Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pb73sCHf2kWGeJEP9
Wednesday
Plane was okay but couldn't sleep in middle seat. Ada watched movies the whole time. Ryan and Cliff behind us, screens in seat didn't work. Thank God for tablet.
Lonnng immigration line took long. Then rental car area told us that Avis didn't exist or that it was off-site. We finally figured out that it was off site after 20 or 30 minutes. Then had to wait for a shuttle to get there. Starving by now!Waited more . Finally 4pm car??
Drove to actual town of Liberia ended up at McDonald's but we were desperate and starving
Drove and kids complained mostly Ada, until they both fell asleep. Verry beautiful drive. Volcano and lake views, lots of cows and horses. Windmills. Night fell as we got past the lake and finally into more populated areas and finally La Fortuna.
Ate at Soda Mima. Good. Ordered Casado plates. The kids discovered a canned juice they love. Felt like our food took forever but I think it was just cuz we were all exhausted. Ada was a total whiny something or other. Our data sim whatever didn't work, or Cliff's did and mine didn't. It did the next day I think.
Had to meet Airbnb owner the get the rundown. He was friendly but it was a lot of info. Just write it down! Inside was just okay but omggg the backyard. It's like a mini resort. Infinity pool with swim up bar, hot tub, lookout, hammock. Outdoor shower and bathroom. Inside, there's an outdoor shower... Neat but impractical? Like, you walk out onto stones in dirt to a stone shower floor. There's a net/pergola thing above with plants all around. That and the sink reminded me of Madonna Inn rocks.
Thursday
Left immediately for mistico hanging bridges. Monkeys at beginning were the highlight. Kids started complaining and after two hours we broke from the group. Guide was really knowledgeable And it's a bummer we had to miss part of it because he was really into birds. We tried trits ice cream from the little store there. It was just okay.Got coffee at Metropoli on the way back. Really yummy mochas.
Stopped quickly into a grocery store but realized I couldn't get refrigerated items since we were going to...
La soda hormiga for lunch. Cliff got a beef casado plate, I got Gallo Pollo which was a stewed chicken meat with tortillas and a little salad. Ada's chicken tenders were actually pretty good fried chicken. Pretty good french fries. They've both been taking turns barely eating on this trip. It's so annoying. All they care about is juice and regular American food. 🙄
Finally went back to our place but it was time to immediately turn around and do the sloth walk. I stayed back with the kids while they did pool and it was rainy off and on. Having the worst FOMO because Cliff is on the sloth walk.
Chocolate tour:
Baby sloth
Sour guava tree. Cas. Soda etc
Guanabana? Fruit
Fruits they gave us: Papaya, star fruit, something they called lychee but I really think it was rambutan. The best pineapple I've probably ever had. Banana that had a hint of clove, that they can't export. Oranges that they peeled and had us drink by cutting off the top so we could squeeze.
Other plants we smelled/saw: ginger, annatto(achiote!), dragonfruit, peppercorns, "pizza plant", bananas, coffee, and of course cacao. We got to taste freshly opened cacao. It's slimy and you can't eat the nut; you just suck on it. It's really sweet, tropical, delicious. It doesn't taste like chocolate. So crazy.
The tour went on a bit long. Other people are so annoying (some were very late!), adding stupid comments or always being in the front🙄.
We walked through some cacao and coffee trees to a covered eating area. But they just showed us a few things then kept walking. Saw some cool birds throughout + owl butterfly which we also saw in mistico. Fiiinally we got to have hot chocolate, and coffee whose beans had been roasted the day before. They had raw sugar to add, and fresh vanilla.. This vanilla... It was so different from ours. It smelled like almond extract.
Went back home; I made myself a cocktail w/ mango juice and rum I bought from Don Olivo the chocolate place. cliff picked up Pollo Fortuneño while we swam. Good roasted chicken and tostones (crunchy fried plantains). Quesadilla okay.
The cat (whom Ada named Stripe) came back while we were eating by the pool. Had to take shelter up in lookout during rain. That cat followed us. We gave him chicken.
