First timer's Costa Rica report
Jul 18th, 2008 | 02:34 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
First timer's Costa Rica report
Hi All,
Just back from first trip to CR and wanted to share info that hopefully will be useful to someone.
Background: We were 2 families of four – myself and husband and our 2 girls age 10 and 12, along with hubby’s sister, her husband, and their 2 kids 14 and 20.
Arrival on 2 separate flights, stormy weather, ours made one “missed approach” before landing to applause from passengers. SIL’s family’s was later, storm worse, diverted to Panama City, hour on tarmac there, and planned to send them to Miami. Luckily on way back up, the pilot made one more pass at SJO and landed successfully, at 1 a.m.
ORQUIDEAS INN: We used it for one night at beginning and one more at the end. I definitely would recommend it for this. We had “deluxe mountain” rooms, in the newer building up the hill. Beautiful view of volcano and hillsides. Pretty gardens all around and a pleasant little nature trail. Rooms are pretty Spartan, but comfortable and adequately equipped. The last night they gave us one of their “apartments” instead – it was bigger and had a living room and kitchenette, but was older and musty smelling, darkish inside and I don’t recommend this room. They are happy to bring in rollaway bed if you need it. Breakfast is a good buffet – chef will make omelets/eggs and pancakes for you right there. We ate 2 dinners there, food was excellent. Staff was all very nice, they can arrange transport to/from airport for $10 (for up to 4 ppl.) with very nice drivers and van. 2 friendly dogs roam the grounds and puppy in office.
DRIVER: We loved having a driver, not having to concentrate on shifting or on the road, and having someone who knew the country to tell us about it. For 3 different parts of the trip we used Wilson Rojas, a driver I had seen recommended many times on these forums. I can’t say enough about Wilson,he added so much to the quality of our trip. Every time we were hungry or had to go to the bathroom, he knew just the right place to stop. Had snacks and drinks on board. First trip was through Grecia, where we saw the church, town square and the marketplace, where he had a couple of vendors give us samples of unusual fruits/veggies. Then Sarchi, where he showed us the huge oxcart, and then took us to the man’s workshop that had made that big oxcart. It was fascinating, as the workshop is powered only by water from a stream and one of those old-fashioned paddle wheels turning gears that run everything else. On to Naranjo, which is where Wilson lives. He took us to a great restaurant with an incredible view, the dining room is cantilevered out over a steep hillside of lush green, windows open to a fresh breeze.The owner prepared us a feast of rice, beans, several meats, fresh juices, salad and delicious soup. It’s a highlight of the trip. On the drive he was a fountain of information about all things Costa Rican – plants, animals, geography, etc. He dropped us off at the Hotel Villablanca in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest, where we were to stay one night. Another day he picked us up at Hotel Montana de Fuego and took us to the national park because we wanted to hike out on the lava and watch the volcano in the daytime. He picked us up an hour later and suggested we could drive around the north side of the lake and out towards the coast, instead of going back down through San Ramon. We were so glad we did! It is a beautiful scenic ride, he knew to stop at the German Bakery for goodies and coffee. We all loved going a different way and seeing new sights. Although the distance is longer, Wilson said it used the same gas and time because it is not so curvy or up and down. The last trip we used him for was from our rental house in Punta Leona back to the Orquideas Inn, and again we had a great drive with great stops for food and he thought to stop us at the airport and wait while a couple of us ran in to pay the departure tax – was no line and we were glad we had gotten it taken care of. Wilson’s van was barely big enough for 8 of us, since we had more luggage than he had anticipated (newbie first timers always bring too much stuff, right?). After the first day he offered to let us back out of our plans with him and get us a driver w/ a bigger vehicle, but he was such a safe and wonderful driver that we elected to be a little cramped and stick with him.
