Day 6: “Same same” Snorkeling

Today was another bright and early start, dedicated to a snorkeling excursion. I’d scoured different options and picked what seemed like a decent company and price, and because I was the furthest away from our launch point the shuttle picked me up first. What I quickly learned was that rather than launching at the nearby harbor with more time on the water, our boat left from the village further north with all the other companies after a longer drive to get there. Our small boat sped across the Gulf of Nicoya, and was one of the first to arrive. Approaching Isla Tortuga, I saw a small island with rocky cliffs surrounding a small white sand beach that was framed by coconut trees.

Gulf of Nicoya

First glimpse of Isla Tortuga

It looked picturesque, and as we came ashore it quickly became apparent that we were penned in on the beach, and this place was designed to cater to tourists who wanted to drink, party, and spend cash. Nothing wrong with that, unless you wanted to enjoy wildlife and have a quieter place to sit. The part that surprised me the most was having to pay a few dollars to use the only bathrooms, and that this wasn’t covered with our tour package–thank goodness I had brought some money!

Enjoying the beach pre-snorkel and rocking my new work hat.

I was eager to start snorkeling, but our boat turned around to bring another boatload of passengers, and in the meantime the other companies started arriving in their bigger boats. So after splashing in the water for a bit, I found a shady place to sit with my book and was grateful I’d worn a swim shirt to avoid burning as easily in the sun. When our turn finally came for snorkeling, the boat took us to a smaller rock jutting out of the water not too far away, along with many of the other boats. This was the stated purpose of the tour, and I knew these kinds of areas are environmentally sensitive, so I was shocked when the staff handed me a snorkel and mask, but no fins, and told us to come back in 30 minutes. No guide, not even a card showing us what to look for or what they’re called, and for any newbies in our group, no instruction on how to avoid harming the wildlife. I decided to make the most of my time by circling the island and practicing all the skills and best practices I’d learned on other tours. The fish were as colorful and interesting as I’d hoped, and there was something cobalt blue on some of the corals that I never did figure out. It’s a special place, but it was also clear that it’s being overloved and underprotected by these groups. I didn’t have a watch on and was by myself, but thankfully it was easy for them to spot me in my bright pink shirt and all too soon, it was back on the boat heading back to the island.

Happy snorkler (our spot was the rock just left of my head)

Lunch was delicious, and the afternoon was spent dipping in the ocean in between rounds of reading in the diminishing shady spots (no wonder they charged so much for a chair and umbrella!). A good day, just longer and different than planned. When it was time to head back, things started to go downhill. The staff were clearly ready for their shift to be over, so the captain drove the boat back so quickly that it felt unsafe, and our yelps and signaling to the other staff seemed to have no impact on his reckless driving. After dropping us off, he headed back to pick up the other group, and it was at that point that we learned our shuttle wasn’t coming and we needed to wait for the other group and take their bus to a spot where another shuttle could meet us. Things happen and they did try to make it up to us by giving us soda and water while we waited, but after that crazy ride the news we had to wait on a hot dock for over an hour, we were not happy campers. For what was advertised as a half day excursion, the delay meant it was once again after dark by the time I was back at the hotel, and once again I was grateful I had snacks to enjoy for dinner and could call it an early night. In Vietnam, they’d use the phrase “same same” to persuade us whatever it was–the tour, the car, the meal, the souvenir, etc. was the same value as its alternatives, only to have it fall short in reality. The weather and wildlife were wonderful, but otherwise this felt a little “same same” to me.

Our "same same" boat before it went to pick up the other customers

Day 5: Beach-bound

For my last morning at La Selva, I wanted one final short walk in the jungle with a more peaceful feel than my previous one. It was a pretty tame trail, but I did manage to spot another poison dart frog and appreciate the sunlight breaking through the trees. 

Poison dart frog

How I want to remember this forest

Our van left right after breakfast to head back to San Jose, and with Carlos in our van, we had a mini-tour en route, stopping at a waterfall and a scenic overlook where they had hummingbird feeders and fruit set out to attract the local birds. It was such a colorful variety, but if I had to pick a favorite it was a purple hummingbird.

