A week in the Guanacaste region

On our first day sitting on a terrace and watching the Pacific Ocean was very delightful. We really enjoyed the falls near La Fortuna. It was so beautiful and refreshing. I liked the butterfly farm in Monte Verde. The locals we met while driving in the countryside were so friendly and kind. Although we couldn't communicate much, they reminded me of my relatives. I wished I spoke a little bit Spanish. The roadsides were covered with tropical flowers in many colors, the views were breathtaking and we saw many wild parrots flying in big groups and making loud noises. Eating fresh baked enchiladas and other pastries at a local bakery in the morning was a real treat.

Quick Tips:

We flew in with a chartered plane directly to Liberia airport. It is only 20 minutes away from the Pacific beach, but the airport is very very small.

When you see a sign that says "Information Center" don't be fooled. They are just trying to sell you a tour, a hotel room etc.

Don't look at the map and think that the distances are short. Some roads are unpaved and curve a lot. The paved roads may have lots of potholes or some parts unpaved. The speed limit is very low.

My husband was speeding and a cop stopped him. The cop asked for a bribe. My husband refused gently and the cop just let him go with no ticket. If you get a ticket you should pay at the bank.

In Santa Elena there is a bank, however, you cannot use the ATM as it only accepts Banco National ATM cards. The only way to get money is with a wire transfer from your debit/credit account. Liberia has banks with ATMs.

Best Way To Get Around:

We rented a 4X4 to travel around. The roads to the Volcano Arenal and Monte Verde were unpaved so it makes a 4 wheel drive necessary. However, renting cars caused us many headaches and stress.

Collision Damage Waiver insurance is required as the rental car companies do not accept your own insurance or the Platinium Card coverage.

The customer service level is not what you would expect at a first world country. Here, the customer is NOT always right. We reserved a car online from an Advantage Car Rental company thinking that this is an American Company so we would be treated as we are used to. Big Mistake! The local representative, Economy Car Rental did not receive our reservation and did not have any available cars, but promised a car the next day. To my shock, the next day when we told him we might be double charged as we already gave our credit card information to the online company, he walked out on us, stating that he won't rent us any car.

My suggestion would be to rent from a reputable firm such as Budget, Hertz, etc.

Although we visited Costa Rica in the wet season it was sunny, bright and hot at Playa Hermosa, where Condovac La Costa is located. The wet season meant few tourists and that meant good deals on hotels. Our room was more like a little condo rather than a hotel room. We had a patio, a living area with a built-in kitchen, a master bedroom and a bathroom. The bedroom had a TV, an AC, a safe and two full size beds. Up to 6 people could stay in the units, and might be a cheap way for families. Although we didn’t use it, the kitchen was fully equipped with lots of utensils, appliances and pots and pans for those who want to cook.

We ate at the restaurant located near the reception. While I was sipping my virgin drink I watched the sun reflecting on the Pacific Ocean. Condovac La Costa was located on a hill and the restaurant was on top of the stiff hill. The gentle breeze makes the restaurant and the pool a couple of degrees cooler than the beach. There is also a pool and a gym near the restaurant. On August 15 which is Costa Rica’s Mother’s Day the hotel had a special event for the guests. Lot of food and entertainment (in Spanish). When we checked in we were given a pamphlet about different activities that were offered such as karaoke near the pool, aerobics, eco hiking. We didn’t attend any of the activities as we had limited time and opted to spent it by ourselves.

We swam in the ocean, sun bathed, watched the ticos play soccer on the beach and sun disappear on the Pacific Ocean. The color of the sand is dark, when wet it is black due to volcanic rocks. At the edge of the bay you can see the black rocks made by lava. Lots of crabs, fish, and snails could be seen in this rocky area. We saw a very big fish chase after some small fish very close to the shore. It was also possible to rent jet skis, bananas, kayaks at the beach. There was a small shuttle carrying the hotel guests to their rooms, beach, and the restaurant.

One of my favorite activities was the walk I had by myself at the beach 6 in the morning. I watched the rise of the sun slowly and enjoyed the waves, birds, and trees. Later that morning my husband took me to where he saw the howler monkeys. They like howling near dusk and dawn. After breakfast we saw a group of spider monkeys including a little baby one near our room. Leaf-cutter ants worked hard carrying big pieces of leaves, and every morning the employees threw papayas to attract the iguanas. Wet season is the season to visit the Guanacaste region and as there would be less tourists there is more for us to see.

