Costa Rica

Included is a summary of my activities in Costa Rica, complete with commentary and travel tips and lots of pictures (44), all externally linked.

To summarize: From March 20-29, 2007 I went to Costa Rica with my older sister. We went to San Jose, Fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio.

Tuesday March 20: Our plane left in the evening and was a red-eye. This meant two things; 1) a mini-trip in Seattle involving Blue C sushi and 2) I got next to no sleep on the airplane. We had a layover in Miami, which I thought was a rather junky airport. But it did have an interesting fish wall.

Wednesday March 21: We arrived at the Juan Santamaria International airport in the morning and took a bus to San Jose. The bus let us off somewhere downtown, and we proceeded to walk and attempt to find our hotel. The streets aren’t really labeled in San Jose, and the picture of our hotel location in our guidebook was wrong. We finally found our hotel after about an hour and a half, Hotel Aranjuez and checked in. It’s in the Barrio Amon neighborhood, which is a little up from downtown and fulls of hospitals. The hotel was nice, and cheap. Walking to our hotel I saw a lot of American things like Payless Shoesource, Converse, Levi’s store, KFC, McDonalds, Burger Kind, Subway, and Wendy’s. Also, when walking to the hotel I forgot to put on sunscreen and got horribly sunburned (yay!).

After we checked into our hotel we wondered the neighborhood a little. I saw this outside a small food store and giggled at “Bob Espongia”. I had my first Costa Rican meal in a small soda restaurant, which consisted of black beans, rice, mashed potatoes, coleslaw salad, and a fresh fruit drink. All the restaurants there make drinks from tropical fruit concentrates mixed in water or milk that are basically smoothies, and they’re delicious.

Thursday March 22: My sister and I woke up at 4:30 am in order to catch a 6 am bus to Fortuna. The sun rises at about 5:30 am and sets at about 6:30, so everyone gets up early and everything closes early. We took a public bus for four hours to get to Fortuna.

Once there, we checked into Arenal Backpacker’s Resort. We had a bunk bed co-ed dorm room for $10 per person so it was a good deal. The hostel had a swimming pool with swim-up bar, hammocks to lie in, and a view of Arenal Volcano.

We ate lunch at a place called Lava Rocks cafe, and the casado I had there was all fancy. I had a papaya fruit smoothie too, and I discovered that fresh papaya isn’t very good, at least with not much sugar.

Later that afternoon/evening we took a volcano and hot springs tour. We took a guided hike on the El Silencio trail to see the volcano first. We saw some wildlife, like this tarantula making a modern home, and then we got rained on. The sound of the approaching rain was like a thunderclap, and no one in our group had jackets or ponchos except our guide. It started raining half-way through our tour, so we walked quickly back to the van. Here’s how menacing the sky looked when it was raining. Unfortunately, because of the rain I didn’t get to see any eruptions. Arenal Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and I didn’t see any lava, boohoo.

After the hike, we went to Tabacon Hot Springs and Resort. This place was super fancy, and super relaxing. They had a swim-up bar and I drank a $9 coco loco cocktail with coconut milk, rum, and creme de menthe. The hot springs are a river flowing directly from the volcano, and soaking in them was so nice. It was the best part of the trip.

After soaking, we had a buffet dinner. I was looking forward to having something different from beans and rice and casados, but lo and behold: it was “typical Costa Rican” theme night. There were very little vegetarian main-dish options, as they used chicken stock, etc. But I managed to get creative and once I found warm tortillas I made cabbage vegetable tacos all night. Not to mention all the tropical fruit you can eat.

Friday March 23: We took a jeep-boat-jeep to Monteverde in the morning. This involves driving to Lake Arenal, then taking a boat across the lake, then taking a Jeep-like car on the bumpy, unpaved roads to Monteverde. It’s only 22 kilometers to Monteverde from Fortuna or something like that, but the transportation takes about 3 hours because the roads are so bad. We saw lots of cows on the way, and the scenic trip is absolutely beautiful.

