Costa Rica, February 18. - 29. 2020

We had been thinking about going to Costa Rica several times after hearing about the beautiful nature of this country. So when I found a good offer for tickets to San Jose with Lufthansa, the decision about our next holiday destination was made. While planning our trip and realizing how much there is to see, I decided to skip the Carribean coast (which is definitely also beautiful, but two weeks in not enough time to see all), and visit the central area and the Pacific Coast. We also had to up our budget a bit, as Costa Rica, aimed mostly at American tourists, is more expensive than Asia. 

We had to take three flights to arrive in San Jose and as we had a stopover in Toronto we also needed to make the ETA for Canada. Even if just having a stopover the country between flights and not leaving the airport transit zone, we still needed the ETA. It was easy to apply online and we got the approval e-mail with our ETAs  in about 30 minutes.

Ready to go: Frankfurt - Toronto

 

The flight from Frankfurt to Toronto was 8 and a half hours and we were pretty tired when we arrived. The kids were happy to have spotted the CN Tower while approaching Toronto airport. We only had an hour between flights and after a 5 and a half hour flight from Toronto to San Jose we were exhausted. We should have definitely taken a longer stopover in Toronto. Also, our flight to San Jose was with Air Canada and we were not impressed - the airplane was dirty, seats uncomfortable, no entertainment screens for such a long flight. This is a company we would avoid in the future.

On our arrival to San Jose at 21.30 we were greeted with a nice tropical breeze. We got our passports stamped, our luggage, exchanged some local colons in the airport (1 EUR = approx. 750 CRC) and were ready to discover the country. The notes of Costa Rica colons are beautiful and colourful with the pictures of animals on them. US dollars are also mostly accepted in touristic areas and we had already got some from France.

As we arrived quite late in San Jose, I had reserved a B&B not far from the airport for our first night. Casa Maria Aeropuerto had a clean but basic room about 10 minutes taxi ride from the airport. The room had two double beds and a bathroom. We were very tired and fell asleep almost immediately, only to wake up at 4 in the morning due to the jet lag (the difference with France is 7 hours). We actually prefer travelling from east to west - we wake up early in the morning (the waking up shifts gradually later and later), can start the day early and feel tired around 20 - 21 in the evening. 

Around 5.30 in the morning the sun was rising and we went for a walk. Casa Maria was in a gated community of private houses and it was interesting to hear so many different birds. At 7 we had a nice breakfast on the terrace of the B&B - very good coffee (we learned later that coffee was always good in Costa Rica), some fruit, fried plantain and gallo pinto. Gallo pinto is a classic breakfast dish of Costa Rica, it consists of seasoned rice and black beans and we had it nearly every morning during our trip.

We had decided to rent a car in Costa Rica for being able to move around independently and not needing to rely on public transport or taxis. I read a lot online about renting a car in Costa Rica and two local companies stood out from the others for their service and quality - Wild Rider and Vamos. We finally went with Wild Rider and were very happy with their service and quality. As we wished to visit national parks and hike, a 4x4 was recommended so we got a Ssang Young Korando 4x4. There is also a mandatory liability insurance with every car rental in Costa Rica, that raises the price of the rental - we paid a bit over 800 euros for the car. The car was delivered to Casa Maria at 7.30in the morning as we had agreed before, so we could start our trip towards La Fortuna.

Costa Ricans are proud to live among and protect their country’s rich environment, as this small nation holds five percent of the world’s land-based biodiversity and 3.5 percent of its marine life.  Costa Rica produces nearly 93 percent of its electricity from renewable resources and 30 percent of its territory is protected natural land (source: visitcostarica). All this nature and biodiversity were the main reasons we were so eager to discover Costa Rica.

La Fortuna and around

Our first destination was a small town called La Fortuna, located in the Northern Highlands of Costa Rica. La Fortuna has become quite a tourist hub, mostly because of the variety of activities available there.The trip from Alajuela (where the airport is) to La Fortuna is 115 km long, but takes almost three hours. The roads in Costa Rica are narrow and curvy and we also made a couple of stops on the way to stretch legs and admire the view, because the further we got from the capital, the more beautiful the views were. One of the stops was in a small roadside cafeteria to get a coffee and a bite to eat. The kids discovered their new favourite drink - soursop juice.

