Arriving in Costa Rica
When Skylar and I decided to plan a week in Costa Rica, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew we would do some exploring, but thought we would spend a lot of time on the beach relaxing, or in the pool at our AirBnb. Once we arrived our plans changed.
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We wanted to see and experience as much as we could during our short stay. We were on the go non-stop and had to make ourselves stay “home” one day so we could enjoy our pool in the afternoon sun. We crammed in so many activities that it felt like we had been gone for several weeks, instead of just 7 days. Now that is a successful vacation in my opinion!
We flew Spirit, the no frills airline, direct to San Jose.
Our flight landed at the same time as a few other planes. This lead to a long wait at customs. There appeared to be a major women’s sporting event in the area. There were teams from a few different countries waiting in line with us. Leaving the airport was an experience. There was a barricade full of people with signs as soon as we stepped outside. People were yelling and cheering – likely for the athletes – but for a brief moment we felt famous.
Once past the crowd, several people inquired if we needed transportation. This could have been intimidating but we had reserved a rental car and followed the instructions to locate the bus service to take us to the rental car offsite. We had researched the car rental process in Costa Rica, brought our additional proof of insurance through a credit card and off we went to experience Costa Rica.
We used Waze and maps we had printed from google to leave the city and head toward Dominical. We chose the route toward Jaco, along the southern coast. The drive was beautiful – mountain views until we reached the coast, sea and mountain views along the coast.
We stopped at a Soda along the way to pick up fresh fruit and other snacks.
We also stopped at a lookout point around Jaco.
We took our time and enjoyed the scenery along the way to Dominical. We thought we had plenty of time to make it to our destination before sunset. We stopped at a Maxi Pali (Central American Walmart) in Quepos for additional groceries. As we left Quepos we thought it had become dark due to a storm rolling in. We were wrong, while a storm had rolled in, the sun had also set – so much for driving up the mountain to our Airbnb for the first time in the daylight!
In Florida the sun had been setting around 8 pm. We thought we had hours before sunset. We quickly realized the sun would set around 5:40 pm everyday during our trip.
The Manager of our Airbnb met us at a restaurant outside Dominical to show us the way to our home for the next week. It was about a 15 min drive up a mountain. Making this drive for the first time in the dark in the pouring rain was stressful, but we survived.
I wrote more about our time staying at the Pavilion here. It took me a day to adjust to staying in such a remote location. The roads didn’t have names and they weren’t even on Google maps or Waze. We quickly fell in love with the Pavilion and surrounding property and would go back in a heart beat.
Once we figured out the time change we decided the best way to utilize our limited time was to wake with the sun and try to make it back to the Pavilion for sunsets. We woke to the rising sun and noises from the surrounding nature. We sat on the deck taking in this view every morning. Before heading out each day we would make smoothies with the local fruit and then make our way down the mountainside.
Dominical & Marino Ballena National Park
One day we explored around Dominical and Uvita. We checked out Dominicalito Beach, Por que No? for lunch and Marino Ballena National Park in Uvita.
We enjoyed walking along the beach under the morning sun at Dominicalito.
Lunch at Por Que No was delicious and it had a nice water view.
When visiting Marino Ballena National Park we walked to the Whale’s Tail. We were able to walk out during high tide and experience the two currents converging. Follow this link for more about our visit to the Whale’s Tail.
Nauyaca and San Isidro
We spent a day hiking to Nauyaca and driving around San Isidro. Nauyaca was the largest waterfall we visited. It was breathtaking. Skylar enjoyed climbing on and jumped off the waterfall a few times. Follow this link for more about our hike to Nauyaca.
We briefly drove around San Isidro after our hike. We didn’t have a destination and didn’t really know where to go. After the hike I was definitely getting hangry. We headed back toward Dominical and ended up at a wonderful restaurant called Mirador Los Chorros near Alfombra. Here we ate dinner and watched clouds roll into the valleys before heading back to the Pavilion.
Uvita & Cascada Verde (Uvita Waterfall)
On another day we spent more time around Uvita at the local waterfall and restaurants. We started out visiting the waterfall in the morning. We arrived early enough to have a few minutes to ourselves. Locals and tourists began arriving and we enjoyed watching others climb around the waterfall and jump into the pool. Follow this link for more about visiting the Uvita Waterfall.
After the waterfall we needed a snack and ended up at the Roadshack Deli in Uvita. We had a good time chatting with the bar tender and locals.
Next was a brief stop near Hermosa Beach. We had to walk through a small stream to access this part of the beach. The area was secluded and peaceful.
And then we drove up a random road into the mountains to see what we would find. The views were quite impressive.
We eventually found Villas Alturas and took in the view from their pool deck.
Ojochal: Cascada El Pavon and Playa Ventanas
Another day we found ourselves driving around Ojochal, visiting a restaurant, waterfall and beach. First we stumbled across the Bamboo Room and stopped for a snack.
Here the owner told us about a nearby waterfall, Cascada El Pavon. We decided to check it out.
This waterfall was off the beaten path and was a peaceful stop. Follow this link for more about our stop at Cascada El Pavon. We then headed to Playa Ventanas.
Playa Ventanas is named after the caves carved out of the mountain by the water. When the tide is low you can see through the caves or ventanas (windows) to the sea. We ended up visiting Playa Ventanas to experience the caves when the tide was in and when the tide was out.
We enjoyed visiting the caves both times. The beach around the caves is secluded and nice for swimming. Follow this link for more about our experiences at Playa Ventanas.
Alturas and Surfing
During our last full day we visited Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary and went surfing. The sanctuary is a rescue and rehabilitation center. They rescue and care for animals that are sick, injured or orphaned. When able, the sanctuary releases animals back to the wild. When this is not possible the sanctuary provides a permanent home for the animals.
Next we headed toward Dominical Beach to try surfing. We actually attempted a total of three times during our week stay. The first time we paid for lessons. Finally by the third attempt we were getting the hang of it, and by then it was time to head home. Follow this link for more about our experience surfing for the first time at Dominical Beach.
Heading Back to Florida
After catching our last waves in Dominical we returned our surf board and reluctantly started the drive to San Jose. We were not ready to leave after such an adventurous week. We didn’t realize that our timing again would be the worst. We arrived in San Jose right around rush hour on a Friday. I would not recommend this to anyone! A few miles away from our destination the traffic was at a standstill, inching along, very slowly. While the larger vehicles were barely moving, motor bikes would zoom in between the traffic. At some point we had to merge onto a different road and we were sandwiched between two double decker buses. We were going no where fast. At one point we could see our destination – abandoning the vehicle and walking would have been much faster. Out rental company probably wouldn’t have liked that. Finally, after over an hour we made it out of the traffic and to our hotel. After the stressful San Jose rush hour, we were finally ready to head home.
Our adventure started and ended with quite bad timing, but everything in between was perfect.
For more videos of our time in Costa Rica subscribe to our YouTube channel Explorcation.
Beautiful