Going inside, we spotted a frog in cliffs shoe. Major drama ensued when Ada got stung by something and screamed fucking bloody murder. I've never heard her scream like that. The stinger was still on her chest but not really in there? She freaked out and wouldn't let us touch it. Luckily she took it off, herself.
Now we're all lounging and watching TV.
Packed up, drove to Tabacon hot springs. It was pretty neat, gorgeous. Water was just right. It rained a bunch at the end before our scheduled lunchtime.
Lunch was pretty good. Kids were hella bad.
Drove to Cafe Macadamia. We gave Ryan Dramamine and he ended up kind of dozing until we turned on the tablet. Hoooooly hell the drive to Monteverde was crazy. The roads are fucking awful, narrow, gravely, potholey. Granted, this was driving through the middle of nowhere kind of. A couple tiny towns interspersed. Lots more cows.
We got into town around 5. So once again, no time before we had to head back out for an excursion.
Our place is... Weird. It has potential but everything is old and kinda smelly, like the scent of many unwashed hikers. It has three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and locking door like the front door. And windows into each room 😂 It's like a funky 70s conference vibe. Ryan spotted an agouti (biiig rodent) right off our deck.
Cliff looked for a laundromat because at this point our wet clothes were horrifically mildew smelling but no luck. So I had no long pants or sleeves for our night hike. I almost didn't go. I guessss I'm glad I did? 🤣
Another weird drive to the place (someone's house?) for the night hike.
This guy was SO WEIRD. He was really soft-spoken and very particular about things and ended up going on a total tangent rant about talking to trees and got out those wire things and asked the tree questions. At this point (over an hour in) the kids were totally over it. We asked him if we could walk back and he seemed pissed. We mostly just found insects but we did see a really awesome bird.
I love how into conservation the Costa Ricans seem to be. I love that they're proud and they love talking about their flora/fauna. I wish these tours were more streamlined though. We just need to not go on any guided tours with kids anymore😳
The kids complained and fought the whole time. We saw a couple birds, though not the quetzal we hoped for. Another group was with a guide looking at some mammals climbing down the tree I don't know what they're called. I didn't get a great look at them. And one hummingbird in a nest. Kinda not worth it, though it is truly gorgeous there. I wish we had been able to do a trail with more clearings because that's where the previews were and seems like more birds.
Lunch at Taco Taco. Delicious.
Drive to Quepos. Felt so long; tried to break it up with crocodile bridge. Ryan was sleeping so I stayed in car. Ada and Cliff only saw like 3.
Closer to Jaco, we saw gorgeous macaws for the first time, just flying in front of us.
Arrived in Quepos; went up a crazy one-way hill to a laundry service to finally get our smelly clothes washed.
Hung around house, Cliff picked up our laundry and unfortunately my swimsuit and gray sports bra are missing. He went back later to check and no luck.
Went for my massage which is at a place right across the street from the resort apparently not really part of it 🤷🏻♀️ Plumeria. Good massage! Jenny. I almost fell asleep.
There was a souvenir shop next door where I ended up buying a $40 horrible no good very bad swimsuit out of desperation. It doesn't hold me in and my whole butt shows. I was so uncomfortable and self-conscious at the beach and pool. Not sure what I'm going to do from here on out...
I met Cliff and the kids at the beach. It's a 10 minute steep downhill walk. The weird thing is there are no sidewalks here. We've been seeing small to medium size iguanas here. The beach was beautiful with the green hills on either side. And the resort has people that go around taking drink and food orders, putting up umbrellas, etc. The food here is not amazing but not bad. The cocktail of the day was a passion fruit mojito which was actually nicely done and delicious. I keep feeling bad because we don't have any small bills to tip people with. It's embarrassing. We need to take care of that tomorrow.
We went to the infinity pool by the cafe; I came late because I was trying to fix my stupid swimsuit) and soon after I got there Cliff took the kids to the family pool instead since they were splashing people. I did some reading and then wandered over to the family pool but got distracted by a group of monkeys in the trees. Turns out that just around the corner was the family pool, where this same group of monkeys was causing havoc😂 They were moving people's furniture around outside in a three-story condo and stealing food. I saw one steal a banana. Although Now I wonder if the people were just giving them to the monkeys.
