Costa Rica Travel Tips

Excursion recommendations:

• Nicaragua tour- highly recommend 
• Mega Combo tour- great value! I only paid $90 for horseback riding, zip lining, water slide, local organic lunch, mud bath, and hot springs
• Palo Verde Boat Tour- fun, but not worth $90 

Other travel tips:

• Carry an empty water bottle through security and refill it after you pass security.
• Pre-book a car rental. We booked from the resort and paid $80 for one day. I met a couple that booked the rental online prior to arriving and they paid about $8 a day. 
• Book excursions at the resort. Our resort had two different travel agencies and we were able to shop at both and negotiate a better deal.
• If you book an excursion with a travel agent, ask if you need a "voucher." We didn't get a voucher when booking the excursion but almost every tour guide asked us for it. 
• Toiletries/ first aid kit: include Wet Ones singles, small hand sanitizer, travel toilet tissue, sting relief wipe, lots of Advil.
• It is better to bring two travel sized sunscreens than one regular sized bottle. You will use a lot of sunscreen, but you probably don't want to lug around a giant bottle on all of your excursions. 
• I wouldn't bring a lap top. The wi-fi at our resort is slow, our hotel room didn't have a free safe, I didn't need the lap top once, and leaving it at home would be one less thing to worry about. 
• Don't bother bringing a hair dryer or straightener. It's too hot.
• Bring small bills. Costa Rica accepts USD, but usually gives change in colones. Next time, I'm just going to bring all of my money in ones, fives, and tens. 
• The cheapest place to buy souvenirs is in Nicaragua. Ignore the shopping "tour guides" because they're annoying and they're just trying to get a tip. 
• Bring small easy to carry snacks like almonds or trail mix because excursion days are long days and you're basically on the tour guide's time. Especially important if you're a picky eater!

Costa Rica Day 7

We were supposed to take a boat to a nearby white sand beach. Unfortunately, it was too windy and the trip was cancelled. We ended up staying at the resort all day.

Since we had nothing to do, we sat at the swim-up bar and waited for them to open. I had like 3 halves of a drink (every time I'd start a drink, a bee would fall inside it and I'd have to get another one) and then I felt drunk. It wasn't even lunch yet! 

I ate a small lunch and then fell asleep by the pool (for four hours!).

By the time I woke up, I was super brown and it was almost time for dinner. At dinner, we said good by to our favorite server, Jimmy. 

After dinner, we relaxed in the hot tub for a couple hours. Then we went back to the room to pack up our stuff. We had to be strategic in our packing because we were very close to the 50lb limit. We went to be sometime after midnight. We had an amazing trip, but I was actually looking forward to coming home and sleeping in my own bed. 

Costa Rica Day 6

On Friday we rented a car and drove to see some of the beaches. Our resort is kind of out of the way and secluded so it was nice to get away. I'm glad we waited until the end of our trip to rent a car and venture off without a tour guide. 

The roads were easy to navigate because there no traffic or busy freeways. 

Our first stop was at a super market. It's always fun to see what every day life is like in Costa Rica. We picked up some snacks and Costa Rican beer. 

The first beach we stopped at was Tamarindo. I really wanted to come here because my co-worker recommended the banana creme pie at Noguis. The pie was definitely worth the drive! 

Next time I come to Costa Rica, I'll definitely spend the majority of my time in Tamarindo. The town was so laid back. When we first arrived, some guys sitting in a tree were like, "Do you guys need any weed?" 

Nope, I need banana creme pie! :P

The next beach we went to was Conchal Beach. We almost didn't stop here because we realized we would have to drive through some sand to get to the beach. I didn't think our little rental car could make it in the sand. We ended up chancing it and I'm so glad we did. This beach is beautiful. We spent over an hour walking along the beach looking at shells.

After that, we went to Flamingo Beach. Sharlene loves flamingos so we had to go just to say that we went.

After that, we went to Coco Beach for more shopping.

We got a little lost on the way home because the roads were so dark. We did eventually make it home in time to eat dinner and sit in the hot tub for a few hours before bed.

Costa Rica Day 5

On Thursday we woke up super early to go to Nicaragua!

Here we are at the Nicaraguan boarder.

