Selva Verde Lodge
Thursday 27 April. Another glorious day in Arenal... I could feel the sun filter through my (thin) curtains as of 6.30am, warming up my face. I soon got up and managed to do all my hand washing and it had all dried up by the time my driver came to pick me up at 9am ! :)
I had grown attached to the place, strangely enough. The staff had been so nice and treated me like family (Costa Rican are hugely welcoming, it has to be said... every time they do you a favour it´s like ´mucho gusto´ - it was a pleasure). I don´t know if it´s because they all took pity on me because I was the only guest all alone (same old....) but it was kind of sweet.
It took about 2h30 to Sarapiqui, my last stop. Again, beautiful countryside, more rivers, more horses in the fields, more amazing flowers by the road... new ones than I´d never seen before (but had no time to take photos for one reason or another). I remain astounded by the diversity of colours in this country. I know I say it most days but it is a fact you can never get away from -- nor would want to.
Selva Verde Lodge (Green Jungle Lodge) lived up to its name ! It does feel like a jungle here, and I have already spotted two huge iguanas by the riverside (took great close ups), but no toucans by the pool (first thing I checked !!!). I bumped into a guide I´d met in Savegre who gave me some pointers of where to go to get the best photos, he also said he´d try and find me if he spots some. Very nice of him. I told him that CR was a country full of incredibly kind and warm people and he said it was a great compliment since I had visited so many countries, but it´s true... I´ve never felt so safe in my life. They are always beaming and trying to keep you happy.
No sooner had I checked in that I asked about excursions for this afternoon. I wanted to canoe down the river but you needed a minimum of two people, and since I could not clone myself, it fell through. Again, though, it was a blessing in disguise as I could enjoy a pleasant boat cruise instead, in the shade throughout and was able to take decent photos and spread all my camera gear on the seats -- something that could not have worked in a canoe ! It was SO hot that I also can´t help but think that I would have had a sun stroke in a canoe as I didn´t take a hat with me (spending most of my time in the rain forests it seemed somewhat... ironic).
The river was a muddy brown and we didn´t spot as much as I´d have liked but I guess it´s because we set off at 1.30pm when (I´d assume) most birds would be having their siesta. But I guess if you leave it too late then you´ll be plagued by the mossies as of 4pm and since my legs already look pretty dire, it made sense to remain sensible. We did see 2 toucans, 5 iguanas, 1 big croc, egrets and snake birds drying their wings on dead branches as they do.... but nothing major. I cannot even say the scenery was stunning... not the best I´d seen so far anyway.
Tomorrow I was due to do my work shop with Greg but he´s been asked to speak a conference so we´ve put off our photo work shop by one day. I´ll go on a guided walk in the morning and am still not sure what to do in the afternoon.... I have noticed that they can organise tours to the nearest sky lines which sounds tempting !!! Many tourists all asked themselves the same question - this is such an amazing way of viewing the world, why can´t all countries build similar zip lines near their natural treasures? I mean, something similar over Banff in the Rockies would also look breath taking, surely... It can be done quite discreetly. In CR they minimised damage to the rain forests by dropping all the material with helicopters, this way they chopped down very few trees as there was no need for roads and trucks.
I have now spent 3 hours on line, trying to keep my journals up to date and I was not supposed to be on more than 15mns (there is only 1 PC for 60 guests) but thankfully no one has come to bother me yet... it´s now 7pm and dinner stops at 8pm so I guess I´m going to sign off.
I realise this is not my most exciting post but hey, you cannot win every day. I cannot believe that London is already beckoning me.... 48 hours away now, eeeek.... thank God the colours of Spring are starting to bloom over there too, otherwise it´d have been too big a shock to my system.
After my 1st week (when my moral hit rock bottom that rainy morning) I did wonder if two weeks would be too much (only because solitude can feel pretty heavy at times) but now I´m back in the swing and days are glorious, so long as I am visually stimulated, I am happy... enough. It still would be more fun having you guys with me ! (have I dropped enough hints by now???) I thank God for technology though because with the time difference, even phone calls would be difficult....
Hasta manana... (that´s ´see you tomorrow´ but I think most of you had gathered that, right?). And apologies if my posts look so plain but I am unable to edit my posts on my Blog from this lodge, I keep getting error messages. Bummer...
