All rights reserved. The reproduction of any part of this book without the author’s written permission is strictly prohibited.

Buses for Puntarenas leave from Calle 12, Avenida 9, San José, every hour from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The trip takes about two hours.

The main automobile route to the coast from San José is via the Cañas Expressway, past the airport, funnelling onto a winding, narrow road past San Ramón. Total driving time is about two hours. An improved highway through Santa Ana and Orotina to the coast is planned.

Because Puntarenas is so accessible from San José, hotels are overpriced for what they offer.

Hotel Tioga, Paseo de los Turistas (Avenida 4, beach side), Calle 17, ten blocks west of the large pier), P. O. Box 96-5400, tel. 661-0271. tiogacr@racsa.co.cr. 46 rooms. $40 to $50 single/$50 to $70 double.

Nice rooms, many with views to the sea, well-maintained, air-conditioned. Best of the downtown lodgings. There's a pool, and a moderately priced restaurant. Rates include full breakfast in the fourth-floor dining-room-with-a-view. Higher rates are for rooms with hot water and balconies.

Hotel Cayuga, Calle 4, Avenidas Central/1 (one block north of the microwave tower), P. O. Box 306-5400, tel. 661-0344, fax 661-1280. 31 rooms. $15 to $25 single/$22 to $35 double.

Located near the center of town, which is unfortunate, because this is the best hotel buy in Puntarenas, clean, modern, with a fair restaurant and air conditioning.

Hotel Río, P. O. Box 54-5400, tel. 661-0331. 15 rooms. $12 single/$18 double, more with private bath.

A modern hotel a half-block west of the market, downtown. The new rooms here have fans and private baths. Boat services available. Best deal for budget travellers.

Hotel Las Hamacas, Paseo de los Turistas (Avenida 4), Calles 7/9, tel. 661-0398. 25 rooms. $20/$30.

Quite visible, a compound facing the beach, but a last choice among the centrally located hotels, with hospital-type rooms and no hot water.

Casa Alberta (6 rooms, tel. and fax 663-0107, $300 by the week with meals) is a small hotel catering to seniors, located in the eastern part of Puntarenas, near the mainland. Hearty food is Austrian and Canadian, and fishing charters can be arranged here.

More Lodgings: Various "cabinas" (simple rooms with few facilities) are also available at locations along the beach, at prices of about $10 per person and up. Oasis del Pacífico (tel. 661-0209), at 7 Calle on the sea, has 17 basic rooms going for $30 to $50 double, a pool which is available for day use, fast food, dancing, and an owner from France. Cooking facilities are available in some units. A half block from the bus station, the Hotel Imperial is a clean old wooden building that faces the water and offers rooms with shared baths for about $10 per person. And there are loads of other cheap hotels.

The area at the tip of the peninsula is quite pleasant, unlike most of the rest of Puntarenas. If you arrive on a late ferry or are planning to embark in the morning, these hotels are good bets:

Hotel La Punta, P.O. Box 228, tel. 661-0696. 20 rooms, 1 suite. $20 single/$32 double.

A tan, two-story plantation-style building, unpretentious, clean, and cheery, just one block from the ferry for Playa Naranjo. Tiled pool, whirlpool, table tennis, bicycles for rent, communal t.v. Reasonably priced open-air restaurant with juice bar. Look for the south-seas style second-floor veranda. English spoken.

Hotel Las Brisas, Calle 31, tel. 661-2120. brisas@racsa.co.cr. 20 rooms, $45 and up single/$67 and up double.

Of recent construction, clean and airy. The higher rates are for larger rooms with tubs, and balconies with views away from the city, to the mountains of the Nicoya Peninsula and the hilly islands of the gulf. All units are air-conditioned, with plain decor, cement-tile floors, and Formica table. There's a pool and basic restaurant.

Complejo Turístico Yadrán, Paseo de los Turistas (P.O. Box 14-5000), tel. 661-2662, fax 661-1944. yadran@racsa.co.cr. 43 rooms. $100 single/$120 double.

This hotel occupies the best piece of real estate in Puntarenas, at the tip of the main boulevard. All rooms are carpeted, with air conditioning and color television. Some have balconies, with stunning views of the gulf. Facilities include a third-floor restaurant (relatively pricey), bar, children's and adult pools, bicycles for rent, and conference rooms. Very quiet, usually empty.

A second-choice area in which to stay, if you have a car or don't mind taking taxis, is several kilometers toward the mainland.

Hotel Porto Bello, Avenida 1, Calles 72/74, P. O. Box 108-5400, tel. 232-1248, 661-1322, fax 661-0036. 35 rooms. $70 single/$85 double, less out of season.

Attractive Mediterranean-style construction, bordering the estuary. Stuccoed, villa-style rooms with arches and outside buttresses have air-conditioning, television, large beds, unattractive furniture, and back doors that open onto lush gardens and the two pools.

Hotel Colonial, adjacent to the Yacht Club, Calle 72, P. O. Box 368-5400, tel. 661-1833. 44 rooms. $50 single/$65 double.

Colonial-style compound, adequate air-conditioned white rooms with two large beds. Two pools and playground, good value. The hotel borders the estuary and mangroves, which are good for birding.

Out at the eastern end of Puntarenas, at San Ysidro, are a number of compounds that attract the family trade from San José. One of the better of the lot is Cabinas San Isidro, but these are still barracks-like rows of housekeeping units.

These hotels are located near the somewhat off-color Barranca River just south of Puntarenas, about a kilometer along the coastal highway from the junction with the highway for San José. Aside from Doña Ana park and beach, there are no facilities of interest to visitors in the immediate area.

Caribbean Village Fiesta, P. O. Box 155-4005, tel. 663-0185 (239-4266 fax 239-0217 in San José). 144 rooms and 36 suites. $150 per person daily, including meals and activities.

This is the most modern hotel in the Puntarenas area, a white concrete structure on three levels surrounding a garden with one of the two pools. The bathrooms are large, the rooms are utilitarian, with pink highlights, and, on the lower level, garden terraces.

The huge bar is built in the shape of a boat, and shares a high thatched pavilion with the restaurant, adjacent to a second, larger pool with an island. Breakfast is usually served buffet style, lunch and dinner are $10 and up. Facilities include tennis courts, disco, casino, exercise room and sauna, car rental, water-sports equipment. Heavy security. This hotel attracts mostly tour groups, at a discount from the high posted rates.

! The Fiesta is oriented away from the wide beach—for reasons which will be obvious, once you sniff. It's a long taxi ride to alternative eating spots, shops, anything. Odd air-conditioning (one machine for two rooms).

Casa Canadiense (P.O. Box 125, Puntarenas, tel. and fax 663-0287) is a friendly Canadian- and French-operated beachfront guest accommodation, about half a kilometer west of the Fiesta along a side road. The five units range from single bedrooms to two-bedrooms-with-kitchen (they supply the coffee, but no breakfast). Rates are from $50 and up double. On-site are a pool, Ping Pong, darts, and rainy-day games.

Hotel Río Mar, tel. 663-0158. 50 rooms. $20 single/$28 double/higher for family units.

An older hotel in a relaxing riverside setting, with a children's pool only, across the road from the water. Family-oriented, with some rooms sleeping up to eight persons. This is a good stopping place if you're driving and don't want to go into Puntarenas.

Where to Eat

The yacht Calypso makes a daily cruise from the yacht club to seven islands in the Gulf of Nicoya. Fare is about $70, including overland transportation from San José, or slightly less if you're already in Puntarenas. This is a well-planned excursion that has been improved and refined and copied over the years. A stop is made at a deserted, palm-shaded beach for swimming, snorkeling, beachcombing, and a gourmet picnic lunch that includes fresh gulf fish. They even take a portable toilet ashore. Book the cruise through any hotel in Puntarenas, or call tel. 233-3617, fax 233-0401 in San José, or 661-0585 in Puntarenas. Longer cruises are also available.

