My apologies in advance, I tend to get into too much detail sometimes!

Arrived in SJO June 3rd on-time at 1pm, flight was uneventful from Tampa to Houston & to SJO. Since I carried on my luggage (that weighed a mere 22 lbs for the in country flights, I was pleased as punch about this) I was thru Customs & Immigrations within 10 minutes. Walked out into the chaos outside the airport & did not see my name anywhere on all the signs. Buena Vista Hotel was supposed to be picking me up but they were nowhere to be found. A guy started talking to me & called the hotel for me, they apologized & said to take a red taxi to the hotel and they would pay for it. The guy who made the call said he had a taxi & would drive me. His ?taxi? turned out to be a Toyota but at that point I didn?t care. The ride took about 20 minutes to the Buena Vista up some very steep hills, I had not realized the hotel was so far off the beaten path. The hotel paid for my ?taxi? although there was some heated discussion about it & I checked into my room. The Buena Vista is very quiet, with a beautiful view over hills & coffee crops. It has a restaurant & bar, a pool & nice rooms. There were quite a bit of people there although it was very quiet and peaceful. I didn?t have a car so on the first day I just sat out by the pool & read. At dinner 2 guys from NY invited me to have dinner with them, which was nice as we swapped travel tales. Went to bed early as I was taking the 4 in 1 Highlights tour the next morning.

June 4th ? early morning pick-up at the hotel by Ecoscape Tours. Short ride to coffee plantation where we had an excellent breakfast (my first Gallo Pinto & I loved it) & some time to look around the grounds & hotel area. Then about a 45 minute ride to Poas. I had worn shorts & short sleeved shirt and I was freezing once we got there. Luckily a German couple lent me an extra jacket. After a 5 minute walk we arrived at the crater which was beautiful & clear. Our guide, Al, said only about 25% of the visitors get to see the crater, so we were happy, it was a beautiful blue & the view was incredible. We then took a short hike on a trail that was not too taxing but may not be accessible to someone with limited mobility & then had about 15 minutes to walk around the gift shop & get something to drink. Onward to the waterfalls, about an hour drive. You do not actually go into the La Paz grounds, you stop at La Paz at the side of the road, which was fine. It was very beautiful and we had about 15 minutes to walk around & take pics. About a 15 minute drive to the next stop which was a soda/ home overlooking a huge waterfall in the distance. We were given several different native snacks, juice & some Imperial beer and had about 20 minutes to watch the hummingbirds which were plentiful but very hard to catch on camera! The owner there was very welcoming. A drive then onto Selva Verde lodge which was beautiful, I wouldn?t mind staying there on a future trip. In just a 5 minute walk we several varieties of poisonous frogs & a fer de lance. Lunch was buffet style and then we had about 20 minutes to wander around the grounds & across the suspension bridge, where there were some monkeys on the other side. Back in the van to the Sarapiqui boat ride, where we saw many animals: sloths, caimans, bats, howler monkeys, iguanas & birds. Very relaxing ride on the river. A short stop nearby to use the bathrooms at a gift shop. Across the road was a bank with probably 60 people waiting in line! The next hour or so was spent on a very curvy, busy, pot-holed road. Everyone else in the van was staying in San Jose, so a good 45 minutes driving thru the city dropping them off. I was dropped off at the Hampton Inn & the guide called the Buena Vista to come pick me up (I had been told this before I left in the morning). I would definitely recommend this tour, our guide Al was very informative, telling us many things about what we were seeing & the areas we were traveling through. For $80 you get to see so much. Back to the hotel by about 7pm, dinner & then packed up for my Sansa flight early the next morning.

