Costa Rica, Adventuring through Costa Rica

A couple weeks ago I made the spontaneous decision to hop on a plane with 3 of my good friends and head down to Central America for 2 weeks, specifically Costa Rica. I had some money saved up and was looking at buying a new Canon 5D Mark III, but then my friend Reid gave me a call and said him and our 2 other friends were going to Costa Rica in 10 days. Of course hearing this made me a bit jealous and at first I immediately shot down the idea of going, the trip was too soon and I would have to save up all over again for a new camera. But after some thought I realized a few things: I could get some really cool pictures out in Costa Rica, and I won?t always have the opportunity to travel the world with some of my best friends. So I bite the bullet, bought the ticket, and prepared for whatever adventure my friends had planned. The plan was to fly into San Jose and get a rental car to drive to Arenal, Tamarindo, Playa Grande, Santa Teresa, Mal Pais, Montezuma, Tortuga Island, Antonio, and finish up in Jaco before heading back to the San Jose Airport. It seemed like a lot of stops to cram into 2 weeks, but having a car and traveling all along the Pacific side of Costa Rica made the experience much better then just staying in one spot. Plus we came out alive with some great stories to tell and memories we?ll never forget. There is just so much to tell about this trip but I?ll try to keep it short and highlight certain parts. The first stop was Arenal and we went by the first Super Mercado that we found before starting the 4 hour drive. It was quite an experience driving in Costa Rica because most of the roads were unpaved. I was also caught off guard at first because we would see man made fires along some of these roads. Apparently there isn?t really a trash/dump system in most areas so people just take their trash out to the street and have a little pow wow bonfire. It?s pretty sad to see just because it?s so awful for the environment and you would never expect to see that in such a beautiful place. We saw a good amount of fires throughout our trip, but once we arrived to Arenal I was blown away. It was lush and green as far as the eye could see, with an active volcano right outside of the cottage we were staying at. We were able to find this place through a website called Airbnb, which finds you great spots to stay at with reviews posted by past tenants. The best part was that we were able to find some places off this site for 80 bucks a night between 4 guys. Exactly what I needed on a tight budget. Below is a picture of our view from the front yard of the little cottage we were staying at (thanks We were only there for 2 days before we headed to Playa Grande/Tamarindo, but while we were there we hiked to the most amazing waterfall I?ve ever seen and went ziplining. Pretty much after that we had to ask ourselves everyday ?what can we do that will top what we did yesterday?? Our next stop was Playa Grande, were we went surfing with an epic sunset and for some reason I was the only one to get attacked by a million jellyfish. Just another funny memory to look back on I guess... We spent a few days cruising around Playa Grande and Tamarindo looking for some surf before we left for Santa Teresa. Almost every single night that we were in Costa Rica there was thunder and lightning and it just made the experience so much cooler. We would be hanging out at the house we were staying at or cruising around the town and the sky would light up every 5-10 seconds. One night while we were in Santa Teresa I decided to try and capture some of the lightning over the water. I set up my tripod on the balcony and used my wide angle lens. I had my ISO set pretty high (about 2000-2500) and set the shutter speed to about 30 seconds. I was able to get a couple of ok lightning shots but there were a couple factors I would consider for the next time I shoot lightning. 1.) Hopefully be able to get some lightning that is closer so the picture can capture a thicker bolt 2.) Try and find an area that habéis little to no light in the area from homes/etc. 3.) Lower ISO and longer shutter speed to reduce the noise in the photo. I wouldn?t say that I?m stoked off this lightning picture because it could have been a lot better, but it?s a learning process and I know what I want to do differently for next time. Here is a very brief description of what we did after Santa Teresa: went to Mal Pais and paddle boarded, then to Montezuma where we jumped of 50 foot waterfalls and checked out the nightlife, and finally took a boat to Tortuga island were we went snorkeling with a few more beers. Now fast forward to Antonio... I remember I was laying in bed trying to nap after a long morning of white water rafting (we started everyday around 6 am which I was still adjusting to) and my friend Flinn came into the room and told me I should come outside. I tried to lay there silently hoping he would go away until he said ?there?s a bunch of wild monkeys outside swinging all over the place?. That?s when I suddenly jolted out of bed, grabbed my camera, and ran outside. Up until we got to Antonio we hadn?t really seen any cool wildlife besides some insanely huge lizards and fish, so I wasn?t about to miss out on seeing some monkeys. The second I stepped outside I could see at least a dozen of these little acrobats swinging from tree to tree. Most of them were Central American Squirrel Monkeys (also known as Monoardilla Monkeys) with a few howler monkeys as well. It really was a sight to see, there?s not many places that I know of were you can sit on your porch and see a group of monkeys about 10 feet away from you. All along the property there were black wires that connected to most of the trees and at first I had no clue why they were there. Our hostess informed us after that the wires were put there for the monkeys to get around easier since some were getting electrocuted from climbing the telephone wires. It was pretty amusing watching these little guys sprint on all fours along these tiny black wires. There were a couple times were I thought they were going to slip and fall but somehow they were always able to grab onto the wire at the last second. It was one of those things you had to see in person, and also a moment I will vividly remember. The next day we grabbed a local guide to give us a tour of Antonio and show us some wildlife along with some of the most beautiful beaches ever. We got to see some bats, sloths, locust, frogs, and a few other animals. The 70 degree water there was crystal clear with a turquoise tint to it, it was something that you would normally see on a postcard. After Antonio we headed out to our last destination which was Jaco. Jaco was unlike all the other destinations we had been to, it was like the Waikiki of Costa Rica. Anyway it was nice to spend the last 2 days in one spot with no plans besides relaxing and cruising around the beach. We spent the last night at the restaurant in our hotel which was having a one dollar beer special all night, so we took advantage and celebrated on a successful trip. Below are more pictures form the trip for you to enjoy. I have to say it was an amazing trip, but I?m glad to be back. Look forward to putting up my next blog soon. Pura Vida This slideshow requires JavaScript. #gallery-449-5-slideshow .slideshow-slide { max-height: 410px; /* Emulate max-height in IE 6 */ _height: expression(this.scrollHeight = 410 ? '410px' : 'auto');