Costa Rica - San Jose - Day 7

We arrived in San Jose on the evening on Day 6, after an interesting afternoon of dealing with Budget. For all travelers to Costa Rica, please make sure to book your rental at www.budget.co.cr instead of www.budget.com, or you may take a taxi to the Quepos Budget Office only to find a lot devoid of cars and no record of your reservation. Thankfully, the staff was very understanding and did all that they could to accommodate our rental reservation.

Upon our arrival at Don Carlos Hotel, we could hear music coming from the park only a block away. El Arte Esta En La Calle had scheduled events in the parks near our hotel that weekend. Although we missed the art fair, we were able to enjoy some trailer food (churros--yum!) as well as listen to an amazing salsa band play, Bernardo Quesada y Rumba Jam. Surprisingly, there were few people dancing in the large crowd standing to watch the band. However, I did manage to steal a dance for half of a song.

The next morning, our final day in Costa Rica, we toured the Jade Museum. Less than a block from our hotel, the Jade Museum covers much more than just jade: it is a wonderful mini-museum of the pre-Columbian cultural history of Costa Rica. The jade pieces were beautifully intricate, employing a method entitled "string-sawing", using a cord dipped in an abrasive such as sand. Intriguingly, we came across these carefully filed teeth. Entrance = $8.

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio - Day 6

This morning, we woke early to catch the city bus (250 colones or $0.50) to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park*. By this time, we felt like park tour pros. Instead of paying for a guide, we decided to proceed alone, at our own pace, and stop to look at whatever a group of people would excitedly be pointing at in the jungle. We trekked the two kilometers to the first beach, Playa Manuel Antonio. The view and ocean were beautiful. However, a little further on, Playa Espadilla Sur is truly breathtaking and much less crowded.

Since the peninsula was closed on the day we visited, we hiked the Sendero Mirador trail to the only open lookout. On the way, we saw a large pack of howler monkeys hanging out in the trees. There was even a baby monkey hanging onto it's mother's back as the adult traveled from tree to tree. The hike out to the look-out, while hot and humid, afforded us another beautiful view of the ocean. Back on the trail to the entrance, we saw a two-toed sloth slowly making it's descent from a tree, to the excited pointing and exclamations of all of us tourists. By that time, entire families were walking to the beach, carrying coolers of food, blankets and towels. It was impressive seeing grandparents making the hike over the gravel roads and down a steep slope to spend a day at the beach with their children and grandchildren.

*For those looking to purchase tickets to Manuel Antonio National Park, purchasing in the city of Quepos at Coopealianza saves waiting in line at the park entrance. Tickets are good for any day (except Monday, when the park is closed). There is no specific date on the tickets. Instead, the tickets are stamped upon entrance. The Coopalianza entrance is a barred door with a security guard, as Coopealianza is also a bank. Just knock on the bars; and, the guard will let you inside. $10.

Costa Rica - Quepos - Day 5

We spent a leisurely morning exploring the city of Quepos, visiting every farmacia and the Red Cross searching for a pair of crutches. There were exactly two pairs in town - an adult size at one farmacia and a children's size at another farmacia. Our traipsing about gave us a chance to see a bit of the town, get some more USD from the ATM, walk through the farmer's market (and enjoy a fresh coconut), check out transportation options to San Jose (bus, private shuttle or rental car), mail a postcard at the post office and eat at a restaurant not overrun by tourists.

At 1:15, the shuttle picked us up from our hotel (Mimo's) for our boat tour with Trimaran Sunset Sails. We managed to use every existing seat on this shuttle as well. On the boat, we sipped drinks (alcoholic mixed drinks, fruit juices or water) and grazed on pineapple while we waited for dolphins to appear (which never did). Then, we anchored next to a volcanic rock near the coast and snorkeled. We saw lots of great fish in the rocks and coral near the lava rock, mostly sergeant majors. After working up an appetite swimming, we returned to the sailboat for a delicious mahi dinner before heading back to shore as the sunset. It was amazing to watch the sun sink beneath the waves in the horizon!

Costa Rica - Monteverde - Day 4

Our morning began with a 2.5 hour guided hike through Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Near the beginning of our tour, we were lucky enough to see capuchin monkeys and both male and female of the elusive quetzal birds. Our guide told us that the quetzals hover like hummingbirds and eat wild avocados whole. We heard before we saw the guan bird. It looks like a peacock without the fancy tail feathers; and, the guan makes a sound like a machine gun rattle. 

We saw several epiphytes on our hike - from tree ferns to the bird's nest fern that grows around the tree to an entire branch that had fallen from the canopy because of the weight of the epiphytes growing on it. On part of a tree branch that had fallen, the guide pointed out that there were no rings! Since there are no seasons at Monteverde, the trees do not develop rings.

However, my favorite tree in Costa Rica was the strangler fig. It starts growing on top of a tree, sends it's roots down the tree trunk to the ground to steal all the tree's nutrients and eventually kills the host tree. Once the host tree rots away, the strangler fig looks like a hollow jack-o-lantern.

Cost was $18/person park entrance + $27/person for guide. Somewhere between the two, our shuttle from the hotel was covered.

We spent our final afternoon in Monteverde touring Don Juan's Coffee. It was a wonderful tour of how coffee is grown and processed, with much free coffee before and after the tour. In addition, we learned about sugarcane and cocao and even made sugarcane juice and chocolate. Cost of $30/person.

Costa Rica - Monteverde - Day 3

This morning began with a taxi-boat-taxi ride from our hotel in La Fortuna, across man-made Lake Arenal and then a 1.5 hour shuttle ride bumping along between 20-30 km/h to Monteverde. Have I mentioned the roads in Costa Rica? The majority between tourist destinations are narrow dirt roads with a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h (25 mph). It doesn't matter how fancy a hotel one stays in, tourist transportation is the great equalizer. Both the hostel guest and the 5 star hotel guest are subjugated to bumpy, dirt-road rides, squished to capacity within a shuttle van, with intermittent AC.

