HOTEL VILLA LAPAS

 HOTEL VILLA LAPAS:

Our first hotel away from San Jose was a 4 night stay in the Villa Lapas Jungle Village set in a private 500 acre rainforest preserve on the River Tarcolitos, adjacent to the Carara National Park.

 Saga had described the accomodation as being 'basic bungalow-style lodges'  so we weren't sure what to expect but we weren't at all disappointed with our large bungalow with private bathroom. A look at their current website shows that there has been some refurbishment since our visit with air-con, hot water (adequate but a bit hit-and-miss on our stay) and  'great entertainment' now available, and perhaps a more varied menu with Costa Rican specialities? Hopefully these improvements have not diminished the experience and turned it into a stereotypical tourist hotel that just happens to be in a rainforest.

The pool wasn't massive but we hadn't gone there to swim!

The bar and restaurant area was large and convivial. It might have been another story in the rainy season, though.

We went for an explore before dinner to get our bearings. A couple of nights later at dinner we noticed a number of Costa Rican guests heading for the bridge and asked our guide Eugenia where they were going. Apparently they were heading for a Costa Rican disco in another building! Sounded good to us, so about 8 of us headed in that direction. Everything went a bit quiet when we arrived but we ordered a few beers and joined in the dancing. It was so very like the village discos we had been to in the Suffolk village we used to live in: everyone from babes-in-arms to great-grandmas having fun dancing and singing along with the music, embarrassed teenagers dancing with their dads before eventually enjoying it.

We were going to meet a lot of these fellas.

Even on our first evening we could see there was going to be an abundance of wildlife to see and enjoy.

Being right in the middle of the rain forest we didn't have to stray beyond the hotel to enjoy a myriad of animals!!

This sloth we saw being very slothful up a tree ......

whereas this one, captured on video by another group member, was remarkably active!

One morning we followed what we believed to be the loud, raucous mating cries of a pair of macaws. We spotted 2 beautifully coloured birds circling ....

before settling and appearing to be enacting a fighting ritual to push one another off the branch ...

with some preening .....

before deciding to sit amicably side-by-side.

EXCURSIONS

One of the issues when booking this holiday had been the fact that nearly all of the excursions were optional and had to be paid for separately, unlike the tours we had done before. In the event the only one we decided against from Villa Lapas was the Aerial Tram. 

Tarcoles River Trip:

The 111km. Tarcoles river encompases an area with around 50% of Costa Rica's population, its upper reaches bordering the Carara Biological Reserve. We would have been less enthusiastic if the trip had been in the lower reaches of the river where the river's watershed drains approximately 67% of the country's untreated organic and industrial waste and is considered the most contaminated river basin in Costa Rica. 

There aren't many birds or animals that Eugenia, our guide, doesn't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of. And, of course, no shortage of cameras but unfortunately many eager photographers prepared to push anyone who got in their way a hefty shove! This didn't do much for the 'group dynamic' and became a recurring source of complaint and disgruntlement which had little effect on the culprits.

American crocodiles and caimans abound:

There's also an amazing array of waterfowl and wading birds.

Carara National Park:

Next stop was a half-day walking tour of this National Park, accompanied by a guide. En route on an otherwise unremarkable stretch of road we noticed dozens of onlookers gathered along both sides of a small bridge peering down at the water below. Known as puente de crocodrilo or Crocodile Bridge, it is the site of many American crocodiles sunning themselves under the bridge. These greenish-grey crocs are 4 metres long and can walk on 4 legs, not just slither. The bridge has become a major tourist attraction with souvenir shops, several restaurants with 'Cocodrilo' in the name and a Crocodile Safari Boat for those who want to get closer. 

We drove on to the Carara National Park, the northernmost Pacific coastal rain forest remaining intact in Costa Rica, many school children on field trips and cruise ship passengers are bused here but fortunately not on the day we visited.