Costa Rica adventure

I planned an exciting 2-week trip to Costa Rica arriving in San Jose, then driving to the Pacific coast and visiting most of the beaches on that side of the island from Tamarindo to Uvita. The trip started off ok except the first flight was delayed going to Dallas. Then, the aircraft sat on the runway for at least 15 minutes because of heavy aircraft traffic. When we finally arrived at our gate the stewardess asked the people on the aircraft to please wait and let the people who had connecting flights get off first. Instead, they all got off very slowly and regrettably they reminded me of sloths. My connecting flight was on the other side of the airport, so I had to run to a catch the tram that was maybe 15 minutes away, ride it, and run the rest of the way to the gate. In the hurry I was in I accidently got on the tram going in the opposite direction and had to ride completely around the airport but luckily I still made it with a few minutes to spare! I spent the night in an ABNB near the airport. The following day I drove to La Fortuna but stopped at the blue waterfalls to explore and take pictures. I had tried to visit a La Paz waterfall on the way there, but they said it was too late to hike there. It was only around 1pm however its a 2.2 mile hike which takes 2-3 hours to hike straight hike but 4-5 hours hiking the nature trail.

Driving in Costa Rica is not an easy feat! Your best friend for driving there is an APP called Waze although it had me going backwards a couple of times? It even works offline and informs you about most road hazards including one lane bridges, road humps, cars, trucks or people in the road. What it doesn’t tell you about are the crazy bikers that weave between traffic without following traffic rules. You also need to have very good patience because there aren't many good freeways so normally you’ll go slow. The roads are a serious obstacle course, and you will need to constantly pay close attention to avoid the numerous potholes and various other road obstructions. 

The Blue waterfalls were very beautiful. There is one very tall one at the main entrance and a few others in that area and for a few dollars more you can drive 500 meters to 6 more impressive waterfalls. It’s a lot of hiking but well worth it. At some of them you can swim in the pristine water. They are in some very steep hills, and I was worn out after hiking to all of them.

After the waterfalls adventure I drove onto La Fortuna to spend the night at an ABNB. I had found the street for the ABNB, but it was a dirt road, and I went too far and had to turn around but somehow scraped the front lower right panel of my rental car! It was not a very big spot, but I’ve had bad luck with rental companies where they charged me several hundred dollars for small things like that and I had used my credit card for insurance which doesn’t cover that stuff! So, I had that to worry about that the whole trip! But I tried to be positive. I finally arrived at the ABNB, and it was in a perfect location near the city with a very good view of the volcano.

The next day I drove to the volcano and hiked and explored the scenic mountain. There were clouds covering the top of the mountain, but it cleared up briefly during the day. It is a very iconic and interesting volcano.

The next day I drove to one of the most famous waterfalls of Costa Rica, called Rio Celeste and hiked and took pictures of it. The pool of water has an aqua blue color making it one of the most unique ones in the world. I was one of the first ones there to start the hike and thought I would be there early for the best lighting even though timed entry started at 800AM. In addition, somehow, I had booked the wrong date, but they let me in anyway. As I was hiking, I turned at a sign that had all of the arrows pointing one way. There wasn’t a sign pointing towards the actual waterfall, so I walked right by it and down a hike that goes to a few pools of water and a dead end! I went back and hiked to Rio Celeste and enjoyed it for an hour or so. 

Then, I drove to Tamarindo which is a big surfing spot with many tourists. It was nice and there was quite a huge crowd of young surfer's learning to surf and they had a nice surfing school there. I walked and relaxed on the beach. Then, I ate dinner and enjoyed happy hour at Walter’s restaurant enjoying the sunset while a two-man saxophone band played some classic songs. I also enjoyed a typical meal called a Casado, consisting of rice, beans, salad, fried plantains, and your choice of meat, chicken, or fish. I always picked fish, and it was always a good meal and not too expensive. Maybe $6-$10. I didn’t take many photos here with my camera but caught a nice silhouette of someone riding a horse across the sand with the sunset in the background with my iPhone.

The next day I drove to Samara beach. A very nice quiet and less touristy place. This turned out to be the worst day of the trip! First, I tried finding the house by Waze, but it kept taking me to the wrong location. Finally, the landlady gave me the right address, and it was about 15-20 minutes away on a rough dirt road. When I got there, there was no way to park because there was a large ditch on the road next to the house! It was an entire house which seemed nice but no AC and lots of big strong fans.  I thought that would be ok until later that night when I tried to get some sleep. I had to open the windows because it was extremely hot and humid there. However, there were no screens on the windows or mosquito net provided. I tried to sleep until the mosquitos started landing on me, then I sprayed repellent on me, but they still kept attacking me! I didn’t get much if any sleep that night and got up at 4AM to go shoot pictures at a nearby beach called Playa Carrillo where I also shot pictures both nights at sunset. I told the landlady I couldn’t stay there another night because it was not safe with the windows open all night and unhealthy with the mosquitoes, so she refunded the second night.

