5 whole weeks in Costa Rica!
Our longest vacation so far - welcome to retirement!
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| On October 30th, 2024, we flew from Ottawa, via Toronto, to Liberia (Costa Rica). From there, we took a taxi (about 35 minutes) to Coco Beach, where we spent 4 weeks in the Coco Sunset Hills condo #52. Francine & Alain arrived on November 11th to join us for the rest of our vacation. From Coco Beach, we took a taxi back to near the Liberia Airport where we picked up our rental car and drove 140 kms to La Fortuna (which took 3 hours due to road conditions and crazy, mountain yahooness). We spent 4 nights in La Fortuna (where we enjoyed seeing the volcano, hot springs and 2 species of sloths). From there, we drove 113 kms to Mondeverde (which took 3+ hours, again, because of the roads). |
Population of Costa Rica: 5,139,110 in 2024Total area land size: 51,179.92 km2
Costa Rica (The Republic of) is a lush country in Central America and borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the southeast. It's name literally means "rich coast". It's lush during the rainy season, but apparently quite brown and dry in the non-rainy season. While I appreciated the lush vegetation, it comes at a cost - lots of rain. lol
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| Our Airbnb condo in Coco Beach for 4 weeks. There were many condos in this great complex that could be rented. It has 6 pools and only a 10 minute walk to the beach. Costa Rica is MUCH more expensive than Ecuador (where we're going next), so we had to settle for non oceanfront. |
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| Cheers to the start of our winter vacation! |
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| Coco Beach... before the torrential rains came |
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| Our condo - the bottom 2 levels |
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| Ouch! |
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| Row, row, row your boat |
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| Funny kitty pose for you Aunt Judy! |
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There is an iguana tail in this picture...
can you see it? |
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| The vultures having an iguana snack |
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| Mike, from Texas (and his dog Bubba) has a smoker in the back of his truck and sells meat from it. We tried it out! Too smoky for my liking, but Craig loved it! "Eat My Meat"! 😂 |
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| One of our favorite pools to hang out in and for the boys to throw the football...here, Craig's looking all lonely because Francine & Alain hadn't arrived yet and it wasn't yet the busy season, so we had the pool to ourselves. |
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| We have to talk about the weather on this trip...it was THE worst weather we've ever had on a vacation! Nothing we could do about it, so we just got out and enjoyed ourselves anyway. There was a nasty weather system hanging out in the area for a lot of the time we were here and it caused a lot of flooding. Unfortunately that system hung around for a good portion of the time Francine & Alain were there too |
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| I know, it's just a squirrel, but isn't it pretty? |
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| Coco Beach |
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| Craig relaxing at the other infinity pool area. I really did love the tropical feel of the resort and Costa Rica, in general. We arrived near the end of the rainy season, but, unfortunately, it was a record amount of rain for this time of year. |
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| Francine & Alain have arrived!!! |
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| A great Lebanese dinner out at Le Coq in "downtown" Coco Beach. Delish! |
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| I asked the boys to pose and this is what I got!🤯 |
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| This is the lovely "calm before the storm" picture...about 15 seconds later, Francine was rolling around in a wave! |
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| The boys enjoyed playing in the large waves |
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| You look like a surfer dude! |
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| The boys in their matching Costco swim trunks |
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| Although I look a little funny, these new SPF swimsuits were awesome for me! Really helped to protect me from the sun. Great to have these two join us in Costa Rica! |
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| There was SO much rain, that a waterfall developed on the beach! |
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| Very cool iguana in our condo area |
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| Cool tree on our little shopping excursion |
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| Francine & Alain soaking up all the sun they can, while they can. Ahhh....💦 |
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| We took a taxi to Ocotal Beach where the boys posed for me in the rock formations |
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| Don't do it Craig!!! |
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| We went on a little excursion to the far end of Ocotal Beach. Beautiful scenery and one of the 1st sunny days in a while |
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So cute...little love buddies
Next stop: La Fortuna
Sadly, the picture below was the ONLY time we saw the awesome Arenal Volcano because it was the only clear day for our 4-night stay. Little did we know at the time, that the weather would get even worse in Monteverde. |
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| On the way into La Fortuna we stopped to get a few pictures of Arenal Volcano - it's a very impressive, 5358 foot, cone-shaped volcano with a crater measuring 460 feet in diameter. In 1968, it suddenly erupted, destroying the town of Tabacon. |
