Ending our South American trip in beautiful Costa Rica

On the one hand it feels like we have always been travelling, but on the other hand it feels like the South American part of our trip has gone by in a flash. While we are both excited to go home and wash all our clothes, enjoy our own shower and sleep in our own bed, we still had Costa Rica to look forward to.

Costa Rica has always had a certain allure; in my mind it is a mystical, almost fantasy-like place with its thick rain forests, exotic birds and interesting wildlife. The only downside of Costa Rica is that it is extremely difficult to get around; it is a mountainous country with no, or very limited, public transport and the only way to get around is by shuttles that travel along set routes.

We knew this when we booked our trip, but for some reason postponed booking a shuttle to get us from San Jose airport to Monteverde. Sitting in a cramped little café with our mountain of luggage (we really need to sort the packing before our next trip!) we had only two options and neither were attractive: wait until 3pm and get the shuttle that would take four hours and cost $125; or try to organise a private shuttle or taxi that could cost anywhere between $150-300. We decided the airport was just too depressing to wait in and plumped for the private transfer.

Despite doing our best to clarify the destination and cost prior to getting into the van, our Spanish was not good enough to be 100% sure what we agreed in the end. Slowly but surely the doubt set in. While we negotiated a rate of $150, did the driver mean per person or in total? He kept stopping for directions, so did he even know where he was going? Then he turned the meter on and we watched as it ticked higher and higher. Was he going to charge us as per the meter? It was too late to try and clarify now as he couldn’t speak a word of English!

We turned off the highway and onto the back roads, which turned into gravel as we ventured higher into the mountains towards the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest.

When we finally stopped at our hotel even the driver looked a bit surprised that he found it! There were no arguments about the $150 so we had nothing to worry about. Lesson learnt though – book in advance or at least investigate things properly when you are not sure.

Our hotel has 12 little cabins on a beautiful property that is also an eco-compound with a few walking trails. We walked up to the lookout point in search of animals but all we could find was a colourful bird. We had clearly been spoilt in the Galapagos where you were quite literally falling over animals. The bird, a motmot, was beautiful but flew away quickly – also something we got spoilt with last week where the animals had no fear of humans.

We wandered into town for an early dinner and opted for a taxi up the hill on the way back. Suddenly an armadillo scurried across the road and dived into the bushes. Maybe Costa Rica has a few more surprises in store for us…

We only had one full day in Monteverde so decided to get up early the next morning and head to the Cloud Forest. As the name suggests, the jungle forest sits in the clouds that are formed when the warm Pacific Air meets the colder Atlantic air. It also receives all its water from these clouds, so the result is a very wet forest. We mainly wanted to spend some time walking through the forest via the famous hanging bridges, but first we had a detour to the Hummingbird garden.

The garden has artificial flowers with a sugary solution that attracts the birds. There were hummingbirds everywhere; they were zooming past us like massive bees! It was wonderful watching them as they are so agile and graceful and would easily sit on your finger rather than hovering to drink. It was quite thrilling to watch and we spent over half an hour there even though they estimate it will take 10 minutes.

We took a long walk through the forest, but without a guide we found it difficult to spot any birds or animals. It was still worthwhile as it was very enjoyable and relaxing.

Afterwards we had a guided tour of an enclosure that housed reptiles of Costa Rica. We were glad we came here after our forest walk because we would have been a bit freaked out walking in the forest knowing all these snakes and poisonous frogs are out there!

They had specimens from all over Costa Rica like Boa Constrictors and Rattlesnakes to small venomous coral snakes and tree vipers. Our last stop was at the butterfly enclosure – a building the size of an aircraft hanger full of plants and butterflies.  

This morning we had to trek across very bumpy roads from Monteverde to Arenal. The roads of the highlands are unpaved and a bit of a rough ride. Our route involved a two hour bus ride, a 40min boat across Lake Arenal and then another 20 minutes by bus to our hotel.

At midday we checked into one of the nicest hotels in the area. We both loved the two days here as we completely relaxed and enjoyed the amazing weather. We spent our time snoozing on sun loungers, sipping cocktails in the pool, drinking coffee in the hotel’s beautiful coffee bar or enjoying the early evenings in the Jacuzzi.