Thursday 27 April. Another glorious day in Arenal... I could feel the sun filter through my (thin) curtains as of 6.30am, warming up my face. I soon got up and managed to do all my hand washing and it had all dried up by the time my driver came to pick me up at 9am ! :)
I had grown attached to the place, strangely enough. The staff had been so nice and treated me like family (Costa Rican are hugely welcoming, it has to be said... every time they do you a favour it´s like ´mucho gusto´ - it was a pleasure). I don´t know if it´s because they all took pity on me because I was the only guest all alone (same old....) but it was kind of sweet.
It took about 2h30 to Sarapiqui, my last stop. Again, beautiful countryside, more rivers, more horses in the fields, more amazing flowers by the road... new ones than I´d never seen before (but had no time to take photos for one reason or another). I remain astounded by the diversity of colours in this country. I know I say it most days but it is a fact you can never get away from -- nor would want to.
Selva Verde Lodge (Green Jungle Lodge) lived up to its name ! It does feel like a jungle here, and I have already spotted two huge iguanas by the riverside (took great close ups), but no toucans by the pool (first thing I checked !!!). I bumped into a guide I´d met in Savegre who gave me some pointers of where to go to get the best photos, he also said he´d try and find me if he spots some. Very nice of him. I told him that CR was a country full of incredibly kind and warm people and he said it was a great compliment since I had visited so many countries, but it´s true... I´ve never felt so safe in my life. They are always beaming and trying to keep you happy.
No sooner had I checked in that I asked about excursions for this afternoon. I wanted to canoe down the river but you needed a minimum of two people, and since I could not clone myself, it fell through. Again, though, it was a blessing in disguise as I could enjoy a pleasant boat cruise instead, in the shade throughout and was able to take decent photos and spread all my camera gear on the seats -- something that could not have worked in a canoe ! It was SO hot that I also can´t help but think that I would have had a sun stroke in a canoe as I didn´t take a hat with me (spending most of my time in the rain forests it seemed somewhat... ironic).
The river was a muddy brown and we didn´t spot as much as I´d have liked but I guess it´s because we set off at 1.30pm when (I´d assume) most birds would be having their siesta. But I guess if you leave it too late then you´ll be plagued by the mossies as of 4pm and since my legs already look pretty dire, it made sense to remain sensible. We did see 2 toucans, 5 iguanas, 1 big croc, egrets and snake birds drying their wings on dead branches as they do.... but nothing major. I cannot even say the scenery was stunning... not the best I´d seen so far anyway.
Tomorrow I was due to do my work shop with Greg but he´s been asked to speak a conference so we´ve put off our photo work shop by one day. I´ll go on a guided walk in the morning and am still not sure what to do in the afternoon.... I have noticed that they can organise tours to the nearest sky lines which sounds tempting !!! Many tourists all asked themselves the same question - this is such an amazing way of viewing the world, why can´t all countries build similar zip lines near their natural treasures? I mean, something similar over Banff in the Rockies would also look breath taking, surely... It can be done quite discreetly. In CR they minimised damage to the rain forests by dropping all the material with helicopters, this way they chopped down very few trees as there was no need for roads and trucks.
I have now spent 3 hours on line, trying to keep my journals up to date and I was not supposed to be on more than 15mns (there is only 1 PC for 60 guests) but thankfully no one has come to bother me yet... it´s now 7pm and dinner stops at 8pm so I guess I´m going to sign off.
I realise this is not my most exciting post but hey, you cannot win every day. I cannot believe that London is already beckoning me.... 48 hours away now, eeeek.... thank God the colours of Spring are starting to bloom over there too, otherwise it´d have been too big a shock to my system.
After my 1st week (when my moral hit rock bottom that rainy morning) I did wonder if two weeks would be too much (only because solitude can feel pretty heavy at times) but now I´m back in the swing and days are glorious, so long as I am visually stimulated, I am happy... enough. It still would be more fun having you guys with me ! (have I dropped enough hints by now???) I thank God for technology though because with the time difference, even phone calls would be difficult....
Hasta manana... (that´s ´see you tomorrow´ but I think most of you had gathered that, right?). And apologies if my posts look so plain but I am unable to edit my posts on my Blog from this lodge, I keep getting error messages. Bummer...
posted by Sylvie at 1:08 AM
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