We had been told by other travellers that Costa Rica was expensive compared to the rest of Central America, so we only planned to spend a few weeks here enroute to Panama. That was a mistake! We loved Costa Rica, it was easy to travel around, the people were friendly, they have heaps of amazing places to camp – for free, and the wild life and scenery are stunning.
Costa Rica has a similar size population to New Zealand (4.8 million), but in a smaller area. Approximately a quarter of Costa Rica is made up of protected jungle and National Parks that are teeming with wildlife. There are 800 miles of coastline, and Glen was keen to explore as much of it as time would allow.
We stocked up on supplies and got some yummy pork belly at the local market for lunch in the town of Liberia. From here we drove to Playa Tamarindo.
Play Tamarindo is a reasonable sized tourist town, with plenty of shops and restaurants catering to the tourists. We were surprised how busy it was in April considering it was the off season. We also weren’t expecting it to be so built up. First impression was, lets get the hell out of here! We drove through town to our free camp spot on the beach. Wow what a contrast, no buildings or shops, just a lovely white sandy beach with lots of trees for shade. This is more like it! We found a nice spot and set up camp next to an Argentinian family that were travelling from Argentina all the way to Alaska.
Our days at Tamarindo consisted of getting up early, Glen going for a surf, and I would go for a walk along the beach and do some yoga, then we would meet up and have breakfast on the beach together. While Tamarindo has many restaurants and cafes, they were out of our price range, so we cooked our meals at our camp site on the beach. I did venture into town one day, and ended up buying a bikini from Morena Beachwear. A locally designed and made swimwear shop.
From Tamarindo we carried on south along the coast stopping at different beaches so Glen could check out the surf. Most of the beaches allowed free camping, and were stunning. Costa Rica has amazing lush jungle that comes all the way to the coast, they seem to be taking much better care of the environment that the rest of Central America.
Our next stop was Nosara to catch up with some overlander friends we met in Guatemala (John, Mary and Lilly). Nosara is a small surf and yoga town, so that got us interested. Glen found that the surfers at Nosara were mostly American, mostly arrogant, mostly weathly, and the surf was mostly average – not a great combination. So this wasn’t the town for him.
I was blown away by the huge amount of yoga studios and yoga resorts in Nosara. I went to a couple of classes at the Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort, and was impressed. Classes were expensive by New Zealand standards at $15USD for 60 minutes, but the level of teaching was superb. There were lots of different yoga classes to choose from. After one of the classes I hang out at the resort reading magazines, drinking a fresh juice and swimming in the pool – bliss.
From Nosara we carried on down the Nicoya Peninsula to another surf and yoga town Samara where we stopped for lunch. The road south of Samara is a bit sketchy, with a few river crossings, so we played it safe and headed inland. We drove on up through Espiritu Santo and down to Playa Tivivies, a black sand beach in a gated community. We free camped at the end of the beach by ourselves. On sunset with a tequila and tonic in hand we watched an amazing lightning storm.
San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica has about 340,000 people and is located in the Central Valley Region. The valley has rich volcanic soil and is well known for growing coffee beans and other crops. We didn’t venture into the down town area but came to visit Costa Rican friends Edgar and Johan and their cute dogs. We had also hoped to visit the Territory de Zaguates dog rescue centre located just outside of San Jose that has 1,000 rescue dogs (yes that’s right). Unfortunately they were not open to visitors the weekend we were in San Jose.
From San Jose we carried on south to the coast via Crocodile Bridge (it was aptly named), man there were a lot of crocodiles, and they were big suckers! A group of crocodiles is called a bask, and that is exactly what they were doing – basking in the sun.
We couldn’t decide whether to go down to Antonio Manual National Park. One of the most popular in Costa Rica – they limit the tourists at the weekend to 800! We were keen to hike in the national park and see the wildlife, but we weren’t keen to do it with 800 other tourists. After driving up and down a windy road we arrived at the park on Monday morning to find it was closed. Oh well, never mind, instead we went for a swim just outside the park and then headed up to the aeroplane restaurant to enjoy the view and have some lunch.