View from the overlook

Possibly my favorite bird at this stop

Taking in the view and identifying birds

Just a sample of the variety we saw

Lured by bananas

Also one of my favorite birds at this stop

We made great time to the airport, and it was a little hard saying goodbye to the group, but I was excited for the adventure ahead. My colleague Kayva was staying a little longer in San Jose, so she joined me for lunch at a restaurant near the offsite car rental. It was local fare and so filling! Picking up the rental was easy, but I got a bit of sticker shock when I was informed I’d need to buy additional insurance that basically doubled the cost. There weren’t really alternatives, but between that and the traffic caused by road construction and an accident, my road trip got off to an unpleasant start. My first stop was the San Jose temple, which I’d seen as we’d landed on Monday and which appeared to be just on the other side of the airport. Expecting a quick detour, I hadn’t expected the traffic would be so slow, but it was lovely and a bit of calm once I finally made it. 

Lunch with Kavya

San Jose Temple

Back on the road to the beach it was weekend traffic, so I didn’t make it to Playa Hermosa until after dark. It didn’t help that roads there aren’t always signed, so more than once I missed a turn and had to double back. My hotel was right on the beach, and between the long drive and an early start the next day, I was content to unpack and eat a granola bar for dinner listening to the waves from the balcony before calling it a night. And after a week at La Selva, it was pretty exciting to sleep with air conditioning again.

Day 4: Leap Day!

I try to make Leap Day memorable, and this year wasn’t hard. With our last full day at La Selva, I chose to start the morning with a walk along the trail we took for the night hike. Going a little further, I found an arboretum loop that looked benign (i.e. short path where all the trees have name tags), but soon led to shock. Only a few steps in, I found myself staring nearly eye-level with a dead monkey hanging upside down from a tree. It startled me enough that I almost screamed, but instead just fled the area as quickly as I could. I know the circle of life is a thing, but was totally unprepared to start my day with that part of the circle. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I picked another trail closer to the dorms, and was rewarded with some cool trees and a shy capybara. En route to the day’s workshop, I also found an orchid house with some fantastic-smelling blooms that helped calm me down.

A shy Capybara on the sidewalk

The trail ducks under the tree

The most fragrant orchid wasn't the largest

The day’s sessions had a different format, and I found ways to contribute that made it more fulfilling. Wrapping up the day, I went on a longer walk with colleagues for more spotting, including more monkeys, toucans, motmots, etc. My contribution: finding a poison dart frog that hopped on the trail right in front of me. With coloring that vibrant it’d be hard to miss, but it still counts.

Motmot

Toucan

Mother and baby

Bromeliads growing in delicate balance

Heliconia

Crossing the bridge at sunset brought another prime monkey-viewing opportunity, as a troupe had taken over a nearby tree with some playfully fighting, dangling, etc. A few of them decided to cross over to another tree, so we had a show as they jumped and walked along the bridge cables overhead. In some ways, that spot became my favorite part of this place.

Look carefully to see the troupe along the tops of branches

Crossing the bridge at sunset

That night, we had a celebration to end the retreat on a high note and congratulate all the promotions and big wins of the previous year, and say our farewells to those who’d be leaving on the early bus.

Day 3: Real-life Jungle Cruise

Admittedly, the work part of today was a little frustrating for me because it felt like there was a “right” answer that remained elusive. But, the day wrapped up with two choices for an activity. I’m sure the hike was great exercise, but as soon as I saw the option for a boat ride, all this Disneyland-lover could think was they were literally offering a cruise in the jungle! And with a great local guide and colleagues who are good spotters, it didn’t disappoint. Our small boat headed upstream past monkeys, iguanas, caiman, birds, etc., stopping to observe each of them and making sure everyone saw them. So glad I went. 

View on the river

Iguana on the riverbank

Caiman

We returned with plenty of time before dark, so I joined a few colleagues to walk a nearby path for some more exploring before dinner.

Monkey!

Along the trail at dusk

Day 2: Night Hike

I’m a night owl by nature, but the sun comes up early here and the critters never stop making noises, so it wasn’t a problem getting out of bed with my alarm. The bridge looked far less foreboding in the daytime, and it was an easy walk from our cabin to the dining area. 

Our cabin

The bridge connecting the two parts of the campus.

On my way to the session, a colleague helped me spot a Jesus Christ lizard on a tree branch that I’d completely missed (this would be a theme for the week). Its name comes from its ability to run on water, but the branch was so high up and the lizard so content, there was no way I’d get to see a demonstration. Our first day of the retreat included a presentation from our Costa Rica program, and it was inspiring to learn about all their efforts and how they tie together. I also appreciated seeing my tax dollars at work, as USAID funded the air-conditioned room that we used for all our sessions. The room didn’t have a view, but they were great about building in breaks into the agenda, including snacks on a balcony overlooking the forest. After dinner, we broke into smaller groups and went on a night hike. I was so impressed at my colleagues ability to spot different animals–truly “eyes to see” and “ears to hear”. Plenty of frogs, birds, insects, etc., and I was also grateful that the only snake we encountered was at the very end, and was a tiny one that’s not poisonous and was sitting on a leaf. I’d wanted to see a sloth and was a little disappointed we hadn’t found one on our hike, but at the very end someone noticed that one had crawled onto the bridge’s suspension wires! It made for perfect viewing, and was a little funny that it had probably been there (or close by) the whole time.

