MichelleY's Belated Costa Rica Trip Report
Dec 29th, 2007, 08:19 PM
#1
MichelleY's Belated Costa Rica Trip Report
This trip report is late by about 6 weeks, but better late than never.
Travelers: DH(55) & me-MY(51).
Pre-trip planning & background: Our foreign travels have been to Europe, Argentina, Chile, & Mexico. Our Mexico trips have been in the last 4 years and have been at resorts, relaxing. Our other trips have been full of siteseeing, eating, drinking & go - go- go. CR woulld be very different than our usual trip. We are not into hiking, rafting etc. In fact, I have never been camping in my life!! Me, a farm girl! Our nephew & his wife went to Puerto Viejo last year on a Christian mission, so we wanted to see them before they returned to the US in December. I used this site to plan our trip. Thanks to all of you for your input, trip reports & suggestions.
Up until August, DH was pretty much against going to CR. He didn't think it would appeal to us. I had been on the fence until I read MRand's trip report. That did it for me. The travel bug bit!!! I copied it off for DH. He was impressed and said "Do what you want" So I put the plans into gear for our 2 week Costa Rican adventure.
Nov.4/5 -
We flew TACA from SFO at 12:30 am and arrived in SJO about 10 am on 11/5. We used United air miles. The flight was PACKED and cramped, but we got a little sleep. We had a 40 minute layover in San Salvador with no problems. I would probably go TACA again from SFO, depending on the rate and lay over options from Sacramento(we live near Sacto)
We took the shuttle to Tri-color. I had reserved a 4WD from home. We added on personal liability ins., which I still don't know if we should have. But what the heck, better safe than sorry. We also rented a GPS.
The car was pretty dented & scratched on all sides. The interior headliner was stained. But the tires were good(the spare was bald). I figured no one would suspect it was a rental, it looked like a local's car. The car was given to us empty, so we were off on our first adventure: filling up and getting thru Alajuela to the Peace Lodge.
more to come .....
Travelers: DH(55) & me-MY(51).
Pre-trip planning & background: Our foreign travels have been to Europe, Argentina, Chile, & Mexico. Our Mexico trips have been in the last 4 years and have been at resorts, relaxing. Our other trips have been full of siteseeing, eating, drinking & go - go- go. CR woulld be very different than our usual trip. We are not into hiking, rafting etc. In fact, I have never been camping in my life!! Me, a farm girl! Our nephew & his wife went to Puerto Viejo last year on a Christian mission, so we wanted to see them before they returned to the US in December. I used this site to plan our trip. Thanks to all of you for your input, trip reports & suggestions.
Up until August, DH was pretty much against going to CR. He didn't think it would appeal to us. I had been on the fence until I read MRand's trip report. That did it for me. The travel bug bit!!! I copied it off for DH. He was impressed and said "Do what you want" So I put the plans into gear for our 2 week Costa Rican adventure.
Nov.4/5 -
We flew TACA from SFO at 12:30 am and arrived in SJO about 10 am on 11/5. We used United air miles. The flight was PACKED and cramped, but we got a little sleep. We had a 40 minute layover in San Salvador with no problems. I would probably go TACA again from SFO, depending on the rate and lay over options from Sacramento(we live near Sacto)
We took the shuttle to Tri-color. I had reserved a 4WD from home. We added on personal liability ins., which I still don't know if we should have. But what the heck, better safe than sorry. We also rented a GPS.
The car was pretty dented & scratched on all sides. The interior headliner was stained. But the tires were good(the spare was bald). I figured no one would suspect it was a rental, it looked like a local's car. The car was given to us empty, so we were off on our first adventure: filling up and getting thru Alajuela to the Peace Lodge.
more to come .....
Dec 30th, 2007, 10:15 PM
#6
Thanks for the replies.
November 5, 2007 continued:
We took the road suggested by Tricolor to find gas and had the GPS plugged in. We filled up and got Colones at an ATM across the street. So far, so good. I was also using the directions given by the Peace Lodge, so we felt confident that we were on the right path.
Impessions of Alajuela - a nice city, but busy as we got more into the center of town. And it is true, no street signs. We passed the church, but missed our turn, so the GPS recalculated. We have never used GPS and just thought it would take us back to the original trip plan, but it seemed to take us in new directions with every wrong turn. It finally got us thru the city and on the main road to Poas/Peace Lodge. Or so we thought!!
