Hi, friends! I’m back from my unplanned hiatus! The Spring semester was incredibly busy and stressful and I could not be happier that it had come to a close.
As soon as school ended in May, I embarked on a series of trips (involving three countries) within a span of a month. One of the first of which was an incredibly memorable 10-day vacation in Central America’s Costa Rica with my friends and roommates Erika (who is a bonafide Costa Rican) and Apeksha.
Because we went to quite a few places, I’m going to write about each place in separate posts and in no particular order.
Mid-way through our Costa Rican trip, we made a stop at Alajuela province where we were able to see a coffee plantation. The country is known to be among the best coffee producers in the world. Because of this, we made it a point to purchase some super yummy chocolate-covered coffee beans. I typically don’t take caffeine because it makes me dizzy but I found myself unable to resist devouring them. And yes, I got dizzy
At some point, Erika’s mom, the lovely Begoña, also brought us to a restaurant called “Freddo Fresas.” There, we tried what she says are some of the best strawberry smoothies and tortilla alineada.
Strawberries are one of the Alajuela province’s main exports. Apeksha and I got our first taste of them through these mouth-watering smoothies. Apeksha, Erika and Begoña ordered plain strawberry smoothies (pictured on the right) while I tried the strawberry milkshake (on the left). After sipping some of the plain version, I decided that both were refreshing. However, I concluded that I favored the plain one a little more.
The tortilla alineada was served hot with a delicious, creamy cheese dip. It was ridiculously good and looking at this photo makes me salivate every time.
Later that day, we drove over to La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park, which is a 70-acre eco-park which features attractions like beautiful waterfalls and fauna such as toucans, sloths, spider and white-faced monkeys, hummingbirds, various species of frogs, snakes, jaguars and many, many more! Check out their website for the complete list of attractions.
The cost of entrance for foreign tourists is around 50 USD which seems rather price-y at first, but I can safely say it was definitely worth it. The place is ideal for people looking to see and (in some cases) interact with critters, walk (gotta get those steps in!) and of course, take pictures!
Because it often rains heavily in the area, visitors are advised to bring or purchase rain jackets or ponchos as protection.
Despite the constant and unforgiving downpour that day, we had no trouble having fun. With our pants and shoes sopping wet, we sang cheesy pop hits as we hiked the trails and posed for even cheesier pictures like this.
After some hiking, we finally came across the La Paz Waterfalls, widely-regarded as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica! The park offers visitors various breathtaking views of the waterfalls which makes it perfect for photo opportunities!
Because it was raining too hard, I had to put my camera away, and so some of the pictures in this post were taken with Apeksha’s phone camera.
When the rain started getting a little less rough, we pulled down the hoodies from our ponchos and (naturally) took photos by the waterfalls!
One of my favorite parts about the nature park was being able to observe different kinds of animals − with many of the smaller, safer ones up close! Here’s a photo of a vibrant tree frog which reminded me of the song number from an episode of The Emperor’s New School. My photography skills aren’t that great yet so forgive the (lack of) focus on its eyes. :S
Here’s another sort of leaf frog from the Frog exhibit. This honestly frightened me at the time because it didn’t look like much of a frog to me.
Unfortunately, I’m not too sure of the name but if any of you know it, please let me know!
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to see many hummingbirds before this trip, let alone up close. Even though I was actually pretty scared, I’m glad I was able to suck it up. I was able to take some non-blurry photos of them while they were perched on an artificial flower.
There were also some jaguars of varying ages that visitors can observe through safety glass. My friends and I felt sad when we saw the larger jungle cat pacing back and forth almost in an agitated manner. I visited the park’s website and learned that they had taken the animals in when the center that previously housed them had closed.
Apparently, they didn’t find the animals fit to be released back into the wild (due to old age, injuries and overexposure to humans). However, they state that they will one day “seek to release the offspring…into protected zones” if safe training programs are developed. Jaguars are among the list of mammals in danger of extinction. The Encyclopedia of Life classifies it as “Near Threatened.”
Did I really go to Costa Rica if I didn’t take a picture with a toucan?! A couple of park rangers kindly offered to take pictures of us with the infamous birds. Honestly, I’m actually pretty happy with the result above!
I see the fear in poor Apeksha’s eyes lol.
According to their website, the park is home to over 4,000 butterflies that fly about freely. As we walked around, we got a glimpse of what they call their “on site laboratory.” This was apparently a breeding ground for more than 25 butterfly species in the country!
The ladies working at the park invited us to take pictures with this lovely butterfly. One of them told us that if we wanted to, she could place them on our hands, heads, or faces. Although I was absolutely frightened, I wanted to give it a go. And honestly, it wasn’t so bad! You just feel a little tickle on your skin and then you get used to it. Plus, the pictures were super cute. ❤️
Sadly, I wasn’t able to take any nice pictures of and with any sloths during my trip to Costa Rica. Access to their little area was restricted and taking higher-quality photos with my DSLR was difficult because of the wire mesh that stood between me and them. If you scroll through my travel highlights on Instagram, you’ll see a short clip that I took of them!
If you are visiting Costa Rica, I 100% recommend you stop at La Paz Waterfall Gardens. There is simply so much to see – animals, plants, and waterfalls – all in one place!
Ferna’s interests include blogging, reading and learning all things digital media! She hopes to soon become a half-decent baker.
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