arenal,  costa rica,  quepos,  san jose,  tamarindo

pura vida yes, panama no // 10 days in costa rica

Whytheromantic, hello! The rumors are true. I am officially back from ten days in Costa Rica. After an action packed week of adventure travel, it’s official: I lived to tell the tale.

As you may recall, originally, our plan was seven days in Costa Rica and three days in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Alas, this was not our reality. Things turned out more than ok, but first, a warning: Nature Air is a cockamamie airline with cockamamie rules.

On the day of our flight, we woke up at 4 AM and dragged ourselves to the Tobias Bolaños International Airport. Once there, we unceremoniously board this little matchbox of a plane:

For whatever reason, knock on wood, flying has never made me nervous. TURNS OUT. That feeling goes away when you’re 45 minutes into a 50 minute flight and the pilot makes a static-filled announcement.

“Bocas del Toro is closed, so we will be heading back to San Jose.”

I mean, anyone would wonder if there’s enough fuel in this deathtrap for such an escapade, right?!

Never fear, dear reader. Despite the drama, we made it back with fuel to spare. (I’m just comforting myself with that last part. Honestly, I have no idea. Really, I’d rather be typing in all caps about how I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THE PLANE DEPARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.)

Once we landed, we quickly switched our itinerary to three days in Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast. No Panama for us this trip, alas, but trust me when I say: making this change was the best option. The other two options were: get a NatureAir voucher for a future flight (to where? WHEN?)… OR, charter a taxi with 10 strangers and drive across the Costa Rican border into Panama. Once we arrived in Panama, we could then take a ferry to Bocas from there.

In a possible tropical storm.

THE PLAN B

No joke, we were the only people from our flight who changed course. After all that, no one else took the “change our flight to somewhere, ANYWHERE, with a beach on the Pacific Coast” option! Apparently, all the others chartered a taxi together. Which, actually, sounds like a really good plot for a movie.

So, yes, instead of glass bottomed bungalows and a view straight out over the water and a new stamp in our passports, we stayed in Costa Rica. Yes, we were bummed. Yes, there was a moment of “poor us, this BLOWS” (no tropical storm pun intended). Take note, travelers. When you find yourself in a similar situation: you’re allowed to wallow in it! But only after you’ve made a new plan. Official game rules. Then, after you’ve wallowed for as little time as you can bear, you have to quickly switch gears. Now, you must be excited for plan B. Deal? Deal.

The good news? We came away with a pretty solid ten day itinerary for Costa Rica, if I do say so myself. And lucky for you, I am  here to share:

Day 1
NYC > San Jose

Upon landing in San Jose, we headed straight for Hertz to pick-up our rental car. From there, we drove to Fina Rosa Blanca. Once at our hotel, we promptly fell in love with the staff. It was the perfect hotel for our first night in Costa Rica.

Day 2
San Jose > Arenal

Next, we started the morning with a tour of the on-site coffee plantation. After a lotta java, we departed for two nights at Tabacon Hot Springs, followed by an afternoon in the hot springs and at the spa.

Day 3
Arenal 

Our third day started with another early morning, but this time we met a tour guide in the hotel lobby. We were heading off for a very rainy Arenal Hanging Bridge Tour with Costa Rica Wonderland! After, it was time to unwind with a less rainy afternoon in the hot springs.

Day 4
Arenal > Quepos

Oh, hello, a bright & early start once more for our (long!) drive to The Preserve at Los Altos in Quepos. Are you sensing a theme?

Day 5
Quepos

If you think a day full of ZIP LINING starts any other way than BRIGHT and also EARLY, well, then, you would be wrong. We booked our treetop advtenure with MidWorld. Can’t wait to share those pics. After, we spent our late afternoon/early evening on a catamaran tour of the Pacific with Planet Dolphin.

Day 6
Quepos > San Jose

This day brought our morning hang session with the animals of Manuel Antonio, followed by our final drive of the trip to the Marriott in San Jose.

Day 7
San Jose > Somewhere Over Bocas del Toro > San Jose > Tamarindo

I will say this: it was a serious lifesaver that Tobias Bolaños had a free, stable wireless connection. After a lot of searching and a few urgent e-mails, we were booked at Villa Alegre. Despite our (literally) bumpy start, our afternoon in Tamarindo was spent stress-free. We relaxed down on the beach and witnessed the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. Fo’ realz.

Day 8
Tamarindo

Oh, we just took a surf lesson with Iguana Surf School in the AM, no big deal. This was followed by an afternoon poolside. No, not because we couldn’t move from all our hanging ten…

Day 9
Tamarindo > San Jose

After all that drama, we were seriously sad to depart Tamarindo. But before we left, we kicked off our morning with a kayak estuary tour, also through Iguana Surf. Then, it was back to the airport. We flew back to San Jose, where we checked in for a night of room service and Olympics catch-up.

Day 10
San Jose > NYC

And alas, back at our apartment by 6 PM. As if none of it ever happened.

So, the big questions:

Did we see a sloth? Was driving in Costa Rica the absolute worst experience of our lives? Was zip lining the second absolute worst experience of our lives? What was our favorite place? Who was our favorite monkey?! (We saw a lot of monkeys so that one’s a real nail biter).

Stay tuned.

xo!

the romantic

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The Lazy Travelers are two transatlantic best friends who have mastered the art of exploring a new city. Though Ashley is based in London and Carolyn is in Philadelphia, we'll use any excuse to reunite around the world. We’re professional bar hoppers, pub crawlers, and food testers, and you’ll never see us zipping around, checking things off a list of “must-sees.”

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