This is a port we have been to multiple times. However, we have not explored it all! Today we visited the active volcano, Paos and the La Paz waterfalls. Our day started out with a little bit of confusion at the port because our ship arrived 2 hours earlier than expected so we all tried to wrangle up 45 people to get onto the tour earlier. Our ride to the volcano was no less than two hours. But, it all worked out and we were on our way from the balmy 80 degree temps down to to the mid 40’s. The elevation at the volcano was 8,000 feet. This is one of the ports we’ve been looking forward to since we have never seen an active volcano.
Arriving at Puntarenas we found that it is a port that’s aptly named, “sand point” or “sandy point”, as it’s a sliver of land and beach that stretches into the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica. It’s 4,350 sq miles and it’s long and narrow.
Click on this link to view the mini eruption on YouTube. Paos Volcano
There are many rainforests and what I call mosquito farms so we used some insect repellent just in case. Mosquitos love me! We also wore long pants and I carried a long sleeve jacket. It turned out we needed that jacket. The air temperature dropped significantly after we arrived almost 3 hours later. The traffic was horrendous. We left at 9:30 am and arrived a little after noon. We were provided a short safety video and given safety helmets. Remember, it’s a an active volcano. To keep our groups together, we had color coded hats.
The volcano was awe inspiring and beautiful. It has erupted 40 times since 1828, including April 2017 when visitors and residents were evacuated and it closed for 17 months. The volcano erupted briefly twice in September 2019. We saw some very small eruptions. A couple of pictures on here. I’ll post a video with this blog on the facebook page. It was quite impressive. There are 4 shelters inside the national park in various areas just in case an eruption does happen, people have places to go. Hey, we have our helmets too!
Costa Rica is known for its rainforests and conservancy efforts, which is wonderful since 5% of the world’s species find a home here in this small country, that’s a lot of biodiversity. We were able to walk through some very beautiful flowers and lots of greenery that fit the area. The advertisements said we would see some hummingbirds but it must have been the wrong time of day and this was not the area where the sloths and macaws hang out. We were happy to have seen hem on our last trip. However, we were able to safely visit the pumas and jaguars. They were beautiful cats! they were behind glass or in cages so we were able to watch from a distance.
Our other visits before lunch were to see the monkeys. They too were pretty cute. There are so many species of wildlife in this country. Was disappointed we didn’t see any birds though.
Lunch was unexpected. It wasn’t part of our tour, that we knew of. I decided against the traditional Costa Rican cuisine this time and had pizza and fruit. It was good to me! Chuck had some Costa Rican chicken but he said it didn’t taste any different. What was most interesting was we paid $5.00 for a Coke Zero. Now, that’s highway robbery! Who charges that much for a soda? Those that know you cant get them anywhere else! UUGGHH! Yes, I bought it.
Now the fun part, finding those waterfalls. We walked or more like trekked close to 2 miles down through the jungle of waterfalls and beautiful greenery. It got treacherous for some older folks at various parts but we all made it and now have another beautiful experience behind us. The difficult part was trying not to compare it to Iguazu falls!
The one on the right is a capuchin. I couldn’t find the name of the funny one.
The La Paz Waterfalls Park comprises of 70 acres of land including approximately 40 acres of cloud and rainforest and 30 acres of pastureland cut by a previous owner. The forest area is currently protected under Private Animal Sanctuary Status. There are 2.2 miles of hiking trains in and around the waterfalls and animal sanctuaries. We didn’t even see 1/2 of it. Definitely a place we want to return to.
Our experience was wonderful again. There were some hiccups along the way due to traffic and miscommunication with the tour guides causing our 5 hour tour to be 10 hours, but we made it back in time to board the ship with 30 minutes to spare. I call that a win. I’m sure we will sleep good tonight and put the negative parts of the experience behind us and move on to the next adventure in Guatemala.
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 