I’m usually a linear person when it comes to retelling our adventures but I realize I’m out of sync and that’s no reason not to regale my “audience” with our tales from time prior to the adventure in New Hampshire (Mooseman).
Some may be aware that we received a most generous wedding present of 5 days and 4 nights in a very luxurious resort location of our choosing (we limited choices based on travel time). We selected Costa Rica for several reasons (1) we’d never been, (2) there was loads of availability in booking the accommodations and (3) it wasn’t outrageous in time or money to get there.
We invited a few other couples to join us so we’d have some company on our adventure and it seemed silly to have a 4 br house all to ourselves. In addition, we needed witnesses in order to back up our story of the amazing place and amenities we had while there. No one would have believed us otherwise.
I think this was the most photographed spot while we were there
We were staying in a province in the Northern Pacific, Guanacaste, which had been described as the dry portion of Costa Rica. We were going at the start of the rainy season which had also been described as having a daily thunderstorm (short lived) around 4 or 5 p.m. and then clear the rest of the time.
I did my usual research and never having traveled within Central or South America, I had no idea what to expect. Our trip came with a concierge who was very attentive and wanted to do whatever we needed done but not having any idea what there was to do, we were less than helpful in that arena. I knew we had little time to explore (3 days) so we had to make the best of it. There were canopy tours, snorkeling, golf (blech), surfing lessons, volcanoes, state parks, etc. There was more to do than we could cram into the time we had so we had to choose wisely. For the sake of logistical effort, we decided to stick close to home the first day (our arrival) and explore the area we’d be in for a few days.
Day 1
Arrive at Liberia Airport in Guanacaste Costa Rica. J and I did all carry on to avoid waiting for luggage and all that nonsense. Luckily, Kim was kind enough to carry our much needed and much used sunscreen. Thanks Kimmie. We got through Customs without any problem, got the courtesy shuttle to the rental car, I had a stressful moment when I totally forgot where I’d put my passport (in a tidy pocket that I never use) and then we were on our way; thanks to my back seat driving, in the wrong direction at first.
We arrived, were met at the luxurious house by Mario, our concierge, and given a tour of the house. Enormous kitchen, living room, Jr Master suite with a balcony and outdoor shower, and an amazing patio and out door kitchen, with a view we’d come to love and cherish. There were 3 more bedrooms downstairs, all with balconies and out door showers (I liked that…). We selected our rooms, changed into something a bit more comfortable and went down to the central club house for lunch and to check out the beach. All beaches in Costa Rica are public which is pretty cool for just being able to hop about on different spots of sand. The water was crystal clear and oh so warm. It was heaven. After lunch we retired to the house and the pool. We’d bought a ridiculous amount of liquor at the duty free shop in Atlanta so we were on a mission to consume as much as possible. We’d also submitted a grocery order (can’t even tell you how tough it is to shop remotely) and had amazing bananas, mangoes, sea bass, limes, and more than 3 dozen eggs, amongst other items. We also had about a case of local beer, Imperial, which we did our best to polish off in 4 days.
As Mario was giving us the tour, he mentioned that the beach club that was likely to be one of the most upscale and exclusive would be closed on Sunday and Monday, so we decided to hang out there on our first full day so we wouldn’t miss out. It was an excellent choice.
For a look at our whole trip, here’s the link to our Picasa album:
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| Costa Rica |
Day 2
I woke up at 6:30 nearly every day and our first morning there, we awoke to monkey calls, bright and early. I got up, made coffee [yummy tasty Costa Rican coffee] chilled out on the deck and waited for others to rouse. We had no time table, no agenda, no place to be at any given time. It was amazing.
