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Costa Rica Trip Report: Earthquakes, Volcanoes & Monkeys, Oh My!

Costa Rica Trip Report: Earthquakes, Volcanoes & Monkeys, Oh My!

Old Jan 25th, 2009, 06:48 PM
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Costa Rica Trip Report: Earthquakes, Volcanoes & Monkeys, Oh My!

Just returned from our first trip to Costa Rica and know it won’t be our last! We’ve fallen in love with the country and the people and want to thank volcanogirl, cmerrill, 4everywhere, Shillmac, ShellD, DanaM, Dmowry, HipVirgoChick, tully, campjulie, and Pat Hewitt for all their advice and great suggestions for planning the perfect vacation. Special thanks to Shillmac for the last minute great directions from the Arenal to Manuel Antonio—we needed them despite the GPS!

Best advice we received and followed:

Keen’s hiking sandals: we bought the H2 models on eBay (new, in box) for $62 per pair with free shipping and never took them off. They were essential for all the steep hills and walkways at the Lost Iguana and Tulemar. I think I would have broken my neck in any other shoes and can’t wait to wear them again when the weather gets warmer.

Book lights: None of the places we stayed offered good bedside reading lights—particularly the Lost Iguana, where the bed is in the middle of the room. We bought clip-on models at Border’s for $11 each and used them constantly, even on the plane.

Small flashlights: We bought two small Maglights and kept them in my purse. Despite walkway lighting, it’s very dark in places. There’s always a chance of a power outage (we had one in the daytime) so we kept them by our bedside at night.

Pack light: We took one suitcase and carry on each for 12 nights (well, I had a large purse too). The only place we “dressed up” (skirt and top/golf shirt) was at Grano de Oro for the last night’s dinner, but there were other diners there in shorts and jeans. You really only need casual clothes and Keen’s to tour the entire country. We had a bit of laundry done (and done very well!) at Tulemar and made it just fine.

Learn a bit of Spanish before you go: Contrary to popular belief, everyone does NOT speak English. My mother was a high school Spanish teacher and I can’t help but think she’d be pretty proud of us. We brushed up a bit on travel lingo before we left and always made an attempt to speak Spanish at first, at least. We could always fall back on “Como se dice . . .?” and pantomime to muddle through. We really enjoyed it and by the end of the trip, we probably tripled our vocabulary. It was very clear the folks we met appreciated the effort and we got superb service with little extra touches wherever we went. I brought the tiny Lonely Planet Costa Rican Spanish dictionary and referred to it several times—I highly recommend it.

Rent a car and GPS: We loved being on our own schedule. Yes, it was scary at times when an entire lane of a highway would be closed because it fell down a mountain, but we felt like we got to experience the country at our own pace. Please note: there are absolutely no road or street signs, even in cities, so even with good written directions, there were times we needed the GPS to supplement them. We strongly recommend also taking good maps and directions. We had three maps and between them all, the GPS still found roads that weren’t marked on them.

Couple of Surprises: Our cab driver taking us to the airport to come home told us that Costa Rica requires each tourist to pay a departure tax of $26.00 before you can check your bags. There are stands at the airport and they take credit cards and US dollars, so it wasn’t difficult, but it was not something we were expecting. Since about half of the people getting in line to check their bags were turned away to go do this first, it must not be very well-publicized. Also, as we were on the jetway in line to board our flight to come home, they announced that “US policy” did not allow ANY liquids or gels onto the plane, regardless of if they were in the regulation quart-size Ziploc bags or purchased after security screening. Three women were stationed in the jetway to search everyone’s carry-on luggage again and I lucked out to get someone who just did a cursory search and missed my Ziploc in the bottom of my bag. I saw water bottles, lipsticks, fingernail polish, and other items confiscated. Not sure what this was about.

We flew Continental from Washington National through Houston to San Jose and had great flights. No extra nonsense fees for checking bags or printing boarding passes AND—you won’t believe this—they served free food on each leg and even gave us each an entire can of soda. We’ve rarely flown CO, but you better believe we will from now on. Super, super service. Thank you volcanogirl for recommending them!

