For my 40th birthday this year, I wanted to go somewhere that I've never gone before and I wanted to go somewhere warm. Tickets to Costa Rica dropped and I swooped them up back in October and started planning.
Everybody I know that has been to Costa Rica has gone to the same area and I knew that I wanted to explore a different spot. I wanted to go somewhere quiet and peaceful and I somewhere that felt like how I'd imagined Costa Rica to feel. I started zooming in on the Pacific Coast and scrolled down until I came to Uvita and decided that that's where we'd want to spend most of our time. There were a few national parks down there, it was about 4 hours from San Jose, there were waterfalls and mountains and cute little surf towns and the beaches looked absolutely beautiful. I booked an Airbnb and rented a car and figured that we'd just drive down the coast and see what we could find.
Our flight landed pretty late, so we grabbed our rental car (and paid $550 for insurance for 5 days) and checked into our hotel for the night. I'd booked the rental car in my name with my card so I was the one driving for the whole trip and Brian was absolutely thrilled.
The following morning, after breakfast, we started off west until we hit the coast and then proceeded south. We meandered through jungle and over vast gorges, drove beside oxen pulling carts full of palm fruit, and stopped for $4 tropical smoothies at a little hut on the side of the road. We found a beautiful little resort where we had lunch and walked on the beach and then stopped at a beach in Jaco and spotted Scarlett Macaws in the trees.
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| Coincidentally, we managed to spot each of the animals on the sign over the course of the next 5 days |
Eventually we got to Dominical, where our Airbnb for the next few days was located. It was several miles up a dirt road into the mountains and ended up being the one of the best places we've ever stayed. It even had it's own pool but we didn't end up using it because the ocean was so warm and and wonderful. It also had one of those super fancy Japanese bidet toilets with a heated seat and temperature control and Brian was in heaven. We arrived just before sunset, checked in, and then relaxed on the porch swing and watched the sun go down. Then we went into Dominical to get groceries for our stay. We knew that we were in the right spot when everybody in the grocery store at 7 pm was barefoot and in their swimsuits.
We both awoke the following morning at like, 2 am for some reason. We relaxed and ate breakfast and drank delicious Costa Rican coffee until the sun came up. The outside of our little casita was completely covered in condensation from the humidity, so Brian had to take the shower squeegee to the windows each morning so we could see out, lol.
Then it was off to Parque Nacional Marino Ballena - a stunning sandbar that's exposed at low tide and is shaped like a whale's tail. We arrived at 8 am and quickly found a spot in the shade of the jungle to leave our stuff before walking up the beach, which by some miracle, we had almost completely to ourselves. The sand was so soft and didn't have shells or rocks in it so it was heaven. The tide comes wayyy up the beach and then pulls wayyy out (it's about 7 feet and the beach has a barely noticeable slope), so the beach is pretty vast and there were no other footprints...it was just pristine.
We walked along the whale tail and then into the water which, to our surprise, was 83 degrees! It was about 90 degrees out so it wasn't as refreshing as we would have hoped, but it was still wonderful and we just soaked for a very long time. We retreated back into the shade for a while and Brian occupied himself by trying to get coconuts out of a tree and I soaked in the sun and tried to even out my tan. When we left at around 11:30, there were still only a handful of other people on the beach. We grabbed a delicious lunch in town and then drove south to the Terraba Sierpe National Wetlands. There was an interesting archeological site with dozens of 2000 year old Diquis Spheres and various stone structures. No one knows their purpose, but the floodplain houses thousands of these perfectly round stones transported from hundreds of miles away.
Then we went back to our Airbnb and Brian made a delicious dinner and then we just relaxed for the evening and called it an early night since we'd gotten up so early that morning.
Day 2, we had breakfast and then found a local beach where we spent most of the day. Once again, we had it all to ourselves and explored as the tide went out. There were a couple of rocky outcroppings for us to climb around on with tide pools and even a blowhole that are completely inaccessible during high tide. Brian played in the waves and I relaxed in the sand and it was perfect.
Day 4, we went to the Nauyaca Waterfall Nature Park. We rode in the back of a truck that drove us several miles into the jungle to a trail leading to some stunning waterfalls.
