brainc24

Well, here goes. First a few things you should know about us. It was our first trip to Costa Rica and this is my first trip report. My wife and I are in our mid 50’s and in “pretty good” shape - I like the sound of that. My wife had a brain aneurism 3-1/2 years ago but has recovered remarkably well. Courtesy of a lot of research plus immeasurable help from this forum, I planned eight days in the Dominical area and here’s what transpired.

Night of arrival – We arrived in San Jose at 10:30 p.m. Friday, March 13, took a cab to Budget where we picked up a 4x4 with GPS (good move). We drove to Out of Bounds Lodge in Escazu to spend the night (www.bedandbreakfastcr.com) During the short drive, we were stopped twice – a mile apart – at drunk driving roadblocks. There apparently is a new law within the last two weeks that no longer permits drinking WHILE driving. One cop gave me a hard time, finding it difficult to believe that I didn’t drink on the flight from Newark to San Jose. We finally arrived for the night, Matteo and Meranda turned out to be gracious hosts/owners, the room was great, and breakfast the following morning provided a great view of the Central Valley and three volcanoes.

Day One (our first full day) – We drove to Dominical via San Isidro. We left about 10 a.m. so were in the clouds much of the way. We stopped at a grocery store for fruit and drinks and made our way to Costa Paraiso, (www.costa-paraiso.com) our lodging for the week, about 2 Km south of Dominical, right on the costal highway. We stayed in the Toucan Nest, a separate unit away from the two other double units. It had a million-dollar view of water crashing 30’ to 40’ high against tall lava formations directly out in front. Costa Paraiso is managed by Doug and Jennifer and is a very laid back place. It has a pool, beautiful gardens, night security, and plenty of iguanas and birds. And cicadas!!! There is no spa, no restaurant, no massages, no TV, although they do offer Wifi. If you want to be pampered with snap-of-the-finger service, servants at your feet, don’t stay here. If you want privacy, beautiful surroundings and all the necessary amenities, you’ll love it as we did. We like our vacations to be quiet. It’s not that we’re anti-social, but we’re just not into large hotels with a lot of people. That’s just us. We ate locally that night at La Parcela; food was great (recommend the mahi-mahi) and dinner for two without drinks was $30 including tip. Forgot to mention, the airport was offering 506 colones to the dollar; BCR offered around 562 in Dominical.

Day Two – Went to Playa Ventanas and as I wrote on another post to Tully: You should drive in the road about 300 yards and then park to the left in a lot that has security (350 colones per hour). From there it is about a 10 minute walk on a rutted path up and over a hill to the beach. There are a couple of neat natural caves that go all the way through to the ocean on the right and a large area beneath the palm tress to relax and have a picnic. The beach is huge, kids were playing soccer, and the day we were there the waves were 10' to 12', so you really had to be careful because of the undertow. There were park police there telling you not to leave anything lying around because of thieves. The backdrop to the beach is gorgeous; mountains come right down to the coastal highway and it is heavily forested all the way to the beach. We had dinner at San Clemente in Dominical and it was average, nothing great.

Day Three – We woke up early and drove to Playa Uvita to take the whale watch/snorkel tour arranged through Uvita Info Center (www.uvita.info) with the help of owner Sonia and co-worker Francine. I can’t say enough of how they helped us throughout the week with a number of questions. They are smart, professional and know their business. I didn’t know them, blindly found them on the net, was impressed with their e-mails and went with my gut. They were tremendous. Ballena Tours actually handled the boat trip itself. There was a crew of four that was incredibly competent. Thirty minutes into the trip we found a stranded fishing boat and towed it all the way to Playa Dominical. We searched for whales and dolphins to no avail and finally went snorkeling for an hour off of Ballena. As I had been warned, visibility was so-so at best, but it was great to be in the water and we did see numerous blue parrotfish (about 4’ in length) and many other small fish. Despite not seeing any whales, we enjoyed the trip. We followed up by a little shopping, swim in the pool and a small dinner at the soda opposite La Parcela on the costal highway. Simply put, you get what you pay for there.