HOTEL VILLABLANCA: was a wonderful splurge, probably not as fabulous (or expensive) as Peace Lodge sounds, but perfect for one night for us- we wanted to experience the cloudforest but not take time for travel to & from Monteverde. Rooms were beautiful and comfortable, ours was a deluxe and had king bed, another bed in sitting room and they brought in a rollaway. Plenty of room and 2 baths, one with huge whirlpool tub. Staff was gracious and attentive as you would expect in a higher end hotel. Food was not cheap but was fabulous. One warning - meal takes a long time to prepare although service is excellent. So just go down before you’re too hungry. Buffet breakfast was awesome. Cloudforest trail is beautiful and easy to hike. We did not do the night guided walk – it was pouring all evening. No tv in rooms but a nice theater with documentaries & movies, and game room with games & tvs, dvds. We took a pretty horseback ride there (on this ride and another in Arenal we realized they provide no instruction for novice riders – not even to keep one hand on the saddle or how to hold the reins. Luckily my neice was able to help my daughter but she had to do it while they were already riding along. )
HOTEL MONTANA DE FUEGO: I can recommend this hotel without any problem, although our first choice, Los Lagos, was booked and next time we’d probably try that one. Montana rooms were comfortable, but small for 4, with a nice front porch looking at volcano. Grounds are spacious and we didn’t even get the time to walk on the trails. Nice pool and hot tub, pool has swim-up bar with good fruit drinks kids loved. Staff is pleasant and efficient but not overly warm. Good water pressure and hot water was fine. We ate lunch one day at the hotel and it was very good, service very slow. Buffet breakfast was decent, good fruits and juices. Tours were all good that we did with them: Zipline, 2 of us did Volcano hike, and we used their transport several times. The driver that picked us up from Villablanca was great and informative, and kindly stopped in La Fortuna on the way so we could go to a pharmacy. (Interesting difference in pharmacists here and there: we told the gal behind the counter my nephew had an earache. She asked a couple of questions about it and brought out some drops that would be a prescription in the US. Told us the dosage, and was very inexpensive. He was better in a couple days.)
ARENAL ACTIVITIES: It began raining every afternoon we were in Arenal and continued through the evening. We ended up not doing as many activities as we had planned - left for next trip is hot springs, Fortuna falls and probably a few others. But you can go crazy if you push yourself too hard, we liked having some downtime. Here are the ones we did do:
Zipline: on site at Montana de Fuego was plenty of adventure, I think it had 9 runs, most were over a steep drop down a canyon. Folks from other hotels are transported there to do zip. I hated it, and gritted my teeth through the whole thing just trying to get it over with. One daughter didn’t like it much better than I did, but my youngest loved it! On the less steep runs the guides, who were very good, let her do some trick positions, once upside down, once riding like superman with the guide right behind her holding onto her legs and she’s just lying forward with her arms spread out like she’s flying – I still shudder at the thought! The other family liked it fine, but was definitely a “been there done that” for them. No need to repeat. One thing I had seen posted and is true – you do not do this to observe canopy – you are just going by too fast. It is basically a ride, so to me it wouldn’t be worth agonizing over whether to do it in one part of the country or another. After the zipline, those who wanted to did a nice rappel down the tower to the riverbed below, where they then walked up several flights of metal stairs to get back up. Then, choice of horseback or van to the hotel.
Hanging Bridges: a highlight. Must do. We did not use a guide, and did not see much wildlife, although some people ahead of us w/a guide did not seem to be seeing much either, it may just not have been a good day. It was a beautiful walk just to be in that atmosphere with those plants. Fabulous. Hubby not fond of heights and did not enjoy the actual bridge part, but he’s very tall so the side railings were a lot lower on him than to the normal person, he felt unprotected. You must plan to eat lunch here afterwards. Great food, great price, and a fantastic view of volcano. Power was out so she couldn’t use blenders, we had to forgo the famous milkshakes. We had gotten transport out there from Montana, but did not know what time we’d be done so did not arrange a return. When we were done, the people at Hanging Bridges kindly called for 2 taxis, which it turns out is very expensive since they add on the charge to get out there from La Fortuna. When the HB people heard the cost, they insisted on calling a van driver they know, and told him that we had paid $40 to get out there from Montana de Fuego and would he come & take us back there for that. They had to pressure him a little and finally he agreed. This is one of many examples where people went way beyond what would be expected of them in order to help us out. It turned out that the driver was a very nice guy, we ended up negotiating a good price for him to take us to see the lava the next night.