Julie whipped up some very yummy Huevos Rancheros and we then all got our stuff together to head off to the Playa Prieta beach club. Most vehicles on the resort are electric so we had our very own 6 seater golf cart…perfect. We caught the shuttle from our little area of the peninsula to the beach club and were greeted by an army of staff [its the low season for tourism] and they rushed off and got towels and chair covers for all of us. For the rest of our time there, we were waited on, floated in the amazing water, swam in the 25 meter lap pool, and generally soaked up the atmosphere. It was heaven. [I think I've mentioned that before]. We finally wrapped up our lazy adventure of the day just as the daily thunderstorm was rolling in. Heading back to the house, the downpour was torrential but hey, we got dropped of right at the house and someone would bring our golf cart back to us…of course.
Dinner that night was the sea bass encrusted in cumin with some lime juice and grilled to perfection. We had green rice and black beans and fried plantains to accompany and everyone was happy.
Day 3
We’d decided to charter a small boat and go snorkeling the next day. For about $50 per person, it seemed like a good deal. I’d never been snorkeling before but was pretty excited to go. After a tasty breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese burritos, it was time to roll out. We met our boat on Playa Blanca and on our way down to the beach, I slipped and landed on a sharp rock that split my skirt from hem to waist…nice extra air conditioning. Oh well, we would be in the water most of the day so I didn’t really need bottoms. Our boat arrived with our guide, her son and a driver. After polite introductions and heavy application of sunscreen, we were off. In about 20 minutes, we arrived at the edge of a reef, everyone donned their gear and off we went. It was so peaceful and memorizing. Very cool fish to watch, I tried to keep away from the rocks as much as possible and just go with the flow. After floating around for some time (I had no concept of time) we moved to another spot and floated around more. I saw a smallish brown octopus there as well as several eels and a bunch of other fish I couldn’t even begin to name. There may have been some puffer fish but I have a hard time telling them apart when they’re flat. J had to come get me since everyone else was in the boat except for me…I was having fun!
We then went to a small beach where there was a rock cave and we took photos there [see the album...they're my least favorite pics but they are what they are]. We then asked about Playas del Coco and our guide offered to take us there for lunch. Off we went again by boat, and arrived at a small beach town, where I immediately purchased a sun dress to cover my “mucho grande nalgas”. To my surprise, the dress was priced in $US and was made in Costa Rica, not China. See, some countries still have domestic industry…and sell to a home market (sorry, brief trade interjection from my inner business nerd).
We poked around at a few touristy shops, and then went to have lunch at a rather upscale (in my book) spot. I’d have been happy with a few shrimp tacos and a beer in a bodega but we were American tourists who’d been picked up on the beach of a very exclusive and expensive resort so the assumption was that we were loaded…if they only knew. Lunch was tasty and we headed back to our home spot before the daily rain kicked in. During our adventure, our guide busted out some very yummy watermelon and pineapple that had such amazing flavor. Her parents worked on a farm and had access to some very fresh fruit. Oh the cash crop export market for tropical fruit…yum.
Dinner that night was grilled steak, unusual potatoes, asparagus and dessert of fried plantains with spiced rum.
Day 4
This was our caonpy tour adventure day and potentially a trip to the beach for a surf lesson. We had booked our reservations to take the tour via our very helpful concierge Mario. We’d passed the place on our way from the airport and it was less than 1/2 hr away but Mario wanted to call in the morning to be sure we had directions. We left before he called but found our way just fine, and got there early. We got all geared up, and met our guide Louis who gave us all the rules: hold one hand behind you to break, the other hand should be on the gear that attaches you to the line, cross your legs, lean back, and most of all, have fun. I think I got it. We headed out, one at a time, zipping along the wire from one platform to another. There were two guides, one ahead, one behind, and the lead guy would go from platform to platform upside down, in all sort of crazy ways–we weren’t allowed to do that but it looked like fun. All in all it was a great time. Louis even recounted stories of celebrities he’d guided–Brangelina, Bill Gates, Andre Agassi, Denise Richards (who he said had a filthy mouth). Fun times.