This is where we should had either trusted the GPS or used the directions given to us for the Peace Lodge. We climbed higher and were heading NE, thru lovely coffee farms. The scenery was green, cool and lush. Very Hawaii-ish, but different. The GPS had us going up a few drive ways into people's yards!! We stopped and asked for directions. Some knew the direction to go, others didn't. We were heading back toward SJ thru Heredia!! Yikes.
We finally ended up back on the road to Poas & made it to the Peace Lodge. It only took 2 hours!!!
Peace Lodge - wow! We were impressed with our first step into the lobby. The staff gave us info on the various activities and had us make a dinner reservation. They took us to our room. It was located next to the pool and jacuzzi. Every detail was welcoming - our name next to the door, the butterfly theme thru out the room. Yes, one could say it is "Disneyish", but we thought it was great!! Especially after only about 2hrs. sleep on the plane and our 2 hr. car ride. The room had a canopied King size bed, rock fireplace, wood floors & beams. The bathroom continued the rock theme. As well as the patio with the rock jacuzzi.
We headed to the restaurant for lunch. By now it was raining pretty hard & steady. I had a huge fruit plate & DH had a burger. The food was good. We also met a honeymoon couple from Connecticut.
They were on the same trip schedule as we were for the first half of the trip: Peace Lodge, Arenal, Manuel Antonio.
After lunch, we headed to the 4pm hummingbird feeding. The rain was very heavy by now, and would continue this was thru out the night. There were about 6 of us at the hummingbird station and we were given the individual feeders to hold. Wow!! This turned out to be very fun. There were about 3 or 4 different types of birds there that day. The big purple hummers were very impressive and BIG. I have feeders up here in N. California and have one variety of hummers in the summer and another in the winter, but I never knew how long their tongues were!! We could see the birds tongues reaching down into the "flower" to get the nectar.
Amazing!
We finished up and headed back to our room. We ended up cancelling dinner and crashing at 6 p.m.
More to come on day 2.
MY
November 5, 2007 continued:
We took the road suggested by Tricolor to find gas and had the GPS plugged in. We filled up and got Colones at an ATM across the street. So far, so good. I was also using the directions given by the Peace Lodge, so we felt confident that we were on the right path.
Impessions of Alajuela - a nice city, but busy as we got more into the center of town. And it is true, no street signs. We passed the church, but missed our turn, so the GPS recalculated. We have never used GPS and just thought it would take us back to the original trip plan, but it seemed to take us in new directions with every wrong turn. It finally got us thru the city and on the main road to Poas/Peace Lodge. Or so we thought!!
This is where we should had either trusted the GPS or used the directions given to us for the Peace Lodge. We climbed higher and were heading NE, thru lovely coffee farms. The scenery was green, cool and lush. Very Hawaii-ish, but different. The GPS had us going up a few drive ways into people's yards!! We stopped and asked for directions. Some knew the direction to go, others didn't. We were heading back toward SJ thru Heredia!! Yikes.
We finally ended up back on the road to Poas & made it to the Peace Lodge. It only took 2 hours!!!
Peace Lodge - wow! We were impressed with our first step into the lobby. The staff gave us info on the various activities and had us make a dinner reservation. They took us to our room. It was located next to the pool and jacuzzi. Every detail was welcoming - our name next to the door, the butterfly theme thru out the room. Yes, one could say it is "Disneyish", but we thought it was great!! Especially after only about 2hrs. sleep on the plane and our 2 hr. car ride. The room had a canopied King size bed, rock fireplace, wood floors & beams. The bathroom continued the rock theme. As well as the patio with the rock jacuzzi.
We headed to the restaurant for lunch. By now it was raining pretty hard & steady. I had a huge fruit plate & DH had a burger. The food was good. We also met a honeymoon couple from Connecticut.
They were on the same trip schedule as we were for the first half of the trip: Peace Lodge, Arenal, Manuel Antonio.
After lunch, we headed to the 4pm hummingbird feeding. The rain was very heavy by now, and would continue this was thru out the night. There were about 6 of us at the hummingbird station and we were given the individual feeders to hold. Wow!! This turned out to be very fun. There were about 3 or 4 different types of birds there that day. The big purple hummers were very impressive and BIG. I have feeders up here in N. California and have one variety of hummers in the summer and another in the winter, but I never knew how long their tongues were!! We could see the birds tongues reaching down into the "flower" to get the nectar.
Amazing!
