And the Gardening Gloves came too
Written: Mar 28 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Diverse scenery, wildlife and culture
Cons: Having to travel from the UK via Miami and not direct
The Bottom Line: Volcanoes, beautiful beaches, sloths, butterflies, quetzals, rain forest, cloud forest, even amazing spiders. This place has them all.
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| suetoo's Full Review: Costa Rica |
Costa Rica said ‘the hubs’ in one of those rare moments when I allow him to suggest a holiday destination. I did some research and finally booked us to join an escorted small group with Jules Verne Travel called ‘Central America – Garden of Eden’ which was a 10 day sightseeing itinerary finishing up with a 4 night extension at a beach resort to relax.
So in March saw us board our flight to San Jose via Miami for a trip that encompassed many different types of scenery and some amazing wild life.
We travelled with BA to Miami, the flight being of a good standard with plenty of legroom and excellent food. Be prepared however to wait in a long immigration queue once you arrive in Miami. We were in one for 2.75 hours going and nearly 4 hours returning so make sure you check connection times are adequate. Luckily our luggage was booked all the way through.
Useless tip – there was one empty queue marked seaman or similar so it may be worth travelling in a stripy blue and white T shirt, blue bell bottom trousers complete with wooden leg, eye-patch and parrot, muttering yo ho ho etc.
Anyhow American Airlines on to San Jose and I must admit this was a very shabby airplane. My chair physically moved backwards as we took off, squashing the chap behinds legs and the whole light socket and bulb fell out on to the passenger in front of me (thought for one moment we were on the film set of a re-make of Airplane). However the flight crew were fun and the food although only a snack was really tasty.
We were met by our travel representatives “Costa Rican Travel” at the airport where we finally met up with the other 13 members of our group. We were transported to our first stop (2 nights)at the Fleur De Lys Hotel, San Jose. I have done a separate review on this hotel but if I had to sum up my initial reaction, it was Very, Very Pink. This hotel is out of the main centre, down a side street, and although the hotel itself seemed safe enough, the area around it seemed a bit dodgy at night.
The owners are Swiss I believe and certainly the wooden flooring gave the impression of a Swiss chalet. The hotel is very small with only about 30 rooms spread over 3 floors and as we had all arrived at once and there was only one porter, we ended up carrying our luggage up 2 flights of stairs ourselves, just so we could get settled in. Our room was very small and although it was clean, it smelt a bit musty, still as we were only here 2 nights we were not going to make a fuss and to be honest we had no conceptions of what Costa Rican hotels would be like. As it was quite late by this time we opted for a really good sandwich from the hotel bar and beer before going to bed totally exhausted.
So our first day and well, for those of you who have never been to Costa Rica, breakfast seems to be fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, refried beans, toast and coffee to die for. We were met by our guide David and taken by mini-bus for a trip round San Jose. Not the most spectacular or dare I say really interesting capital cities I’ve ever been to, but we did visit the National Theatre and Gold and Jade museums. The Gold Museum was actually really informative but for me the only highlight of the Jade Museum, were the phallic jade objet d’art (girls I need say no more here). Footnote: The Museum is halfway up a tower block and we could even see the “Pink” hotel from here and probably from outer space as well!!!
Exploring by ourselves, we discovered a really interesting market just about 150 metres from our hotel and also around the corner a wonderful all day/night café where local Costa Ricans ate. We had an excellent meal here sitting at wooden benches with the locals, amongst onions and bananas hanging from the wooden rafters. A wooden tray covered in a banana leaf with our food served on top was delivered to our table and water was poured over coffee contained in what looked like an old sock and dripped into old enamel mugs. Total cost – a few quid and it was really delicious and again the coffee was some of the best.
Leaving San Jose we travelled through the Brauilio Carrillo National Park, on through numerous banana and pineapple plantations, en route we were shown an orphaned baby sloth which had been adopted by a cuddly toy at one of the farms. Finally we transferred to a speed launch and made out way via the river to Tortuguero and the Evergreen Lodge (2 nights). The boat journey was great fun and we spotted numerous birds and monkeys. These channels and the general scenery etc are probably not unlike the Amazon area of Brazil.
Our accommodation was in the tropical forest and was just a wooden hut with 2 single beds, a table, shelves, shower and toilet. There were mosquito screens up at the window, but these had numerous holes in. Because this is a very small place, meals were taken all together at long communal tables and over very tasty food; we all got to know each other a lot better.
Now, call me a snivelling coward if you like, but whilst I can tolerate snakes, mice, beetles and other creepy crawlies, my pet hate is spiders. I trawled the internet for weeks prior to coming, searching for all varieties of Costa Rican spiders that I was likely to encounter and here my worst fears were realised. I had discovered already that there was a huge black hard shelled variety outside our hut, and having noted its exact position (via the sun) and that it hardly moved at all, I was lulled into a false sense of security. One of the couples had only been in their hut a few minutes when the wife breathless and trembling returned to the bar and told us there was a humungus grey spider in their room. She went off to find someone to get rid of it, while naturally all us cowards hurried to her hut to view it from the doorway. We managed to sight the monster, yes, it really was huge but of course it scuttled off and no one could track it down. It was enough for me to get ‘Hubs’ to search every square inch of our hut though, before I’d even consider going to bed and even then I couldn't sleep. The spider apparently was above their bed the next day, a wolf spider. Of course this whole experience prompted me to produce my yes, Garden Gloves. I’d dragged these gloves all the way from Cambridge, England to protect me from spiders. I rather think I cut a dash as I emerged thereafter with these lovely red suedette gloves, just in case my hands came anywhere within touching distance of a hairy arachnid.
