San Jose, CR

We took the day to venture into the actual city, which as it turns out, is about 45 minutes away from the airport and our current hotel. It was typical big city for the most part. We did go to the Pre-Columbia Gold Museum; it was actually super interesting. There were three floors (going down) of cultural history. And, there was a coin exhibit on the first floor that explain their whole process of developing a monetary system and eventually minting their own coin. Super cool, like way better than I was expecting. I was very interested in the descriptions. Ryan was loving the actual coins on display. It was a fancy place. Recommended.

Volcan Barva, CR

We hiked a volcano today! It was a long, curvy, narrow drive up most of it. The vast majority was paved, but it turned to dirt, rocks and potholes the final four kilometers. Even in an SUV, we decided to walk the last couple kilometers to the actual entrance of the park. Once we were out of the car, we could see an amazing view of San Jose. We hadn’t realize exactly how high we had climbed during the drive.

There were a couple path choices, we opted for the lookout view. The trail was actually much more mild than the road we walked to the entrance. It was a bit muggy, but we were plenty prepared with bug spray and sun screen. I think it was 1800 meters to the lookout. When we turned down the side trail to the lookout, it became really mucky in areas and the midday drizzle came. I hadn’t thought much about the altitude again until we arrived at the lookout. We were 2,906 meters up, and practically in a cloud. We couldn’t see much at all. 

 

On the hike back through the park and down to the car, we noticed a lot more wildlife. It’s  possible that the rain, now coming down quite steadily, scared the gnats away, and we were able to look around a bit more than before. We decided we prefer hiking in the rain, even through we were expecting it to be much warmer. We were rather underdressed. We survived. 

 

 

Oh, and we found a cow walking past a farm on the way to the car. 

We also had another incredible view of San Jose on the way down. 

Parrida, CR

We were quite sad to pack up Casa Tranquila; it was pretty much the perfect place. 

Then, we basically just drove all day.. but, we did make it to mass in Parrida. 

The church was beautiful, especially the stations of the cross. We still couldn’t understand a word, but the priest was very engaging. I much preferred the music, too. There was even some clapping songs! 

After mass, we promptly packed up and drove to San Jose, checked into the hotel and found a drink. 

Playa Penca, CR

It has been an eventful day, full of wildlife.

First, we hit up Playa Penca bright and early, well, after making a smoothie at home. It was definitely a locals beach. There was only one good shade tree, but we claimed a spot before too many people rolled in. We decided it’s possibly the best sand we’ve been on; it was actually sandy. There were relatively big waves, too. One took Ryan by surprise while we were floating, and it flipped him over. Apparently, my expression as it approached was enough of a warning for him to take a breath and prepare.

So, the big waves were quite fun. Then, as Ryan let another one roll over him, a bit further down, maybe a wingspan away.. the wave was clear as could be just before it crested.. I saw FOUR stingray!  They were beautiful, like something straight out of National Geographic. I wish I could have taken a picture, but it was such a brief moment. Even if I had a camera in hand and ready, I still wouldn’t have captured it.

So, after a brief moment of shock and awe, I panicked and forced Ryan to protect me (not sure what I expected there) as I booked it to the shore. After sharing the experience with Ryan, I tried for a long time to spot them in the waves again, but it never happened. So, we went to lay in the shade for a while. I was adamantly not getting back in, but alone in that opinion. Until...

There was a family that had laid their towels behind us and went down to play in the water in roughly the same area we were swimming. Also note, there were a handful of people swimming a bit further down either direction. Anyway, they’re riding around in the waves, same as we were, nbd. Then, dad yelped! He passed his kid to wife and immediately took off toward shore. As soon as he was able, he looked at his foot. It seemed to be giving him a great deal of pain. We’re quite sure he got stung by one of the stingray! It was crazy. Ryan was no longer interested in returning to the water after seeing this guy hobble around.

Of course, we did some research later.. it seems that stingrays typically don’t bother people, even if disturbed they just swim away. On most occasions, the only time they sting is if someone steps on them. We figure that is exactly what happened to this guy since he kept checking the bottom of his foot. It was QUITE the experience. After all that excitement, we just laid around in the shade until it was time for lunch.