We finished up and headed back to our room. We ended up cancelling dinner and crashing at 6 p.m.
More to come on day 2.
MY
Dec 31st, 2007, 10:07 AM
#9
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We live in San Francisco and considered taking TACA on our last trip but were afraid of the tight connection in El Salvador. We instead took a 1am packed flight on Continental to Houston and then on to San Jose arriving at around noon. I think next time we will try TACA as it seems like the fastest way to get there from San Francisco
Dec 31st, 2007, 03:58 PM
#10
Sean: It was sort of a trade off for us time wise: driving from/to Sacto, cost if parking vs. flying from Sac with a long layover in Dallas or Houston. We used United air miles on our TACA flights. On the way back, I had the choice of a 4 hr. or 30 min. layover in San Salvador. Since the flight to SFO is the only one, I chose the longer layover. This turned out to be a waste of time since the flight to SFO is usually held for any incoming passengers. It was held for about 15 min. for a connecting flight from SJO.
I've got 6 people coming over in an hour for NYE: leg of lamb, baked potatoes, champagne and CR coffee with dessert!! So I will add more later .
I've got 6 people coming over in an hour for NYE: leg of lamb, baked potatoes, champagne and CR coffee with dessert!! So I will add more later .
Jan 1st, 2008, 10:03 AM
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Sounds like you had a great time at PL! My daughter's favorite thing there were the hummingbird feeders! She had to do both morning and afternoon feedings the 2 days we were there. We were the only ones and often had 2 or 3 perching on our fingers at a time. What fun! I thought the butterfly observatory was pretty amazing too. Enjoying your report. 
Jan 1st, 2008, 12:00 PM
#12
Thank you all for responding. You all were a big help in planning this trip.
Day2, Nov. 6, 2007:
I was up by about 6. It had poured rain all night and it was chilly, so it was nice having the fireplace. We had breakfast on the patio. We could see more of the mountains, but they were still pretty well socked in. By 9, we decided to skip going up to Poas, since the view would probably not be great.
We spent all day at the Peace Lodge exploring. We took a walk over to the Trout Bar. It was closed and they were doing some sort of contruction. We didn't see any fish in the pond. It seemed like things were being spiffed up for the high season. We also found out the owner was visiting, checking things out. He was also going up to Arenal to make plans for a resort he will be building there. It is supposed to put Tabacon to shame!
We went thru the bird house. Very nice and we got some nice photos with the birds. We then went to the butterfly house. This was fantastic!! We ended up spending almost 2 hrs in here. I know, we should get a life. But we found the hatching crysalists facinating. We watched monarchs, morphos and some sort of swallowtail hatch out. It is kind of like watching paint dry, but when they finally pop out, Amazing!
By now it had started raining pretty hard and wouldn't be stopping any time soon. We checked out the snakes, orchids and traditional pioneer house. We tried the sugar water tea and corn cakes.
We decided to hike the waterfalls before having a late lunch. Even though we were prepared with raincoats, umbrellas etc. we still got pretty wet. The waterfalls were beautiful, but we didn't really have a chance to linger because of the deluge.
I bought some wooden jewelry for our daughter and an exchange student staying with us at the Britt store. We were able to hitch a ride back to the open air restaurant for lunch. They had Tico favorites: beans, rice, plantains, small tortillas. All very tasty.
We went back to the room to dry out and take a nap. The fireplace was sure coming in handy. DH kept exclaiming what a great place this was and what a great job I had done planning this trip. I told him that he better enjoy it because this was probably the best place we would be staying!!!
Later, we went on the night frog tour. Very fun & interesting. We again skipped dinner and listened to the rain all night.
More to come ...
MY
Day2, Nov. 6, 2007:
I was up by about 6. It had poured rain all night and it was chilly, so it was nice having the fireplace. We had breakfast on the patio. We could see more of the mountains, but they were still pretty well socked in. By 9, we decided to skip going up to Poas, since the view would probably not be great.
We spent all day at the Peace Lodge exploring. We took a walk over to the Trout Bar. It was closed and they were doing some sort of contruction. We didn't see any fish in the pond. It seemed like things were being spiffed up for the high season. We also found out the owner was visiting, checking things out. He was also going up to Arenal to make plans for a resort he will be building there. It is supposed to put Tabacon to shame!