Arrangements can also be made to visit the islands in the Gulf of Nicoya. On Chira, the largest, near the northern end of the gulf, cattle are raised and salt is extracted from sea water. Guayabo, Negritos and Los Pájaros islands are biological reserves, noted for their abundance of seabirds. Guayabo is an important nesting site for brown pelicans, and peregrine falcons are known to hibernate there. Cedros and several smaller islands have no restaurants, hotels or any other facilities, and few inhabitants, but are excellent locales for birding. San Lucas island, halfway across the gulf, was formerly a prison colony, and is now being developed as a tourist destination. A regular boat service has sometimes operated on Sunday mornings.

To hire a boat for touring, or for fishing or water skiing, try Taximar, with an office at the Hotel Río, tel. 661-1143 and 661-0331.

Though Puntarenas is not a usual long-term stopping point for visitors from afar, Cata Tours has an office in town (tel. 661-3948), and can place you on day trips to Miravalles volcano, Palo Verde Park, along rivers, and to Monteverde. Prices range from $65 to $90.

Elegante Rent A Car has a local office, tel. 661-1958.

On from Puntarenas

The main reason for a foreign visitor to go to Puntarenas is to leave promptly for one of the nicer places along the coast. Many are accessible by boat, either directly or in combination with car or bus travel.

Two passenger-and-automobile ferries operate daily between Puntarenas and the southern end of the peninsula. Sailings for Playa Naranjo are at 4, 7 and 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.; from Playa Naranjo at 5:15 and 8:30 a.m., noon, and 3 and 6 p.m. Phone 661-1069 to check schedules. Arrive well before scheduled departure time, park, and line up for your ticket. The crossing takes a little over an hour. Buses for Nicoya meet the ferry.

The Playa Naranjo ferry provides a shortcut to the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula. Buses going to the town of Nicoya meet the ferry, but public transport to other places is hard to find. Playa Naranjo is a dock and little else, but lodging is available just a few hundred meters down the road (see page 352).

The ferry for Paquera, south of Playa Naranjo, leaves daily at 6 a.m. and 3 p.m., and usually at several other times—check at the tourist office in San José or hotels in Puntarenas for seasonal schedules. Buses and taxis provide onward connecting transportation from Paquera toward Tambor, Cóbano and Montezuma.

Buses for San José leave from Calle 2 and Avenida 4, Puntarenas, one block east (toward the mainland) from the main pier.

Buses depart for various nearby and distant towns from a shelter along the sea opposite the bus station for San José. Schedules are posted. The bus for Santa Elena, near Monteverde, leaves at 2:15 p.m., for Quepos at 5 a.m., 11 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. There are five daily buses for Liberia. The bus for Barranca, at the armpit of the peninsula, leaves from the market in Puntarenas.

The main coastal highway runs north through the rolling plain inland from Puntarenas, passing through Cañas, and then over flat country to Bagaces and Liberia. None of these places is of much interest to visitors. But off the road, and accessible from it, are some of the natural wonders for which Costa Rica is known.

La Yunta ("The Yoke"), on the highway just north of Puntarenas, is for coastal cattlemen and the rare tourist who wanders in. Sit on a stool at the second-story bar and sip your beverage as you face not a row of bottles and labels, but the cattle auction platform below. Steaks—fresh-caught, shall we say?—come in all sizes for under $10, in genuine country style, with pureed yucca, rice, and a mighty fine salad, or you can have just a sandwich and fries while you inhale the sea breeze and a whiff of cow chip, or talk to the mounted steer heads or truckers or the ten-gallon clientele, and admire the horse art. "Unique" doesn't do La Yunta justice.

MONTEVERDE

First Considerations

Santa Elena is a pleasant little town, about 1500 meters above sea level, though the dramatic, broken landscape all around, strong winds, and the cool, misty air make it seem higher. There are numerous bars, and also a few lodging places.

However, you might as well stay nearer to the reserve, and away from the town center. The pensions and hotels mentioned below are listed in order from Santa Elena uphill, along or on byways from the road to the reserve. A couple of establishments are well off the beaten track.

The direct bus from San José passes those lodging places along the main road. The bus from Puntarenas terminates in Santa Elena, from where you'll have to walk (if you have the energy after arriving in the evening), or hire a car to take you to your hotel.

Best Hotel Buys

Lodging has mushroomed in the Santa Elena-Monteverde corridor. After looking over all the accommodations not long ago, I decided that Hotel El Bosque had the best value/price ratio, and when I stayed there, I wasn't disappointed. Hotel Finca Valverdes and Hotel El Establo also seem to be quite good for the price. In fact, with all the competition for your custom in Monteverde, there are good buys in middle-range lodging almost anywhere you look.

For budget value, the Spartan Pensión Monteverde is hard to beat if you have wheels (it's off the main road a piece), and I still like the Pensión Flor Mar, where I first stayed some years back.

Bear in mind that if you're travelling by bus, you could face an early start on the day you leave, and you might want to stay near a pickup point (see departure schedules at the end of this section). Traffic is sparse, so don't count on being able to hitch a ride after the bus goes.

And even with all the rooms available, Monteverde can be a busy place during the dry season, so call ahead or send an e-mail to reserve a space, if you can. If you write, direct your mail to P. O. Box 10165-1000, San José, unless another address is indicated.

Pensión El Sueño (tel. 645-5021), charges under $10 per person with shared bath, or $9 with private bath, serves meals, and can procure horses.

Pensión El Tucán (tel. 645-5017) charges under $10 per person with shared bath in second-floor rooms that are better than others in town, slightly more with private bath. There's an eatery downstairs.

And there are various other cabinas in the area, just out of Santa Elena, with similar low rates.

Hotel-Finca Valverde's (tel. and fax 654-5157, 10 rooms, $50 single/$70 double, $8 per additional person,) is a guest ranch, just off the road and not far from Santa Elena, but with a remote air, as the installations are set well back on a large property of forest and pasture. Woody rooms are in cabins elevated on stilts. All come with a balcony, tubs and a loft, and can sleep up to four persons. There's also a restaurant. Horses can be hired for riding on the trails here, at about $5 per hour. And with all the foot traffic in the Monteverde reserve, your chances of seeing sloths and armadillos and quetzals and toucans just might be better on a private property such as this.

Pensión A Different Place is a plain block structure with economy rooms at about $7 per person—and that includes breakfast!

El Sapo Dorado (tel. 645-5010, fax 645-5180, elsapo@sol.racsa.co.cr, 10 rooms, $65 single/$80 double) offers accommodations in woodsy cottages each with two guest units, called "suites" with some justification. They have two large beds, porch, private bathroom, card table, rocking chair, and fireplace. English and German spoken, good restaurant (see below).

Pensión Monteverde (Monteverde Inn), (10 rooms, about $10 per person, or $25 with three meals) offers million-dollar views at guest-house prices. The large, rustic and clean if Spartan bedrooms are in several farm buildings off the main visitors' route. Most have private bath, the showers are hot. One kilometer past Santa Elena, go right for 400 meters, then left another 500 meters. You'll need your own vehicle, or a willingness to settle in, and then hike out when necessary. Horses are available for rent at about $5 per hour.

Hotel Heliconia, tel. 645-5510, fax 645-3507. 22 rooms. $65 and up double.

A rustic, chalet-style building, a kilometer up from Santa Elena. Downstairs rooms have tile floors. Upstairs rooms, with more panelling, are pleasanter, but walls are thin and some bathrooms have large un-curtained windows. Add about $6 for each meal taken at the hotel. Horses and boots are available.

Hotel El Establo, tel. 654-5033 (225-0569 in San José), fax 654-5041. establo@racsa.co.cr. 20 rooms. $45 single/$55 double.

One of the nicer hotels in Monteverde, a collection of several small tiers of rooms with balconies and walkways and public lounge areas with fireplace, all enclosed by walls of windows, lending an outdoor ambience to the indoors. Rooms are wood-panelled, with carpeting, good mattresses, and nicely finished detailing. Large family rooms are available. The restaurant serves beer and wine only to accompany meals, and the fare is hearty—soups, pastas, and, usually, Costa Rica's famous pastel de tres leches for desert (about $25 for breakfast, lunch and dinner)—in keeping with the family atmosphere. Transport from San José can be arranged.

