Pura Vida - June 2007

Our "big" trip for the year was a ten day visit "'cross the Gulf of Mexico to a land with no soldiers", i.e. Costa Rica. It is a country that lives and breathes its Pura Vida slogan, and rewards its visitors with beautiful vistas, beaches, and ecological wonders.

People often ask how we choose the places we visit. Costa Rica was chosen because we couldn't bring ourselves to truly take two days of our vacation to travel, therefore we had to choose a closer destination. Chief's parents, Aunt Colleen, and cousins Sarah and Eric had visited previously and gave it high marks, so we thought we'd give it a try. It was also a great place to dust off our previously strong Spanish speaking skills (although Snicks tried to speak the most Spanish and Chief was happy to be along for the ride). It was also the "green", or rainy, season in Costa Rica, so the prices were reasonable. We were also pleased to discover that the true "green" season doesn't start until later in the summer, so we only had two days of rain in our ten days of vacation.

Day 1 - May 31: Traveling and the Capital City of San Jose

We had read that San Jose was unspectacular... and arrived in the Capital City to find little that was amazing. There were few historic buildings and lots of "modern" structures. It was very different than other Latin America capitals that Snicks and I had visited in the past. We did find the people watching amusing (I actually felt tall) and were able to find a nifty place to enjoy a bebida or two. We had read that the city wasn't the safest after dark, so we opted for room service (although our eyes were bigger than our stomachs) and an early retirement (the sun sets at about 6:00 there all year 'round).

Day 2 - June 1: San Jose and Arriving in Quepos

Well, despite being underwhelmed by San Jose, we decided to do a bit of exploring before our afternoon flight to Quepos. After scouring our travel books, we found one museum that was within walking distance that caught our attention. The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica was perched on a hill and was a former army barracks. We did our best to avoid being trampled by numerous school tour groups and enjoyed amazing pre-Columbian gold art, huge spheres, and a butterfly garden.

The Museo did have an excellent view of the city...

And we found a spot to perch our camera to take a rare picture of both of us:

After our jaunt around the city, we made our way to the Tobias Bolanos airport in Pavas. The airport serves as a regional airport so we weren't surprised by the size. Snicks, however, was surprised by the size of our plane!

We counted eighteen seats, not including the two seats for the pilots (whom we could see for the entire flight). I was thrilled to be so close to the action - and the views were breathtaking! We were very excited to arrive at our home away from home for the next five nights - La Mariposa. We chose it out of the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die book, and had splurged to get a great view. We were NOT underwhelmed. The hotel and restaurant were absolutely perfect. The view from our balcony was... well, words can't describe it:

Days 3 thru 5 - June 2nd thru 4th: Adventures on the Central Costa

We had planned our trip so that we would have an adventurous 1st half and then a relaxing 2nd half. Like most things in life, it didn't go exactly as planned, but we enjoyed every minute. Our first day at Manuel Antonio (the area, as well as a popular national park) we headed north to enjoy a mangrove tour. The tour had a few highlights, such as spotting our first capuchin monkeys:

Our crazy tour guide petting an undomesticated crocodile:

And spotting a "Jesus Christ" or basalisk lizard that can actually run on the water:
Although the fauna was delightful, we were not impressed by portions of the trip, such as the navigator slamming the boat into the mangroves to get the attention of the monkeys, the guide using bananas to lure the monkeys to the boat, and the fact that the tour was primarily in a canal, not the mangroves.

Our second day at Manuel Antonio was much more rewarding! We took a short ride to the Manuel Antonio National Park and began our adventure through the rain forest. Snicks was impressed by how dense the forest was, even as it met the water. He said that in his research in Brazil there was still a gap between the trees and the water... I guess that God did things a little differently in Costa Rica. Our first order of business was to pick a trail. We chose the Punta Catedral trail because we had read about the amazing views at the top. The trek was arduous, it was hot, extremely humid, and the trail was narrow and hilly. The reward, however, made it all worthwhile: We then journeyed to a beach that, at high-tide, was unaccessible. It was a bit risky, but we knew that we had an hour or two to enjoy the beach. It truly was paradise. It was secluded (you had to slide down the path to get there... and climb out using ropes), pristine (think the movie The Beach), and thrilling (we had to wade through water, over rocks, and keep our eyes on the tide). We managed to leave the beach before high tide, but it was definitely more tricky to leave than it was to get there. We were also pleased to capture glimpses of more fauna, including a huge iguana, a howler monkey, and a three-toed sloth on our way out of the park.

