COSTA RICA - VERY GREEN, COLOURFUL and FULL of ADVENTURES LAND

This picture above... Poás volcano - it is a powerful symbol of the geothermal forces that formed Costa Rica. It's been a whole month and more since our beautiful journey to Central America, and I just close my eyes and still feel the air up there.

So let me start from the very beginning. Planning, as always, took basically 6 months. First, we got the plane tickets. After that we could start to list the places we wanted / could visit (as we had to take in consideration we were travelling with a very active 3 year old boy). The result was amazing; let me share this with you :)

Our Holiday team consisted of: my beloved husband, my angel baby boy, my favorite person in the world - my mum, my other favorite person in the world - my niece and myself. It was very much planned family trip with 4 different locations to stay and visit around. First - Monteverde. Second- La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano. Third - Alajuela/ Poas Volcano. The last one - Puerto Viejo, Limon. There was a short flight from Oslo, Norway to Amsterdam, Netherlands and after that we had a further "delightful" 13 hour plane adventure with a toddler. I was very relieved to “escape” the plane, our little boy was known by all the travelers. We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica in the afternoon. We still had a long car journey to our first destination. It took us ages until we got into the rented car. We waited long at the security boarder for documents check, then currency exchange, sim card, luggage etc… the longest part was the car and of course all the unexpected surprises on the way. The car insurance was rather pricey, basically the same price as the rented car. That wasn’t the plan at all and I made sure to leave review everywhere for any future travelers to be aware of. It was very frustrating to be greeted by this, especially after sleepless trip. Anyway, it did not ruined our holiday mood! Within a second we started to move from the rental place (btw it was “AVIS”) , I couldn’t keep smiling. Maybe one of the main reasons were that because of Covid we had a looooong pause in our travelling life especially that we like countries that are far away from us :) Was so amazing to feel that adventures are right around the corner. Let the holiday begin!

Monteverde. It was rather late when we’ve arrived at our first destination. Trust me, it’s never a smooth ride when I am involved. Reception was closed approx. 15 min before our arrival. The person who waited for us was guard/watcher and only spoke Spanish. My Spanish language homework with: "Where to go? How much?" and so on…. was absolutely useless. I was grateful to all those Mexican series I used to watch when I was younger. Gracias Amigos and after 15 mins we were sitting in the Casa. The sunset in Costa Rica is near 18:00 o'clock and after that is pure darkness, literally pitch black in front of you. We couldn't actually see where we were. We are not used to it like this as in Norway you never get a proper dark night, half of the year is not getting dark at all. The time difference was kicking in making us want to sleep there and then. Arco Iris Lodge - magnificent place to stay in Monteverde. The morning there was stunning: so peaceful, fantastic nature, high mountains, fauna, flora… just breathtaking.

First day we were alone as my mum and niece arrived late that evening. That's why our day started slow, and everything was kind of dictated by our little boy. We have visited Butterfly Garden, and later had a nice tour in Curi Cucha Wildlife Refuge.

It is something special about the nature in Costa Rica. It is so so scenic it’s very hard to put into words. It seems that color "green" has many more shades here than anywhere else in the world.

We ended our day in a restaurant called " Taco Taco". I Have never tried better tacos in my life. I was talking about it all the way long to our Casa.

So later that night our gang was joined by two more members. It was just one more day in Monteverde so we decided not to leave without seeing Hanging bridges. We had this experience in Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. We had an amazing tour with guide. It took us about 1,5 hours, approx. 3 km. It was like walking on the treetops, hike through the cloud forest over a series of suspension bridges. Very exciting and interesting. Happy and a bit tired we left Monteverde. First couple days gave us so many new experiences. Buzzing! Whats next?! La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano.

We have researched about this place 5 days. Our choice to stay at Arenal Vulcano Inn was absolutely worth it. I always appreciate a good service, always first karma points earned isn’t it… so it goes without saying about this place that we were sooooooo not disappointed. The view we had was spectacular all around: volcano right from your bedroom in the morning- no words needed. I forgot to mention about our trip to Arenal. Along the way we had the possibility to meet and feed a very interesting animal Coatis - a racoon-like animal. These five days were magnificent. Prior to holiday we were talking a lot with our son about wide variety of animals, we wanted to see as much as we can. Arenal Natura Ecological Park was a great choice to see something interesting. It was a nice way to see frog species, snakes, butterflies and crocodiles.

Despite that fact that we were travelling with the 3-year-old, we did go to see La Fortuna waterfall. This waterfall is a must to see on the list. To observe this splendid 70 meters high waterfall, we needed to pass a path of approximately 530 steps. The way up was a bit of the training while carrying our son, but so worth it. We have visited this place early hours as later it gets crowded by tourists.

Later, the same day we relaxed at BALDI hot springs. Strange feeling to be in very hot water when it is rather warm outside. The quality standard of the BALDI thermal water spring has no comparison worldwide. This place claims to be the largest hot springs resort in the world! We had a day pass there, waited in the queue for a very long time to enter, but it was worth it as we have never had this experience in our life. It was totally amazing, immediately relaxing and energizing, soothing, and stimulating.