Pensión Manakín (tel. 645-5080, 6 rooms, $25 double with bath, under $10 per person sharing bath), has panelled rooms almost as nice as those at pricier places, but the grounds are bare. Breakfast is available at an extra charge.

Cabañas Los Pinos (tel. 654-0036, 6 units) is a set of cabins spaced amid pines (obviously). The tariff is $50 double/$70 for four persons/$100 for six.

Hotel de Montaña Monteverde, tel. 654-5046, fax 654-5320. monteverde@ticonet.co.cr. 30 rooms. $50 single/$70 double/up to $120 in larger units. In San José: P. O. Box 70, tel. 224-3050, fax 222-6184.

Located about 1.5 kilometers from Santa Elena, the Hotel de Montaña is cozy and rustic, with hardwood-panelled rooms, and beds covered with thick woolen blankets. There are acres of adjoining farm and woods available to guests for exploration, and spectacular views down toward the Pacific. Horses are available for rent, and boots are lent for hiking through the reserve. Amenities include Jacuzzi and sauna (at an extra fee). Transportation to the hotel can be arranged through the San José telephone number.

Albergue Bellbird (tel. 661-2652, 9 rooms) is a large, plain house with balcony surrounded by a parking lot. Rooms are small and attractive. Those with private bathroom go for $30 double. With shared facilities, the rate is $15 single/$22 double. Restaurant on site, horses and hikes arranged.

Hotel Belmar, tel. 654-5201, fax 354-5351. belmar@sol.racsa.co.cr. 32 rooms. $70 single/$95 double.

The Belmar consists of towering three-story chalet-style buildings which, though not in an indigenous contemporary architectural idiom, suits the high forest surroundings. Rooms are not as large as elsewhere, but beautiful panoramas are afforded from the private balconies, all the way to the Gulf of Nicoya. Attentive service by the owners. Boots, horseback trips and transportation to the reserve are available. They'll also pick you up in San José on request. Set meals cost about $8 each, $5 for breakfast. Turn left off the road to the reserve about 1.6 kilometers out of Santa Elena, then continue 300 meters to the hotel.

Hotel El Bosque, tel. and fax 661-2559. elbosque@sol.racsa.co.cr 21 rooms. $25 single/$33 double/$40 triple.

The rooms here are well off the road from the restaurant of the same name, in seven lowland-ranch-style buildings of stuccoed block and timber, set in a wide semicircle on attractive grounds with pines and gardens. All rooms have private bathroom with hot shower, cathedral ceilings, and good mattresses. They're not only a good buy, but if you stay here you get a discount in the restaurant.

The hotel property includes nine hectares with trails, some through primary forest. Camping area available. About three-and-a-half kilometers from the reserve.

Pensión Flor Mar, tel. 645-5009. 6 rooms. $28 per person with three meals, $35 with private bath.

Three kilometers from Santa Elena and three from the reserve, the Flor Mar is a rustic place that reminds me of a summer camp. Basic and friendly. You sleep on bunks, and can have a room all to yourself if they're not too busy. The food is sometimes vegetarian, always hearty, and they'll pack a lunch to carry to the reserve if you so desire. This is probably the only place in Costa Rica that serves imitation coffee.

Fonda Vela Hotel, tel. 645-5125, fax 645-5119 (tel. 257-1413, fax 257-1416 in San José), fondavela@sol.racsa.co.cr. 29 rooms. $100 and up double.

Rooms in this hotel, all with private bath, are in several chalet-style buildings spaced along the slopes of a former dairy farm; most are light, cheery and oversized, with large windows affording long views to the lowlands. The establishment also has its own stables with more than a dozen horses (for hire at $8 per hour); a nature trail through mixed forest; several ponds; and a craft shop. Meals are served by candlelight. Meeting room available. Four kilometers from Santa Elena, closest hotel to the reserve.

Hotel Villaverde, tel. 654-3555, has 5 simple cabins for rent at $20 per person, or $37 with three meals.

Monteverde Lodge, tel. 645-5214 (P. O. Box 6941, San José, tel. 257-0766). 27 rooms. $110 single/$125 double,lower May-November.

! Though this is one of the most substantial hotels in Santa Elena, it's a jumble of clapboard siding, Plexiglas bubbles, triangular mini-pediments, humdrum brick-and-reinforced concrete interior, and high-tech steel-and-glass greenhouse that would suit the Musée Pompidou, and a whirlpool that, oddly, sits squarely in the lobby—altogether an architectural stomach ache that assaults the senses. Meals and tours are pricier than elsewhere.

[ Well-equipped rooms are wood-panelled, with terrazzo floors, desk, good mattresses, full tiled bathroom, and outset windows.

Sunset Hotel, tel. 645-3558, off the road leading to the Santa Elena Reserve, has eight rooms with heavy wooden furniture at $20 per person with breakfast, less in slow times. The price is right, and the location is good if you have a car and want to be in a quiet spot. Dinner can be fixed as well, with or without meat, for only a few dollars. German is spoken, as well as English, and the cooking is good.

Ecoverde Tourist Lodge, tel. 645-5159, fax 645-5059, in Monte de Los Olivos, six kilometers north of Monteverde, is a community-based project that has four cabins and five rooms (shared bath) among private trails away from the bustle of Monteverde. Rates are $15 or $23 single/$22 or $34 double, $50 for four. Meals are served (lunch or dinner, $7). To reserve, call 283-8975, fax 283-9116 in San José, wwfcii@sol.racsa.co.cr.

Camping is available at the Hotel El Bosque, and might be individually arranged with some of the other hotels.

Bunks are available right at the Monteverde reserve if you make advance reservations (see below).

If you find good food at your hotel, don't look any farther! Most visitors flop back to their rooms and showers after a day of trudging, and outside eateries have not developed to the same degree as hotels, though there are a few choices.

The Sapo Dorado tavern and lodge is on a rise about a kilometer toward the reserve from Santa Elena, affording views to the Gulf of Nicoya from its terrace. Pizzas, soups, beef, tuna steak, pastas, and cheesecake are the fare, subject to daily rotation and announcement on the chalkboard. They always have a vegetarian offering, and try to limit fat content.

El Bosque ("The Forest"), a restaurant 2.2 kilometers out of Santa Elena, charges lower prices than you'll pay in most of the hotels of the area, in a large room with many windows to afford a view of the greenery and mist all around. Casados and similar standard Tico fare goes for about $6. If you order anything with a fancy name, you're asking for trouble.

The Fonda Vela Hotel has a pleasant candle-lit dining room set with cloth napkins and wine glasses, and with good food. Breakfast or lunch $5 to $6, dinner about $10.

And there are various diners in Santa Elena, and a couple of unpretentious coffee shops along the road to the reserve, none particularly distinguished. La Cascada, on a rise above the road, has glass walls for forest viewing while you eat, and a menu of steaks served with loud music (just what you came to Monteverde for).

The Monteverde cloud forest is created by winds, particular temperature and moisture conditions, and mountainous topography, which combine during the dry season to hold a steady cloud cover along the continental divide. During the rainy season, of course, the forest receives its full share of precipitation from storms blowing up from the coast. The rains, and the moisture in the air, nourish trees and plants rooted in the ground, as well as many plants that live at the upper levels of the forest, and take their nutrients directly from the mist and dust that pass through the air. The result is an enchanted, fairy-tale environment, where trees are laden with orchids, bromeliads, mosses and ferns that obscure their branches, where the moisture and mild temperatures and sunlight filtered by the forest canopy encourage the exuberance of begonias, heliconias, philodendron and many other tropical plants in every available space on the ground. Leaves are gigantic, vines penetrate everywhere, flowers blow through the air from the tree canopy. The forest is almost visibly growing and changing, throbbing and vibrating with life at all levels. Hummingbirds feed on nectar, frogs use pools of rainwater trapped in bromeliads to rear their young, worms and tree roots alike mine decaying matter whether it lies on the ground or in the crook of a branch. The air resounds with a crack as an epiphyte-laden branch drops to the ground, to rot and return to life by feeding the creatures and plants all around.

More than 2000 plant species have been catalogued at Monteverde, including more than 500 kinds of trees, 300 orchids, and 200 ferns. Within the 10,000-hectare reserve there is a variety in the forest habitat. Parts are relatively dry, with little undergrowth, others are swampy. There are areas of dwarf trees, and gradations from premontane to rain and cloud forest.