Arrived around 3:00 pm and were picked up by two charming Mapache employees at the airport for a quick ride to their office to get our rental car. We’d originally ordered a Suzuki Jimny, which is a 4x4, but only has 1300 ccs of power. It kind of looks like a little roller skate—very cute and compact. Once DH drove it a few minutes, however, he upgraded us to a Suzuki Grand Vitara which is a bit larger and has more power, very similar to our Honda CR-V. In hindsight, I’m very glad we upgraded because even in the larger car we still struggled to get up some of those steep climbs to and from the Arenal and around MA.

Hats off to Mapache, they were lovely to deal with and are a carbon neutral facility (which we think must mean they buy carbon offsets). I’ve been a loyal Hertz customer for many years, but really liked supporting a CR-based company and highly recommend them.

We had been booked into the Peace Lodge for the first two nights, but as we all know, that area was devastated by the earthquake the week before we arrived. Our travel agent quickly switched us to Xandari in Alajuela, which is 15-20 minutes from the airport. What a jewel! We had a “prima plus” villa (#14), which was gorgeous. The resort is set in a fabulous botanical garden with pathways and signage identifying all the beautiful plants. Our villa had a sitting and dining area, sleeping area, wet bar and refrigerator, two patios with beautiful furniture and landscaping, an entry garden, and a shower with a full view of the entry garden (so don’t forget to lock your gate!). The first night, we had a 4.2 earthquake which woke us up. Sounded like a freight train and just shook the bed and lights and rattled the windows. I can’t even imagine what a 6.2 would have been like. DH of course thought this was exciting, but I was pretty scared having seen the photos from the week before. So were several of the staff the next day who asked if we’d felt it. Breakfast was complimentary with plenty of choices, from eggs and bacon to pancakes to fruit and yogurt, muffins, etc. We fell in love with Costa Rican bacon (“tocineta”) and DH loved their fruit smoothie. I had a manicure and pedicure in the spa and wished I’d scheduled more services—it’s an incredible setting and their prices are lower than in DC, so plan accordingly. We sat by the pool, read books, played Scrabble, and rested. The staff was so nice and helped us brush up on our Spanish. This was the perfect place to be introduced to Costa Rica.

On day three, we set out for the Arenal armed with the GPS, maps, and directions from the hotel staff, but still managed to get a bit turned around. The drive is spectacular, taking us through cloud forests, mountains, and villages. We saw several signs for “queso palmito” so we stopped at a roadside stand and bought some. We spoke enough Spanish to figure out that it was cow cheese, but it looks like a ball of mozzarella, with the consistency of string cheese. The gentleman went into his home (behind his store) heated up some tortillas for us, cut the cheese into pieces, and showed us how to eat it. He wrapped it up to go and we had a hearty treat for our ride. Delicioso!

We arrived in La Fortuna around 1:30 pm, but our GPS told us we had another 38 miles to go to get to the Lost Iguana Resort. Well, 19 miles and a Dramamine later the GPS turned us back around and took us 19 miles back to the Lost Iguana. We’d passed it only a few kilometers past La Fortuna. A good lesson: get directions from the hotel to use in conjunction with the GPS. The only good thing was that we got to see our first coatimundis or “pizotes” as they call them locally, which seem like a cross among a raccoon, a possum, and a monkey, if you can imagine. DH called them roving bands of roadside beggars, but they were very charming and everyone was getting out of their cars to take photos.

The Lost Iguana is very secluded and private with stunning views of the volcano. We had a luxury suite (room 6) which featured a huge bedroom, a bar area, a large covered porch with a hot tub, and a tremendous bathroom. The bed was extremely comfortable; pillows not so much. It was quite cool, so we wore shorts and sweatshirts most of the time and didn’t really need the AC much. It was pretty cloudy and drizzly off and on for all three days. The last night, the cloud cover at the top of the volcano broke just enough to see a couple of lava trails. You could hear the volcano rumble throughout the day. If the lava hasn’t appeared before 11:00 pm each evening, the hotel will ring your room if the lava does appear during the night. The breakfasts were included and were very good (more tocineta!). DH adored the pinto gallo (rice and beans), which was served with all tipico meals. The dinners were all right, but best when we stuck to pasta dishes. Two-for-one happy hours are from 3:00-5:00 pm and you can swim up the bar in a heated pool. The staff was fabulous and taught us even more Spanish (such as, whole wheat bread is “pan integral” and how to say “tuanis” in addition to “pura vida” as local expressions). There are trails everywhere and we tried the so-called easy one, the 20-minute Mapache Trail (“mapache” means raccoon) to the Hanging Bridges. It’s not long, but it’s surprisingly steep, so we were panting when we got to the top. The Hanging Bridges cost $22 per person and we hadn’t thought ahead to bring any money with us, so we decided if we had to hike back to the room, the money would be better spent at happy hour. The Lost Iguana is very nice and we recommend it highly. Our only complaint was that with all the moisture the room had a sort of musty smell so I was glad I brought a tiny bottle of Febreze with me.

