COVID made us go to Costa Rica. And it was amazing! Thanks Covid!!
This is going to be along post.....too many photos...too many videos. Not only did I have access to mine, but also Jacob's, Matt's Go-Pro videos and his drone videos. So thank you Matt and Jacob! There were over 1700 photos and videos all together! I had to pick the best, and it was hard. So pop some corn, sit back and relax while you read this.
(Tip: Play videos in Full Screen by pressing the letter f and then when the video is over, press the ESC key to get back to the blog)
We originally had a cruise all booked and paid for, for our family trip when Jacob got back from his mission. It was scheduled for May. Covid caused the cruise to be cancelled. We then thought about going to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun. I did a lot of research and had it all ready to book - like literally I was ready to book it. Then I saw a flight alert for cheap airfare to Costa Rica and we thought hmmmmmmm......
Marissa & Matt went to Costa Rica three years ago and loved it....and kept telling us we should go. There were going to go to Cancun with us so when we saw the cheap airfare, they were persuasive that we should do it. So, I booked the airfare to Costa Rica!
We flew all Friday night and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at 6:30 am where we promptly got our rental car and started the 3-hour drive to La Fortuna, in central Costa Rica and the base of the Arenal Volcano where we spent 4 nights.
First glance, Costa Rica is beautiful. Tropical and green everywhere...and hot and humid....and beautiful.
The drive was on a two lane road winding up down and around mountains...probably some of the curviest roads we've been on anywhere.
Waiting to leave LAX at 11pm
Costa Rica is pretty far down
Bedtime on the plane
Jacob's first time in a plane bathroom
Just about to land in San Jose, Costa Rica
Got our passports stamped
Be good!!!
Heading to the rental car place. Luckily it was like 5 minutes as we were pretty cramped in there
We stopped at this little "soda" (roadside cafe) for breakfast, but they didn't really have anything to eat so we drove on
We found a hotel and restaurant along the way for breakfast! This was my caramelized mango and pineapple french toast. It was so good!
It was Saturday morning. This is how crowded it was. There were two other people eating breakfast. This is the lounge or front desk area of the hotel
There were cats on the sofas and chairs
We finally made it to La Fortuna and found our Airbnb. Fun fact: Costa Rica does not have addresses. There are road names, usually just numbers, but houses and businesses do have street addresses. In town, everything is usually based on the number of blocks away from the main church - like 2 blocks east of the church. For houses, our Airbnb directions were: 100 meters past the Chocolate Tour and the front gate looks like this: (and a pic was sent).
Lots and lots and lots of one-lane bridges along the drive
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We took a little nap and then headed off for a 3 hour horseback ride. We didn't want to waste the day sleeping after all!
We rode the horses including some trotting and galloping which was pretty fun! We ended up at the base of the volcano and then hiked about 15 minutes to the "1968 trail) which is a lava field that was formed the last time the volcano erupted which was - you guessed it - in 1968.
I posted a pic of the volcano and us riding horses on Facebook, and Devin Lamb, a childhood friend that I grew up with, saw it and messaged me. "Are you in La Fortuna?" "Yes we are." "So are we!" Talk about a random coincidence!
The volcano is almost always covered in clouds. We were lucky to get this clear of a photo on our first day. It was never as clear as this again
Hiking up to the lava fields
It looked like we were going to get rained on.....we did for maybe 1 minute
This is the base of the volcano......all covered in clouds
Jacob and Hannah had to do their "jumping" photo
We then had dinner at a very yummy place in town and soon found out that all restaurants have "smoothies" which are made from all fruit and then added milk usually, so it's like a fruit milkshake. They were SO good! The most popular we got most often was Passion Fruit (my favorite), Strawberry and Pineapple. Some restaurants served the "smoothies" up in fancy glasses and others were just normal glasses. It was fun to see how some of the smoothies turned out.
There are about 15 "resorts" in La Fortuna that have hot springs. They all claim to be natural hot springs and often have several pools of hot water, another pool of warm and another of cool. So you go from hot hot to cool and find one you like. Some have waterslides and some have Jacuzzis. The hot spring water comes from thermal activity from the volcano. The entrance fee to these "resorts" ranges from $7 per person to $50. Obviously, the $50 have more pools, fantastic landscaping and lighting....we didn't try those ones......we opted for the $7 per person, but it was super fun because it had waterslides... Due to Covid, we say maybe 5 other people there each time we went.
