Costa Rica – Coast to Coast June 2005 and August 2006

We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica and I can’t wait to go back. Next time we definitely want to check out Aernal Volcano, Montverde, and the Osa peninsula..

Montezuma was our favorite place. We really liked the small town and laid back atmosphere that Montezuma offered. it was very easy to walk around there and meet other travelers.

We liked not having a definite itinerary for our trip and every day we met other travelers who we were able to give suggestions on where to go and stay
One of the best parts about our trip was meeting other travelers and being able to compare notes and get suggestions on where to go. We met so many wonderful people: Casey and Cassy from Arlington, TX; Lissa, Steven, Lucan, Tad, and Jana from Los Angeles, CA; Jay and James Mc Cracken from Lewisville, TX; Joe, Kelly, and family from Wisconsin; and everybody else we met on our travels.

Where we stayed:

Hotel Pasatiempo in Tamarindo – Everything was excellent and would definitely stay there again.

El Sano Banano in Montezuma – We liked it because it was a good value and centrally located. We only ate the free breakfast that was included with our room at their restaurant and found that some of the items offered on their breakfast menu was pretty average. Next time I’d probably want to stay at one of the other nicer hotels near the center of town.

La Colonia in Manuel Antonio – Would definitely stay there again as long as they had hot water in the room but would definitely eat dinner elsewhere.

Things I learned:

Tips are usually included on the bill for meals and if you are not sure just ask. 10% seems to be the standard for tipping and I always left my spare change after paying the bill if the service was good.

Most of the food there is EXCELLENT!

I should have brought back more bottles of Salsa Lizano!

All the gas stations are full service and they will wash your windows and check your tire pressure. I always tipped the gas station guys around 200 colonies each.

The roads are pretty well marked on the highways but it’s easy to get lost in the cities as the streets are not well signed.

Everybody is very friendly and in the tourist areas just about everybody speaks enough English to get by.

COSTA RICA IS PURA VIDA!

We woke up early and had another wonderful buffet breakfast. The hotel arranged for our transportation to the airport. I recommend getting to the airport very early as it takes a long time to pay your exit tax and check in as they hand search all the luggage that is checked in before you get to the ticket counter. Once we got to the terminal I took advantage of the duty free shop to grab a bottle of top shelf tequila for $22 that would have cost at least $45 in the states.

Our flight was delayed for about 20 minutes and since we only had an hour to clear customs in Miami and make our connection flight to San Francisco we were a little worried that we might miss our flight. The flight back to San Francisco was uneventful with the exception of the airlines loosing my luggage! Fortunately the bag we checked only contained our dirty clothes and was finally delivered to our house after three days.

We decided to wake up early and go to Manuel Antonio Park for a few hours before having to make the drive back to Alajuela for our flight home the next morning. Coming into town we were flagged down by ... [Continue reading this entry]

Breakfast was included with the hotel and the food was pretty average. I had eggs with gallo pinto both mornings and my wife had French toast. Unfortunately we learned that Manuel Antonio Park was going to be closed today as it ... [Continue reading this entry]

This was the first day in a week that we were able to see blue skies and no rain! After breakfast we checked out from El Sano Banano and made the drive to Paquera to catch the ferry to Puntarenas so ... [Continue reading this entry]

We decided to stay in Montezuma an extra day. After breakfast, I dropped off some laundry to be done at the Soda Arrecife where they also have laundry service for 500 colonies ($1) per kilogram. Still overcast but not raining ... [Continue reading this entry]

I am an early riser so after a shower I headed downstairs to sit on the outside patio of the El Sano Banano cafe and have some coffee and read my book. The El Sano Banano is located on the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Another overcast day. After eating breakfast and consulting our Lonely Planet book, we decided to drive to Montezuma and stay at least one night before deciding on where to go next. We took a different route out of Tamarindo that wasn’t ... [Continue reading this entry]

It wasn’t raining but the sky was pretty overcast and it was very humid so we decided to spend some time at Tamarindo beach. We got some beers at the super mercado and did some swimming in the water which ... [Continue reading this entry]

After breakfast and going to the internet café to send emails back home to family and friends we had hoped to go to the beach but since it was raining we decided to go for a drive and explore the ... [Continue reading this entry]