Next stop was another surf town on the Pacific Coast called Dominical. After a few days in the city Glen was itching to wash off the travel dust and get some surf. The waves were really good, you just had to be careful not to get sucked up into the giant waterspout!! We camped on the beach for a few days with our Dutch friends Thijs and Anna and their dog Mex that we met in Omatepe. It was great to met up with them again and enjoy their company, and play lots of cards. Dominical is a nice size town, with friendly locals and expats. We really enjoyed our time in this funky surf town and the vibe of the area.
One of the attractions in the area is Nauyaca Waterfall. Its a very steep 5km walk or ride in a ute to the water falls. We walked it and were glad of the cool water to swim in when we got there. Walking also allowed us to see our first Toucan and Howler Monkeys hanging out in the trees by the dirt road.
After travelling solidly for two months we decided it was time to settle in one place for a few weeks and do some volunteer work. We found a place through the Workaway website – a boutique accommodation called Bali Rica in Ojochal, Southern Costa Rica. The owners of Bali Rica, Mac and Sharon are from the Unites States, and have made Costa Rica their home. They have created a lovely relaxing retreat in the jungle, with beautiful gardens. We helped out by preparing accommodation for guests, teaching Yoga classes, building decks, and repairing some termite damage.
As we were living in the jungle there was all sorts of critters about, from big bugs the size of a mouse that sounded like helicopters when they flew, frogs that made the most incredible sounds at night, to a Boa Constrictor snake that was living in the back of the oven. The snake got a bit hot under the collar when I baked some muffins and came out onto the bench giving us a good thrill!! Mac relocated him to the other side of the property!
During our stay at Bali Rica we visited a remote place called Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula. To get to Drake Bay we drove 90 minutes south to a small town called Sierpe and got a water taxi. The trip down the river is a one hour boat ride through the mangroves and out to the sea. We got Captain Speedy Gonzales and he blasted through to Drake Bay in a record time of 40 minutes! My knuckles were white at the end of the boat ride, Glen loved it.
Within five minutes of getting off the boat in Drake Bay we walked past a tree full of Mccaws (big red parrots) on the way to our accommodation. We stayed at Cabinas El Mirador lodge a Costa Rican owned hotel, which had stunning views out over the bay.
The next day at 6:30am in the morning we went on a five hour nature hike with a local guide – Gustavo from Tour Trillo de la Danta (Tapirs Trail). We saw all sorts of wildlife including the elusive Sloth, and Gustavo pointed out lots of interesting plants, frogs and birdlife. Gustavo has deep respect and knowledge of the jungle, and his passion for this came through on our tour. After a refreshing swim at a small waterfall we stopped for lunch with a local Tico family. The local food was wholesome, organic and delicious. The highlight was fresh cacao seeds to suck on, very sweet and delicious. We headed back to the water taxi with a full belly for a not so speedy return trip upriver – thank goodness.
Rain rain and more rain, this is the rainy season after all. After a wonderful few weeks at Bali Rica we continued our drive south to Pavones. It pretty much rained for 24 hours, so rather than camping we found some great accommodation at Johnies place called Misiones De Pavones. Pavones is Costa Rica’s premiere surf break, it is sheltered and inconsistent but when it turns on offers up rides over a kilometre long! Glen got a couple of surfs in during our stay here. He thought the waves were fun and long but it wasn’t breaking that good as the swell was too small. Although Johnie did say in the morning that Glen got the wave of the day, so it must have been reasonable.
Surprisingly Pavones is still a funky grungy surf town despite its famous reputation. We could have easily spent more time here.
We continued our journey south through massive palm plantations to the border of Panama.
We both really enjoyed the people, scenery and wild life in Costa Rica, after a pleasant and surprisingly inexpensive time in this beautiful lush country.
Dream Home Minders 
Great description of your very varied time in Costa Rica. I wonder if the touchans are related to puffins, they have a similar quirkiness, although different size beaks. Another great Glen vid-AND you STILL has the green Airnz sunnies Glen- now that’s an achievement!
Did you get a caffeine hit from the cacao seeds? ( you’d be really sensitive to caffeine)
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