Costa Rica
After many years of dreaming and saving, things finally came together for a trip down to Costa Rica. Aiming for the beginning of the dry season, Alexis and I set off for a week in a location that is 10 degrees above the equator.
We each flew into Dallas and meet at the International gate for Liberia. While killing time, Alexis found a free photo booth and then proceeded to get lost in a glass maze within the airport. The flight to Costa Rica was relatively calm. We flew over the Gulf of Mexico and saw the coast line before disappearing back into the clouds. With nothing fun to look at, I ended up watching the terrible in-flight romantic comedy.
We landed in Liberia and saw lots of Brahma Bulls eating grass next to the runway. Leaving the plane we were shuffled to the customs and border patrol of Costa Rica. The airline forgot to give us immigration forms so there was lots of confusion trying to get our passport stamped. Getting through immigration, we threw our luggage through a simple x-ray scanner. Leaving the shack, we were greeted by tons of drivers picking up tourists. This was the 1st time I have ever had my name printed on a sheet paper to flag me down.
We were staying at the Allegro Papagayo which was relatively close to the airport (30 mins drive). We were greeted at the resort with papaya juice and blue hotel bracelets (which later would turn out to be awkward). We got in on Saturday and found out that on the weekend all the locals come to the resort to cut loose. We were thrown into the Spanish language immediately. I had to try to drum up all my years of Spanish experience which were never previously used.
We were immediately provided some excellent “tropical” entertainment. Words cannot describe our 1st impression. The video will speak for itself.
Sunday we explored the area a bit, while the tropical depression descended onto the Westside of the country. We explored the beach a amid heavy rains, and eventually made our way to the Papagayo marina. We made our way back and I participate in a game of “Costa Rica” pool. Later at night we were treated to more entertainment by the fun club. When the locals are in town all most everything is explained in Spanish, so as events were unfolding before us we had no clue what was happening. Apparently we were watching a Mr. Papagayo contest.
- It starts off with 3 women, competing to get the most shirts. They ran around the room stealing shirts from all the men (I was one of them).
- Next all the men without shirts, now had to go on stage and perform a sexy strut and dance for the woman that won.
- She then picked the winner (thankfully not me) and they chugged beer to narrow it down to 2.
- Those 2 then had to form the longest conga line to win.
Next day we hung around the resort some more (it rained non-stop all day long) and walked up on down the blacksand beach. We explored the palm tree groves and river and found a dead giant sea turtle and dead puffer fish. We made our way back; I swam and drank lots of free booze at the pool. Later that night we had a fancy dinner (Italian with Costa Rica flare) and saw many raccoons scavenging through the resort.
Tuesday, we finally got to go on some adventures. We went to a place called Buena Vista to do some zip laining, water slides, nd volcanic mud bath. Again the rain continued, but provided for some very interesting zip lining. The metal cables were nice and slick and the leather gloves they gave us to brake didn’t work so well. We zipped from 10 different trees. After the zipping, we went down the longest water slide in Costa Rica. They diverted a stream and it shot you down a concrete tube that is around 1400feet long. I went twice and Alexis went once. All the girls had to wear special leather diapers. The 2nd time I went, I asked for”MAS RAPIDO” and almost flew out of the slide. Then we had some delicious sea bass soup and fillet for lunch. Afterwards, we hopped on a tractor ride to the hot springs and mud. We couldn’t take the horses because it was too muddy. The mud was extremely hot, and not very muddy. It was a great exfoliant, but the comfort was short live because we then washed off with the mountain stream. Ending the day, we had the chance to swim in 5 large different temperature pools beside the stream.
The next day, we went to a different beach, however getting there was a bit different. We were giving wrong instructions for the shuttle which left from the beach in a boat. Instead we waited at the normal shuttle stop. We then had to walk up the road to catch a random jitney shuttle to the beach. We made it there after some interesting road, and had the beach almost entirely to ourselves (except for an old Spanish couple and a coati.) I took lot of pictures of native hermit crabs, coati, and climbed a tree to hang out with some Mohawk birds. We also met a local fisherman “Captain Al, who was giving people tours. He show me some tuna which they just caught out in the bay, and gave me some fresh oysters which they just caught.
Thursday we took another tour to the Arenal Volcano. We took a large tour bus to the lake and volcano which was about 3 hrs. away. In Costa Rica, they love to take large vehicles on windy and rocky roads. From the bus,we took a boat ride across Arenal Lake (only & largest lake in Costa Rica) seeing lots of birds on the ride. Next we took a walking tour of the rainforest right below the volcano. Everything was lush and green, and we were lucky enough to have a break in the clouds and see the volcano. During our walk we saw lots of flowers and plants, but no monkeys. We did spot a native wild turkey (crested guar) and lots of mosquitos. After that they took us to some “hot springs” (I still don’t think they were that real) but they had a nice setting. Then it was dinner time at a nearby hotel with some killer views of the volcano but the clouds rolled in quickly. Then there was the long windy dark ride back to the Allegro.
Friday, we rented a car from the hotel and took off for Tamarindo Beach, a great suggestion by Alexis. This was a beach town that we made famous in the movie “endless summer.” We parked the car gave a Julian the “car watcher” a couple bucks, while we would walk around. I took a surf lesson from a local and was able to stand up and catch some waves, even while a large storm rolled in. We then ate lunch at Walter’s with a friendly cat that patrolled the floor (Oh another thing to note, dogs in Costa Rica love to lie around in the front of driveways). We then drove to Playa Flamingo and played on the beach there. From here we tried to take a back road to the hotel but ended up on a pretty flooded and pot holey road. Check the video.
The last day we packed up and made our way to the airport in Liberia. We made our way through the exit process and stumbled upon a GIANT grasshopper and review the places we visited. From here, Alexis flew to Miami and me to Dallas, thus completing the Costa Rica Trip.
Things that summarized Costa Rica on this Trip
- Dry season does not mean dry
- Dogs love to lie on the road
- Lots of people biking and walking on the street, with the fast speed limit of 40mph
- Roads are bad
- Bridges normally mean stream crossing
- Pineapple is delicious
- They love weedwackers
- Volcanos are cloudy
- Lots of fish to eat
- Warm water
- Cats love to be in restaurants
- Raccoons travel in large packs
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