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| It was sad that we never saw the volcano again after this because the clouds rolled in and stayed for the rest of our visit in the La Fortuna area |
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| We did a nature walk and sloth tour through Proyecto ASIS and it was an informative way to learn about some of the issues facing the wildlife of Costa Rica. My goal was to see a sloth in the wild here in Costa Rica and I was not disappointed! |
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| Although this lovely little guy was in captivity - rescued from a private home (it is illegal to own wild animals in Costa Rica). He/she is so pretty! |
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| We were thrilled when we saw the first sloth. There are 6 different species of sloths in the world and only two types: two-toed and three-towed. Today we saw the nocturnal, Hoffman's two-towed sloth and the three-towed, brown-throated sloth. Sloths are so slow because they have the slowest digestive system of any mammal. It can take them 2 weeks to digest a meal! So, to conserve energy, they do less and can spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping! Their predators are wildcats and Harpy Eagles, but they are good at blending into their environment and really, with their fur, they're not that appetizing. lol If you're looking for sloths, look up! They're hard to spot, but with the help of a guide and their special cameras, you'll get a wonderful view of them in their natural habitat and, if you're lucky enough, they'll be active like the two we saw. Sloths always defecate on the ground though, so it's possible to see them there. Do NOT get too close to a sloth. First off, they carry lots of disgusting things in their fur (like ticks), but also, they are very good at defending themselves and their claws and teeth are deadly. Don't be fooled...they CAN move fast when they need to. It was fascinating watching them. They're awesome! |
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| This one wouldn't look our way, but this was a good view of their fur, their limbs and those claws! |
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| Early the next morning we headed out, in the rain, to enjoy the free hot springs near the Tabacon resort. You can definitely pay to spend the day at the resort-style hot springs, but we chose to just go natural (and free) and it was a lovely experience. Due to all the rains, the "hot" springs were more "warm" springs, but still cool. |
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| Francine & Alain enjoying the hot springs |
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| It was really lovely here. I was a little surprised how shallow it was though - especially after all the rain, but we all really enjoyed the experience |
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| Nice pose Missy! 😁 |
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| All the hot springs photos were taken through my waterproof case...I was pleasantly surprised they turned out as well as they did |
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| The hammocks were absolutely beautiful here. So much work! I'd love one, but had no room in my suitcase. 😞 |
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| An adorable, embroidered purse in a souvenir shop |
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| This little guy reminded us of our beloved Titan. He was a sweet boy too. |
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| Two of these birds decided to mate in the field across from our Airbnb. It was quite the show! |
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| The hanging bridge in the Arenal Volcano National Park. It was a wet walk, but still enjoyable! |
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| Goofballs! |
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| I tried the "panoramic, turn-camera-upside down method" to get the full tree height in the picture. Other than it being a little foggy from taking it into the light and with the cover, it turned out pretty good! |
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| This waterfall was more impressive in person that it is in this photo. It was an added little hike. We definitely got our steps in that day! |
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| Hummingbird at Cafe Colibri near the park entrance |
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| Large, cute statue of a sloth in Monteverde |
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| Our Airbnb for the last 3 nights - in Monteverde. It was cute and had 2 nice bedrooms with comfy beds, but just one bathroom and no heat! I didn't think I would wish that it did have heat, but it got down to 17 degrees there and was incredibly windy and rainy during our stay. Also, no washer or dryer, so everything stayed wet and gross. We were desperate enough to resort to using a hair dryer to try and dry our shoes & clothes. |
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| Last night's dinner at TacoTaco in Monteverde. Another great meal. Cannot complain about the food we had and all those videos warning us that people would add things to the bill wasn't a problem for us. Maybe it's more done to people who drink a lot? |
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Coming out of the mountains was a lovely rainbow. It's way too dangerous to stop on these curvy, mountain roads, so this was the best I could do on the fly. We left the Airbnb headed to Liberia airport and it was quite the drive out of the mountains. We started at 17 degrees with rain and strong winds and by the time we got to the bottom it was sunny and 28! Crazy!
The 5 weeks flew by. Not the greatest weather, but we still had a wonderful time and enjoyed spending it with Francine & Alain.
After a short stop (2 days) back in Canada we now head off for three months in Ecuador (with a brief trip to Panama while we are there)!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! |
