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| I'm sensing a color theme here... |
It was hard for this mama to fly out on her child's 3rd birthday, but that is how timing panned out. Grampa took us to DFW for a 930a flight. We hadn't flown out of DFW in years despite connecting through many times. I waited ages for my chai mobile order and finally had to ask for help after 30 mins. They either missed it or someone took it. We boarded the plane and off we flew to a new country for us - Costa Rica!
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| Arenal Volcano from the air |
Going through customs was smooth with no checked bags so went directly to shuttle for car rental. We waited a bit for the shuttle and then got out to Hertz to pick up our rental.
Then we had a ~3 hr drive ahead to La Fortuna/Arenal area where we stayed at the base of a volcano. It started raining pretty hard as we approached the hotel, Arenal Manoa. Got checked in and drove to our awesome casita to drop off our stuff.
We had a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant overlooking the silhouette of the volcano. We arrived at sunset and so got to see the area at sunset and at dark when animals like bats emerged. After cleaning up, I realized how tired I was and crashed.
I woke up refreshed and walked back to the restaurant for a buffet breakfast. They had a naturalist on hand pointing out flora and fauna. I saw a sloth, iguana, lizard, many birds (hummingbird, red shouldered blackbird, etc) and a caiman!
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| Can you spot the sloth? |
We gathered up items for our "relax day" and headed into La Fortuna. Our first stop was at Bogarin Trail. It was about a 2.5km hike. We chose the self-guided hike, but guided tours were an option. Along the trail we saw an adult sloth and baby sloth! There were tons of busy leaf cutter ants hard at work. We saw several beautiful birds including hummingbirds. Some Strawberry Poison Dart frogs were found and several had much to say.
After the hike we shared chicken/shrimp fajitas at SelvaRustica. Our waiter brought us some very hot salsa to try. It was a mix of habanero and Carolina reapers. Our mouths were on fire.
After eating, we found a parking spot on the square and walked around for a bit.
Found a cheap massage at Los Sueños Spa. It was about $135 for both of us (1.5 hrs, including massage/hot rocks/volcano facial thing). After more scoping out the scene, we had some calamari and a pina colada at La Fonda 506 where we people watched and watched the daily rainstorm roll in. I also picked up a cute stuffed sloth to take home.
On our way back to the hotel, we picked up some snacks for the hike tomorrow. We attempted a video chat with our newly 3 year old, but he was too busy having fun playing in the dirt and water at grandparents camp. I guess it is good he doesn't miss us too much. We had another lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant and then sat on our porch before calling it a night.
The first stop was a waterfall that usually has a gorgeous blue color, not so much in the pouring rain. Still a pretty view. Another stop was to see Borbollones (bubbling hot springs) and the last stop was to see the confluence of two rivers and see the blues mix. While we could see confluence, it was just not the beauty that was in the photos online. As we finished the hike out, the rain stopped.
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| confluence |
For the return to La Fortuna, we tried taking a slightly different route and we found a great restaurant overlooking the volcano, Mirador y Restaurante Doña Luisa. There I had picadillo de arrachche con carne hash and a cheese empanada. S's burger was huge.
The road back to the hotel was a bit bumpy and not a regular road. We came upon a river crossing and my first thought was oh no, we have to retrace our route to get us safely back. Thankfully the river was not over the road so we crossed and made it back just fine.
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| the river crossing |
Once back at Manoa, we checked out the thermal pool. There, we learned an intake pipe broke the night before in a storm so it was not crystal clear water. Even though it was a bit cloudy, but it still felt nice to me! That evening we hung out at the pool bar and met an interesting couple from Ohio.
Thursday was a big day of adventure for us! First up that morning was a zipline at Arenal Mundo Aventura Park - 6 lines with Stephanie and Warren. We were the only two zippers on the tour and it was awesome! One of the lines was a kilometer long!! The first line took you with an incredible view of a waterfall. We had to ride a vehicle towed by a tractor to get to the top of the course which gave us a free Costa Rican massage with the bumpy ride.
Next up was a short break at the hotel followed by canyoning with PureTrek. It was our first time and really awesome. Before we started that adventure, we had a traditional Costa Rican lunch of chicken/rice and beans. We made friends with a couple on their honeymoon from FL. They had a GoPro and I had our waterproof camera. This tour was very different from the morning because there were about 50 of us on that tour. The first drop was the largest and then we had to climb up a rock face and then do the "monkey drop" where we basically did a tiny zip and then rappelled straight into a pool of water where we were baptized, unexpectedly. Would definitely do again!
After our adventure, we ventured back into town and people watched. Had dinner at La Cava, a pizza place one of the guides highly recommended. It was yummy. We came back to the hotel for a couple drinks at the bar and then I was ready for bed. My body keeps wanting to wake up and go to bed super early. Even with earplugs and eye mask trying to keep out the sun and bird noises.
The last morning at Arenal Manoa I soaked up breakfast at overlooking the gorgeous Arenal volcano listening to the birds as I drank my tea.
We packed up the room and loaded everything in the car to change hotels. But first we had an adventure booked at Mistico Park for a guided natural history walk.
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| Can you spot the snake? |
After a lunch with a view at Mistico, we checked into our next hotel, Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa. Wow. This place is incredible. The service is next to none and the grounds are gorgeous. You wear the key as a bracelet, which I find super handy. A shuttle takes you to the springs area where the volcano heats the waters in a series of pools for soaking. We had fun exploring everything all afternoon. We had a super fancy dinner at the restaurant and then hung out in our huge room. It has a porch, living room, bed area, two TVs, huge bathroom with soaking tub and huge shower (hot water from thermal springs) and separate toilet/bidet room.