It was over all too soon but we all had fun and took a few moments to relax in the bar attached to the tour place. That’s where we met one of the many U.S. expats who have retired to Costa Rica (very comfortably, I might add). He was an architect in PA (near where Kim grew up) and helped to build many of the resorts in the area. He had bunches of crazy stories, like driving a Cadillac Escalade limo down from Florida. While were were sitting at the bar, the woman who worked the tour place called out “phone call for Mr. Murray” and J and I looked at each other like “I don’t know who that could be, you answer it” but since my name isn’t Mr. Murray, I won. It was Mario. He called to make sure we had a good time. It actually was a good thing he tracked us down because we’d planned to go explore one of the nearby national parks. Little did we know that they’re closed on Mondays. Thanks Mario!
Instead, we headed to Tamarindo to check out another beach town and have lunch. The worst part of driving there was trying to stay within the speed limit, which I think was a maximum of 100 kph (which roughly translates to 50 mph). J has a tough time staying within U.S. speed limits, and with this being much much slower than here, it was nearly impossible. But we’d been warned that as tourists, we could be pulled over (and fleeced) for speeding. We were trying to be good guests, and stay out of trouble. The trip took longer than expected but we made it, managed to find a nice outdoor lunch spot on the beach and have yet another fantastic meal. We wandered down the main drag collecting trinkets and checking out the local “color”. Tamarindo is also a very touristy location but not the posh upscale spot where we were staying. Not too shabby though. If I’d had any energy whatsoever, and brought my bathing suit, I might have taken a surf lesson but I was pooped. We walked along the beach on the way back and again admired the amazing scenery.
The drive back was through the usual thunderstorm and we got back in time for it to clear out. Back into the pool, beer in hand, view burning into our brains. At one point, Kim started making monkey noises while floating in the pool…and Dave thought he heard real monkeys…funny. Although Kim’s response to the howler monkeys drew them down towards our house and pool…they wound up being about 25 ft away and there were at least 8 hanging around. They were fun to watch. They were checking us out as we were observing them.
Our last dinner in Costa Rica was back at the beach club in our “hood”. Great meal, and we were the only diners there.
Day 5
Our last day and we had to leave the house around 10 to get to the airport, return the car and get through customs. Dave, J and I went down to the beach for one last soak in the amazing Pacific Ocean before we took off for good. It was glorious. Floating around in just below bath water temp crystal clear water, protected from huge waves, it was like our very own lap pool. We finally headed back around 9:30 a.m. and stopped by to print out our boarding passes, forgetting that we needed our passport numbers. Luckily we had Mario, who had all the info we needed. Boarding passes in hand, we headed back to the house to prepare for our sad departure.
We settled up our accounts, got the car packed up ready to go, and said good bye to our house, the amazing staff, and the gorgeous grounds as we went off to the airport. J and I dropped off the crew and then we went to get gas and return the car. Our one venture into Liberia was uneventful and we happened upon the one and only traffic signal we’d seen on the entire trip. Gas was relatively cheap and J got rid of some of the Colones he’d gotten in preparation for the trip…even though almost every transaction we had was in $US. We made it back in plenty of time to board our flight and as we were checking in, the desk clerk asked if we’d be willing to volunteer to give up our seats…I considered it. They would give us each $600 in flight vouchers, transport to San Jose, hotel and food, and a flight out the next day. Sounded good to me. J on the other hand was hesitant and balked at missing more work. So we didn’t stay one more night…oh well. Maybe next time.
Flight back was uneventful, landed in Atlanta, breezed through customs, and waited to board our flight to BWI. The mass of humanity was pretty overwhelming since we’d been rather isolated from mass humity the whole trip. Jolt back to reality. Our plane in Atlanta was delayed so we arrived pretty late into BWI. I think we finally made it home by 1:30 a.m. or so, low on gas, and exhausted. And so ended our adventure to Costa Rica. Not long enough, fun while it lasted and maybe we’ll go back sometime.