Monteverde is so nice, but a little dusty because 99% of the roads aren’t paved. Monteverde was established by American expat Quakers in the 50’s so there’s a unique history there. They also have a cheese-making factory and the Monteverde cheese is pretty famous. I didn’t try any, needless to say. I did find an awesome ice cream shop featuring vegan sorbets, however. I had the guanabana flavor twice in three days.

We checked into our room at Arco Iris Lodge. We had a four-bed bunk bed budget room with private bathroom, only $35 total a night. Too bad we didn’t have two extra people, otherwise it would have been ridiculously cheap. Arco Iris was very nice, with beautiful flora and grounds, but I missed having a pool.

After we checked in we headed over to the Orchid Garden. I had no idea but there are 1,500 species of wild orchids in Costa Rica. The garden there has 400 species, and 125 blooming when we went. Some of my favorite orchids I saw include the shooting star, and others: one, two, and three. There were also lots of interesting plants, including a wild cucumber plant, what looks like grapes, ground flora, and this intestine-looking plant.

After that, we went to CASEM craft co-operative. I bought some fair-trade, organic, shade-grown coffee there and some other things. It was a cute place.

Saturday March 24: We took a guided tour of the Monterverde Cloud Forest. Our guide was amazing and spoke perfect English, and the guide was informative and lasted about 4 hours. Unfortunately, there were hardly any clouds when we were there, but it was still amazing to see the rainforest flora and fauna. We saw quetzales, which everyone wants to see, and they had a hummingbird gallery. We also saw lots of flora, and these ancient trees: one and two. Here I am in front of the second tree.

After the cloud forest, we walked to the Lecheria, which is the Quaker cheese-making factory. They give tours, but we weren’t there at the right time, so we looked in at the process through the observation area. Nothing too interesting, really.

After that we had lunch at Flor de Vida, which was marked on our map as a vegetarian restaurant. However, it wasn’t vegetarian anymore. It was a little expensive, but I had some awesome polenta and a yummy coconut milk, ginger, cinnamon smoothie.

For dinner went to an Italian restaurant called Tramonti. It was super fancy with wine glasses, paper napkins, white tablecloths, candles on the tables, and mood lighting. I had some vegan spaghetti, which was pretty good. The food was reasonably priced, as even the fancy restaurants in Costa Rica are mid-ranged in American prices.

Sunday March 25: We decided to stay an extra day in Monteverde instead of heading to Manuel Antonio today. My sister took advantage of this and did the canopy zip-line and skywalk Selvatura tour at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest. I absolutely refused to do this because I’m scared of heights, but it worked out.

While she was zipping around in the rainforest, I went to the butterfly garden. It was amazing to walk into enclosures with butterflies flying all around you. My favorite butterfly is definitely the blue morpho, but I saw lots of other nice ones. This might be a Monarch, this one I call the panda butterfly and this one is a blue morpho’s outer wings. A butterfly called Halloween even landed on me, which means I have good luck.

Next I went to the Frog pond. I was expecting literal ponds and being able to touch frogs, but it was all enclosed glass exhibits. Which I suppose is good, because who wants to touch poisonous dart frogs anyway? It was nice seeing the bright-colored poisonous dart frogs and other species. My ticket was good for a second admission, meaning I could have gone at night to see the nocturnal frogs active, but I didn’t go back because I thought it was sort-of lame overall. The “blue jeans” or strawberry poison dart frog was my favorite.

I bought my lunch from the supermarket, which consisted of a ripe avocado, Bimbo brand tortillas, and plantain chips. Also, I had more guanabana sorbet because that stuff is addicting.

Monday March 26: In the morning we took a coffee tour from Don Juan coffee. Our guide was a young art student Miami expat who (of course) spoke perfect English so it was nice. I didn’t have much idea of the process that it takes to make coffee, so it was interesting to see real coffee plants and see the whole process from planting to packaging. After the tour we even had a “coffee buffet” and I had an espresso and a cup of black coffee. There was also these really good fried bean empanadas and dark chocolate covered coffee beans to munch on. The Don Juan farm only grows Arabica coffee, so it’s really good. It’s also fair-trade, according to our guide. Also, Don Juan is a real man who started the coffee farm and grows his own corn moonshine and crops to live off of, and I met him. I even got to ride in an authentic oxcart.