 

We ended up back in Tamarindo to check out a brewery and grab lunch. 

It’s still not our favorite spot. The brewery was decent though and we met a lady from Nevada. 

Wildlife Adventure #2 occurred when we got back home after lunch. We knew there was a tiny house gecko hanging out inside, but we weren’t too worried about it. They’re actually a sign of good luck in Asian culture, and they don’t bother anything. We’ve seem a bunch on the porch; they eat the bugs for us. So, as we were just laying around cooling off, friendly house gecko showed himself on the ceiling. After a bit of chaos and scrambling, we managed to capture him in a basket, and return him to his home outside. 

 

Mar Vista, CR

So, we were livin’ the high life today. We hung around the restaurant onsite with an infinity pool all afternoon. It was wonderful. We probably fried from staying too long, but the food was good and the drinks were better.  There were less people than we expected, mostly due to the time of day. And, it was fun to eat lunch at the swim up bar. It all felt pretty fancy. Now, we’re about ready for a nap.

Also, as promised: Turkish towel as skirt. It’s a good look, and a good view of the ocean from up there. The view is slightly better than our place, Casa Tranquila, but the wind was constant! Ryan actually got a bit chilly at one point. That may have been from the three straight hours in water though.

Playas del Norte, CR

Again, beach bums.
We hit up Playa Panama bright and early to check out the black sand beaches. It was wonderfully empty, and it was definitely dark sand. It had a lot of silt, or something. Ryan kept saying it was really fine, and we decided someone would pay big money to have it during a massage. Anyway, we found a shady spot under a thorny tree for a couple hours. I finished my book; Ryan looked for crabs. We tried out the ocean. The mucky-ness of the sand made it very hard to see your feet. Also, the sand went out so far! You could practicality walk to the tree line if desired. We didnt because there were hidden rocks everywhere. So, we enjoyed the water quite close to the beach.

Next stop: Playa Hermosa.
This one was only 10 or 15 kilometers further north. It seemed to be just around the trees to the next cove. There was such a big difference though! The beach was busier, sand was sandier and the water was much clearer, less rocks too. It was rather overcast while we were here, but that worked out just fine for us. We spent most of the time floating around in the clear waves.

We stopped at Playa de Coco on the way back for some food. We didn’t stay long after enjoying a slice of pizza. We checked out some shops down the main stretch, but it was almost entirely cheap souvenir shops. 

Oh, and on the way back, we saw two cows just wandering a dirt mountain road!

Playa Conchal, CR

So, we plan to be beach bums for the week. We kicked it off early this morning with the nearby Playa Conchal. This one is pretty popular for it shell sprinkled beaches. Well, more like someone dumped trucks full of shells onto the beach and completely replaced the sand. We found a nice shady spot to lay around all morning, and play in the very strong ocean waves to keep cool.

Sidenote: I am 100% loving these Turkish towels. They worked as both pillow and blanket on the plane. They’re light and fit into our beach bag while still an excellent size for a beach towel as seen here. Then! I folded it hotdog style for a skirt to walk the couple kilometers back to the car. It knotted well and looked great with my floral swim shirt. Next time, I’ll snap a photo.

We also went a bit south to Tamarindo to find a supermarket. Ryan found a good taco spot there, too. Turns out it’s total tourist town. It was insanely busy and American-like. Also, the tacos were only fine. However, like most in this place, it was a pretty drive!

Casa Tranquila, CR

From the hanging bridges, we drove around Lake Arenal and headed north Liberia. Here we stopped to grab some lunch and hit up a brewery- neither were very good, so we continued on our way pretty quick. We arrived at our new place, Casa Tranquila, sometime late afternoon. Immediately, we were so pleasantly surprised by the climate change. It had been so incredibly wet and humid in the middle of the country, but here it’s true beach weather. 