Safari Float: did this with Sunset tours – very fun float down Penas Blancas river, then stopped at an old man’s dirt-floor farm where his daughters served us fresh made cheese, plantains and coffee. Walked around the farm a bit and then had an obligatory visit with the 96 yr old man, that was a little awkward, he can no longer walk and is in his bedroom and only speaks Spanish, but a fascinating guy and very sweet. Our guide was excellent and knowledgeable, found us blue jean frogs, sloth, howlers way up not too easy to see, lots about plants and agriculture. Drove by the iguana restaurant in Muelle slowly enough to get pix from the van, they don’t stop now ever since someone was killed or hurt apparently on the bridge.
Meals in La Fortuna – Nene’s was recommended by 2 drivers. It was just OK, and service was barely OK. Watch out for the specials – ask the price before you order to avoid shock! La Choza de Laurel, recommended so much on here, was good. Don’t go if you’re uncomfortable with begging street dogs hanging out under your table giving you the patented puppy dog guilt stare! Don Ruffino’s was the best meal we had there, excellently prepared, the only drawback being even slower than the usual slow-paced service.
PUNTA LEONA: I’ll mention a little about this area since there is not much posted about it. It’s a huge sprawling property along the ocean just north of Jacó, with a hotel complex and lots of houses and condos, from modest to luxurious. Entrance is via a guarded gate where you are given a colored wristband to identify yourself as belonging on the property. The area is beautiful with plenty of natural forest. Can’t speak about the actual hotel rooms, we were in a private home. Mostly Ticos vacationing here, and using their beach homes. Some Europeans, few Americans. We rented a car here, which was necessary due to our house being 15 minutes back into the property from the guard gate at the main road, and up on a bluff so we also had to drive down to the beaches. Toyota Prado for 8 worked fine, since we didn’t have to drive with luggage. 2 nice beaches. Playa Mantas with darker sand and no waves, nearer to hotel pools and facilities. Playa Blanca is the beautiful “blue flag” beach with white sand. Word of caution: the waves look smallish but pack a big punch – my husband was bodysurfing and was lifted up by a wave and slammed down on his head. He broke his nose and we were afraid he may have broken his neck. The lifeguard was not there and the only help we could get was the driver of the little golf-cart type shuttle that the hotel runs to the beach, hubby rode bleeding along bumpy road to hotel medical clinic. Once there, a paramedic attended to him. Since Jacó has no hospital e.r., he & I had to go by ambulance to San Jose. Luckily xrays showed no broken neck, and doc gave him pain med and some stuff for his nose. The rest of the trip he looked like he’d been in a fight, dashing my hopes of taking the family Christmas card photo while in CR! Taxi back to Punta Leona, arriving at 2 a.m., this ended up affecting our plans to go to Manuel Antonio and regrettably we had to leave that for the next trip also.
Wildlife in the area – iguanas, butterflies, monkeys playing in the trees next to our house. Coatimundis, which the Ticos call Pizotes, similar but not same as raccoon. One had apparently been fed by people and was quite aggressive, tried to bite my daughter’s and brother in law’s feet – we had to start keeping a stick around. In fact it came into the house when we weren’t looking, and had to be chased out. Another night, a Mapache (raccoon), came in thru window we forgot to close, opened kitchen cupboard and ransacked the trash container, stole 2 avocados off kitchen counter.