There was another couple there with a 4-year-old that our kids sort of played with. We let them use our binoculars because we saw some toucans and a macaw. I just can't believe these birds are real. Howwww. The monkeys also continued to go crazy in the trees around us. They're so mischievous and silly! I def see the inspiration for Curious George. The family pool is also an infinity. It started raining.
Cliff left for a night walk at Manuel Antonio park. I stayed with the kids at the pool, walked back in the rain.
Ate leftovers and watched parts of an Adam Sandler movie and a Kevin James movie. The kids ended up passing out a bit early, which I think is a good thing. We're all freaking tired!! Cliff just got back. Craaazy thunder/lightning for the entire night. Thought I'd sleep through it but it was rough.
Pool by cafe, packed up, saw beautiful yellow and black toucans close up, checked out.
Manuel Antonio. Shady parking people and tourist trap vendors and people trying to talk to us. Sooo humid and gross. The park was okay and we saw a few things but I would say.. Not worth it. How do people do the 30 min walk to the beach there?? Ugh.
Lunch at Manuel Antonio Falafel Bar. Excellent. We saw people who had been on the cloud forest bus with us way back in Monteverde and also had seen at Manuel Antonio.
Drove into town of Quepos, kinda ghetto, got ice cream and souvenirs. Finally tried a Churchill! So good.
Checked into our last place (besides airport hotel). It's pretty from the outside and has some good nature views but I'm feeling meh about it. Bugs are everywhere, a tiny ant crawled up my dress and bit me. They're going into the house. The house is kinda ghetto but spacious. Spiral staircase not ideal, main rooms are upstairs; no TVs upstairs. There's also no privacy inside and out. Makes the first place in La Fortuna look really good...
The kids swam for a good while; I tried to keep ants off me and looked at birds. We saw monkeys in the trees in the distance.
Dinner at Love Indian. Mine was weird (house special sauce) but everything else was good. We saw the couple w kid from the pool!
Grocery and pharmacy. The guy was really nice and opened back up for me even though he'd just closed.
TV back home. Thunder and lightning galore! Rain so loud on roof/drain things we can't hear TV.
Quepos for coffee, souvenirs.
Lunch at El Wagon. Pizza was awful, but right before we were about to leave, the monkeys put on a show for us! They're just so funny. Also saw another agouti and its baby! And a huge lizard in the tree. Anyway... The view/ambience there is cool but wow was that pizza bad.
Ice cream at Pops back in Quepos. Churchill wasn't nearly as good as the one from the other non chain mom n pop place.
Walked down to the water path, kids played on a playground, then we saw the biggest group of macaws in a palm tree! Seemed like even the locals were snapping pics.
Back home to swim. Had the kids do jumping competition.
"I picked this place because it had a picture of a bowl of mangoes on the table. But there aren't any mangoes." -Ada
Dinner at falafel place. Doggie came around begging for food.
Made it to San Jose. Pretty ghetto. Although not that trash-y, for a big city. Sooo much traffic, but I suppose normal for a city. We also were trying to avoid the myriad toll roads since we ran out of cash.
Animal refuge. I'm so glad we did this. Had an English-speaking guide tell us about all the animals. It was cool to see the ocelots, toucans, and of courrrse the sloth. He or she was sleeping and adorable.
Lunch at Jardin de Lolita--outdoor area with a bunch of food stalls. Got my food from Batanga; the kids had burgers, Cliff had fish tacos. Good food, cute place, good for kids.
Checked into Hampton Inn. Nice and clean; room was echo-y though. Let the kids swim and got Dennys for dinner. Ha. Slept surprisingly well for us all being in one room!
Anyway we made it to the airport with plenty of time; security wasn't too bad. We got breakfast and then shopped the shops. The SJO airport is nice; wish I'd taken advantage of cheap/duty-free alcohol prices! Got two Lizano sauces since I never actually tasted it IN costa rica. Ridiculous!
I can't complain about the flight... I watched shows, got a lot of reading done, and even napped a little while Cliff sat with both kids two rows behind me....
Even the drive home from LAX wasn't too bad thanks to the carpool lane! Got back around 4:30.
Look into La Mansion overlooking Lake Arenal. We drove past right at sunset, and it was one of the most breathtaking scenes I've ever witnessed. The hotel, the cows, the lake.