We went thru the bird house. Very nice and we got some nice photos with the birds. We then went to the butterfly house. This was fantastic!! We ended up spending almost 2 hrs in here. I know, we should get a life. But we found the hatching crysalists facinating. We watched monarchs, morphos and some sort of swallowtail hatch out. It is kind of like watching paint dry, but when they finally pop out, Amazing!
By now it had started raining pretty hard and wouldn't be stopping any time soon. We checked out the snakes, orchids and traditional pioneer house. We tried the sugar water tea and corn cakes.
We decided to hike the waterfalls before having a late lunch. Even though we were prepared with raincoats, umbrellas etc. we still got pretty wet. The waterfalls were beautiful, but we didn't really have a chance to linger because of the deluge.
I bought some wooden jewelry for our daughter and an exchange student staying with us at the Britt store. We were able to hitch a ride back to the open air restaurant for lunch. They had Tico favorites: beans, rice, plantains, small tortillas. All very tasty.
We went back to the room to dry out and take a nap. The fireplace was sure coming in handy. DH kept exclaiming what a great place this was and what a great job I had done planning this trip. I told him that he better enjoy it because this was probably the best place we would be staying!!!
Later, we went on the night frog tour. Very fun & interesting. We again skipped dinner and listened to the rain all night.
More to come ...
MY
Jan 1st, 2008, 01:21 PM
#14
Day 3, Nov. 7,2007, Peace Lodge to Arenal:
Travel day. We ate breakfast in the restaurant, since there seemed to be more choices than selecting from the room menu. We enjoyed the Peace Lodge very much and the two nights were a perfect amount of time. I am a big believer in you get what you pay for, and it did not disappoint.
The check out staff was very helpful with directions to Arenal. They were of the opinion that the GPS would not take us the best way. It was still raining pretty hard and was actually pretty cold. The staff said a cold front had come in and it would be this was for a few days. Hum???
We took off and not far down the road we were stopped by a landslide just before the big La Paz Waterfall. We were stopped for about 20 minutes. The waterfall was running brown - not a good sign. Our trip was pretty uneventful. This was definitly cattle country. Homes were very tidy with pretty foliage. It reminded me of Upcountry Maui. As expected, people were always walking along the roads so we had to be cautious.
We were told that once we got past Muelle to Tanque, we would see the volcano. We only saw clouds, but finally we figured out we were approaching the massive lower slopes of Arenal.
We wove around the volcano thru La Fortuna. Past all the familiar names mentioned here: La Choza de Laurel, el Silencio del Campo, Tabacon. We saw the troupe of coatis along the road, just past Tabacon. It was very pretty thru here with flowered ground cover, which turned out to be impatiens growing wild!!
We turned off for the Arenal Observatory Lodge(AOL). This was our first truly bad road of the trip(however, it would not be the worst!!) We checked in about 3pm into a Smithsonian room for 3 nights. It was just OK. It was right across from the lodge on the lower level. It had a big window, but no patio. It also turned out to be pretty noisy with people walking by and driving up to the lobby area. I am sure I would have been happier if the clouds & rain were gone and Arenal was looming straight ahead!!
We decided to go back to El Novillo(?) for a late lunch and get back to AOL before it got too dark. We explored the grounds a little and checked out the pool area. Lots of people in the jacuzzi. The back Smithsonian building seem pretty empty. We got the feeling the AOL was operating a skeleton crew until high season. No laundry service was available: the machine was broken???? It also seemed that a lot of one nighters were going thru. We booked for the next day with Sky Trek, which was just up the road. And with Eco-termals in the afternoon. Esteban at the desk tried to convince us that Baldi was better since it had seven different pool temps. Based on the recs here, I knew Eco-termales was the place for us. How many different pools would we need? Eco was $21 and good enough.
We hit the hay early. Still no fireworks from Arenal.
More .....
MY
Travel day. We ate breakfast in the restaurant, since there seemed to be more choices than selecting from the room menu. We enjoyed the Peace Lodge very much and the two nights were a perfect amount of time. I am a big believer in you get what you pay for, and it did not disappoint.
The check out staff was very helpful with directions to Arenal. They were of the opinion that the GPS would not take us the best way. It was still raining pretty hard and was actually pretty cold. The staff said a cold front had come in and it would be this was for a few days. Hum???
We took off and not far down the road we were stopped by a landslide just before the big La Paz Waterfall. We were stopped for about 20 minutes. The waterfall was running brown - not a good sign. Our trip was pretty uneventful. This was definitly cattle country. Homes were very tidy with pretty foliage. It reminded me of Upcountry Maui. As expected, people were always walking along the roads so we had to be cautious.
