Costa Rica

August 27, 2014

Costa Rica

{ Costa Rica }

My Heart is exploding today as I am once again reminded of the all the blessings in my life and how fleeting and beautiful life is. I am heading home from a fabulous trip in Ontario where I got to spend quality time with the people I love the most. Leaving is always my saddest day.

As I try to catch up in my blogging I always realize how behind I am. I'm about 6 months behind in my own life, but that is okay.

I love every minute of it.

I've already had more adventure and experience than many will in an entire lifetime (and I'm not even close to finished either). When it comes to travelling, near or far, I feel that sometimes reflecting right away is worth while because you re-live every moment, smell, emotion and more or less get to have a trip, or experience, back to back. However, reflecting later is fabulous as it helps in so many ways as well, such as 'Gratitude'. I am so grateful for my trip to Costa Rica. I was thankful when I was there and am even more thankful now, looking back.

When setting out to Costa Rica I didn't entirely know what to expect, I was of course excited, but the whole experience, I assumed, would be so different than I had gotten used to in the backpackers world. I was correct, and I'm so thankful for my totally different experience and how wonderful this experience of a true relaxing vacation was {my first real relaxing non-backpacking vacation .ever.}. With good friends, luxury, and pampering, as well as a side of adventure, it was perfect. Each day we fell asleep and woke up to stunning beaches. We travelled the coast and soaked up many sunsets, beautiful views and lots of different animals in a breathtaking tropical paradise.

With the excitement of what was ahead we set out from Vancouver Airport on our Costa Rican vacation. Stepping out into the hot, humid weather at the San Jose airport we were surrounded by hundreds of locals with name signs waiting to pick up tourists. When we found our car we started the winding journey to a beautiful little town called Quepos. The driver made a few stops on the way where we could pick up some snacks and have a visit at the Tarcoles River. Here we looked down on giant crocodiles from an overpass. I had never seen anything so old, so closely. Arriving in Quepos in the afternoon the town and harbour were sleepy and quiet as the rain fell. It was gorgeous and exciting. We met the boat crew (as we'd be travelling by boat) and got all settled in. While staying around the area of Quepos we headed to Manual Antonio where we took a stroll through the jungle. We didn't get a tour guide but it was obvious the ones who had and this made it easy to see a variety of animals. Up high in the trees were big black howler monkeys, and lazy sleeping sloths. Closer to us, and more curious, were bats, snakes, lizards and Capuchin Monkeys. The path lead to a stunning aqua blue beach with warm white sand. It was the perfect escape from the humid heat and mosquitoes. The beach is called Playa Manuel Antonio. After a quick lunch at a beachside cafe, our next stop was Monkey Mangrove. The Mangrove is a huge area of light browny grey trees that have hundreds of little branches jutting out into the rivers or creeks. We hired a boat on arrival and toured through the river where we fed Capuchin Monkeys, saw lizards walk on water, and even saw a few alligators. After a day filled with outdoor adventure and wild animals we headed North to a harbour in Los Suenos. Here we took a taxi to Jaco to check out the night life. Being new to the country and having no idea of the surroundings, it can be a bit daunting, however we managed to have a fun night on the town.

When we headed to our next destination we stayed in an area called Isla Tortuga where we took advantage of the warm Costa Rican waters. There were gorgeous rock formations that jut out of the blue ocean. The days were beautiful and warm and the evenings often rained with thunder and lightening. We were all pretty satisfied with the best of both types of weather. It was perfection spending the day snorkelling around and checking out the fish as well riding jet-skis around the open water and adventuring around the rock bluffs. There were more pelicans than I have ever seen anywhere else! One of our days here we spent venturing on land on a Rainforest Trek. The long white sandy beach lead to a rickety bridge over a beautiful blue-green estuary, though it was stunning in appearance, we knew it held crocodiles. Our Rainforest Trek wasn't too long or treacherous and we managed to see many different animals; the white nosed coati, lizards, capuchin monkeys, and a large deer.

When a storm hit we travelled to Tambor to find a sheltered area for the night. The next day we decided to see what the area of Tambor was about. The village appeared to be a small fishing town with a cement warf lined with colourful fishing nets and crates. To get to the warf we had to maneuver through many small fishing boats, each had quite a few pelicans perched on top, probably waiting for fishermen to come in with a daily catch. The main road was a dirt road with small homes. There were hardly any people and especially hardly any children. The homes were run down but the people we did see seemed to be happy, which is usually the case. From the warf we could see the sandy beach rapped all the way around the bay. That night as we travelled North we sat on the back deck watching a gorgeous sunset and dolphins jumping alongside the boat. A pretty spectacular end to an already amazing day.

Our next stop was Tamarindo, though we didn't stay long, we all agreed we would have loved to spend more time in a town like this. Tamarindo is a lazy surf town with shops and restaurants lining the streets and beachside massages for 20$. We definitely indulged in the massages. After another beautiful beachside lunch we surfed the rest of the day away. Initially, we headed to the North end of the beach, I think we were mighty confident at this time, as we floated over huge rolling waves we decided perhaps we weren't the seasoned surfers we had thought we were and headed South to a more comfortable area.

Playa Flamingo and Playa Del Coco were our last ocean side stops. We spent a couple days taking advantage of the coast and did some snorkelling, diving and jet-skiing. We adventured through mangroves and relaxed on the boat.

As a stunning trip filled with the sea was coming to an end we headed to San Jose for our last days in Costa Rica. What perfect timing to be here as Costa Rica was playing in the world cup. After a few hours of touring through the city and visiting a busy local market, we found a pub to sit in and enjoy the soccer game. The locals cheered, clapped, screamed and cried. Costa Rica won their game. The emotions were high and the people going wild, from my perspective I would have thought that they had won the entire world cup.

What a way to end a fabulous trip.