Travel Recap: 6 Days in Costa Rica

About three weeks ago I decided on a whim to book a trip to Costa Rica. I went with Nicole and her friend Sarah in order to take photos and make a video for Nicole.  With only about a day to spare, we booked our hotels and rental car and decided to play by ear our daily activities.  





I don’t suggest doing this if you visit the country during High season (November to April) because things are much more booked up and will run out of space much faster.  Low season is a bit more affordable but it is muggier and it rains more often.  We were extremely lucky to avoid bad weather and every day was pretty much just Hazy, Hot and Humid. Temperatures were in the 90’s and the sun was out the majority of the time and we never encountered large groups of tourists.

Day 1 (Thurs)

We flew into San Jose and rented a car. We started the trip off by heading to Arenal Volcano.  We stopped on the side of the road to explore a bit of the rainforest and discovered a waterfall.  We got to our hotel about three hours later and dropped our things off before heading to Tabacon Hot Springs. The resort has an amazing assortment of artificial waterfalls and pools. The hot climate didn’t make the hot springs very inviting but was very relaxing after the overnight flight and car ride.  We discovered that it was necessary to wear bug spray 24/7. We also encountered so many stray animals, it took everything I had to not jump out of the car and keep them. We ate dinner at a roadside restaurant as the sun set. It didn't seem the most hygienic but places like this were all over and so we went with the flow and didn't think too much about it.

Day 2 (Fri)

We packed up and left our little bungalow the next morning, but before leaving the Arenal area, we decided to hike to La Fortuna Waterfall. It wasn’t too strenuous to get down into the valley and the waterfall was an impressive sight.  We were warned to be careful about swimming in the pool below the waterfall so we only walked into a smaller, less turbulent area. The cold water was refreshing and after slipping in some mud. I washed off and watched some more adventurous tourists swim beneath the falls.

The hike up was harder, the stairs up and out of the valley were straightforward but the heat and humidity felt oppressive.  We jumped in the car and the rest of the day drove to the costal town of Tamarindo.  We stopped at a roadside fruit stand to switch drivers and have a nice cold coconut.   We arrived in the beach town of Tamarindo right at an early sunset around 6:30pm.

Day 3 (Sat)

We spent the day at Playa Tamarindo hanging out at a beach restaurant.  The beach was pretty open and the water was so warm it almost didn’t feel refreshing in the heat.  Nicole and I rented surfboards but failed pretty miserably (and hilariously) at standing up. I wore my gopro on my head and ended up just riding the waves on my stomach into the beach a couple times. The sun was very hot and strong and even waterproof/sweat-proof SPF 50 wasn’t doing the trick. My shoulders, chest and forearms were burnt by the end of the day. We hung out until the sun set and went into the water to take some pictures for Nicole. I accidentally stepped into a hole surrounded by rocks under the water and scraped my shin and knee but was successful at not getting my camera wet. Even knowing un poquito español, I was reduced to just showing my bleeding leg to a pharmacist and thankfully she set me up with some band aids.  That night we went out to experience the nightlife of Tamarindo, but being low season it was a quiet night and not many people were out.

GoPro Strap indent on my face

aftermath of the surprise under water rocks

Day 4 (Sun)

 We rented a boat through Discovery Tamarindo tours for just the three of us. We set some lines for fishing and saw some dolphins follow the boat on our way to another bay for some snorkeling. We caught a small Bullet Mackerel fish that we used as bait to catch a 15lb Sierra Mackerel. Our captain skinned and filleted the fish for himself. We were allowed to keep the meat to eat but we were driving to a new spot in the afternoon so he kept it.  We saw some very pretty fish, urchins, eels, starfish and clams while snorkeling. Our captain caught a pufferfish for us and it floated on the surface while we held him. We read later that it was technically the 2^nd most poisonous vertebrate in the world. Thankfully he can only hurt you if you eat him.  We had a relaxing ride back to the beach and hit the road to Manuel Antonio, a 5 hour drive south.  We stopped at Playa Jaco to check out another very popular surf beach.  The heat was killer and I ended up jumping in the water. While drying off we met a couple kids that had a one month old puppy named Alaska. We showered it with affection while I dried off.   We arrived in Manuel Antonio as the sun was setting and after such a long day of swimming and driving and sweating in the heat the eco-villa we rented wasn’t going to cut it.  It was deep down a hill in the rain forest but it was the kind of place that you can’t flush toilet paper and we decided we needed to be a little closer to civilization.  We found ourselves a newer and more upgraded hotel.  I felt bad for giving up on the old man running the villa but I felt so uncomfortable feeling so gross and sticky all day, we agreed it was OK to seek out a nicer place to stay.

Day 5 (Mon)

 We spent the day in the Manuel Antonio National Park. You can hire a guide to spot the sloths through a special magnifying lens but we ended up just going on our own and thankfully a guide that was already on the path offered to show us a sloth that he spotted. We also ran into a ton of Capuchin monkeys, saw an iguana hanging in the sand, and chased off some persistent raccoons.  We saw some howler monkeys and little red crabs in the jungle.  The heat was killing me and the water was actually really hot. The water in the bay didn’t mix with the cooler ocean water and it didn’t provide any relief.  Between sweating and trying hard not to re-sunburn anything it was an exhausting afternoon.  When we got back out of the park, we inhaled fruit smoothies to recover from the day. 

Day 6 (Tues)

On our last day in Costa Rica, we went zip-lining. It was so much fun making our way back and forth through the jungle. We did one upside down and one we spun around and around. The halfway point in our jungle tour had the longest zip line in Central America and third longest in the world behind South Africa and Alaska. It was two lines side by side and felt like it would last forever. The views were amazing. After our tour finished, we drove three hours back to the capital San Jose. The rain finally caught up with us and the lightening that came with it was impressive.   The hotel was very nice and being out of the jungle gave us a false sense of security. I just wanted to go to bed without being doused in bug spray and unfortunately we all woke up covered in more bites.  On Friday morning we dropped off the rental car and flew back to LA.

I had an amazing time despite the heat, humidity and my scrapes, bruises and bug bites. I was blown away at the beauty of the country.  If you decide to go, rent a car for the freedom and if you go during high season, book your tours early!