One of our first stops was at a lookout spot in Masaya. The view overlooked Apoyo Crater Lake. 

As we were leaving the city there were people flooding the streets and jumping on to cars. If I understood the tour guide correctly, they were welcoming home Oscar Duarte, a Nicaraguan born Costa Rica soccer player. 

We drove up to Masaya Volcano National Park where we got to stand at the edge of a volcano. Unfortunately, it was difficult to see anything exciting because of the sulfur emitted by the volcano. 

We stopped for lunch which was good, but I rushed through it in order to go shopping! Everything is very cheap in Nicaragua. I bought two hammocks for $30. I'm glad I bought most of my souvenirs in Nicaragua!

There were two brothers from Costa Rica that were on the tour. They were about my age so I had fun talking to them during lunch and while shopping. When they saw my giant bag of stuff I bought, I was like, "Yeah, I'm a shopaholic." They found the word very amusing and even asked me later, "what was the word you said? Shopaholic?" LOL. I realized that my American consumerism mentality is soooo different than the Costa Rican values of simple living and environmental sustainability.

After we went shopping we got on the bus and drove to Granada. We took a boat ride to look at the little mansions located on tiny islands in Lake Nicaragua. 

Then we walked around the city of Granda. I LOVED the colorful buildings. I wish I could have spent more time exploring!

Then it was time for our 4 hour journey back to Costa Rica. 

One of the main reasons why we wanted to go to Nicaragua was to get another stamp on our passports. Friends and family members at home "warned" us that Nicaragua was dangerous. We were a little nervous to go because we didn't know what to expect. We asked a lot of Costa Ricans if they felt save in Nicaragua and everyone said we should go. In the end, I'm so glad we went! Because we were part of a tour and we stuck to tourist spots I didn't feel unsafe at all!

My Nicaraguan souvenirs:

Costa Rica Day 4

Today was amazing! We went on an excursion that included horseback riding, zip lining, a water slide, lunch, a mud bath, and a soak in the natural hot springs. We were exhausted by the end of the day!

I didn't have my camera for most of the action activities but we did buy a CD of photos I'll have to look at when I get home. We even needed helmets for the water slide!

Most of the ingredients were organic and grown on the farm where we ate! This was the best spaghetti ever! Throughout the trip, I got the best meals because I ordered the vegetarian meal. 

Mud bath selfie. Sharlene and Nova decided not to do the mud bath. I really enjoyed it and I felt like my skin was so soft after!

After the mud bath, we got to relax in the natural hot springs. The water was so clear and beautiful that we spent the entire time taking underwater pictures of ourselves. 

When we came back to the resort, all we wanted to do is nap by the pool. 

We caught Sharlene taking a selfie and thought we would get in on the action! LOL.

Costa Rica Day 3

We went on an excursion to Palo Verde National Park. The Tempisque River is home to crocodiles, monkeys, bats, birds, iguanas and lots of other interesting animals!

 Our wonderful and knowledgable tour guide:

One thing I thought was interesting was that the tour guide knew exactly where the oldest and largest crocodile would be. Apparently crocodiles are very territorial so that particular crocodile is always in the same spot every morning. After about 10 boats come by to see him, he gets annoyed and moves somewhere else.

We got to see more white face monkeys. I guess they feel safe when the tour boats come close (protected from the crocodiles) so they take that opportunity to drink water. When we pulled up to the tree, our tour guide whistled and said "venga" and the monkeys would swing down and take a drink.

After the tour we went to a restaurant to try Costa Rican food. I loved the plantain chips! 

After that, we were very tired and ready to take a nap by the pool! We relaxed by the pool for about three hours! Time goes by so fast when you are so relaxed!

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was ok, I just had a quesadilla. 

Costa Rica day 2

Our second day was spent relaxing at the resort. We spent a good portion of the day planning and booking our excursions for the week.  I'm glad we waited until we arrived to book the excursions because we were able to negotiate a cheaper price in person. 

The rest of the day was spent drinking piña coladas and sleeping by the pool. About two thirds of the resort is kids from Canada on their senior trip. 

We made reservations for the fancier restaurant. It was nice to get away from the senior trip kids and have a quiet dinner. 

One of the servers calls me "camanances" whenever he sees me lol.