Just Back From Costa Rica
Aug 4th, 2009, 10:09 AM
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Just Back From Costa Rica
We just got back from two weeks in Costa Rica, and had a GREAT time! We flew into Liberia, drove around looking for somewhere to eat, ended up at a little soda, where we had the best food of the whole trip (after bungling around with the language a bit). But I have no idea of the name of the place.
Then we drove to La Fortuna. We took a few wrong turns on the way, but never for very long. We stayed at Hotel Carmela, which was clean and pretty, with little balconies and a little pool and a good breakfast, and Brian at the front desk, who was very friendly and sweet. We enjoyed eating at a couple of the open air restaurants, nothing to write home about, but fun for the experience of watching the people and the dogs, who my 13 year old loved enough to name (Porkhammer and Goofy). Enjoyed the souvenir shops and the little park across the street from the hotel. We saw some great stuff at the shops in La Fortuna that we didn't see anywhere else (bright woven things). I thought, "Oh, we'll get it later," and then didn't find it later. Actually, didn't see anything like La Fortuna later. It's just such a lovely little town.
We drove to the waterfall, then hiked down. The hike was hard on my sore knee, but getting there was worth it, swimming in the cold water there at the bottom of the fall (down a little ways, not right under the fall).
Second night we drove to the other side of the volcano, stopped where there were lots of people, by a bridge, and saw some lava flow down. It only lasted a minute or so, so we felt lucky to have seen it.
Spent two nights in La Fortuna, then drove down to Quepos (AMAZING drive--through the most gorgeous mountains--oh, and stopped by a bridge on the way where people were gathered, and looked down and saw tons of crocodiles, BIG ones; also stopped and bought rambutan, yummy), where we stayed at the Best Western for two nights. The hotel was spotless, and the pool lovely. But when we set out at night to explore Quepos, we quickly agreed that the perfect word for it is "shady." We were creeped out, and that's all four of us (husband, two teenage sons). And we live in the hood. Anyway, it could be that the town in more inviting during the tourist season. No one was rude to us or anything, it was just...well, shady. We enjoyed a meal at the Cafe Milagro (or something like that). Also, felt very safe at the hotel.
We went to Manuel Antonio the next morning, spent about five or six hours there. We didn't hire a guide because we were on a strict budget, and also because my boys don't do well with guides (meaning that they are always eager to get on down the road). But we saw a deer, a sloth (actually five sloths, but I spotted the first one myself, and am very proud of that. We watched one of the sloths climb around from a very close distance, and that was so cool), three kinds of monkeys, a caiman, a coati, and a paca, or something like that (rodent with a humped back). We saw a lot of white-faced monkeys. One of them held my son's finger, and another tapped my husband's head. Very cute. We didn't feed them, though it was obvious that a lot of people do. We also saw iguanas. We swam at the first two beaches. I like Manuel Antonio the best. We got there early enough that both of the beaches were almost empty (the first one was totally empty), but when we left, they had begun to fill up a bit. My husband hiked the Cathedral Trail, and said that I hadn't missed anything wonderful, though he may have just been trying to make me feel better. I had sprained my foot the night before, so was having to watch how much I walked. We didn't hike to any other beaches because of this, though the first two were really nice.
Let's see, after leaving Quepos, we drove to Monteverde. The ride there was uneventful, except to say that the unpaved part of the trip was very rough, and extremely beautiful. We stayed at Hotel El Viandante, which we loved. It's clean and simple. Great breakfast, great vista. Great hosts with great advice. They suggested that we eat at an Italian place down towards the Cloud Forest, very delicious. They also arranged ziplining through Extremo. They came and picked us up at the hotel, and drove us to the site. The ziplining was amazing, with fourteen different stations, and long sweeps over huge valleys, and I still can't believe I did it. The guides were really fun and professional, and it ended with a Tarzan swing (yikes!). The only thing I wasn't prepared for is the hike between the stations, which was very taxing on both my husband and myself. I thought that it was because I am a fifty year old unfit wimp, but my husband found it taxing as well. The air was thin, and we were trying to keep up with everyone else (all of whom were younger, of course). But it was amazing. We saw a howler monkey up in the trees watching us all do the Tarzan swing, which is pretty funny.