A couple of activities we did in Jacó area:
Carara National Park – hiked in with a guide and saw wildlife and plants. Guide was great and able to take us off the very muddy trail road and into the forest a couple of times. Didn’t see as many monkeys as kids had hoped. Didn’t see macaws, so our guide took us driving thru the town of Tarcoles after, and spotted macaws in a tree he knew they sometimes frequented. Then with the same guide we did a mangrove/Tarcoles river tour , just 8 of us in the boat, and saw plenty of crocs, a couple up very close, iguanas, lizards, crabs, several different birds. I think Manuel Antonio and the Damas Mangrove are probably better than these, but these were pretty good.
Pura Vida Gardens – these are some gardens that an American man owns near the top of the waterfall just south of the Tarcoles bridge. We took the entrance to the hotel Villa Lapas, which we stopped at and looked at their shops in colonial style buildings, pretty grounds. A few miles way up a dirt road is the Pura Vida waterfall and Gardens. On the way up there is another spot where you can pay to go in and hike down to the falls – we didn’t check that out, I think you’d have to be in very good shape as the terrain is very steep and can get pretty slippery and muddy in rainy time. At the Gardens up top, you have to pay $20 to get in, only 3 of us were interested enough to do it. I thought it was worth it – they have a lot of beautiful plants along paved trails and also a natural trail. Great views and scenery. No one was there but us. We got to see where they have the Adventure Dining, which we had read about. Fabulous location, but we were glad just to see it and not have the expensive dinner – this time of year it is raining almost every night.
Bugs - you will see plenty of bugs. There is no getting away from this. Some of them will bite you, in spite of your use of repellant. Some of them will land on your food. Some of them will get into your hotel room. It just goes with being in a tropical climate. If you’re very bug-phobic, you may find Costa Rica stressful.
For those who are debating whether to go to CR. We have 8 thumbs up amongst our group. It was truly an adventure. The Ticos, as you’ve read, are truly some of the most warm-hearted and friendly people you will ever meet. If anyone has questions about the places I’ve mentioned, I’ll be happy to answer.
Pura Vida!
Lisa
Just back from first trip to CR and wanted to share info that hopefully will be useful to someone.
Background: We were 2 families of four – myself and husband and our 2 girls age 10 and 12, along with hubby’s sister, her husband, and their 2 kids 14 and 20.
Arrival on 2 separate flights, stormy weather, ours made one “missed approach” before landing to applause from passengers. SIL’s family’s was later, storm worse, diverted to Panama City, hour on tarmac there, and planned to send them to Miami. Luckily on way back up, the pilot made one more pass at SJO and landed successfully, at 1 a.m.
ORQUIDEAS INN: We used it for one night at beginning and one more at the end. I definitely would recommend it for this. We had “deluxe mountain” rooms, in the newer building up the hill. Beautiful view of volcano and hillsides. Pretty gardens all around and a pleasant little nature trail. Rooms are pretty Spartan, but comfortable and adequately equipped. The last night they gave us one of their “apartments” instead – it was bigger and had a living room and kitchenette, but was older and musty smelling, darkish inside and I don’t recommend this room. They are happy to bring in rollaway bed if you need it. Breakfast is a good buffet – chef will make omelets/eggs and pancakes for you right there. We ate 2 dinners there, food was excellent. Staff was all very nice, they can arrange transport to/from airport for $10 (for up to 4 ppl.) with very nice drivers and van. 2 friendly dogs roam the grounds and puppy in office.