We were told that once we got past Muelle to Tanque, we would see the volcano. We only saw clouds, but finally we figured out we were approaching the massive lower slopes of Arenal.
We wove around the volcano thru La Fortuna. Past all the familiar names mentioned here: La Choza de Laurel, el Silencio del Campo, Tabacon. We saw the troupe of coatis along the road, just past Tabacon. It was very pretty thru here with flowered ground cover, which turned out to be impatiens growing wild!!
We turned off for the Arenal Observatory Lodge(AOL). This was our first truly bad road of the trip(however, it would not be the worst!!) We checked in about 3pm into a Smithsonian room for 3 nights. It was just OK. It was right across from the lodge on the lower level. It had a big window, but no patio. It also turned out to be pretty noisy with people walking by and driving up to the lobby area. I am sure I would have been happier if the clouds & rain were gone and Arenal was looming straight ahead!!
We decided to go back to El Novillo(?) for a late lunch and get back to AOL before it got too dark. We explored the grounds a little and checked out the pool area. Lots of people in the jacuzzi. The back Smithsonian building seem pretty empty. We got the feeling the AOL was operating a skeleton crew until high season. No laundry service was available: the machine was broken???? It also seemed that a lot of one nighters were going thru. We booked for the next day with Sky Trek, which was just up the road. And with Eco-termals in the afternoon. Esteban at the desk tried to convince us that Baldi was better since it had seven different pool temps. Based on the recs here, I knew Eco-termales was the place for us. How many different pools would we need? Eco was $21 and good enough.
We hit the hay early. Still no fireworks from Arenal.
More .....
MY
Jan 1st, 2008, 03:33 PM
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This is shaping up to be a really enjoyable trip report, Michelle. I hope the weather got better for you as the week progressed.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Peace Lodge. That was our first introduction to Costa Rica as well last year and we just loved it there. We've now been to the gardens there twice and both visits have been drizzly and overcast (although not the outright downpour it sounds like you experienced). I would love to see that place on a nice clear day because it is just so gorgeous.
Looking forward to your review of SkyTrek (we had a blast there last year) and Eco-Thermales.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Peace Lodge. That was our first introduction to Costa Rica as well last year and we just loved it there. We've now been to the gardens there twice and both visits have been drizzly and overcast (although not the outright downpour it sounds like you experienced). I would love to see that place on a nice clear day because it is just so gorgeous.
Looking forward to your review of SkyTrek (we had a blast there last year) and Eco-Thermales.
Jan 1st, 2008, 04:48 PM
#17
Thanks cmerrell. I thought this was getting too long & boring. Last year I wrote a trip report on N. Spain. What a yawn. I don't think anybody finished reading it!!!
Day 4, Thu, November 8,2007: More rain at Arenal:
We awoke to more of the same: RAIN. Not just a drizzle, but hard rain. Plus it was cold. I ended up sleeping in my clothes to stay warm. What a bummer!! Still no sign of the volcano.
We had a good breakfast at the lodge. We met several people who had rafting trips cancelled because of high waters elsewhere. Plus the news was reporting flooding in Limon/Puerto Viejo!! We would be in that area next week, so hopefully things would get better by then. I wanted to go on the guided tour of the grounds at 8:30, but we would miss our 10:30 Skytrek. DH wanted to stay out of the rain, so I wandered the grounds in my raincoat & umbrella.
SKYTREK - Should we cancel??? Esteban, at AOL said "No, no, this is just a sprinkle" So down the road we went. The Skytrek setup appeared to be fairly new - and fairly deserted. The wind was cutting thru the place. We, along with 7 others, decided to brave the rain. Besides us, there was a family from N. Cal. They had just come from Puerto Viejo. The man was in construction and had visited a friend involved in "subdivisions" in PV. They said PV was going to be booming and a new marina was going to built!! Humm??? There were also couples from Spain and Mexico.
Our guides outfitted us with their raincoats(ours were too short) and up the tram we went - rainy, windy & cold. We saw some capuchine monkeys on the way.
At the top, we did the two pratice runs and had to decide "weather" or not to continue. I was so tempted to chicken out. Not because of the zipline, but the COLD. The wind was miserable, but what the heck.