We stayed at Linda Vista del Norte which overlooks the Volcano Arenal . The best nighttime views, we read, are from the west and north sides of the volcano. Although our lodge, Linda Vista del Norte, had a good view of the volcano, it was a very cloudy night and we didn''t get to see any activity. It cost us $60 including tax to stay there (wet season rate) and included a breakfast. The rooms were pretty horrible, the beds were very old and hardly supported us and we could hear the noises from outside very, very clearly. People sat outside in hopes of seeing some activity and their noises kept us up. The lodge was mostly empty, I guess due to the green season. We switched rooms three times. The first room was too close to the other guests who didn''t care about being loud, the second room was near a running faucet, and the third room that was on the lake side had bright lights coming from outside. We slept in the room which was close to other guests and we were woken by them at 3 in the morning. In the morning we discovered that the hotel had an excellent view and my husband took a short trail on the lodge grounds. We ate a good breakfast in the dining room which had really good views of the volcano, but the volcano was totally covered with clouds in the morning.

If you don''t care about comfort and just want to have a good view and be close to the Parque Nacional Volcan Arenal and Laguna de Arenal you may want to stay here. You definitely need a four wheel drive to drive up there. Half of the rooms look to the lake and half to a valley. There is a small village very close you can go and buy water and other stuff. It is nice to observe how the locals live their daily lives in this small village.

When you check in the receptionist gives a folder full of information on local tours. The lodge advertises discounts for students and honeymooners (I would not suggest to honeymoon over there as the walls are paper thin). They also have suites for families.

For more info on this place click here

There are many places to stay in and around La Fortuna. We decided to stay at Hotel San Basco after reading a good review in our travel book. However, although there are big signs showing the direction of the hotel, we had some difficulty finding it as there are no observable street names in this town (!). Luckily we saw the big sign hanged at the gas station while filling our tank.

The hotel is off the main road in La Fortuna but still in the downtown where you can walk to the shops, restaurants and bars. There is a night guard in the parking lot which makes it much safer to stay, especially if you have a rental car. It has a nice size swimming pool , and hot tub where you can relax and get ready for a new day of activity. There is also an observation deck on top of the hotel where you can look at the Volcan Arenal on clear nights. When we stayed there the Volcano was covered with clouds so we had no luck.

There are two types of rooms: rooms with an AC and rooms with a fan. The rooms with an AC on average cost $10 more per night. We opted for a room with the fan to save money. Even with the fan off it was quite cool at night time when we stayed there (August). Indeed I wished for more covers.

The room and the hotel seemed very clean and nice. However, I noticed that the bedsheets weren''t changed in our room. It was after the receptionist left and the nightguard couldn''t provide us with clean sheets as he didn''t speak much English and we didn''t speak any Spanish. When my husband asked for clean pillow covers, he simply gave us used pillows.

I noticed a sign across the street from the hotel which advertised cheap price for laundry. If you need to have your cloths washed this seems like a nice, cheap and convenient place.

The road we took to Santa Elena and Monteverde was unpaved and rough. We followed the sign from Inter-American highway and the 35 km took us an hour. When we arrived at Monteverde area I was already tired of travelling for 6 hours.

Although Hotel Villa Verde is called a hotel, it is more like a lodge. The buildings are made of rock and wood. The rooms are very spacious, have cathedral ceilings and have one king size bed and one single bed. It has hot water. As the building is made of rocks and the location is in high altitude the room was quite cold. At night we used two covers to keep warm. The price includes breakfast. The hotel has a restaurant.

It is very close to the Monteverde Cloud Reserve, nearly a kilometer away. There are trails near the hotel which my husband explored. It was raining in the morning we stayed there and I could observe hummingbirds and butterflies just from our window. The hotel has discounts for students. We stayed there during the wet season so no reservation was necassary, and we get much lower rates than advertised.

For more info on this hotel visit the sites below:

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/villa-verde/

http://hotelvillaverde.fws1.com/

Fellow travellers told us that the beach at Flamingo was to die for, so we decided to stay at the area. There are no Flamingoes in Costa Rica. This area was used to be called Playa Blanca (White beach because of the white sands) but the name changed because of the hotel we stayed in which was the first upscale beach resort.

