A friend and former AA colleague of mine, Jim, and I decided to escape the mid-winter doldrums with a long weekend break to Costa Rica in mid-February. We had previously visited Costa Rica a dozen years ago, but had concentrated on the San Jose area. This time, we wanted to venture farther afield. Some research revealed that the Quepos/Manuel Antonio area along the Pacific coast, some 60 miles due south of San Jose, offered a wide variety of fun and exciting activities, including jungle canopy tours, river rafting, sea kayaking and rainforest horseback riding.
Costa Rica’s dry season extends from December through April, so February is an ideal time to visit. Found an amazing airfare deal on Taca Airlines (the airline of Central America) for $350 roundtrip from DC, so locked in my reservations back in November. Note: Don’t worry – Taca safely operates a modern, comfortable fleet of Airbus A319/A320 aircraft, and is a partner carrier of American Airlines. In fact, all of my flights arrived either on-time or early!
Had a comfortable flight from DC to El Salvador, with a short, 1-hour connecting flight on to San Jose, arriving mid-evening. Picked up our 4wd SUV rental car (heard the roads could be a bit rough) and headed to our quaint B&B in suburban San Jose (http://colours.net/) The Colours B&B had a charming courtyard with lush vegetation and an inviting pool and Jacuzzi, set in a quiet neighborhood. The stars were brilliant in the tropical evening sky. Saturday morning, had an early morning breakfast, made to order, and hit the road, heading for the Pacific Coast. Though Quepos is only 60 miles from San Jose, a major mountain chain separates the two, resulting in a 3.5 hour roadtrip (180km/100mi by road). The roads were windy and slow-moving heading west from San Jose, but flattened out significantly once we hit San Mateo and started hugging the coastline at Jaco. Overall, the highways were pretty good, with a few rough spots. Still, it was the right decision to rent an SUV.
Arrived in Quepos just before lunch, checked into our B&B there (http://www.kekoldi.com/) and grabbed a bite before heading out on our first adventure: the Canopy Tour, which was, undoubtedly, the highlight of the entire weekend (www.titicanopytours.com) The tour consists of a series of 12 suspension cables, linking 16 platforms, where visitors ride the ziplines from platform to platform, high above the jungle canopy below. (Think Tarzan!) The entire cable network is over 1.5km long (more than 1 mile), with three lines over 300 meters long (that’s 3 football fields, end-to-end). Most of the platforms are above 90 feet/30 meters off the ground. Zipping from platform to platform was an exhilarating experience, and while I am sometimes not crazy about heights, I felt safe in the harness I was wearing. Safety is the #1 priority, and that is evident throughout. Along the tour, we saw a number of beautiful tropical trees, flowers, several sloths, etc. Was really a fantastic and environmentally friendly way to view the rainforest – from above. Another canopy tour also exists closeby (www.canopysafari.com), which includes 18 platforms, 9 ziplines and 3 repel lines. I’ve heard it’s a great tour as well, but no thanks on the repelling!
The next afternoon, we did a catamaran boat ride with Planet Dolphin, where we set sail from the port in Quepos mid-afternoon and went down along the coastline to the Manuel Antonio National Park, whose boundaries extend into the Pacific Ocean, providing shelter and preservation from commercial and sport fishing. It was a great afternoon, filled with sun, sea and unlimited mixed drinks. The cat anchored a couple of times for us to go swimming and snorkeling. Great fun! The 4-hour trip was capped off by watching the stunning sunset over the vast Pacific horizon.
On Monday morning, we headed back to San Jose to catch our mid-afternoon flights home. Stopped by one bridge to view a few crocs idling along the riverbanks while a couple of brightly colored scarlet macaws flew overhead. It was a fantastic 3-day weekend in Central America!
Some general comments: If/when I return to Quepos, I would definitely pay the $80 roundtrip to fly there from San Jose (20-minute flight vs. 3-hour drive). Besides, once you’re in Manuel Antonio, you really don’t need a car. Any activities you participate in will pick you up/drop you off at your hotel/B&B. The food is great! Tropical fruits abound, and we dined on fresh seafood dinners every evening. The Kekoldi B&B in Manuel Antonio was okay, but its backdrop is the jungle, away from the ocean. When I return, I would definitely prefer to stay at the Hotel Villa Roca B&B (http://villaroca.com/index.html), a much nicer property cascading down the hillside with spectacular, unobstructed views to the Pacific. They also have an amazing “endless” pool that seems to blend with the ocean at the horizon. Unfortunately, Villa Roca was sold out (even back in November), so be sure to book months in advance! I’d have to say that Costa Rica definitely ranks in my list of Top 10 favorite countries. It’s clean (by Latin American standards) and relatively safe (petty theft can be encountered, but we had no problem). It’s a great country with a wide array of activities that appeal to everyone. Manuel Antonio definitely deserves repeat visits.
Additional photos accompanying this travelogue can be seen in the Costa Rica folder at: http://photos.yahoo.com/mark_haneke.
Happy Travels!
Mark
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