We arrived at Hotel de Montana at noon. From our balconies, we had a beautiful view of distant Nicoya Bay. After a quick pizza lunch, we caught the Selvatura shuttle to ziplining. While in Hawaii, one employee died and another was critically injured on a zipline. Since then, I have been adamant against trying them. However, last minute, I decided that I should zipline at least once, since we were in Costa Rica. It was terrifying! After the instructor rode tandem with me on one of the 13 cables, I felt a little more comfortable. The longest cable was 1 km (0.62 miles) long! Cost of ziplining was $45/person. For those less inclined toward extreme activities, there is a hanging bridges walking tour for $30/person.

After dinner that evening, we went on a Night Hike with Ficus Trails. During our hike, we saw an agouti (the second largest rodent in Costa Rica), an Emerald Toucanet, a Yiguirro (Costa Rica's national bird because it's song predicts the rainy season.), an olingo and a two-toed sloth. Cost of $23/person.

Costa Rica - Arenal Volcano - Day 2

We enjoyed the best breakfast of our entire trip at Pura Vida. It began with platters full of fresh fruit (pineapple, bananas, watermelon, passion fruit and kiwi) and concluded with rum sauce bread pudding.

Then, we boarded our private shuttle to Arenal Volcano and the little town of La Fortuna. It was 2.5 hours along narrow, winding roads passing coffee and sugarcane fields. Yet, we saw a group of road bikers braving the shoulderless roads.

In La Fortuna we stayed at Arenal Green, which we booked through Anywhere Costa Rica. From our porch, we had a gorgeous view of Arenal Volcano, at least when it wasn't completely cloud covered. Disappointingly for tourists, it has not erupted in 18 months.

From the hotel, we took a taxi along the dirt road to the La Fortuna Waterfall. Current entrance fee is $10. Depending on your speed of descent, it's a 10-15 minute hot and humid stair step to the base of the waterfall. Once there, the cool mist from the thundering waterfall is refreshing. Smart visitors will wear swimsuits so that they can take a dip in the cool water. We, unfortunately, hadn't thought of that!

After lunch, the Sky Tram shuttle picked us up at Arenal Green. We were the only Sky Trammers at 3 pm that day, which meant we had a guide and the gondolas all to ourselves. Our guide, Cristian, spoke very good English. He pointed out different types of trees and even radioed the Sky Tram operator to stop when he spotted a howler monkey in a distant tree. At the top of the Sky Tram, our tour continued, as Cristian led us along a trail. He pointed out a maquenque or walking palm tree, which can "walk" up to 10 cms per year in search of the best sunlight in the canopy. Cristian said that these strong and flexible palms were previously used for house construction. He pointed out a translucent fern growing on a different tree. It's leaves felt slightly plastic. On this hike, I heard a word that I would hear often during the week--epiphyte. Epiphytes are plants that live on the trees without damaging them, usually near the top to get rain and sunlight. On our completion of the trail, we gazed across Lake Arenal to Arenal Volcano until the Sky Tram operator radioed Cristian asking for our return. Cost for entrance and shuttle was $54/person.

We enjoyed the food at only one restaurant in La Fortuna...Rufino's. It's among the pricier restaurants in town; and, like all restaurants in La Fortuna, it is full of tourists. But, even though the prices are 50% higher than listed on the current website menu, the Pollo al Estilo de la Abuela is worth it!

Costa Rica - Alajuela - Day 1

We started our travels early Tuesday morning, catching a 6:30 am flight to Dallas, then on to Miami before finally arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica after dark. Our hotel in Alajuela had emailed dryly humurous, detailed instructions. We followed them to the letter.

Some first day travel tips:
1. The exchange rate at the airport is terrible. Do not change currency there. In addition, many places take US dollars as well as Costa Rican colones.
2. Only use official taxis. When you exit the San Jose airport turn left for an official orange taxi. Later that night (and, in other cities), when we called a taxi, the taxis were most often red. We would be told what number taxi to wait for. The number is clearly printed on the passenger door.
3. ATMs are often behind locked doors. In order to enter, just swipe your debit/credit card; and, the door will unlock.

Our hotel was exquisite. Pura Vida covered the taxi drop off from the airport. Bernie met us at the entrance with two large German Shephards. Thankfully, both of the dogs were quite docile. Bernie's British dry wit put us at ease as he checked us in and led us through the gorgous garden to the Katydid Casita.

After we settled in, we were able to exchange some US dollars at Pura Vida (competitive exchange rate) so that we could catch the taxi to downtown Alajuela for some dinner. Bernie recommended Jalapenos; and, although it seemed strange to eat TexMex on our first night in Costa Rica, we were not disappointed. All of the food was delicious, from the non-salty refried beans (hope that some of my favorite Austin TexMex places will take note) to the whipped smooth guacamole. Our meals were accompanied by freshly prepared juice. We tried the pineapple and the cas juice, which tasted sour like a grapefruit. Jalapenos was quite the ex-pat/tourist hang-out; and, we met a family from Gainesville, Florida there. The owner, who previously resided in New York, can assist any tourist lacking the Spanish skills to order at a restaurant. All of the staff were very helpful.

From Jalapenos, we walked two blocks to the nearest banks with ATMs. The streets were very safe. On our return, Jalapenos called us a taxi; and, soon, we were headed back to Pura Vida. Our driver explained that the burning smell along the road was the sweet scent of coffee roasting.

One final note on Pura Vida, while there is free, secure WiFi, for our Casita at least, we could only get it from the living area and dining area.