Still we enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful boat trip, sighting loads of birds, cayman, lizards, unfortunately not the turtles (wrong time of year) and went on a nature walk and spotted a lot of blue jean frogs. We returned by boat to pick up our coach and returned to the Brauilio Carillo Park where you can get an ariel tram. This was quite an experience and well recommended. On again to spend the next 2 nights at Quinta de Sarapiqui. This is a lovely hotel, and within the hotel grounds are beautiful walks, some lovely lakes with wooden piers set in them with chairs just to take a quiet drink and watch the giant squirrels in the trees in the mornings. There is an orchid garden and a fantastic butterfly farm alongside the really interesting museum. The food here was good quality but the rooms did let the place down a bit. They were a bit shabby, and the bedspreads and curtains were very dated with very chintzy rose designs. Our bathroom was also just occasionally a bit smelly but again nothing too bad. We had an escorted tour through the Selva Nature Reserve, which was very interesting although very hot and humid. Take plenty of water with you to drink, and also note that here Tarantulas do hide on tree trunks so mind where you put your hands (yep, I had on my garden gloves again).
Roads in Costa Rica range from not too bad to down right awful. We were told we would have to detour as part of a bridge had collapsed. It was only when we were disturbed by our guide getting off the coach and shouting instructions to the driver that we realised that in true ‘death or glory’ style we were straddling the collapsed bridge section in our coach. You could see the water in the gorge hundreds of feet below us where the concrete had disappeared underneath our coach. All that was left were a few bits of metal. Obviously we got across but I think I was really really scared.
We stopped off at the Arenal Volcano Springs where we were able to spend a few hours swimming around. Beware that it can get very hot in this part of Costa Rica and that a high factor sunscreen should be used especially if you are fair-skinned. We drove from here to an Eco-Lodge arriving in thick mist, and as a group, sat on our balconies swigging some whisky until suddenly the clouds lifted and we took off over the hills emulating Julie Andrews. The scenery here is magnificent and reminds me of the Lake District in England. Cannas grow here in abundance and the hotel provides fruit tables for the colourful birds to feed. On ward again through the Tilaran Mountains to Montverde. About 30 miles from Montverde the road disappears and you have to travel on unmade tracks. This is apparently to stop the area becoming too touristy.
Two nights stay at the beautiful Belmar hotel. There really did look and feel like a Swiss chalet. Spotless, cosy but of course being a Quaker community, no alcohol. We went on a fantastic nature night walk, where we spotted loads of different animals, porcupines, sloth’s, a tarantula, and many more I’ve forgotten the name of. It’s was so interesting we asked for an extension and got it. From here you can also climb up to the cloud forest and cross all the numerous bridges, which span the trees. Unfortunately although we saw loads of gorgeous humming birds the rare Quetzal on this occasion was unsighted.
Return to San Jose for 1 night and the ‘Pink Hotel’ and this time we got a great room. The room called ‘Daisy’ included not only a settee, kitchenette but a wonderful hot tub. Took a taxi to San Jose for a meal but make sure you shop around a bit as we found prices varied and if you hesitate, we found prices were dropped to lure us in. Always agree a taxi price as well before getting in.
Finally we left San Jose for the Hotel Parador on the edge of the San Antonia National Park. This was the relaxing part of the trip but a bit of a shock to us after the rest of Costa Rica. Here the quiet, small sometimes slightly shabby hotels were left behind for this beautiful, very high quality hotel perched on the top of the cliffs. Inside it was all smooth efficiency, models of old boats; sculptures and the inner rooms had giant replicas of old paintings, suits of armour, wooden balconies, huge settees and a wonderful almost medieval ambience. The rooms are large with just about every necessity and as Hubs pointed out, they’d even got me an ironing board so I could get the creases out his shirts (guess who got poked).
I would say that I do not think this hotel would be very suitable for disabled people or people with walking difficulties. There are slopes and steps everywhere. And although there is a open air funicular lift, if like us there is a power cut while you’re in it, then you have to clamber over walls to get out. I also fell down the stairs because they were quite slippy. There is a mediocre beach about 10 minutes away but it down a very steep hill and on the way back it takes nearly 30 minutes and you have to be fit. There were not enough bar staff in the evening when everyone came down for a pre-dinner drink and on one occasion having waited to pay my bill about 15 minutes and constantly got ignored, I walked off in disgust without paying. The food at breakfast was very good but the one evening meal we had in the hotel was mediocre and we found eating out very better value for money. The coffee facilities in the rooms were not always replaced and the whole time we were there, had no milk.
I can recommend going into San Antonio in the evening for meals and there are plenty of really lovely restaurants around which are great value for money. We visited a fantastic restaurant built around an old B52 airplane, which you pass on the road to San Antonio. The inside of the plane is a bar and disco.
San Antonio National Park is a lovely place to walk through. We saw loads of different monkeys, sloth’s, land crabs (spooky) and the walk takes you through woods, which suddenly emerge on fantastic sandy beaches.
Please go to Costa Rica. I think this is a really under-rated place and I know from talking to some Americans that they go there to surf. I realise that it probably is a great place to do that but the whole place is so beautiful and contrasting, from the Amazonian type scenery in the northeast to the volcanic mountains in the middle and the amazing and beautiful coastline on the west coast. The animals we saw in their natural environment was truly mind blowing and it made all of us appreciate why we must protect all this. Costa Rica is coming to terms with the fact that tourism is a large source of revenue for them and this has inspired them to protect as much of their country as possible as national parks. So if you can’t decide where to go, then try here.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
suetoo
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Member: Sue
Location: Ely, Nr Cambridge, England
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Travel maniac
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