June 5th ? the hotel van was ready at 6:30 to take me to the airport for my flight to Quepos. Check in took only a minute and the plane left about 20 minutes late. Kind of crazy after working so hard to pare down my luggage to under 25 lbs. to see a couple dressed as if a fashion show was being held arrive with 2 huge bags each that probably weighed 60 lbs. each. They were charged extra and their luggage was held aside, but ultimately they got on the flight. There were only about 5 people on our flight and the pilots were very professional. That said I didn?t like the flight at all. It was my first time in a plane that small & I was petrified, not that it seemed unsafe, but just the feeling of the plane especially when we went thru turbulence. The flight seemed a lot shorter than 20 minutes thankfully. A van was there to take us to our hotels for $4. Was at the Costa Verde by 9am. I?d been hoping I could check in early but someone was still in my room so they kept my bag & I had til 1pm to wander around. I took off to find trail E, down a steep, curved road. Walking on the side of the road to avoid the cars & ended up taking a big spill. Note to self: that green stuff on the cement is moss and it is slippery as Hell. Cut my left hand pretty good and smashed it into the pavement, but no serious harm, more embarrassed than anything. The trail was very slippery and not very well taken care, plus I will still shaken from my spill so I retired to the pool back at the hotel. The walk up was definitely more work than on the way down! A huge iguana & I shared the pool area for a while, then I had lunch at the Anaconda restaurant. Still had about a ? hr til my room was ready so I wandered down to the Costa Verde II area where I stumbled across a troop of white-faced monkeys. So enraptured by them it took me a while to notice my feet were covered my biting little ants. Finally I could check in & was extremely pleased with my room. It was in building B, room 7. A small kitchenette, bathroom, 2 beds & a huge balcony with a stunning view over the treetops towards the park & ocean. I decided to walk to the closest store, Super Josette, to get some snacks & soda. This was a lot farther than I was led to believe, or maybe because the roads are so curvy & can get pretty taxing climbing up it seemed farther. By the time I made it back to my room I was drenched & decided a nap was in order. Had dinner at the Anaconda, again, very good but somewhat bland, salt was definitely needed & signed up for the horseback riding tour the next morning. The AC in my room must?ve been super-charged as even on it?s lowest setting it was freezing so I finally just turned it off and fell asleep to the sounds of the forest & the occasional car struggling to make it up the hill nearby. To be continued?..

Great report so far! I can't wait to read the rest

June 6th. Early to bed, early to rise seems to be what works here. The tours all leave around 7am and by the time 9pm rolls around I?m out like a light. Early morning pick-up today to go horseback riding. I had chosen the full day tour but they said a big tree had fallen in the trail & would I mind taking the half day tour. It was only an hour less & cost $45 so no problem. I was the only one on this tour which was kind of odd, but at least it was very personalized! A long (45 minutes) drive over an extremely pot-holed dirt/rock road & a very nice breakfast. Very nice tour with the guide, Jorge. It was quite inland so there wasn?t much chance to see any wildlife other than some birds, butterflies & cows; but did see some interesting plant life and nice views. A stop at a small waterfall was our turning around point. When I got off the horse I was plenty glad I had taken the shorter tour! Overall we rode for about 3 hours which was plenty. A very nice tour, but I think on my next trip I?d rather do a tour closer to Quepos & the scenery there. Spent the rest of the afternoon lolling about the pool & on the balcony, drinking Imperials. Picked up my laundry at the front desk, it was very cheap which is good as I was going thru 2-3 outfits a day in the heat! Dinner across the street at La Cantina & used their internet café. Very good service, great food & good band playing.

June 7th. Early morning pick-up by Canopy Safari. Another long bumpy drive (about 45 minutes) to get to where we were going. Breakfast & plenty of time before starting to take some pics. They advise against taking anything with you & I?m glad I didn?t; a camera would?ve been nice but in the way & I doubt I would?ve used it much. Nice safety briefing, the guides were very laid back & into having a good time but I felt secure they knew their jobs well. There is a photographer that travels ahead of your group & takes pics of you throughout the tour. At the end you can sign up to have him drop off the CD at your hotel for $25. It has about 30 shots of you on the tour, plus about 150 others of M.A, plants & animals; I was very satisfied with the quality and happy to have someone else take the photos. The zip-lines were high and a lot of fun; there was a good 10 minute hike to get high up but after that there was very little exertion. The repels scared the life out of me, at least the first one (there are a total of three), but after my mind got over the fact that I was sitting down into nothing it became a lot of fun. I was hot, sweaty & looked a mess by the time it was over but would highly recommend this tour. Later in the afternoon, about 3pm, a troop of howler monkeys came thru & spent about 20 minutes hanging out by the Anaconda restaurant. There was also a sloth in a tree right by the restaurant for most of my stay there.