Let's see, one night there, oh, and it was so windy. I loved that. Then the next morning we hiked through the Cloud Forest. We stopped to see what some people were looking at on the way, and saw a quetzal up in the trees. Lucky us. Then hiked through the Cloud Forest (on my sprained foot!) for several hours. We didn't hire a guide, once again, because of our budget. But it was beautiful nevertheless, and we commented on how people always say that you can't see anything without a guide, but that everything we saw was beautiful. Though it's true that we didn't see any mammals, except for a few coati. Saw beautiful hummingbirds at The Hummingbird Cafe (Store? Something?), and stopped at the cheese factory and had an inexpensive lunch.
Then on to Playa Ocotal, which I describe in another post. But just to finish here, will say that we stayed at Villa Vista Mar (villavistamar.com), which is amazing. We stayed in Apartment #2, and the view was incredible. Lorrie and Ed were great hosts with lots of helpful suggestions. We swam at the beach a two minute drive from the villa, black sand, great snorkeling, clear water. We shopped and ate pizza at Playa del Coco, just a few minutes away. Robert went scuba diving (sharks, turtles, dolpins). Basically, we were just lazy, listening for the howler monkeys (one came up across the patio by the pool), drinking smoothies (fresh pineapple, mango, papaya), reading, ahh, what a life!
We did go to Tamarindo one day, hoping that the boys could surf. But the guys in the surf shop said that we'd missed the waves for the day. So we rented a skim board instead, and swam. Very pretty day. And little spiral seashells everywhere.
Oh, did you know that you have to pay a $25 dollar tax per person to leave the country? And that it takes about ten extra minutes? And that they don't take your bags less than one hour from the time your flight takes off? We barely made it, and saw several other people running. Just thought i'd mention it!
We rented our car from Car Service Rentals, got a quote on the internet, and everything went great with them. The quote included the liablity, etc., and was the best price I could find. The car itself was a little worn, but after you travel those roads, you can see why. They met us at the airport, no wait, both times, and were very professional.
Okay, that's it. What a beautiful time we had. I hope that some of this is helpful, and appreciate the help I've gotten from this site.
Then we drove to La Fortuna. We took a few wrong turns on the way, but never for very long. We stayed at Hotel Carmela, which was clean and pretty, with little balconies and a little pool and a good breakfast, and Brian at the front desk, who was very friendly and sweet. We enjoyed eating at a couple of the open air restaurants, nothing to write home about, but fun for the experience of watching the people and the dogs, who my 13 year old loved enough to name (Porkhammer and Goofy). Enjoyed the souvenir shops and the little park across the street from the hotel. We saw some great stuff at the shops in La Fortuna that we didn't see anywhere else (bright woven things). I thought, "Oh, we'll get it later," and then didn't find it later. Actually, didn't see anything like La Fortuna later. It's just such a lovely little town.
We drove to the waterfall, then hiked down. The hike was hard on my sore knee, but getting there was worth it, swimming in the cold water there at the bottom of the fall (down a little ways, not right under the fall).
Second night we drove to the other side of the volcano, stopped where there were lots of people, by a bridge, and saw some lava flow down. It only lasted a minute or so, so we felt lucky to have seen it.
Spent two nights in La Fortuna, then drove down to Quepos (AMAZING drive--through the most gorgeous mountains--oh, and stopped by a bridge on the way where people were gathered, and looked down and saw tons of crocodiles, BIG ones; also stopped and bought rambutan, yummy), where we stayed at the Best Western for two nights. The hotel was spotless, and the pool lovely. But when we set out at night to explore Quepos, we quickly agreed that the perfect word for it is "shady." We were creeped out, and that's all four of us (husband, two teenage sons). And we live in the hood. Anyway, it could be that the town in more inviting during the tourist season. No one was rude to us or anything, it was just...well, shady. We enjoyed a meal at the Cafe Milagro (or something like that). Also, felt very safe at the hotel.
