Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Long report-Savegre/Dominical

This will be long, so skip or prepare yourselves!

We couldn't resist $318 rt from DC to San Jose!!! Our second trip to CR in two years. Left DC May 24 and returned June 2. We had planned to go to Savegre (San Gerardo de Dota), Dominical, and Manuel Antonio, but ended up skipping MA. more on that later.

We're all about nature in CR, though we like a bit of beach as well. Since we got into SJO at 8pm, we stayed the night at Le Bergerac Hotel on the eastern edge of SJ. We rented a Terios thru the hotel's travel service from Adobe. Had Adobe deliver the car to us the next am. The hotel was super convenient for us to head out toward Cartago. It's 50m south of Avenida Central, just a couple blocks in from the roundabout between SJ and San Pedro.

We liked Le Bergerac very much and would recommend it highly. About $85 a night. It's in the so called embassy area (though alas not the US embassy -- more about THAT later). Most rooms have a little garden patio area attached with lovely landscaping. It's like a small elegant boutique hotel. They have "the best French restaurant in CR." We had our doubts about what that might mean till we ate dinner there on our last night -- it was indeed VERY good. The hotel staff was very nice/accommodating -- also much English spoken. The bathrooms here are beautiful too. Gigantic showers with great water pressure!

Adobe arrived before 9am just as requested. Paperwork etc still took about 1/ 2 hour. We set off for
Savegre Lodge in San Gerardo de Dota by 9:30 or so. It was a beautiful drive on the Panamerican.
For Savegre you turn off at the 80 km sign and then go 9km DOWN a windy, occasionally paved road -- descending hundreds of feet. Gorgeous!! But I must add that my husband is an intrepid driver! I might not have been as intrepid. The whole drive took 3 hours or so. We stopped once for coffee at a roadside stand/soda, where I also bought 7 of the most fabulous cala lilies for about $1.50! They were huge and lasted about a week.

We loved Savegre Lodge!! As we were approaching (right about where the escuela is for those of you who know the area) a pickup truck stopped in the road in front of us. Man jumped out and started looking around. My husband said "you better get out and see -- cause it looks as if he's seen something great!" Sure enough he had. He introduced himself as Marino Chacon (son of the Savegre owner) and said he'd just seen a quetzal fly across the road and that he believed a pair had nested in that area. Since Marino is one of Savegre's guides, we made arrangements to go out with him the next am. He went on. Just as we were starting the car, my husband caught a glimpse of a quetzal on the post on the side of the road. We were beside ourselves! Had seen one from a great distance in Monteverde a few years earlier. This one (a female) was within 10 feet of us. Got great pictures. Another female (immature male?) flew in. And then the MALE. He was further away but within very clear site and we got great pictures of him as well! So we said - Well, ok, we can go home now, ha ha.

Checked in at the lodge. They had given us one of the brand new "junior suites." Looks like they're building and rehabbing cabins continuously. There were two of these next to one another set off across a bridge. Lovely setting. Bench outside door. Working FIREPLACE. Great kingsize bed. Sunken bath tub! Cathedral ceiling. Exceeded our expectations. I believe we paid $72 per person per day -- which included three meals. Now, the food was not great by any means. But our food expectations for CR are already low anyway. It fueled us. The bar area has more ambience than the restaurant. The place was less than 1/2 full I believe for the three nights we were there. We went out with Marino (just the 3 of us) early the next am for about 4 or 5 hours. Walked on the property next to the lodge and then on a gorgeous trail (the Quebrada) up the mountain behind. Saw tons of birds - many new to us. Marino met us at dinner and gave us the list. He was excellent, so enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The next day we set off on our own to check out Cerro de la Muerte (one of the highest spots in CR). We went off the Panamerican on yet another dirt rocky road to get to top. Alas, weather clouded over, so we didn't get the fabulous ocean view, etc. But it was still an adventure. We did some walking up there nonetheless. Wanted to see the paramo. Then we went to La Georgina soda on the Panamerican just beyond Cerro de la Muerte. Checked off another hummingbird, had coffee, walked around a bit. Back to Savegre. Walked the trail on our own that we'd walked with Marino day before. Heard, but never saw, what my husband swears must have been a bellbird. We had plenty of rain -- but as others have said it was usually in the afternoon or evening. Mornings were most often sunny. After our 3rd night at Savegre we set off for Dominical.

Have forgotten how long that drive took us, maybe another 3 plus hours? It does get hairy up there on the Cerro de la Muerte pass. Though this time it was foggier (and it was still am) on the other side of the pass than at the pass itself. The road itself is in good shape (for CR anyway), but it is narrow, does have its occasional potholes and does have TRUCKS. Not much traffic though.