Three nights were plenty for the Arenal, and with the weather being so cool and wet, we were glad to be heading to Manuel Antonio for the final week of our trip. Given our previous GPS experience, we were glad to have Shillmac’s good directions with us. There was some road construction that held us up a bit, but we arrived at Tulemar Gardens around 3:00 pm and checked in with the Buena Vista Villas concierge. We had a one-bedroom villa (#306) about a third of the way up the steep jungle hillside, which featured a living room/kitchen, bedroom, bath and incredible deck with ocean views. Again, the bed was very comfortable, and this time the pillows were too. DH and I both think this was the most relaxing of all of the four places we stayed. The design worked beautifully for two people and we took full advantage of the entire space. We ordered some groceries to be brought in and were very glad we did. Despite the fact that there is a grocery store just up the street, we could never have carried it all up the remarkably steep pathways from our car in the parking lot.

The first evening, we dined at Tule Café, on the property and enjoyed a heart of palm salad with mango and a shrimp and avocado salad. MA offered the best meals we’d had so far on our trip. We loved Agua Azul (hamburguesa con queso/calamari burrito), Angel (rice and pork “arroz y cerdo”/pollo con chiles fajitas), and Como Que Si (fried whole red snapper/shrimp and avocado salad). Breakfasts were included, so we’d trek up to Tule Café each morning to see Lester, Jorge, and Allen (who taught us to greet good friends as “mae”) and enjoy a big breakfast. Then we’d go to the pool for a couple of hours; drive to the beach around 1:00 or so where David would set up our chairs and umbrella. Have chips, guacamole, and frozen rum punches on the beach late afternoon. Drive back up the hill, shower, drink a beer and have some cheese and crackers, then drive to a local place for dinner each night.

Somehow, we’d been in Costa Rica a week before we saw any monkeys and were beginning to take it personally. Fortunately, a band of them showed up at the pool on day two at Tulemar and one even explored our deck later in the day, looking in our window to see if we were home! There were three iguanas who live near the pool and just walk around the people to sun themselves. Margarito is the largest and we think the other two are his “novias.” Great photos that I’ll post on tripadvisor.com.

DH met some wonderful Canadians and went ziplining with them at La Selvita de Costa Rica. For only $65, they provided transportation, lunch, and ziplining from 13 platforms. He said it’s only one year old with all brand-new/top of the line equipment. Needless to say, he loved it and I’m very glad he got to do this (and I didn’t have to go too!). We enjoyed MA so much we met with a Realtor and are considering purchasing a place in Tulemar.

Our flight back to the US was at 7:45 in the morning, so we drove back to San Jose for the final night. On the way, we were stopped by the police at an apparent speedtrap just north of Jaco. They pulled everyone over, but seemed to be letting the CR residents go. The police officer asked (he spoke only Spanish—another good reason to learn some) if we were tourists and we said yes and he gave us a choice of paying him 20,000 colones right then or paying the car rental company 40,000 colones for a ticket. We know we weren’t supposed to pay him directly, but with the language barrier and all, we just handed him 20,000 colones and he tore up the ticket. Not sure we handled it correctly, but he had DH’s passport and license in his hand when he said all this, so it seemed like a bargain to get back on the road for $40.

We arrived in San Jose around 3:00 pm and stayed at the Hotel Grano de Oro in a “superior doble” (room 5). The hotel’s web site doesn’t do it justice—it’s much grander than it appears online. The lobby is beautiful and modern, but the rooms are very old-world. Ours had beautiful colors, a fabulous bed, and our very own private courtyard with fountain! Just lovely. We had dinner at their restaurant and realized we saved the best for last. DH enjoyed a salmon tartare appetizer (that I wish I’d ordered too!) and lamb chops; I had a wonderful salad with blue cheese, blackberries, and macadamia brittle with scallops and risotto as my entrée. We “shared” (DH is laughing) a Grano de Oro pie for dessert, which was a luscious confection of coffee mousse with a chocolate cookie crust. Perfección!