Coffee and soursop juice

Wishing to stay in the middle of the nature, we had chosen the Chachagua Rainforest Eco Lodge, a hotel in the middle of tropical rainforest, about 20 km from La Fortuna. The hotel was situated away from the main road, at the end of a small dirt road and in order to get to the parking lot near our bungalow, we had to drive through a small river (that's why we rented a 4x4). The hotel has a main building, where the bedrooms are situated and several bungalows for those wishing to stay in more private setting. We stayed in the family bungalow - it was spacious with two double beds, a good sized bathroom and a nice terrace with a rainforest view. While checking in, the kids already spotted some toucans on the big tree at the hotel reception followed by lots of colourful hummingbirds in the lush gardens behind our bungalow. We decided to go for a walk near the hotel (there are several hiking trails around the hotel) and saw a green iguana and some vultures - we were all super excited about all this beautiful nature just on our doorstep. The hotel also had a swimming pool and a jacuzzi and the kids wanted to take a quick dip before heading to town.

Hotel gardens

 

 

Who can spot an iguana?

Looking for hummingbirds

 

 Relaxing in the jacuzzi

  

The terrace of our bungalow

 

 

One of the hiking trails around the hotel

We wanted to check out the town of La Fortuna and get a bite to eat, so we left the hotel to go for a little discovery tour. La Fortuna, although touristic, is still a small town. We found a little soda (that is what small simple family restaurants are called in Costa Rica) near the town center and decided to try some local food. Sodas serve simple cuisine and the main dish is called casado that usually has a little bit of everything. Casado can be served with meat, but I went for a veggie option.

Veggie casado

We were up early the next morning and sat on the terrace to listening to the sounds of the nature when we spotted a black animal not far from us near the river. It was a tayra, an animal from the weasel family, found in the Central and South America. The breakfast in the hotel opened at 7 and we had to have a quick bite, because we needed to be in La Fortuna at 7.30 to go on a river float trip on the Penas Blancas river.

The variety of activities around La Fortuna is impressive. There are a lot of adventure activities like ziplining or rafting for thrill seekers and also many nature hikes and boat rides suitable for everyone. Although we had some rain every day we were in La Fortuna, February is still considered dry season and the water in the river runs slower (as the river is not so full), so we were able to go on a river float safari trip. It means going down the river in a rubber boat, rowing a little, (no engine for not disturbing the animals) for about two hours and spotting all the wildlife around us. We had reserved the trip through a company called Anywhere and were very satisfied with their service.

The meeting point was at the Anywhere office in the center of La Fortuna and were able to park our car there. We got a ride by a van to the starting point, about 20 minutes from La Fortuna. By the riverside the group was divided into two boats, six people + a guide in each boat. We shared our boat with a nice American couple and our guide was excellent. He was funny and very knowledgeable about the plants, birds and animals we saw. And we saw a lot, although the guide told us in the beginning it was all down to luck - during some trips they hardly spot anything. There were lots of birds - kingfishers, herons and quite some animals - some iguanas, a coati, several troops of howler monkeys (one troop crossing the river on the trees above our heads), a sloth, capuchin monkeys, several species of bats... Amazing experience!

 

Howler monkeys on the trees

 

Capuchin monkey

 

An iguana

 

Herons

 

Our tour was not over yet though - we were taken to a small chocolate farm where we had a chocolate tasting session and could see where the chocolate comes from. The kids liked the small feeding platforms of fruit attached to the trees where they could spot several birds and lizards coming for a bite to eat. 

 

Roasted and fermented cocoa beans

 

Johnny opening a cocoa fruit

 

Feeding platform for birds and lizards

 

The tour finished in La Fortuna and as it was still only 12.30 so we had the whole afternoon to do another activity. Unfortunately it had started to rain and we decided to have some lunch first. La Fortuna has a lot of nice little restaurants and we chose a Mexican place called Spectacolar Cantina. Their veggie tacos and burritos were amazing.

 

 

Although it was still raining a bit, we decided to stick to our initial plan and go hiking the historic lava fields in the Arenal 1968 Trail. The visitor center and parking lot is about 25 minutes by car from La Fortuna and the trails start from there. We hiked the main 4.7 km trail and although it could be sometimes possible to have amazing views to the Arenal Volcano, it was hidden in the clouds that day. The trail went through the forest first, then started to rise and there were a lot of different sized volcanic boulders scattered around. The trail also passed a lake called Lago los Patos that was formed when the eruptions took place. In my opinion the hike is of moderate difficulty since there are some steep portions and also lots of roots and rocks. It was quite muddy too, because of the rain. Our kids are used to hiking and for them it was not hard. We did not see any animals during the hike, but lots of birds and insects, like leaf cutter ants.