Pack enough clothes assuming you don't have access to laundry (unless you explicitly know you do). The running leggings I brought were hard to wear in the humidity (hard to take on/off); looser pants would've been better. More quick-dry clothing options would've been good (and easy to wash in the sink if needed).
Maybe buy a mini/foldout bird guide?
Other plants we smelled/saw: ginger, annatto(achiote!), dragonfruit, peppercorns, "pizza plant", bananas, coffee, and of course cacao. We got to taste freshly opened cacao. It's slimy and you can't eat the nut; you just suck on it. It's really sweet, tropical, delicious. It doesn't taste like chocolate. So crazy.
The tour went on a bit long. Other people are so annoying (some were very late!), adding stupid comments or always being in the front🙄.
We walked through some cacao and coffee trees to a covered eating area. But they just showed us a few things then kept walking. Saw some cool birds throughout + owl butterfly which we also saw in mistico. Fiiinally we got to have hot chocolate, and coffee whose beans had been roasted the day before. They had raw sugar to add, and fresh vanilla.. This vanilla... It was so different from ours. It smelled like almond extract.
Went back home; I made myself a cocktail w/ mango juice and rum I bought from Don Olivo the chocolate place. cliff picked up Pollo Fortuneño while we swam. Good roasted chicken and tostones (crunchy fried plantains). Quesadilla okay.
The cat (whom Ada named Stripe) came back while we were eating by the pool. Had to take shelter up in lookout during rain. That cat followed us. We gave him chicken.
Going inside, we spotted a frog in cliffs shoe. Major drama ensued when Ada got stung by something and screamed fucking bloody murder. I've never heard her scream like that. The stinger was still on her chest but not really in there? She freaked out and wouldn't let us touch it. Luckily she took it off, herself.
Now we're all lounging and watching TV.
Friday
Swam, hammocked, hung out with catPacked up, drove to Tabacon hot springs. It was pretty neat, gorgeous. Water was just right. It rained a bunch at the end before our scheduled lunchtime.
Lunch was pretty good. Kids were hella bad.
Drove to Cafe Macadamia. We gave Ryan Dramamine and he ended up kind of dozing until we turned on the tablet. Hoooooly hell the drive to Monteverde was crazy. The roads are fucking awful, narrow, gravely, potholey. Granted, this was driving through the middle of nowhere kind of. A couple tiny towns interspersed. Lots more cows.
We got into town around 5. So once again, no time before we had to head back out for an excursion.
Our place is... Weird. It has potential but everything is old and kinda smelly, like the scent of many unwashed hikers. It has three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and locking door like the front door. And windows into each room 😂 It's like a funky 70s conference vibe. Ryan spotted an agouti (biiig rodent) right off our deck.
Cliff looked for a laundromat because at this point our wet clothes were horrifically mildew smelling but no luck. So I had no long pants or sleeves for our night hike. I almost didn't go. I guessss I'm glad I did? 🤣
Another weird drive to the place (someone's house?) for the night hike.
This guy was SO WEIRD. He was really soft-spoken and very particular about things and ended up going on a total tangent rant about talking to trees and got out those wire things and asked the tree questions. At this point (over an hour in) the kids were totally over it. We asked him if we could walk back and he seemed pissed. We mostly just found insects but we did see a really awesome bird.
I'm so glad we ditched, because I really wanted the kids and I to have dinner. Got burgers and stopped into grocery store for supplies and dessert.
I love how into conservation the Costa Ricans seem to be. I love that they're proud and they love talking about their flora/fauna. I wish these tours were more streamlined though. We just need to not go on any guided tours with kids anymore😳
Saturday
Task master got us out early and we headed to the cloud rain forest. Had to park and do bus up the mountain more. I hate all this waiting and control and inaccessibility.The kids complained and fought the whole time. We saw a couple birds, though not the quetzal we hoped for. Another group was with a guide looking at some mammals climbing down the tree I don't know what they're called. I didn't get a great look at them. And one hummingbird in a nest. Kinda not worth it, though it is truly gorgeous there. I wish we had been able to do a trail with more clearings because that's where the previews were and seems like more birds.
