Trip report
Jul 16th, 2003 | 07:48 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 195
Likes: 0
Trip report
I apologize for the length!!!!
Day 1: Took direct flight from Houston on Continental. Stayed at Marriott Costa Rica. A BEAUTIFUL hotel outside of town located on a coffee plantation. Great rooms, good food, and gorgeous grounds. They have a heated pool that felt wonderful considering it was a little cool in San Jose. The hotel has a free shuttle to and from the hotel every ? hour.
Day 2: White water rafting trip on the Rio Pacuare with Rio Tropicales. Outstanding outfit?highly recommend. They picked us up at the hotel around 6am and following pickups at other San Jose hotels, we headed 1.5 hours southeast to the river. The countryside along the way was great. When we got to the company?s camp, we were fed breakfast and we were able to change into bathing suits. It was a short bus ride from there to the launch. We were given a briefing on how to properly raft and then set out for a 23-mile float. Our guide was Reynaldo. The trip was terrific! The Pacuare is one of the top 5 rivers in the world to white water raft. We went through mostly II and III rapids, but there were several IV rapids as well. So much fun! Towards the beginning of the float, the raft in front of us didn?t make it past a rock in time and flipped over. We rescued 4 of the 6 people in our raft. Everyone was fine. Towards the end of the float, the guides told us to jump into the water and enjoy a swim. We drifted for several minutes and the water felt wonderful. Following the float, we were taken back to the camp for lunch. They had a guy taking pictures throughout the whole trip. I think he took about 100 pictures per raft and was selling CD?s of the pictures for $40. We didn?t buy it, but it would have been nice if we could have bought a single picture or two instead of the whole CD. We finally made it back to the hotel around 7:30pm. I recommend taking a disposable waterproof camera. Plenty of photo opportunities along the way!
Day 3: We were picked up at the hotel by Adobe Rent a Car that morning and taken to our rental Jeep. The guys at Adobe were great about mapping out our route and giving directions. Then we were off to Arenal! The drive took us about 2.5 hours, but we never stopped along the way except for being waved over by the traffic police in some town in the middle of nowhere. Don?t be worried if they flag you over, it is routine and you just need to show them your passport. The roads to Arenal were not bad at all-or at least we were expecting much worse! For visiting to during the rainy season, we were excited to arrive in Arenal during a relatively sunny day! When we got into town, only a cloud at the very top covered the volcano. We stayed at Montana de Fuego and had a very nice room with a covered porch facing the volcano. We had lunch at the hotel (food was so-so) and then headed out on a horseback tour to the La Fortuna waterfalls. Once we got to the stables, the rain settled in for the rest of our trip in Arenal! It was intermittent, and not too bad to disrupt the ride. The horse ride was about an hour to the park (you can drive up there, horses are not required). The trek down to the falls is rather precarious (very steep steps) but totally worth it! Make sure to wear your bathing suit because you can swim near the falls. We stayed there about 30 minutes and then hiked up the 496(!) stair steps back up! Another hour horse ride and we were back at the stables. We then headed to Tabacon for dinner. They have a great buffet for $10, but make sure you have reservations. We barely got in! I then went to the spa for a Volcanic mud wrap and face mask. Pure heaven!!! Pay the extra $20 to have a service performed in a bungalow. My appointment was at 7:30pm and it was very dark out side and a thunderstorm underway. The bungalow is outside surrounded by vegetation so it is very private. It was very cool to feel out in nature. As part of the wrap, you are led to a private outside hot springs pool where you rinse off. Very cool! After my spa visit, we hung out at the pool bar in the hot springs. On the way back to our hotel, the sky cleared and we could see a little bit of lava sliding down the volcano! We hung out on our front porch for about an hour and watched. Absolutely amazing!
Day 4: Drive to Monteverde. Okay, now we know why Costa Rica has a bad reputation as far as roads are considered! Surprised we had any shocks left on the Jeep. We made it in 3.5 hours. Ate at Pizza Johnny?s for lunch-pretty good. Our hotel was Fonda Vella. Very nice hotel. The rooms have no a/c and are designed to ?let nature in.? I.e. you leave the windows open so that you can hear every bug and bird all night long, LOL. But it was very relaxing. If you go upstairs of the restaurant, you can see the Gulf of Nicoya in the distance. There is also a small trail on the hotel grounds that we went hiking through. We visited the CASEM and Cheese Factory. Not as much to them as we thought there would be. Rather disappointed. Ate dinner at Tremonte?s.
