Lush forests. Brightly colored flowers. Vibrant birds. Warm beaches. Waves of deep blue and bright turquoise. These are the things of heaven.
Having never been to Costa Rica, I wasn't sure what to expect. The furthest South I had ever been was Puerto Vallarta, so my mental projection of this new-to-me country was sprinkled with images of my experiences in Mexico. However, Costa Rica was not only vastly different than my presuppositions, but it went above and beyond any expectations I had walked in with.
But before I start rambling too much, let me give you a brief overview of what’s going on here:
Who:
Me and my husband (Jeff), his wonderful parents (Brian and Carol) and lovely sister (Lauren), her handsome New Jersey native of Costa Rican descent (John), some of our closest friends, and some new friends we met along the way.
What:
A week-long exploration of Costa Rica culminating in the celebration of the marriage of John and Lauren.
Where:
The Northwestern portion of Costa Rica from San Jose to Monteverde, Playa Hermosa, and finally Tamarindo.
When:
Mid-February 2019
Since you’re reading this blog, I’m going to take a wild guess that you like traveling the world and adventuring along the way. Before I get into the travel tips though, lets start off with what FUN ACTIVITIES there are to do in this lovely place.
Let’s start where our group started: The Rainforest:
Hiking Through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
Think huge leafy trees, suspension bridges, brightly colored flowers, beautiful birds, and insane views. That pretty much covers it. But don’t worry, I’ll go into more detail.
From our epic Airbnb next to the infamously delicious Stella’s Bakery (our favorite breakfast spot of the whole trip), we were actually walking distance to the world-famous Cloud Forest Reserve (not a super short walk, but very doable and for us it was worth saving money on parking). As our group of approximately 12 people made our way up the mostly-shaded road in the comfortable 80 degree F weather, we were joined by first one and then another Cute Costa Rican Canine. Our furry new companions escorted us all the way from the bakery to the parking lot for the Reserve, then left us with a wag of the tail once deposited at our new location.
There was an admission fee to get into the Reserve, but it was well worth the $20 per person that we paid (plus, if it went toward maintaining this extraordinary place, we figured it was money well spent). The front desk agent gave us tips on which trails to take based on how much time we wanted to spend walking through the park, and after taking photos of the map, we started on our way.
Shortly after stepping on to the first trail, we saw a group of people returning from their walkabout who stopped us and told us there was a SLOTH about 300 meters up the path, on the right side of the trail, in a tree but easily visible. We were so excited! Who wouldn’t want to see a creature whose name in Spanish literally means “lazy”, with freakishly long nails and a permanent creepy smile on its furry face? Determined to find this long-haired blob, we scurried up the path, hearing confirming stories from other hikers along the way of the presence of this exotic animal.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we could not find said sloth. Maybe it was that we didn’t really know how long a meter was in reference to distance hiked, having been brought up to measure distances in feet or miles (why we haven’t made the switch to the ever superior and oh-so-logical metric system, I still do not know). Or, it could have had something to do with people telling us conflicting distances of how far up the trail this creepy/cute creature lounged. After craning necks and walking up and down the trail for probably too long of a time, we finally made the decision to move forward with our lives and see what else the Cloud Forest Reserve had to show us.
Our goal was to make it to the Vista Point via the suspension bridge, and at least in that regard, we were successful. Along the way, we saw some absolutely incredible plants, the likes of which we did not get to experience in the SF Bay Area of California or even in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where my husband and I live.
The greens of the plants were SO green, and many flowers had bright red petals. The whole world was leafy greenness, bright insects, and chattering birds.
The suspension bridge was also a fun experience, also because from the bridge we could see a pair of brightly colored birds making a nest in a tree just below the bridge. Jeff captured these photos of our group on the bridge and of the female bird working on her nest.
After crossing the bridge we made our way to the “Sendero La Ventana” lookout point. And Oh. My. Goodness. It was worth it. Especially because Jeff brought his drone along, and despite being eaten alive by some bugs (who thought he was much more tasty than me), sent it up into the sky and got some pretty epic photos of the incredible rainforest.
Visiting the Cloud Forest Reserve was an excellent first adventure for our trip, and we would have loved to stay and explore the rainforest region for a few more days (and maybe find the mysterious sloth). However, we are going to just have to plan that for our next visit, because we had things to do at the coast! Such as meet up with the lovely bride and groom and check out the beautiful beaches!
John and Lauren are two of the most fun people you’ll ever meet, and they are down for all sorts of outdoor adventures. So naturally, they already had a few activities planned for the group in Tamarindo. The following two activities were picked out and planned by the bride herself, and all I’ve got to say is kudos Lauren!
Sunset Catamaran Sail in the Pacific
Now THIS was a cool experience. It's always neat to see a place from the ocean for the first time since it's such a different perspective than seeing it from the land, and this was no exception.
Our group met up on the beach in Tamarindo and the guides took a two or three boatloads of people on a smaller water taxi out to the moored catamaran. We motored up the coast and saw several wonders along the way.
