Costa Rica Adventures: Day 4

After breakfast, we were on the road by 8am and headed to Jaco where we planned on renting surfboards and grabbing lunch. This drive was much better and we were there within 2 1/2 hours. We had a smartphone from the rental car company (Vamos) and used that to pick someplace to rent surfboards on the drive. We chose Surfer Factory and ended up renting 2 longboards, a soft top, and M requested a shortboard. 

We also hit up a supermercado to get a bunch of snacks. Hangry is no joke in this family! J, P, M, B wanted a familiar meal and hit up a Subway. K and I hung out in the car while they got their meal. When they got back, K and I hit up a restaurant she'd noticed while driving to Surfer Factory...Green Room. 

The atmosphere of the restaurant is amazing. There is artwork hanging up all over. We had the fresh guacamole as an appetizer and then K ordered a casado with mushrooms. I was craving a cheeseburger so got the cheddar burger. Muy delicioso!

After lunch we headed to our lodging for the night, Surf Inn Hermosa. A little background: I'd originally planned on four of us staying at a hostel in Jaco and the older "kids" were going to make their own arrangements but I got an email from the hostel 3 weeks out saying that most of their amenities would not be available. So, I went ahead and cancelled that and set about looking for new accommodations. I'd followed Surf Inn on Instagram and Facebook for a few years and took a chance by calling them up to see if they had the studio apartments available for one night. Sure enough they did! 

Playa Hermosa is just south of Jaco. Marisol greeted us when we arrived and showed us to our lodging on the second floor. The studio apartments have a kitchenette, queen sized bed with a twin loft bed over it, another twin size bed, a couch, and a full bathroom. The 3 girls took one and J, P, and myself were in the other. As soon as we got our bags upstairs, we changed into our swimsuits, grabbed the surfboards, and headed to the beach. 

beach view towards the south

beach view to the north

M happy to be surfing in CR

J 

M

M

J

The waves break on sandbars so similar to what we are used to at home. But the waves are definitely heavier and stronger than what we experience here on the East Coast. J had his lefts and M her rights so both were happy. P paddled out and caught a few waves but of course, I didn't get any pictures. 

A pig on the beach!

At one point, I turned around and saw a pair of Macaws flying overhead. 

J and M came in and we all hung out on the beach to watch the sunset and were very thankful to be in Costa Rica.

Dinner was next door at Vida Hermosa. The food was delicious but the biggest draw...the dogs! M fell in love with an adorable dachshund puppy who napped in her lap while we waited for our food. P and M ordered sushi which was a big hit. 

 

The next morning, K, B, and myself had an early morning surf lesson that Christina had arranged for us. Oscar picked us up at 6am and drove us back in to Jaco. No photos but the lesson was a success with all 3 of us catching waves and standing up. Back in Playa Hermosa, J and M headed out for another surf session while P caught up on some sleep.

P

After everyone was back to the studio apartments, we headed back to Vida Hermosa for some breakfast. The puppy wasn't around but there were other dogs to love on. We all had smoothies with another great meal. 

 

View from our table at breakfast

I wish we could have stayed a little longer in Playa Hermosa. But it was time to head to our next stop...Zancudo.

Costa Rica Adventures: Day 3, part 2

 After hanging out on the veranda for a bit and eating some snacks, we drove to our next waterfall: Oropendola.

K on the suspension bridge, I want to say this bridge was one person at a time

Viewing platform

View of the water at the base of the falls from the platform

We ran into the couple on their honeymoon with whom we spent most of the previous day. J had my DSLR and offered to take their photo as I was heading down the stairs towards the water. I quickly turned back around and grabbed the camera and said I'd do it!lol No offense to J but other times that I've asked him to use the camera to take photos of me they were out of focus or he ended up taking video or there was a finger blocking part of the lens. Besides that, to take photos on the platform the telephoto lens needed to be swapped with the 50mm one.

I took down his email address and promised to send the photos to him later that night. The couple were so nice and sweet. They spoke a little English. K, who will say she doesn't speak Spanish well but I'd say has a very good grasp, filled in the gaps. It was pleasure getting to know them.

The guys stayed on the platform (not sure why this time) and the girls and I debated as to who would be the first to brave the chilly water and swim towards the waterfall.

M the brave one

K and C

Speaking of brave, there had been a few others who were jumping off the rocks right beneath the viewing platform, and K decided to go for it.

In my opinion, this was the prettiest of all the waterfalls we saw that day. It was also a little bit more busy than the others with around 10 other people there. Still enough room to social distance but we did not have the place to ourselves. 

K swimming back after her jump

B posing in front of the waterfall

I still think the guys should have come down and swam too.😜 It wasn't quite time to head to the last waterfall so we took our time walking back and drying off. Back at the car we heard then saw a bunch of birds.

I managed to get a picture of one. J was told it was an Urraca Copetona. I knew it was a kind of jay (reminds me of blue jays back home). When we got back to the hotel that evening, I uploaded the photo into my iNaturalist app to identify the bird. It's a white-throated magpie-jay.