Day 5: Went on the Original Canopy tour in Monteverde. So.much.fun!!!! This outfit is first rate-safety was very important to our guides. We did seven zip lines and 2 rappels. Bring a camera-again, plenty of photo ops! Following our tour, we headed to Tamarindo. I believe the drive was about 4 hours. The bad roads last another hour out of Monteverde and then you are back on the Pan American highway. Smooth roads never felt so good! The drive before the PA highway was rather nervewracking. About ? through, they were working on the roads laying dirt. Okay, sounded good, but then it quickly turned to mud since it was raining, which made for slippery roads. Keep in mind we were basically in a cloud were we couldn?t see over the side of the cliff, but you knew it was a VERY steep cliff. Can?t decide if not being able to see was a good thing or not! I was just on edge because you have to go very slow so that you don?t lose control and run off the road! You could tell Tamarindo was a surfer town the minute you arrive. Surfers and surfboards everywhere! We stayed at Capitan Suizo. Highly recommend this hotel!!!!! Great rooms, great beach, great pool! The guy who checked us in recommended El Pescador for dinner. It was a 5-minute walk up the beach. Excellent food! We ended up eating there 3 of the 4 nights in Tamarindo. We booked our fishing trip though the restaurant owner that evening.
Day 6: Went on a 2-tank dive with Agua Rica at the Catalina Islands. Pretty good trip. They had had a lot of rain so visibility was only 40 feet at best. I believe our first dive was 65 feet?quite a bit of fish to see. Our second dive was in about 45 feet. Our dive master took us to a place where sharks tended to hang around. Hmmm, wasn?t too sure about that! We ended up coming upon 5-so amazing! We deflated our BC?s and lay on the bottom about 10-15 feet from them. They saw us, but paid little attention. We were able to get a few pics of them. They would have come out better if the visibility had been good. We stayed about 5 minutes and swam on. We eventually came upon two more that swam right past us. Didn?t see much else on the trip. We were hoping to see a manta ray but I guess they just weren?t out that day. I have to say though that the equipment we rented from Agua Rica was pretty crummy. Especially for a $20 rental fee. Our masks leaked horribly, seawater kept leaking into our regulators, and one guy?s depth gauge didn?t work. That evening we had dinner at the hotel. They have a Marimba band that performs at dinner on Wednesday nights.
Day 7: Finally a day to do nothing!!!!!!!! We hung out at the beach and pool all day long. We ended up renting kayaks from the hotel and went for a ride. One suggestion, don?t try to surf the waves in if you are on a two-person kayak. We caught a wave, went bow first, and it dumped us over. I was thrown under the kayak and was hit pretty good on the head by it. Too bad we didn?t have helmets! That ended my kayaking for the day! LOL. Ended up seeing several monkeys in the trees over the hotel that afternoon. And there are several iguanas that live on the premises (and even swim in the pool!)
Day 8: My husband went fishing (I chickened out) and I went into town to look for souvenirs. He had a great time and ended up chartering the boat by himself for the whole day. It was worth it-he came back with 12 mahi-mahi?s and one Pacific sailfish! So cool! He was able to get several great pictures with it before it was released. He had a great time with the captain and deckhand. We ended up taking the fish back to El Pescado where they cooked it up for us ? half grilled and half fried. Some of the best fish we have ever eaten. We invited a couple from Los Angeles that we had met the nice before and enjoyed a great dinner with them. During the meal, a local mariachi-like band came through and serenaded us for a few bucks. Great way to end the vacation!
Day 9: Transferred to the Tamarindo airport, er, airstrip for the Sansa flight back to San Jose. Don?t forget it is $3 per person for an exit tax. My husband wasn?t too excited about flying on a 12-seater plane. It was funny. But the flight went well and offered great views of the countryside. I think it was about a 45-minute flight. We then transferred from the Sansa terminal to the International terminal via taxi. When you get to the terminal, you need to pay the $26pp departure tax before you check in at the airline counter. It didn?t take long at all, and there is an ATM as you approach the desk.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. With the exception of San Jose, it is a very CLEAN country, which impressed us. A few tips though:
1) Be prepared to wake up early and go to bed early. The sun rises around 5am and none of the hotels except the Marriott had black out drapes. We were up by 6am most mornings. Also bring a travel alarm clock. They did not have one at Capitan Suizo. Although their wakeup service worked fine, we would have felt better having our own alarm clock so that we wouldn?t miss our excursions.