Now the hotel has been bought and renovated by Holiday Inn, and I would not have named it a resort as it is a pretty small hotel with one big pool. The rooms are similar to those in US (this was the only hotel which was using a card to open its doors and with a regular tub. Our room did not have a view, only the view of a mountain and we did not see any wild life.

The hotel has three restaurants, two bars and a casino. There is a representative of a car-rental agency. The swimming pool has a swim up bar and the hotel gives free squaba-diving classes in the pool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12 PM. The access to the public beach, which wasn''t very crowded when we were there, is through an opening to a dirt road. The beach was quite long and the Ocean was wavy. We watched the sunset two nights we stayed there, it was quite breathtaking.

The downside of the hotel is that some employees do not know English which may cause miscommunication. We ate at the cafeteria near the pool and the food was not good. There were a lot of local and international tourists.

If you are sick of eating Costa Rican breakfast which consists of eggs, rice and black beans, you can drive up to the main road. There is a bakery called Mana''s in front of a bus stop. We saw ticos eating a pastry and drinking coffee. We ate many different types of pastries that were fresh out of the oven. They were so delicious.

http://www.crica.com/hotels/flamingobeach/

We had seen many different kinds of butterflies already in the Aerial Adventures and near our hotel so we really didn't want to go to the Butterfly Farm. However, the guidebooks stated that this is the thing to see in the Monteverde Area. We had just enough money left so we decided that as we are in the area we should visit the farm. This was the best thing we did in the Monteverde area.

The farm is located near the Aerial adventures. Jam from Holland was our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable. First he showed us what is the criteria to be classified as an insect (insects have six legs). We saw creatures from "Bugs Life": rhinoceros beetle, dung beetle and walking stick. He and my husband tasted a kind of beetle used by the ancients as an antihistamine. There were also scorpions and Jam said that he finds couple of them every other day in his room.

Later, he took us to three different enclosed gardens that represent different habitates. The first garden was warm where it represented the low altitutes such as the coastal area. We saw various butterflies including an owl butterfly and a monarch butterfly. The second room represented higher altitudes. We saw butterflies with bright colors both on top of their wings and under their wings. The butterflies have colorful colors to fool their enemies which think they are poisonous. The last room represented the Monteverde area. We saw morpo, redstriped butterfly and a transparent butterfly in this area. We ended our tour with a visit to the leaf-cutter ant colony. Jam told us a cool story about how the indigeous people used the warrior ants to stich the wounds. The entry fee lets you stay at the grounds and observe at your pace after the guided tour. There is also a gift-shop but doesn't accept credit cards.

For more info go to http://www.butterflyfarm.co.cr/

We didn't see any frogs in the nature so we decided to go to the Frog Farm which opened last year. A local guide not only showed us many kinds of toads and frogs such as red-eyed tree frog, blue jeaned poison arrow frog, green legged poison arrow frog, green and black auratus but also imitated what kind of sounds they would make at night time. The frogs were kept in terrariums where they have their natural habitat simulated. Sometimes couple of different species shared the same terrarium. There were bananas in the terrarium that attracted the flies which the frogs fed on.

What impressed me the most was the size of the frogs, they were diminutive. I don't think we would be able to spot them in nature. We learned that the way to catch or spot the frogs are to listen to their sounds at night. The guide showed them to us by an aid of a flashlight, but it was still hard to spot them. The farm had toads, frogs and tree frogs mainly. The exhibit included a commemorative spot for the golden toad which is now extint. Our guide told us that it is not known for sure why the golden toad is extint but the theory is that the global warming affected its survivor.

We went to the farm at 11 AM so the frogs were pretty quiet. Our ticket enabled us for another trip preferable at night time where the frogs are in activity. However, we were going to leave the area so we couldn't hear the different voices the frogs made. There is a gift shop at the entrance. No credit cards accepted.

Although I enjoyed seeing the frogs and learning about them, visiting the Frog Pond was not as intriging as visiting the Butterfly Farm. It was short, there was less to see and less to learn.

My husband and I always like trams so we bought tickets for the aerial adventures tram and trail walk. As well, I hurt my leg walking on a trail so this passive activity was good for me.