We went to Manuel Antonio the next morning, spent about five or six hours there. We didn't hire a guide because we were on a strict budget, and also because my boys don't do well with guides (meaning that they are always eager to get on down the road). But we saw a deer, a sloth (actually five sloths, but I spotted the first one myself, and am very proud of that. We watched one of the sloths climb around from a very close distance, and that was so cool), three kinds of monkeys, a caiman, a coati, and a paca, or something like that (rodent with a humped back). We saw a lot of white-faced monkeys. One of them held my son's finger, and another tapped my husband's head. Very cute. We didn't feed them, though it was obvious that a lot of people do. We also saw iguanas. We swam at the first two beaches. I like Manuel Antonio the best. We got there early enough that both of the beaches were almost empty (the first one was totally empty), but when we left, they had begun to fill up a bit. My husband hiked the Cathedral Trail, and said that I hadn't missed anything wonderful, though he may have just been trying to make me feel better. I had sprained my foot the night before, so was having to watch how much I walked. We didn't hike to any other beaches because of this, though the first two were really nice.
Let's see, after leaving Quepos, we drove to Monteverde. The ride there was uneventful, except to say that the unpaved part of the trip was very rough, and extremely beautiful. We stayed at Hotel El Viandante, which we loved. It's clean and simple. Great breakfast, great vista. Great hosts with great advice. They suggested that we eat at an Italian place down towards the Cloud Forest, very delicious. They also arranged ziplining through Extremo. They came and picked us up at the hotel, and drove us to the site. The ziplining was amazing, with fourteen different stations, and long sweeps over huge valleys, and I still can't believe I did it. The guides were really fun and professional, and it ended with a Tarzan swing (yikes!). The only thing I wasn't prepared for is the hike between the stations, which was very taxing on both my husband and myself. I thought that it was because I am a fifty year old unfit wimp, but my husband found it taxing as well. The air was thin, and we were trying to keep up with everyone else (all of whom were younger, of course). But it was amazing. We saw a howler monkey up in the trees watching us all do the Tarzan swing, which is pretty funny.
Let's see, one night there, oh, and it was so windy. I loved that. Then the next morning we hiked through the Cloud Forest. We stopped to see what some people were looking at on the way, and saw a quetzal up in the trees. Lucky us. Then hiked through the Cloud Forest (on my sprained foot!) for several hours. We didn't hire a guide, once again, because of our budget. But it was beautiful nevertheless, and we commented on how people always say that you can't see anything without a guide, but that everything we saw was beautiful. Though it's true that we didn't see any mammals, except for a few coati. Saw beautiful hummingbirds at The Hummingbird Cafe (Store? Something?), and stopped at the cheese factory and had an inexpensive lunch.
Then on to Playa Ocotal, which I describe in another post. But just to finish here, will say that we stayed at Villa Vista Mar (villavistamar.com), which is amazing. We stayed in Apartment #2, and the view was incredible. Lorrie and Ed were great hosts with lots of helpful suggestions. We swam at the beach a two minute drive from the villa, black sand, great snorkeling, clear water. We shopped and ate pizza at Playa del Coco, just a few minutes away. Robert went scuba diving (sharks, turtles, dolpins). Basically, we were just lazy, listening for the howler monkeys (one came up across the patio by the pool), drinking smoothies (fresh pineapple, mango, papaya), reading, ahh, what a life!
We did go to Tamarindo one day, hoping that the boys could surf. But the guys in the surf shop said that we'd missed the waves for the day. So we rented a skim board instead, and swam. Very pretty day. And little spiral seashells everywhere.
Oh, did you know that you have to pay a $25 dollar tax per person to leave the country? And that it takes about ten extra minutes? And that they don't take your bags less than one hour from the time your flight takes off? We barely made it, and saw several other people running. Just thought i'd mention it!
We rented our car from Car Service Rentals, got a quote on the internet, and everything went great with them. The quote included the liablity, etc., and was the best price I could find. The car itself was a little worn, but after you travel those roads, you can see why. They met us at the airport, no wait, both times, and were very professional.
Okay, that's it. What a beautiful time we had. I hope that some of this is helpful, and appreciate the help I've gotten from this site.
