Dedicated to Debi ... Costa Rica!

Debi and her new husband are taking their honeymoon at about the same time Patrick and I think we will be taking ours. Their destination? Costa Rica! Patrick and I ventured to the Rich Coast ourselves two years ago, though since we haven’t taken a vacation since, it seems like it was much longer ago! Given that we don’t escape often, it’s always a welcomed pleasure to re-live our glory days of being away from work and the day-to-day. Thus, here is my account of the trip, two years later, for Debi to assist her in planning:

We had such an amazing time in Costa Rica, we both already feel like we had the honeymoon of our dreams!

Our trip spanned from the day after Christmas, for two weeks, into January (2005 to 2006). Winter, including March, is the perfect time to be there! Dry Season! It will be great!

The only places we booked in advance were the hotel for the night we landed, a hotel for the night before our return flight, and our first real destination in Costa Rica for a three night stay. We planned to wing the rest. If one can “plan” to wing. We also made reservations to rent a car for our trip.

San Jose
We flew into San Jose. We took a cab to the off site car rental. I swear, we almost lost our lives! But as we would learn, any time you take the road in CR that is the chance you take. We looked at the cars the locals had. No one had 4WD. So we just got a regular car, which was the Toyota Yaris and had not yet been releasde in the U.S. yet. Patrick wanted us to wake up somewhere nice without driving too far late at night, so we stayed outside San Jose the first night.

Alajuela
Our first night we stayed in Alajuela; I believe that’s how it is spelled. While on a map, it looks close enough to San Jose, navigating the Costa Rican side roads in the dark of night takes time and patience. Especially when the directions to our hotel looked like this:

“Directions from San Jose Airport parking, take the right, then the first right access which will take you up to a bridge, check the traffic coming from the right since you will have to go across to take the right again, to go downtown Alajuela , you will pass in front of the International Mall, keep going straight up to the 6th light (Scotia Bank) and turn left (light 1 International Mall, Light 2 Campero (chicken place), 3rd light (4 blocks after campero) Juan Santa Maria Park, 4th light (central park), 5th light (other side of central park), 6th Light Scotia bank, turn left; 4 to 5 blocks after you will be passing between Pizza Hut and the cemetery keep going straight on that road, the landmarks are: Mega Super on your left
Church and Princesa Marina Restaurant on your right
Gas station on your left (a little further passed the Gas Station, the road splits, but you will keep the same road you have been on, which is the left in this case. the road will go down passing trough Itiquis River, This will go up again you will see La sirenita Motel (right), after that the road will turn left and then right, after that, the road splits again, to Grecia (straight) and San Pedro de Poas (right) take the right to San Pedro Orquideas In is right after taking the right to San pedro.”

Liseth A.
Reservations
Orquideas Inn Hotel

While we thought these directions would be manageable, what with all the landmarks, the people at the car rental shook their heads and drew us a map, which in the end made it even worse. We were so lost in a town with no road names. Only churches and chicken places. Not chicken restaurants, either. Chicken coops. I got to practice my newly learned Spanish from my translation guide that I read on the airplane, and we eventually made it to the Orquideas Hotel. While they weren’t thrilled by our late arrival (they wanted to go to sleep themselves), we loved our room, and were thrilled when we awoke to the beautiful scenery, pool, and the best Costa Rican breakfast. Well rested, with vibrant colors all around, we woke up to our vacation!!

Samara

The beach town Samara was our first destination, where Patrick’s sister and her boyfriend would meet us. They planned to take what we called a chicken bus (Ever see Romancing the Stone? Kind of, only kind of, reminds me of those busses) from the airport to Samara (and ride with us in our rental to destination number two, departing for home from there, while we would forge ahead for another week).

Learning – Road Conditions: We completely underestimated how long it would take to get from Point A to Point B in that country. However long it would normally take to go the distance mapped, it will take you twice as long. Maybe three times as long. You can rarely go 30 miles per hour (though it’s all in km) due to the condition of the infrastructure. It’s really bad, and really sad. You’re not in the U.S. anymore and you’ll gain an appreciation for … taxes? You will see burned down busses on the side of the road, still smoking from whatever caused it to malfunction or run off the road. You will see potholes the size of small Jacuzzis.

Learning – Transportation: After we drove for three hours to Samara, we did wish we’d got a bigger 4WD vehicle. After driving to our second destination, we kind of wished we’d not rented a car at all. It’s easy to find a van running to wherever it is you want to go, and share the cost with other travelers. The only thing is that then you put your life in the driver’s hands, and Costa Ricans are reckless drivers. They will pass on blind curves. It’s nuts. But I think those that deal with tourists are much better because otherwise everyone would be screaming the entire ride. Also, we ended up not doing it, but you can catch flights if you’re spanning longer distances, e.g, from the Pacific to Caribbean side, or the northern beach town Tamarindo to more southern destinations.

