“We don’t stop hiking because we grow old — we grow old because we stop hiking” – Finis Mitchell
When I first considered traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel, one of the first things I pondered was being on an active trip after having done so much cultural travel independently. I wasn’t sure I was cut out for it. However, it did cross my mind that if I left my comfort zone and resumed a workout schedule I had typically only started then stopped, it would be healthier for me. Especially in my younger senior years – or at any age. Travel keeps us young, and adventure travel coupled with an interest in staying in shape to make the trip more enjoyable can only enhance life.
I have now taken many trips with OAT, and their trip Costa Rica Natural Parks and Tropical Rainforests appealed to me because there was hiking involved in national parks I’d been in before briefly. It’s now been renamed Costa Rica: Wildlife and Tropical Landscapes, but the itinerary is identical. I loved the fairly easy hikes through the Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Manual Antonio National Park, They each had their own beauty, were abundant with wildlife, and it was all a joy – and healthy!
The Arenal Volcano National Park is right near the Aernal Volcano (3,740 feet high) as well as a lake of the same name where we took a glorious boat ride. This was after hiking through the rainforest where we saw leaf cutting ants, a strangle fig tree, and ferns everywhere along with typical rainforest and tropical vegetation. It’s just under 30,000 acres on size, and is really in between two volcanoes, the Chato Volcano being the other one, but the Arenal is the most active. The Chato Volcano has been inactive for 3500 years. The Aernal Park has short trails, but a large variety of rainforest animals that we didn’t see, which includes the white-faced monkey.
Manuel Antonio Park is a small park that is part of the Central Pacific Conservation area, and extends to the Pacific Ocean. It was established in 1972 and is 4900 acres large. In Manuel Antonio itself we had a spice tour one day, which impressed me as representing both the eco friendliness of Costa Rica, and Manuel Antonio in particular. During the spice tour, the emphasis was placed on composting and eating with spices for good health. When we hiked in Manuel Antonio Park, one of the most popular and visited parks in Costa Rica, it was hot and humid there, so our three-hour walk required talking a shower and changing clothes before leaving for a cooler and more highly elevated part of the country. We saw some beautiful land crabs, a few sloths, several lizards, iguana, and a whole troupe of monkeys who put on quite a playful show around the end. And of course there were a variety of ferns and rainforest vegetation. There are 109 species of mammals and 194 species of birds in the park. Three of Costa Rica’s four monkey species reside there as well.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, also founded in 1972, is really an ecosystem which looks very similar to a rain forest but with a massive cloud covering. Our Trip Leader said to expect this area to be 5 degrees cooler than previous days, but I had to wear several layers in the daytime, and extra layers more in the evening. They said the rain were getting was just mist, but it certainly seemed like more than mist.
While it was a fairly easy walk, the walking paths were assigned so a group doesn’t know in advance if they will have an easy or a more challenging hike. Some signs pointed to areas that were marked as steep. Our walk was a wonderful interpretive nature walk. Our Trip Leader was an excellent animal tracker and spotter, After our hike we saw hummingbirds feeding as we were waiting to move on.
We left the cloud forest and went on a boat ride to see even more wildlife along the water and the mangrove trees. Crocodiles, cormorants, egrets, hornbills, and even a whole “bird tree” were our companions for this delightful ride. The weather turned from very cold to hot and muggy, we crossed the Continental Divide and went from the Caribbean to the Pacific. But the country is lush and beautiful, and the ever-changing ecosystems, climate, scenery, and wildlife was a bonus.
I love hiking in the quiet. I’m not a talker while in nature, or at least don’t prefer to be.. There is so much verbal clutter in our lives, so much unnecessary that is said (and which can never be unsaid), that being in nature and hiking quietly gives me respite from that. People have their own craziness, their own issues, and all of us must live with that in various forms everywhere. So walking, pondering silently among the ferns, and finding my own peace is what hiking in Costa Rica was about for me. Hopefully peace within for everyone who seeks it is what time in nature will provide.
But perhaps has the biggest bonus of all was knowing that an active outdoors trip is healthy for mind, body, and spirit. One doesn’t have to be an outdoorsman or outdoorswoman to get the best these trips have to offer. Hiking in nature and enjoying its bounty will easily and naturally bring that goodness to any traveler, and sooth a disquieted soul who has either been on edge because of all that life can bring our way, or who is happy and wants to simply celebrate life and nature.
Travel the World with Passion 