The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
ESSENTIALS HOW TO GET THERE
Oliver Smith travelled with Journey Latin America (020 3131 7374, journey latinamerica. co.uk). A 12-day holiday, including two nights in San José, two nights in Tortuguero, two in Monteverde, two in Arenal and three on the Pacific Coast, costs from £1,437pp (flights extra). Other options available; check the website for full details. British Airways (ba.com) flies direct from London to San José, returns from £314.
of our hotel. Tortuga Lodge echoed to the roars of howler monkeys and the chirping of red dart frogs. Early morning birdwatching walks introduced me to colourful trogons and toucans, noisy woodpeckers, and – my favourite – the Montezuma oropendola, which makes a sound like a dial-up modem and strips bark from trees to find insects before depositing it on the twitchers below. In a creek behind the property I spied a basilisk, dubbed the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to dash across water. On the underside of a tree I stumbled across dozens of dozing long-nosed bats.
Best of all was a surprise meeting with Costa Rica’s poster boy: the three-toed sloth. I peered out of my bedroom window for the whereabouts of a particularly vocal howler monkey and instead found one of these beautiful but buffoonish creatures hanging from a branch barely 20ft heart of San
José. Doubles from £121.
On the outskirts of San José is Xandari Resort And Spa (0091 94474 14344; xandari.com), with fine views of the city, a pool, delightful gardens, and walking trails and waterfalls on its doorstep. Doubles from £105.
Tortuga Lodge and Gardens (tortugalodge. com) offers rustic, comfortable lodges in a dreamy setting, with pool, good restaurant, walking trails and resident iguanas. Doubles from £95. Highlights at Monteverde Lodge (monteverdelodge.com), run by the same company, include a butterfly garden and jungle views. Doubles from £103. Nayara Resort (arenalnayara. com), in Arenal Volcano National Park, offers first-rate luxury, with private villas, a wonderful spa, restaurants and its own sloth reserve. Doubles from £207.
Hotel Punta Islita (hotelpuntaislita. com), on the Nicoya
Peninsula, is good for beach relaxation. Rooms come with a private outdoor Jacuzzi or plunge pools. Doubles from £122.
The quetzal moved to a branch to show off its fabulous tail feathers, prompting squeals of joy
away, slowly scratching its tummy like a stoned air guitarist. I don’t want to meet the person who sees a contented sloth and doesn’t get a warm feeling inside. It stayed put, for my viewing pleasure, for hours.
Sloths raise a smile, but another Costa Rican animal sends people into raptures. Found in just a handful of Central American cloud forests, the resplendent quetzal has such outlandish plumage that bird lovers flock from far and wide hoping for a sighting. I joined them in Monteverde, a mountain town north-west of San José.
Birdwatching is tricky for rank amateurs. Even with binoculars and a patient leader pointing out noteworthy critters, you can squint forever at the dense foliage and see nothing.
Fortunately, most guides carry a telescope and tripod. Without ours I’d have seen little, but with his help I witnessed dazzling toucans, orangebellied trogons, nervous little redstarts, all manner of hummingbirds and, to my delight, the main attraction.
Quetzals nest high in rotten tree trunks and the experts know where to look. If they don’t fancy showing their faces you might leave disappointed, but a male poked his fuzzy green head out, just to make sure the coast was clear. A ripple of excitement spread around the group. Then it moved to a branch to show off its fabulous tail feathers, prompting squeals of joy. For a few minutes it preened itself carefully before flying off in search of lunch
(wild avocados, apparently).
Not all of Monteverde’s wildlife is so elusive. One morning at my hotel I rose to the pitter-patter of little feet – a family of capuchins were boisterously chasing each other around the roof of an outdoor seating area. For an hour, we guests, most of us still in dressing gowns, craned our necks in delight.
Costa Rica also offers zip wires, suspension bridges and serious hiking trails in the shadow of Arenal, one of the world’s most photogenic volcanoes. More “pura vida” for me, though, was a stroll in the forest, where an anteater dashed up a tree trunk and a crested owl sat fast asleep. Then came a trip to a hot spring, where birds and bats flitted overhead in fading light.
Many trips finish on the sweltering Nicoya Peninsula, where swanky beach resorts offer swim-up bars, private sands and couples’ massages. But what I recall with a smile is the monkey I spotted, in deep thought, above the entrance to the hotel spa.
With a warm welcome and animals like these, the world’s happiest country is bound to rub off on you. It might even cure your road rage.