After the tour, we took a Gray Line bus to Manuel Antonio. The ride took about 5 hours, but the bus was small and air-conditioned so it wasn’t so bad. We stopped somewhere along the way and saw tucans and monkeys in the mango trees.

By the time we got to Manuel Antonio at 9 in the evening, all we could do was check into La Colina hotel and have dinner in their restaurant. I had some really good green curry with avocados and vegetables and a coconut daiquri.

Tuesday March 27: Manuel Antonio was super warm and humid, and during the day it was pretty uncomfortable. Today we took a taxi to Manuel Antonio National Park, where the best beaches are. You can even see some wildlife, and we saw iguanas, Capuchin monkeys, and an anteater.

We spent the morning at the lovely beach and I somehow managed to sunburn my shins. I loved wading in the Pacific Ocean, however. I kind of wanted to try surfing, but they didn’t offer it inside the national park so I didn’t.

For lunch we ate sushi at this restaurant called Coconuts. I had avocado maki, which was excellent. Then we shopped along the “strip” of Manuel Antonio for jewelry and I got some niece oceany pieces. Oh, also the street vendors sell agua de coco, which is literally a coconut they chop the top off of and stick a straw into. It was delicious!

Next we went to Quepos to shop and find an ATM. Quepos is only 6 kilometers away from Manuel Antonio, but it’s quite junky and reminded me of a little San Jose. I did find some souvenirs and ate some awesome freshly fried plantain chips, though.

For a pre-dinner drink we headed over to El Avion restaurant. This place is cool, and built around an airplane. But not just any plane, the American cargo plane that the Sandanistas shot down in Nicaragua in the 1980’s thus exposing the Iran-Contra Affair. Inside the airplane is a neon-lit bar, but we didn’t sit in it because it was too hot.

The hot hot humid weather in Manuel Antonio got to me, and I felt sort of under the weather that evening. I ended up turning in early, skipping dinner, and watching My Super Dulces 16 Spanish-dubbed on Latino MTV. My sister had some Costa Rican beers at the hotel bar, and made friends with the American expat owners of the hotel, who offered her a bartending job.

Wednesday March 28: We were supposed to go to the beach again in the morning before we left but we didn’t. Instead, we slept in and I got some reading done. We had lunch in the hotel restaurant again, and I had an amazing avocado salad which consisted of nothing more than avocados, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Mmmmm.

We caught an Interbus back to San Jose in the afternoon. The ride was about 4 hours, and there was a lot of traffic in San Jose when we got there. By the time we got to our hotel everything shopping-related was closed so we went and had dinner at Tin Jo, which serves pan-Asian food. I had some stir-fry bok choi, shiitake mushrooms, and hearts of palm and spicy ma po tofu. We also had spring rolls as a starter which were pretty good, and for dessert I had an exotic sample of fruit sorbets. The sample included lemongrass and mint, passion fruit, orange with basil, papaya colada, and blackberry with anise. Yum! Tin Jo was a pretty fancy place with tablecloths and table candles and whatnot, but it wasn’t super expensive.

Thursday March 29: We had to wake up at 4:30 am in order to get to the airport early enough to make our 8 am flight. We took a taxi and got there by 5:30 am and the airport was super busy already. We had to wait in line after line, and our plane ended up being over an hour delayed. Because of this, we nearly missed our connection from LAX. We literally had a half hour between our flight landing in LAX and our connection taking off. We ran all through that airport, and rushed through customs, immigration, and security, and even had to get boarding passes. Luckily, our connection to Seattle was delayed and once we got to the gate we even had time to use the restroom and get food. We made our flight, and I don’t think some other people on our first flight did. I think what saved us was the fact that we didn’t check any baggage, which requires having to wait at baggage claim, being searched, and rechecking your baggage. I even managed to smuggle in a bottle of Lizano salsa, which was clearly more than 3 ounces. I was nearly caught in LAX, but alas I evaded security!

