Favorite 2009 Adventure Vacation: Costa Rica

The above tree in Costa Rica was filled with tons of Macaws... but I zeroed in on one to get a better photo. The sunset photo was taken from the living room of our villa in Jaco, Mexico. This was one of the only nights we could actually see the setting sun. Most of the other nights the sky was too hazy. The beach shot is from Manuel Antonio...voted "One of the 100 best places to visit before you die. " I can see why. The beach was gorgeous, the wildlife plentiful. I wish we would have stayed closer to this park as the scenery in the Manuel Antonio area was more "jungle-ish." It seemed more Costa Rica to me.

Costa Rica was more like an adventure vacation mixed in with some relaxation. Adventure one day...relax the next. I went with two friends, Annette and Sharon...and my cousin, Laura. We stayed at a VRBO.com property in Jaco that advertised: Penthouse with two bedrooms, great ocean view, and air conditioning. All advertised info was true...we climbed steps to the top floor where we found the entire front of the villa faced the ocean--we were steps from the beach. It was grand...not necessarily because of the decor (even though the decor was very nice with granite counters, tile floors, huge custom tile shower), but because of the view. The multiple large accordion glass doors rolled to the side allowing unobstructed views of sunrises, ocean, beach, partial sunsets, and locals enjoying the surf. The disappointment of this property...air conditioning was only located in the bedrooms and it was sweaty hot--even at night. One person slept in the living room each night and there was no heat relief except from the overhead fans that ran constantly tyring to cool the place down. We were later told that the owner prefers to be cooled by the ocean breezes coming through the open doors. That is fine...when it is cooler and the breezes do their job. It wasn't so great in April when the breezes are humid.

Even though I personally felt safe in Costa Rica, a couple things did leave me a bit on guard. The property does have constant round-the-clock security. That's a good thing. We felt very safe on the property. However, when we picked up our keys in town from the property manager, the heavy iron-gated door was locked--even during daytime business hours--and you have to be "buzzed" in. That was concerning but it was even more troubling to hear the agents warning when we picked up our car at the rental agency. "If you get a flat tire, keep going. If someone tries to help...don't let them." The agent went on to explain tourists in rental cars are often targeted for vandalism. Gangs will slash tires, offer to help...then rob the tourists. "Yippee," I thought sarcastically. We did end up with a flat tire, but it was at our resort. Security changed the tire and all was well. We are not sure when/where the flat happened...but when we went to the car one evening, the tire was flat.

We spent many hours, due to the extreme humid heat, relaxing in/near the on-site pool . Lounging on the water on blow-up rafts, listening to the calm man-made waterfall, reading, chatting, and sipping beverages made it hard to want to go off and explore in the heat. We also had a perfect view of the macaw migration. Every day macaw pairs would fly directly above us...cawing loudly. They always flew in pairs--it is my understanding that they mate for life. We never saw a single macaw. These colorful birds filled the trees along roadsides and in the parks we visited.

There are hundreds of monkeys at Manuel Antonio Park and I believe I took pictures of every single one. However, am only posting a couple. They were amazing to watch. However, for me, the best surprise was watching a sloth. In fact, my friend Sharon, told the guide, "I'd like to see a sloth." So we turned...and there was a sloth. Then she said, "I'd like to see a baby sloth." The guide seemed la bit agitated and down-played her request. "It is extremely unlikely you see a baby," he said. I think he was concerned about his tip as he made excuses on how we should not get our hopes up about seeing such a site that day. But when we turned to look back toward the jungle...there was a mama sloth and her baby. And even a daddy too. We saw the whole family. After that, we just asked Sharon..."what do you want to see?" We figured if she put her request out in the universe, it would just show up like magic!

Our adventure in Costa Rica also took us on a Mangrove Tour where we saw crocodiles on land, lurking in the water, and ready to get in the water, birds flying, resting, and nesting, jungle trees that expand from one single root to great distances, and we even learned some history of the area. We spotted "Crocodile Island" which is named correctly since tons of crocs were unconcerned with us...lazily sunning themselves while we snapped photos.

I would like to go back to Costa Rica some day and spend more time on the Caribbean side as well as more time in Manuel Antonio Park. I loved the wildlife...and I want to spend time on that beach!