Costa Rica with Friends, New & Old

Feb 14

9 min read

Monteverde

Our first stop was Monteverde. We got to our hostel, settled in, and grabbed dinner together. The next morning around 5am our room was woken up by the loud noises of local howler monkeys ringing in the new day. It was an unexpected wakeup call and quite the shock to us all. However, it was also pretty cool that we were so close to nature.

Some of us opted to go on a bridge walk in the forest where we learned a lot about the different plants and birds in the area. Plus, we got to not just see but climb up the inside of a tree that had been killed by a strangler tree - suuuper cool! We met up for a late lunch at a cute coffee shop in town then wandered the streets until sunset.

La Fortuna

Next up was La Fortuna! We were greeted by lots and lots of rain that continued for almost the entirety of our stay. But that didn’t keep us from exploring the town, having a tasty lunch, buying a few drinks at the grocery store and hanging out by the pool. Oh, and I found a geocache while out and about!

Day two Marcel, Wayne and I (the only cycling enthusiasts in our group) went on a bike ride around the lake. It was by far the raaaaainiest bike ride I have ever experienced! But, we made the best of it and were all glad to get back to the hostel to take a warm shower and change into dry clothes. Afterwards I headed out for some solo exploration and ended up at a cute little brewery for beer and pizza. We rounded off the day with some happy hour drinks, a giant plate of nachos, and some bonding heart-to-heart conversations.

San Jose

Our group trip was coming to an end! Day 4 in Costa Rica was spent heading to San Jose, settling in to the new place, and getting some laundry done. We had some free time to chill before walking to our final group dinner at Costa Rica Beer Works. It was one of the best meals we had in Costa Rica!

On our final day we had people leaving throughout the entire day so goodbyes were aplenty. Some of us who still had some time went to grab a nice brunch, explore town, and ventured into a neat art museum. Then, it was my turn to check out and head to the next hotel where I was going to meet up with Jael - YAY! Once Jael arrived and got settled in we headed back out to the bar area to meet up with Michael, Sam and Wayne for one last time before they all headed back to their countries, and Jael and I continued on our journey.

Tortuguero

After catching some awesome zzzs at the hotel, Jael and I were on our way to Tortuguero! It was another long travel day and we were joined by a big tour group. The bus ride was followed by a short but muddy trudge to the boats. From there we enjoyed the river tour all the way to the hotel and even saw a cayman! After dropping off our bags we went into the little town of Tortuguero. It’s so small, you can walk though it in about 10 minutes. It was interesting to see how it was built up, what kind of shops were there, and what activities were offered. We then decided to walk along the virgin beach back to our hotel. It was such a change of scenery to be on a beach that hasn’t been overrun or developed (yet).

Our next day in Tortuguero included an early morning boat tour through the national park to spot some wildlife. We saw a whole bunch of iguanas, tons of birds (don’t remember the names, sorry), and a beautiful morning sky. The rest of the day was filled with reading, poolside pina coladas, and swimming.

Selva Bananito

After two nights we headed back out and were on our way to a remote rainforest lodge near Bananito Sur. We were picked up in the tiny town and loved the bumpy, scenic ride to the lodge - river crossings included! (Fun fact: when the river is too high/dangerous, tourists have to take a zipline across the river to get to the lodge!)! We were both so amazed when we got to our lodge. This place was just magical! It was probably the most remote place I have ever stayed and had such a peaceful, calm energy. The room came with 2 hammocks on the balcony so, obviously, we sat out there and read our books and enjoyed the jungle noises until dinner time. So amazing!

The next day after breakfast we went on a nature walk through the primary and secondary forests. Again, a super interesting hike with so much information and new things to see and learn! What was absolutely bonkers though, is that there was a family of 3 on the tour with us. We quickly learned that they were Swiss as well. But not just that, they were from Ebikon and know some of the same people! LOL small world!

Day two we signed up for a short horseback ride through the property. We were both a bit nervous, not being horse people at all. But, it turned out to be quite the fun adventure…except for Jael’s horse not wanting to move… like, ever. Poor thing just kept stopping in his tracks just because! Even so, we made it back in one piece and were both surprised at how much we enjoyed it.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our gorgeous jungle hangout. However, that just meant the next leg of our trip was upon us: the car part! That’s right, once we got back into the little town we picked up our rental car that would be with us for the rest of the trip. It was so nice to be independent and to know we could stop whenever and wherever we wanted along the way.

