He took a few steps before turning back to the group to explain that you not only have to know what the quetzal likes to eat (aguacatillo) and where its nest is located, but you also need a lot of patience. Making eye contact with everyone in the group, he added that “the most important ingredient to seeing a quetzal is luck.” This is how my guided hike through the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica began.

Scanning the forest with an ear to the sky, our guide picked up the pace. “Quickly and quietly,” he whispered. “I think they’re at their nest right now.” We dashed down the wide, gravel entrance to the park. I thought we’d be running deeper into the forest. Stopping at the road’s edge, he set up his scope and peered into the forest. He cupped his hands at his mouth and replicated the quetzal’s hollow, two-note whistle. “No, they ‘re not at the nest anymore. I think one flew up the hill. Let’s go!” he said.

We repeated the same scenario a couple of times. We scurried up and down the trails examining the treetops and listening for its call. I started to think that the anticipation of actually spotting the elusive quetzal was going to be the reward of the hike.

That’s when our luck took a turn for the better.

Through an opening in the thick canopy of trees, we spotted its crimson chest. “It’s a male!” informed our guide. It didn’t have the long tail feathers I had always associated with male quetzals. Its rectangular tail, typical of birds in the trogon family, was pure white, unlike the female’s tail which has black markings. I learned that we were looking at a young male; the tail plumes take a few years to fully develop.

Satisfied and feeling lucky, we continued down the trail…only to spot a second male quetzal with slightly more developed tail feathers! More than satisfied and feeling especially lucky, we returned to observing plant life and eruptions from nearby Arenal Volcano through the spotting scope.

“If we return the way we came, we might spot more quetzals,” said our guide. Feeling lucky enough to want to push our luck, we forwent exploring new parts of the forest for the chance to once again observe the mythical bird.

It was an unusually clear day. Located on the Caribbean slope of the Continental Divide, the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve gets a lot of rain. Hiking uphill, we saw our guide stop and set down his scope. Water break, I thought. He planted the legs of the tripod and angled the scope. With unprecedented calmness, our guide gestured to a nearby branch. Regally perched and wearing a mohawk-like crown in shades of emerald, the mature resplendent male quetzal’s long tail feathers fluttered in the wind like a pennon kite. Speechless.

Side note: Quetzals don’t sit still for very long. Because I had photographed the quetzal on an earlier hike in the Monteverde Cloud Forest (read about that hike here, with photos!), I decided to spend these moments just observing.

This brings me to tip number one for those of you who might find yourselves wondering how to successfully complete a mahout training course while saving body…and face:

1. Place your foot in the harness to pull yourself up onto the elephant’s neck. Do not attempt to leap directly to the top, unless you are over six feet tall and can do at least ten pull-ups. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the video of our adventure by ContemporaryNomad.com:

Tips continued

2. Wear long pants if you are going to be riding on the neck because your legs will chafe against the elephant’s rough skin.

3. Wear shoes that are unlikely to slip off, or just don’t wear shoes. Tevas are okay but flip-flops are not. It’s a long way to the ground, so the fewer the distractions the better.

4. Use more balance than brawn. While you will occasionally need to clench you thighs to hang onto the neck and to command the elephant to turn left or right, staying on the neck for any length of time without completely exhausting yourself requires balance.

5. If your ride in the basket on the elephant’s back, bring a pillow because sitting on the wooden seat while swaying back and forth gets very uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

Getting there: First off, if you’re traveling from San José, Costa Rica, the most difficult part about leaving the capital by bus is that there isn’t a single, central bus station. Each destination has its unique station. I wanted to end up in Tortuguero, so I needed to depart from the Caribbean station, known as La Estación de los Caribeños.

You can only get to Tortuguero by boat or plane. The bus from San José leaves you in one of two ports: Puerto Moin or Puerto La Pavona. To get to Moin you have to go first to Limón and then catch a taxi to the port of Moin. The boat ride from Moin is around three hours with a stop in between to stretch your legs. A fellow traveler took this route and saw a huge alligator and a sloth swimming! Now, those are some great sightings.

I took the one-hour boat ride from La Pavona winding down a chocolate brown river framed by lush forest to Tortuguero. To get to La Pavona, you need to take a bus from San José to Cariari. Once in Cariari, you can buy your ticket to La Pavona which includes the passage by boat to Tortuguero. The only catch is that you need to get to Cariari by 6:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., or 3:00 p.m. in order to get the bus/boat combination.

The bus ride from Cariari to La Pavona lasts just over an hour along a dirt road depending on how long the bus stops to let passengers purchase snacks from the local Chicharronera ― it’s a popular spot and you’ll be waiting a few minutes, if not snacking on a plastic bag full of chicharrones yourself.

