Before leaving Hotel Savegre, we went up to the Mirador in the reserve one last time and I performed and recorded a Shito-Ryu Kata (Matsukaze), to send to the dojo according to our tradition of sharing a kata video from every trip abroad. The road to the airport was uneventful. Returning the car was swift, […]
Category: Costa Rica 2025
Family trip to Costa Rica – July-August 2025
Los Quetzales (August 12-14)
Around 2:30 am on Tuesday, August 12, I was woken by the noise of a tropical thunderstorm – the rain was hitting our roof, and the thunders rumbled like bombs. I watched the storm, which also woke Lilach and Daniel up at some point, until suddenly, within a minute, the rain stopped and everything was […]
Corcovado (August 10-11)
On Sunday (August 10), we had the pleasure of seeing the macaws we missed at Carara on the trees right across our cabin’s yard. After a relaxing day, we took an afternoon drive to a nearby beach (the road to which was a rather challenging and steep 4×4 trail). We returned near sunset, wet and […]
Uvita and the way to Corcovado (August 8-9)
Friday, 8.8, we went on a very successful whale-watching trip! We saw 4 large female humpback whales, each with a small calf by her side, and also a pod of tropical dolphins. More than once, when we got close to one of these mother-cub dyads, I would see a whale surfacing close to the boat […]
Manuel Antonio (August 5-7)
We arrived at the apartment in Manuel Antonio on Monday night in a pouring rain, after a traffic jam of about half an hour due to an accident on the main road. The morning forecast had called for a very rainy day, but that didn’t really happen. In any case, we dedicated the morning to […]
From Monteverde to Manuel Antonio (August 3-4)
Sunday, August 3rd, was very rainy. In the morning, Lilach and I hiked in the cloud forest reserve. We started the trail in a light rain and ended it in a light rain, with a couple of hours of moderate to heavy rain in between. We didn’t dare take our binoculars or camera out of […]
Monteverde (August 2)
The morning was very rainy, and we stayed in the cabin, playing and sorting photos until noon, when we all headed out to the nearby Curi Cancha reserve for a two-hour walk. We heard some birds, but saw relatively few, and mostly enjoyed the forest. A cute Agouti – a large, tailless rodent – was […]
Rio Celeste (August 1)
We left La Fortuna early and set out for our next destination – Monteverde. On the way, we stopped at the Rio Celeste reserve, where two rivers meet and create an interesting hydrological phenomenon. At the rivers’ confluence, the water’s pH changes, causing crystalline mineral particles carried by one of the rivers to grow very […]
Birds, monkeys and another snake! (July 31)
We woke up early and went out to the balcony to the sound of birds. And indeed, there were quite a few in sight including several large black vultures. One of them shared a nearby tree with a Yellow-throated Toucan. Lilach, Daniel and I headed out before 7, for an early morning a swim in […]
Waterfall trip and our first snake (July 30)
In the early afternoon, we visited the beautiful La Fortuna waterfall, which has about 500 steps leading down to it, and even swam in the river’s water. Before starting the descent, we saw two toucans (of two different species – Keel-billed and Yellow-throated) and a nice Violet-headed hummingbird, but couldn’t get good photos of any […]
Butterflies and hanging bridges (July 29)
Leaving Tamar to sleep late as she wished, Lilach, Daniel and I left the apartment in the early morning to go to a nearby “butterfly dome”, where hundreds of beautiful butterflies hovered around and challenged us to take their pictures. In the gardens around the dome we saw, in addition to butterflies, some hummingbirds and […]
From Tortuguero to La Fortuna (July 28)
During breakfast, we learned that the phone of our German friend hasn’t really returned to life, and that he couldn’t get a new one in the village. Nevertheless, he seemed to remain in high spirits. Near the dock, we saw a young male striped basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) and after I followed it to a pile […]
Tortuguero (July 27)
We set out at 5:30 AM for a canoe trip on the rivers and canals of the reserve, wearing a set of dry cloths. They didn’t stay dry for long. Once again, we were treated to pouring rain for most of the trip. Still, we saw quite a few water birds (including an anhinga that […]
From Guápiles to Tortuguero (July 26)
We woke up naturally on Saturday at 5:30 and discovered that our cabin sits right on the edge of a gorge with a stream flowing at its bottom. The rainforest, of course, grows right on the edges of the steep gorge. After another tour of the garden, a descent down steep stairs to the stream, […]
Landing in Costa Rica (July 25)
After a night in Madrid, we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, and quickly made it to the Budget counter, only to discover that the 4×4 SUV we had ordered well in advance was not waiting for us. The agent said that they ran out of cars, and since this was not a prepaid reservation […]
Family Trips 