The next day, we slept in a little and then headed to the Bogarin Sloth Trail to see if we could see some sloths in a natural habitat. This "trail" is about a 2 mile trail that crisscrosses a preserve that is extremely lush and home to a lot of sloths, even more birds and ants and tons of frogs and a few snakes. We did a guided tour and got Mr. Bogarin himself as our tour guide. He spent 15 years making the trail with a machette and shovel into what it is today and is still expanding it. It was an awesome tour. Without him, we would have seen a lot of plants but nothing else. He knew right where to look and what to look for.
This little frog blends in with the leaves so the birds can't see it
This was one of two poisonous species of frogs we saw. Our guide only had to wash his hands after touching this one
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Most of the bird sounds you here in this video, is the guide. He was really good. The birds all looked and paid attention to him
This is the other poisonous frog that lives under dead leaves and brush. This one the guide wouldn't touch - this one will send you to the hospital
Our guide was the bird whisperer....he could make the call of all the different birds and they would answer back and come over
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There were a lot of fireants....they had very long trails and each one was carrying a piece of a leaf.....a special leaf...from a special tree. Seems that ants take the leaf piece back to the antill where the leaf breaks down and ferments and decomposes. This then, is what the ants eat
Sloth Time
Homemade toothpaste - Mr Bogarin picked some leaves and then showed us how to make soap and or toothpaste
More ants
After that, we had some lunch and then headed to Mistico Hanging Bridges - up in the mountains. This is a walking trail less than 2 miles through the jungle and suspended or hanging bridges over rivers, waterfalls and the trees. It was so beautiful, peaceful and amazing. I think the word "amazing" is going to be used often in this post, and it does not come close to describing what we did and saw.
We met up with Devin & Wendy (his wife) , Jenni (his sister) and her husband and had a really good visit as we all toured Mistico. It had probably been 7 years or so since we have seen Devin and Wendy so it was really good.
The weather in this part of Costa Rica this time of year is usually rainy during the afternoons as it's the start of the "rainy season". La Fortuna gets about 100 inches of rain per year, which is why it's always so green. We got sprinkled on a little during our walk through the hanging bridges, but not too bad.
Some of these bridges were pretty high and long
Jacob found his own bridge to hang on
(Jacob) "Hannah, let's do our jumping pic here"
(Mom) "I don't think that's safe"
(Jacob) "It's fine mom. The cables are strong"
(Mom) "Wait until I get across"
Obligatory handstand pics
Don't stand on the tables! They could break!
Devin and Wendy Lamb
We then had dinner, of course with "smoothies" and then more hot springs to end a busy day.
Then next day, we were up early as we were getting picked up at 8am for river rafting. The Sarapiqui River was our destination, about an hour away from La Fortuna. We were headed to the section of river with Class 3 and 4 rapids.
Wow.....this was an amazing activity! It was pretty much non-stop rapids the entire time. We only almost fell out once (or twice) and it was SO fun! We loved it! We had one other person with us - he was visiting from United States.
Half way through we stopped for a fruit snack. The pineapple melted in your mouth - it was so good!
Our two guides
Typical house along the countryside
The place we had lunch at, was also an eco reserve. So they had hiking and this very very long hanging bridge - one of the longest in the country. This bridge not only went over the forest, but also over the river we rafted in. It was a little shaky and wobbly and a little scary
These leaves are about 8 feet long
The next day we headed to zip lines. We used our rain jackets this day. It was a steady drizzle with a brief moment of actual raining hard, but that doesn't matter in Costa Rica. Everything still goes on, so zipped in the rain we did. It's still 80 degrees out, so it's not cold.
We've been zip lining in the Caribbean and Mexico probably 5-7 times, but these zips where the longest, highest and most beautiful we've even been on. Wow.
We went to Arenal Mundo Adventure (AMA). There are zip line places all over this area. It was literally 5 minutes from where we were staying. For this one, we rode about 15 minutes up a steep and bumpy road in this
The view from the top
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Jacob trying to video and hang on at the same time
Tractor ride up the mountain
Jacob not making it all the way in - he and Hannah have this "problem" of not weighing enough. They never have to brake themselves either. Lucky.
After the tractor ride, those who are going on ALL the ziplines, hike up the mountain more about 15 minutes. It was quite a hike
There was one hanging bridge we had to cross. It was wobbly and had short railing.....made me a little nervious
Don't miss the famous La Fortuna waterfall! Where else can you zip line over something like this????
Hang on!
2nd longest zip here - 600 meters (2000 feet)
It was misty and foggy adding to the adventure
There were about 3 lines where we had pouring rain. On those, the cable got really wet and the wetness splattered dirty water all over our faces and jackets
It was Taco Tuesday so we went to a local taco place, just down from the church
My very yummy passion fruit smoothie
Later that afternoon, we went to town and all got massages - Jacob's first in fact!
