Costa Rica – Coast to Coast June 2005 and August 2006

Puerto Viejo is our favorite place so far. It reminded us of Montezuma but on a much larger scale. Collin and Roberto from Banana Azul are awesome and we felt like we made new friends with them and can’t wait to go back to visit with them again next year.

While we had a great time in Tamarindo last year, all the changes and development have converted this once funky town into Babylon. We won’t be returning there again.

Nosara is our 2nd favorite palace from this trip. The people at Gilded Iguana and Blew Dogs are awesome. They made us really feel like family and not just another guest. The Ticos there seem to make some pretty good money (for Costa Rican standards). I saw a few locals with iPods. And many owned motorcycles and quads. One of the bartenders at Gilded Iguana told me that in the high season he averages $400-$500/week with salary and tips. I didn’t see any creepy people anywhere in Nosara or Samara in sharp contrast to Puerto Viejo and Tamarindo.

Samara was nice but the town seemed a little boring. Maybe it was just being there in the off season. Shake Joe’s is a really cool place to hang out but strangely, we never saw many people there.

San Jose is awesome! People really give San Jose a bad rap but I thought it was great. I’m glad that we had to extend our trip or else we probably would have never gone there. I guess if you come from small town USA you might be intimidated by all the people but it was a cakewalk compared to NYC. Maybe since I live in a city in a Latino neighborhood I felt pretty comfortable walking around. I’d definitely go back to San José again.

To see all the pictures form our trip click here

Puerto Viejo is our favorite place so far. It reminded us of Montezuma but on a much larger scale. Collin and Roberto from Banana Azul are awesome and we felt like we made new friends with them and can’t wait to go back to visit with them again next year.

While we had a great time in Tamarindo last year, all the changes and development have converted this once funky town into Babylon. We won’t be returning there again.

Nosara is our 2nd favorite palace from this trip. The people at Gilded Iguana and Blew Dogs are awesome. They made us really feel like family and not just another guest. The Ticos there seem to make some pretty good money (for Costa Rican standards). I saw a few locals with iPods. And many owned motorcycles and quads. One of the bartenders at Gilded Iguana told me that in the high season he averages $400-$500/week with salary and tips. I didn’t see any creepy people anywhere in Nosara or Samara in sharp contrast to Puerto Viejo and Tamarindo.

Samara was nice but the town seemed a little boring. Maybe it was just being there in the off season. Shake Joe’s is a really cool place to hang out but strangely, we never saw many people there.

San Jose is awesome! People really give San Jose a bad rap but I thought it was great. I’m glad that we had to extend our trip or else we probably would have never gone there. I guess if you come from small town USA you might be intimidated by all the people but it was a cakewalk compared to NYC. Maybe since I live in a city in a Latino neighborhood I felt pretty comfortable walking around. I’d definitely go back to San José again.

To see all the pictures form our trip click here

We were told to be at the airport at 7am since our seats were not yet assigned. We speeded through ticketing and checking our luggage and security. Thing moved a lot quicker compared to when we visited last year. They now have x-rays for luggage and carry on screening. Last year they had to hand search each passenger’s luggage at the ticket counter which took a looooog time. We were through ticketing and security in 20 minutes.

Our flight to Dallas and onward to San Francisco was uneventful and we were home by 8:30pm.

After breakfast we took a swim in the pool and a dip in their new hot tub. After that we had one of the hotel drivers take us to Zoo Ave which is a rehabilitation zoo for animals who will ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Orquideas Inn is also home to a tour company so we had one of their drivers take us into San Jose ($20 each way) and dropped us off at the Plaza de la Cultura which is next to the ... [Continue reading this entry]

After watching CNN we learned that hurricane Ernesto was passing through Cuba and was due to hit Miami at the same time we were supposed to fly there on our way back tome to San Francisco. This worried us as ... [Continue reading this entry]

As usual I was up at the crack of dawn so I took a long walk around town and along the beach. I saw the Las Brisas del Pacifico hotel which is located a ways east of the main part ... [Continue reading this entry]

After waking up and having coffee at Gilded Iguana we drove back over the bumpy road to Samara. On the way we stopped to fill up with gas at the intersection from the roads to Nosara and Samara. The gas ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was raining heavily when I woke up so I went down to the restaurant area and had some coffee (they put coffee out for guests at 7am) and read my book. Dave and Phadera were headed to Samara to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Woke up early to the sound of howler monkeys nearby. I went for another drive and ended up at Playa Pelada near Olga's restaurant. I saw what I thought was a dead dog laying on the beach surrounded by vultures. ... [Continue reading this entry]

After waking up early, I read for a bit and then decided to take a drive around town and scout things out. The Nosara area is pretty spread out and the roads are like a maze. The town of Nosara ... [Continue reading this entry]