 

Passerinis tanagers, beautiful red and black birds

 

At the top viewpoint, Arenal Volcano covered by clouds

Lago los Patos

 

On our way down it rained quite heavily at one point, so we wore our raincoats

 

 

 Leaf cutter ants

 

It had been a long and full day, exactly like we love it during our long haul holidays. We got some snacks and local Imperial beer from the supermarket in La Fortuna, had a nice aperativo on our terrace and were off to bed.

The next morning we had more time to enjoy the breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast area was open in three sides, to have a full view of the nature around us. The breakfast was pretty simple - gallo pinto, fried plantains, different fruit (pineapple, papaya, watermelon, melon, small bananas), pancakes, toast, eggs, sausages all served buffet style. We had toucans joining us during breakfast just outside the restaurant. We also saw beautiful big bright blue butterflies in several occasions flying around, they were the blue morphos, one of the largest butterflies in the world.

  

Toucans having their breakfast while we were having ours

 

The Tabacón Hot Springs, that emerge directly from Arenal Volcano, are made up of natural pools formed by cascades and waterfalls flowing into a series of paradisiacal gardens with more than 500 species of flowers, plants, and trees.  Tabacon Grand Thermal Resort is completely natural coming from the river with the same name. Water flows by gravity throughout the property, forming in-river pools, waterfalls, and cascades and filling in the pools throughout the resort. The water temperature is up to 38 degrees C. After a day of hike, we needed a day of relaxing and Tabacon spa offered just that. Tabacon Resort is also a luxury hotel, but we just went for a half day thermal springs package including buffet lunch. It is advisable to reserve the pass before, because only a limited amount of the passes are sold per day to avoid overcrowding the spa. The area was huge with lots of bigger and smaller pools and waterfalls, there was also a big swimming pool with sunbeds and a swim-up bar. We were wearing water shoes for the natural pools, because the riverbed can be slippery and/or rocky. 

The buffet lunch at the Tabacon was nice - the choice wasn't huge but everything was tasty and good quality. The restaurant had a big terrace with spa view and we really enjoyed our meal after a relaxing swim in the warm water.

 

On our way back from Tabacon the kids spotted a sloth on the tree by the side of the road - this is Costa Rica!

We had planned to visit the hanging bridges hiking trail, but the rain was getting heavier and heavier and we had to make a last-minute change in our plans. The hiking trails get very slippery with rain and it wouldn't have been a great experience. There was an organic chocolate farm on the way to our hotel and we decided to take a look. The place was called the Rainforest Chocolate Tour and it was a thorough hands-on experience of how the cocoa tree fruit becomes chocolate and it involved a chocolate tasting session in the end. The farm had a lots of other interesting trees too so it also felt a bit like a botanic lesson.

 

Cocoa tree fruit - when ripe it becomes red or yellow

 

 Grinding cocoa beans into paste

 

It had been quite a rainy day and when we got back to our hotel, the kids wanted to go looking for frogs at the hotel grounds. It was possible to get torches and even wellies at the hotel reception as it was dark and pretty wet outside. Martin and I stayed closer to the hotel but Ricardo and Johnny took a small path into the forest. At night the jungle was so alive with many different sounds all around us. Th kids' aim was to find the green tree frog, but we were not that lucky - we saw several other frogs though, including a rare glass frog.

The next morning before breakfast Johnny and Ricardo went for another hike and reached until a huge ceiba tree. They also encountered a troupe of capuchin monkeys. I stayed in our bungalow to pack because it was time to head towards the Pacific ocean.

Pacific coast - Jaco, Quepos, Manuel Antonio and around

Our first destination on the Costa Rican Pacific coast was a town called Jaco. Jaco is a quite popular surfer town, for its four-kilometer long beach. The distance from La Fortuna to Jaco is 152 km, but it took us over three and a half hours - the roads in Costa Rica are slow and narrow. The closer to the coast we got, the hotter it became - it was a pleasant 26 - 27 degrees C in La Fortuna, and nearly 40 degrees C when we arrived at Jaco.