DRIVER: We loved having a driver, not having to concentrate on shifting or on the road, and having someone who knew the country to tell us about it. For 3 different parts of the trip we used Wilson Rojas, a driver I had seen recommended many times on these forums. I can’t say enough about Wilson,he added so much to the quality of our trip. Every time we were hungry or had to go to the bathroom, he knew just the right place to stop. Had snacks and drinks on board. First trip was through Grecia, where we saw the church, town square and the marketplace, where he had a couple of vendors give us samples of unusual fruits/veggies. Then Sarchi, where he showed us the huge oxcart, and then took us to the man’s workshop that had made that big oxcart. It was fascinating, as the workshop is powered only by water from a stream and one of those old-fashioned paddle wheels turning gears that run everything else. On to Naranjo, which is where Wilson lives. He took us to a great restaurant with an incredible view, the dining room is cantilevered out over a steep hillside of lush green, windows open to a fresh breeze.The owner prepared us a feast of rice, beans, several meats, fresh juices, salad and delicious soup. It’s a highlight of the trip. On the drive he was a fountain of information about all things Costa Rican – plants, animals, geography, etc. He dropped us off at the Hotel Villablanca in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest, where we were to stay one night. Another day he picked us up at Hotel Montana de Fuego and took us to the national park because we wanted to hike out on the lava and watch the volcano in the daytime. He picked us up an hour later and suggested we could drive around the north side of the lake and out towards the coast, instead of going back down through San Ramon. We were so glad we did! It is a beautiful scenic ride, he knew to stop at the German Bakery for goodies and coffee. We all loved going a different way and seeing new sights. Although the distance is longer, Wilson said it used the same gas and time because it is not so curvy or up and down. The last trip we used him for was from our rental house in Punta Leona back to the Orquideas Inn, and again we had a great drive with great stops for food and he thought to stop us at the airport and wait while a couple of us ran in to pay the departure tax – was no line and we were glad we had gotten it taken care of. Wilson’s van was barely big enough for 8 of us, since we had more luggage than he had anticipated (newbie first timers always bring too much stuff, right?). After the first day he offered to let us back out of our plans with him and get us a driver w/ a bigger vehicle, but he was such a safe and wonderful driver that we elected to be a little cramped and stick with him.
HOTEL VILLABLANCA: was a wonderful splurge, probably not as fabulous (or expensive) as Peace Lodge sounds, but perfect for one night for us- we wanted to experience the cloudforest but not take time for travel to & from Monteverde. Rooms were beautiful and comfortable, ours was a deluxe and had king bed, another bed in sitting room and they brought in a rollaway. Plenty of room and 2 baths, one with huge whirlpool tub. Staff was gracious and attentive as you would expect in a higher end hotel. Food was not cheap but was fabulous. One warning - meal takes a long time to prepare although service is excellent. So just go down before you’re too hungry. Buffet breakfast was awesome. Cloudforest trail is beautiful and easy to hike. We did not do the night guided walk – it was pouring all evening. No tv in rooms but a nice theater with documentaries & movies, and game room with games & tvs, dvds. We took a pretty horseback ride there (on this ride and another in Arenal we realized they provide no instruction for novice riders – not even to keep one hand on the saddle or how to hold the reins. Luckily my neice was able to help my daughter but she had to do it while they were already riding along. )
HOTEL MONTANA DE FUEGO: I can recommend this hotel without any problem, although our first choice, Los Lagos, was booked and next time we’d probably try that one. Montana rooms were comfortable, but small for 4, with a nice front porch looking at volcano. Grounds are spacious and we didn’t even get the time to walk on the trails. Nice pool and hot tub, pool has swim-up bar with good fruit drinks kids loved. Staff is pleasant and efficient but not overly warm. Good water pressure and hot water was fine. We ate lunch one day at the hotel and it was very good, service very slow. Buffet breakfast was decent, good fruits and juices. Tours were all good that we did with them: Zipline, 2 of us did Volcano hike, and we used their transport several times. The driver that picked us up from Villablanca was great and informative, and kindly stopped in La Fortuna on the way so we could go to a pharmacy. (Interesting difference in pharmacists here and there: we told the gal behind the counter my nephew had an earache. She asked a couple of questions about it and brought out some drops that would be a prescription in the US. Told us the dosage, and was very inexpensive. He was better in a couple days.)