When we arrived in Dominical we drove south on the nice paved road there just out of curiosity. Made it all the way down to Uvita (though to do it had to cross one make shift bridge - since the other was under construction). We turned around below Uvita where ANOTHER bridge was out.
All the while checking out the birds of course. Great road/drive though. Couldn't believe there was hardly a soul on it!! Lack of line down middle though tends to mean everyone drives down the middle. We had a great fresh tuna sandwich, fries, and cervezas at the San Clemente bar before heading up (naturally, straight up another bumpy dirt road) to our next lodging Pacific Edge. This one lasted only about 10 minutes or so though and we were there. Sign at their gate said "Back at 3, come in, close gate and make yourselves at home"

This is a KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF location!!! The American/British couple Suzy and George who own the place have been there 13 years. The property sits on a ridge with a fabulous, totally unobstructed, probably 180 degree of the Pacific and coastline below. They have a neat little outside dining/bar area. A small, lovely pool (with that VIEW), many chairs, benches for looking at the view, as well as two tower lookouts (as if you needed it). There are just four cabins, of which ours was the smallest. Each has a lovely porch with hammock and chairs -- all with THE VIEW. Suzy & George have a house over/behind the bar/dining area. They've lived the sailing life, and been all over the world -- so know how to make the best of small spaces. George is quite a character and told lots of stories over dinner. Suzy is a good cook, and it is she who prepares breakfast and/or dinner if you want it and ask for it. Lodging for our small cabin was $55. Meals are extra, though inexpensive.
We enjoyed a dinner of chicken curry and a fair amount of wine with George and Suzy and two other guests on our first night. Lots of fun. Earlier that day we had stopped at Hacienda Baru (just a km or two down the BUMPY road to Manual Antonio) and arranged to go out on their property with a guide the next day, so we had that experience. We did about 5 hours with Pedro -- including a lunch they had brought in to a camp site for us. Many more birds, sloths (at last!), white faced monkies, etc. They've got elaborate platforms and zip lines there as well, but we didn't do those. It may have been late that afternoon that the rains came. Two nights it POURED hard all night. We prayed fervently that we wouldn't end up in a pile of mud on the coast! When there wasn't rain at night there were all kinds of fabulous night noises here - frogs, insects, birds!!!

George, who's also a contractor locally, sent us off to look at some property with one of his work crew members. (I mean, who's NOT going to think they want to by ocean view property in CR when they stay at Pacific Edge) This was a four acre parcel with just a smidgen of an ocean view/mostly valley for $85,000. Too rich for our blood. We had some fun looking around though. Saw some white faced monkeys, blue morpho butterflies, and more.

Had several great meals at La Parcela down by the coast. Good food -- open air -- great ocean view.

The night before we were to leave for Manuel Antonio, a German couple arrived at Pac Edge after driving 7 or 8 hours from Quepos. Turns out that a bridge north of Quepos had washed out, so they couldn't get there. They drove all the way back to SJ and then over the Cerro and down to Dominical!! This gave us pause. Also many bad stories about condition of road between Dominical and Quepos. Meanwhile of course we'd driven south again just to watch people try to ford the stream/river where THAT bridge had now washed out. Upshot of all that was that even though George verified next am that road between Dominical and MA was "passable," we wimped out. Per Suzy, there are must be 40 bridges between D and MA. We'd seen our sloths and monkeys, every bird imaginable and were ecstatic with our current digs at Pac Edge.
So we cancelled MA and stayed two more nights at Pac Edge. We drove south again -- this time to Oro Verde (another reserve). Nobody there initially, recepcion locked up. Young girl went and got "Danny." who turned out to be our guide for the am. He was great too. Great walk with him. He used our binoculars and camera and got us great pictures of howler monkeys. More birds -- two poison dart frogs, etc, etc.

On Monday, we reluctantly left Pac Edge by 6:30 for SJ. We wanted time to hit Lankester Gardens on way back. We stopped at Cerro de la Muerte again, because the weather was pretty clear and great. Got a much better view than a couple days earlier -- but alas not as far as the ocean. It was a beautiful drive back -- though again, glad husband was doing the driving -- the man has nerves of steel. Passing those trucks on that road is hairy. Despite his terrific driving, we did hit one pothole full on -- managing to bend not one, but two wheel rims. Fortunately we'd bought full coverage and it never caused a problem for either tire.

Lankester Gardens was interesting. Virtually no one there. Only a handful of orchids in bloom now -- still it was interesting to see how many they have!! And see all the other plants as well. Worth stopping for if you're into plants as we are. Would definitely be worth a stop when orchids bloom in Feb. Mar.