June 8th. Another early pick up to go to Manuel Antonio Park with Iguana tours. Apparently a huge thunder storm had rolled thru late in the night but I never even heard it, even with the windows open. We had to take a minute long boat ride to get to the entrance. Very nice tour, about 3 ? hours long. Worth the $35 to me, as I saw & learned a lot of things I would?ve missed. Saw several sloths, white-faced monkeys, plenty of iguanas, crabs, a pair of agouti?s. Very relaxing pace to the whole tour, afterwards we stopped at the Blue Marlin for a fruit plate & ride back to the hotel. I walked down to the Hotel Karahe for lunch, which was the worst meal I had on my whole trip. Not bad food, just incredibly limp & uninspired; I was the only one in the restaurant other than several iguanas. A troop of squirrel monkeys playing right by the Costa Verde hotel reception (which is an old train car) around 4pm. These must be the cutest animals in the world. They were having such a ball playing & just goofing around. Had dinner at El Avion which was okay; had a very scary walk back to the hotel in the darkness & my tiny little flashlight; the distance is probably only about 2 blocks but at one point I couldn?t see more than a foot in front of me.

June 9th. My last day and I decided to go back to the park on my own. Took the bus which picks you up right by the grill at La Cantina. Saw more of the same animals from the previous day but at a slower pace. Made the hike up to punta catedral and after the sweating it took to get up there was a little disappointed in the actual view, but the hike was nice and I was alone for most of the time so saw another pair of agouti?s. Had lunch at the Blue Marlin & just sat for a while watching everyone at the beach.

June 10th. I was flying back to the states today, so I had given myself a 5 hour layover in SJO just in case problems arose ? and they did. I was flying back on Nature Air on the 7:35 am flight and arrived at the airport the requested 45 minutes prior. I then spent the next 35 minutes alone with a guy raking the leaves. Finally someone from Nature Air showed up and said the plane wouldn?t be able to stop at SJO airport but they would have a taxi take me from Pavas to SJO. Then a few minutes later, about the time I should?ve been leaving, he told me that no plane was coming (I assume as it was just me) and they were re-routing a plane from the south to pick me up. A few minutes later and now I was told that actually that plane was full & that Sansa would be taking me, it was all taken care of I was assured & he left. Then the Sansa rep arrived & said she knew about it but it hadn?t been approved yet,. So I spent a nervous 10 minutes waiting to be ?approved?. Finally, about an hour after I should?ve taken off I left on the Sansa flight which I liked as little as I liked the first one. Still had plenty of time to kill in the airport though so it all worked out fine. SJO is a pretty nice airport, I strolled around the shops and had a depressing breakfast at burger king. An uneventful flight back home to Tampa.

Some general thoughts??.I would definitely go back to MA, though I would probably rent a car while there, the roads are just not made for walking although the bus system is reliable & cheap. My luggage weighed only 22 lbs and I still managed to bring more than enough clothes & everything else I wanted to, so it is do-able, albeit helped along by the laundry service at the hotel. Everyone I met was very nice & I had no problems even though I speak next to no Spanish. Traveling alone can be a little daunting sometimes but I never felt unsafe or in any danger. Money was a breeze, I had a couple hundred in cash with me & any change I got was (usually) in colones; I used my debit card for meals & tours (and was charged about .80 each time). There is an ATM about 1 km north of Costa Verde, which is open 24 hours, it gives you the option of USD or colones. I had ice in my drinks, filled my water bottle from the tap & had tap water at meals and never had any problems at all. All the meals I had were for the most part pretty good, I liked La Cantina the best. The portions were always enough for two people, and a little bland sometimes, salt & pepper was needed most of the time. I put my bug spray with 35% deet on in the mornings & never had any problems expect when I stood in the ant hill but then I didn?t have any on at the time! There really isn?t much to buy shopping wise, I only came home with some coffee & a t-shirt, although I found out most of the beautiful wooden rocking chairs at the Costa Verde can be ordered & sent to the US which is something I will look into. I was extremely pleased with the Costa Verde hotel, great location, extremely clean, beautiful room, balcony & views, absolutely nothing to complain about. (okay maybe one thing but not really the hotels fault?..for about 3 days of my stay there was a group of Americans, about 8 of them, all early 20?s, who acted on the balconies & in the pool as if they were in Cancun. When a troop of monkeys came thru they started screeching (the kids, not the monkeys) so loud that of course, the monkeys split). I did like the view & location of my room (building B, room 7), it was secluded enough to be very quiet but close enough to the road, reception & restaurant. The property is really spread out and other buildings might have a good hike to get around. The whole time I was there it rained 2-3 times and only at night. I would definitely recommend a trip to MA, everyone has different standards what is too ?touristy? but I did not find it so. I definitely will be going back.