Then, I found a nice replacement ABNB near the beach with AC! Parking was a little tricky, but they let me do my laundry for only $5. This place had a nice view of the ocean and despite the bad day I captured the awesome sunset and sunrise during the blue and golden hours.

My next stop was Montezuma, and this was an even quieter, less touristy place than Samara beach. The place I stayed at was near the beach and no AC again, but the windows had screens, and they provided netting over the bed. It wasn’t too bad without AC. I went to bed early to shoot the sunrise around 5AM again. Here, because of the position of the beach sunrises are usually better than sunsets. I tried the top-rated restaurant at Montezuma, and it was so tasty I ate there twice. It was called Soda Tipica Las Palmeras. I tried the tuna steak and the seafood pasta, but they have nice daily specials. I also visited the Butterfly Brewing Co. Gastro Pub where you can watch jungle wildlife including several monkeys from the bar. I saw a few howler monkeys feeding in the trees. There’s also a nice butterfly garden to see several varieties of butterflies. That was a fun day watching wildlife and having lunch with tasty beer.

The next day I drove to Paquera landing and took the Paquera ferry to Puntarenas. When I arrived at Paquera ferry I tried some cheap but tasty seafood ceviche from a small stand at the ferry dock. Then, when I drove in and placed my car in line I showed them my mobile ticket. They told me I had purchased the wrong ticket and it was for a truck, not a car so they gave me another ticket with a card to get the correct ticket at the ferry ticket window. I waited for a long time along with several others for someone to show up to hopefully get my ticket fixed and a refund. However, when they finally showed up, they redid the paperwork and had me sign new paperwork but no refund? While I was in line I talked to a guy from Costa Rica who knew English, and he was trying to help me get a refund however after talking to a couple of people he said they don’t give refunds because the website is different than the company at the actual ferry dock. In fact, he told me the website charges you more than if you buy tickets at the dock! I just like planning ahead for my trips. Finally, they directed me to park my car in the lower deck. Then, I went up to the second level where they had AC, drinks and food. I stayed there for a while and then went to the top deck where they had a bar and played lively Costa Rican music. I liked the music and a majority of it had an accordion sound along with other instruments. I drove to Jaco that day and was pleasantly surprised to see they had AC in the room. This was another nice beach with a lot of surfers again. It was also very touristy, and I walked around and relaxed on the beach. I didn’t take many pictures because it was very overcast most of the time.

The next day I drove to Uvita and it was finally clearing up, so I hiked up to a place called El Miro. It’s up on a cliff overlooking Jaco. It was going to be a luxurious mansion with white pillars and arches and a spectacular view of Jaco, but the owner died before it was built. There are also some colorful and beautiful murals of birds and animals carved and painted on a wall on the hike up the hill. The drive to Uvita was filled with amazing sites including huge plantations of palm trees that filled the area in distinctive rows along the road. I stopped and took several pictures of these amazing trees. I also visited the Manuel Antonio Park and went on a guided tour. We saw many birds and animals that I would not have seen without the guide. We saw several birds including toucan, a huge boa constrictor, a few sloths, monkeys, deer, lizards, bats, and an anteater!

When I got to my ABNB in Uvita it was close to dark and astonishingly they also had a nice bar/restaurant with good food and beer from a brewery on tap. The next day I walked the beach and out to the whale's tail formed in the sand when its low tide. This area is also famous for whale sitings at certain times of the year. Then, I searched the jungle for more wildlife and found several monkeys sleeping and then flying along the branches through the jungle. Later, that day I got some nice sunset pictures. I got up the last day at 5AM and shot the sunrise but it wasn’t as good as the sunset. The ocean was very strong and wild while I visited Costa Rica. They canceled the snorkeling trip to Cano island because they said it was too rough and bad visibility! 

I drove back to the San Jose, and the route went back through Jaco the same way I came in. So, I was able to take more pictures of some scenes I had missed on my way out. When I turned in my car the rental car person asked me if there were any problems and I told him about the small scrape on the lower right front side, and he said he would talk to his supervisor about it. Then, he told me there would be no charge. Just for me to write a good review for their company! I rated Adobe car rental in Costa Rica number one in the world!  I wished the trip had ended there, however the next day I wasn’t paying attention and thought I was at the right gate to fly home but I was at the wrong gate and for some strange reason the flight I was waiting on delayed for weather while mine actually took off? Otherwise, I may have made my flight when they saw my ticket and said it was the wrong airline! I will definitely not let that happen again. I spent the night at the airport because of that blunder! 

Traveling and photography is not an easy feat. There is a lot of planning, traveling and hope that the weather is right for some magic moments to make some breathtaking images. I have been lucky to find some awe-inspiring moments.