We picked Samara because at Thanksgiving before our trip, we were walking in Monterey near my uncle’s house, and had a Costa Rican cocktail waitress upon happening into a lounge. She said it is her favorite beach town because it is more authentic and has a long beach.

I forget where we stayed, but our bungalows were very clean, and it was $75 a night. It was owned by a German family. Two little pools, one by the bar on the first level, and another on the roof top level; gorgeous at sunset. The water was super warm!!! And the little town was so great. We found so many more nooks and crannies there than anywhere else with great food and drinks. I had my first caipirinha!!! And have been addicted ever since.

Only downside, the water is the color of beaches in California, not light blue turquoise hues and not super clear. But soooooooo warm. Ahhhhhhh.

Arenal
Our plan was to head into the cloud forest after we had hit the beach, so we could cool our skin for a few days. Beautiful! We stayed in La Fortuna at a place another traveler recommended, for $30 a night.

We did a horseback riding/zip line tour one day. One evening we did a hike closer to the Volcan Arenal and saw the lava-spewed rocks glowing in the dark. There are two hot spring “parks” there. The first one we went to had luxurious pools laid out, all with the waters heated by the lava flowing deep underground, with swim up bars, and varying temperature pools. It was amazing. Even better, the next night we stayed at a resort, Tabacon, (which was pricey for CR probably between $180-$250 for the room we were in)…which gave us admission to the other hot springs park, which used the natural contour of a little river to create it’s pools, so it was even more awesome than the first place! I could spend all day at those hot spring “parks.” This was when Patrick’s sister and bf left on a chicken bus for the airport. We decided that we would go next to the National Park, Manual Antonio.

Manual Antonio
We arrived in the evening, after another agonizing drive. We stayed at such a neat little place, the motto was “still more monkeys than humans.” About $95/night. We did see our first monkeys and sloths of the trip at the beach at Manuel Antonio. The water had a deep bluegreen hue, and was clear. Best fish tacos of our trip. In the town not at the base of the park, but about a ten minutes away, a fisherman’s town, everyone sits on the wall overlooking the make-shift marina, to watch the sunset. Locals and US fisherman with their fancy fishing boats alike. It’s a neat tradition. Low key, people just enjoy doing that.

Learning – The menu item Casado (spelling) is perfect. It always a little meal on your plate, always super delicious, always dirt cheap. It's fresh grilled fish (or you can order pollo), rice, beans, plantains and a little salad (the salad part we never ate because of the water). yummy, yummy, simple and yummy.

Note – Every restaurant in Costa Rica is open-aired.

Learnings – We totally over packed. You need absolutely nothing nice to wear in Costa Rica.

Learnings – We think this is cultural, as a local tried to explain to us. When you ask for directions, even if someone does not know exactly where you want to go, they will give you directions anyway, to be polite. Yep even if their complete bullshit. Watch out. They’re just trying to be nice!

Montezuma

This beach town is on the Nicoya Peninsula, and from where we were, we had to drive north and take a ferry to the southern end of the peninsula. We drove into Punta-Something town and it sucked and smelled that day. I would try to spend as little time there as possible. No one really knows the ferry schedule off hand, so once we got there, we had a wait in a long line for a long time and it was very hot with NO shade. Locals try to get money from tourists promising them a spot in the ferry line-up for money. Don’t do it; we were warned. We finally got on the ferry, which provided a much needed breeze; and snacks were available for purchase onboard. I feel like it took an hour to cross. Have your reading books handy if you don’t get sea sick. There is nothing else to do.

Once we got our car off the ferry, which was a zoo, we headed to Montezuma. The roads weren’t too bad, until we got very close to the town, where the roads turned to dirt, and then rocks, and then really big rocks and we weren’t sure if we were on a road or not for a long time until eventually a car came from the other direction. Which was something to be negotiated on this narrow non-road. Once in Montezuma, the roads resumed.

Alas, Montezuma! We stayed at Angel’s for $30/night. There are places with no bathrooms and bring your own mat here for $5/night. Or upgrade to cots for $10. This was a fun little town. I think the U.S. hippie crowd was staying across the street from us. After a night at our $30 location, which I was not a fan of, we moved to the $80/night place across the street which I LOVED!

We explored the beaches, where you can walk without seeing anyone for a long time. We found some of the most gorgeous coves!!! The beaches during our trip kept getting better! Another day we decided to drive up to a cove, and picked up some hitch hikers on our way back who were also headed our way back to Montezuma. It was pretty hot and humid, which was why we were even driving ourselves (a/c). The next day we had to go to the bank in a town inland a little bit, and picked up another hitchhiker back to Montezuma. We were fine. We were lucky to have such a great pool outside our hotel room door, so that we were able to be close to the room while poor Patrick suffered from a little "Montezuma's Revenge." Once he was well again we resumed with the ocean. Crystal clear water north of town. Could stay out all day long.

Then we had to go home again and it was sad.