We swam and explored and played for a couple of hours, got lunch, and then found a beach with perfect waves as the tide rolled in. Brian rented a boogie board and we spent the whole afternoon playing in the water and soaking in the setting sunshine. We got coke floats in town and then called it a night.
Day 5 we packed up and checked out and then headed back north. I didn't take a ton of pictures because we spent most of the day in the car. We got breakfast along the way at another little hut on the side of the road that also made the most delicious cappuccinos that either of us has ever had in our lives. We drove through the lush interior to the Poas Volcanic crater. The last entry into the park was at 2 pm and we got stuck in so much traffic and construction along the way...I wasn't sure if we'd make it or not. We had given ourselves 5 1/2 hours to go where Google Maps told us it would take 3 1/2 hour to drive and it ended up taking even longer. Then, 5 miles (downhill) from the gate, our car told us that we were 7 miles from empty. It was a gamble that we could make it up and then coast back down afterwards until we came to a gas station, so we just found the nearest one and stopped to fill our tank and made it within like, 3 minutes of closing. It was sunny and a little cloudy but we had to hike to the crater for about 10 minutes and, in that time, a little storm rolled in. We arrived at the crater overlook and 20 seconds later, it was completely fogged in.
We got to see it though, and read about it! It's still active and last erupted in 2022. They have yellow circles painted around chips in the concrete platform where rocks spewed out of the volcano and landed. There are also sensers all around measuring the gasses coming out of the crater and they have shelters for visitors to run to if the gas gets to be too deadly. It was pretty cool.
We hiked back down, enjoying the massive plants and flowers along the way in the mist. It reminded us so much of Sao Miguel Island in the Azores with it being worm and foggy and so lush and beautiful. We couldn't really see the volcanic craters there either, because of the fog, but we loved it anyway. And there were Hydrangeas everywhere! The area made me think so much about Portugal that I came home and booked a trip to go back in March...though I wont be going to the Azores this time.
We ate dinner nearby and then drove back to San Jose for the night before our early flight the following morning. Traffic in San Jose is no joke. We hit it right at rush hour and were at a standstill for like, an hour and a half. It's just insane. I'd heard that the drivers of Costa Rica are crazy but it was the traffic that was crazy. We finally made it to the hotel, showered and tried to go to sleep as soon as possible since we had to wake up at 3 am. The hotel was right in town and had a gate to get in and out of the lobby and then a different gate across the street to guard the parking area. The receptionist assured me that there would be a man at the desk at 3:30 am to open the gates for us.
We packed up and went down to the desk to check out and there was this ooooold man (like 100 years old) standing in the lobby, barefoot, with a little dog. I assumed that he was the guy that would open the gates for us, so I greeted him, gave him our room key, and asked him to open the gates. But he couldn't hear anything. I kept trying to ask him and he just looked at me, confused, and told him he couldn't hear.
Me: "Can you please open the gate so I can get our car?" Him: "What? Are we going somewhere?" Me: "I need to get my car. I need you to open the gate for me". Him: "Huh? I can't hear you". Me: "OPEN THE GATE!!!" Him: "What gate?" Me: "To leave. I need to leave. " Him: "Yeah." ....Me: "OPEN. THE. GATE" Him: "Huh?"
This went on for several minutes. I was getting so frustrated because it was taking a lot of time and we had a taxi scheduled to pick us up at the car rental place in 15 minutes. Brian came and tried to talk to him but the old man didn't understand. Eventually, the ACTUAL receptionist came out of the bathroom and promptly opened the gates for us. We still have no idea who the old man was but we were laughing sooo hard. We returned our rental car and got the taxi in time and got home safe and sound.
It was the perfect birthday trip and we had the best time. We both fell in love with Costa Rica and it's people...everyone was so friendly and laid-back and the beaches were clean and empty and the bugs didn't bite and the food was amazing (as you could tell from the photos, there was a ton of chicken and rice eaten) ...it was just perfect in every way. I loved getting off the beaten path a bit and getting a real taste of life down there and I can't wait to go back <3