ARENAL ACTIVITIES: It began raining every afternoon we were in Arenal and continued through the evening. We ended up not doing as many activities as we had planned - left for next trip is hot springs, Fortuna falls and probably a few others. But you can go crazy if you push yourself too hard, we liked having some downtime. Here are the ones we did do:
Zipline: on site at Montana de Fuego was plenty of adventure, I think it had 9 runs, most were over a steep drop down a canyon. Folks from other hotels are transported there to do zip. I hated it, and gritted my teeth through the whole thing just trying to get it over with. One daughter didn’t like it much better than I did, but my youngest loved it! On the less steep runs the guides, who were very good, let her do some trick positions, once upside down, once riding like superman with the guide right behind her holding onto her legs and she’s just lying forward with her arms spread out like she’s flying – I still shudder at the thought! The other family liked it fine, but was definitely a “been there done that” for them. No need to repeat. One thing I had seen posted and is true – you do not do this to observe canopy – you are just going by too fast. It is basically a ride, so to me it wouldn’t be worth agonizing over whether to do it in one part of the country or another. After the zipline, those who wanted to did a nice rappel down the tower to the riverbed below, where they then walked up several flights of metal stairs to get back up. Then, choice of horseback or van to the hotel.
Hanging Bridges: a highlight. Must do. We did not use a guide, and did not see much wildlife, although some people ahead of us w/a guide did not seem to be seeing much either, it may just not have been a good day. It was a beautiful walk just to be in that atmosphere with those plants. Fabulous. Hubby not fond of heights and did not enjoy the actual bridge part, but he’s very tall so the side railings were a lot lower on him than to the normal person, he felt unprotected. You must plan to eat lunch here afterwards. Great food, great price, and a fantastic view of volcano. Power was out so she couldn’t use blenders, we had to forgo the famous milkshakes. We had gotten transport out there from Montana, but did not know what time we’d be done so did not arrange a return. When we were done, the people at Hanging Bridges kindly called for 2 taxis, which it turns out is very expensive since they add on the charge to get out there from La Fortuna. When the HB people heard the cost, they insisted on calling a van driver they know, and told him that we had paid $40 to get out there from Montana de Fuego and would he come & take us back there for that. They had to pressure him a little and finally he agreed. This is one of many examples where people went way beyond what would be expected of them in order to help us out. It turned out that the driver was a very nice guy, we ended up negotiating a good price for him to take us to see the lava the next night.
Safari Float: did this with Sunset tours – very fun float down Penas Blancas river, then stopped at an old man’s dirt-floor farm where his daughters served us fresh made cheese, plantains and coffee. Walked around the farm a bit and then had an obligatory visit with the 96 yr old man, that was a little awkward, he can no longer walk and is in his bedroom and only speaks Spanish, but a fascinating guy and very sweet. Our guide was excellent and knowledgeable, found us blue jean frogs, sloth, howlers way up not too easy to see, lots about plants and agriculture. Drove by the iguana restaurant in Muelle slowly enough to get pix from the van, they don’t stop now ever since someone was killed or hurt apparently on the bridge.
Meals in La Fortuna – Nene’s was recommended by 2 drivers. It was just OK, and service was barely OK. Watch out for the specials – ask the price before you order to avoid shock! La Choza de Laurel, recommended so much on here, was good. Don’t go if you’re uncomfortable with begging street dogs hanging out under your table giving you the patented puppy dog guilt stare! Don Ruffino’s was the best meal we had there, excellently prepared, the only drawback being even slower than the usual slow-paced service.