I was the first to go into the clouds. Rain beating into my face, by glasses fogging up. I neglected to bring my contacts on the trip, but the glasses ended up acting like goggles. We were all soaked, our faces streaked with grease from the zipline pulley. You could see the waves of rain across the gully. Visibility was so poor, the person in front of you on the line would disappear into the clouds!! I was so glad to do the last run, but bummed out that we didn't have a better day. Oh well, we will have to return someday. We changed into dry clothes and hit the road for our 1 pm appt. at Eco-termales.
DH thought we were at the wrong place. The long lonely drive way, essentially empty parking lot, empty grounds. We checked in and were told we could stay as long as we wanted, since it was not crowded. We asked if lunch was available. The clerk said yes, when? We said now. He said, OK. The ladies whipped up a Tico lunch for us - delicious. We changed and headed to the pools.
The place is a tropical paradise. It felt SO good to be in the warm pools after the chill of earlier. We had just a light drizzle, so it was still enjoyable. We met a woman from Sacramento, so it was fun to visit with her and a couple from England. We had cocktails, splashed around, and enjoyed ourselves for several hours. There were only about 20 of us there. What a treat.
We returned to AOL around sunset. Skipped dinner again, but had some cocktails later in the bar. DH crashed about 8 and I stayed up reading until about 9. I turned off the lights and opened the curtains. What is that glow!!!!
The clouds had lifted about half way up the mountain. Just enough to give us a good show of the hot rocks coming down the hill!! I woke DH up and we pulled our chairs outside for the next 2 hours. At times we could see some glow at the top thru the clouds, then hear and see the hot rocks coming down the hill. What a thrill!! This made it all worth it.
to be continued ...
MY
Day 4, Thu, November 8,2007: More rain at Arenal:
We awoke to more of the same: RAIN. Not just a drizzle, but hard rain. Plus it was cold. I ended up sleeping in my clothes to stay warm. What a bummer!! Still no sign of the volcano.
We had a good breakfast at the lodge. We met several people who had rafting trips cancelled because of high waters elsewhere. Plus the news was reporting flooding in Limon/Puerto Viejo!! We would be in that area next week, so hopefully things would get better by then. I wanted to go on the guided tour of the grounds at 8:30, but we would miss our 10:30 Skytrek. DH wanted to stay out of the rain, so I wandered the grounds in my raincoat & umbrella.
SKYTREK - Should we cancel??? Esteban, at AOL said "No, no, this is just a sprinkle" So down the road we went. The Skytrek setup appeared to be fairly new - and fairly deserted. The wind was cutting thru the place. We, along with 7 others, decided to brave the rain. Besides us, there was a family from N. Cal. They had just come from Puerto Viejo. The man was in construction and had visited a friend involved in "subdivisions" in PV. They said PV was going to be booming and a new marina was going to built!! Humm??? There were also couples from Spain and Mexico.
Our guides outfitted us with their raincoats(ours were too short) and up the tram we went - rainy, windy & cold. We saw some capuchine monkeys on the way.
At the top, we did the two pratice runs and had to decide "weather" or not to continue. I was so tempted to chicken out. Not because of the zipline, but the COLD. The wind was miserable, but what the heck.
I was the first to go into the clouds. Rain beating into my face, by glasses fogging up. I neglected to bring my contacts on the trip, but the glasses ended up acting like goggles. We were all soaked, our faces streaked with grease from the zipline pulley. You could see the waves of rain across the gully. Visibility was so poor, the person in front of you on the line would disappear into the clouds!! I was so glad to do the last run, but bummed out that we didn't have a better day. Oh well, we will have to return someday. We changed into dry clothes and hit the road for our 1 pm appt. at Eco-termales.
DH thought we were at the wrong place. The long lonely drive way, essentially empty parking lot, empty grounds. We checked in and were told we could stay as long as we wanted, since it was not crowded. We asked if lunch was available. The clerk said yes, when? We said now. He said, OK. The ladies whipped up a Tico lunch for us - delicious. We changed and headed to the pools.
The place is a tropical paradise. It felt SO good to be in the warm pools after the chill of earlier. We had just a light drizzle, so it was still enjoyable. We met a woman from Sacramento, so it was fun to visit with her and a couple from England. We had cocktails, splashed around, and enjoyed ourselves for several hours. There were only about 20 of us there. What a treat.
We returned to AOL around sunset. Skipped dinner again, but had some cocktails later in the bar. DH crashed about 8 and I stayed up reading until about 9. I turned off the lights and opened the curtains. What is that glow!!!!