I remember next day I stayed with my mum and son at the hotel while my husband and niece went to canyoneering. This adventure we have tried earlier in Philippines, but it was more extreme this time to my understanding. They came back very happy and exhausted. We have been looking for the place to eat within a second. I want to mention that all the places we have been eating had very good service and delicious food. Some of the places looked very casual, but all of them served amazing food. El Coloso Restaurant in Arenal - the name I will not forget for a long time. We were leaving this area with full package of adventures and memories. Alajuela. Poas Volcano.

Our next destination was Alajuela. We have chosen very Central American farm type location. We were driving basically to an altitude of 2,5 km. Everything was like from the Venezuelan series. The place was called Villa Callas. We have been so high in the mountains that was rather cold. I was thinking why a fireplace in the pictures is there when we were choosing where to stay. But we used it within a second sun went down. On the way to the "series" type of life we had a quick peek to have a look the highest waterfall in Costa Rica. Del Toro Waterfall - happy not to have missed that. We came rather early in the morning so on the way down we’ve met couple little groups, and... boom.. "All by myself" song came to my head straight away. Huge, loud, powerful - this feeling will stay with me for a long time. Both ways were difficult to walk. The stairs were quite steep and slippery. We had to carry our son both ways although he did walk by himself just a little part before the steps.

My mum was struggling to go all the way down. This place is so magical that it takes only a few steps down for the first view of the crater and waterfall. Then, it takes only those few steps more for the first giant ‘WOW so she could enjoy the view from up above. And the price is only 15 USD. Many places in Costa Rica are very expensive to visit. This one is excellent value for money. So, with an amazing experience of the waterfall, beautiful way up to the mountains, we were chilling at Villa Callas by the fireplace and waited for that unforgettable day - Poas Volcano - one of the largest volcano craters in the world! Poas is a very active volcano with regular geyser activity. Visitors have a chance to look down into the crater’s 1000 feet deep abyss. I would have been crying if we come to see it and clouds would have ruined everything. We needed to buy tickets online to see the volcano and to choose specific visiting time. There were only 20 min for viewing in total. If we are lucky = great, If not = we would have to wait until clouds move away or if it was bad weather. WHICH MEANS you need to buy tickets again and to have the same procedure to be able to see everything properly. I was so happy to see this Volcano, it was magnificent, couldn't stop smiling. After that I was ready for last days by the beach.

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.

For the last stay/destination our trip we have chosen Puerto Viejo. We have rented a beautiful house in the middle of the jungle, but just couple hundred meters from the sea. I really wanted to see more animals, and of course how could I leave this colorful and full of fauna country without seeing a sloth. While visiting different locations, there were couple possibilities/national parks, where we could see it. But... like I’ve mentioned before, the prices are very high in Costa Rica, so we took the risk not to visit those parks as we wanted to see it naturally. And BINGO... I think we have less than 3 hours in the house… on the way out to eat, and the sloth was hanging in the tree. Check!!! and again, smile does not leave my face. Just couldn’t believe our luck! The place by the sea was very different comparing to lives in the mountains. We were living with the sounds of monkeys, parrots, snakes, frogs... We also had a "friend" that definitely looked like rat/dog.

Also plenty of lizards, spiders. Very interesting experience. Our days in Puerto Viejo could be explained as very easy - PURA VIDA - an expression of happiness, optimism, and living life to the full. It is impossible to visit Costa Rica without hearing this phrase continuously. While staying by the beach, we have visited an old sunken ship at Manzanillo beach.

One more fact- Those colorful birds called Ara live absolutely free there. We had a chance to visit The Ara Project. https://aramanzanillo.org/about/background/ - Great Green Macaws are the largest parrots within their natural range, the second heaviest macaw species and the third heaviest parrot species in the world. There were a very helpful volunteer from Denmark, who told us the whole history and meaning of this place. Very great project, and beautiful birds.

Our last dinner in Costa Rica was at the place LA NENA. We wanted to have a special night with the lobsters. I could absolutely not fault that! And like I said, all the places were very simple, with great service and super food.

Well, that is all. We had a long trip back home, but very very happy. Had a great rest from home and routine and today we already dreaming and planning our next adventure. I can still smell the coffee and flowers, there is still some sand in our luggage’s and our son still talks about ants, snakes, spiders and the sea. He loves the sea. Caribbean Sea - something that you will never forget.

P.S. Did I not mention above it’s never a smooth ride when I am involved?! Our last breakfast in the morning before leaving - huge ants began to run out of the old dining table. I began to slap all of them with a slipper, my son was standing on the chair and showing me were to slap, mum is running around wanting to help… it was such a chaos and everything approx. 6:00 o'clock in the morning. Could it be more of the wakeup call ?! :))... P.S.S. The cap was left by the La Fortuna Waterfall :( .

"The more I see, the more I feel"...

> P.P.

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