Vacation in Costa Rica

Obviously, I had to get a photo of Slothkong at the airport.

For Thanksgiving Sean and I took a week long vacation (and actual vacation, not just an IRT trip sold to me as a "vacation for me" while the guys are working at the embassy) to Costa Rica. On my list of "Top Ten Places to Visit in Latin America" Costa Rica was #1, but it's not a place that Sean could visit for IRT since the US doesn't have a large military presence there, so we decided to make this our vacation. Recommended to us by some friends we used this really awesome vacation planning site called Anywhere Costa Rica, to help us make the most of our trip. I highly recommend it, you work one on one with a travel agent and you name your budget and all of the activities you do and do not want to partake in. They're also really committed to sustainable/ecotourism in Costa Rica, which is totally awesome. So, next time you want to plan a fun tropical eco friendly vacation- check 'em out! 

We flew out of Lima on Sunday morning and arrived in San Jose, the capital, in the late afternoon. Not much is open on Sunday's in South America, so we spent our time walking around La Sabana, which is a massive municipal park and adjacent newly constructed national football (soccer) stadium. 

Punk isn't dead in CR (look closely)

The modern art museum, that I didn't get to go in. 

Sunrise views from our hotel. The football stadium is peeking in on the left.

Monday morning, bright and early, we were picked up by a driver for a four hour trip to La Fortuna the town at the base of Volcan Arenal. 

Gorgeous, green views from our hotel balcony, Volcan Arenal is fogged in to the right.

Not a bad place to spend a couple days, right?

We stayed in La Fortuna for a couple days at a great hotel that had thermal spring fed swimming pools, plus great views of the volcano. When we weren't hiking around the water falls we just floated around relaxing in the pools. 

One of the better views of Arenal. 

Water fall and zip lines (that I did Not do)

We took a horseback riding tour up the part of the mountain to get to the waterfall, and then hiked down to swim underneath the falls. 

Another even clearer view of Volcan Arenal.

My iguana friend in the pool.

After a few short days in La Fortuna we planned to head to Monteverde in the cloud forest. The day started with a quick drive to Laguna de Arenal, and then a quick boat ride across the lake, where we were met by a guide and some horses. We then horseback rode for a couple of hours through the woods until we were picked up by another bus that drove us to our hotel in Monteverde. 

Our boat waiting to take us across the lake.

I was nervous about having to part with my bag for this part of the trip.

Enjoying the boat ride!

Our trusty steeds, waiting patiently to take us on an adventure.

The dirt track we'd follow for the next few hours.

After riding with our kind of crazy guide who would periodically shout "PURA VIDA!" and gallop ahead of our small group, we reached the end of that part of our journey, and we hopped on a bus that drove us another hour and half to our hotel in Monteverde. Miraculously, to me at least, our had baggage somehow made it onto the bus that picked us up on the side of the road. Once in Monteverde, we stayed at this really neat hotel called El Establo, that was built up on a hill. Our room was in the very top most cabin, so we had some pretty spectacular views when it wasn't raining and foggy. 

Looking out across the cloud forest.

After checking in, we had enough time to grad some lunch before we got picked up to go on a coffee plantation tour. 

Traditionally decorated ox cart at the Don Juan Coffee Plantation.

Learning about the process of how coffee goes from berry to Starbucks. 

Getting the full experience of manually crushing the coffee beans to get the skin off. 

Sean hand giving cacao beans and making chocolate for us all.

Green, unripe, coffee berries on the bush.

The tour was really interesting, we learned how coffee starts as a berry and ends up as that delicious brown liquid we all know and love to drink. We also got to learn about the production of chocolate from the cacao bean to bar form. Best part about it was that we got to sample coffee and chocolate!  

Gorgeous sunset views on the coffee plantation

After our brief stay in Monteverde (and honestly, I wish we had been able to spend more time in this area) we hopped on yet another bus that would take us to the Pacific Coast to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. This area was absolutely gorgeous- actually, I think I said that about every place we went to in Costa Rica! We spent the longest amount of our vacation here, which was great, but it was a bit too hot and humid for me, I'm not really a tropical kind of person, I guess. 

View of Playa Manuel Antonio from our balcony.

More iguana friends.

In the morning of our first full day in Manuel Antonio we took a guided wildlife tour in the national park. We saw all kinds of wild life- monkeys, sloths, hawks, deer, lizards. I took tons of really grainy photos, so I only shared a couple of the better quality ones of the sloth we saw and the capuchin monkeys that were being mischievous by the park entrance. The walk was pretty short, only about a mile and a half or so, but it ended up at this secluded beach. The water was very warm, not particularly refreshing, but still great to take a brief dip in. I preferred the hotel pool, since swimming in that was actually refreshing.

Secluded cove and beach in the park, and coconut water outside the park entrance.

SO CUTE

ALSO CUTE

On our last full day in Manuel Antonio we took a tour of a vanilla plantation in the nearby town of Naranjito. Villa Vanilla is a biodynamic farm that grows mainly vanilla, but also cinnamon, cacao, plus other spices. It was started up by a German man named Henry Karczynski, and he runs his certified organic farm in a manner that he's coined as 'benign neglect.' The tour covered the drying process of the vanilla pods, how cacao is grown and turned into chocolate, and how cinnamon is grown from a tree that's turned into powder. We also got to sample different deserts made from the vanilla, cinnamon, and cacao produced on the farm. 

Cacao and vanilla pods drying in the sun.

This must be what heaven smells like.

Unripe cacao pods on the tree.

That afternoon was spent at the beach and then lounging by the pool at our hotel. The next day we would fly from Quepos back to San Jose, and then back home to Lima. 

Traffic sign near our hotel.

The flight from Quepos to San Jose was exhilarating because we were on a tiny 10 seater local flight. I was a little nervous, but luckily the flight was only 25 minutes long so it didn't seem like we were up in the air for very long at all. 

Looking down the one run way at the local airport in Quepos.

The tiniest of planes!

View of the cockpit- not something most travelers get to see all the time!

Once we were back in San Jose we had a six hour lay over, so we were fortunately able to meet up with my friend Alberto. He picked us up at the airport and took us to an old school cafe called Soda Tapia. It serves delicious traditional Costa Rican food and giant sandwiches, and delicious juices. Alberto said that it's been around since the 1960s, and that his grandparents, who still live around the corner, used to eat there. It was great to be able to catch up with an old friend from college, and learn about life in San Jose from a native Costa Rican. 

Thanks for reading and see you next time!