And, of course, there is more to the forest than the trees and lesser plants. Of over 400 bird species, the most notable is the quetzal, with its long arc of tail feathers. It nests in the trunks of dead trees. Other visually spectacular species include the three-wattled bellbird, the great green macaw, the bare-necked umbrellabird, and the ornate hawk-eagle. Assorted trogons in addition to the quetzal inhabit the reserve, along with more than 30 varieties of hummingbird. About 500 kinds of butterfly are found. Among the more than 100 mammalian species are howler, white-faced and spider monkeys; coatis and their cousins, raccoons; and pumas, ocelots, jaguars, tapirs, and kinkajous. Some of these may be seen scurrying for cover as you walk through their territory.

The two-inch golden toad, a symbol of the natural treasures that may turn up in protected areas, once bred by the thousands in puddles in the reserve during May and June, but has been seen rarely in recent years.

The reserve is open to the public from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. Sign in, and pay your entry fee (currently about $10, less for students). Give the person at the reception desk an idea of your route so that somebody can look for you if you don't return.

Getting There

It's catch-as-catch-can to get to the reserve from your hotel, which could be a distance of anywhere from one to eight kilometers. Call a taxi, flag down a truck, hike up the hill, get together with someone at your hotel who has a rented car. Somehow, everyone makes it, if not exactly on schedule.

On sale at the entrance are bird and plant lists, as well as a guide for the nature trail (which is marked only with numbers). Boots can be rented, when conditions require them.

Currently, no tent camping is permitted in the reserve. Fewer than a dozen beds are available in a couple of basic, inexpensive rooms, and these are often quickly taken. Call 645-5122 or check www.monteverdeinfo.com to reserve.

Guided walks in English or Spanish can be arranged at the reserve entry. These last about three hours, and cost $25 per person. Currently, scheduled departures are at 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30 and 9 a.m. The earlier the better, before the arrival of large numbers of visitors chases off the animals.

Individual hotels will arrange the tour as well, and provide transportation to the reserve for another $7 or so.

Slide shows are also given in a building in the reception area, at 4:30 p.m. daily, and there is a small gift shop.

Trails are well marked, and it would be difficult to lose your way. In fact, the going is so easy, with slabs of tree trunks providing dry footing in troublesome spots, and even elevated pathways, that on a recent return visit I attracted mud to just two toes of my sandaled feet. Much of what looks questionable is more squishy leaf rot than shoe-sucking ooze. Leon Bean's Maine hunting shoe would be the ideal footwear for a walk in these woods, but otherwise, any sturdy walking shoe and an eye to where you step are all that are needed. Most hotels will rent rubber boots for a dollar or so, but they're usually not needed, except after repeated heavy rains. Elevations vary from about 1500 to 1700 meters. Most of the steeper grades are near the entrance, so don't be discouraged.

In any case, though the reserve is civilized, be respectful. My daughter, swinging on a "Tarzan vine," ended up with spines stuck in the heel of her hand. You don't survive in the rain forest by being friendly.

You'll be handed a map when you pay your fee. Any of several routes is possible, for walks of a few hours to a few days. While you're supposed to come to look at the forest and animals, the long-distance views are also magnificent, especially from the point called La Ventana (The Window, or Opening). However, you will be very lucky indeed if you see an ocean. This is, after all, a cloud forest, and the clouds are often there.

One last bit of advice before you take off on your walk is to go slowly. Stop every once in a while and take a 360-degree look at the moss- and bromeliad-laden canopy, and at the lower levels of the forest. If you only walk at a steady pace—in other words, if you hike—your eyes will be necessarily glued to the trail in order to keep your footing, and you'll miss the whole show overhead.

OTHER SIGHTS NEAR MONTEVERDE

SANTA ELENA RESERVE

About five kilometers up and up from Santa Elena on a serious washboard road, through several river beds, is the second front of rain-forest conservation in the Monteverde area, the Santa Elena Reserve.

Santa Elena is strictly a junior partner to Monteverde, covering only 310 hectares, to Monteverde's 10,000, and receiving visitors who number in the dozens on a busy day.

But Santa Elena has several distinctions and differences that make it a worthwhile detour, if you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle or are willing to hike up. It affords vistas toward Arenal volcano, which can't be seen from Monteverde; it has more mixed flocks of birds, though fewer quetzals; its forest is of a different composition, including about 20 percent secondary, and dwarf forest; it is at a higher elevation; and it gets a hefty 5000 millimeters a year of precipitation.

Common and not-so-common animals at the Santa Elena Reserve include jaguars and smaller cats, several poisonous snakes, peccaries, howler monkeys, tayras, and sloths. Prominent birds are tinamous, toucanets and linnets._

Several trails run through the reserve, one of them crossing the continental divide. Youth Challenge (Reto de la Juventud) trail offers views to Arenal volcano on clear days. Portón Pesado trail crosses through recovering forest, with a greater variety of birds and vegetation than elsewhere. Caño Negro trail passes through a variety of forest types.

Hours at the Santa Elena Reserve are from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., admission about $6, less for students. Boots can be rented, and refreshments are available. The administration, by the secondary school in Santa Elena (which uses any profits toward environmental education), is totally separate from that of Monteverde. Student crafts, including embroidery and painting, are available at the reception center.

It’s not quite Don Perry’s jungle tramway, but Aerial Adventures is a scaled-down version, at a much-scaled-down price. Two-person electrically powered cars run ontracks fixed to towers at up to 12 meters (40 feet ) above the ground on a 1.5 kilometer course, giving you a sloth’s-eye view of what’s going down in the montane rain forest. Hours are 6 a.m. to8 p.m., rain or shine, with night visits by arrangement. The ride takes about 75 minutes and the price, about $10, is reasonable as this sort of excursiongoes.

The Butterfly Garden, on a side road a couple of kilometers from Santa Elena, is a series of greenhouses and flyways where forty species of butterflies native to the Monteverde area are raised and displayed for visitors, along with specimens of local flora and mounted butterflies.

A tour enlightens visitors about butterfly life cycles and the plants with which they live and interact.

This display is roughly comparable to other butterfly exhibits in Costa Rica, but at $5 per person, the entry fee is much more reasonable.

Bajo del Tigre is a trail through a small, separately administered conservation area, at a lower level than that of the Monteverde reserve, so vegetation differs.

Sendero Tranquilo is a 100-hectare private forest owned and operated by the Hotel Sapo Dorado, and open to visitors for a fee. Inquire at the hotel the day before you plan to visit.

The Serpentarium right in Santa Elena, a type of exhibit that is becoming generic in Costa Rica (like butterfly gardens), shows off Costa Rica's snakes, poisonous and otherwise, at a fee.

San Gerardo de Abajo, over the continental divide and about three hours away by horse, is the site of another biological station, administered by Costa Rican farmers, part of the biological corridor that includes the Monteverde and Santa Elena reserves. Arrangements can be made to stay overnight (call 661-2757), within view of Arenal volcano and Lake Arenal.

Another destination is Cañitas, on the mountain route to Tilarán (see below), a country town just like Santa Elena—except that it sees few visitors. The Los Tornos gold mine is also within trotting distance.

El Trapiche is an old-fashioned sugar mill, about four kilometers from Santa Elena on the back road to Tilarán, where you can see cane being pressed for its juice, which is boiled and dried into hard brown blocks. It's also a t-shirt shop, of course. Currently, cane is pressed only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Nearby is an Ecopark, in reality a private house and mini-zoo where captured deer and tepezcuintles (pacas) are kept to amuse visitors at an admission fee of a couple of dollars.

The very last site to see in Monteverde is the cheese factory. Visitors may look in on the operations, which are unspectacular.

The Monteverde community as a whole attracts much curiosity, in the same way that the Amish do in Pennsylvania. It is, after all, unusual to find an English-speaking, North American-descended farming colony dispersed over these beautiful mountains. Once reticent to share their ways with outsiders, the descendants of the original settlers have gradually moved into the hospitality trade, and some have intermarried with locals; and, over the years, Santa Elena and Monteverde have become more and more Costa Rican in majority and character.

