Costa Rica- August 2010

So, this post has taken way too long to write, but I have excuses! Jared and I got engaged a week before this trip, so the few months afterward were super busy with wedding planning on top of school. Anyway, we went to Costa Rica in August to celebrate Jared having finished school and taken the bar, and it turned out that we were also celebrating getting engaged!

Costa Rica was amazing and I definitely plan on going back some day. We rented a car and went to Arenal and Monteverde in the lush rainforest in Central Costa Rica and we also went to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast. For sure my favorite place was Arenal, so that's my top recommendation for you. Driving was also ideal for us..although make sure you get a car with 4WD and a GPS!

Arenal
Arenal is famous for its volcano, lake and surrounding hot springs. The whole area was absolutely gorgeous!

We stayed at Chalet Nicholas, a small B&B overlooking Lago Arenal with amazzzing birdwatching right from the front porch

While in Arenal, we....

saw a live volcano erupt


We swam at the base of a waterfall

Aaand we went white-water rafting

Monteverde
Monteverde is a 'cloud forest.' I had never heard of one until the trip, but they are unique ecological micro-climates that boast amazing biodiversity. The main attraction in Monteverde is to walk through or zip line through the cloud forest and we did both. It was truly amazing!

We stayed at Rustic Lodge which was so beautiful, clean and inexpensive. I would definitely stay there again. Our giant room windows overlooked a garden where we saw dozens of species of butterflies and hummingbirds every day.

Ziplining

Manuel Antonio
Manuel Antonio is (I think) Costa Rica's most popular national park and it was really beautiful (as is everything in Costa Rica). The park has a ton of flora and fauna and is situated right on the coast, so the beaches are (almost) pristine. I say almost because by the end of our day in MA the refrain was "too much nature". We couldn't enjoy swimming for too long in the crystal blue waters because gangs of wild raccoons would come and grab your bags and drag them into the woods. Then as we were lying out and sunning ourselves (and guarding our bags from the raccoons), dozens of wild hermit crabs would be crawling all over our stuff. So- too much nature.

Luckily though, we stayed at Hotel Club del Mar in a surf town called Jaco about an hour away which was a nice way to relax at the end of an adventure-packed trip. The hotel was inexpensive, but right on the beach and had a pool...just what we needed. :)

Hotel Club del Mar

Manuel Antonio Park


Sloths are hilarious! We stood watching this sloth hesitantly change trees over a twenty-minute period!



Beach in Jaco

Big iguanas in Costa Rica!

Also, I love Central American food. I could live off of frijoles and platanos, so the Costa Rican food was great :) Jared got a bit sick of it, but I was lovin' it.

Delish Macadamia nut pancakes and fresh fruit breakfast at Chalet Nicholas

A typical 'soda' meal which consists of fish/chicken plus rice and beans, salad and fried plaintains