2) Wear your insect repellent at the beach. We were eaten up after dark. Have bites on the soles of my feet, in my hairline (hair had been in a pony tail), just everywhere!
3) Dub a few CDs onto tape cassettes if you drive a rental car. We didn?t have a CD player (not sure if a cd player would have worked well on those roads anyhow!).
4) Bring a light jacket and jeans if you are going to be in San Jose/Arenal/ Monteverde. It was just cool enough for a jacket, especially in the evenings.
I know there were a few more tips we had, but forgot to write them down. I?ll let you know if I remember them! If you have any questions, I?d be happy to try to answer them!
Day 1: Took direct flight from Houston on Continental. Stayed at Marriott Costa Rica. A BEAUTIFUL hotel outside of town located on a coffee plantation. Great rooms, good food, and gorgeous grounds. They have a heated pool that felt wonderful considering it was a little cool in San Jose. The hotel has a free shuttle to and from the hotel every ? hour.
Day 2: White water rafting trip on the Rio Pacuare with Rio Tropicales. Outstanding outfit?highly recommend. They picked us up at the hotel around 6am and following pickups at other San Jose hotels, we headed 1.5 hours southeast to the river. The countryside along the way was great. When we got to the company?s camp, we were fed breakfast and we were able to change into bathing suits. It was a short bus ride from there to the launch. We were given a briefing on how to properly raft and then set out for a 23-mile float. Our guide was Reynaldo. The trip was terrific! The Pacuare is one of the top 5 rivers in the world to white water raft. We went through mostly II and III rapids, but there were several IV rapids as well. So much fun! Towards the beginning of the float, the raft in front of us didn?t make it past a rock in time and flipped over. We rescued 4 of the 6 people in our raft. Everyone was fine. Towards the end of the float, the guides told us to jump into the water and enjoy a swim. We drifted for several minutes and the water felt wonderful. Following the float, we were taken back to the camp for lunch. They had a guy taking pictures throughout the whole trip. I think he took about 100 pictures per raft and was selling CD?s of the pictures for $40. We didn?t buy it, but it would have been nice if we could have bought a single picture or two instead of the whole CD. We finally made it back to the hotel around 7:30pm. I recommend taking a disposable waterproof camera. Plenty of photo opportunities along the way!
Day 3: We were picked up at the hotel by Adobe Rent a Car that morning and taken to our rental Jeep. The guys at Adobe were great about mapping out our route and giving directions. Then we were off to Arenal! The drive took us about 2.5 hours, but we never stopped along the way except for being waved over by the traffic police in some town in the middle of nowhere. Don?t be worried if they flag you over, it is routine and you just need to show them your passport. The roads to Arenal were not bad at all-or at least we were expecting much worse! For visiting to during the rainy season, we were excited to arrive in Arenal during a relatively sunny day! When we got into town, only a cloud at the very top covered the volcano. We stayed at Montana de Fuego and had a very nice room with a covered porch facing the volcano. We had lunch at the hotel (food was so-so) and then headed out on a horseback tour to the La Fortuna waterfalls. Once we got to the stables, the rain settled in for the rest of our trip in Arenal! It was intermittent, and not too bad to disrupt the ride. The horse ride was about an hour to the park (you can drive up there, horses are not required). The trek down to the falls is rather precarious (very steep steps) but totally worth it! Make sure to wear your bathing suit because you can swim near the falls. We stayed there about 30 minutes and then hiked up the 496(!) stair steps back up! Another hour horse ride and we were back at the stables. We then headed to Tabacon for dinner. They have a great buffet for $10, but make sure you have reservations. We barely got in! I then went to the spa for a Volcanic mud wrap and face mask. Pure heaven!!! Pay the extra $20 to have a service performed in a bungalow. My appointment was at 7:30pm and it was very dark out side and a thunderstorm underway. The bungalow is outside surrounded by vegetation so it is very private. It was very cool to feel out in nature. As part of the wrap, you are led to a private outside hot springs pool where you rinse off. Very cool! After my spa visit, we hung out at the pool bar in the hot springs. On the way back to our hotel, the sky cleared and we could see a little bit of lava sliding down the volcano! We hung out on our front porch for about an hour and watched. Absolutely amazing!