The largest insect I saw all week--thankfully on an outdoor sheet from a safe distance.

Sloth!

Day 1: En Route to the Jungle

I was thrilled when work announced our department retreat would be in Costa Rica at the La Selva Biological Station. The first day was entirely spent in travel, arriving at La Selva after dark. Our van missed the welcome and orientation, but we got our keys and a quick overview after dinner.

It was pitch black leaving the dining area, and colleagues with bright flashlights helped us find our cabins which were in two main areas. The walk began with crossing a long suspension bridge in the dark that swayed as we crossed over a river with our luggage, and for a moment I wondered what I was getting into. Before we even made it halfway across the bridge, my colleague Carlos excitedly pointed out a bird on a nearby tree that I would never have noticed in the dark (or the daytime for that matter–it was practically camouflage with the branch).

I was relieved to see our cabins had a bathroom, and hoped no critters would be joining us inside during the week. Before calling it a night, we had a bit of a Goldilocks moment when a colleague found a group of researchers in the room she’d been assigned to, rather than her bunkmates, and we couldn’t get a hold of her assigned bunkmate to find out what happened. I joined her on the walk to solve the mystery with a few others from the team, and we were nearly to the furthest dorms when we learned she’d only been moved to the cabin next door. It made for an interesting orientation to that part of the grounds, anyway. Our cabins had an overhead fan and screened windows, which were little match for the heat and humidity, so despite the long day it took a while to fall asleep.

Day 11: Lisbon Finale

With a few more things to see and do in Lisbon, our last morning started with a ride on one of the city’s iconic trams along a scenic route. They’re still using the tram cars from the 1930s, complete with wooden interiors, and we caught Tram 28 at the top of a hill in the Alfama neighborhood to ensure a seat at the start of the route. It shimmied and wound down narrow streets, crossing town to the Baxia’s wider, flatter, and straighter streets before climbing another hill.

Riding in Tram 28

Riding in Tram 28; notice how close we get to the buildings and narrow sidewalks on some of these turns.

We got off near Praça do Comércio to take pictures in the square sans marathon scaffolding, and walked to a fancy outdoor elevator called Elevador de Santa Justa. While it was nice to be spared climbing the hill, there are other means to do that and I can’t say the ride itself was worth the wait. 

Praça do Comércio

View across the Tagus River

Elevador de Santa Justa

Praça Dom Pedro IV--more ocean wave patterns on the ground

But it dropped us off right next to Museu Arqueológico do Carmo, the museum of archaeology built in the ruins of a church from the 1755 earthquake. In a place with so many millennia of history, the association of archeology only began in the 1860s, and it was interesting to see what they chose to highlight.

Museu Arqueológico do Carmo

Walking down the hill, we visited the Time Out Market for a light lunch. A few years ago, the travel magazine converted an indoor market into a food court with stalls from some of the city’s best cooks, making it a travel destination in itself. With so many delicious options to choose from it was difficult to decide, but I opted for the Croqueteria and my meal confirmed I’d made the right choice. Returning to a walk through the Baxia, we made one last stop at Confeitaria Nacional, where I selected a few final pastries–why choose just one? 

Croquettes at the Time Out Market

Tram 28 Route

Tram 28 Route

Monumento ao Calceteiro, a monument to honor the skilled workers who build the sidewalk mosaics

Confeitaria Nacional

Finale pastries

Street lamp in Lisbon; this logo of the city depicts crows watching over the remains of Saint Vincent as they were brought to Lisbon centuries ago (Vincent was the patron saint of Lisbon until 1981, when they swapped him for Saint Anthony).

We got off at a different metro stop to walk through a park back to our hotel, and discovered that just around the corner was a Bansky museum. With only time to see the lobby before catching our flight, it was an interesting note to end our trip on and a reminder that for all we managed to squeeze into this trip, while Portugal may be known for sending explorers into the world it has many things to discover.

Lobby of the Banksy Museum

After all the hills and stairs we'd climbed in Portugal, I felt like this was one of the takeaways of the trip.

 ...and of course, I had to map our trip.