PUNTA LEONA: I’ll mention a little about this area since there is not much posted about it. It’s a huge sprawling property along the ocean just north of Jacó, with a hotel complex and lots of houses and condos, from modest to luxurious. Entrance is via a guarded gate where you are given a colored wristband to identify yourself as belonging on the property. The area is beautiful with plenty of natural forest. Can’t speak about the actual hotel rooms, we were in a private home. Mostly Ticos vacationing here, and using their beach homes. Some Europeans, few Americans. We rented a car here, which was necessary due to our house being 15 minutes back into the property from the guard gate at the main road, and up on a bluff so we also had to drive down to the beaches. Toyota Prado for 8 worked fine, since we didn’t have to drive with luggage. 2 nice beaches. Playa Mantas with darker sand and no waves, nearer to hotel pools and facilities. Playa Blanca is the beautiful “blue flag” beach with white sand. Word of caution: the waves look smallish but pack a big punch – my husband was bodysurfing and was lifted up by a wave and slammed down on his head. He broke his nose and we were afraid he may have broken his neck. The lifeguard was not there and the only help we could get was the driver of the little golf-cart type shuttle that the hotel runs to the beach, hubby rode bleeding along bumpy road to hotel medical clinic. Once there, a paramedic attended to him. Since Jacó has no hospital e.r., he & I had to go by ambulance to San Jose. Luckily xrays showed no broken neck, and doc gave him pain med and some stuff for his nose. The rest of the trip he looked like he’d been in a fight, dashing my hopes of taking the family Christmas card photo while in CR! Taxi back to Punta Leona, arriving at 2 a.m., this ended up affecting our plans to go to Manuel Antonio and regrettably we had to leave that for the next trip also.
Wildlife in the area – iguanas, butterflies, monkeys playing in the trees next to our house. Coatimundis, which the Ticos call Pizotes, similar but not same as raccoon. One had apparently been fed by people and was quite aggressive, tried to bite my daughter’s and brother in law’s feet – we had to start keeping a stick around. In fact it came into the house when we weren’t looking, and had to be chased out. Another night, a Mapache (raccoon), came in thru window we forgot to close, opened kitchen cupboard and ransacked the trash container, stole 2 avocados off kitchen counter.
A couple of activities we did in Jacó area:
Carara National Park – hiked in with a guide and saw wildlife and plants. Guide was great and able to take us off the very muddy trail road and into the forest a couple of times. Didn’t see as many monkeys as kids had hoped. Didn’t see macaws, so our guide took us driving thru the town of Tarcoles after, and spotted macaws in a tree he knew they sometimes frequented. Then with the same guide we did a mangrove/Tarcoles river tour , just 8 of us in the boat, and saw plenty of crocs, a couple up very close, iguanas, lizards, crabs, several different birds. I think Manuel Antonio and the Damas Mangrove are probably better than these, but these were pretty good.
Pura Vida Gardens – these are some gardens that an American man owns near the top of the waterfall just south of the Tarcoles bridge. We took the entrance to the hotel Villa Lapas, which we stopped at and looked at their shops in colonial style buildings, pretty grounds. A few miles way up a dirt road is the Pura Vida waterfall and Gardens. On the way up there is another spot where you can pay to go in and hike down to the falls – we didn’t check that out, I think you’d have to be in very good shape as the terrain is very steep and can get pretty slippery and muddy in rainy time. At the Gardens up top, you have to pay $20 to get in, only 3 of us were interested enough to do it. I thought it was worth it – they have a lot of beautiful plants along paved trails and also a natural trail. Great views and scenery. No one was there but us. We got to see where they have the Adventure Dining, which we had read about. Fabulous location, but we were glad just to see it and not have the expensive dinner – this time of year it is raining almost every night.
Bugs - you will see plenty of bugs. There is no getting away from this. Some of them will bite you, in spite of your use of repellant. Some of them will land on your food. Some of them will get into your hotel room. It just goes with being in a tropical climate. If you’re very bug-phobic, you may find Costa Rica stressful.
For those who are debating whether to go to CR. We have 8 thumbs up amongst our group. It was truly an adventure. The Ticos, as you’ve read, are truly some of the most warm-hearted and friendly people you will ever meet. If anyone has questions about the places I’ve mentioned, I’ll be happy to answer.
Pura Vida!
