Costa Rica Part 1 – Pura Vida

This is mainly a house remodel blog but every once in awhile you gotta take a break. Adam and I just returned from our trip to Costa Rica and it was AMAZING!!!!! I cannot wait to go back. We were there for four nights which is usually enough time for us to see what we want and move on but there is still so much more left to do.

A little bit of background information: We stayed at the JW Marriott – Guanacaste, an oceanfront resort. The resort was beautiful and immaculate but it was quite remote and Americanized so you couldn’t get a feel for the local scene and culture. The resort is about 1.5 hours from the airport and about 2.5 hours from the rainforest. I wouldn’t stay here again but that isn’t a knock on the resort, I would just rather be in the middle of action, not secluded.

The first full day we were in Costa Rica we went to Tamarindo, a surf town about 30 minutes from the resort. This place was spectacular, totally laid back and chill. Pretty much everyone speaks English and a lot of stores/restaurants are owned by Americans. This is where I got my shop on. They had some tourist trap shops but some really cute boutiques too. I would really like to return to Costa Rica and spend a couple days in Tamarindo.

We stopped at a restaurant while in Tamarindo – The Surf Shack. This place had THE BEST FRENCH FRIES I have EVER eaten. Sorry for the caps but I cannot put into words how delicious/amazing /bomb/redonk these french fries were. The tacos and burgers were good too. So this place is owned by an American couple – the husband is from Seattle and the wife is from Colorado. They sold all of their belongings 8 years ago and moved to Tamarindo – that is so cool and total boss. Here is their store hours sign.

The next day we were in Costa Rica we went to the rainforest. We thought we were going on a group tour but it ended up being Adam, myself, and the tour guide (Elmer). It took us 2.5 hours to get to our first destination, Llanos de Cortez Waterfall, Guanacaste (I think).  After we left the waterfalls we saw a sloth on our way to the rainforest.

 

After the sloths and waterfall we arrived at Tenorio Volcano National Park (also known as Rio Celeste). The hike was insane! I’m going to be real, if you can’t climb lots of stairs you cannot come to this park. It was a workout and then some. Combine that with the heat and humidity…bonkers but so worth it if you can handle it. I definitely recommend renting the rubber boots because you will be trudging through mud but the payoff is not describable. Just look at the pictures below.

I will be back soon with part two (this blog is not user friendly to operate at all).