Well, its been a while since we got back from our belated honeymoon to Costa Rica, so its about time to post about it! It was definitely one of those rare vacations where neither of us were really ready to go home (except that we missed our kitty!), and both of us were already trying to plan when we'd return for another visit! I have a feeling this post will be pretty long, as there are so many memories that we want to preserve!
We decided to do this trip as a road trip so that we could see multiple parts of the country, so we rented a Mitsubishi Montero 4x4 and reserved hotels in 4 different areas (plus one more by the airport). After arriving, we headed to our first hotel nearby in Alejuela, La Rosa de America. For being an airport hotel, it was quaint (less than 15 rooms) and very pretty. We walked down the street to a local restaurant, where we had our first Costa Rican 'tipico'food - chicken, rice, beans, and plantains. It was delicious!
Arrival at La Rosa de America:
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Delicias del Maiz, where we went for dinner down the street.
The next morning we set out for Santa Elena, a small town in the mountains near the Cloud Forest, Monteverde. The road to Monteverde is known for being steep, dirt/rocky, and long. And it was! It took us a little less than 4 hours to get to Santa Elena - but it was well worth it. The views on the drive up were spectacular:
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In Santa Elena we stayed at Arco Iris, a great little eco hotel with just a few villas right in town. Our villa was along the mountainside and had a great view of the countryside, but we could still walk to all of the stores and restaurants. Below is our villa and the view of the hillside nextdoor. The grounds were very nicely landscaped, and White Faced Monkeys even came by to play by the main lobby occassionally!
Our main plan here was to zip line and to tour the cloud forest. There were multiple Ziplines to choose from, but we decided on the Selvatura Tour because it had the longest and highest lines around. One of them was 1km long - it was a little bit crazy, but one of the best parts of the trip. The views from the zips were incredible.
Unfortnately our tour happened to coincide with a tour booked by what seemed like 100 high school aged kids. It was hilarious to be surrounded by them and hear their antics!
But despite the kids, the tour was fantastic!
[Left: Walking through some of the forest paths to the zips. Right: Walking on a hanging bridge over the canopy.]
The next day we took a guided hike through the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The temperature was fairly cool, and while it never rains the way we think of rain, there were many places where you could feel a mist of rain all around you. As it turns out, we learned that Cloud forests only exist at particular altitudes in particular climates - and thus there aren't many in the world. Everything in the forest was damp and all of the trees were covered in moss. Our guide, Bernal, taught us all sorts of facts about the forest and used his scope to point out some great wildlife. The most interesting fact we learned was that the trees in the cloud forest don't have rings because they are damp all year and don't alternate dry/wet season - thus, they don't know how old the trees are!
[Left: Our group walking through the forest. Right: Clouds, mossy trees, vines climbing down the trees]
[Left: Taking in the sites from a hanging bridge. Right: View of the canopy]
There was also a great hummingbird garden - the birds just zipped around us as they flew to the feeders:
We tried a few restaurnts in Santa Elena, but our favorite by far was the Tree House which was a building surrounding an old huge tree! They had great food and live music at night so we somehow managed to have 3 meals there!
One afternoon instead of opting for another tour, we decided to drive around and take in some of the views nearby. The views were amazing, we drove by farms and coffee plantations all along the hillsides:
On Sunday we left and drove to Nosara, which is along the coast on the Nicoya Peninsula. We chose this area because it wasn't supposed to be as touristy as some of the 'surfer' beaches along the coast. The beaches here are less crowded and more isolated. The last hour or so of the drive was on a rough dirt road, probably one reason for less tourists! We finally arrived at our next hotel, Largarta Lodge. This was another 'eco hotel' with only 6 rooms which was next to a large biologic resereve. The hotel was up on a mountainside looking down over the reserve, the Nosara River, and the Pacific Ocean. We loved Lagarta Lodge - there was a great patio where we were able to grab some drinks and watch the sunset, a relaxing pool with Howler Monkeys swinging in the nearby trees, and rooms with great balconies so we could enjoy the view!
The beach was accessible by walking down a steep path from our hotel - even though the weather was probably in the 90s, the walk wasn't so bad and the water was very refreshing. We probably only ever saw about 15 people on the beach at any given time - it was a very beautiful location! We learned that large sea turtles lay eggs on the nearby beaches, and in order to preserve the space for the turtles, beach front development is prohibited.
Stay tuned for part II!
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Our main plan here was to zip line and to tour the cloud forest. There were multiple Ziplines to choose from, but we decided on the Selvatura Tour because it had the longest and highest lines around. One of them was 1km long - it was a little bit crazy, but one of the best parts of the trip. The views from the zips were incredible.
Unfortnately our tour happened to coincide with a tour booked by what seemed like 100 high school aged kids. It was hilarious to be surrounded by them and hear their antics!
But despite the kids, the tour was fantastic!
 |  |
The next day we took a guided hike through the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The temperature was fairly cool, and while it never rains the way we think of rain, there were many places where you could feel a mist of rain all around you. As it turns out, we learned that Cloud forests only exist at particular altitudes in particular climates - and thus there aren't many in the world. Everything in the forest was damp and all of the trees were covered in moss. Our guide, Bernal, taught us all sorts of facts about the forest and used his scope to point out some great wildlife. The most interesting fact we learned was that the trees in the cloud forest don't have rings because they are damp all year and don't alternate dry/wet season - thus, they don't know how old the trees are!
[Left: Our group walking through the forest. Right: Clouds, mossy trees, vines climbing down the trees]
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Looking at a pit viper snake Bernal found
There was also a great hummingbird garden - the birds just zipped around us as they flew to the feeders:
We tried a few restaurnts in Santa Elena, but our favorite by far was the Tree House which was a building surrounding an old huge tree! They had great food and live music at night so we somehow managed to have 3 meals there!
 |  |
One afternoon instead of opting for another tour, we decided to drive around and take in some of the views nearby. The views were amazing, we drove by farms and coffee plantations all along the hillsides:
The beach was accessible by walking down a steep path from our hotel - even though the weather was probably in the 90s, the walk wasn't so bad and the water was very refreshing. We probably only ever saw about 15 people on the beach at any given time - it was a very beautiful location! We learned that large sea turtles lay eggs on the nearby beaches, and in order to preserve the space for the turtles, beach front development is prohibited.
Stay tuned for part II!
1 comment:
LOVE IT!!!
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