More Facilities in Monteverde and Santa Elena

Monteverde Studios of The Arts offers regular courses in the plastic arts, with studio space and room and board included in the fees (just over $300 as of recently). Contact them at P. O. Box 766, Narbeth, PA 19072, tel. 800-370-3331, or P. O. Box 6-5655, Monteverde, Costa Rica, mstudios@sol.racsa.co.cr.

The bus for San José departs from the cheese plant Monday through Thursday at 6:30 a.m., Friday through Sunday at 3 p.m. Telephone 645-1152 in Monteverde to check the schedule. Currently, the Saturday departure is omitted in the rainy season. Passengers are picked up at hotels along the way, and at the bank in Santa Elena. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the San José bus station or at El Bosque restaurant and at some hotels in Monteverde.

The bus for Puntarenas departs at 6 a.m. from Santa Elena; for Tilarán, near Lake Arenal, at 7 a.m.

LAS JUNTAS AND THE GOLD MINES

Buses for Cañas depart five times daily from Calle 16, Avenidas 3/5, San José, and from Calle 14, Avenidas 1/3.

Hacienda La Pacífica, P.O. Box 8-5700 Cañas, tel. 669-0050, fax 669-0555, pacifica@racsa.co.cr. 28 rooms and cottages. $55 single/$85 double.

Five kilometers north of Cañas, along the highway, the attractive La Pacífica offers three different types of units, ranging from modest to quite comfortable (though without air conditioning) in cottages widely spaced on shady lawns.

[ La Pacífica is a self-styled Centro Ecológico (Ecological Center), a model farm where environmentally sound methods are used to raise cattle and crops. All of the hacienda, covering about 16 square kilometers of cultivated fields, pasture and windbreaks, is open to visitors for exploration, along roads, trails, on foot or on horseback (for a modest fee with guide). About two kilometers from the hotel is the dairy; five kilometers away is the hundred-year-old ranch house. Near the guest accommodations, trees in groves are handily labelled—tamarind, cocobolo, hog plum, and many others. Swimming is available in both a pool and a lake. Birds squawk, goats whinny, and roosters crow. It's all quite lovely.

! But also, trucks roar and an occasional small plane drones. But for the latter noises, I could recommend La Pacífica as a vacation destination in itself; and rates are a trifle high just for sleeping. Your best bet might be to stop by for lunch and a look around.

The food is good—mixed grills, chops and cordon bleu for $8 and up—served in a pavilion bordered by cages of macaws, a fish pond, and leafy plants and ferns.

Hotel El Corral, tel. 669-0222. 12 rooms. $17 single/$30 double.

Right on the highway, a plain, two-story tan building with clean, adequate rooms, air-conditioned. Inexpensive restaurant with odd decor (stuffed deer head, wrought-iron fixtures, reproduction of Old Master, etc.).

Also in Cañas, Cabinas Corobicí (tel. 669-0241), six blocks east of the highway, is basic but friendly, with rooms for under $10 per person.

La Pacífica presents a good table (see above), and is worth a stop. Nearby on the highway, and adjacent to the rapids of the Corobicí River, are two roadside restaurants: the Rincón Corobicí, with steaks, fish and souvenirs; and the less formal El Guapinol.

Safaris Corobicí, tel. and fax 669-0544, located next to La Pacífica on the highway, runs float trips on the Corobicí, a tropical river that lazes through marsh, mangrove and pasture to Palo Verde National Park. No paddling is required; you sit back and watch for egrets, toucans, monkeys, herons and alligators from your privileged perch. Prices range from $35 for a two-hour trip to $60 for a half-day motorized trip to the Tempisque River, with lunch. If you wish, you can also take part in reforestation by planting a tree on any trip.

Bicycle trips down from Lake Arenal are also available.

Transportes Palo Verde, at Hotel El Corral, tel. 669-1091, operates motorized river trips through Palo Verde park and the salt-water estuary to the Tempisque River, at similar prices. Children under 14 go half price on all these trips, which are, in fact, eminently suited for kids, in contrast to white-water excursions on other rivers in Costa Rica.

Just down a side road from Safaris Corobicí is a mini-zoo with peccaries and other small forest mammals in a barnyard setting.

Tilarán (altitude 564 meters), 22 kilometers from Cañas through foothills of the Tilarán range dotted with cylindrical hydroelectric stations, is picturesque, warm, slow-paced, clean, and lightly trafficked, a ringer for a hill town in the Portuguese Algarve. Tilarán is developing as a center for adventures on and around Lake Arenal.

Four kilometers beyond Tilarán, the branch road approaches fjord-like, man-made Lake Arenal, the perfect Arenal volcano at its south end, islands sprinkling its waters. Much of the land surrounding the lake comprises Arenal National Park, currently in a state of development and expansion.

The lake is said to be good for sport fishing: guapote, a bass-like fish, and machaca populate its waters. And a constant breeze makes it a world-class windsurfing destination._Volcano-watching, hiking and general "ecotourism" are also attracting more and more Costa Ricans and foreigners to Lake Arenal, and some new accommodations have appeared in Tilarán to serve them and above the lake to serve them.

Under Arenal's surface are the remains of twelve pre-Columbian settlements, which were encountered with the aid of American satellite photographs and radar tracking. They appear to have been incinerated during an eruption of Arenal several thousand years ago, in the manner of Pompey. This archaeological curiosity was submerged during the construction of the Arenal hydroelectric project and the filling of the lake.

The right fork at the lake approach takes you six kilometers to Tronadora, where there are some basic cabinas with lake access.

The main road runs northwest, then circles the waters through the highlands above. There are no shoulders on which to pull off to admire the view, and few access points to the tempting water below.

The town of Arenal (or Nuevo Arenal), altitude 620 meters, 29 kilometers beyond the junction at the lake approach, at the end of the pavement, is a neat assemblage of concrete bungalows. "Old" Arenal lies somewhere below, in the lake. Fortuna, with a stretch of poor road in between, is 73 kilometers distant, past Arenal volcano. A few buses a day ply this route all the way to Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos). See page 443 for more on what's across the lake.

In Tilarán:

Bed

Cabinas El Sueño, tel. 695-5347. 12 rooms. $18 single/$29 double.

A block from the square, and pleasant enough, with carpeted rooms, upstairs courtyard and fountain. Soda El Parque, underneath, serves basic meals at low prices.

Cabinas Lago Lindo, tel. 695-5977, near El Sueño, are the bargain place in which to stay in Tilarán, six airy rooms with linoleum floors and slim beds, at under $10 per person, or about $20 double with private bath.

Cabinas Mary, tel. 695-5479, on the square, has rooms with bath for under $10 per person, or about $7 per person sharing toilet facilities.

And there are other lodging places with rooms for about $7 per person.

Bed and Boards

The Spot/El Lugar tourist center, tel. 695-5711, makes arrangements for fishing and water sports, and has mountain bikes to rent. They have 16 rooms for about $30 single/$50 double with hot water and fan. The lobby opens up to a pleasant garden behind a commercial building; the adjacent Catala restaurant is the most formal dining area in town.

The Art of Fun / Aventuras Tilarán (tel. and fax 695-5008) is a sports shop that arranges windsurfing, horseback rides, cave tours, river tubing, lake fishing, and boat rides. These mostly cost $50 or under for the day. Overnight biking and camping trips can also be ordered up. Windsurfers and mountain bikes are available by the hour or day, and lessons can be arranged in several languages. They have rooms to rent in several houses around Lake Arenal at about $15 per person, bed and breakfast.

Two hotels nearer to the lake that also cater to windsurfers are Rock River Lodge and Tilawa Viento Surf (see below).

These facilities, along or (more usually) above the lake, can be reached most easily from Tilarán if you have a car. Other hotels and lodges near the eastern end of the lake (see page 301) are usually reached via Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos) because of the e-x-e-crable condition of the road in between.

Puerto San Luis (P. O. Box 02-5710, Tilarán), tel. 695-5750, fax 695-5950. 20 units. $40 single/$68 double.

