Trip Report from Pat_Hewitt - Part 1
Apr 11th, 2007 | 10:37 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 470
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Trip Report from Pat_Hewitt - Part 1
Hey All,
Just thought I would post a trip report, while our trip is still in progress and everything is fresh in my mind.
We arrived in San Jose last Thursday, on Spirit Air's inaugural flight. As we deplaned we were serenaded by a mariache band, and were filmed by the local news crews. Lots of fun.
It was a great value too. Our tickets were less than $200.00 round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. We were able to score some cheap seats on Delta from New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale for about $150.00 each. So our total cot for two was around $700.00. Not bad! Another couple from New Orleans accompanied us, and got the same price.
We stopped in Alajuela for supplies, and a quick stop at Orquideas Inn. We enjoyed some of their excellent cerviche, and took some time to visit with the owners. These are close friends, and are always a pleasure to spend time with. We then headed to Monteverde. We enjoyed a terrific meal at El Sapo Dorado that evening with another good friend of ours, who also is one of the managers.
The next morning, we took a short walk to the reserve so our friends could shop for souvenirs. We were lucky enough to spot a pair of quetzals on the side of the road almost immediately. We also saw a family of howler monkeys near reception at the reserve. Our friends found some good bargains at the Hummingbird Gallery, and my wife found a wonderful book on the oxcarts of Costa Rica at the reserve's gift shop.
Later in the day we hiked the bridges at Selvatura, and did the canopy tour there in the afternoon. We had a wonderful day, followed by yet another great meal at Johnny's Pizza.
We were up early again the next day for our hike to the San Luis waterfall. Great hike, just challenging enough to be interesting. But not really all that difficult. We have done this before. This is a compound waterfall and there are three stages tumbling into a large pool below. The water is very cold! But there were still some young locals that had made the same hike to swim. One of our friends is a local news guy in New Orleans. He shot the waterfall and hike with his digital video camera. He is going to post it on YouTube when he does the editing. I will post the link in a couple of weeks.
That afternoon, Melissa and I had some business to attend to in Santa Elena. So we dropped our guests at the woman's arts cooperative for some more shopping, and agreed to meet them after their scheduled tour at the"Bat Jungle" located nearby. They thoroughly enjoyed the bat tour, then met us upstairs at the new restaurant and chocolate shop.
We enjoyed a glass wine (okay, two glasses) and watched a beautiful sunset from the balcony. This brand new restaurant is called Cafe Cabure. We did not get a chance to sample the food, but the curry smelled very tempting and the chocolates looked dangerous. We are definitely going back there! We met the couple that own the restaurant. They had lived in India at one time, and that is where the wife learned to make curry. Her husband had once been the director of the Monteverde Reserve. They were very relaxed and happy people, and we were glad to have met them.
We went out for yet another great meal at Boheio's in downtown Santa Elena. We visited with another friend who sometimes does some transportation work for our customers. He is the son of one of the original Quakers who came here in the early 1950's. He was able to clarify some questions our friends had about the area, that Melissa and I did not have the answers for.
It was fun having guests with us. It forced us to get out and do the fun stuff again. We kind of wore ourselves out everyday, and slept well! After three days, we went to Arenal for the second part of the trip. I will post more on that later.
Pura Vida Y'all!
Pat Hewitt
(Travel Professional)
Just thought I would post a trip report, while our trip is still in progress and everything is fresh in my mind.
We arrived in San Jose last Thursday, on Spirit Air's inaugural flight. As we deplaned we were serenaded by a mariache band, and were filmed by the local news crews. Lots of fun.
It was a great value too. Our tickets were less than $200.00 round trip from Ft. Lauderdale. We were able to score some cheap seats on Delta from New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale for about $150.00 each. So our total cot for two was around $700.00. Not bad! Another couple from New Orleans accompanied us, and got the same price.
We stopped in Alajuela for supplies, and a quick stop at Orquideas Inn. We enjoyed some of their excellent cerviche, and took some time to visit with the owners. These are close friends, and are always a pleasure to spend time with. We then headed to Monteverde. We enjoyed a terrific meal at El Sapo Dorado that evening with another good friend of ours, who also is one of the managers.
