Costa Rican Paradise!!!

Costa Rica was amazing! We had a blast! Here is an overview of what we did.

Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2:

We flew out Thursday night and after a brief layover in Denver, we arrived at 5:30 am on Friday. We then took a shuttle to the coastal town of Puerto Viejo. Puerto Viejo is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It is a small town full of surfers and locals, with a laid back reggae atmosphere. We immediately fell in love with the beach. The jungle meets the beach, with amazing foliage and wildlife. The water was clear and beautiful. As we played in the waves, schools of small fish swam around between our legs. We spent hours playing in the waves and enjoying the beach.

Saturday, May 3:

On Saturday, we headed to the rainforest for a canopy tour. The tour consisted on 14-16 zip lines high above the tree tops of the forest. I was more than a little nervous (my legs were shaking after the first zip line) and I had a small crash into a tree, but it was still a lot of fun! Daniel loved it. The zip lines were crazy, often you couldn't even see the landing you were heading toward. After the canopy tour, we headed to the beach again to play in the water. That night, after dinner, we stopped at our hotels restaurant for the yummiest caramel, chocolate crepe with ice cream! MMM!

Sunday, May 4:

We spent most of Sunday on the beach. We played at the beach across from our hotel, and then decided to go south and explore a little. We ended up walking 6 km to Punta Uva. We didn't mean to go that far. We had heard about a place to eat on the beach in Punta Uva, and after we had walked for awhile, we got hungry. We asked someone how much farther to Punta Uva and 3 km. We figured we would just walk the rest of the way. Shortly after we started again, we started getting tired, sunburned and blistered (sand and wet flip flop are not a good combination for a long walk on the beach). We tried to find a place to stop, but there really wasn't anything, so we walked the whole way. The food was good at the beach side restaurant, but probably not worth the walk. The coastline was amazing and it was fun to walk hand in hand down the beach. Often, we couldn't see anyone else, and it seemed like we were the only ones in the tropical paradise. After lunch, we took a taxi back and relaxed the rest of the afternoon in our bungalow, sitting in the hammock.

Monday, May 5:

Today Daniel and I went snorkeling for the first time. It was amazing!! We went off the coast of Cahuita National Park (it is a like a reserve). We snorkeled two different reefs and we both had a lot of fun. After snorkeling we went on a hike through the park and got to see howler monkeys, two and three toed sloths, leaf carrier ants, termites nests, lots of birds, and lizards. The trail followed the coastline and everyonce in awhile the tree would break and you would get a breathtaking view of the beach and ocean.

You probably can't tell, but there is a sloth in that tree.

Tuesday, May 6: Our last day in Puerto Viejo

Tuesday morning we spent at the beach again. We played in the water and then headed north to explore the northern point of the beach, where the waves broke against the rocks. It was so gorgeous and it is so calming to watch the waves. In the afternoon, we rode bikes into town and ate lunch. After lunch, we walked around town, stopping at the street vendors and buying some souvenirs. It was a lot of fun to walk through town and explore a little more.

Wednesday, May 7:

Today started early (6:05) when we were picked up to go river rafting. We went to the Rio Pacaure, where we had breakfast at the Exploration Center. After breakfast, we were divided into groups, given some safety instruction and headed to the river. The landscape around the river was beautiful. We past jungle, narrow canyons, and waterfalls. The rafting trip was 18 miles long with 36 rapids. We had a yummy lunch on the river (they turn over one of the boats and put a tablecloth on it) before finishing the last third of the river. They stopped a couple of times to let us swim in the water. Our guide was very knowledgable and we got to learn a lot about Costa Rica and the river. On the river we saw a King Vulture (very rare), a couple of igaunas, and a water snake, along with some fish. The trip was so fun, but by then end we were both very tired.

Thursday, May 8:

We went to the Poas Volcano today. Unfortunately, after the stops that the tour took on the way up the mountain, by the time we reached the top, the clouds had settled in. We weren't able to see the crater. It was kind of cool to walk in the clouds though.

After the volcano, we headed to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This was a really cool place. They had an aviary, butterfly garden, snake and frog exhibits, and a hummingbird garden, along with some amazing waterfalls. There is a hike that takes you to 4-5 waterfalls. The hikes consists of over 1000 steps! But it was worth it! The waterfalls were amazing! We had a lot of fun and the whole garden was very well done. We would highly recommend it!

That night we asked our hotel clerk where we could go for some traditional Costa Rican food. He recommended Nuestra Tierra, and it was delicious!!

Friday, May 9:

Today we spent exploring San Jose. We took our time heading out and walked around the city. We went to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) and the Museo del Jade. San Jose has a bunch of cow sculpture and it was fun to see them all of the city. We also had a lot of fun at the Mercado Artensal (outdoor area with a bunch of vendors). We got some neat souvenirs and had fun walking around seeing all the sites. We had lunch at McDonald's, which was kind of nice. In the city with also saw a bunch of parks, on old jail, and a pretty cathedral. I really enjoyed seeing the city and walking around with all the people. After our walk around the town, with had dinner at a yummy place called Lukas, and then headed back to our hotel to pack for home. :(

Saturday, May 10:

This was our earliest day on our trip. We had to be to the airport by 4:30 am and planned to get up at 3:30 to finish packing everything up. We could have handled that, but neither of us slept very well. I woke up at two and couldn't go back to sleep.
After a little panic at the airport (I left our passports in the cab. We called our hotel, which talked to the taxi, and after about 40 minutes of panic and distress, we got everything back) we were on our way home. We had a layover in Denver again, and it was nice to be back in the states.



We had some much fun in Costa Rica. We were able to relax and leave our daily cares behind us. I'm not sure when we will be able to go on a trip like this again, but we will have to remember to take a little time to relax, enjoy nature and have fun!

Surveyor truck in Puerto Viejo

Random sign on the clinic in Puerto Viejo