Cahuita

We reached the small town of Cahuita on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica around 3pm. Now, the place we were staying was called “Suizo Loco”, so we assumed it had some connection to a Swiss person. What we weren’t expecting was being greeted by Roger, a full-fledged Zürcher who has been living in Costa Rica for about 30 years. We had a great time shooting the shit with him. Plus, we got a whole cabin to ourselves which was super nice, including a monstrosity of a bed in the main room! We spent the rest of the day exploring the town and discovering this excellent little coffee/dessert truck that ended up becoming a staple stop for us 😀

The next day we spent the entire day at the Cahuita National Park. Our guide was super good and helped us see soooo many monkeys, frogs, birds, owls, snakes, sloths and more! We had a blast playing real-life “I spy”. Once we got to the ocean front, we said goodbye to our guide and continued on our walk along the coast. This was another virgin beach, meaning no trails, no maintenance, just nature. It made for a pretty adventurous walk, and some stunning views! Luckily our fast, Swiss pace we had going was quick enough to get us to the cutoff point in time to continue on. After the cutoff spot we got to the calm area of the beach with people hanging out, enjoying the waves and catching the last rays of the day.

After the ca. 12km trek, we were hungry! So, off to one of Roger’s recommended spots we went and had THE BEST sushi either of us had had in a long time! It was soooo fresh! Add a beautiful view on top and we were in heaven.

Our final stop that day was going to see if we could find some people that Jael knew from way back when, who own a hotel in Cahuita. We pulled up to the place, went to the front desk, and sure enough - Jael’s friend is there working reception! It was so neat hearing them exchange memories from when they were 9 years old, ice skating in Switzerland.

Day three we drove along the coast to check out the different beaches, towns, and sites. We saw black sand beaches, gorgeous beach coves, and cool little surfer towns. After a tasty, late lunch we headed to the main attraction of the day - the Macaw sanctuary! There we learned about the Macaw program that had started in 2010 when the species was almost extinct. Since then they have successfully released 120 Macaws into the forests of Costa Rica. Amazing!

La Fortuna (again)

Next up was the Arenal area. We had two chill days of driving with a quick pitstop in Sarapiqui. We weren’t at all impressed with the hotel there, but did enjoy following along to a salsa class while at the pool. And we ventured out for some street food: amazingly tasty pork skewers with salad - YUM!

After arriving at our hotel in La Fortuna we grabbed our things to go to the Ecotermales hot springs and had a super relaxing afternoon enjoying the different pools, reading our books, and drinking tasty beverages in the sun.

Day 2 in La Fortuna was a rainy one but we still ventured out to hike part of the Arenal volcano. Interesting facts about the 1968 eruption:

It covered 2 towns leading to 600 people disappearing.
Only 65 bodies were found.
The lava flowed at 80 km/h and took 5 years to cool down!

We also learned that Costa Rica has over 1200 species of orchids - absolutely amazing! After the rainy walk we headed back to our hotel, got warmed up, and had another relaxing afternoon including massages.

The next day, before heading to Monteverde, we ventured out for another fun activity: kayaking at the local eco park! We had such a nice time exploring the shores of the lake from our kayaks… until it started raining once again. Oh well! That concluded our La Fortuna stint and we went on our way to our next stop.

Monteverde (again)

Our drive to Monteverde was filled with beautiful stops and outlook points. One of them was a little spot we found on google maps called The Tree of Life. We were intrigued enough to stop by and oh my was it worth it! We drove up the steep hill and pulled up to a private property with a hand written sign letting us know where to go to see this magical tree. While reading the sign the owner stopped by to greet us and share a little bit about the property’s history. We then took the short walk down to the garden. Oh my was this a huge tree! The roots were huge and the limbs towering over the beautiful garden with a vast outlook over the lake. Absolutely stunning! Our visit was rounded off by a private tour of the owner’s orchid collection.

We continued on our journey. To say the roads were bumpy and windy is an understatement… but the views were magnificent! Unfortunately I got pretty car sick so by the time we got to Monteverde all I wanted to do was to dive under the covers and get some sleep. Unfortunately, that one night wasn’t enough and I spent the entirety of the next day recovering from some stomach bug. Luckily Jael was feeling just fine. I am so glad she did, because that meant she could go enjoy the cloud forest zip lining adventure!

Alajuela

Our final day together we made the beautiful drive to Alajuela where we took a tour of a local coffee plantation. What we learned:

It takes about 4 years for a plant to grow new beans!
It is customary to plant 2 coffee plants next to each other. This helps encourage more seeds to grow on the plants.
A plant can produce for 5-7 years before it needs to be trimmed.
In total the plants are trimmed 3 times and can produce for about 30 years.
The coffee pickers pick about 8-10 baskets of fruit per day, with a pay of $2/basket.
Each full basket weighs about 13kg and takes about an hour to fill.
Banana trees are usually planted next to coffee to provide shade, act as a windbreaker, and to act as a water source.

We rounded off our day with a walk around our hotel’s garden and a nice meal before our final night in Costa Rica.

The next day after breakfast we packed our bags and headed to the airport to catch our respective flights. It was a bittersweet moment of saying goodbye after 2 weeks of adventure together! However, both of us also had things to look forward to. Jael was headed back to her boys, and I was going to continue on to South America. So, we got another hug in and headed off on our ways with tons of awesome memories to look back on.