That evening the skies opened up for a while and we were able to enjoy a beautiful double rainbow (hard to see in the photos) from our balcony: Our third day of adventure ended up being a great day for relaxation. We had noticed on our trip to the national park that the public beach outside of the park was a great place to rent a two chairs, an umbrella, and a table... and just enjoy the day. Snicks wanted to play in the waves and I was looking forward to reading more of The Mommy Myth, which was decidedly not a beach book.

Days 6 thru 9 - June 5th thru 8th: Relaxation?

We said goodbye to La Mariposa (which we highly recommend - the hotel, that is, not saying goodbye to it) and were still enamored by the view.

We took a short flight to San Jose and then waited to catch our flight to Tamarindo in Guanacaste (northern Pacific coast). We don't have any photos from the flight because we spent the majority of the 40-minute flight with our eyes closed. Note for the future: do not take an afternoon flight in Costa Rica during the rainy season... you will encounter harrowing thunderstorms in a very little plane.

Our hotel (Flamingo) was supposed to be a haven for relaxation... however it was undergoing major renovation (including the main pool area) and was a construction site from 6:00 in the morning to about 10:00 at night; only one restaurant was open for limited hours; and the service was not very helpful. Within moments Chief realized that she didn't want to spend a minute more than necessary at the hotel, so we sought out tours to take. Of course, the tour desk closed early that day with no explanation, so we had to wait until the next day to book our tour. That meant that we were trapped for a day at the "resort". After finally falling asleep and attempting to stay asleep amongst the multitude of noises, we awoke to a new day.

We decided to try out the beach at the resort - and were pleasantly surprised. What had looked like a garbage dump the day before was much more attractive during low tide and an apparent sweeping of the beach. The resort provided service to us at the beach, so we were able to enjoy a few drinks and a relaxing lunch under a shade tree. Snicks was able to do some more bodysurfing (playing in the waves) and Chief continued to plug through her book. We decided to adventure out for dinner and discovered a magificent restaurant perched ontop of a hill. Mar y Sol is a newer restaurant that served amazing food in a great atmosphere. Snicks enjoyed fresh-caught grouper and Chief had an amazing salad. We also enjoyed caiparinhas, but Costa Rican style. Tasty!

After another restless night we rose early to take a tour to Nicaragua. We joined a TAM tour and had an amazing day exploring the Masaya Market, Lago Nicaragua, and time in Granada (a UNESCO world heritage site). Our guide was amazing... and impressed us within the first 15 minutes by pointing out a rare, giant stork in a field:

The Masaya market was interesting because it is still housed in a colonial building:

We then explored the islitas in Lago Nicaragua, which is one of the 20 largest lakes in the world.

The city of Grenada was by far the most amazing part of the trip, however. It was the feast of Corpus Christi and we were able to observe a procession.

Granada is known for it brightly-painted buildings and beautiful carved doors. It is also full of historic churches, the oldest of which was built in the 1500s. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride which was a great way to get a quick glimpse of the town.

The following day our second tour took us to Volcan Arenal, Tabacon Hot Springs, and a rainforest excursion. We were disappointed not to have the same amazing tour guide, but had a very enjoyable experience, nonetheless. We were the only couple (out of 6) that was not on our honeymoon. This was quickly determined by the guide because Snicks sat across the aisle from Chief on the bus. It was fun to hang out with other young couples and hear about their adventures.

The first stop was the rainforest tour - it was interesting, but the guide was definitely not a botanist. Chief was able to engage in her favorite activity, shopping, while on the walking tour. We stopped at a hut that was representative of the native dwellings in the area. Chief bought a very cool painted gourd, which she is quite proud of:

We then headed to an overlook of Lago Arenal, which is a humanmade lake at the base of Volcan Arenal. Then, it was off to a tasty lunch and a relaxing few hours at the hot springs. Sorry, no photos at the hot springs - we were too busy getting wet! The hot springs are naturally heated, but non-sulfuric because the water just passes over a lava tube, it does not come in contact with the magma. We were able to capture great views of the top of Volcan Arenal, which is rare in the rainy season:

Our guide was kind enough to wait for the night to settle in, thereby giving us a few precious glimpses of red, hot rocks rolling down the side of the volcano. Unfortunately, we were unable to capture them by camera... but it was definitely a site to behold.

Day 10 - June 9th: Adios!

We said a thankful goodbye to the Flamingo "resort" and headed to what could have been the world's smallest airport.

There, we boarded another little plane for a 15 minute flight to Liberia (the city, not the country):

From Liberia we boarded a plane back to the U.S.... what a great vacation!