I was a little hesitant going to Costa Rica, as I really wanted a relaxing vacation, but knew that with Costa Rica, there was so much to do and see, that it would need to be a bit more than relaxing.
We toyed around with doing several different things – including renting a car and touring the country. That idea was veteoed when we couldn’t get flights that would get us there in under 17 hours. We finally decided on setting up camp at a beach resort and doing some day tours, in between days of relaxing and sunshine.
We arrived feeling a little tired after getting up in the middle of the night to catch our early morning flight – but managed to have a nice lunch and head to the beach. Of course, Rob had a conference call to attend to as well. Always a little work to finish up before pleasure.
Rob says I’m like a cat when I first arrive at a hotel: need to check everything out, scratch in all the corners, unpack and unwind. After I get my bearings, I can relax!
We ate at the Latin restaurant and then headed off to bed exhausted, after analyzing the beautiful sky!
Our first two days we planned to do nothing but beach and relax. A little decompression! We walked the beach, read on the beach and dipped our toes in the water. The ocean was really cold! We lounged by the pool and sipped drinks, read books, listened to music and slept. Pretty nice start!
We did start both days off with a bit of tennis though so we weren’t that lazy. The beach massage on the first day may say otherwise however….
The third day ended up being a write off: I had a crummy tummy. Amazingly, it wasn’t as bad as “being in a new country” crummy tummy can be. But, we stayed in the room and I really caught up with sleep! Luckily there was room service for Robbie! Unfortunately though, it sucked my energy, which meant the next day had to be low key as well.
Although can I really complain? Walking the beach, swimming, lounging on the bali bed near the pool? It was perfect! We decided to walk to the next town – which was easily reached by walking on the beach. This beach was quite different – had the black sand and a different vibe. But it was sooo nice.
We texted the kids this picture:)
We found a little local restaurant “The Golden Shrimp” and had shrimp there (no surprise) and watched the gorgeous sunset. We finished dinner long after it was dark and had to make our way back to our hotel in the pitch black – aside from the stars (which were incredible!! I kept saying I felt like I was in a star globe! We could also see Mars, Venus and Jupiter very clearly).
The next day was a very early start as we met our tour guide “Rico Suave” at 5:30am, and headed inland. We passed through many little towns, and soaked in the scenary as we went from the driest land – to the lush beauty of the center. We went to the Arenal Volcano area. We stopped once we got to Arenal Lake to take some pictures:
Then we arrived at the sky trek place , got to ride the sky tram, walk the sky bridges, and the best part – zipline! The fasted line went 70 km an hour! It was awesome!
We ate lunch with the beautiful view of the volcano in the background. The clouds finally cleared so we could see the actual tip. It is an active volcano – but lava has not erupted in the past 16 months. We did get to see some steam though! We then walked the sky bridges and explored the cloud forest.
We wandered the little town below the volcano called la Fortuna before heading for some hot springs. A little bit of a toursit trap (what isn’t these days?) but really nice nonetheless! We soaked in the steaming water for a little while and then started to head home.
On the way home we saw another gorgeous sunset. The colours following the actual sunset were spectacular! We stopped in a little town for a traditional dinner in a little restaurant with not a tourist in sight. We had porc. Deep fried porc is what it was; a real Costa Rican dish our guide told us. Rob liked it more than me. I need more than just meat!!
Our last day was pretty low key again. We beached it in the morning – but this time the tides had changed – they were really high, and the water was much warmer so we got to swim a lot more! We spent the afternoon by the pool in the bali bed. We decided to walk along the beach to the next town for the sunset again and it was pretty spectacular again.
All in all, it was a great vacation! It was relaxing, with a little mix of adventure. Just what we were looking for! We’d go back for sure to Costa Rica when we want to do a bit adventure and explore more southern parts of the beautiful country!
