Resulting from one of those random meeting in early October 2014 to meet couple of my friends for drinks, Mr. Ash and I decided in a spur of the moment to visit Costa Rica. Much remained to be negotiated before the trip would enter the realm of reality...
Mr. Ash's initial destination was Turkey; surely a wonderful place to visit. But it would have to wait for another trip. I was set on a place that was 1) warm and 2) close. Costa Rica fit the bill. We left Virginia on Friday, October 24th, via Orlando, for Juan Santamaria Inernational Aeropuerto. We were greeted by warm weather and because we came during the 'rainy season', a 100% chance of rain. We decided to rent a car, and after negotiating (!) the final rate with a friendly yet terse 'tico', we set off for our drive to Jaco, in the province of Puntarenas. We were accompanied by intermittent rain, crazy motorcycle riders whose only mission is to get to where they were going as fast as possible with little regard for their safety or those around them, and a few detours due to almost complete lack of road markings. All in all we covered almost 900 km (~600 miles) and spent almost a full day in the car. We came within 60 miles of Nicaragua (North of CR) when we went through Liberia on our way to Tamarindo beach and about 130 miles of Panama (South of CR) when visiting the Manuel Antonio National PSoark near Quepos.
We arrived at Mountain and Ocean Hotel around 6pm Friday evening; the place was dead. It was raining and there may have been a few lightning bolts thrown in; fortunately cooled minds prevailed and we wisely chose to take a dip in the pool and taste some local beers.
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| Enjoying some 'Typical' food |
Day 2 - Zip-lining and beach recon
When we woke up Saturday morning, we discovered snakes in formaldehyde at a local 'attraction'. I decided it was unwise to stay much longer, as I didn't want my head to end up in the monkey's cage.
Feral monkey.
The next day Ash decided it was time to risk his life zip lining from the top of the forest. It looked like fun and he was grinning the rest of the day, thanking the guy upstairs for sparring his life.
Day 3
The next day, I believe Sunday, we decided to drive down the coast line to Quepos to visit the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. After being hassled by about 5 different parking 'guides', we parked for about 3,000 colones (~$6) and then were ushered to the entrance by a very chirpy park ranger, who, once discovering we were unwilling to shell out $30/ea for a guided tour, lost interest in both of us and went searching for his next victim.
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| Playa Hermossa |
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| Downtown Quepos |
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| Quepos Bay |
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| Manuel's park |
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| Somebody left a bomber on the side of the hill and decided to build a restaurant around it. It seemed to attract quite a lot of attention. Not sure why; it was clearly in a state of disrepair. |
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| But the view was nice... |
Day 4
We left our empty hotel (did I say this was the rainy season?) early in the morning and said goodbye to the central coast region of Puntarenas to make our way north to the north-west region of Guanacaste and our final beach destination - Tamarindo. Roads were mostly in good condition, but with generally only two lanes and lots of construction south of Liberia on Hwy 1, we were mostly left to follow buses, bikes, and pickup trucks carrying livestock. The gas sipping 4 cylinder in our SUV did little to encourage passing. 4 hours later we found ourselves checking in to Best West
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| Near Puntarenas |
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| Battery-free GPS |
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| Somewhere near Canas |
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| Department of Sanitation - will work for food |
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| Tamarindo |
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| Entrance to the beach |
We spent the early afternoon by checking out the town or Tamarindo, which could be walked end-to-end in about 20 minutes as it mostly hugs the beach . The town is littered with restaurants (some high-end and quite expensive), bike and surf rental shops, many souvenir shops and a few bars. Since Costa Rica is very close to the equator, lying between 8th and 12th north latitude (south Florida is just north of the 24th latitude), sunrise is at around 5:20 am and sundown around 5:15 pm, we did not have much to enjoy the beach and walked the town at night instead.
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| Ash + Guide |
After the siesta, it was time to surf! After an easy and leisurely morning stroll on the beach and a breakfast at the hotel (can you believe they ran out of coffee?! at around 9) and a few more hours of doing very little, we picked up a 2 surf lesson local shop called Iguana Surf that was highly rated on Trip Advisor. We got couple of long boards, an experienced local guide and got to it. It was close to 3pm and high tide was coming in; after a few dry runs on the beach, we felt ready to tackle the waves.
Ash took a few lessons previously, while I was a surf virgin (I did try to surf a few time without supervision maybe 13 years ago in Florida, and mainly recall surfing to be an exhausting activity (paddling out), followed by patience-trying wave catching (this mostly meant falling of the board and getting pummeled by the weaves in my case).
We went out and mostly stayed about half-way out to where the big boys and girls were surfing; we were catching mostly beach breaks (no barrel surfing for us, not intentionally anyway). Our guide helped us navigate to the right waves and helped with the push off, which meant I missed only a vew waves. We were encouraged to stand up on the board right away, which in retrospect was a bit aggressive and enjoyed a few lazy runs just lying on the board...
