Costa Rica 2

Although my 2015 trip to Costa Rica was a success, I described the country to friends upon my return as “a hard place to love”. I had found the climate very challenging – the great heat and humidity of the coast, contrasted with the rain and the relative cold of the central highlands – and I had been rather intimidated by the slightly crazy (from my perspective) Latin American way of life and by the local people’s evident fear of crime. But, to my surprise, I found that my memories of the 2015 trip grew fonder as time passed and, when I saw a good value direct flight from the UK to San José, I quickly decided that it would be an ideal place to escape the Scottish winter for a couple of weeks. And it was the right decision. This time I found that I liked the country much more: I felt much more comfortable with the Costa Rican way of doing things, I mostly managed to avoid the places I had not liked previously (San José and the damp, cold bits), and yet I still found plenty of fascinating wildlife to see and photograph.

Costs. Flights £495. Alajuela hotel (B&B) £31. La Fortuna hotel (B&B) £30 per night. Tarcoles hotel (B&B) £42 per night. Cahuita room (B&B) £26 per night. Arenal entrance fee £11. Carara entrance fee £8. Carara guide £13. Tree of Life entrance £12. Caño Negro tour £41. Rio Tarcoles boat trip £23. San José–La Fortuna bus £3. La Fortuna–San Ramon–Puntarenas–Tarcoles buses £6. Tarcoles–San José–Limon–Cahuita buses £9.50. Cahuita–San José–Alajuela buses £7. Typical evening meal with drinks £7–£12. Total cost of trip £1300.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Santamaria, Alajuela (Day 1 and Day 14, Read my review); Hotel Colores del Arenal, La Fortuna (Days 2–5, Read my review); Hotel Carara, Tarcoles (Days 6–8, Read my review); Cabinas Algebra, Cahuita (Days 9–13, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Costa Rica (Rough Guides, 8th edition). Despite my old 7th edition being published only in October 2014, I found much of the information in it to be out of date (e.g., the locations of the main bus stations). I hope the 8th edition is better.

See also. Costa Rica.

Day 1: Travel to Alajuela (San José Airport). Left home at 4.25 am by taxi. Flight left Glasgow at 6.05 am and landed at Gatwick at 7.20 am. Boarded the 11-h flight to San José at 10.40 am, landed at San José at 4.15 pm (local time), and then queued a good while to get through immigration. I eventually found the public bus stops (they are on the public road on the far side of the car park) and caught a slow bus to the nearby town of Alajuela. I found my convenient and friendly hotel (pre-booked) at 6.15 pm, had a shower, sent a few emails, and went to bed.

Days 2-5: Travel to La Fortuna; walk around local area; boat tour of Caño Negro; walk around Arenal National Park. I left the Alajuela hotel at 8.15 am and took a fistful of colones out of the ATM. I caught the 9.25 am direct bus (coming from San José) to La Fortuna (with a brief stop in Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos, as in 2015), arriving at 1.10 pm. I had a snack and then walked the 1 km to my wonderful hotel (pre-booked) from 2015. The little soda near the hotel no longer seems to serve food and so, on this and other evenings, I had to walk the 1 km back into town to eat dinner at one of the sodas there. The next day (Day 3) I decided to just explore the local area, which included the hotel’s lovely garden, of course, where there were magnificent Green Iguanas and Ringed Kingfishers. I walked into town and, on the western outskirts, found a Spectacled Caiman and her baby lurking in an ornamental pond and then the private nature reserve I had visited in 2015. The owner of the latter remembered me and let me walk around again for a small donation. I then returned to my hotel and spent the afternoon reading and booking a tour of the Caño Negro wetland reserve for the next day. The next day (Day 4), after a 7 am breakfast, I was picked up at my hotel  at 7.50 am by the tour minibus and whisked off with nine other people to the Caño Negro river where we had a two-and-a-half hour boat trip. Unfortunately, there was a lot of water in the river and this rather restricted the wildlife we saw – apparently, one sees more if there is exposed mud along the river banks. But we did see monkeys, many birds, lizards, and more caimans. Then we had lunch before returning to the La Fortuna hotel for 3 pm. On my final day in La Fortuna (Day 5), I walked into town and caught the 8 am bus (heading to Tilaran) to the Arenal Volcano National Park. One has to walk the last 2 km from the bus stop on the main road to the Park entrance. After looking around for nearly 3 h, walking the main trails, I realised that I needed some change for the return bus journey to La Fortuna. So I walked back to the main road, then along it for 15 min, had a beer in the first bar I came across (to change a large denomination banknote), and then returned to the bus stop just in time to catch the “2 pm” (it arrived at 1.55 pm) bus coming from Tilaran and heading back to La Fortuna.