Thanks for the great, detailed report. I loved that you can get a cd with pictures of your canopy tour! I was worried how I would take my own pictures. Great information.

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to post and for giving all the helpful details.

Excellent report! Thank you so much for all the good information. I'll be sure to try out La Cantina next month

Tully,
Aside from the horrible food, any feedback on Hotel Karahe? I'll be staying there next month...
Also any tips on traveling solo as well?
Thanks!

Thanks for all the comments! Regarding the Karahe hotel....the grounds looked very well kept, it was very quiet there and frfrom the restaurant you see the beach. The rooms didn't look like they had any view other than the grounds but looked well kept from the outside. The pool looked nice. As far as traveling alone, I really didn't do anything different, no one found it odd I was traveling alone & it seemed to invite more conversation. I always try to look like I know exactly where I'm going/what I'm doing even if I don't have the slightest clue! Have a great time!

Tully, thank you for a great report and the helpful information. We will be in CR in Aug & visiting MA for 3 days. Regarding the horseback riding tour, was it to a place called Finca Valmy? About a month ago another poster wrote about her horseback tour in MA (I think to Finca Valmy (sp?) and said it was one of the highlights of her trip. I am considering doing that. Also planning on the guided hike in MA. We are also going to Poas. Were you comfortable (temperature wise) in the shorts & jacket the German couple lent you? What time in the AM were you there? I've read you should be there by 9:00am to see the crater. Thanks for the tip about the 24-hour ATM. We hope to pay for most things with our credit card but it is helpful to know where the ATM's are.

A short reminder about our credit card experience from our first trip. Lots of places take Visa but don't accept MasterCard. Our most used card is a MC, so they were notified about our trip, but I didn't think to notify Visa. We charged a meal and a hotel room, stopped for gas and the card was denied. The number on the back didn't work internationally and my Spanish wasn't good enough to do anything else about it. The moral of the story is, make sure and have a Visa card that they know you'll be in CR. Jean

Kwoo - I honestly can't remember the name but that isn't it. I want to say it was called Los Tulcanes?? Something like that. As far as Poas, I just got my pics back today & realized I was wearing jeans, not shorts, & a sleeveless shirt. That said, I would still bring a jacket, as I definitely had a chill. We were there about 9:30 or so, but the rest of the tour we went on it was hot, so a light jacket should suffice.

I just got all 7 rolls on CD and will be posting them at an online photo hosting site, it might take me a day or two though!

My pics from my trip, my apologies for some of them that are a little dark!

www.pls.photosite.com

Tully:

Loved your pics!! You sure got some great wildlife shots. Did your horseback ride include a poolside lunch prepared by a frenchwoman named Michelle? The waterfall you rode to looks exactly the same as the one we rode to with Valentine of Finca Valmy.

Terri

Those pictures came out great! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting your photos tully! I totally can't wait for my trip in 26 days.

Hi Tully,

Just happened upon your report and really enjoyed every word!

Your photos are great... especially enjoyed seeing your room & lanai... what a view! ><

Your bamboo photo in MA park is good enough to win a contest... loved it!

thanks for sharing all the great info... I've been gathering info for a Jan or Feb trip next year... I'm so overwhelmed at how many choices there are in CR that I just cant' make a darn decision... oh well... I'll just keep reading everyone's reports for the time being.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the link, Tully. I read your report with interest.

Miguel, keep your snotty comments to yourself if you have nothing constructive to add. Who do you think you are??????????????

Hi Tully,

Very nice report. Can't wait till next Saturday for my trip to CR.

What is the cab situation like between Manuel Antonio and Quepos during the daytime and at night.

Thanks.

RHR - thanks! I didn't go into Quepos by taxi, but did have one run me around on errands. He took me up to the atm (maybe a mile N of Costa Verde) then to Super Josette so I could buy soda Imperial & snacks then back to Costa Verde. He asked for an amount in colones (in Spanish), I waved a $10 bill and he seemed more than happy with that. Oh, almost forgot, I did have a taxi take me back to Quepos airport, but I can't remember how much it was. Have a fantastic trip & post a report on your return!