Lunch at Taco Taco. Delicious.
Drive to Quepos. Felt so long; tried to break it up with crocodile bridge. Ryan was sleeping so I stayed in car. Ada and Cliff only saw like 3.
Closer to Jaco, we saw gorgeous macaws for the first time, just flying in front of us.
Arrived in Quepos; went up a crazy one-way hill to a laundry service to finally get our smelly clothes washed.
Tulemar resort is sooo neat. Our bungalow is an octagon in the trees overlooking the ocean. Everything is really nice. Great shower/water pressure. We're near the cafe. There was live music playing that night. Other bungalows are close by but not a big deal.
We got room service from Italian place that turns out isn't actually part of the resort. Pizza was meh but pasta w meat sauce was good.
We started hearing monkey sounds😂 and saw a couple nearby. I went for a short walk with the binocs, saw one of the giant rats (agouti)
Breakfast at the cafe when they opened at 7.
Sunday
Ryan woke us all up at 5:45. We're still on "our" time so that means 4:45. 😑We started hearing monkey sounds😂 and saw a couple nearby. I went for a short walk with the binocs, saw one of the giant rats (agouti)
Breakfast at the cafe when they opened at 7.
Hung around house, Cliff picked up our laundry and unfortunately my swimsuit and gray sports bra are missing. He went back later to check and no luck.
Went for my massage which is at a place right across the street from the resort apparently not really part of it 🤷🏻♀️ Plumeria. Good massage! Jenny. I almost fell asleep.
There was a souvenir shop next door where I ended up buying a $40 horrible no good very bad swimsuit out of desperation. It doesn't hold me in and my whole butt shows. I was so uncomfortable and self-conscious at the beach and pool. Not sure what I'm going to do from here on out...
I met Cliff and the kids at the beach. It's a 10 minute steep downhill walk. The weird thing is there are no sidewalks here. We've been seeing small to medium size iguanas here. The beach was beautiful with the green hills on either side. And the resort has people that go around taking drink and food orders, putting up umbrellas, etc. The food here is not amazing but not bad. The cocktail of the day was a passion fruit mojito which was actually nicely done and delicious. I keep feeling bad because we don't have any small bills to tip people with. It's embarrassing. We need to take care of that tomorrow.
We went to the infinity pool by the cafe; I came late because I was trying to fix my stupid swimsuit) and soon after I got there Cliff took the kids to the family pool instead since they were splashing people. I did some reading and then wandered over to the family pool but got distracted by a group of monkeys in the trees. Turns out that just around the corner was the family pool, where this same group of monkeys was causing havoc😂 They were moving people's furniture around outside in a three-story condo and stealing food. I saw one steal a banana. Although Now I wonder if the people were just giving them to the monkeys.
There was another couple there with a 4-year-old that our kids sort of played with. We let them use our binoculars because we saw some toucans and a macaw. I just can't believe these birds are real. Howwww. The monkeys also continued to go crazy in the trees around us. They're so mischievous and silly! I def see the inspiration for Curious George. The family pool is also an infinity. It started raining.
Cliff left for a night walk at Manuel Antonio park. I stayed with the kids at the pool, walked back in the rain.
Ate leftovers and watched parts of an Adam Sandler movie and a Kevin James movie. The kids ended up passing out a bit early, which I think is a good thing. We're all freaking tired!! Cliff just got back. Craaazy thunder/lightning for the entire night. Thought I'd sleep through it but it was rough.
Monday
Breakfast at Cafe Milagro. Good.Pool by cafe, packed up, saw beautiful yellow and black toucans close up, checked out.
Manuel Antonio. Shady parking people and tourist trap vendors and people trying to talk to us. Sooo humid and gross. The park was okay and we saw a few things but I would say.. Not worth it. How do people do the 30 min walk to the beach there?? Ugh.
Lunch at Manuel Antonio Falafel Bar. Excellent. We saw people who had been on the cloud forest bus with us way back in Monteverde and also had seen at Manuel Antonio.
Drove into town of Quepos, kinda ghetto, got ice cream and souvenirs. Finally tried a Churchill! So good.