First day, we did the long trail called Natural wonders Walk. The trail was approximately 1.5 km which passed through 2 butterfly gardens (flowers that attract butteflies were grown), cloud forest, tabacones, bromeliads, medicinal plants and orchids. The plants were planted by the owners. On our hike we saw various butterflies, leaf-cutter ants, many green violet ear(hummingbird), agouti, scarlet-rumped tanager, red headed barbet (woodpecker) and a bunny which was white and black. We heard a toucan but we couldn''t spot where it was. As it was a clear day we could see the Nicoya Bay. I was attacked by the soldier leaf-cutter ants. I guess I might be by mistake stepping on their hole.

We did the tram ride next day. It is 1.5 km long and the ride lasts for 1 to 1.5 hours. You can stop for observation. It is anywhere from ground level to 12 mts. We wanted to do it early in the morning (It opens 7 AM), but it was raining and we didn''t know whether the creatures would be out in the morning. The tram has a cover, so you can have a ride even when it is raining. We were the first ones having a ride that day but it didn''t help us seing many wildlife. We again heard the toucan but couldn''t spot it because of thick fauna. We weren''t high enough and the bird was on canopy. We saw different kinds of butterflies, a violet sabrewing (the largest Costa Rican hummingbird which has a violet body and headbut green wings) and green violet ear hummingbirds eating from the feeders put near the tram trail. We again saw the bunny near the same spot we saw it one day before.

There is a cafeteria near the end of the trail where you can buy coffee and cakes.

A visit to the falls of la Fortuna was one of the most enjoyable activities we had done. We were merely passing by when we saw the sign to the falls. On the board it said the falls chosed at 4 PM, and it was 3:45 when we arrived so we were indecisive about seing the falls. A local told us that it is only a 10 minute hike to the falls and we had time so we decided to do it.

The admission fee was $3.00 per person. The trail was very steep made of rocks, dirt and wood. I used the chain fence a lot to climb down and up or it would be a much more difficult hike for me as I have one bum knee which can pop out with a descend like that. We nealry descended 300 meters when we had the view of the fantastic falls. The water falls straight down from a height of nearly 700 meters.

We had our bathing suits so we were all ready to jump in with other visitors. The water is really cold, but you appreciate after an exhausting day. I have never been to such a beautiful fall before in my life where you swim in the natural pools at the base of the waterfall. But be careful, the rocks are very slippery.

After the falls the trail continues, but we were pressed by time so we didn't take a hike. We left the place around 5:00 PM where it was just getting ready to close. I wish we had more time to spend there. There is a little bar up top where you can drink fruit juices and a little museum.

My husband wanted to see at least one active volcano during our trip to Costa Rica, so we visited the Arenal Volcano. Arenal was dormant from 1500 AD until 1968. The indigenous people revered the volcano but as it did not show any activity during the colonial days and later nobody expected such a destruction. On July 29, 1968 two villages were totally destroyed. It is still active and when we were there we heard the explosions day and night.

We drove to the main entrance on the west side of the volcano through a dirt road. The park is open Monday to Sunday from 8 AM to 4 PM, and the entrance fee was $6.00 per person. I was suprised to see that even at the national park they ask for dollar. There is a small shop in the entrance where you can buy water, cards and books.

The ranger gave us a photocopy of a simple hand-drawn one page map where the trails and parking lots were marked. We parked at the parking lot and walked to the observation point which was approximately 500 meters long. Then we took the Coladas Natural Trail (Sendero Natural Las Coladas) to the the recent lava bed(1992). It was a 2 km (40 minutes)one way hike, which we passed through bushes and then forest. The trail becomes Tucanes Trail, which is also 2 km long,and you can get on Pilon Trail (2.5 km long) which would take you back to the Coladas Natural Trail. We heard from the time to time the thundering of the volcano, but it was a cloudy day so we didn''t really got to see activity. On the trail we didn''t see many wildlife except big spiders and a couple of big black frogs.

After 5pm, the clouds were off the volcano and we observed the volcano from the East side near La Catarata de La Fortuna. The spanish tourist we met at the park and the falls told us that there is a bus at 5:30pm to Mirador Observation Point, which is a private property, from La Fortuna. We thought about driving up north again but the volcano was already covered with the clouds by 6:30pm. It may be better to visit the volcano in the dry season.