for the day. We told him we were avid birders and would be excited to see as many birds as we could, but that we were especially keen – like everyone – to see the resplendent quetzal (not the national bird of Costa Rica, but one of the most famous avian residents of the country).
Hiring a private guide was well worth it – can’t recommend highly enough. Felix knew the cloud forest like the back of his hand, and was able to point out more birds than we could have imagined in our wildest dreams. By way of just a few highlights…
I can’t remember exactly what these two were (have it written down somewhere). I think of them as Yellow and Brown Fluffball and Some Kind of Dove.
This is a black-faced solitaire – this bird was one of Steve’s favorites of the entire trip. It had an absolutely beautiful, haunting song.
Lesson’s mot-mot. This picture does it no justice – the colors were so vibrant.
Costa Rica has dozens of species of hummingbirds. We saw them every day, and it never got old – and never got boring to try to identify the different species. This one is a coppery-headed emerald hummingbird, a species that is endemic to Costa Rica. I couldn’t get over the colors of its feathers – like a little jewel.
We saw the hummingbirds all over the park, but the park also had a hummingbird garden – a little courtyard with multiple hummingbird feeders scattered around. There were at least five different species of hummingbirds (probably more) zooming around. SO cool.
Felix showed us the highlights of the park on a macro – waterfalls! – and micro – cool tree fungus! – scale. And he pointed out coffee beans (far right, above) which was very cool to see, as fans of good coffee.
All right, all right. I know what you want to know: did we see the quetzal? Early in our hike around the park, Felix stopped short and called our attention to a sound off to our right – the quetzal’s call! We scurried from path to path (very grateful that Felix knew the park so well, because we would have been hopelessly lost) trying to figure out where the quetzal might be. At one point, after the call seemed to have moved from our right to left, Felix groaned, “That quetzal is playing with us.” Finally, we spotted:
The quetzal was a female. I was bowled over by how beautiful this bird was – the striking black and white tail feathers, the shimmering green wings, the flash of red belly, and the beautiful black eyes, so gorgeous. We gazed at her through Felix’s scope, taking it in turns to look through the viewfinder and jump up and down.
As exciting as it was to see the female quetzal – and we assured Felix that we were happy with her – he assured us that the male was even more spectacular, and we kept looking for him. (At one point we thought this female might be joined by a male we heard calling nearby, but apparently he already had a girlfriend.) We continued dashing around looking for a male quetzal and finally…
A male quetzal! Or at least, a male quetzal’s butt. We set up the scope and patiently waited for him to shift position.
Getting there…
There we go! That’s the glamour shot we were waiting for. Have you ever seen a bird like this?! I was staggered.
We actually saw a second male quetzal later in the day – lucky, lucky indeed! Everything that we found so spectacular about the female quetzal was dialed up to eleven in the male.
What a morning! And this was just the first half of our day – we headed off to grab lunch with Felix (traditional Costa Rican plates at the park cafe, so delicious) and then off to our afternoon destination, walking on air after our encounters with the famous resplendant quetzals.
When we planned our Costa Rica trip, I selected three different areas of the country to visit, with three completely different ecosystems. As we wound down our time in the tropical-warm Osa Peninsula, Steve and I were excited to experience a new part of Costa Rica, with new flora and fauna to explore, but we would miss the gorgeous and vibrant Osa. Our boat was coming to pick us up at 11:00 a.m. to take us to the airport, where we would pick up a rental car and drive up to Monteverde for the next leg of our trip, but we had time for a goodbye walk before we left. I was determined to capture as many images of the stunning tropical flowers as I could.
All these vibrant colors! Orange, purple, red, pink! I couldn’t get enough. We boarded our boat to the airport already scheming up a return trip to Osa – I mean, wouldn’t you?
After our morning at Corcovado National Park was packed so full of highlights and life memories – seeing scarlet macaws and a SLOTH! (very high up in a tree but it still counted), watching a massive American crocodile swim lazily around the bay where we’d had a wet landing just hours earlier, and swimming in a gorgeous waterfall – it seemed hard to believe that the day could get better. But as our boat motored up to the beach to pick us up, Steve, scanning the horizon, said: “I see a spout!” We all darted toward the water and sure enough – way out at see, it appeared – we could just barely see a whale spouting at the surface. There was a mad rush to the boat.
It didn’t take us long to catch up to the whales – and we quickly confirmed that there were actually three of them: a mother, baby, and escort. (Worth noting: we did cut the engine and stay a responsible distance away from them. I have a zoom lens.)
The escort was in a very protective mood, and kept himself positioned firmly between our boat and the mom and baby. Baby, by contrast, was feeling very energetic – we saw a few adorable breaches! (Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of any of them – next time.)
There was waving and pec slapping, too. The cutest.
^My favorite picture from the day!
At one point, the escort decided to come over and have a better look at us. We bobbed like a cork in the water while he swam around the boat, checking us out – he was really curious. I’ve never had a whale get so close before!
So crazy! It’s always an amazing experience when one of these spectacular creatures decides to approach you and engage.
The whales made a sounding dive, which was our cue to be on our way – back to the hotel, and lunch, and an afternoon of enjoying Osa before moving on to our next stop the following day. It was a beautiful send-off.
No matter how many times I see whales in the wild, it’s never anything less than absolutely magical.
What is your favorite animal? Have you ever seen them in the wild?
covered in flour 