Once in La Pavona, boats are waiting to take passengers on the one-hour journey to Tortuguero. If you miss the 10:30 a.m. direct bus from San José to Cariari, purchase a ticket to Guapiles where a bus is usually waiting to take passengers on the remaining 30-minute trip to Cariari.

Lodging: Most of the tours take you to all-inclusive hotels just outside of Tortuguero town. If you’re interested in getting more of a first-hand feel for the local culture, there are a couple of very comfortable and affordable options in town, one the best being Casa Marbella. Hardly a “budget” hotel with its vaulted ceilings, spotless rooms and tiled bathrooms, it’s perhaps only the lack of AC, which I generally don’t use, that would take it down a notch on the comfort scale. Tortuguero town is mostly quiet at night. It’s a pedestrian town, so you don’t hear traffic. Apart from a loud stereo, the only other raucous might come from a pack of howling dogs.

Food: You can buy just about anything at a number of small supermarkets. There are also plenty of great sodas, or mom-and-pop eateries, lining Tortuguero’s main walkway. The Buddha Café is probably the “fanciest” place in town and offers a pricier western-style menu. Even if you’re on a budget, the Buddha Café perched on the edge of the canal and lit by red paper lanterns at night is a nice place to enjoy a glass of wine.

Tours: There are many tour operators in town but I decided to stick with Casa Marbella because of their eco-friendly approach. The hotel offers a three-hour tour of Tortuguero National Park starting at 6:00 a.m. in the morning aboard a small, 10-seater boat with a 4-stroke motor. The boat also has an electric motor for when you need to quietly wind through the canals to spot wildlife.

The second most popular tour takes place between July and October when the American green sea turtles nest. Traffic along the beach is controlled though the Trackers Program overseen by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. This is done by giving each tour guide a time slot and a post along a 5 kilometer stretch of beach for his or her group. Tourists are not allowed on the beach until the turtle has dug a hole and started to lay its eggs. At this point, the turtle enters a trance-like state and only at this moment is it considered less invasive to view the nesting process.

I enjoyed every minute of the journey. The hotel even let me take out a kayak, for free, to explore the canals by myself. So, how did I do budget wise?

Cost breakdown of my 3-day, 2-night trip to Tortuguero:

Transportation: San José to Cariari 1,300, Cariari to La Pavona 1,000, Boat to Tortuguero 1,600 (total 7,800 colones, or $13)
Lodging: 2 nights at $35 with breakfast included (total $70)
Food: two dinners at 4,500 colones each and a glass of wine at 2,750 (total $20)
Tours: Three-hour morning canal tour, $20, two-hour night sea turtle tour, $20, and Tortuguero National Park fee, $10 (total $40)
Total: $153

When it comes to travel, I love adventure, but at the same time I’m not going to be the person who, while watching the San Fermín festival (the running of the bulls) in Pamplona, Spain, jumps out and starts dodging the horned beasts. I’ll discreetly watch from a balcony with friends sipping a glass of jeréz.

A friend visited last week and I made plans to go to the Arenal area in Costa Rica. The week before her arrival, Volcano Arenal erupted twice! The national park was evacuated and winds spread the ash up to 4 kilometers away. La Nación newspaper said that “OVISCORI (Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica) rejects, for the moment, that there will be a major eruption.”

Some people said there is no way they’d visit the area while others said that seeing a volcanic eruption would be incredibly exciting. The Arenal Observatory Lodge even advertises to these thrill seekers on their Web site. It says: “It is estimated that only ten people in every three million will ever have the opportunity of seeing a volcanic eruption in their lifetime, while only four in three million will ever view an active lava flow. Become one of those ten in three million!”

Not wanting to give up my plans to visit the Tabacón hot springs, I decided to go. The first day we heard sounds like fireworks exploding, saw puffs of smoke encircling the volcano and watched boulders rolling down the sides. We didn’t see the crater on the first day as it was topped by clouds.

Late Saturday afternoon, I was napping in a hammock at our B & B when I heard loud pops. The dog started to bark so I jumped up to check out Arenal when I saw a giant wall of ash rushing down the blackened cone. I froze. I wondered if it would reach us. The winds attacked the grey mass and pushed it away from us—phew! Just when I thought I had seen all that Arenal had to offer that day, the sky just above the crater turned bright pink and rivers of lava started to stripe the volcano like chocolate drizzle on a soft serve ice cream cone.

I remember sitting up in bed later that night and peeking out of the window only to see a perfect stream of lava flowing from the tip to the base. It seemed completely surreal. It’s a phenomenon that is impossible to capture in a photo, though I tried with what resulted in a blurry success.

Wow, I think I’m pretty lucky to be one of the four in three million—survivors! I’d say that this is one thrill seeking adventure whose fun outweighed the risk.