Before getting to Jaco, we stopped at the "Crocodile bridge". It is a highway bridge about half an hour from Jaco on the Tarcoles river and usually it is possible to see many American crocodiles laying under the bridge. The Tarcoles river is considered to have one of the highest crocodile populations in the world.

We had chosen to stay in a small hotel just outside Jaco called Hotel Pumilio. What a great find it was! They only had 10 bedrooms and every room had an outdoor space - either terrace or patio with an full outdoor kitchen. Our room was on the ground floor so we had a lovely patio with a direct access to the hotel pool. The room was spacious with two double beds and an extra single bed and a good sized bathroom. With the heat there was outside, the only thing the kids wanted was to have a refreshing swim in the pool.

 

 

Iguana on the hotel grounds 

We wanted to see Jaco beach and to find something to eat, so we headed to the town. We went in a nice and colourful Mexican place for the meal and arrived at the beach just before sunset. The sand in the Jaco beach was dark, and the beach was quite crowded but nevertheles the place was amazing at sunset. 

 

The next morning I woke up early, around 6 am and went to sit on the terrace. The outdoor kitchen was perfect - they had a coffee machine with some great Costa Rica coffee so I made myself a mug and watched the nature waking up around me - birds, iguanas, lizards (the one that runs on the water of the pool). The breakfast at hotel Pumilio was amazing - there were the local classics, of course, like gallo pinto and fried plantain, but also tamales (cornflour porridge with stuffing wrapped in banana leaf). The kids loved the pancakes, waffles and omelettes freshly made by a kind local lady.

 

 

We had a long day ahead as our plan was to go hiking in Carara National Park. Of its more than 5200 hectars, only a small part is actually available for visitors. Carara is unique as the Amazonian and Mesoamerican ecosystems converge here to form a distinct biological reserve where the climates of the Pacific dry north meet the humid south coast. For being able to know and discover the park better we decided to hire a guide at the park gates. Our guide Andre proposed us to drive a bit further away from the main park entrance to another small entrance about one kilometer ahead in order to go to the wilder part of the path where the sightings of birds and animals were more possible. Andre pointed out many birds and insects, asked us to listen to the different sounds of the birds. He also carried a tripod with a zoom where we could attach our phone - so we could be able to see some animals more closely and take photos. We were lucky to see a rare white ghost bat, also other bats, several troops of capuchin monkeys, lots of birds, insects and massive ceiba trees. The hike was tiring in the 35 degree heat, but we really enjoyed it.

The hiking had got us hungry so on the way back to the hotel we stopped at a small local supermarket and bought some pasta and sauce to cook in our outdoor kitchen. It was a relaxing afternoon in the hotel, swimming in the pool and sunbathing. In the evening we went for a drive around the area and visited playa Hermosa. While walking on the beach we spotted scarlet macaws flying over our heads several times. These magnificent birds are unfortunately in danger of extinction but they can be seen on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

 

Playa Hermosa

The next morning we needed to pack our stuff again and head south, towards Manuel Antonio. At first we decided to go back north a bit to a village called Tarcoles as I had read that it might be possible to spot the scarlet macaws there. We did not find any macaws, but instead we found a charming tourist free fishing village, where the fishermen had just came back from the sea with their morning catch.

 

 

The distance between Jaco and Manuel Antonio is about 70 km, but it takes more than an hour to get there. We were not in a hurry anyway and wanted to enjoy the views. After having driven about half the way, we thought to turn towards the beach from the main road to get a cup of coffee in some small beach bar. We did not find any bars, but we found an amazing beach - long, wide, wild and completely empty. Our GPS said it was called Playa Bejuca. It was a perfect paradise beach!

As we got closer to Quepos (the nearest town to Manuel Antonio National Park) the lush jungles by the side of the roads disappeared and instead we saw neat and seemingly endless rows of palms - palm oil plantations for kilometers and kilometers... It was absolutely heartbreaking to see that the perfect ecosystems that have taken millions of years to develop are destroyed for palm oil. Many species, before numerous in Costa Rica (like squirrel monkeys), have became rare because of the palm oil plantations taking away their natural habitat.

