Travel

I needed a break for spring after a hellacious couple years. Costa Rica has always been on my bucket list.

I almost decided to go on an easier to plan trip to Cabo San Lucas. Then, at last minute, I decided that I’d been to Mexico many times in the past few years and needed to go somewhere different. Costa Rica did me good. Travel is my therapy. Overall, I enjoyed some parts of Costa Rica more than others, such as the central volcano area, Arenal. More on that in this post.

I’ve contemplated Costa Rica many times before. But the country always seemed daunting to plan without having several weeks to see it. Looking at a map, the topography of the country just seemed wild and crazy and not easy to do in a week. And, it isn’t. It would take a solid week in the north, and week in the south, just to see a glimpse of it.

I decided to just do the northern Costa Rica area in a week, which seemed less stressful. If there’s one thing I dislike it’s hurried travel, waking up at 6am and going on endless tours every day, coming back exhausted at the end of the night. No, thanks. I’m a slow traveller.

I connected through IAH (Houston) airport on United Airlines. IAH is super nice terminal. It feels like a modern upscale mall. But far too many people. I did get access to United Club on a day pass. I only had 15 mins to enjoy it before catching my flight.

I soon discovered, unlike Mexico, Costa Rica is not cheap. Things cost about the same there as they do in the USA if not more expensive – hotels, food, drinks and excursions. A meal is $15-20 on average. Hotels are $100-300 just like in America. Car rentals and gasoline are expensive, too.

I landed in Liberia and got a car rental from Vamos Car Rental which was expensive for a week $475 paid on my Chase card. There is whacky thing with “mandatory” car insurance which adds another $30-40 per day on car rentals, which is ridiculous. Someone in the Costa Rican government is making tons of money off that exploitation. It essentially doubles the cost of a car rental. Not tourism budget friendly policy.

According to Google maps, the drive from Liberia airport to Arenal in La Fortuna should have taken about 2.5 hours. Instead, it took five (5) hours. The roads in Costa Rica are terrible in certain areas, they shift from regular paved highway, to one lane roads to dirt and gravel in parts. There’s hills and twisty roads everywhere. One of the worst drives I’ve ever done, frankly. It was not a good start to the trip.

Arriving in Fortuna, thankfully, my hotel (Volcano Lodge) was fantastic, with nice view of volcano and relaxing hot spring pools. If felt like a secluded paradise. For $125 or so a night, it was a great deal. The view of Arenal Volcano was spectacular – it’s got an appeal to it. An impressive sight with the clouds wafting overhead.

The next day, I drove into La Fortuna the little town nearby and walked around. Typical Latin American little square town catering to tourists. It’s good for an hour or so walking around checking out the shops.

I went on a guided sloth tour, expecting it to be a disappointment, but I was surprised. It was good. We saw four sloths, lots of unique birds and lizards and poison frogs. It was a two hour walk with an entertaining guide. I had lunch at a local place and headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for swim and hot tub springs.

The next day I went to Mistico Park (Arenal Hanging Bridges Park), which is a giant trail paved in the jungle with hanging bridges across giant valleys. This is the most popular excursion in the area, if not all of Costa Rica. It was good, but after you’ve seen the first jungle area, it kinda all looks the same afterwards. It took a couple hours but I saw all there was to see in first 30 minutes.

Later that day, I had a moment of serendipity discovering The Springs Resort. I decided to go there after nixing my original idea to go to Tabacon Hot Springs, both are considered the better hot springs resorts in the area.

It was like a dream. Upon walking in the doors, I said to myself that I’ve finally discovered my Shangri-La. Just driving into that resort felt magical. It’s a stunning five (5) star resort set in the middle of the jungle. It had great vibes.

Beautiful landscaping, friendly staff and high end design that’s discreet yet luxurious. It’s a ultra luxury resort with a helicopter landing pad – I had the entire resort to myself, very few people. It was shoulder season. The grounds and hot pools were beautiful, landscaped into a jungle setting with a view of Arenal volcano at every turn. Only a very few people around anywhere. I had all the hot springs to myself. Truly amazing. It’s jungle luxury.

It was a great deal for a two (2) day pass for only $125 dollars. Rooms at this place start at $500 per night but the day pass gave me all the amenities of being a hotel guest.

On a tip from a local that night, I had dinner at a place called Trevisa, which was great. I got lucky as it requires reservations but some Germans gave me their table as they were leaving early. God bless the Germans.

Next day, I hiked up Arena Ecological Park to see the lava field. Long difficult upwards hike in the jungle that took two hours – there was a nice view of volcano at the end. The hike down was treacherous. I got lost and took wrong trail, which freaked me out. I finally made it back but was very difficult. Very jungly. It was one of those places where, if I had an accident, I could have disappeared and nobody would have found me. After you’ve seen one square kilmoeter of the jungle, there is like nothing more to see. It’s all the same: wild plants, dirt, big ass tress, lizards, bugs, vines and ants.

Next day, I went back to The Springs Resort for my second day on the pass. I did their Rio River experience, which is the resort hotel’s private area on the river. And, that, was even more impressive – the area had amazing views, with hot springs built into canyon cliffs, which was just amazing. It’s a magical place – totally stunning and one of my favorite areas I’ve ever visited on this earth. I loved The Spring Resort, perhaps the nicest resort I’ve ever visited anywhere in the world. I’d go back again anytime.

I didn’t want to leave – it was perfect. I had sushi in the hotel that night. Sushi in the Costa Rican jungle! I sat next to some fellow Texans and we had a fun time.

I switched to the Hotel Los Lagos for my last night in La Fortuna, which was a great hotel, too.

This area of Costa Rica very much reminded me of Kauai. Jurassic Park is supposedly set in “Costa Rica” but they filmed it in Hawaii despite Costa Rica being more jungly and wild, but perhaps it was too wild for a movie shoot. I don’t know?

I wouldn’t do more than one (1) excursion a day. Some days where I wouldn’t do any excursions. Some things you need a guide, others you don’t if you wanna save money. After checking out of my hotel in La Fortuna, I steadied myself for the long drive to the Pacific Coast. I did the drive back via the twisty road alongside Lake Arenal. It wasn’t as bad as coming. I made pit stop in Liberia at Burger King and spent $14 US dollars for a meal. Like WTF is up with the prices? Yikes. How can locals afford it? That’s like 50% more than US.

I made it to Coco Beach later that day. I was not too impressed. Kinda filthy beach town with sketchy vendors everywhere, half built plywood shacks, stray dogs, though there some nice condos and houses scattered amongst the poverty and trash tossed about out the street. And this is where people want to retire? No, thanks.

The next day, I drove to Playa Flamingo hoping for a better experience. That area is nicer with nice sandy beach and less filth. I had good time with massage on the beach. If I came back, I’d go to Playa Flamingo, though the services were very lacking here. Not many stores at least from what I saw driving through it. It was kind of boring, frankly.

I spent last couple nights in Coco Beach. Had great time at local bar, Taproom, sampling some creative local cocktails with ingredients I’d never heard of before. I then flew out of Liberia back to Austin the next day.

Overall, I’d go back and spend a some time at The Springs Resort anytime. Truly memorable. But the rest of Costa Rica? I’ll pass ever going back. As for living there like an expat in Costa Rica, I just don’t get the appeal. Perhaps twenty years ago, Costa Rica was cheap and it made sense? But with prices now making it just as costly as living in the US, I don’t get it and services and infrastructure lacking. Too many other great options in this world. I think I prefer being in an area with more amenities.

Some people I met were telling me Honduras and Panama were more appealing than Costa Rica these days?