We’ve returned from our honeymoon to Costa Rica and had an amazing time. First, we stayed at the Riu in Guanacoste. It was your typical all inclusive resort with very average (at best) food and drinks. We did discover that they hide the good liquor unless you ask for it, so once we discovered that it made a difference in the caliber of the drinks. While there we:
– Took a sunset boat ride in the Pacific Ocean, just the two of us along the coast and stopped at an undeveloped beach/island where the only footprints were our own.
– Took a night stroll down to the beach where we saw a Sea Turtle that had come in to lay her eggs. It took about an hour and a half and was sooo neat to see her dig the nest and get back into the ocean.
After 4 nights at the Riu, we rented a car and drove from Liberia airport to La Fortuna, where we stayed at Nayara with an amazing view of the Arenal volcano. As the bird flies, it’s probably no more than an hour trip, but it takes over 3 hours to drive. You have to drive along Lake Arenal and you turn more than you drive straight. It is the windiest road I have ever seen, no exaggeration. Here we:
– Saw a Coati (pronounced Cō-ah-tee) on the side of the road. These are like a Costa Rican raccoon, but they aren’t nocturnal and they have a long skinny snout and a bushy tail.
– Went “canyoning” where we hiked through a river and repelled down 4 waterfalls. 2 were small and two were really high – one was 155 ft and one was 230 ft.
– Went zip lining down a mountain by Lake Arenal. Total, I think there were 8 different zip lines. The company we went with have the highest, fastest and longest zip lines in the country. The highest is 630 ft, the longest is half a mile (took 40 seconds to get across) and the fastest you go 40-50 miles an hour. One of them went right through the trees in the forrest, kind of the way you do on a ski lift, but the trees were much taller.
– Rode horses through a private farm (for an hour) to a waterfall that was unbelievably gorgeous (and secluded).
– Went to a natural hot spring, heated by Arenal (the volcano)
– Got volcanic mud massages/facials
At Nayara, on the property, they had an Amazon parrot and three Macaws (two blue and one red). On our last day, the hubs got the Amazon parrot on his arm for a photo opp. It started nipping at him and, of course, the hubs freaked out. Instead of trying to put him down, he started spinning in circles like a crazy person. Of course, the bird only clamped on harder and got more agitated, so the hubs continued to spin around like a crazy person. After a minute, one of the guys who works at the hotel came and took the bird. I’m still laughing about it. I wish I had a video. They also had a few bunnies running around the property. One day when we were walking by the front office to the restaurant, one of the men who works at the hotel had a baby bunny cornered. It was adorable. Probably the size of both of my fists and gray. The man was trying to catch the bunny for whatever reason and it just kept running away from him. This man was literally running in circles chasing the bunny. It provided us with about 5 minutes of I-can-barely-breathe laughter. Finally, the bunny ran into the nearby plants and the man gave up.
We had a great time, but I do have to say the food was rather disappointing on this trip. I can’t help but wonder if living in New York has spoiled me when it comes to food. Nayara was amazing and I would definitely recommend staying there to anyone who is going to Costa Rica and there is SO much to do in that area. Can’t wait for our next trip…maybe Europe? :)
Predictably Unoriginal 