The clouds had lifted about half way up the mountain. Just enough to give us a good show of the hot rocks coming down the hill!! I woke DH up and we pulled our chairs outside for the next 2 hours. At times we could see some glow at the top thru the clouds, then hear and see the hot rocks coming down the hill. What a thrill!! This made it all worth it.
to be continued ...
MY
Jan 1st, 2008, 05:26 PM
#18
hvc: unfortunately, we never saw any sun while at Arenal.
Day 5, Fri. November 9,2007, Do we stay or do we go:
We awoke to another day of rain, no sun in sight. We had talked about reserving for Cano Negro, but didn't want to chance it, so we had no plans for today. We were still booked for one more night. Should we blow this place and try to find some sun? Or stick it out?
We had breakfast and went back to the room. DH asked if I was going on the guided hike. Nope - lets get out of here! We checked out and were only charged for the 2 nights.
After all the great reports I've read here about Arenal, I was so looking forward to our stay. But the weather was not cooperating. I guess we will have to return some day. The AOL was fine for the price, even though it is a long way to town. I think Skytrek would be terrific in better weather and Eco-termales was sublime.
We were on our way to Manuel Antonio by about 9:30. The shortest route appeared to be thru San Ramon. Again, the scenery was spectacular. We stopped along the way at a gift shop called Coco Loco. It was a consignment artisan shop with a lot of unique and original items. I purchased more jewelry for my daughter, exchange student daughter and DH's secretary. I also picked up two baskets woven from pine needles. They are made by a women's co-op. Very cool & unique. Now that I have them home, I wish I had purchased some bigger baskets or trays. We also stopped at a roadside stand and bought the local cheese, cookies and dried figs stuffed with caramel. Yum!
We made it thru San Ramon, to the Pan-Am Highway and stoppped for directions to Atenas. No, no, no, we were told. We should go on the Highway to Puntarenas, then cut back down to MA. I think the guy just thought it would be easier for us, but I'm sure it was probably longer. The traffic was aweful.
Traffic was much better as we went along the coast and the roads were good. Until we hit the famous bridges. They were unbelievable! We got over the first one pretty qu
Day 5, Fri. November 9,2007, Do we stay or do we go:
We awoke to another day of rain, no sun in sight. We had talked about reserving for Cano Negro, but didn't want to chance it, so we had no plans for today. We were still booked for one more night. Should we blow this place and try to find some sun? Or stick it out?
We had breakfast and went back to the room. DH asked if I was going on the guided hike. Nope - lets get out of here! We checked out and were only charged for the 2 nights.
After all the great reports I've read here about Arenal, I was so looking forward to our stay. But the weather was not cooperating. I guess we will have to return some day. The AOL was fine for the price, even though it is a long way to town. I think Skytrek would be terrific in better weather and Eco-termales was sublime.
We were on our way to Manuel Antonio by about 9:30. The shortest route appeared to be thru San Ramon. Again, the scenery was spectacular. We stopped along the way at a gift shop called Coco Loco. It was a consignment artisan shop with a lot of unique and original items. I purchased more jewelry for my daughter, exchange student daughter and DH's secretary. I also picked up two baskets woven from pine needles. They are made by a women's co-op. Very cool & unique. Now that I have them home, I wish I had purchased some bigger baskets or trays. We also stopped at a roadside stand and bought the local cheese, cookies and dried figs stuffed with caramel. Yum!
We made it thru San Ramon, to the Pan-Am Highway and stoppped for directions to Atenas. No, no, no, we were told. We should go on the Highway to Puntarenas, then cut back down to MA. I think the guy just thought it would be easier for us, but I'm sure it was probably longer. The traffic was aweful.
Traffic was much better as we went along the coast and the roads were good. Until we hit the famous bridges. They were unbelievable! We got over the first one pretty qu
Jan 1st, 2008, 05:36 PM
#19
hvc: unfortunately, we never saw any sun while at Arenal.
Day 5, Fri. November 9, 2007, Do we stay or do we go:
We awoke to another day of rain, no sun in sight. We had talked about reserving for Cano Negro, but didn't want to chance it, so we had no plans for today. We were still booked for one more night. Should we blow this place and try to find some sun? Or stick it out?
We had breakfast and went back to the room. DH asked if I was going on the guided hike. Nope - lets get out of here! We checked out and were only charged for the 2 nights.
