COSTA RICA TRIP REPORT - PART 3 - LONG
Jun 17th, 2005 | 10:28 AM
#1
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COSTA RICA TRIP REPORT - PART 3 - LONG
Pictures form this part of the travel report can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/blm2c
Day 7
This was the first day in a week that we were able to see blue skies and no rain!
After breakfast we checked out from El Sano Banano and made the drive to Paquera to catch the ferry to Puntarenas so we could drive to Manuel Antonio. The ferry dock was a bit confusing. There was a building that housed a café and a ticket booth however there was nobody selling tickets and none of the employees seemed to speak English. After wandering about with some other tourists trying to figure out where to buy tickets someone finally showed up at the ticket booth. It took about 30 minutes to load the ferry with the cars and passengers and the boat ride to Puntarenas took about an hour and 15 minutes. After we unloaded in Puntarenas we weren’t sure which way to go so we just followed all the other tourists in their cars. Puntarenas is on a long, skinny peninsula and had a combination of nice and run down neighborhoods. We then made our way onto the main highway going south towards out destination of Manuel Antonio.
We were traveling south in a caravan with about 5 other tourists vehicles from the ferry when were we all flagged over at a police checkpoint. They came to each car and asked for passport, license and paperwork and told us to drive slower and to be careful on the roads. The road to Manuel Antonio is for the most part in good shape although there were a few bad spots. There are several one lane bridges that required you or the cars going in the opposite direction to yield but it all seemed to be pretty orderly. South of Jaco the highway took us through long rows of what might have been banana or pineapple trees.
We finally get to Quepos and then drive to Manuel Antonio. The road out of Quepos to MA is steep and pretty windy and you really need to watch out for the busses and trucks that come barreling down in the other direction. There is no shoulder on the road and I wouldn’t recommend walking. We had a few ideas on where we wanted to stay so we continued on the road to see what the town had to offer before deciding on a hotel. When we get into Manuel Antonio I was disappointed to find that the place was completely packed with tourists. We made our way through the traffic to the end of the road and turned around and ended up driving back to the Hotel La Colonia which was recommended by someone we met in Montezuma.
At the reception they told us that they had one standard room left for $40/night but they were having trouble with the hot water heater so there might not be hot water at times.. After a long drive, we were tired and hungry so we decided to take the room figuring that it was a bargain and that we could live with the hot water problem but it turned out that there was no hot water in our room during our entire stay We dropped our bags off in the room and got back in the car to find a place to eat.
We drove back up the road and wanted have some lunch at El Avion (I’ll tell you more about it later) but they were not open until 4pm so we kept on going into the village at Manuel Antonio. It was still pretty crowded when we got there so we had to pay 1000 colonies (about $2) to park the car and we decided to eat at the Marlin Restaurant. The Marlin had a good crowd and large deck area that was right across from the beach and a good spot to do some people watching but the food turned out to be somewhat expensive and disappointing.
We then went back to the hotel to take a dip in the pool. The pool is divided into two small parts with a waterfall and a swim up bar. We had a few margaritas before going back to our room to clean up and head out for dinner.
We decided on going back to El Avion for dinner. El Avion is a cliff side restaurant that features a bar located inside an entire Fairchild C-123 cargo plane that was left over from the United States’ secret war against the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the mid 1980’s. The food at EL Avion was good and more reasonably priced compared to the lunch we had earlier. After dinner we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and hit the sack.
Day 8
Breakfast was included with the hotel and the food was pretty average. I had eggs with gallo pinto both mornings and my wife had French toast.
Unfortunately we learned that Manuel Antonio Park was going to be closed today as it is every Monday so we decided to take full advantage of the sunny weather and hit the main beach in Manuel Antonio for some sun and swimming in the water. We rented a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella for 3000 colonies ($6) after talking the guy down from 5000. There were guys who would come along with coolers full of beer that you could buy for about a dollar. One of the guys had a San Francisco Giants Baseball hat on! He saw my hat and we quickly became amigos. It was nice talking to him entirely in Spanish since just about everybody we met so far was able to speak English. After sever hours in the sun and swimming in the water we decided that we had better head back to the hotel before we turned into lobsters as the sun tan lotion was wearing off from being in the water.
Back at the hotel we cooled off in the pool with some more drinks from the swim up bar. We originally wanted to go watch the sunset and have dinner back at El Avion but it started to rain pretty hard so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. My wife had the lasagna and I had the roasted chicken. The food was filling but average in quality and a bit on the expensive side.