Saturday I awoke still really sore from our hiking this week so I attempted to do a short barre3 video to loosen up before a lovely breakfast overlooking one of the pools. Did not do much other than read in the room after eating until noon or so.
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| weird looking clouds |
Gathered up stuff for a hike and headed to Arenal 1968. Was $19 each to enter. We started the Lava Flow trail together (red) and then I decided to quickly hike the yellow "Forest" Bosque hike and meet up at the restaurant.
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| S found coatis when I was on my trail! |
We had a late lunch back in La Fortuna at Fusion Latina where I had some delicious Roja Vieja, rice and beans with some smashed/fried plantains. Yum! Then we rushed back to Tabacon for a quick soak in the thermal springs and then got pampered at the spa for a massage. The rushing waters made the perfect background noise. I saw one of the Jesus lizards, but my phone was put away to keep dry.
We ended the night splitting a burger then watched Grand Tour.
On Sunday we changed towns. Before that, I had one last awesome soak in the springs. Tabacon guests get a couple hours all to themselves and I spent it in the Shangri La portion. It was roughly a three hour drive to Monteverde. Road was curvy and really bumpy at the end. Broke up the drive with a late lunch at Lake Arenal Brewery.
Made it to our cabin, Cabina Romantica around 4pm and then attempted using the washer and "dryer" in the room. Drying things is quite difficult in a humid rainforest. Some stuff took days to dry. We ate dinner at Dikary's. Just ok.
We spent 3 nights in Monteverede. The first full day we had a zipline/tram/hanging bridges adventure with Sky Adventures. After the first zip, we took a tram up on the mountain to continue to some very long lines. It did not rain on the ziplines, but we would disappear into the clouds because we were in a cloud forest! After the longest line, which we had to do in pairs to have enough weight to traverse, we had a choice to rappel or "bungee" jump down. Both chose bungee and boy did that make my heart stop for a moment during the freefall.
After a lunch of champions (chips and Coke), the rain set in, but it was time for our guided hike on the hanging bridges. Despite the rain, we saw a Resplendent quetzal fly by so quickly that we did not get a good glimpse or photo for that matter. But we saw two snakes in trees, tarantulas (guide coaxed one out) learned about a millipede that produces cyanide and more. S spotted a wasp that apparently has the second worse bite/sting in the world, only 2nd to the bullet ant which is also here. Our guide also showed us this cool flower that captures insects so that they will pollinate them.
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| snake |
Had dinner at the Treehouse Restaurant where you eat in a space surrounding a giant tree.
Tuesday was a very low-key day. Our Airbnb came with breakfast and I chatted with Christina the owner and met her adorable 2 month old kitten. First item of the day was drive to Mirador Django which was super close to our cabin. Along the way, we saw a giant boa in the road! It hissed at us as we drove by.
Finally I got to eat a meal at a soda (local mom and pop restaurant) - Soda El Rinconcito de la Empanada! It is a local restaurant with Costa Rican food. My chicken and rice was delicious. S wanted nachos from Taco Taco Taqueria so I tried some sopapillas there. Other than a soda, I really wanted to try arroz con leche (rice pudding). Found some at Restaurante Sabor Tico, but it was not good at all. Too sweet for me. This turned into a food tour day for us. Split a pizza for dinner at Toro Tinto Pizza & Grill and then retreated back to cabin for Grand Tour.
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| delicious meal along with the best avocado ever |
Wednesday was a big travel day to Osa Peninsula. We had a 7 hr drive ahead and as we are visiting in the rainy/green season, rain followed us out of Monteverde. It let up as we hit the coast and traveled south. We saw fields and fields of palms being grown for palm oil and now I'm curious to learn more. We stopped for a late lunch at El Avión. Nice view, ok food, very touristy.
We had learned that Drake Bay does not have ATMs so attempted to get cash when we stopped for gas at Chacarita, but that was a fail when it did not take my card. So we hoped the small amount we still had left would last. Made it after dark to our hotel, Pirate Cove. I think it is a recent development for one to drive to Drake Bay without having to make several river crossings, so I was thankful. Our room has the best ocean/river view we've ever had and had A/C! This area is super rainy/humid so our room was a great retreat.
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| view from the room |
Thursday was a lazy day of S sleeping in and me reading, watching birds and exploring the beach. The hotel also does meals since most people do not have a vehicle and arrive by boat.
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We explored the town a bit and then got a massage at Serenita Massage Drake Bay followed by dinner at Restaurante Mar y Bosque. Our goal was to find places to eat that took cards.
Friday was a big day with the hike in Corcovado National Park. We got soaked by rain wading out to the boat and then traveled about an hour or so to Sirena Station drop point. At first it seemed like there were so many groups, but we ended up spacing out well and still saw tons of things. The most exiting sighting for me was probably the tapir. It was huge and we were able to get so close. This was a wonderful day hiking through the rainforest looking for animals. Spotted: sloth with baby, peccaries, crocodile, several lizards, squirrel and spider monkeys, cane toad, heard/saw a ton of birds, tapir, a family of like 60 coati, cool trees and plants. Waded back to boat and started dropping off folks. They provided lunch for us at a place in town and then returned to our hotel.
For dinner we were blessed with an incredible sunset (no rain for a bit!) at Casa El Tortugo Drakes Kitchen. I had delicious fresly made plantain chips and guac to start.
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