Lisa
Jul 18th, 2008 | 03:44 PM
#3
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 999
Likes: 0
It sounds like a great trip, except for your husbands accident! Glad he was ok though! Quite an adventure! I'm glad to hear such a glowing review of Wilson Rojas as we'll be using him for 2 parts of our upcoming trip! Excellent!
It really sounds like your family had a great time, and it sounds like you already have plans for a return trip!
Thanks for the report
It really sounds like your family had a great time, and it sounds like you already have plans for a return trip!
Thanks for the report
Jul 19th, 2008 | 06:26 AM
#5
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,266
Likes: 0
Thanks for you report, lfm75!
You've provided lots of useful information for folks in the planning stages.
I'm glad you all had a great time, and hope your husband is on the mend! That must have been scary!
I'd like to check out Carara sometime and see how it does compare to MA (loved seeing those huge crocs from the Tarcoles bridge on our drive down to MA!).
Villablanca sounds very nice and worth a stay. I'm aready familiar with Orquideas and the Arenal area (love them both).
Thanks for sharing with us!
You've provided lots of useful information for folks in the planning stages.
I'm glad you all had a great time, and hope your husband is on the mend! That must have been scary!
I'd like to check out Carara sometime and see how it does compare to MA (loved seeing those huge crocs from the Tarcoles bridge on our drive down to MA!).
Villablanca sounds very nice and worth a stay. I'm aready familiar with Orquideas and the Arenal area (love them both).
Thanks for sharing with us!
Jul 19th, 2008 | 08:16 AM
#7
Original Poster
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
ShellD, you will love Wilson. Be sure to allow extra time - although you may be anxious to reach your next destination, as we were, you will realize that in this case the journey is worth savoring. If your trip is near a meal time be sure to let Wilson take you somewhere - he is very particular about the places he takes people, and all were great. If you're driving along and notice a plant or anything, he'll just stop if it's safe on the side of the road while you look at it some more and he tells you about it. Many times he stopped to buy a sample of whatever was in the shop on the roadside - fresh cheese, a pastry, etc. so we could try it. He's very proud to share everything about his country.
cmerrell, it is interesting to be on the Tarcoles and see the crocs up close. Our guide and the boat driver were very experienced on the river, they had a couple big crocs they knew. One was a male, and when they spotted him the driver got out barefoot on the bank with a chicken and enticed the croc to jump up and eat it - I was somewhat uncomfortable with that as I prefer that the natural order of things be respected. But they only did it with this one old croc, and they had gone upriver a good way to find him by himself. Another croc they knew was lazy and not easily startled, they found her as they predicted, lazing on a bank, and she did not care that we approached pretty close. She kept on dozing and we got some great photos. Besides those we saw plenty of others of all sizes on and near the banks.
I have to say that being on a boat, or a raft as we were in Arenal, is a nice way to see wildlife while relaxing, a good balance to the hiking part. Although I must have gone on the Disney Jungle Cruise a few too many times, I kept expecting the mechanical hippos to pop up out of the water - had to remind myself this was a real ride!
cmerrell, it is interesting to be on the Tarcoles and see the crocs up close. Our guide and the boat driver were very experienced on the river, they had a couple big crocs they knew. One was a male, and when they spotted him the driver got out barefoot on the bank with a chicken and enticed the croc to jump up and eat it - I was somewhat uncomfortable with that as I prefer that the natural order of things be respected. But they only did it with this one old croc, and they had gone upriver a good way to find him by himself. Another croc they knew was lazy and not easily startled, they found her as they predicted, lazing on a bank, and she did not care that we approached pretty close. She kept on dozing and we got some great photos. Besides those we saw plenty of others of all sizes on and near the banks.
I have to say that being on a boat, or a raft as we were in Arenal, is a nice way to see wildlife while relaxing, a good balance to the hiking part. Although I must have gone on the Disney Jungle Cruise a few too many times, I kept expecting the mechanical hippos to pop up out of the water - had to remind myself this was a real ride!