View from the boat taxi out to the catamaran
The first exciting thing we saw was - get this - STING RAYS literally jumping out of the water, flopping their wings, and flopping back into the sea. There may be some of you who have seen this phenomenon before, but to me it was new and SO COOL!
After the initial stingray sighting, my eyes were glued to the water in hopes of seeing more sea life. I was not disappointed! A few minutes later we saw dolphins off the port side. The captain steered us in their direction and next thing I knew, there were dolphins playing in the waves under the bow. Since I was standing on the mesh between the two hulls (apparently called a trampoline… I'm working on learning some sailing terminology), the dolphins were essentially under my feet. What an experience! As I reprimanded myself for not bringing my camera along, one of my friends reminded me that these were moments for the memories. As someone who can get too focused on capturing the moment in photograph form, it was a well-timed reminder (and I’ll never forget the sight of those dolphins playing in the water beneath my feet!).
Shortly after our dolphin sighting, we returned to our original course and soon arrived at our destination: a pretty little cove with sandy beaches, a rocky peninsula, and blue green waters. Once we were anchored we took turns jumping off the boat into the warm water and we all enjoyed swimming around.
The crew provided snorkel gear, so a few of us decided to gear up and swim toward the rocky outcropping when we hoped to see more fish.
The clarity of the water wasn’t stellar, but as someone who grew up playing in the chilly waters of the Santa Cruz beaches, I was just stoked to be swimming around in warm water, no wetsuit required.
One of the crew from the boat swam out with us and another followed close by on a pack he board, presumably to make sure the silly tourists didn't do anything too stupid. While conditions were mild and we werent being too dumb, I'm still glad some members of the crew came out with us. However, it wasn't from a safety perspective that I was glad go he their company; I was glad to get were there from an experience point of view.
You see, the rules in Costa Rica appear to be a little different from the rules I was used to from my snorkel and scuba experience in the states. As a kid snorkeling in Hawaii, I was taught to “see with your eyes, not with your hands”, but here in Costa Rica, the guide kept picking up things and handing them to me underwater. I got to hold a puffer fish(!), a brittle star, some sort of pincushion-ey looking creature with suction feet, and a beautiful starfish with blue stripes. The guide also picked up an urchin but I decided not to touch that one (and he didn’t offer to hand him to me). Side note: no sea life was harmed in this event! Side Side Note: I’m not saying to go out and touch any type of sea life you see swimming about while you snorkel or scuba dive.
After getting our fill of swimming around and checking out the fishies, we returned to the boat to enjoy a cold beer before our return journey.
The ride back was peaceful and incredibly beautiful. The warm sun made its way down until it met the ocean, setting the sky alight with oranges, pinks, and yellows. Not a terrible way to wrap up an awesome afternoon.
ATV Tour in Tamarindo
What’s not to love about bombing around on a quad past iguanas and monkeys with all your best buddies? Doing the ATV tour (another AWESOME idea from the bride herself!) was DEFINITELY a highlight of the trip. It was such a cool way to see Tamarindo and some of the back roads and hidden beaches this wonderful place was hiding from the general traffic.
While Jeff and I wouldn’t have minded a little more freedom to do silly shenanigans on these four-wheeled motor vehicles, it was probably to the ATV company’s best interest to keep herds of tourists relatively under control and on all four wheels at all times. Our guides did a good job of keeping the tour fun even for people with no experience on a quad, and even made sure to tell us what gear we should have the quad in for people who weren’t used to having to shift (no clutch though, so that made it even simpler). Jeff and I listened some of the time.
We started out on some dusty dirt roads and I was thanking my lucky stars (and my friend Adi) for the bandanna I wore over my nose and mouth. Actually, I’d say at least 75% of the crew had bandannas to help guard against the dust. However, there were a few who decided to go rugged on us, and upon our arrival at Beach Destination 1, I snapped some pics of dusty faces:
So after sweating a bit and having said sweat covered in dust, we parked the ATVs at a beautiful stretch of sandy beach lined with leafy green trees, and did what we all thought sounded perfect: jump in the water!
The water temperature was honestly PERFECT, as was the temperature of the air. We also had the beach All. To. Ourselves. So awesome. Everybody stripped down to bathing suits (or sports bras and shorts for those of us who didn’t plan ahead all that well), and started playing in the waves. A few people forgot to take off sunglasses before their dip, and some people made the mistake of turning their back on the ocean (and subsequently getting taken out by waves of surprisingly decent size and strength), but good times were had by all.
After our playtime in the ocean, we hopped back on the ATVs and made it to Destination 2: The Beachside Bar. We all stood in the shade, laughed about the fun we had on our journey here and our shenanigans in the waves, and sipped down a bottle of cold “Imperial”.
I still have a lot to learn about the Costa Rican motto of Pura Vida, but honestly, I think I got a pretty good taste of it on this trip. Hiking through the rainforest, snorkeling in balmy waters, zooming down dirt roads on ATVs, choosing between pina coladas and cold "Imperials”, all with the best friends, the best weather, the best scenery, and the best memories. Costa Rica, you did not disappoint!
Stay tuned because I’m already planning my next trip…
Pura Vida!