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All too soon, it was time to leave La Fortuna. The next morning we headed out for a 3 hour drive to Guanacaste area - which on the Pacific Ocean (west side) of the country and the driest part of the country. They don't usually get much rain in this area and a lot of the area is beaches.
On the way, we stopped to do a guided hike to La Leona Waterfall - it's on private property and the only way you can get there, is with a guided hike. Hike is not really the best way to describe what we did.
We did hike yes, but we also waded across the river several times, hiked up and over and even through huge boulders, using ropes to help us up and over, through small caves, then had to swim through some rocks to finally reach the blue waterfall. Oh my. It was unlike anything you've ever seen. Pictures cannot even come close to showing how beautiful and extraordinary this hike was. It's not real well known. I only knew about it from one post I saw in a Facebook Costa Rica group. There are only two places that take you there. It was beyond amazing. Everyone of us said it was by far, the most interesting and beautiful hike we've ever done.
After eating lunch at a local "soda" which is like a small roadside cafe and they are everywhere..like on every corner, we headed to our Airbnb.
Remember, there are no addresses, so I put the name of the place in the gps, and it found it but the last 10 minutes was seeming like it was totally wrong. We went through some very small towns with small houses, sodas, locals riding bikes and walking everywhere. How as a nice Airbnb going to be here? Well, we started up a one lane road winding very steeply, up the mountain side. The ocean soon came into view as we climbed, and climbed. The road was as steep as the roads in San Francisco. We kept thinking the gps was wrong, broken and we were getting lost. No way would this be the way. Well, we trusted in the gps...suddenly, the one lane steep sketchy road opened up and on the hillside was a condo project with "luxery" condos. This was it!! After a little snafu at the gate - they didn't have our name and they didn't speak English. So we had to drive down the hill to get service to call the Airbnb host, who then called the guards to give them our name, we finally reached the place. There were about 21 condos, and maybe 3 were occupied. There was a pool for every 4 and the view was you guessed it - amazing. The condo was beautiful and huge. Wow.
VIDEOS:
Drone video of the view
AirBnB Walk through
Marissa on the beach from the drone. She has the hat on
Beach time
The lack of guests in the condos made for a good place for this racoon to hide out!
Beach from the drone
The only drawback was there was nothing around. All the restaurants and grocery stores were back down the sketchy road, through the small town covered with locals biking and walking, and it was about 15 minutes away, which was not bad.
That night we went to "Roosters" a local busy place on the beach. Like RIGHT ON the beach! We could see and hear the waves.
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This was the road heading up to the house. It was steep, curvy, one lane and a little sketchy!
The next day Marissa and Matt went diving, which they said was amazing and they saw sharks, jellyfish, eels and all kinds of stuff. The rest of us tried out the pools, relaxed and hung out and did our virtual Covid tests. Luckily, we all tested negative so we could come home. Later that day, we went into town and spent the afternoon on the beach. Hardly anyone was there.
COVID Testing
Jacob had to still attend school classes and even take an exam. We lost Wifi for a few hours during his exam, but luckily it came back on and he was able to finish
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Jacob stepped on something slimy in the water and then a lot of pain....and bleeding. We think it was a stingray maybe a jelly fish. He said it hurt bad
The "smoothies" at this local soda were huge! The best one here was the blackberry / raspberry
This large Iguana was just hanging out in the tree
Apparently on the beach you can't wear dark sunglasses, bring your gun or your wolf or helmet
The next day, we went ATV riding. For six hours. It was a long time! We covered a lot of ground. Jungle....beaches...mountains.....local lunch...shallow rivers and puddles.....more beaches....we were tired and I think we all walked funny when we finally got done. And dirty and dusty. It was very fun!
The "soda" we stopped at for lunch had dollar bills all over the walls and ceiling and written on them were the date and location where the peope were from
Before lunch, they came around with a big bowl of water with herbs and leaves and stuff in it to dip and refresh our hands
VIDEOS:
Washing hands
Driving through some water
Riding on a secluded beach
More water...Jacob loved this part
This tree had several howler monkeys....they didn't like the noise of the ATVs
That evening, our last evening :-( , we went to a local beach closer to the Airbnb for the sunset. Wow. Amazing. Like stuff you can only imagine or see on magazine covers. The entire trip was like that.
The next morning, we headed to Liberia which was about an hour away to fly home. The most crowded places our entire trip was the airport. It was packed and planes were packed.
The secret is getting out. Costa Rica is amazing. WOW!
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