Hannah, One of our former nannies moved to Costa Rica to study at the University of Georgia, Monteverde and when Amy told her Costa Rica had always been on her bucket list she said, ‘you should come visit.’ Since the kids have a mid-winter break in February and a spring break in April we decided to plan a visit in February. Unfortunately the week before we went on the trip, Hannah moved to Peru to another job.
We flew to LA after work on Friday and had an early morning direct flight to Liberia, Costa Rica. We started our trip in the Guanacaste region. The road to the hotel was very narrow and poorly marked. There is no side of the road in Costa Rica – either you’re on the pavement or there’s about a foot drop to the shoulder.
We stayed at Playa Flamingo on the beach. The hotel and pool were very nice and we could walk to a great restaurant right down the beach. We even met a girl from our neighborhood – turns out she moved to Costa Rica and became a dive instructor at the hotel. She recommended a nearby black sand beach which was beautiful (and very hot on the feet!) The drive to the next town was just over the mountain but the highway would have taken 2 hours (one way) so we opted for the dirt road which was a little crazy! We even had to cross a small stream on the way.
On our mangrove tour Amy mentioned to the tour guide that she had really wanted to see turtles but couldn’t find anyone to take her. By the end of the ride we had a name and number or a guy willing to take us that night. Later we realized that we had signed up to go somewhere with a complete stranger but our concierge, Flora assured us that’s just the way things worked in Costa Rica and she would check him out when he came to pick us up. When he arrived Flora laughed and said, oh he’s fine, I know his Dad well. We’re thankful she told us this because the trip was over 2 hours mostly on a crazy dirt road and at one point the driver pulled into a seemingly random driveway/house so we could use the bathroom and get a drink. It turns out the government pays one community to watch over the nesting turtles and in return they get to harvest the first few percent of eggs (it’s highly sought after there!)
When we arrived at the beach we were not allowed to take flash lights or use the flash on our camera. We had a guide who had a red flash light and we followed her on the beach. Other than the full moon and a few other tour groups with red lights, there were no lights in the distance. It was the most stars I have ever seen in the sky. You could see turtles walking up the beach looking for a place to nest and others on their return to the ocean. Over a period of a few days, thousands of Olive Ridley turtles lay their eggs on this beach. It was a really cool sight to watch these turtles did the hole, lay the eggs, compact the sand and return to the ocean. I’m glad we had the opportunity to do it!
Next we took the trip to Monteverde. It’s not a huge distance away but in Costa Rica many roads are dirt and not in great shape so the going is slow. We spent the majority of the day on the road and made it to Monteverde in time for dinner. In Monteverde, we stayed at the guest houses at the University of Georgia, where Hannah had studied. It was an incredibly beautiful place and I cannot say enough good things about it. Students from all over come to do ‘internships’ there and schools brought their high school students as well so we got to meet some really interesting people. All of our on campus food and activities were also included. We did a night hike through the forest with just our headlamps lighting the path. We were able to see some insects and a Mexican baby porcupine in the trees as well as some sleeping birds. We also took a tour of the farm and medical garden and milked the cows (by hand!). Gabe said this was the highlight of his trip!
Our favorite place in Monteverde was the Hummingbird coffee house. See the next album for the Hummingbird pics!!
We also loved hiking across the hanging bridges in Monteverde. The scenery is beautiful and we were able to see a sloth and a family of monkeys sitting in a tree in front of us! We took the gondola to the top of the mountain to watch the people zip line across the valley – we didn’t think the kids were ready for that yet.
We ended our trip in the central coast region. The Hilton wasn’t in an amazing location but there is something to be said about not having to leave the resort if you don’t want to! We took a few short road trips south. the first trip was to Crocodile bridge where you can see 15+ foot crocs under the bridge. You’re standing on the foot path on the side of a fairly busy bridge so we didn’t spend too much time. As Amy was walking back towards the car with Gabe she heard the squawk of a parrot and saw a pair of Scarlet Macaws flying overhead. These beautiful pairs of birds sleep in the mountains and fly to the coast early in the day. We caught them on their commute back to the mountains and I’m so glad we did. They were beautiful!
Check out our Costa Rica vacation photos.