We both made it out alive and pleasantly tired. Spending the sunset on the water was very special and I can why so many surfers are drawn to the ocean near the sunset; it truly was an amazing feeling bouncing on the waves and seeing the clouds turn bright orange...
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| Ash catching a wave |
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| The stars of Point Break 2 |
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| Happy for a job well done |
We finished the day at the beach around 6 pm tired, but happy. This being a Monday, it was very quiet and very few people were out, save for a few restaurants and a local watering hole called Skarky's (also the pot dealer were out in force and almost every shady character lurking on dark corners asked if we needed some [we did not in case you are curious]). We had some OK sushi (about $6 for 6 pieces of nigiri salmon) and a very uniquely tasting Pho (not bad, just different) at a local restaurant ran by a South Korean chef and bagged things up around 10.
Not on weather: During the rainy season, which starts in May and runs through November, it rains almost every day, mostly in the afternoon, and the rain is more likely and more intensive the farther you move toward the Caribbean Sea coast. Of note to travelers; the locals consider this their 'winter', which ends when the rainy season ends in mid-November. The 'summer' starts from mid-November and runs through the May; the school is out from early December until late January and is generally the time when 'ticos' (Costa Rican men) and 'ticas' (women) take vacation. The season is accompanied by much less rain and slightly warmer.
Day 5
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| The back roads of Tamarindo |
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| North of Villarreal |
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| Time for a mango drink |
The morning was 'boys morning off'; Ash went to the beach and I rented a mountain bike (thank god for that) to ride some of the locals 'roads'. With pavement ending almost immediately in the center of Tamarindo, I negotiated an endless sea of potholes, rocks, loose dirt, and live stock with incredibly long horns. 22 miles and 3 hours later I was happy to take a dip in the ocean and wash the dirt, mud and sweat off the bike and me.
Day 6
Time to pack up and move east to visit the Arenal Volcano, one of Costa Rica's most famous and recently (ok, it was 22 years ago, but still...) active volcanos.
More on the Arenal volcano can be read here: http://www.arenal.net/arenal-volcano-overview.htm
We took off early around 8 am and anticipated about a 4 hour ride from Tamarindo; 2 hours were spent on familiar roads to and from Liberia and highway 1, and 2 more on hwy 142 around lake Laguna de Arenal. What a beautiful sight!
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| Hearty breakfast made up for rice and beans, green guava, cheese, scrambled eggs and plantains at 'Restaurante y Souvenir Aroma Tico' in Tilaran |
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| Laguna de Areal - what a stunning view! |
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| Once we passed Laguna de Arenal, we finally spotted the Arenal Volcano. This shot was taken from about 10 miles out. |
We then entered the park and hiked for a few miles at the foot of the volcano. It was last active in 1992, when Lava oozed out on its west side, where the trail ends.
We got out of there fast.
We still had to make it out to San Jose, but not before visiting one of the resorts that provides access to volcano heated hot sprints. We ended up at Hotel Los Lagos (cheapest at $28/pop for access to hot springs and a dinner), which provided stunning views (though it rained off an on and was a quite cloudy, hot pool swim-up bar, a slide, and quite a tasty dinner).
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| Butterfly exhibit; it was too dark to take pictures |
We took off around 6:30 and had an approximately 4 hour ride ahead of us heading on mostly local, winding roads that I am sure provided stunning views of San Juan, had it not been for the ever-present traffic and fear of falling off a cliff (San Jose is in the valley sitting at about 3,500 feet, surrounded by volcanoes and mountains).
Day 7
With our flight taking off at 11:45, we targeted returning our car at around 9:15. After waking up at 6, I decided to go for a walk. Had a quick cup of coffee by the breakfast bar (breakfast opened at 6:30) and went for a stroll through La Saban Park, which was just south of our hotel Apartotel la Sabana. I can say I was truly surprised and impressed by the amount of activity in the park at 7 in the morning!
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| On June 1, 2007, Costa Rica broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan, switching recognition to the People's Republic of China. Costa Rica was the first of the Central American nations to do so. President Óscar Arias Sánchez admitted the action was a response to economic exigency.[82] In appreciation, the PRC built Costa Rica a new, $100 million, state-of-the-art football stadium in Parque la Sabana, in the province of San José. Approximately 600 Chinese engineers and laborers took part in this project, and it was inaugurated in March 2011, with a match between the Costa Rica and China national teams |
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| Local cops patrolling and giving me the evil eye - I don't think they liked being photographed |
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| There were many runners and even a few running groups doing hard-core running intervals! Me like! |
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| View south |
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| Holy crap - a skating ring with coach-led practice! |
No wonders everyone is in a great shape and Costa Rica is ranked as the #1 on the Happy Planet Index (HPI). It is worth noting that top rated countries appear to be generally in warm climates and are developing countries, such as Vietnam, Colombia, Belize, El Salvador and Jamaica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index
Well - it is now time to say goodbye and Pura Vida! to the country of Costa Rica. May our paths cross again soon.