Day 9
We decided to wake up early and go to Manuel Antonio Park for a few hours before having to make the drive back to Alajuela for our flight home the next morning. Coming into town we were flagged down by a kid who told us that the parking lots for the park were full and that we needed to park in his lot for $2. I told him that we were going to go look anyways and found that the other parking lots were quite empty! We still needed to pay to park in the official parking areas but you to look for the guys in either the official yellow or brown shirts to avoid getting scammed. After parking the car we were offered a tour by an official park guide for $20 each. I thought this was pretty expensive and declined. We were warned that we would mss out on seeing any wildlife but we decided that we would take our chances anyway.
In order to get into the park you need to either get wet by wading through a estuary or they had some guys with boats to ferry you across. They didn’t charge any money but accepted tips. Inside the park was very nice. They only allow 600 people/day to enter the park on busy days so it would probably make sense to get there early. We followed the main trail and found that whenever we saw one of the guides leading a group stop we could just look at where they were pointing and see whatever wildlife was there. We saw iguanas, sloths, spider monkeys, and birds. We made our way to the second beach and I wish that we had more time to stay there because it was pure heaven! We did a bit more exploring through the park before heading back to the car to go pick up the luggage at the hotel and make the drive back to Alajuela. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Si Como No and had lunch. I thought that Si Como No was very nice but the food wasn’t that great.
We arrived at Las Orquideas at about 4pm after getting lost again in downtown Alajuela. Our room there this time was nicer with satellite TV and two beds. The lighting in the room could have used some improvement. There was a light bulb missing in the bathroom and the reading lamp had a florescent bulb.
We retired to the hotel bar where we met another couple from Texas who were also finishing their trip and we compared notes and got ideas on where to go for our next trip. Christopher from Tricolor rental arrived right on time to pick up the car with no hassles.
We then had drinks and dinner at the hotel bar where we found that the food at dinner wasn’t as good as the breakfast we had there on our previous stay. We also fond that we were charged for $20 of wine that we didn’t order but the hotel manger took the charge off of our bill when we checked out the next day.
Day 10
We woke up early and had another wonderful buffet breakfast. The hotel arranged for our transportation to the airport. I recomend getting to the airport very early as it takes a long time to pay your exit tax and check in as they hand search all the luggage that is checked in before you get to the ticket counter. Once we got to the terminal I took advantage of the duty free shop to grab a bottle of top shelp tequila for $22 that would have cost at least $45 in the states.
Our flight was delayed for about 20 minutes and since we only had an hour to clear customs in Miami and make our connection flight to San Francisco we were a little worried that we might miss our flight. The flight back to San Francisco was uneventful with the exception of the airlines loosing my luggage! Fortunately the bag we checked only contained our dirty clothes but it’s been two days now and it hasn’t turned up yet.
Epilogue
We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica and I cant wait to go back. Next time we definitely want to check out Aernal Volcano.
Where we stayed:
Hotel Pasatiempo in Tamarindo – Everything was excellent and would definitely stay there again.
El Sano Banano in Montezuma – We liked it because it was a good value and centrally located. We only ate the free breakfast that was included with our room there and found that is was mediocre. Next time I’d probably want to stay at one of the other nicer hotels near the center of town.
La Colonia in Manuel Antonio – Would definitely stay there again as long as they ad hot water in the room but would definitely eat dinner elsewhere.
Things I learned:
Tips are usually included on the bill for meals and if you are not sure just ask. 10% seems to be the standard for tipping and I always left my spare change after paying the bill if the service was good.
All the gas stations are full service and they will wash your windows and check your tire pressure. I always tipped the gas station guys around 200 colonies each.
The roads are pretty well marked on the highways but its easy to get lost in the cities as the streets are not well signed.
Everybody is very friendly and in the tourist areas just about everybody speaks enough English to get by.
COSTA RICA IS PURA VIDA!
Day 7
This was the first day in a week that we were able to see blue skies and no rain!
After breakfast we checked out from El Sano Banano and made the drive to Paquera to catch the ferry to Puntarenas so we could drive to Manuel Antonio. The ferry dock was a bit confusing. There was a building that housed a café and a ticket booth however there was nobody selling tickets and none of the employees seemed to speak English. After wandering about with some other tourists trying to figure out where to buy tickets someone finally showed up at the ticket booth. It took about 30 minutes to load the ferry with the cars and passengers and the boat ride to Puntarenas took about an hour and 15 minutes. After we unloaded in Puntarenas we weren’t sure which way to go so we just followed all the other tourists in their cars. Puntarenas is on a long, skinny peninsula and had a combination of nice and run down neighborhoods. We then made our way onto the main highway going south towards out destination of Manuel Antonio.
We were traveling south in a caravan with about 5 other tourists vehicles from the ferry when were we all flagged over at a police checkpoint. They came to each car and asked for passport, license and paperwork and told us to drive slower and to be careful on the roads. The road to Manuel Antonio is for the most part in good shape although there were a few bad spots. There are several one lane bridges that required you or the cars going in the opposite direction to yield but it all seemed to be pretty orderly. South of Jaco the highway took us through long rows of what might have been banana or pineapple trees.