Checked into our last place (besides airport hotel). It's pretty from the outside and has some good nature views but I'm feeling meh about it. Bugs are everywhere, a tiny ant crawled up my dress and bit me. They're going into the house. The house is kinda ghetto but spacious. Spiral staircase not ideal, main rooms are upstairs; no TVs upstairs. There's also no privacy inside and out. Makes the first place in La Fortuna look really good...
The kids swam for a good while; I tried to keep ants off me and looked at birds. We saw monkeys in the trees in the distance.
Dinner at Love Indian. Mine was weird (house special sauce) but everything else was good. We saw the couple w kid from the pool!
Grocery and pharmacy. The guy was really nice and opened back up for me even though he'd just closed.
TV back home. Thunder and lightning galore! Rain so loud on roof/drain things we can't hear TV.
Tuesday
Hung around the house in the morning, cereal for breakfast. Saw some cool birds and insects.Quepos for coffee, souvenirs.
Lunch at El Wagon. Pizza was awful, but right before we were about to leave, the monkeys put on a show for us! They're just so funny. Also saw another agouti and its baby! And a huge lizard in the tree. Anyway... The view/ambience there is cool but wow was that pizza bad.
Ice cream at Pops back in Quepos. Churchill wasn't nearly as good as the one from the other non chain mom n pop place.
Walked down to the water path, kids played on a playground, then we saw the biggest group of macaws in a palm tree! Seemed like even the locals were snapping pics.
Back home to swim. Had the kids do jumping competition.
"I picked this place because it had a picture of a bowl of mangoes on the table. But there aren't any mangoes." -Ada
Dinner at falafel place. Doggie came around begging for food.
Wednesday
Packed up and started the drive to San Jose. In Quepos on the way out we got coffee and carrot bread at "Simple. Coffee and Food." and gas (which is full service btw).Made it to San Jose. Pretty ghetto. Although not that trash-y, for a big city. Sooo much traffic, but I suppose normal for a city. We also were trying to avoid the myriad toll roads since we ran out of cash.
Animal refuge. I'm so glad we did this. Had an English-speaking guide tell us about all the animals. It was cool to see the ocelots, toucans, and of courrrse the sloth. He or she was sleeping and adorable.
Lunch at Jardin de Lolita--outdoor area with a bunch of food stalls. Got my food from Batanga; the kids had burgers, Cliff had fish tacos. Good food, cute place, good for kids.
Checked into Hampton Inn. Nice and clean; room was echo-y though. Let the kids swim and got Dennys for dinner. Ha. Slept surprisingly well for us all being in one room!
Thursday
Navigating to avis demonstrated a common theme; navigating in google maps is a joke cuz it does not have things updated or accurate in this country. We were told to use Waze instead but cliff didnt do this since data service was spotty and would've interrupted? I dont know...Anyway we made it to the airport with plenty of time; security wasn't too bad. We got breakfast and then shopped the shops. The SJO airport is nice; wish I'd taken advantage of cheap/duty-free alcohol prices! Got two Lizano sauces since I never actually tasted it IN costa rica. Ridiculous!
I can't complain about the flight... I watched shows, got a lot of reading done, and even napped a little while Cliff sat with both kids two rows behind me....
Even the drive home from LAX wasn't too bad thanks to the carpool lane! Got back around 4:30.
Random thoughts/For next time:
Costa Rica is big on eco-friendliness and hand-washing. I wonder if the hand-washing campaign was already in place before covid. Almost every restaurant/little "soda" has at LEAST a hand sanitizer station and often a whole sink just sitting at the front of the restaurant with signs telling you the proper way to wash your hands. Something else I noticed; it seemed like a lot of places have nice-ish bathrooms. Er, tidy bathrooms? Maybe not nice.Look into La Mansion overlooking Lake Arenal. We drove past right at sunset, and it was one of the most breathtaking scenes I've ever witnessed. The hotel, the cows, the lake.
Pack enough clothes assuming you don't have access to laundry (unless you explicitly know you do). The running leggings I brought were hard to wear in the humidity (hard to take on/off); looser pants would've been better. More quick-dry clothing options would've been good (and easy to wash in the sink if needed).
Maybe buy a mini/foldout bird guide?
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