Costa Rica Trip

I know it has taken me a bit to do this, but here is an overview of my brief trip to Costa Rica. So, the reason I took this trip was because I had some Frequent Flyer Points from Spirit that were burning a hole in my pocket and I wanted to spend the points before being charged my yearly fee for the card. Also, I have always wanted to go to Costa Rica as I heard really amazing things about the country and it was cheaper for me to adventure to a smaller country (where I didn't have to rent a car).

So, originally, I had talked with my brother about taking the trip with me. Because the flyer points for the trip fluctuated each time we looked at the website to purchase the tickets, I had to buy my tickets as soon as I found them at a price I could afford. Later, I found out that my brother would not be able to take the time off of work to make the trip work (plus he was closing on his house). So, I asked a few other people if they would like to join me, but because it was so last minute, it just didn't work with work or school schedules (or they didn't have a passport yet). So, I decided to just do it solo! 

Day 1: Saturday, May 7th

So, I got up and left Greenville, NC around 2:30 a.m. to leave from Myrtle Beach, SC at 7:30 a.m. I had a brief lay over in Fort Lauderdale and then made it down to Alajuela, Costa Rica at around 11:30 a.m. C.R. time (they are 2 hours behind eastern time zone). After going through customs, I took out about 40,000 colones (about $77 dollars) and found my way to the bus station that would take me into downtown San Jose.

This is basically where I ended up after getting off the bus from the airport - where there was a central park and church.  From there, I found a grocery store, bought some food, and, after getting lost a bit downtown, found my way to my hostel at Casa Colon (See below.) That evening I spent most of my time taking in the sights of the bustling downtown San Jose (looking at museums, theaters, churches) - really nothing too exciting at this point, but it was cool to say I was in a new country and it was cool to be able to talk with the locals in Spanish. That night, I went souvenir shopping and headed to bed.

  

Day 2: Sunday, May 8th

That next morning, as you might expect, downtown was like a ghost town. But I eventually found my way over to our church building. What surprised me as that I needed to press a buzzer to have someone let me onto church grounded and there was a barbed wire fence surround the church (See below). Sacrament meeting was awesome! Then I walked over to a bus station and took the bus out to the city of La Fortuna, C.R.

   

I wish I could have taken more pictures of the ride up to La Fortuna and I wish I could describe just how beautiful the countryside was as I ventured to my destination. It was hard to take pictures because the bus was flying through the winding roads. The country in this area is just so incredibly hilly, windy, luscious, and green. Really quite amazing.

   

  

So, here is the city of La Fortuna. I have to admit - I was a little skeptical about this city, but there was just something so awesome about being at the foot of an active volcano - as if I was in the city of pompeii and the volcano could destroy the city at any time (No worries, it erupts all the time with no problems).

Here's the outside of my second hostel - Hostel La Choza. It had a beautiful garden area with some nice relaxing chairs that I could lean back and enjoy the sounds of birds.

Day 3: Monday, May 9th

Here's what the volcano looked like from the city that next morning. Clear, blue skies. The weather a week prior said rain for all 4 days I was there - while I was there I didn't feel a single drop of rain. The locals said this was very normal - the weather is so unpredictable down there.

So I stayed the afternoon in Fortuna (hike briefly to a little bit closer to the volcano and enjoyed downtown). Then that next morning I hiked about 5km to this waterfall. Now, 5km may not seem very far, but the incline was so incredibly steep for all 5km and it was in the blazing sun. But, somehow I made it! I found out that most people just take a taxi to this waterfall.

So this waterfall, La Fortuna Waterfall, was pretty peaceful as I was one of the only people there at first. I was able to swim and just relax. The hike down to the waterfall was also through beautiful rain forests.

Another pic of the waterfall.

So one of the downsides of traveling alone is that you always have to ask other people to take pictures of you (I didn't have a selfie stick). But here's one with me and the waterfall.

                                     

                                       
So, after enjoying the waterfall and that area, a bus picked me up and took me to a boat, that took me across a lake where I was pickced up by another bus which drove me over to Monterverde, C.R. Here is a pic of the waterfall from the boat - if you look closely you can see the lava coming down the sides.

                                      

So Monteverde, home of the Monteverde Cloud Forest, was what I was most excited about for this trip. This picture is what it looked like right outside my hostel - Hostel Vista al Golfo.

Day 4: Tuesday, May 10th

So, around 7:30am, I was picked up and taken to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, where I was able to do some ziplining. There was a total of 8 ziplines that went back and forth through the rain forest.

Here's all of the equipment.

Here's me preparing for my adventure.

Here's me going up to the top of the cloud forest on a tram to zipline back down.

So, here's what it looked like from the top of the zipline. Yeah, it was pretty freaky. I remember asking the guides, "So my harness is all clipped up, right?" They laughed and said, "You're just fine." It was a very fast and exhilarating experience! You cannot be scared of heights if you are going to do this as each time leaving the zipline was a little nerve-racking,

Here's a picture of from up on one of the zipline platforms. Now, one quick story about the ziplining experience. On the 7th zipline, the wind began to pick up which we would blow me to the side. When this happen, I would move my handle back to the middle to center it, but would end of breaking the zipline. So, about 3/4th down on this zipline, I just stopped mid-air. Its one thing to be go fast on the zipline - but a lot freakier to be hanging in the middle of the air. Anyways, I had to flip around and grab the cord and with just my arm muscles, move myself the other 1/4 of the way down the zipline. My arms felt like rubber after that. It was a slightly traumatic experience, and I was relieved to be done after the next zipline.

So, here's my final destination - walking through a hanging bridges tour - a series of 6 hanging bridges through the cloud forest. Because it was early and because I was in C.R. on the off-season, there was hardly anyone on the trail. It was so quiet and peaceful. I could have stayed all day on that hike, just taking in he scenery and listening to the bird calls. Besides tons of beautiful birds, the only animals I saw were in this forest - 2 wild warthogs running away from me.

The start of one of hte hanging bridges. Beautiful! They were wobbly, but felt safe the entire time. This was what I was waiting for!

More beautiful forest pictures.

And more. 

And even more.

Here's the last hanging bridge (I'm about half way through) - it was the longest of them all. So, after all of this, I went and bought the remainder of my souvenirs back in the city and then I took a bus from Monteverde back to Alajuela, C.R. and chilled the airport until my flight left on Wednesday at around 1am.

Day 5: Wednesday May 11th

So, a strange thing happened. I missed my layover flight from Fort Lauderdale to Myrtle Beach as it was quite backed up in customs. So, I spent an entire day in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a friend I met who also missed his flight. So, the two of us (I just met him), spent the entire day together in Florida checking out downtown and sleeping with our backpacks on the beach. Then we flew back that night.

So, overall, it was a very awesome experience. I met lots of really cool people down there from all over the world - from France, Spain, Mexico, and the U.S. Everyone was surprised that I was only there for 4 days and then coming home and that I'm married with 4 children. They were also surprised at how well I knew Spanish. If I were to do it again, I would probably visit somewhere where I could see more animals (like the La Paz Waterfall Garden) and then I would enjoy more of the coastal towns and beaches. I would also spend at least a week down there, as I did quite a bit of bumpy bus traveling (I was glad to be back on flat grounds when I got back). It was a great experience and I think it only cost around $300 for the entire trip.