Costa Rica – Coast to Coast June 2005 and August 2006

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 a kid who told us that the parking lots for the park were full and that we needed to park in his lot for $2. I told him that we were going to go look anyways and found that the other parking lots were quite empty! We still needed to pay to park in the official parking areas but you to look for the guys in either the official yellow or brown shirts to avoid getting scammed. After parking the car we were offered a tour by an official park guide for $20 each. I thought this was pretty expensive and declined. We were warned that we would mss out on seeing any wildlife but we decided that we would take our chances anyway.

In order to get into the park you need to either get wet by wading through a estuary or they had some guys with boats to ferry you across. They didn’t charge any money but accepted tips. Inside the park was very nice. They only allow 600 people/day to enter the park, so on busy days it is best to get there early. We followed the main trail and found that whenever we saw one of the guides leading a group stop we could just look at where they were pointing and see whatever wildlife was there. We saw iguanas, sloths, spider monkeys, and birds. We made our way to the second beach and I wish that we had more time to stay there because it was pure heaven! We did a bit more exploring through the park before heading back to the car to go pick up the luggage at the hotel and make the drive back to Alajuela. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Si Como No and had lunch. I thought that Si Como No was very nice but the food was pretty average.

The drive back was uneventful. The road that takes you up into the central valley is pretty steep and twisty in places. We got stuck behind a long line of cars following a slow moving truck. Once we arrived in Alajuela we stops at a mega super mercado and purchased 10 bags of Costa Rican coffee as well as several bottles of Lizano hot sauce to bring back home.

We arrived at Las Orquideas at about 4pm after getting lost again in downtown Alajuela. Our room there this time was nicer with satellite TV and two beds but the lighting in the room could have used some improvement. There was a light bulb missing in the bathroom and the reading lamp had a florescent bulb.

We retired to the hotel bar where we met another couple from Texas who were also finishing their trip and we compared notes and got ideas on where to go for our next trip. Christopher from Tricolor rental arrived right on time to pick up the car with no hassles.
We then had drinks and dinner at the hotel bar where we found that the food at dinner wasn’t as good as the breakfast we had there on our previous stay. We also found that we were charged for $20 of wine that we didn’t order but the hotel manager took the charge off of our bill when we checked out the next day.

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]

We woke up early and had a wonderful buffet breakfast by the pool. Breakfast included gallo pinto, potatoes, fried yucca, sausage, orange juice, yams, plantains, coffee, as well as a made to order omelets and pancakes. There was a parrot ... [Continue reading this entry]