This is an informal recreational resort, on a rolling lakeside plot, one of the few accommodations with direct access to the water. Cabina rooms are well-equipped, if not well-decorated, with carpeting, television, double bed, mini-refrigerator, and tiled bath. The restaurant offers local fish and Tico country food, with few items above $4. But you come here for the sporting life: horses ($5 per hour), water skiing and fishing ($25 per hour), and windsurfing ($50). Excursions are also arranged to the Venado caves north of the lake, and by boat around the lake or to Arenal volcano.

To reach Puerto San Luis, take the right fork as you approach the lake from Tilarán, and continue for about two kilometers through the village.

Hotel Tilawa Viento Surf, P. O. Box 92, Tilarán, tel. 695-5050 or 800-851-8929 direct to Costa Rica, fax 695-5766. 28 rooms. $52 single/$66 double/$81 triple with breakfast.

[ The Tilawa, modeled after the Palace of Knossos on Crete, caters to windsurfers and others who don’t mind staying in a setting of splendor. Comfortable guest rooms are decorated with Guatemalan spreads, and have orthopedic beds. Bathrooms have both tubs and showers. Junior suites at a slight higher rate have cooking facilities. All rooms overlook the lake, and afford splendid views to your choice of four volcanoes, gardens and fountains.

The Minoan theme is carried throughout, from the stencils on bedroom floors to frescoes in the bar and restaurant (glassed-in to provide superb views even in the rain). There are also a tennis court, and a large pool, dramatically situated above the lake, the only one within miles. Non-guests may swim with a minimum consumption at the bar.

But the specialty at Tilawa is outfitting guests for riding the wind on Lake Arenal. Rigs are ready at a separate lakeside launching area (and access to the lake is difficult except at the few spots with permits), and lessons are available. Just specify your board length when you reserve, and bring along your favorite helmet and shorty wet suit. Daily rates are $40 and up for a board. Canoes are available for similar rates, there are mountain bikes and Hobie Cats, and fishing can be arranged.

Xiloe (tel. 695-9806, fax 695-9882), at the western bend of Lake Arenal 16 kilometers from Tilarán, has five wooden cabins for rent at $50 double, $65 for four.

Equus, adjacent to Xiloe, has horses for rent at about $10 per hour.

Rock River Lodge (P. O. Box 2907-1000 San José, tel. 222-4547, fax 221-3011). 11 units. $50 double, $12 per additional person.

The six bedrooms here each come with a double bed and upper and lower bunks, in a woody building on a hill overlooking Lake Arenal from the north, about 18 kilometers from Tilarán. Another five individual bungalows with kitchenettes rent for about $50 double. Separate from the guest areas is a substantial rustic lodge-dining room with stone fireplace, where hearty windsurfer fare is served.

Windsurfer rentals are arranged at about $45 per day.

Mirador Los Lagos, tel. 695-5484 (P. O. Box 31, Tilarán). 7 units. $50 for up to four persons.

What a pretty spot this is . . . cottage units on a slope looking down to a fishing pond, rolling farmland and pasture, and the winding waters of Lake Arenal. Rooms are country-plain and neat, with double beds and hot water. In the wooden main house, a pool table is available to guests. The terrace restaurant offers inexpensive meals of lake fish, chicken, and Costa Rican specialties. About 20 kilometers from Tilarán. Horses are available for rent for about $6 per hour, and tours are arranged to caves and springs.

Eco-Adventure Lodge (P. O. Box 60, Tilarán, tel. 221-4209 in San José, www.ecolodgecostarica.com), near Lake Cote, north of Lake Arenal, is three kilometers down a side road from a point 23 kilometers from Tilarán. Rates in 25 rooms with private bath are $46 single/$55 double, higher in 12 cabanas. Meals and transportation from San José are available. Call the San José number before you visit.

Albergue Alturas de Arenal (tel. 222-6455, fax 222-8372, P. O. Box 166-1007, San José), four kilometers west of Nuevo Arenal, has the flavor of rural Costa Rica in a stuccoed, tile-roofed building with a sheltered dining terrace decorated with oxen yokes and other Tico country paraphernalia. Rooms are simple and carpeted, renting for $31 double with breakfast.

Chalet Nicholas (P. O. Box 72-5710 Tilarán, tel. And fax 694-4041) is an American-owned cozy "first-class guest house" (as the sign says) at kilometer post 48, two kilometers west of Nuevo Arenal, a chalet with magnificent views from the front porch down to Lake Arenal. And when the clouds lift, Arenal volcano comes into view. Two bedrooms sharing a bathroom, and an upstairs loft with private bath, are available for $65 double. These have either one large or two single beds. Birding is good among the surrounding fruit trees, and several species are kept in a large cage on-site. They also have their own riding horses ($15 for a spin) and video player, and can arrange fishing. Owners John and Catherine Nicholas are retired New Yorkers.

Several other B&Bs are sprouting along this road. The Swiss Bed and Breakfast, just east of Nuevo Arenal, is open intermittently when the gate is not chained. La Ceiba Boat, Bed and Breakfast (P. O. Box 9, Tilarán, fax. 695-5387), up a steep side road from the unpaved lakeside road, has four clean, comfortable guest rooms with hot water in a bungalow with lake view, renting at $20 per person. The giant ceiba tree that gives the place its name towers over the garden, and there is adjacent primary forest with trails. This is a restful spot, cool and pleasant. They also have a Ping Pong table, sailboat for up to four persons available for rent, beach access, and can cook lunch and dinner on request. English, Spanish and German spoken.

Villa Decary, two kilometers west of Arenal Botanical Garden, is a five-bedroom lodging house on a former coffee plantation, featuring carved woodwork and furnishings handcrafted in the Nicoya peninsula and in Guatemala. Rates are about $45 single/$55 double with breakfast, and a housekeeping rate is available. Write Villa Decary, 5717 Tilarán, Guanacaste, or fax 694-4086, or visit www.villadecary.com.

Arenal Botanical Garden, on a hillside about 4 kilometers east of Nuevo Arenal, has about 1200 species of plants on permanent display, most prominent among them cloud-forest plants such as bromeliads and heliconias. And, of course, butterflies and birds are attracted to such surroundings. Admission charge is about $4 per person when the gate is unlocked. For information, call 695-5266, extension 273, in English.

Mirador Los Lagos (P. O. Box 182-5710 Tilarán, tel. 694-4271, fax 694-4290) is a lake-view set of cottages, all with porches, nine kilometers from Arenal on the way to Tilarán. The charge is about $35 double, with big discounts for backpackers (keep a backpack stowed in the trunk of your rental car). Or, you can camp for a few bucks. The owner used to manage restaurants, and serves meals here for $5 to $10, with some veggie choices. Activities include hikes, rain forest outings, and fishing and wind surfing.

From Tilarán, buses depart for San José at 7 and 7:45 a.m. and 2 and 5 p.m.; for Arenal, across the lake, at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.; for Cañas at 5, 6:20, 7:30 and 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; for Monteverde at noon; for Puntarenas at 6 a.m. and 1 p.m.; and for San Carlos (Ciudad Quesada) at 7 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

By car, you can attempt the road past Nuevo Arenal toward Arenal volcano, but unless you have four-wheel drive, you might have to turn back.

A typically rutted Costa Rican country road winds along the crest of the Tilarán mountain range toward Santa Elena and Monteverde. With a sturdy vehicle, it takes two hours or less to negotiate the 50 kilometers to the reserve. The first seven kilometers are paved, to Quebrada Grande. Beyond, the road climbs to La Florida, and deteriorates to a rock bed running through windblown, pastured hills, and little family farms. Old-style milk cans are left for collection at the gates. Various side roads lead off to dead ends, or down to Las Juntas de Abangares. If you’re at the wheel, ask directions at every fork, for Nubes, and then for Santa Elena.

Volcano-Hopping: If you're interested, you can turn off the Inter-American Highway and approach any of several volcanoes that are less trendy than Arenal, and maybe less spectacular, but more adventurous to reach.

