What a fantastic time we had! I want to thank everyone here who helped me plan our trip, it was amazing.

I'm still in the throes of laundry but I'll start posting my trip report today in sections.

Would I go back again? In a heartbeat, in fact, a week was waaaayyyyyy too short, and I still want to see so much more of this beaoutiful country. I liked it more than Hawaii, it's just as beautiful and there is so much more to do, more cultural differences, not to mention a much shorter flight and it's much less expensive.

Thanks again to shillmac, volcanogirl, hipvirgochick and everyone else who answered my endless questions, I'm now a CR junkie!

Just some quick highlights and tips.

The whitewater rafting on the Pacuare was amazing, I want to go again.

All the hotels we chose were excellent, especially the Mot-Mot villa at Tulemar in Manuel Antonio, it was like heaven on earth.

I would NOT drive from Arenal to MA again, too long. In retrospect we should've flown.

I would take only one pair of pants and nothing but t-shirts, bathing and tank tops, CR is ultra casual.

I experienced class A hair alerts the entire time. No need to try to blow dry or style my hair, it was hopeless. Next time I'll bring a bunch of bandanas and just cover up my head.

I loved the food! I don't know why it gets such a bad rap, all our meals were delicious (with the exception of the slop served on the rafting trip), even the one we cooked with fish bought from the docks (more on that later).

I thought Manuel Antonio was beautiful, yes Quepos is a gritty, rundown town, but once you get off the main drag and if you are staying in a nice place, it's perfection.

Just a caveat, a family staying at Tulemar did the zipline/rapelling tour with Canopy Safari last Friday and the dad/husband FELL off the rappel portion of the tour. He fell on the guide and both were airlifted to a hospital. They incurred very serious internal injuries and I don't know if the guide survived or if they opened the tour back up, but I doubt it.

We did our zipline the day before in Arenal at Arenal Paraiso, and felt very safe. They were so careful and we were double hooked, but obviously Canopy Safariin Quepos made a terrible mistake.

Hi Nina welcome back! Glad to hear you're a new CR junkie like the rest of us. Would love to hear more about the Mot-Mot when you have time and if you got to see the lower unit at all or if anyone was staying there. I'm with you...pony tails and bandanas are the only way to go! I loved the food too and I'm looking forward to the beauty of MA park and beaches. Yikes about falling off the platform though. I hope they're all ok! Looking forward to hearing about your Arenal adventures...can't remember where you were stayed...

Hi Nina,

Welcome to the CR junkie club. Sounds like you had a great time. We also loved Buena Vista Villas, but stayed upstairs in a villa, it was one of our favorite places.

Scary about the zip line thing. They also double hooked you at Sky Trek zip line in Arenal, plus it was all swiss engineering.

I have naturally curly hair which goes crazy down there, but I don't care, just love letting all go loose and not having to dress up! One of my favorite things about this vacation!

nina, welcome back! We're converts from Hawaii too. I'm so glad you had a good time! Looking forward to hearing more.

Nina,
Thanks for your great trip report- LOL about the "Class A Hair Alerts"!! Already have told the Chi (hair straightener) addicted teen daughter, with naturally glorious curls, that she won't win the battle of the waves. I'll follow your advice and get us some matching bandanas. Ha!
I also hope that the folks are okay. Scary to think about.

Nina, anxious to hear more. So glad you had a good time. I hated so much to hear of the disaster with rapelling. How awful. Do let me know if you hear more. Isn't CR a great place?

Hi Nina - it's good to hear back from you - I was wondering about your trip!

I'd love to hear more about the mot-mot villa at Tulemar. Did you just have the top floor or both? We just booked the top floor and are looking forward to it! Did you have access to the pools at Buena Vista Villas or just the Tulemar pool? I'm getting conflicting reports!

And was the drive THAT bad from Arenal? That's my one hesitation in going to MA! Especially with a 7 and 9 year old! Flying doesn't give a much better option since there is no direct flight that I see from Arenal to MA and that means waiting around the airports for layovers and getting there early before the flight leaves!

How awful about the accident while rappelling! I hope they're ok!

I also enjoyed the food in CR! I'm hoping my terribly picky 9 year old will find something he will eat though!

I'm looking forward to more details, and welcome back!

Glad you had a great trip. I happen to love the food in CR, basic, simple, filling & fresh!

Shell, we just booked the top unit, it was plenty big enough for 4 of us. There are 2 queen beds (very comfortable) in the bedroom and 2 singles in the Trundle bed in the living room. The trundle was big enough for my 15 year old.

The maids (elizabeth) will make up the trundle if you ask.

I didn't even know there was a second pool! We used the infinity pool near the restaurant, it's so close to Mot-Mot and service in CR is kind of slow, so we went to the pool, placed our lunch order and swam until it arrived. The view from the pool and restaurant is spectacular!

The view from Mot-Mot is also spectacular, it has a huge wrap around proch and the monkeys came at 7:00-7:30 am and around 3:30 in the afternoon.

There's a full kitchen so stock up on drinks and snacks. The TV is new but the reception is horrible, so they have a new DVD player and Diego, the property manager was nice enough to bring us about 10 moview on DVD! He'll ask the kids ages and bring age appropriate movies, he's the nicest guy.

We made our own drinks every night and sat on our porch and watched the sunset, it's so incredibly beautiful!

We also used the kayaks every day on the beach.

Try the Tapas restaurant at the top of the hill, you can walk, it's called SalsaPuedes, good, cheap and a killer view.

Oh and about the picky 9 year old..they have chicken fingers on the menu at Tulemar, which, BTW, has a new chef and excellent food. My husband eats in NYC restaurants all the time and he was impressed.

There was a family we were talking to with a picky eater and the chef made him pizza, cheese quesadillas and chicken fingers, he loved it all.

nina - thanks for the info! It sounds great! Only 5 mos to go now!

Sounds like you had a great trip. just a quick question reguarding the villas Mot Mot, I am about to make reservations for next winter and will be traveling with my children ( 1 and 3 year olds) would you consider the balcony safe for the children or would we be better off to stay in the bugalows?

This is all building up the anticipation of our trip and stay at Mot-Mot (a splurge for us) next month! I know the lower unit isn't supposed to be as nice as the upper, but I think it will be great for us! I hope we can tear ourselves away from the pool and beach long enough to go exploring some other areas!

I love the food in Cost Rica too, and I'm usually a spicy food kind of girl so I was surprised it was all so good being on the mild side.

tconnors,

I think there was chicken wire on the bottom portion of the deck railing (it was very unobtrusive), so I think you're OK with kids on the deck, but I obviously wouldn't let them out there alone.

HipVirgoChick,

There was a couple staying in the lower unit, so I didn't get a good look at it. I found a website with some really good photos of both units though, here it is.

http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame...urnurl=/163728

Is Costa Rica an expensive place to vacation? Regarding hotels and food?

Nice hotels yes, food no.

There are also a lot of youth hostels and low priced cabinas, but on the other hand, they have some very high end upscale resorts that are over $600 a night. It runs the gamut.

Thanks for the link Nina! Those are beautiful pics of Mot-Mot, beach there etc. Very helpful!