Next stop was the Rio Negro waterfalls which are located across the road from the hot springs. There are 4 different points on the trail that you can view the falls. We walked to the marker for the first view point and stopped to debate if we should do 1-4 or start at the top and work our way down, 4-1. M who was grumpy by then (I think because we skipped lunch and only had snacks) had the rotten luck of being bit by a bunch of fire ants while we talked. That made her real happy...NOT! We went by the water at #1 so she could stick her feet in the cool water and when the pain had abated some we continued up to the top view point (#4). 

*I think I have the below photos in order but honestly, it's been 3 weeks and I'm not 100% sure which photos belong to which view point*

P, king of the waterfall view point #4?

K

I think this is #3

#2?

K and P checking #2? out

P and K

walking back to the car

I dropped my DSLR off at the car, we grabbed our towels, and headed to the hot springs for another soak. Of all the places, the hot springs is the busiest. The smaller (and hotter) pools are the least crowded. We were always able to get one to ourselves. Of course, we were mindful and only spent 10 minutes or so in them at a time so that others could enjoy the pools too.

K, C, B

B and J

M (she didn't want to go in the hot springs) and K

P in the 104 degree pool

P and B cooling off in the river

P, K, B in the 100 degree pool

Relaxing in the hot springs is a perfect way to wrap up a busy day! Back to the hotel to shower and change and then it was time for our last dinner at Hacienda Guachipelin. We had made dinner reservations for 5:30 pm, the earliest of our entire time here, in part because we skipped lunch but also because we wanted to go to bed earlier. This was the one time I actually took a photo of what I ate...

shrimp ceviche, yummy!

We really enjoyed our stay at Hacienda Guachipelin. It's nice that there is so much to do on the property itself. My only regret is that we didn't go to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. Next time!

 

Costa Rica Adventures: Day 3, part 1

Day 2 ended with a visit to the Rio Negro Hot Springs. The girls indulged in a mud bath but of course no photos as I didn't bring my phone or camera. "For a rejuvenating treatment on your body, you can use the hot volcanic mud, which works just like a spa body masque. When the mud dries, you can wash it in the cold water of the river before entering the thermal water pools again." Soaking in the hot springs was a great way to end an action packed day.

post hot spring (grabbed my phone from the car)

Day 3 we visited the waterfalls. We made reservations (don't know if you had to pre-COVID or not) for each one. Our itinerary was Las Chorreras at 9am, Poza Roja at 11, Oropendola at 1pm, Rio Negro at 3pm, and then the hot springs afterwards. You had an hour at each waterfall. The first two were within walking distance of our rooms and you had to drive to the last two.

Catarata Chorreras

K and M

K, B, C, M Tallest to Shortest!

The girls were definitely the most adventurous of the group and we all went in the water. One of the reasons why is we all had sport sandals on and wore them in the water. J and P had socks and sneakers on. They didn't want to get their feet wet and then have to put on socks and shoes. The current was pretty strong behind us but K and B made an attempt to swim against it.

top of Catarata Chorreras

Next stop was Poza Roja. The trail you hike in on is part of a larger trail system used for mountain biking. 

J, P, B post swim

I'm guessing it's called "Red Pond" because of the red rocks. The pool itself isn't very deep.

looking downstream

When the sun hit the water you could see how clear it was. 

The motley crew: M, K, B, P, J

One of the nice things about Poza Roja and Catarata Chorreras was the lack of crowds. A couple came up while we were at Chorreras and when we arrived at Poza Roja there was a different couple there. Pretty sweet to have the place almost to ourselves! 

We had some time to kill before our next stop, so we headed back to our rooms and chilled on the veranda. P said a very shocking thing that I had him repeat so I could record:

Costa Rica is indeed a magical place if it makes my gamer son not miss playing his games!

Costa Rica Adventures: Day 2, part 2

L to R: J, C, K, B, M, P

Don't we look excited😆

After lunch we walked over to the Adventure Center which is where we got geared up for ziplining. P and I had both done rope courses before so this wasn't entirely unknown to us. The rest were 100% newbies. 

As with river tubing, we were given a quick safety lesson and assured that we would be taken care of. 

P

P getting unclipped

K

M

J

B

C

Halfway through the course we were asked if we wanted to rappel and if we said yes, we would have to climb up a rock wall to get back to the platform. Only P and I said yes. I initially said no as I didn't want to climb back up the wall but one of the guides let me in on a secret, they'd give us a little pull if we got stuck.

M

P

B

the canyon/gorge we ziplined through

K

C

waiting our turn for the Tarzan swing

B, M, K

Big smiles because everyone had fun! This day really pushed the limits for our youngest kid, B, who is a bit on the cautious side. She was a trooper through the entire day and really enjoyed herself even though everything we did was out of her comfort zone. 

The guides kept everyone safe and as you can see from the pictures, we were all masked up. When we got back to the Adventure Center, we were offered a digital copy of all the photographs that were taken for $60. For a family of 6, that's a steal. I really appreciated having photos of the experience and of myself. I'm the one behind the camera 99% of the time and seldom have my photo taken when we travel. So it was a nice break to be in the moment, enjoying myself, and not worrying about getting photos of everyone. The kids might get tired of me always photographing them but it sure is nice to have a visual record of our adventures!