Volcano Hostel

Las Heliconias Ecotourist Lodge, tel. and fax 470-0115, is four kilometers from Bijagua (follow highway 6 from the Inter-American), on the slopes of Tenorio volcano (1916 meters), with excellent views of Miravalles volcano as well. Six rooms with private facilities go for $22 single/$32 double/$40 triple, with lower rates for students. Trails on the property of this community-operated lodge afford great birding, and there is access to falls, hot springs and fumaroles rarely seen by outsiders. To reserve, call 283-8975, fax 283-9116 in San José, wwfcii@sol.racsa.co.cr.

Back on the Inter-American Highway, at Bagaces (kilometer 215), is the junction for the Miravalles thermoelectric generating project, 27 kilometers to the northeast on the Miravalles volcano.

Miravalles Volcano Lodge, 30 kilometers from Bagaces at the end of a road onto the volcano, is a ranch house on a farm where heart of palm is produced. Package ranch vacations run about $300 for two nights and three days, including walks to fumaroles. Call Natural Expeditions, tel. 227-2920, if you're interested in visiting.

Southwest of Cañas, near the mouth of the Tempisque River, is Palo Verde National Park, a reserve of seasonally dry tropical forest of the type which once covered much of this area. Birds flock to Palo Verde, and so do birders: the leafless state of the trees during the dry season makes it easy for the latter to view the former. At least 300 species have been recorded at Palo Verde, including an occasional jabiru, scarlet macaws, and wood storks, roseate spoonbills, blue-winged teals, and black-bellied tree ducks numbering in the thousands and even the tens of thousands. There are hiking trails and observation points.

Palo Verde is best reached by way of the Lomas Barbudal Reserve. Other access routes cross private property. Inquire at the National Parks Service in San José before visiting.

Less developed for visitors is the adjacent wetland Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, a refuge for migrating waterfowl, including herons, egrets, ducks and grebes. The station for the reserve is reached by taking an unpaved road from the kilometer 221 marker on the Pan American Highway, negotiable in a sedan in the dry season. Six kilometers out, the terrain drops off sharply, from bare flatlands with scattered trees to a river bottom that remains moist throughout the year, alive with bird songs and dense with trees and bushes. If you arrive by car, continue to the second parking area, adjacent to the station, if road conditions look promising. Here bird lists and t-shirts are on sale, and there are exhibits of butterflies and other fauna. There are trails from this point, and a picnic area nearby.

At the mouth of the Tempisque River is the Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de Vida Silvestre), which encompasses a variety of habitats ranging from dry forest to marsh to lagoons to pasture and evergreen groves, where peccaries, deer, white-faced monkeys, waterfowl and crocodiles can be observed, among others. The Rodríguez Caballero Refuge may be reached by raft and motorboat from the La Pacífica ranch and hotel along the Pan American Highway. For information about the wildlife refuge, contact the Wildlife Department (Departamento de Vida Silvestre) of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mines, Calle 9, Avenidas 11/13, San José, tel. 233-8112, or the national parks information center in the San José zoo.

In the refuge is the Palo Verde Biological Station of the Organization for Tropical Studies, where research facilities are available and outside visitors may stay for about $50 daily, with meals provided, if space is available. The fee for a day visit is $15. Contact the Organization for Tropical Studies, P. O. Box 676, 2050 San Pedro, tel. 240-6696, fax 240-6783; or P. O. Box DM, Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A., tel. 919-684-5774.

(As you can tell from this flurry of names and places, conserving the wonders of nature can be a matter of complex jurisdictions.)

Inquire of travel agencies in San José, or look into the boat and raft excursions of Safaris Corobicí and Transportes Palo Verde (see page 298).

LIBERIA

Liberia, the major city of northwestern Costa Rica, is a bustling place with wide, clean streets, relatively good accommodations, and a pleasant, dry climate. All lowland towns should be like Liberia. Strangely, modern Liberia is one of the oldest cities of Costa Rica, founded in 1769, when the area was part of Nicaragua, then a more prosperous and populated colony than Costa Rica. La Agonía, dating from the last century, is one of the senior churches of the country.

Liberia is the capital of Guanacaste, a province with a separate tradition and a separate history from the rest of Costa Rica. By Spanish fiat, the area was detached from Nicaragua in 1814 in order to give Costa Rica a population sufficient for representation in the Cortes (parliament) at Cadiz. A vote in Nicoya in 1820 confirmed the transfer, at a time when Nicaragua was racked by civil wars. That early exercise in self-determination is celebrated on July 25 every year. Nicaragua for many years protested the loss of the territory, but finally gave up its claims in the Cañas-Jérez treaty of 1858.

The province takes its name from the guanacaste (earpod) tree that provides shade on vast, flat grasslands. In a country short on folklore, Guanacaste provides tradition and color for all of Costa Rica. The punto guanacasteco is the national dance. Music played on the marimba, a xylophone-type instrument used by pre-Columbian Indians of Guanacaste, with sounding boxes made from wood or gourds, arouses nostalgic feelings in San José, though it has no roots there.

The culture of Guanacaste is largely Mestizo, or mixed Indian and Spanish. The Chorotega Indians of this area had strong ties to the peoples to the north, in Mexico and coastal Central America, before the arrival of the Spanish. Even today, there are pockets of Chorotega life in the Nicoya peninsula, where old farming practices, such as the use of the digging stick, and traditional forms of burnished pottery, are maintained. Mostly, however, the Chorotega heritage can be seen in Guanacastecan faces that are browner than those in other parts of Costa Rica.

Large areas of drought-prone Guanacaste have been made productive for rice and cotton cultivation with the construction of irrigation systems. A sparse population produces surpluses of fruit, corn, and beans as well. But for most Costa Ricans, Guanacaste signifies vast herds of cattle munching away on the grasslands. The folkloric figures par excellence of the area are bramaderos, Costa Rica's poor man's cowboys, mounted on horses with elaborately decorated saddles, and boyeros, tenders of oxen.

Buses for Liberia leave from Calle 14, Avenidas 1/3, San José, every day at 7, 9 and 11:30 a.m., and 1, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Most are modern units, and cover the route in about four hours. There are additional buses from Avenida 3, Calles 18/20. The airport south of town serves charter flights of vacationers heading for the beaches, and a few scheduled flights from San José on Travelair and Sansa.

Hotel El Bramadero, P. O. Box 70-5000, tel. 666-0371, bramadero@racsa.co.cr. 24 rooms. $30 single/$42 double with air conditioning, $20/$30 with fan.

A modest motel with rooms arranged around a courtyard and pool, and a large pavilion restaurant, the Bramadero has seen better days. Located at the turn from the highway into town. Travel services and car rental available.

Hotel Boyeros, P.O. Box 85, tel. 666-1577, fax 666-2529, hboyeros@racsa.co.cr. 62 rooms. $44 single/$60 double.

Also located at the turn into town. Modern, with air conditioning, pools for kids and adults, and attractive leafy landscaping. Bands sometimes perform on weekends—inquire beforehand if you need a good night's sleep.

Hotel La Siesta, Calle 4, Avenidas 4/6, P. O. Box 15-5000, tel. 666-0678, fax 666-2532. 24 rooms. $44 single/$60 double.

Clean hotel, with small pool and air conditioning, enclosed parking, and inexpensive restaurant. From the Central Park, walk one block toward the highway on Avenida Central, then two blocks to the left. Safe-deposit box available.

Hotel Las Espuelas, tel. 666-0144 (P. O. Box 1056-1007 Centro Colón, San José, tel. 239-2000, fax 233-1787). 40 rooms. $50 single/$65 double.

Best in the area, a hacienda-style building with palm-shaded grounds, courtyard filled with birds and flowers, a good, reasonably priced restaurant with kids' menu, quiet central air conditioning (highly unusual), pool, and meeting facilities. Located on the highway, about a kilometer south of the turn into town.

Las Espuelas has several package trips from San José that include excursions to beaches, to a cattle ranch (with horseback riding), and to Santa Rosa National Park.

Hotel El Sitio (P. O. Box 471-1000 San José), tel. 666-1211, fax 666-2059. 52 rooms. $75 double with air conditioning.

On the road toward Nicoya, an airy, open, modern ranch-style complex with two pools, simple dining, and a small casino. Rental cars available.

