April 12, 2015 Costa Rican Road Trip



We had to boogie to get to Golfito as the date for loading Serenity onto the transport vessel was April 15th—and if we did not show up we lose our money. So, we arrived in Golfito a week before the loading date—then we received word that the loading date was delayed to April 28th. Golfito is a neat place, but not that neat. Afterall, the 95 degree heat and 95% humidity does get to you. But, with the lemons we made lemonade—we decided to go on a road trip!--pura vida!
There are basically three things to see and do in Costa Rica; 1. San Jose, the capital. 2. The rainforest. 3. The beaches. We set out to see all three. We flew from Golfito to San Jose where we stayed three nights. San Jose was a treat as the Ticos were so nice to us, and it is cooler there—like really nice. We took a City Tour in San Jose which was fun and our hotel was about two miles from downtown—a nice walk. The Cental Mercado in San Jose was clean and huge—we enjoyed our walk through the winding, narrow pathways. We also enjoyed the traditional lunch we were served on the tour, as well as the visit to the Mascarada makers shop. There is a wood worker in Escazu, a suburb of San Jose, who makes beautiful pieces of wood art that we visited. The Artist, Barry, was from Michigan and he enjoyed showing us his garden and workshop—pura vida!
The time flew and we soon were on a four hour van ride to La Fortuna—the town at Arenal Volcano National Park. The hotel at La Fortuna, the Royal Corin, was awesome with hot natural spas, pools, and beautiful gardens. Our room at the Royal Corin had a double jacuzzi tub with a flat screen TV built into the tub—total decadence. We toured the rainforest, walking miles over long suspended bridges under the canopy of the trees. We also zipped lined in the rain through the rain forest—very cool. The roads at La Fortuna were very bumpy and one of the guests on our van said that riding the roads was called a Costa Rican massage—pura vida!
We took another van ride to Tamarindo on the Nicoya Peninsula which is on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. Tamarindo has beautiful beaches, warm clear water, mild surf, and good restaurants. Our hotel was called the Garden of Eden and it was very nice—although, not as nice as the Royal Corin. We had plans to surf, and do stand up paddle boarding, in Tamarindo—but we ended up just chilling out with long walks on the beach and sitting by the nice swimming pools. It is a hard job but someone has to do it. All in all we spent ten days traveling around Costa Rica and we enjoyed every minute of our road trip—pura vida!