Muchas gracias tambien for all the wonderful advice—we can’t wait to go back!

Pura vida!
marysmommy is offline  
Old Jan 26th, 2009, 04:01 AM
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What a great report! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and will be back. Sorry you were surprised about the exit tax, it's mentioned in guide books but not sure if they tell you anything about it when you're flying in or on your ticket.

I'm getting a Jimny for my trip in June, uh-oh, a roller skate on wheels? Oh well, guess we'll have to see how that turns out.

Thanks for posting!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 04:19 AM
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So glad you had a great time. Welcome home! ?
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 05:05 AM
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Welcome back, mm! It sounds like such a wonderful trip. I'm so glad you guys had a great time!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 06:31 AM
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What a fabulous trip report! Thank you so much for writing it... we are going next month and are even more excited now.
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 07:55 AM
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Nice trip report. Do you know they confiscated my daughter's scotch tape on the return from Costa Rica. Scotch tape! Did they think we would try to tie up the pilot with it?
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 08:55 AM
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Nice trip report, we did the same trip for our 1st, loved the BV Villas and saw tons of monkeys there.
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 09:04 AM
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We got to SJO so early and made it through security, so we bought snacks/drinks before boarding. I was shocked when they took my bottle of water from me. Even though I bought it at the airport after passing security, they said no dice. It was almost full too!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 09:05 AM
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Thank you so much for your report. We will be staying at Lost Iguana and Buena Vista Villas in 2 1/2 weeks. Thank you for the book light suggestion, I will add it to my packing list.
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 01:49 PM
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Wonderful report, thanks so much. We leave in 4 months, can't wait!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 01:51 PM
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Scotch tape! Lol!

Tully, you may be fine--we saw tons of the Jimnys all around La Fortuna, so we probably overreacted. The upgrade was about $124 total for 12 days, so it wasn't that expensive and it was nice to have a four door and more space to take some of the folks we met to dinner.

VG and Shillmac: your advice was so great--many thanks again.

JuneJuly and SportsMom: I'm SO JEALOUS! We're expecting snow tomorrow in DC, so I'm really missing CR. Hope you both have wonderful trips!

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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 01:52 PM
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Oh, and you have a great time too parrmt!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 02:44 PM
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Tully--

we made it around just fine in the Arenal and Monteverde areas in a Suzuki Ignis, which makes the Jimny look like a Hummer.
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 02:46 PM
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mm, I always drag that little table with the lamp on it to be near the bed so I can read at the Lost Iguana, and every day, the housekeeping staff puts it back. A booklight is a great idea!
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 04:38 PM
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Ok thanks, will make do hopefully with the Jimny.
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 06:12 PM
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Marysmommy:

Great trip report and it reminds me of our trip last year in many ways.

We had the identical experience with the police on our way to the airport. However, as the police officer complimented, I'm fluent in Spanish. He was willing to take what we had left in Colones, about 25,000 colones since it was Sunday and the banks were closed. That way, we wouldn't have to worry about paying the ticket. How nice. They had also taken my hubby's drivers license and passport. Yes, we told them that we would not surrender the passport and he demanded it. Otherwise, he said we would have to go to the station.

We considered it an extra departure tax, so I guess you were surprised by TWO departure taxes!

We love CR also. Do your homework before buying there, however!

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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 06:37 PM
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So glad to know we weren't the only ones who had that experience! Any suggestions/recommendations on checking out real estate before we make a purchase?
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Old Jan 26th, 2009, 06:58 PM
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There was a company in MA called Latitude 9 that seemed really on the ball and run by Americans - they might be helpful.
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Old Jan 27th, 2009, 03:38 AM
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I remember you mentioned how nice they were and we saw the office, but they were closed when we stopped by. We met with Gene Maxey of Century 21, who is from Florida and has lived in MA for 15 years. He was very nice and spent a lot of time telling us about the area. Low pressure, just answered a lot of our questions. We'd love to hear if anyone else has purchased in MA and what their experience has been.
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Old Jan 27th, 2009, 04:32 AM
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Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!
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