We took some time admiring the view from the back deck of Casa Tranqila, along with reviewing some selfie basics. I think we ended up with at least one good shot from the quick photo shoot. Then, we set off in search of food. Initially, we were looking for a highly recommended Italian place, but it was close as many places seem to be on Mondays. But, that was fine because we landed at the Surf Box for super tasty meals. The drinks were pretty good, too. And, they had eco friendly straws! 

Arenal, CR

We postponed our departure from La Fortuna by a couple hours because it just kept raining. We tried to wait it out since it is wet season and all, but it was just such a steady rain. Eventually, we figured a hike in the rain wouldn’t be the worst thing and packed up the car.

On our way across to Guanacaste, we stopped just north of La Fortuna for a hike through a cloud forest on the side of the volcano. I was expecting rope bridges with wooden planks dangling over the forest floor.. but, it wasn’t treacherous! There were beautifully laid hiking trails that wound through the gigantic trees and masses of ferns. The hanging bridges, more like metal suspension bridges, we intermittently placed throughout the 3k of trails. There were also two spots to go off the main path to see a garden area and walk down to a waterfall. We couldn’t get enough!

Turns out, the rain was perfect. The tree canopy blocked most of the heavy fall, so it was just a mist for us on the trails. There were some seriously steep inclines, (well, declines too) so there was just enough rain to keep cool, and actually keep the bugs away, too. We loved the sound of the rain falling through the upper canopy, and the monkeys and birds seemed to be loving the bath.

La Fortuna, CR

Hopefully I can squeeze several days into one post because the internet here seems to be incredibly slow.

We safely arrived to San Jose on Friday evening, and settled into our hotel for the evening after grabbing a car for the stay. Saturday morning we grabbed some bottled water and a few snacks, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast buffet from the hotel before leaving town. It was all relatively uneventful. Perfecto. 👌🏼

The two hour drive north to La Fortuna was absolutely beautiful. The winding mountain roads through the lush forests were just incredible. And, surprisingly, not entirely terrifying.

After arriving to town and finding our home for the weekend, we went to play at the highly recommended Baldi Hot Sprimgs. We couldn’t pass it up after all our fun digging for the sprimgs in New Zeeland. This, however, was a drastically different, though equally enjoyable experience. Baldi is actually part of a hotel; we decided that it’s almost comparable to Great Wolf Lodge. There are 27 pools layered down the side of the volcano: waterslides, swim up bars, mini waterfalls, sauna, and some cold pools mixed in there for refreshment. We had a great time pool hopping- we hit them all on the way up, then swam our way back down. Unfortunately, we have zero picture proof, but we did have a great time!

We grabbed dinner after, and it was delicious. It’s possible we found the best spot on the first night- both food and margarita.

We kicked off Saturday in an ecogarden. Along with one other Canadian, Jose guided us through his “backyard” to see all sorts of native wildlife. It was incredible. He was very informative and prepared. He had extra binoculars on had for us to borrow.

   

 

   

  

   

Oh, and Ryan ate termites! Apparently, they’re very nutritious and taste like mint. 

 

   

After we finished the tour, his family cooked breakfast for the whole group. It was the usual: rice and beans, eggs and fruit. Delicious! We also learned a bit about how to make traditional Costa Rican coffee in authentic coffee makers. We loved everything and wanted to do every program he offered by the end of the morning. 

Okay.

In the afternoon we went to Don Juan for a coffee and chocolate tour. The tours were very factual, but not much else to them. 

We did chocolates first.  It walked us through the whole process from seed to store. We were able to try the cocoa fruit right from the tree. It’s really slimy in its original form. Also, you have to just suck on it like the monkeys do,  like a hard candy. It’s toxic otherwise. 

The highlight of this tour was attempting to make our own chocolate bar. 

  

They do actually make the chocolate at this location. The coffee however is all in Monteverde because it grows better in  high elevations. We did get to try some of their coffee at the end. It was actually pretty good. I discovered that dark roast is actually pretty tasty. 

We ended the day with mass at St. John Bosco right at the center of La Fortuna. It was totally packed and entirely in Spanish. Also, possible the most humid mass we’re ever attended.