We finally get to Quepos and then drive to Manuel Antonio. The road out of Quepos to MA is steep and pretty windy and you really need to watch out for the busses and trucks that come barreling down in the other direction. There is no shoulder on the road and I wouldn’t recommend walking. We had a few ideas on where we wanted to stay so we continued on the road to see what the town had to offer before deciding on a hotel. When we get into Manuel Antonio I was disappointed to find that the place was completely packed with tourists. We made our way through the traffic to the end of the road and turned around and ended up driving back to the Hotel La Colonia which was recommended by someone we met in Montezuma.
At the reception they told us that they had one standard room left for $40/night but they were having trouble with the hot water heater so there might not be hot water at times.. After a long drive, we were tired and hungry so we decided to take the room figuring that it was a bargain and that we could live with the hot water problem but it turned out that there was no hot water in our room during our entire stay We dropped our bags off in the room and got back in the car to find a place to eat.
We drove back up the road and wanted have some lunch at El Avion (I’ll tell you more about it later) but they were not open until 4pm so we kept on going into the village at Manuel Antonio. It was still pretty crowded when we got there so we had to pay 1000 colonies (about $2) to park the car and we decided to eat at the Marlin Restaurant. The Marlin had a good crowd and large deck area that was right across from the beach and a good spot to do some people watching but the food turned out to be somewhat expensive and disappointing.
We then went back to the hotel to take a dip in the pool. The pool is divided into two small parts with a waterfall and a swim up bar. We had a few margaritas before going back to our room to clean up and head out for dinner.
We decided on going back to El Avion for dinner. El Avion is a cliff side restaurant that features a bar located inside an entire Fairchild C-123 cargo plane that was left over from the United States’ secret war against the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the mid 1980’s. The food at EL Avion was good and more reasonably priced compared to the lunch we had earlier. After dinner we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and hit the sack.
Day 8
Breakfast was included with the hotel and the food was pretty average. I had eggs with gallo pinto both mornings and my wife had French toast.
Unfortunately we learned that Manuel Antonio Park was going to be closed today as it is every Monday so we decided to take full advantage of the sunny weather and hit the main beach in Manuel Antonio for some sun and swimming in the water. We rented a pair of beach chairs and an umbrella for 3000 colonies ($6) after talking the guy down from 5000. There were guys who would come along with coolers full of beer that you could buy for about a dollar. One of the guys had a San Francisco Giants Baseball hat on! He saw my hat and we quickly became amigos. It was nice talking to him entirely in Spanish since just about everybody we met so far was able to speak English. After sever hours in the sun and swimming in the water we decided that we had better head back to the hotel before we turned into lobsters as the sun tan lotion was wearing off from being in the water.
Back at the hotel we cooled off in the pool with some more drinks from the swim up bar. We originally wanted to go watch the sunset and have dinner back at El Avion but it started to rain pretty hard so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. My wife had the lasagna and I had the roasted chicken. The food was filling but average in quality and a bit on the expensive side.
Day 9
We decided to wake up early and go to Manuel Antonio Park for a few hours before having to make the drive back to Alajuela for our flight home the next morning. Coming into town we were flagged down by a kid who told us that the parking lots for the park were full and that we needed to park in his lot for $2. I told him that we were going to go look anyways and found that the other parking lots were quite empty! We still needed to pay to park in the official parking areas but you to look for the guys in either the official yellow or brown shirts to avoid getting scammed. After parking the car we were offered a tour by an official park guide for $20 each. I thought this was pretty expensive and declined. We were warned that we would mss out on seeing any wildlife but we decided that we would take our chances anyway.
In order to get into the park you need to either get wet by wading through a estuary or they had some guys with boats to ferry you across. They didn’t charge any money but accepted tips. Inside the park was very nice. They only allow 600 people/day to enter the park on busy days so it would probably make sense to get there early. We followed the main trail and found that whenever we saw one of the guides leading a group stop we could just look at where they were pointing and see whatever wildlife was there. We saw iguanas, sloths, spider monkeys, and birds. We made our way to the second beach and I wish that we had more time to stay there because it was pure heaven! We did a bit more exploring through the park before heading back to the car to go pick up the luggage at the hotel and make the drive back to Alajuela. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Si Como No and had lunch. I thought that Si Como No was very nice but the food wasn’t that great.
We arrived at Las Orquideas at about 4pm after getting lost again in downtown Alajuela. Our room there this time was nicer with satellite TV and two beds. The lighting in the room could have used some improvement. There was a light bulb missing in the bathroom and the reading lamp had a florescent bulb.
We retired to the hotel bar where we met another couple from Texas who were also finishing their trip and we compared notes and got ideas on where to go for our next trip. Christopher from Tricolor rental arrived right on time to pick up the car with no hassles.
