Welcome to Costa Rica! Frank and I chose to spend 10 sunny days in South America, exploring the country during our honeymoon. As some of my more intimate friends may know, I am a big geek on logging daily journal entries whenever I am abroad but alas, I thought a blog would suffice for this trip. Our flight departing from Newark on March 5th was close to 6 hours; I cannot be sure of the exact time because of the Dramamine Frank doped me up with. Flying is my favorite!
Did you know? Costa Rica is about the size of West Virginia. The dominant language is Spanish and over half the population is Catholic. This country also does not have an army. The population is about 4.25 million, (which according to my tour guide may be closer to 4.5 million with the number of undocumented folks from neighboring Nicaragua). Natives are often referred to as Ticos and their slogan is "Pura Vida" means Pure Life. Sort of like hakuna matata! The best time to visit would be during Dry Season, anywhere from December to April. My tour guide said during this high tourist season is when work is the best, he was on his 40th straight day of work, 12+ hours each day. Yikes. Rainy season is at its highest from August to October. Best fruit to try? Hands down the pineapples. All the fruit is amazing there but pineapples were a complement to my meal every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and poolside drink! The weather was warm but never oppressive and lacked New York's signature summertime humidity. What Corona is for Mexico or Red Stripe is for Jamaica, Imperial is for Costa Rica. Currency is in colones, and highly inflated, but US dollars are accepted everywhere. The coins look like this...
We stayed in the Northwestern part of Costa Rica in two places, Guanacaste and 3 hours away at the rainforest at the foot of the Arenal Volcano. The areas are highlighted in orange below.
Our first 5 nights we stayed at the Riu Palace in Guanacaste, which was built about 3 years ago. A tour guide told us that during construction one of the 6 active volcanos in the country erupted destroying part of the all inclusive resort which made developers scramble to reconstruct. The Riu Palace is situated adjacent to the Riu Guanacaste, which is the older Riu resort. Both are beautiful, but my recommendation? Riu Palace for opulence and romance, Riu Guanacaste for vacationing with friends and partying. Howler monkeys serenaded us every evening and morning around 5pm and 5am. The sound is terrifying and loud. I would have though a dinosaur was coming with the noise they made. This was our view from our 3rd floor honeymoon suite.
During our stay at the Riu we went on a Catamaran/snorkeling Tour where we played with starfish and puffer fish, (complements of our deep diving tour guide). The side of the country we were on was flanked by the Pacific Ocean, so the water is not the crystal clear, white sandy beach type of place but still nothing to turn your nose up at. We watched the sun dip beneath the ocean and saw a mansion on top of a hill that belonged to Mel Gibson. A pod of playful dolphins raced our Catamaran back to shore. One woman saw a stingray jump out of the ocean. Yes, stingrays jump out of the water. Crazy!
Our view from the water coming towards the Riu Palace
After the Catamaran I got water in my ear that destroyed my equilibrium for the rest of the night into the next day. No amount of hopping would release me from the torture so I begrudgingly paid a visit to the resort doctor with Frank. The resort doctor looked all of 18 years of age, (she said she was 25) and concluded that there was wax in my ear blocking the canal. Gross. She used a long water needle and pumped it into my left ear several times until two big gobs of wax fell out. Freaking. Gross. The bill was $145.00 dollars to have water inserted into my ear.
We rode jet skis and took a boat ride to Coco Beach which was about a 15-20 minute ride to a touristy area with shores lined with bars, eateries and quaint, colorful shops. On our way back our curious dolphin friends came to cheerfully guide us back to shore.
Riu Palace offered daily Art opportunities, (canvass fees not included) that I convinced Frank to partake in with me. We created, with very crude paint brushes and no stencils, the following two painting. There's something very calming and soothing about drawing and painting that makes hours pass like mere minutes. My plan is to hang these pictures up in our home for our future children to see what mommy and daddy did in Costa Rica while on our honeymoon. Guess who made which!