For cheaper, no-frills lodging, the Hotel Guanacaste (tel. 666-0085, fax 666-287), half a block in from the highway, near the Hotel Bramadero, a self-styled "youth hostel," will do in a pinch. Cubicles in assorted sizes go for $20 or less double, most with private toilet. Hotel Liberia (tel. 666-0161), Pensión Margarita (tel. 666-0468), and Pensión Golfito (tel. 666-0963) all have rooms for $10 per person or less.

Most of the above have hotels have restaurants and bars.

The Pokopí restaurant, opposite the Hotel El Sitio on the Nicoya road, is a small steak and seafood house, with such items as chicken in wine sauce, pepper sirloin tips (excellent!), charcoal-broiled steak with all the trimmings, salads, pizza, and the unexpected sea bass à la Goldberg (in white sauce with mushrooms), for $6 and up. They also have children's plates and sandwiches for $3 or less. It's worth planning to arrive here for lunch or dinner. Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., later on weekdays. Attached is the Kuru disco.

Soda Gabi, on Avenida Central about two blocks past the square (opposite the highway) serves breakfast and lunch. Las Tinajas, on the square, has hamburgers, milk shakes and fried chicken.

Restaurant Jauja, on the road into town, has open-air tables and a menu that includes fruit drinks and several Mexican items.

And there are assorted Chinese restaurants with names like Chung San and Canton.

Hotel La Siesta, two blocks south of the square, has an inexpensive no-frills no-hassle restaurant, with beef and fish main courses for $5 or less, and even shrimp for about $10.

In Liberia

Several travel agencies arrange excursions from Liberia. The Hotel Las Espuelas (see above) has inclusive tours from San José. Punto Norte (tel. 666-1313, fax 666-1736, P. O. Box 26-5000 Liberia) is based at Hotel El Sitio. They run trips to national parks and coastal wildlife reserves, ranch trips, and arrange boat trips, diving and fishing; and an investment tour that gives you partial reimbursement if you take the plunge.

The road from Liberia to the southern access to the park, about 25 kilometers distant, crosses the city dump and a chalky, uninhabited plain with sparse growth of seasonally dry forest. There are few regular buses and there is usually no traffic, but the park service in San José might be able to help with transportation if it already has a vehicle going out. Contact the park service in any case before visiting (at the zoo in San José), or the tourist office in Liberia, or inquire at the no-frills Hotel Guanacaste in Liberia. You can also hike, which is somewhat of a ritual among Costa Rican outdoor enthusiasts, but it's an exposed and dusty routing in the dry season.

If you drive this way, you'll make it through the last few kilometers only with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

About 17 kilometers out of Liberia, a spur track leads to Rinconcito Lodge, where rudimentary lodging is available for $10 per person. Meals are about $6 each, and horses and guides are available at about $7 per person in a group for volcano trips. Call 666-0636 to arrange transportation, at about $40 for a small group.

An alternative course is to head to Curubandé, off the Inter-American Highway north of Liberia, and stay the night at one of the lodges along another route to the volcano.

Hacienda-Lodge Guachipelín (P. O. Box 636, Alajuela, tel. 416-6545, fax 421-1910, or tel. 666-2429 at the lodge, www.guachipelin.com), 18 kilometers from the highway and 6 kilometers past Curubandé, is a cattle ranch out of the old days, a once self-contained fiefdom where the hacendado's word was law. Bunk beds in a venerable wooden ranch house cost about $20 per night, and there are private rooms for about $60 double, plus meals. Horses are available for hire, as at many country lodging places, but, unusually, Hacienda Guachipelín also gives riding lessons. Transportation can be arranged from Liberia on request.

At Rincón de la Vieja Mountain Lodge, along the same road past Curubandé (P. O. Box 114-5000 Liberia, tel. 685-5422, fax 666-0473, www.rincondelaviejalodge.com), double rooms are available for about $70, plus meals. A bus operates at 2 p.m. from Liberia to Curubandé (return bus at 5 a.m.), or the ranch can arrange to pick you up (they have a car coming to Liberia several times a week).

You can continue the next day to explore the volcano either on horseback or on foot. It's about a five-hour walk to the main crater. Tours are available for $70 to $85 per person from the nearby lodges with professional guides well versed in the flora and fauna of the volcano, to mudpots, fumaroles, sulphur pools, fresh-water springs, and lagoons. The ranch also runs a river tubing excursion, arranges meetings with local people and ridealongs with the cowboys, and can send you for a soaking in a natural hot spring with mud that is said to be curative. Call to inquire about package rates.

In Liberia, you can arrange a day trip to the volcano and lodge through the Hotel Bramadero.

Buena Vista Lodge (tel. 666-5147, fax 666-0090, $35 to $55 double in dorms or rooms), on a farm about 20 kilometers off the main highway via a rough road through Cañas Dulces, also offers horseback excursions to the park, as well as a spring-fed spa.

SANTA ROSA NATIONAL PARK

The junction for the access road to Santa Rosa is at kilometer 269 on the Pan American (Inter-American) Highway. If you're not driving, you'll have to hitch or, more likely, walk the seven kilometers from the highway to the hacienda building and administration center. Buses leave Liberia for La Cruz and/or Peñas Blancas about every two hours from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., passing the junction. From San José, buses for La Cruz depart from Calle 14, Avenidas 3/5 (tel. 223-1968) at 5 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Time to the junction is about five hours.

Partly because of its historical importance, the park is quite well run, and is one of the most visited in the national park system. Best time to visit Santa Rosa is in the dry season, when thirsty animals congregate around the permanent water holes and streams, making for easy viewing. During the rainy season, when few visitors appear, markers along the nature trail may be down.

Facilities at or near the park center include a historical museum in the old great house of the hacienda, seven kilometers from the Pan American Highway, and a nature trail nearby. The campsite, about a kilometer away, back toward the park entry, then down a side road, near the administration building, is basic, with showers and latrines, as well as many picnic tables. It's muddy in the rainy season (when I have spotted snakes), and there are no shelters. There's a small fee to camp, in addition to the admission fee to the park.

The casona, or great house of the Santa Rosa hacienda, is a large, whitewashed building with aged tile roof and wooden verandas. Part of the casona might date from the colonial period, though the age of the building is indeterminate. Houses of this sort were continually repaired, remodeled and expanded during their useful lives. The stone corrals around the house are almost certainly a few hundred years old, and were in use until the hacienda was nationalized. Great wooden mortars and pestles lie in the shade of the eaves. In the clearing in front of the casona is a huge guanacaste tree, witness to past battles.

Along the kilometer-long nature trail, signs point out features of plants, such as seasonal loss of leaves, which are adapted to the scarcity of water for much of the year; rock formations; and plants that survive the periodic fires of the dry lands. Typical dry-forest vegetation includes oaks, wild cherry, mahogany and the calabash, or gourd tree, the acacia bush, the ficus tree (higuerón, or amate), and the gumbo limbo, also called the naked Indian from the rich, reddish-brown color of its bark. Less exotic, "decorative" vegetation is also present, such as the hibiscus.

Several additional trails can be explored. The Indio Desnudo trail goes through a recovering dry forest. Animal sightings are said to be good along the Los Patos trail along which, near waterholes during the dry season, one can sit at a prudent and non-interfering distance and watch raccoons, coatis, spider monkeys, tapirs, agoutis, deer and assorted birds take their turns at the trough. Other wildlife that is more or less easily spotted in the dry season includes white-faced and howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars, coyotes, armadillos, iguanas, collared and white-lipped peccaries, and rabbits. As well, more than 250 bird species have been recorded.

Much of the savanna of the central part of Santa Rosa was created through clearing of the native forest. The grass periodically burns off, either through accidental fires or controlled fires set by park personnel. Efforts are being made to regenerate the forest in these areas. Typically for Costa Rica, there are several habitats in the park beside seasonally dry forest. More moist areas contain abundant hardwoods that never lose their leaves. Gallery forest sweeps over the park's waterways. Near the coast are mangrove swamps, with dense populations of crabs, and high, sandy beach.

Nancite beach is one of two known nesting areas in Central America for the Pacific Ridley sea turtle. During the rainy season, the turtles cr