Days 6-8: Travel to Tarcoles; boat trip on Rio Tarcoles; guided walk around Carara National Park. After breakfast, I checked out of my hotel and walked into La Fortuna, catching the 9 am bus to San Ramon. This seemed to tour every small village in central Costa Rica before arriving in San Ramon at 11.20 am. Here, I changed bus station and then caught a 12 noon bus (scheduled 11.35 am) to Puntarenas, arriving 1.25 pm. Then there was another change of bus station and some conflicting advice from a couple of locals, before I caught a 2.22 pm (scheduled 2.30 pm!) bus. This was heading down to Quepos but I hopped off at Tarcoles and walked about 1 km along the road to find my pleasant but very quiet hotel (pre-booked), arriving at 3.45 pm. Despite the predictions of the young man in the hotel reception, I found a pleasant bar in the village near the main road junction for dinner each evening. The next day (Day 7), I enquired about a boat trip on the Rio Tarcoles at the office nearest my hotel. This was at 8.30 am and I was hoping to be on the 10.30 am tour. However, I was told that there were no bookings for 10.30 am and I was immediately taken off in a car for the 2-km drive to the river to join two other men on the (nominally) 8.30 am boat (it left about 8.50 am). The boat trip and our guide were both truly excellent, we saw much, and – despite the predictions in my guidebook – no wildlife was molested. After the boat trip, I walked back to my hotel. The next day (Day 8), I walked for about 40 min from my hotel to the nearby Carara National Park, arriving at 8.35 am. Most of this walk was along the wide verge of the main road; safe but not particularly pleasant. I then joined a guide and a Spanish couple for a tour of the park, lasting nearly 3 h. I was rather underwhelmed by what we saw but I do not think we were particularly lucky and our enthusiastic guide certainly tried his hardest. I left the park at 12.10 pm and walked back to my hotel, arriving a bit frazzled from the heat at 12.50 pm. In the afternoon I bought my online bus ticket to San José for the next day.

Days 9-13: Travel to Cahuita; explore local area and wildlife. After breakfast, I left my Tarcoles hotel at 8.45 am. I was at the bus stop on the main road for 9 am, the locals turned up for the same bus at 9.15 am, and the bus itself arrived very late at 9.45 am. We got into San José at 12 noon. I then got a bit confused: there are direct onward buses to Cahuita but the Rough Guide provides incorrect information as to where to find them (they leave from the MEPE Terminal – use Google Maps). Anyway, after much exploration on foot, I eventually ended up at the Gran Terminal del Caribe and caught a 1.30 pm bus to Limon, arriving 5.05 pm. This was a horrid journey with an overcrowded bus and traffic congestion all the way. Again, the Rough Guide was in error about the location of the Limon MEPE Terminal but I eventually found it (again, I suggest using Google Maps) and caught the 6 pm bus to Cahuita, arriving 7 pm. I then phoned my pleasant rustic cabinas (pre-booked) and they sent a car to bring me the last 2.5 km to them. The next four days (Days 10-13) I just wandered around the local Cahuita area, visiting the National Park twice, the not overly interesting Tree of Life garden and animal rescue centre, and just generally exploring the local dirt roads and wild, empty beaches. Uncharacteristically, I even ended up in the local reggae bar on two evenings, listening to live bands. In the evenings, I ate at the restaurant attached to my cabinas, which was excellent.

Day 14: Travel to Alajuela. After breakfast, my host offered to share a taxi ride into the village with me. My MEPE bus to San José arrived at 9.30 am and was, predictably, packed with people (I had bought my ticket the previous day). I arrived in San José at 1.55 pm after a very hot and cramped journey. Changed bus station yet again and caught the 2.45 pm TUASA bus to Alajuela, arriving 3.35 pm. I then walked to my friendly hotel (pre-booked), which was the same one as on Day 1, arriving 3.50 pm. In the evening, I went out for a pleasant Tex-Mex dinner.

Day 15: Travel home. I checked out of my hotel room at 11.45 am and sat reading in the hotel reception until 1.40 pm. I then got the bus to the airport, arriving 1.55 pm. Then it was a long wait. The plane took off at 7.25 pm for a 10-h flight and we landed at Gatwick at 11.25 am the next day. My flight up to Glasgow took off at 3 pm, landed at 4.15 pm, and I was home by taxi at 5 pm.

Kit notes. As in 2015, I packed everything inside my 35+8 litre rucksack and took it on all the flights as hand luggage. The weight was 9.5 kg. My packing list was not dissimilar to my typical example. This time I took just one camera (my Nikon DSLR + Sigma 18-250 mm travel lens), my iPad Mini, and my cheap dual-band mobile phone. I did not bother with binoculars this time. As before, I found the following items essential: a wide-brimmed sunhat, a packable waterproof jacket, a rain cover for my rucksack, a head torch, and a small cloth bag for my valuables on the bus journeys (my rucksack often had to go in the hold). This time I took only one long-sleeved shirt but I took an extra couple of short-sleeved shirts and an additional pair of lightweight sports shorts.

Wildlife seen. Coati, Two-toed Sloth, Agouti, Howler Monkey, White-faced Capuchin, Spider Monkey, American Crocodile, Green Iguana, Black Iguana, Plumed Basilisk, Pug-nosed Anole, Eyelash Viper, Poison-Dart Frog, Scarlet Macaw, Great Blue Heron, Boat-billed Heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Tiger Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Ringed Kingfisher... and countless other birds and butterflies, many of which I still have to identify.

Other useful links. Costa Rica bus timetables 1

Costa Rica bus timetables 2

Reflections. This was a very successful trip, although I could maybe have tried to do more exploring down the coast while I was in Cahuita. The advent of direct flights from the UK has made the country much more accessible than previously. As mentioned above, I felt much more confident and at ease this time. Despite some misgivings, going back to La Fortuna was very much the right decision as it is a lovely place, even with the exceptionally damp climate, and this time I was actually able to see the Arenal volcano! Tarcoles was well worth visiting for the boat trip and the Carara park, although the village is very basic and the beach unsatisfactory. And Cahuita was interesting for the very different culture, much more Caribbean in nature. The wildlife watching was superb everywhere. If there was one major unsatisfactory feature to mention, it would be the long journeys on overcrowded public buses and the necessity of changing bus stations several times in some rather grim cities and towns.

© 2018 The Untravelled World