Frank and I went on another tour that included horse back riding on some pretty frail looking horses, (natives insisted that the dry season makes food sparse but I still have my doubts) zip lining across the forest canopy from huge tree to tree, bathing in natural hot springs, enjoying a natural steam room created off of volcanic gases, and volcanic mud baths that were considered "cleansing", "exfoliating", and "youth preserving". GIVE. ME. SOME. FOR. THE. PLANE. Here is a picture of me with Heaven's mud.
If you look carefully you can see me zip lining through the trees!
One of the hanging bridges we traversed.
Soon we packed up our bags and said goodbye to Guanacaste as we were entering the second leg of our trip to stay in the rainforest three hours away at the Tabacon Grand Spa. We drove over the continental divide which separated the plush, green side of the country from the arid, brownish side. Literally on our right was all green rolling pastures and sharp hill divides and on the left was the same landscape only sparser and browner. The wind whipped your face as cold and hot air currents collided creating dense fog and mist at such high altitudes.
The Tabacon Grand Spa was a resort similar to what you would see on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". Not all inclusive, you can burn through a pretty penny staying here. You can find Tabacon in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest near the base of the Arenal Volcano, which had last erupted in 2010. What makes the resort so significant is that it boasts natural thermal mineral springs that flow directly from volcanic activity.
Arenal erupted on July 29th, 1968 officially killing 68 people, however locals put the true number much higher at around 250. Since active lava and pyroclastic flows have ceased since 2010, only gas emissions can be seen emanating from the top of Arenal.
I wanted to go on the famous cave tour however I was immediately deterred once I learned that bats would share the same space as us during our visit.
It got dark around 6:15pm every night, which surprised me. You could see the bats swooping in and out of the sky, much too close for my liking. One amazing ecological rainforest tour we went on included hanging bridges and a waterfall. We trekked through a nature trail and were lucky enough to spot a Toucan, (which Frank thought was a mythical creature!) wild boars, spider and howler monkeys, and even a type of leopard called a Margay, (which thankfully slept soundly in a tree not 15 feet from where we walked).
This is a picture of what our tour guide so appropriately called, "a walking palm".
Next, Oscar, our tour guide pointed out the industrious little Leaf Cutter Ants. The soldier ants are slightly bigger than the big black ants we have here in the US, only these ants have large pinchers. They carry bits and pieces of leafs and wood back to the colony to create compost. Fungus grows off the compost which is the food the ants eat. The queen of the colony lays an egg every 80 seconds and can live up to 15 years! What was even more fascinating was the way in which indigenous people used these ants. When someone had a deep wound that required what we would consider stitches, they would place a Leaf Cutter Ant on the wound so it would pinch the wound shut. Then they would twist off the bodies, leaving the head with the pinchers in place. They did this with dozens of ants to create stitches and would hold for weeks at a time. Oscar sacrificed himself to show us a demo....
Even more amazing was the strength of these little critters. This is Oscar holding a Cutter Ant upside down while it pinched a giant dead leaf. Amazing!!!
The natural waterfall was much more chilly than the hot springs at the resort.
I saw some of the largest and most beautiful trees and plants in my life. Words and pictures cannot do my awe for them justice. I swung from vines like Tarzan, drank the best coffee and watched the clearest stars dance across a cool breeze night. We went ATV'ing, which destroyed my back and resulted in a chiropractor visit as soon as I got back home. We drove through craters created by tremendous boulders that were forcefully spewed out of the mouth of Arenal and saw water purification systems that the local town La Fortuna used, (the tap water is safe to drink in the country). The country also has the best surfing in the world, or so claims the millionaire retiree we sat beside on the plane. I wanted to see baby sea turtles hatching and making their way to the ocean, but the season for that is Oct-December, and unfortunately meant for another vacation.
It is noteworthy to mention the tragic mystery behind the Malaysian plane that disappeared in flight during our honeymoon. My fear of flying was naturally heightened on the flight home.
The best part of the trip for me was sharing this wonderful experience with my husband, as he handled all booking reservations, travel accommodations, and swimmer's ear aches. Whether it was seeing how handsome he was in the water or how adorably inept he was at painting Toucans, being with him made the experience all the more memorable. After all, how could you resist a face like this?!
I have to say though, other than the sight of my family, this was the second best sight for sore eyes...
Pura Vida!
