We first visited Parque Nacional Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, seeing all sorts of wildlife through the rainforest, as well as walked the beach at night in search of sea turtles laying their eggs. Both nights we were serenaded by Monkeys in the forest just outside our room.
We continued onto the cloud forest of Monteverde along the continental divide - a much different environment than the hot and humid lowlands, and a few more incredible days eco-touring. We finally landed ourselved onto the pacific coast just north of Tamarindo, where we lounged on the beach, played in the surf, and canoed a nearby estuary where we had the entire 'estero' to ourselves.
By and far, the most - um, well - 'interesting' part of our trip was our single engine plane ride back to San Jose (Costa Rica, not California). The events are still a little fuzzy. We heard thunder and saw lightning every day of our trip. That day, our flight was delayed due to bad weather over San Jose. When we got the go to proceed, we took off and made our way towards the capital as our pilots dodged the storm cells along the way. Being able to see all the controls in the cockpit of the plane, I watched the doppler radar as we passed by each storm cell. Noticing via the Instrument Landing System (ILS) that we were on approach to the runway, I also couldn't help but notice the purple on the radar just to our left. Watching the ILS every second, it then looked as though our pilot calmly aborted the landing as our descent flattened. But then, we were suddenly in a free fall for what seemed like days. Looking out the window, I saw a 757 below us on the ground
(being hard to judge height from where I sat, I'd say it was a few hundred feet - someone up front noted the altimeter at around 300ft). Although I'm not a pilot, I have heard in the past certain noises I never want to hear in a plane. One of which is a stall alarm and another of which is "bitching betty". Amongst the many lights and alarms going off at the time, I swear I heard at least one of those . Still in what felt like a free fall, again looking out the window, I see rooftops below seemingly getting closer fast as we wizzed over them. Then suddenly, the blood drains from head. Ahhh, EUPHORIA! From nothing else but strong g-forces and knowing we were climbing, and climbing fast. The turbulence wasn't over, as we went through some more bumps and grinds, each one just as bad as the last. Finally it all seemed to end. At this point, someone in front later recounted that the pilots, upon gaining control, held hands for a brief moment, and one wiped his brow in relief. Flying back across Costa Rica to our alternate airport, I think everyone was speechless most of the way. Upon approach to our runway, another alarm goes off (again, I'm no pilot, but I'm guessing it was a low fuel warning). Safely on the ground, we all stepped off the plane and began to recount the ride of terror - all on the way to the bar 
. The airport in San Jose had closed, and we were left waiting. Finally, we had the green light again to head back to San Jose. A few people refused to get back on the plane, one of whom was my wife, so we all ended up hiring a shuttle to drive us 4hrs to San Jose (I think the airline silently confessed to how bad the flight was, as they will reimburse us for the cost of the shuttle, even though the flight was never even cancelled). One person in front recorded the whole event on his video camera. Hopefully I will hear from him so I can watch the movie, but I'm not sure if I want to watch it. Perhaps to watch just to show myself it wasn't as bad as I had thought it was. Or perhaps, watch to show myself it WAS as bad as I thought it was. Whatever the case, it may have been one of the scariest moments of my life. A few photos:
Cayman Alligator - adjacent to our boat
Poison Dart Frog - about the size of my thumbnail. Poisonous, it gets its name from the natives using the frogs to poison their darts
The number and different species of Hummingbirds was beyond incredible.
Thunderstorms and sunset over Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde
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