Day Four – An unplanned day sent us to Hacienda Baru. Again from a previous post to Tully: From the paved three-way intersection in Dominical, it is a 2 Km drive on the rocky dirt road toward Quepos to Hacienda Baru. Just drive slowly, realize it is worth the effort, and it will take about 10 minutes at most. It's well-marked, just past the gas station (only one in town) on the left as you head north toward Quepos. We didn't do the 5:30 a.m. bird tour or the zipline. Instead opted to walk trails ourselves - there is a $6 fee per person and you can walk all of the trails without a guide (if you choose). We did three of the four trails starting around 10:30 a.m. - a pretty stupid thing to do in the heat and humidity but it was still great. We saw numerous birds, coatis, leaf-cutter ants, vultures, and two toucans on our way down to the ocean which was completely void of people. Make sure you have plenty of liquids because it is hot and humid! The forest changes several times during the walk and there are signs along the trails that explain what wildlife and trees you see are seeing as you walk through each area. We walked up the bird tower, saw the top of canopy and a few birds, but it was nothing spectacular probably because it was mid afternoon. I'm sure it would be different early in the morning if you're into bird watching. The butterfly garden was quite nice, blue morphos were particularly gorgeous. Orchid garden had nothing in bloom. As you warned me, the food was so-so, but we were hungry and thirsty and it wasn't expensive. We stopped at the Internet Café in Dominical above San Clemente and whipped off a quick e-mail telling our friends we had bought some land and weren't returning home (ha-ha)for about $3. We went to dinner at Hotel Cuna Del Angel, about 10 minutes south of Dominical, right off the coastal highway. It’s a luxurious resort – I got the impression some people never leave the place. The food was excellent but the service was slow. Maybe it’s just my eating habits, but I don’t like waiting 15 minutes between courses.

Day Five – I own 100 teak trees I bought in 1999 as an IRA through Tropical American Tree Farms (www.tatf.com) and had arranged ahead of time to take a horseback ride through the farm just north of Dominical named Campo Real. The farm manager took us through the farm on horseback, up into the rainforest to a large waterfall where we cooled off and then came back. It took about three hours, the terrain was a complete mixed bag of inclines, steep declines, dry rocky river beds, etc. But it was a great trip and the horses were incredibly well-mannered. Never having been to Tortilla Flats, I felt compelled that it was a must-do for lunch so we went. It was everything everyone says it is - a diverse crowd of tourists and surfers with quick, cheap food. But it was a neat atmosphere. I just wish I was a beer-guzzling single 25-year old on Spring Break! Those were the days … sigh … A trip to the grocery store was followed a bit later with a fabulous dinner at a place called “Citrus” in Ojochal. Ask someone for good directions. It’s not in the GPS and we drove by the place twice. Super food, service and atmosphere seemingly in the middle of nowhere. As a landmark, it is directly opposite the police station.

Day Six – We went to Playa Colonia because I was dying to go swimming n the waves. Like a jerk I left my backpack on the beach and some scumbag ripped it off while we were swimming. Only thing of value that I lost was my cell phone plus I suffered a severely damaged ego for being such an idiot. We drove to Uvita Info Center and Sonia let me call AT&T to cancel out the phone. I was bummed. We had a wonderful dinner at the Italian restaurant, Confuscione (sp?) in Dominical. The owner, I forgot his name, was extremely nice, and although the location is at the end of a dead-end dirt road in Dominical, the food was excellent. Am I rambling too much? I hope not.

Day Seven – Our last full day started before sunrise with a drive to Sierpe to Las Vegas Restaurant for a kayak tour on the Sierpe River. It was just the two of us with a personable young guide, Orlando, and we kayaked for about four hours. It again was arranged by Uvita Info Center. Among the sights were three species of monkeys - the spider monkeys were so inquisitive and prescious - crocodile, caiman, tree boa, birds galore and a number of tropical tree species and mangroves. It was ferociously hot but a wonderful trip. Since the tide was coming in we went up the river; I would have preferred to go the other direction, but from experience, I know that paddling for hours against the tide and wind at the same time can be very draining. We stopped at Playa Colonia on the way back to cool off with a swim – this time we didn’t leave a freakin’ thing on the beach. It was again, a beautiful spot with manageable waves of 8” to 10’. I gassed up the car, bought some souvenirs so I wouldn’t look like a chump when I came home and we returned to have dinner at La Parcela because of its proximity and frankly, we simply liked the food and the place.

Day Eight – Up at 4:30 a.m. (ughhh ..). Drove to San Isidro and through the mountains. The clouds were above and below us and about 15 Km past Division, we ran into numerous minor rock and mud slides. It was raining but there were no major hang-ups. Car was returned, Budget drove us to the airport and we easily made our 12:20 p.m. flight to Newark. As explained before, the flight was fine until … as we approached our landing in Newark about sunset, there was a huge bang from somewhere on the outside of the Continental 737-800. First we thought the landing gear had opened so hard it had broken, but that wasn't the case. The plane had hit a flock of Canadian geese at about 1,300 feet but we didn't know that when it happened. The right wing area started banging loudly about once every second and the entire plane was shaking. Then we smelled something burning; it smelled like it was electrical and seconds later there was smoke visible inside the plane. One of the flight attendants raced up the aisle to the front of the plane but didn't say a word. Things were quite hairy for the next 30 to 45 seconds as we rapidly descended - the wing flaps were straight down. There was no Hudson River for us or any water near us. We made a quick landing from an unplanned direction, and everyone cheered and applauded as we were safely down and all was OK. It turns out we had lost an engine and the air conditioning system had caught on fire. And as we looked out the window at the engine, there was blood from the geese all over the top of it as well as the surrounding wing area. Fortunately, 90 minutes later, our short connecting flight to Hartford was uneventful. It sure makes you think about a lot of things in a very short period of time. Trust me on that!