We even joined a Thai massage class which was quite fun. Luckily Derek took notes so I am looking forward to my first Thai massage… although I am not holding my breath…

Our shuttle the following day was booked for a 7.30am pick-up, which meant we could enjoy an early breakfast before setting off. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and they put out quite a spread so I was looking forward to it! However, while my seeded bread was toasting and I was still deciding between avocado or salmon on toast, Derek hurried over. Our shuttle is here and waiting – our pick-up time was 6.30am!! Breakfast abandoned, we dashed back to the room and after a quick mad scramble we were on the van heading towards Tortuguero – a 6-hour trek across Costa Rica.

After four hours in a van we reached Pavona Dock. There are no roads to Tortuguero, so the second leg of our journey would be via boat. The dock was quite busy as many tourists piled into their respective boats. We were standing around waiting for the company to point ours out when it revealed itself at the very end – hidden behind a few people standing around. It was tiny! And with our luck we ended up with a skiff with no roof.

At first we rather enjoyed this little trip on the river and loved the change of scenery as we travelled further into the jungle. Then it started to rain. Only a little at first, to make us all laugh and enjoy the thrill. Then quite a lot, which meant the novelty wore off pretty quickly. But hey ho, after the morning we had and after reminding ourselves that we’re on holiday, we just sat back and enjoyed travelling through the jungle rainforest in a small boat, really close to the water, in the rain.

When we finally arrived we were thoroughly drenched! We still had to take a short water taxi across the river to our lodge, which markets itself as being “off the grid” and very close to nature. While this meant it was set in about five acres of beautiful rainforest, it also meant it was extremely basic with no hot water. For two drenched people who desperately wanted a shower, this wasn’t great news. Coupled with the fact that we were in the middle of the rain forest with a persistent dampness hanging over everything, nothing was going to dry quickly – or at all!

The next few days would see us lathering on as much Deet as we could handle, followed by smudges of sunscreen during the day, only to try our hardest to get it off in the cold water at night. If nothing else, we have great memories to keep us entertained for some time.

But, the surroundings were just incredible. The lodge had only three cabins, with the “windows” nothing more than wire mesh with sheets for privacy. This also meant that we were incredibly close to nature and could hear every bird and frog outside.

That evening the most incredible rain shower hit us that did not ease at all during the night. For me, this was the absolute highlight of our time in Costa Rica – being so close to nature, hearing every drop fall and being woken and then lulled back to sleep by the sound of the raindrops pelting on big leaves. Heaven.

At the same time, I felt so sorry for Derek. It was so incredibly hot and humid in our cabin (no fan, obviously) that he really struggled to do anything, let alone fall asleep! So while I was marvelling in the amazingness of nature without a worry in the world, he barely had any sleep for two nights.

Journeying into town involved getting in a rickety canoe to cross the 500m canal that separates the town from our lodge. Tortuguero town is not very nice at all. It is basically rundown tin shacks masquerading as restaurants and tour offices. It is very bizarre to walk through the down, staring into a souvenir shop one moment, before it suddenly turns into someone’s lounge and you find yourself staring at a family watching TV. The food and fresh fish, however, was delicious.

During the two days we were there we were treated to the most incredible animal show one could hope for – either on our canoe trip through the national park or at our lodge where we saw the majority of wildlife. We saw many reptiles – from a Jesus Christ lizard (a Basilisk), so named because they can walk on water, to toucans and hummingbirds and fireflies.

A troop of howler monkeys visited us right outside our cabin one morning; we saw spider monkeys in the forest, as well as river turtles, iguanas, caimans and more basilisks. On our second morning we saw a beautiful Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (a highlight!) as well as many other amazing birds that came to feed on some fruit they put out. We saw everything from scarlet macaws, green parakeets, hummingbirds, egrets, herons, grackles to kingfishers and loads and loads of butterflies.

Leaving Tortuguero went much smoother than arriving, as we got a bigger boat (with a roof!) this time and had no rain on our way back to the dock. Unfortunately we then had a 6-hour shuttle ride back to San Jose but we were both happy and content. Despite a few frustrations in Costa Rica, mainly the cost and extremely poor customer service in some places, this country has spoilt us with some of the most incredible fauna and flora we have ever seen. Costa Rica has everything here; a Pacific and Caribbean beach, high mountains and pretty volcanoes, rainforest and cloud forest. No wonder it’s the country with the highest life satisfaction.