We were staying in the hotel Villas Lirio, situated between Quepos and Manuel Antonio. The hotel area was large with two swimming pools and pathways connecting separate parts of the hotel. Every room had a small patio in front of the room door. Our room was spacious, with two double beds and a separate area with wardrobes and a desk. It was situated near the main swimming pool - an absolute delight for the kids. We only used the main pool, because it was bigger and closer to our room, surrounded by a nice garden. We saw capuchin monkeys, toucans and even scarlet macaws on several occasions around the pool. 

 

Just outside the hotel was a good choice of places to eat and we had a delicious casado in a little soda for dinner.

 A quick swim before bed

 

The breakfast in the hotel was classic Costa Rican - gallo pinto, fried plantains and the lot. We were up early to go to visit one of the main attractions of Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio National Park. Manuel Antonio National Park contains three beautiful beaches, casual forest trails, and a dense rainforest teaming with animal life. In 2011, it was named by Forbes as one of the world’s most beautiful national parks. Although Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica's smallest national park, the diversity of wildlife in its 6.83 km2 is unequaled with 109 species of mammals and 184 species of  birds (source: Wikipedia). It was very crowded at the park entrance, but once we got inside, we tried to stay away from the main trail, that is very touristic, and take the smaller trails instead. We headed inland to the direction of waterfall first (the waterfall was dry because of the dry season), then towards the beaches and did the seaside trail and ended with the walk through the mangroves. It was a long and hot day but really worth it because of all the animals and wildlife we saw. It was like a game of hide and seek, listening to the sounds of the forest and looking around trying to spot the animals in their natural habitat, just going about their business. We saw an anteater, sloths, capuchin monkeys, racoons, deer, agoutis, iguanas, several crabs, frogs... The beaches of the park are beautiful with white sand, only accessible on foot. 

 

 

A small hermit crab

Agouti

 Tree frog camouflage

In the evening, although tired, we went to enjoy the amazing sunset at the Manuel Antonio beach. It was a beautiful lively beach with lots of bars and restaurants and many activities available.

 

 

As if the long day of hiking in Manuel Antonio was not enough, we decided to do another hike just the day after. Nauyaca waterfalls are considered one of the most beautiful in Costa Rica. They are situated about 55 km (50 minutes' drive) from Quepos, the town near Manuel Antonio. Nauyaca Falls are made up of the upper and lower falls. The upper falls have a 45 meter drop and the views are amazing. The lower falls have a pool to swim in and plenty of rocks to sit on. The lower fall is a tiered waterfall of 20 meters and the pool is six meters deep. The water was nice and refreshing, especially after the hike. The hike from the car park to the falls is 4 km long and mostly passes through the rainforest. It was not easy in the heat but so worth it. 

Upper falls

 

Lower falls

After the hike we drove to the nearest beach town, called Playa Dominical for lunch. Playa Dominical is a pretty famous surfers spot and had many cool restaurants. El Pescado Loco, where we chose to eat, did not disappoint - their fish tacos were probably the best I have ever eaten.

It was our last day on the Pacific coast and the next morning we headed to the capital, San Jose, for our last night in Costa Rica. The drive from Manuel Antonio to San Jose took a bit over three hours. We decided to take the 107 km scenic route through the hills that was mostly dirt road. We hardly saw other cars for most of the way and the views were amazing. 

 Pineapple plantations by the side of the road

 

Amazing views

 Coffee break in a little soda

Our car on the dirt road that lasted for almost 70 kilometers

The traffic became more hectic when we arrived closer to San Jose. Many tourist guide books advise to skip San Jose altogether but we still decided to take a look. We were staying right in the city center, in a hotel called Park Inn by Radisson. Because of  the crazy city traffic we left the car in the hotel car park and discovered San Jose on foot. The weather was definitely cooler in the capital, probably also due to its elevation of 1172 m above sea level. San Jose is considered one of the safest and least violent cities of Latin America and we saw a lot of police around in the center, specially on the main pedestrian street. A policeman came to talk to us though, and advised me to remove my golden necklace and earrings for my own safety. We visited the central market (Mercado Central) and bought some tamales from there and just strolled around the city center. There are some nice colonial buildings, several of them surrounding the main square.

City center - San Jose

Mercado Central

On our last morning in Costa Rica we had our gallo pinto for breakfast in the hotel and felt that we did not want to leave - there was still so much left to discover of this small yet so varied and beautiful country. Our flights back took us first to Panama, then Frankfurt and finally Nice. Costa Rica is a place we have to return! PURA VIDA...