Day 4: Drive to Monteverde. Okay, now we know why Costa Rica has a bad reputation as far as roads are considered! Surprised we had any shocks left on the Jeep. We made it in 3.5 hours. Ate at Pizza Johnny?s for lunch-pretty good. Our hotel was Fonda Vella. Very nice hotel. The rooms have no a/c and are designed to ?let nature in.? I.e. you leave the windows open so that you can hear every bug and bird all night long, LOL. But it was very relaxing. If you go upstairs of the restaurant, you can see the Gulf of Nicoya in the distance. There is also a small trail on the hotel grounds that we went hiking through. We visited the CASEM and Cheese Factory. Not as much to them as we thought there would be. Rather disappointed. Ate dinner at Tremonte?s.
Day 5: Went on the Original Canopy tour in Monteverde. So.much.fun!!!! This outfit is first rate-safety was very important to our guides. We did seven zip lines and 2 rappels. Bring a camera-again, plenty of photo ops! Following our tour, we headed to Tamarindo. I believe the drive was about 4 hours. The bad roads last another hour out of Monteverde and then you are back on the Pan American highway. Smooth roads never felt so good! The drive before the PA highway was rather nervewracking. About ? through, they were working on the roads laying dirt. Okay, sounded good, but then it quickly turned to mud since it was raining, which made for slippery roads. Keep in mind we were basically in a cloud were we couldn?t see over the side of the cliff, but you knew it was a VERY steep cliff. Can?t decide if not being able to see was a good thing or not! I was just on edge because you have to go very slow so that you don?t lose control and run off the road! You could tell Tamarindo was a surfer town the minute you arrive. Surfers and surfboards everywhere! We stayed at Capitan Suizo. Highly recommend this hotel!!!!! Great rooms, great beach, great pool! The guy who checked us in recommended El Pescador for dinner. It was a 5-minute walk up the beach. Excellent food! We ended up eating there 3 of the 4 nights in Tamarindo. We booked our fishing trip though the restaurant owner that evening.
Day 6: Went on a 2-tank dive with Agua Rica at the Catalina Islands. Pretty good trip. They had had a lot of rain so visibility was only 40 feet at best. I believe our first dive was 65 feet?quite a bit of fish to see. Our second dive was in about 45 feet. Our dive master took us to a place where sharks tended to hang around. Hmmm, wasn?t too sure about that! We ended up coming upon 5-so amazing! We deflated our BC?s and lay on the bottom about 10-15 feet from them. They saw us, but paid little attention. We were able to get a few pics of them. They would have come out better if the visibility had been good. We stayed about 5 minutes and swam on. We eventually came upon two more that swam right past us. Didn?t see much else on the trip. We were hoping to see a manta ray but I guess they just weren?t out that day. I have to say though that the equipment we rented from Agua Rica was pretty crummy. Especially for a $20 rental fee. Our masks leaked horribly, seawater kept leaking into our regulators, and one guy?s depth gauge didn?t work. That evening we had dinner at the hotel. They have a Marimba band that performs at dinner on Wednesday nights.
Day 7: Finally a day to do nothing!!!!!!!! We hung out at the beach and pool all day long. We ended up renting kayaks from the hotel and went for a ride. One suggestion, don?t try to surf the waves in if you are on a two-person kayak. We caught a wave, went bow first, and it dumped us over. I was thrown under the kayak and was hit pretty good on the head by it. Too bad we didn?t have helmets! That ended my kayaking for the day! LOL. Ended up seeing several monkeys in the trees over the hotel that afternoon. And there are several iguanas that live on the premises (and even swim in the pool!)
Day 8: My husband went fishing (I chickened out) and I went into town to look for souvenirs. He had a great time and ended up chartering the boat by himself for the whole day. It was worth it-he came back with 12 mahi-mahi?s and one Pacific sailfish! So cool! He was able to get several great pictures with it before it was released. He had a great time with the captain and deckhand. We ended up taking the fish back to El Pescado where they cooked it up for us ? half grilled and half fried. Some of the best fish we have ever eaten. We invited a couple from Los Angeles that we had met the nice before and enjoyed a great dinner with them. During the meal, a local mariachi-like band came through and serenaded us for a few bucks. Great way to end the vacation!