After all the great reports I've read here about Arenal, I was so looking forward to our stay. But the weather was not cooperating. I guess we will have to return some day. The AOL was fine for the price, even though it is a long way to town. I think Skytrek would be terrific in better weather and Eco-termales was sublime.
We were on our way to Manuel Antonio by about 9:30. The shortest route appeared to be thru San Ramon. Again, the scenery was spectacular. We stopped along the way at a gift shop called Coco Loco. It was a consignment artisan shop with a lot of unique and original items. I purchased more jewelry for my daughter, exchange student daughter and DH's secretary. I also picked up two baskets woven from pine needles. They are made by a women's co-op. Very cool & unique. Now that I have them home, I wish I had purchased some bigger baskets or trays. We also stopped at a roadside stand and bought the local cheese, cookies and dried figs stuffed with caramel. Yum!
We made it thru San Ramon, to the Pan-Am Highway and stoppped for directions to Atenas. No, no, no, we were told. We should go on the Highway to Puntarenas, then cut back down to MA. I think the guy just thought it would be easier for us, but I'm sure it was probably longer. The traffic was aweful.
Traffic was much better as we went along the coast and the roads were good. Until we hit the famous bridges. They were unbelievable! We got over the first one pretty quickly, but the last one before Quepos had a delay. A bus had to inch it's way across. People were getting upset with the wait. After about 30 min, we were given the go ahead and the cops closed our side right after us!! Lucky!! The traffic in the other direction was backed up clear to Quepos!! What a mess, but DH & I thought the bridges added to the adventure of driving to MA. When the new bridges are done, half the fun of getting to MA with be gone.
We arrived in MA at about 5:30. A very long day. We had reserved a studio plus at Costa Verde for Sat-Tues. We asked if anything was available for tonight. Unfortunately, our room would not be available until tomorrow, but the Penthouse at Costa Verde II was available for tonight. Oh, darn!!! This was great!! The penthouse was totally open air and very comfortable. We had a great view and were glad to get into warmer weather.
More to come .....
MY
Day 5, Fri. November 9, 2007, Do we stay or do we go:
We awoke to another day of rain, no sun in sight. We had talked about reserving for Cano Negro, but didn't want to chance it, so we had no plans for today. We were still booked for one more night. Should we blow this place and try to find some sun? Or stick it out?
We had breakfast and went back to the room. DH asked if I was going on the guided hike. Nope - lets get out of here! We checked out and were only charged for the 2 nights.
After all the great reports I've read here about Arenal, I was so looking forward to our stay. But the weather was not cooperating. I guess we will have to return some day. The AOL was fine for the price, even though it is a long way to town. I think Skytrek would be terrific in better weather and Eco-termales was sublime.
We were on our way to Manuel Antonio by about 9:30. The shortest route appeared to be thru San Ramon. Again, the scenery was spectacular. We stopped along the way at a gift shop called Coco Loco. It was a consignment artisan shop with a lot of unique and original items. I purchased more jewelry for my daughter, exchange student daughter and DH's secretary. I also picked up two baskets woven from pine needles. They are made by a women's co-op. Very cool & unique. Now that I have them home, I wish I had purchased some bigger baskets or trays. We also stopped at a roadside stand and bought the local cheese, cookies and dried figs stuffed with caramel. Yum!
We made it thru San Ramon, to the Pan-Am Highway and stoppped for directions to Atenas. No, no, no, we were told. We should go on the Highway to Puntarenas, then cut back down to MA. I think the guy just thought it would be easier for us, but I'm sure it was probably longer. The traffic was aweful.
Traffic was much better as we went along the coast and the roads were good. Until we hit the famous bridges. They were unbelievable! We got over the first one pretty quickly, but the last one before Quepos had a delay. A bus had to inch it's way across. People were getting upset with the wait. After about 30 min, we were given the go ahead and the cops closed our side right after us!! Lucky!! The traffic in the other direction was backed up clear to Quepos!! What a mess, but DH & I thought the bridges added to the adventure of driving to MA. When the new bridges are done, half the fun of getting to MA with be gone.
We arrived in MA at about 5:30. A very long day. We had reserved a studio plus at Costa Verde for Sat-Tues. We asked if anything was available for tonight. Unfortunately, our room would not be available until tomorrow, but the Penthouse at Costa Verde II was available for tonight. Oh, darn!!! This was great!! The penthouse was totally open air and very comfortable. We had a great view and were glad to get into warmer weather.
More to come .....
MY