At last we arrive at the sorry end of our fabulous trip. We left the gardens hungry. We got to the outskirts of Cartago and started looking for a restaurant. Decided to stop at Cafe Cappucino (this would be on the road into Cartago from Paraiso - whatever road that is and I mention it for reasons that will shortly become obvious). It looked like a bustling local favorite. We parked with several other cars on the side of the restaurant. Several others were parked in front on the busy street. A "guardisimo?" was hanging around the lot. (You see where this is going). We had a nice chicken sandwich in the Cartago equivalent of Starbucks with other tables full of local business folks in under an hour. When we returned to our car, we discovered that ALL of our luggage was GONE. I know, I know. We live in DC and never leave anything of value visible in our car. But you're driving from location to another, and you gotta eat. So we took that chance and we lost. Went back into restaurant and told them that if the guardisimo, who said he'd seen nothing, was their employee, he wasn't doing much of a job. He didn't seem to be of course, though they knew him. Their level of concern extended to allowing me to use their cell phone when asked. Fortunately we both had all our credit cards with us and I had my passport (though husband had left his in luggage . . . . I know, I know). That, the clothes on our bodies (shorts and sandals), muddy hiking boots, and a bathing suit and t-shirt I was drying on back seat were all they left us. They took two large suitcases and two carry ons. But - we said -- it's just STUFF. The only thing we're still weeping over (we passed thru Denial quickly, spent a bit more time in Anger, moved on to GRIEF, and are well on our way to Acceptance) was all our fabulous pictures of Costa Rica (the quetzales, the howlers, sigh). So yeah we lost the digital camera and an expensive pair of binoculars. All the rest was just clothes, no money, no fabulous jewels.

On to the next adventure. Making a loss report to the Cartago authorities. If there were gringos/English speakers in Cartago we didn't see any. So I REALLY got to practice my mediocre Spanish here. Almost impossible to get directions that led you where you wanted to go. Finally stopped at police station. Spoke to police lady who said they'd send a squad car out to the restaurant and told us to go to the Tribunal of Justice to make report. About 1/2 hour later we were finally able to find that (it's probably about 6 blocks away). They took my report fairly quickly all things considered. And they sent a guy back out to the car with me (where husband had been waiting for an hour or more working through his Anger/Grief stages) to take fingerprints. That was a trip. We determined that the thieves had probably used a screwdriver on the back lock to break in. That's all it took. He didn't think he had any prints. But we left with stamped copies of a report, for what that's worth. Had a nice chat with the fingerprint guy though . . .

Rolled into Le Bergerac a little after five. Adobe came for the car. He didn't care what it looked like since we'd bought the full insurance. Told everyone our pathetic story. Earlier we had called the US Embassy about replacing husband's passport. But, guess what, they were closed because it was Memorial Day!! Emergency contact said show up tomorrow at 8am and you MIGHT be able to get a replacement in 4 or 5 hours. So husband beat up on United Airlines trying to get them to waive change fee for our cheap internet fare (they haven't YET), so we could delay our departure by a day.
Had a lovely meal at L'ile de France Restaurant at Le Bergerac. Funniest line (spoken by hotel concierge to whom we'd JUST told our story as we prepared to enter the restaurant) "I'm sorry, Sir, we can't let you in with shorts on." Husband: "Well, duh . . . " Poor clerk was so embarrassed when he realized his faux pas and let us in. Not that there was more than another table or two occupied the whole time.

Up early the next am for cab to US Embassy, where we find at least a dozen more people with similar tales of woe from the beaches, the cities, etc. One guy had left his hostel to go to the shower and been completely wiped out. Didn't even have money to buy himself a new passport. Another nice couple was funding him. One couple had taken a 5 hour bus trip from Flamingo just to do the replacement dance. Another couple was on their honeymoon and had a restaurant story like ours. Their best line: "We decided that whenever there's trouble in our marriage going forward -- one or the other of us will say 'so, are you in a foreign country without a passport? No? Well then get over it.' " We plan to use this too. Does tend to put things into perspective . . . Another couple had been victims of the tire slashing/we'll fix it for you scam -- just after the toll booth from the airport or so! We all bonded and enjoyed a fair amount of gallows humor. As govt. employees ourselves, we weren't knocked out by service at the embassy. Very disorganized. Nonetheless we managed to get papers filled out and turned in in about two hours and were instructed to return by 3pm and "yours MAY be ready." So we took a cab to the Gold Museum, looked around there (interesting!), tried but failed to find a recommended spot for lunch so gave up and ate at McD's. Hit a department store and bought toothbrushes/paste, underwear and pair long pants for husband. Cab back to Embassy where we encountered all our new found friends departing with smiles on their faces. Husband got his passport too and we returned to Le Bergerac. Had a little nap. Then took cab to our favorite SJ restaurant from last visit "Tin Jo." We love this place. They do all manner of Asian food really well. Hardly anyone was there either. Had a great dinner. Cab back to hotel and crashed. Cab to airport at 6:30 for 9am flight. We noticed how much easier it is to travel without any luggage. A major advantage if you could do it. Uneventful flight back to DC.

Gee, I really got carried away didn't I? Bottom line: It's ALWAYS worthwhile to go to CR. We highly recommend Savegre Lodge, Pacific Edge, and Le Bergerac. We liked the rainy season just fine -- it was interesting in fact to see what "rainy season" meant exactly. We had plenty of nice weather to work with - ya just gotta get up and out early. Also recommend La Parcela Restaurant in Dominicalito, and L'ile de France and Tin Jo in San Jose.

And last but not least . . . . when people tell you not to leave anything in sight in your car when it's parked . . . THIS MEANS YOU!!!!