Aug 4th, 2009, 01:18 PM
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Wonderful report. . and proof that Costa Rica can be "done" and done well on a budget. I'm curious, if you don't mind sharing. Aside from your airfare, what would you say your family of 4 got by on and how long were you there? A week?
Aug 4th, 2009, 08:17 PM
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Let's see...I don't mind you asking, and it's helpful for me to figure this out...we were there for twelve nights. We spent about $2000. Family of four, two teen boys.
We flew with free miles, and used thankyou points for four of our five nights spent in hotels. Spent $110 for another night, and then another $400 for a week at the villa. $400 for the rental car. About four tanks of gas, that's about $120 (more or less, my husband did the filling up). Five meals at restaurants, from $30 to $60 each, that's about $220. Four or so meals at sodas, that's about $80. About $200 on groceries for meals that we cooked at the villa. Another $100 for snacks and picnic food along the way (my 13 year old had the goal of ice cream every day, fruit stands, coffee, etc.) $150 on zip-lining, $40 for entrance to Manuel Antonio, another $40 or so for entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, $2 to rent a skim board (best price ever!), and $100 for my husband's dive trip. So that's $600 for food for two weeks (two adults, two teen boys), $520 for the car and gas, $510 for lodging, $350 for entertainment. That's almost $2000. Plus about $100 in souvenirs (the funnest thing we bought was a piece of pottery from a display that a man laid out on the beach while we were swimming).
When I was trying to figure out where to go with our free miles, I found that Costa Rica was much cheaper than other places I looked at in terms of car rental, and also in terms of lodging. It would have cost triple the price or more to have rented a comparable beach villa somewhere in the US. We felt like the prices for food and gas, etc. were about what we would have been paying in the mainland US. We did vacations to Ireland and Hawaii over the last two years, and this was a much cheaper venture! Cereal was less than three dollars--we paid $6 in Hawaii--yeeow.
We flew with free miles, and used thankyou points for four of our five nights spent in hotels. Spent $110 for another night, and then another $400 for a week at the villa. $400 for the rental car. About four tanks of gas, that's about $120 (more or less, my husband did the filling up). Five meals at restaurants, from $30 to $60 each, that's about $220. Four or so meals at sodas, that's about $80. About $200 on groceries for meals that we cooked at the villa. Another $100 for snacks and picnic food along the way (my 13 year old had the goal of ice cream every day, fruit stands, coffee, etc.) $150 on zip-lining, $40 for entrance to Manuel Antonio, another $40 or so for entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, $2 to rent a skim board (best price ever!), and $100 for my husband's dive trip. So that's $600 for food for two weeks (two adults, two teen boys), $520 for the car and gas, $510 for lodging, $350 for entertainment. That's almost $2000. Plus about $100 in souvenirs (the funnest thing we bought was a piece of pottery from a display that a man laid out on the beach while we were swimming).
When I was trying to figure out where to go with our free miles, I found that Costa Rica was much cheaper than other places I looked at in terms of car rental, and also in terms of lodging. It would have cost triple the price or more to have rented a comparable beach villa somewhere in the US. We felt like the prices for food and gas, etc. were about what we would have been paying in the mainland US. We did vacations to Ireland and Hawaii over the last two years, and this was a much cheaper venture! Cereal was less than three dollars--we paid $6 in Hawaii--yeeow.
Aug 5th, 2009, 01:52 AM
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I know! We did Hawaii for our honeymoon and the food was so expensive there. We went to the grocery store to get a few things like milk, pineapple juice, croissants so we could have breakfast in the room to save money. Our grocery bill was sixty bucks! That's what got us going to CR. You did so great with your budget. Are the thankyou points you used from the Thank You Network? I accumulate those points but never know what to do with them.
Aug 7th, 2009, 11:31 AM
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awesome planning cindy! i'm totally into the mileage, points upgraded budget vacation!! i'm going to check out thankyou.com as soon as i finish this post!
i opted out of using my mileage for CR because the fare was only $284 round trip from chicago and it didn't seem worth it to use 120,000 miles (for 4 of us) for that...
i opted out of using my mileage for CR because the fare was only $284 round trip from chicago and it didn't seem worth it to use 120,000 miles (for 4 of us) for that...
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