Day 4 - Intro to Baldi

Slept in today until 5:45am. Anna and I took a walk this morning and got back to the hotel room around 7am. Kids were still sleeping. Figured they had enough rest for the night, so they were rustled out of bed and scurried to the morning trough for some Costa Rican vittels.

After breakfast we proceeded to go into La Fortuna to the Super Christian #4. The #4 was a nice little supermarket right on the outskirts of town. We picked up some well depleted supplies and headed down the road.

Baldi – Wow….This resort was amazing. Somehow we eluded security at the front entrance because we strolled in as if we owned the place. This was another place like Springs Resort and Spa. Anna thought “The Bachelor” was filmed here. I can see why. This place had natural gardens that were to die for. Pools were stacked one after another, each on seeming more luxurious than the next. Some had wet bars in the center, others had magnificent cascading waterfalls as their centerpiece. In the middle of the property there was a huge helipad for incoming guests. We walked the grounds for about 30-40 minutes before leaving and heading further south.

After Baldi, we drove to the south side of La Fortuna and had lunch at a small soda. We of course couldn’t speak Spanish and no one there admitted to speaking English, so we made due. We knew the word for chicken was “pollo” and salad was “ensalada”. The rest was just a crap shoot. Ten minutes later we received a meal that any grandma would make. Rice, beans, chicken leg and a wonderful salad. We ate as we watched the local school kids pass by going home for lunch.

Day 3 - Springs Resort & Animal Sanctuary

Somehow we Schiffers just get lucky every now and then. We got a individualized tour of an animal sanctuary on the grounds of the Springs Resort. Olivia and Thomas feed some spider monkeys and we were able to watch up close the feeding of about 20 felines of all types.

The above is a howler monkey. One of the old fellows, Allan our guide told us. They had four in total in the cages.

The above is a Puma. Looks small in the picture, but weighs in at 140lbs. Up close this guy was a bit intimidating. Allan says he is gentle. I'll take his word for it.

This cute little poision dart frog (which has enough poison to kill ten grown men) is called a blue jean dart frog. If you are able to zoom in, you can tell by the texture and color on his legs and feet.

This carnivous little feline is an ocelot. Apparently they are very common here in Costa Rica. For such a small cat, it has a tremendously loud and low growl. MEOWWW...

Day 3 - Heading out to Springs Resort and Spa

Before venturing out for the day, we were welcomed by a troop of about 15 -20 Howler monkeys this morning meandering amongst the trees while we finished breakfast. It was truly one of those National Geographic moments. It is the biodiversity this country has and how "in it" were are here at Arenal.

After a quick 45 minute trek down the "Old Lava Flow Trail" with Thomas this morning, we were on our way to Springs Resort and Spa - "Mama's Destination Vacation". It was about 25 minutes drive from Arenal and the drive was breath taking once we got off the main road. One would never guess that such a resort is nestled in the middle of nowhere.


Springs Resort is a luxury hotel and spa with 25 hot spring feed pools. Each pool is of a different temperature, size, and has a different makeup of minerals in the water. The pools ranged from olympic size to jacuzzi size. They were spread all around the property. Our favorite would have to be the one with wet bar. and panoramic view of Arenal itself. After swimming for about a hour, Arenal decided to come out and play. We finally saw the top of the volcano. Steam rose from its tip and quickly blended into the clouds. Fortunately, the sight was of the complete volcano lasted about an hour only to dissappear again into the clouds.

Day 3 - Morning at Arenal Observatory Lodge

WOD (Word of the Day): Pinas = Pineapple

Woke up at around 4:45am. Kids were still out like a light. Walked onto our back patio hoping the clouds may have been better this morning in honoring us with a view of the very top of the volcano. Will have to try again tomorrow.

Decided to start the day off right with a little 5K. Ran most of it. Walked part of it. There is simply just so much nature to see you feel like you are missing something if you rush. I ran to the sounds of what seemed like an orchestral performance of birds, low raspy groans of howler monkeys, and the sounds of water near the streams.

The air here at this altitude by the lodge is clean. It smells almost sweet due to the aromas of all the various blossoms that can be found in ever eyeshot. This place is protected and it shows. I was told yesterday by our guide Eduardo that 25% of this country is dedicated to National Parks alone. I will have to say from what I have seen of this place (not taking San Jose into account) the country is pretty clean. The roadsides aren’t cluttered with trash. Even in the little towns the sidewalks are clean. There may be poverty here, but there is definitely pride in it resources.

Now, about those pineapples. Sorry, those Pinas. They are absolutely delicious. The pineapples taste a lot sweeter and juicer here. Anna says they have no acidic taste. You can literally eat one whole and want another. This is Thomas' favorite fruit and he was sure to get a plateful of them this morning to start his engines.

Day 2 - La Fortuna - Afternoon

We decided to let the kids swim for about a hour before take a little trip in town.

We debated leaving the resort today due to the 9km drive back to the main road. It's not bad, just bumpy. Adventure prevailed and we were off at around 1:3opm down the mountain.