The next morning, we took a short walk to the reserve so our friends could shop for souvenirs. We were lucky enough to spot a pair of quetzals on the side of the road almost immediately. We also saw a family of howler monkeys near reception at the reserve. Our friends found some good bargains at the Hummingbird Gallery, and my wife found a wonderful book on the oxcarts of Costa Rica at the reserve's gift shop.
Later in the day we hiked the bridges at Selvatura, and did the canopy tour there in the afternoon. We had a wonderful day, followed by yet another great meal at Johnny's Pizza.
We were up early again the next day for our hike to the San Luis waterfall. Great hike, just challenging enough to be interesting. But not really all that difficult. We have done this before. This is a compound waterfall and there are three stages tumbling into a large pool below. The water is very cold! But there were still some young locals that had made the same hike to swim. One of our friends is a local news guy in New Orleans. He shot the waterfall and hike with his digital video camera. He is going to post it on YouTube when he does the editing. I will post the link in a couple of weeks.
That afternoon, Melissa and I had some business to attend to in Santa Elena. So we dropped our guests at the woman's arts cooperative for some more shopping, and agreed to meet them after their scheduled tour at the"Bat Jungle" located nearby. They thoroughly enjoyed the bat tour, then met us upstairs at the new restaurant and chocolate shop.
We enjoyed a glass wine (okay, two glasses) and watched a beautiful sunset from the balcony. This brand new restaurant is called Cafe Cabure. We did not get a chance to sample the food, but the curry smelled very tempting and the chocolates looked dangerous. We are definitely going back there! We met the couple that own the restaurant. They had lived in India at one time, and that is where the wife learned to make curry. Her husband had once been the director of the Monteverde Reserve. They were very relaxed and happy people, and we were glad to have met them.
We went out for yet another great meal at Boheio's in downtown Santa Elena. We visited with another friend who sometimes does some transportation work for our customers. He is the son of one of the original Quakers who came here in the early 1950's. He was able to clarify some questions our friends had about the area, that Melissa and I did not have the answers for.
It was fun having guests with us. It forced us to get out and do the fun stuff again. We kind of wore ourselves out everyday, and slept well! After three days, we went to Arenal for the second part of the trip. I will post more on that later.
Pura Vida Y'all!
Pat Hewitt
(Travel Professional)
Apr 11th, 2007 | 11:40 AM
#3
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,441
Likes: 0
Thanks for the report Pat. Not a fan of curry but those chocolates sound wonderful. We will be up there in late June early July on our 4 stop tour to learn how to identify the trees of CR with the Tropical Science Center. Hopefully we will be able to stop in. The coolness up there will probably feel good after the heat of Guanacaste.
Glad to read about a travel professional who is actually getting out there and seeing the place like a tourist.
Glad to read about a travel professional who is actually getting out there and seeing the place like a tourist.
Apr 11th, 2007 | 07:42 PM
#5
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,212
Likes: 0
Thanks, Pat--how cool is that regarding Spirit Air?! Good for you guys. . I would have loved to take advantage of those great deals.
I'm going to recommend your post to a friend who is researching Monteverde. It's just what she needs to read. Continue letting the good times roll! We'd all love to hear from you again when you have time.
I'm going to recommend your post to a friend who is researching Monteverde. It's just what she needs to read. Continue letting the good times roll! We'd all love to hear from you again when you have time.
Apr 12th, 2007 | 05:48 AM
#7
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,372
Likes: 0
Thanks Pat, sounds like a wonderful time in Monteverde, with a few less mentioned options for all of us.
We were in Monteverde during our 1st trip to CR in 2000, always wanted to go back. Funny, but one of the reasons was for those "good bargains" you mention at the Hummingbird Gallery. I have always kicked myself for not purchasing more, but I thought I would see the same things all over CR, not true!
And the Monteverde Coffee - is it really as fabulous as I remember or - do I remember it being that delicious simply because the trip to get it is so demanding??!
We were in Monteverde during our 1st trip to CR in 2000, always wanted to go back. Funny, but one of the reasons was for those "good bargains" you mention at the Hummingbird Gallery. I have always kicked myself for not purchasing more, but I thought I would see the same things all over CR, not true!
And the Monteverde Coffee - is it really as fabulous as I remember or - do I remember it being that delicious simply because the trip to get it is so demanding??!