We then had drinks and dinner at the hotel bar where we found that the food at dinner wasn’t as good as the breakfast we had there on our previous stay. We also fond that we were charged for $20 of wine that we didn’t order but the hotel manger took the charge off of our bill when we checked out the next day.
Day 10
We woke up early and had another wonderful buffet breakfast. The hotel arranged for our transportation to the airport. I recomend getting to the airport very early as it takes a long time to pay your exit tax and check in as they hand search all the luggage that is checked in before you get to the ticket counter. Once we got to the terminal I took advantage of the duty free shop to grab a bottle of top shelp tequila for $22 that would have cost at least $45 in the states.
Our flight was delayed for about 20 minutes and since we only had an hour to clear customs in Miami and make our connection flight to San Francisco we were a little worried that we might miss our flight. The flight back to San Francisco was uneventful with the exception of the airlines loosing my luggage! Fortunately the bag we checked only contained our dirty clothes but it’s been two days now and it hasn’t turned up yet.
Epilogue
We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica and I cant wait to go back. Next time we definitely want to check out Aernal Volcano.
Where we stayed:
Hotel Pasatiempo in Tamarindo – Everything was excellent and would definitely stay there again.
El Sano Banano in Montezuma – We liked it because it was a good value and centrally located. We only ate the free breakfast that was included with our room there and found that is was mediocre. Next time I’d probably want to stay at one of the other nicer hotels near the center of town.
La Colonia in Manuel Antonio – Would definitely stay there again as long as they ad hot water in the room but would definitely eat dinner elsewhere.
Things I learned:
Tips are usually included on the bill for meals and if you are not sure just ask. 10% seems to be the standard for tipping and I always left my spare change after paying the bill if the service was good.
All the gas stations are full service and they will wash your windows and check your tire pressure. I always tipped the gas station guys around 200 colonies each.
The roads are pretty well marked on the highways but its easy to get lost in the cities as the streets are not well signed.
Everybody is very friendly and in the tourist areas just about everybody speaks enough English to get by.
COSTA RICA IS PURA VIDA!
Jun 17th, 2005 | 11:34 PM
#4
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 994
Likes: 0
I'm getting a little concerned about how touristy MA is. Does it feel like a small version of Cancun? Please say no. We'll be staying at the Tullemar Villas and I want the last part of our trip to be serene and beautiful. Not super crowded.
Jun 18th, 2005 | 04:22 AM
#5
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 2,323
Likes: 0
NO ! NO ! NO ! Not like Cancun at all !! lol , it is indeed touristy compared to the Osa pen. or Nicoya pen. , and I do hope some of the building is controlled . But it does not compare to Cancun .It is very beautiful , and the Tulemar Bungalows are lovely , they have a small little beach, and from this beach u can kayak over to the beautiful Biesanz Beach . ( P.S. Sean , I was trying to clarify for future guests if La Colonia was actually La Colina... ) Faith
Jun 18th, 2005 | 05:35 AM
#6
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
Nice report! It's fun to read other peoples perspectives. Mal Pais is definitely a place where transportation is important to really enjoy the area. The great thing is that it does feel like no ones around because the area is so spread out. You can usually always find a secluded beach even in high season. I think (hope) when that new commercial plaza is finished at the crossroads,Playa Carmen area will be the busy (relatively speaking) area and there will still be plenty of uncrowded beaches and the feeling of seclusion will still exist just minutes away(by car). Because of the way Mal Pais/Santa Teresa is laid out I don't think it will ever feel as built up as Tamarindo.
Your experience at the ferry in Puntarenas is one I know well. The ticket takers only show up about 30 min. (or 5 min.) before the ferry starts boarding. There are no signs so there are always groups of tourists wandering around trying to figure it out.
It kind of sums up the way things work in Costa Rica. There are no real plans or schedules. If there's a soccer game, it's very likely that your appointment or tour will run late or be cancelled.
Tico time is very different from North American time. That is part of the beauty of Costa Rica as well. People are busy enjoying their lives. That's Pura Vida.
Your experience at the ferry in Puntarenas is one I know well. The ticket takers only show up about 30 min. (or 5 min.) before the ferry starts boarding. There are no signs so there are always groups of tourists wandering around trying to figure it out.
It kind of sums up the way things work in Costa Rica. There are no real plans or schedules. If there's a soccer game, it's very likely that your appointment or tour will run late or be cancelled.
Tico time is very different from North American time. That is part of the beauty of Costa Rica as well. People are busy enjoying their lives. That's Pura Vida.
Jun 18th, 2005 | 05:52 AM
#7
Original Poster
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
I'm not sure if the picture link I posted earlier was working so here is another that has all the pictures together
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/seanc420/album?.dir=/fd48
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/seanc420/album?.dir=/fd48
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