So there you go. I don’t know if I covered too much or too little. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I only have good things to say about Out of Bounds in Escazu, Costa Paraiso in Dominical and Uvita Info Center. Best restaurants were Citrus in Ojochal, Confuscione in Dominical and also La Parcela. We ate fish, shrimp, pasta and of course rice and beans most of the time. I hope this helps someone plan a future trip as all of your posts helped me successfully plan ours.

I'll post photos this coming weekend. Thanks for reading this.

Brian

cmerrell

Very nice report, Brian! Sounds like you had a thoroughly enjoyable time and caught the 'magic' of Costa Rica. Your report makes me want to visit the Dominical/Uvita area.

Bummer that you didn't see any whales and even bigger bummer about your cell phone. And then there's your flight home... Yikes!!! But it sounds like the good things about the trip by far overshadowed the other stuff.

It's terrific that your wife's health issues a few years back have not prevented her from moving forward to be able to partake of wonderful adventures like Costa Rica!

Looking forward to your photos...

tully

Brian thanks for all the detailed info, am copying & pasting! I have Tortilla Flats jotted down as well, looks like it's an interesting place to hang out. Hadn't considered just doing the trails alone instead of on a guided tour, thanks for mentioning it, may work out better that way. Do you remember how long the SJO-Dominical leg took? I sthere just one bank in Dom or a couple? Did you feel like you really needed the gps? So far I haven't told the rental agency I want one, was hoping a good map would get me by. How cool you own some teak trees, and will be viligant with a bag at the beach! Sorry for all the questions!

hipvirgochick

Great report Brian, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a fantastic trip! You guys saw a lot while you were there! Sorry about the backpack. I know I've been guilty of watching my stuff from the water too...no more. I commented on your flight home on your other thread. Freaky! Thanks for the tips around Dominical as I'll be headed there in June. (Meeting up with Tully for a few days actually.)

brainc24

Tully - SJO to Dominical was between 4 and 4-1/2 hours. It all depends on whether you get stuck behind trucks because there are very few places to pass on the Pan-Am Highway. It is only two lanes, not what we consider a highway here, for sure! Also, both days we drove between the two places were Saturday's. It is possible it is more crowded during the week; I really don't know. But it is non-stop turns for many miles. I believe the BCR on the coastal highway is the only bank in Dominical. There is another 15 minutes down the coastal highway in Uvita. The GPS was needed to find our first night's stay in Escazu and it also helped us find the place to return the rental car. To drive from SJO to Dominical, you probably don't need it, but at $9 a day, it put my wife's mind at ease. If you decide to drive a lot, I would recommend it. If you already have one - or can borrow someone's - I believe you can purchase the Costa Rica program for about $45. I don't mind the questions at all. Hope this helps.

janenicole

Thanks for posting a great report, Brian. That area sounds very interesting, peaceful, beautiful, and not a bad drive from SJO. Know how you feel regarding leaving the backpack - we left our rain jackets on Interbus, which was completely our lack of paying attention.

Sounds like you had a great trip!

tully

Brian, I won't be driving out to Dominical, I'm having a driver pick me up and take me out there and then I'll get the car the next morning. I think being a passenger for the leg out there will be nerve-wracking enough for me, I have a problem with steep drop-offs. I'll only be using the jeep around Domincal and then the drive down to Puerto Jimenez. Thanks for the info on the bank! You've been super helpful.

steph270

Brian - I really enjoyed the trip report! I'm still finishing up mine but am trying to figure out if we crossed paths with you and your wife ....we definitely went to a lot of the same places. Wasn't Citrus great!? When you picture the drive there and where it is located, it is just so cool inside - the decor is very different for that area of CR - especially the lighting in the bar area. That stinks about your backpack too..it is so difficult when it is only the two of you and someone needs to watch the bag...

brainc24

Steph270 - You are absolutely correct about Citrus. I must confess that as we drove south in the darkness on the coastal highway, we drove right by the entrance to the group of restaurants in Ojochal and had to turn around about 5 km down the road. When my wife and I walked in the front door of the restaurant, we stopped in our tracks. We took a quick look around at the gorgeous interior, and then glanced at each other as if to say, "What is this wonderful place doing here?" The wait staff was great, food was excellent, pricing terrific, and we were even treated to a brief shower that sounded like a waterfall as it hit the huge trees right behind the restaurant. I don't know if you saw it, but there was a large framed painting on the far back wall of a cute Coata Rican girl for sale by a local artist. I wanted to buy it and am now lamenting that I didn't open up my wallet. Oh well - you snooze, you lose.