Day 9: Transferred to the Tamarindo airport, er, airstrip for the Sansa flight back to San Jose. Don?t forget it is $3 per person for an exit tax. My husband wasn?t too excited about flying on a 12-seater plane. It was funny. But the flight went well and offered great views of the countryside. I think it was about a 45-minute flight. We then transferred from the Sansa terminal to the International terminal via taxi. When you get to the terminal, you need to pay the $26pp departure tax before you check in at the airline counter. It didn?t take long at all, and there is an ATM as you approach the desk.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. With the exception of San Jose, it is a very CLEAN country, which impressed us. A few tips though:
1) Be prepared to wake up early and go to bed early. The sun rises around 5am and none of the hotels except the Marriott had black out drapes. We were up by 6am most mornings. Also bring a travel alarm clock. They did not have one at Capitan Suizo. Although their wakeup service worked fine, we would have felt better having our own alarm clock so that we wouldn?t miss our excursions.
2) Wear your insect repellent at the beach. We were eaten up after dark. Have bites on the soles of my feet, in my hairline (hair had been in a pony tail), just everywhere!
3) Dub a few CDs onto tape cassettes if you drive a rental car. We didn?t have a CD player (not sure if a cd player would have worked well on those roads anyhow!).
4) Bring a light jacket and jeans if you are going to be in San Jose/Arenal/ Monteverde. It was just cool enough for a jacket, especially in the evenings.
I know there were a few more tips we had, but forgot to write them down. I?ll let you know if I remember them! If you have any questions, I?d be happy to try to answer them!
Jul 17th, 2003 | 04:55 AM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 800
Likes: 0
mku4440, thanks for a great report. Glad to hear you enjoyed Capitan Suizo (our favorite hotel in all of Costa Rica!) and El Pescador where we had several memorable meals. We will be there again in about 5 weeks! I am so excited about this upcoming trip.
In Arenal, did you have your spa treatments at Tabacon Spa or Montana de Fuego Spa? We decided to give Arenal another try this year and I think I would like to try one of the spa treatments there.
In Arenal, did you have your spa treatments at Tabacon Spa or Montana de Fuego Spa? We decided to give Arenal another try this year and I think I would like to try one of the spa treatments there.
Jul 17th, 2003 | 07:05 AM
#4
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
Hi-we are headed to CR in a few weeks==with a similar itinerary. When you drove from Arenal to Monteverde did you drive through Tileran? ON that drive are you on the outside lane of a mountain road or the inside lane--closer to the mountain side? We are a bit concerned about that drive--but friends who have been say its really worth it. Any other thoughts about the roads?
Also--hotels: are there places in Arenal and Monteverde you think are real nice?
We are booked at Arenal Lodge and Fonda Vela. We had heard Fonda Vela is quite beautiful--was it a problem without air conditioning? What are the rooms like? Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Also--hotels: are there places in Arenal and Monteverde you think are real nice?
We are booked at Arenal Lodge and Fonda Vela. We had heard Fonda Vela is quite beautiful--was it a problem without air conditioning? What are the rooms like? Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Jul 17th, 2003 | 08:26 AM
#5
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 195
Likes: 0
Iza, my spa treatment was at the Tabacon. You don't have to pay to enter the park to access the spa.
Oh, it was almost 9pm by the time we were ready to hit the hot springs. I asked the manager and he let us in at the child price. It's worth asking if you go late in the day.
Oh, it was almost 9pm by the time we were ready to hit the hot springs. I asked the manager and he let us in at the child price. It's worth asking if you go late in the day.
Jul 17th, 2003 | 08:30 AM
#6
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 195
Likes: 0
Tino, the road alternates between which side of the mountains you are on. But I want to say that for the majority of the time you are on the inside lane (yes, we went through Tilirjan).
I didn't really get to check out any other hotels in the area. I remember though that El Establo (?) in Monteverde looked very nice. No a/c was not a problem in Monteverde. It got rather chilly over night.
I didn't really get to check out any other hotels in the area. I remember though that El Establo (?) in Monteverde looked very nice. No a/c was not a problem in Monteverde. It got rather chilly over night.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
lutherkins
Mexico & Central America
25
Sep 2nd, 2007 10:38 AM
bodypolitik
Mexico & Central America
6
Aug 23rd, 2005 12:16 PM