Upon arriving in Seattle, my sister and I had to take an hour long bus ride to North Seattle to fetch her car parked at a friend’s house. Then we drove to IKEA, and I saw many many things I wanted to buy but I limited myself to a few small things. I bought a French press to make all the kickass Costa Rican coffee I bought myself, which I’m excited for.

Souvenirs: I brought home lots of coffee (mostly whole-bean), some of which was purchased at supermarkets and therefore cheaper. I bought three magnets for myself. I got a brown tank top I like very much. I bought Derek a lot of presents (like a t-shirt, shotglass, coffee soap, coffee, magnet, sticker, etc), and presents for my mom and some friends. Food-wise, I bought the aforementioned Lizano, 6 guanabana mix packets (kind of like kool-aid I think), a box of guava bites (square little guava jelly things), a box of tropical-flavored tea, and a cocoa powder and cinnamon drink mix. I also got several pieces of jewelry: one bracelet, three necklaces, and four pairs of earrings. I also bought a mini-drum with hibiscus flowers, which goes well with the mini-drum I got in Africa (even though I don’t “drum”). And to clutter up my fridge, I bought three magnets. Finally, I bought a very cool looking photo album to make a travel scrapbook to show everyone. Yay for stuff.

General tips: You can get by well in Costa Rica not knowing much Spanish. It definitely helps, and people appreciate the effort. The people I encountered were very friendly and I never felt unsafe traveling by myself or with my sister. Granted, we didn’t walk around too much at night in San Jose or make ourselves obvious targets.

Taxis were cheap and often the best way to go. They typically cost only a few bucks. Since addresses are few in Costa Rica, you can just tell your driver the name of the place you want to go and they will take you there. If you don’t know Spanish too well than it can be hard to understand the amount of colones owed for the ride, but most drivers I experienced know how to say the amount in English.

Lots of restaurants, tours, attractions, and shops accept credit cards (Visa and Mastercard mostly). ATMs are frequent but only a few accept international cards, and even fewer still accept Mastercard. I had a problem with my debit Mastercard at times, but fortunately my sister let me borrow money and whatnot when I needed it. It’s probably best to pull out enough money for at least half your trip at the airport as soon as you arrive.

What to eat: Casados are typical Costa Rican dishes. They’re served with a variety of meats, poultry, seafood, or vegetarian. Sides include rice, beans, coleslaw salad, vegetables, fried plantains or bananas, and sometimes mashed potatoes or french fries.

Gallo pinto is the national breakfast, or so it seems. This dish consists of rice and beans, and it’s really good. Try some Lizano salsa on top, yumm.

Restaurants don’t put dressing on salads, unless it’s a very American-influenced restaurant. Typically salads are shredded coleslaw with tomatoes and cucumbers, and you might get oil and vinegar in bottles to put on top.

The produce just tastes better in Costa Rica. There is a large selection of tropical fruits available, including: pineapple, papaya, mango, cantaloupe, watermelon, bananas, and plantains. The tomatoes and avocados just tasted better.

Make sure you try the fruit smoothies widely available, I think they’re called naturales or something along those lines. You can get them in tons of flavors from cantaloupe to passion fruit to guava to guanabana to blackberry. Sooo good.

More foods to try include hearts of palm, which are amazing and unlike the canned kind we can get in America. Also, don’t miss the guanabana or soursoup!

Overall, I had a relative easy time finding vegan food everywhere I went. Occasionally I’d get a casado with a non-vegan side dish such as pasta salad made with mayo, but I’d simply push it to the side and eat everything else. I bought some food with me: Lara bars, Stonewall’s Jerquee, and fruit leathers. I didn’t eat even half of the food I brought. I also had Emergen-C, which helped me stay healthy! I recommend the new Ora-Pops variety, which are little tables that taste like Sweetarts and dissolve on your tongue.

As a vegan or vegetarian in Costa Rica, you will get your fill of rice, beans, coleslaw, and fruit. But hey, all those things are good for you in the first place.