The Central American nation has it all
JetBlue, a fantastic airline, flew us to San Jose, which is the capital of the country, from Ft Lauderdale.
The Carriari Doubletree Hotel was our destination for the night. We then headed to Guanacaste, Costa Rica’s northeast Pacific coast. It took approximately four hours to drive, with pit stops that were quite small for us as we had to rush the girls to make it to the resort. This journey offers many side trips. It is something I regret that we didn’t do.
A section of the Pan American Highway runs from San Jose to Liberia. This is the city we took a sharp right to reach the coast and resort. The Costa Rican government is expanding it rapidly to make it a 4-lane highway. It is estimated that completion will take around two years. The improvement should reduce travel time from San Jose to Guanacaste by at least an hour. The existing two-lane road is still in excellent condition. It is traffic that can slow you down.
Over the next five days, we enjoyed a small duplex bungalow at Hilton Papagayo All-Inclusive Hotel on Papagayo Bay.
The other side of the unit was shared with our friend and daughter. It was a perfect location for easy access to the hillside. “adults only”Section of resort that includes the spa, pool, restaurant area, and beach.
Our bungalow was surrounded by large and friendly iguanas as well as howler monkeys. The monkeys are very curious and shy. The monkeys were told not to let anything go unattended, either on the front porch or beach. The little devils seem to have an inclination of taking items such as towels and cameras. You can then go back to the trees and take your objects with you. After satisfying their curiosity they then leave the objects behind. You should not leave your items in trees if you do not want them to come back.
At the Hilton Papagayo, all water activities are non-motorized. The cost of deep-sea fishing or jet skiing is additional, but it’s very affordable. Newly engaged Joni & Cameron caught a half dozen grouper during a morning outing, all of which were cleaned, cooked and served for lunch by the resort chef within an hour of landing. Fresh!
A small truck, or golf cart on steroids, is constantly on the roads of the resort offering rides to visitors between bungalows. It was a great way to get some exercise and enjoy all the amazing food. You can see my shadow as I walk to the restaurant area.
At the base of the zip-line facility, we met some howler monkeys. Savey was able to place one on his shoulders.
A couple’s beach-side scrub down was hosted by the spa staff at the resort. This consisted of honey and course ground coffee beans, along with moisturizer. That little affair was skipped by me and my iguanas.
Have I mentioned the delicious food? Amazing! Many fresh seafood choices and many other options available.
It was quite different than we had expected. We experienced eleven zip lines through the trees, instead of one ride to the ground at the tower or from the cliff. It was thrilling to be elevated up to treetop level and travel between stations without ever returning to the ground.. until we reached our final zip line, which landed us back on “terra firma” about an hour later.
While we invaded their higher domain, we enjoyed the company of many critters.
These monkeys can be quick! Our party member got too close to take a picture. One of the buggers made off with her glasses. The trainer was required to rescue them.
Costa Rica is paradise for nature-lovers. Particularly appealing is the Hilton Papagayo which offers all-inclusive, reasonably priced accommodations. For more information about rates, click here