In the middle of September, the Mrs. and I finally went on our honeymoon in Costa Rica. I had been there once before on a study abroad trip in 2009, and boy was it good to be back! We both love to travel, so it was a nice break from the daily routine.
We spent the first two nights in San José, the capitol city, with a friend from my previous trip. We explored downtown, went to the Central Market, saw the old theatre, and had a good (re)introduction to the city.
We visited an art museum near one of the large parks.
(My friend Andrés and his girlfriend Carmen.)
After Costa Rica broke ties with Taiwan and forged ties with China, the Chinese built them this giant soccers stadium. Here are some guys playing next to it.
The bus was broken…and the typical Costa Rican red taxis are everywhere (except when you need them.)
The central market is quite an experience.
We then took a 4 hour ride up to the mountains to a place called Monteverde. Monteverde is famous for its cloud forests, ziplining, and, sadly, the extinction of the golden toad. It’s a beautiful place. We stayed at the Hotel Sunset, a small hotel owned and operated by a German ex-pat and his son. They were great hosts, the rooms were clean, and the breakfast hit the spot. He also helped us arrange our ziplining and canopy tours. Here’s the view of the Nicoya Gulf (Pacific coast) from the hotel. It’s a better view in the dry season, but this was nice all the same. There was a small trail near the hotel that went down by a stream, and we took some time to hike around that (despite beginning to get sick), and I even got Darby out on a couple of night hikes! We visited the butterfly and hummingbird gardens as well.
Darby’s first time ziplining was quite an experience. Terrified at first, she leared to have fun by the end. The last line was a kilometer long and we had to go town it tandem in order to make it to the end! That was probably one of the coolest points of the trip. And I own’t show the video of Darby screaming on the Tarzan swing, for fear of an early divorce. The next day, she took it low-key and read in the hammock while I explored.
I just like this one of Darby looking up through the forest from the hammock.
The canopy bridges were cool (hi mom!)
Darby and her beloved peanut butter pie, and the butterfly garden.
(Blue Morpho butterfly, wing, and larva.)
By this time, my throat had begun to feel like there was a small acupuncturist living and practicing inside it. I don’t get sick often, so this came as a big surprise. Luckily I found some great antiseptic lozenges that seemed to help a lot. Mebucain (mebocaína) to the rescue.
We hopped back on the van and took a ride down from the mountains to the southern pacific coast and Manuel Antonio National Park. It turns out the hotel I booked (a small private jungle “bungalow”) was RIGHT next to the park entrance. Next to the gate. And it was a very short walk to the public beach and some great sunsets. This was a very good thing, as by this point I was feeling dreadful and Darby had begun to get sick as well.
The next day, feeling worse, I decided that I did NOT come so far and get to the most popular national park in the country only to miss out on it because I was sick. This was probably a bad decision, but I went into the park all morning until the early afternoon. Lots of walking ensued, and my upper respiratory system still probably has me blacklisted somewhere for making it suffer through it. There were some great beaches, lots of animals (though not as many as I’d expected), and if I hadn’t been sick it would have been a much better experience. Darby, also sick by this time, stayed at the hotel. A miserable middle of the honeymoon, but we still remember it fondly.
I saw a three-toed sloth (osa perezosa) with her baby!
Of course there were plenty of ctenosaurs.
The white-faced capuchins (monos carablancos) frequent the trees by the beaches, hoping to get some food. This is a sad thing–note the one with the trash in the tree. It happens a lot. But one thing that is a little more rare, I think was the monkey who picked up a frog, carried it up into the tree, looked at it, and petted it with one finger before releasing it back to the ground. Now THAT was fascinating.
After a couple of days in Manuel Antonio, we hopped on a very small plane (ALMOST as small as the one in Nepal) to get back to San José in order to catch a bus to our last destination, Cahuita. Little planes are always fun…especially when they are new!
After a 4 hour bus ride to the caribbean coast, we reached the small town of Cahuita. (This is also where I lost my phone.) Cahuita is a small, quiet town with a distinct afro-caribbean feel to it. Jerk food, dreds, the whole nine yards. Darby even tried some octopus and lobster! It is also home to another national park with a nice coral reef, which unfortunately we didn’t snorkel at. At this point we were both almost recovered from being ill, so we just took it easy, explored the national park a bit, and had some fun on the black sand beach. Funnily enough, we stayed at a Swiss-German owned hotel here as well, so Darby had a second chance to impress and whip out her mad German skills (she’s much better than she lets on). This was a good thing, as the owner spoke hardly any English and very limited Spanish. She even comped the beer I had from the mini fridge because of the frustration of losing (and looking for) my phone.
(Sometimes the best view is right between your legs! Wait, maybe I should rethink that statement…)
All in all, it was a good trip. It was good to get out of town, be away from the computer and phone (OK, maybe a little too far away from the phone…), see some old friends, and enjoy some “alone” time in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
It had also been too long since I’d taken any nature and travel photos, which are my favorite types of photos to take. Sorry it took so long to get them up–there were quite a few, and I’ve been busy! You can see even more photos from the trip here on Flickr.
