Travel: Costa Rica

I spent a magical week in Costa Rica, and have been back for a few weeks, but I haven't had any time to blog about how fabulously fun and gorgeous this country is.

We flew into the capital San Jose, and spent one night there. It's pretty crowded in San Jose and not easy to drive around the one-way streets. We were renting a 4WD for the week, which would allow us to drive to see the active Arenal Volcano, and then further west to the beaches of Tamarindo, Playa Grande, and Papagayo. We stayed at the Hotel Presidente in San Jose, where we had a spacious room with a huge hot tub, and had good eats at the hotel restaurant. We were definitely off to a good start.

Arenal Volcano is a must-see, with fiery-red rocks literally tumbling down from the top. We walked as close as we were allowed, to the base, and stood on lava rock that had formed and then hardened when the volcano last erupted in 2000, killing 2 people . We were delighted to see and hear a howler monkey hanging out in the trees above us as we hiked in towards the base. It rained off and on, as it did most days in Costa Rica. Monkey did not like the rain, letting loose a banshee howl that lasted a long time and could be heard from far away.

My friend recommended Tabacon Hot Springs, another stop you can't miss. Lush forests of green plants and tropical flowers hide the many pools of hot springs, which are heated by the volcano. It's misty and foggy and about as atmospheric as you can possibly get. We stayed till it got dark, and it only got mistier, with shadows from the trees falling over us, and dim outlines of the stars in the sky. Yes, all while basking in the scrumptiously hot water...romantic is an understatement.

Another highlight (not for the faint of heart) is zip lining through the jungle! I was on a high for hours after this. We went to the Sky Tram company, and were lucky enough to be in a group of 2 (just us!), with two hilariously fun and funny guides. A tram ride takes you high up into the jungle, where we again saw adorable monkeys sitting in the trees--this time spider monkeys. From the top, we took 8 zip lines from platform to platform...the longest ride being 2600 feet, with a speed of about 30-40 mph. Such an adrenaline rush, and so much fun:)

After Arenal, we braved the roads and headed to the beach on the western coast. We stayed at the lovely Hotel Bula Bula in Playa Grande. The beach was pristine and empty, and we met the owner of the resort (a Texan) who was happy to hang out and talk about moving to and living in Costa Rica. Free entertainment was provided by Bert the African Parrot, possibly the biggest attention-whore ever. He loved doing tricks swinging on his perch, yelling out "hola! hola!", so you had to turn around every minute to see him in a new pose. He would literally look to make sure you were watching him. Here he is posing for a photo:


And Playa Grande:


We randomly ended up in a Hilton Resort in Papagayo after having trouble finding a place to stay. An all-inclusive price included buffet meals and all-you-can-drink drinks. This is usually not our style of traveling, and we felt like we were in the Twilight Zone half the time...such as when the staff had to get up and teach salsa dance lessons to guests. So we loaded up at the swim-up bar in the pool, and they weren't shy with the liquor:) Here is the gorgeous sunset we saw from our lovely porch:


We ended our stay at the Villa Blanca Resort at the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve. I wish we could have spent more time here to explore, but alas we had a flight home the next day. The resort was darling, nestled in the foggy mists of the cloud forest:


Costa Rica is overflowing with tropical plants and wildlife. Irises are my favorite flower, and they grow mutantly huge there, in fabulous colors. Have you seen an orange and yellow iris before?



Iguanas were skittering around everywhere...this one slowly moved off the road as we approached:


As for the weather, it was hot and humid and in the 80's. It is the rainy season there now, which means less tourists. And the rain never lasted long and never held us back from doing anything...mostly it felt like a refreshing break from the heat. Nights could get chilly near the volcano and in the cloud forest, similar to San Francisco weather.

On a final note, we decided to venture away from the Lonely Planet guidebook, as the current edition out for Costa Rica was a few years old. We went with the Moon Guide, which I was overall pretty happy with. It led us to great destinations, and the accommodation recommendations were right-on. My only complaints were the maps were off, and the book didn't adequately explain travel directions and timing, a strong point of Lonely Planet.