La Fortuna is a small town. It seems to be epicenter of all culinary cuisines, entertainment and shops of all flavors within 50 miles. Anna took a picture of a local merchant selling his wares out of the back of his truck. We had to take a picture. The kids entered a wood shop filled with all kinds of beautiful wood carving. Thomas and Olivia giggled quite a while at some of the statues. As you can tell Thomas really took a fondnest to his statue.

It was getting to be around 5pm, so we decided to head back up to the lodge before it got dark. Took a slight break in the room as the kids wrote in their journals. Before we called it a night, the kids and I ventured out one last time in the dark of the night. We outfitted ourselves with Petzls and jackets and headed out the door. Olivia ran across a stick bug which Thomas had to touch. As it crawled onto his hand, it proceeded up his arm. Thomas' reaction was not as quick as the stick bugs. It managed to crawl on his back and slowly journeyed onto Thomas's head. Since Thomas was wearing a hooded jacket he was unaware and kept asking Olivia and I where it was. We just laughed. Then the stick bug decided to get on HIS FACE..IN DA FACE. IN...DA...FACE. I wish I could have gotten a picture.

Day 2 - Arenal Observatory Lodge - Morning

Word of the Day: "Catarata" = Waterfall

Got up around 6am this morning and the sun was beaming. And I mean beaming. Since the sun sets in the evenings around 5:45pm it gets light rather early. At 7am it seems as it is noon time.

We waited for breakfast to open at 7am and were the first once at the feast today. Tried some interesting juices. They were really good. Had some breakfast sausages the size of Nathans dogs. I think I may have had a couple too many.

After breakfast we went for a guided tour around the volcano at 8:30am. Green. Green. Green. Sprinkle in some reds, yellows, blues, pinks and every other color. Simply amazing. The vegetation is so dense and beautiful. It is truely something to put on your bucket list. Saw an Eyelash Viper about 10 inches long. I was told by the guide that one byte was enough to kill you within 15 minutes. Caught a glimpse of a howler monkey, some majestic looking hawk, a turkey of all things, and dozens of bird species. Our walk to us to a (catarata) waterfall in which the kids took a moment to cool off in its pool. The water was crystal clear. After a refreshing break we ventured on across the base of the volcano along some beautiful pasture land. The guide, Eduardo, continued to point out local flora and fauna along the way. We ended the walk with a tractor ride. It took us through a eucalyptus forest. The trees looked like a 80 foot tall pastel painted poles. Never seen any tree like it before. Didn't see any Koalas though. Must have been off season.

Day 1 - We Finally Made It!!!

It has been a long time coming, but we finally made it. Awoke to the sounds of a bird that little Thomas describes as fireworks this morning.

We got up early yesterday morning and were shuttled with our 200 pounds of provisions by Oma and Opa to the airport. Once we arrived we quickly handed over the bags to the next pack mule and grabbed our tickets. Now with a rush of excitement we hunted down the TSA officer at security and threaten her with a large smile. Luckily she proceeded to let us through. The kids were so giddy. We found a spot to hunker down for the next two hours until the plane was to wisk us away to the promised land. We boarded only to find the plan ride to be quick and uneventful.

Arrived at San Jose Airport under a blanket of bland greyish clouds. Slowly rolled up to the gate and final put the DC-10 in park. It seemed to take forever to get out of that blasted tin can, but finally everyone started moving. Everyone was smiling from head to toe. All we needed to deal with now was immigration and that would be quick. So we thought. As we descended down the escalator, our mouths dropped opened to see a panoramic view of what seemed to be a 50,000 sq. ft. room filled with 1000 people. We were to be at the very very end. This was going to take a while. I went back up the escalator and grab two coffees and a water. When I got back to Anna and the kids, the line looked the same. It didn't move. We both looked at each other and told the kids it would be a while. Just then an immigration officer called out to me and pointed me in the direction of a hallway that had no one in it. To our surprise it took us to a immigation both that quickly put us to position #2 in line. I can only equated it to beauty of my wife and children that must have mesmorized the officer. We looked back at the 998 people and just thought, "WOW!". How the heck did this just happen? Good for us, bad for them.

On to the car rental. Got a Toyota RAV4. Nice ride. GPS works. Full tank. We're off to Arenal!!!

We drive up 40 minutes on CA1 onto San Ramon. We stop at Scotia Banco to trade in mula. Exchange rate is 501 to $1. At the airport it was 442 to $1. What a service charge! I'm in the wrong business. After we exchange our life's savings of $320, we head across the street to the local Soda (restaurant) and have our first official Costa Rican meal. MMM....Delicious. The Imperial beer(s) wasn't too bad either. Did I mention, that the beer was good?

It's now around 5pm local time. Back in the car and away we go. Roads we rather good. I would have thought otherwise by what I heard from everyone. We drove for a hour and it started to get dark. Stopped somewhere at a MalAlpis (Grocery store) for some toiletries, water, and some Imperial beer. I did say the beer was good earlier, right. It was getting dark now. The drive took an additional two hours, but we finally arrived a the Arenal Observatory Lodge in the dark of night. We checked in, parked the car, and went to bed.