Vacation in Costa Rica

by Frank Marshall

Our family enjoyed a week in Costa Rica during July, 1998. We flew from BWI to San Jose on Delta Air Lines with a connection in Atlanta on Saturday, July 18^th, and returned on Saturday, July 25^th. The total cost for the 4 tickets was $2,234. The flight down was interesting because we flew over Cuba somewhere east of Havana. We rented a car from Avis at the San Jose airport and stayed 3 days at the Chachagua Rain Forest Hotel near the Arenal Volcano and then 3 days in Quepos near the Manual Antonio National Park. The last day was spent at a hotel just outside of San Jose.  The entire trip went well.

Note -- click on the thumbnails below to see larger images.
Note -- markers can be found on this interactive Google map.

Chachagua Rain Forest Hotel

We arrived at the San Jose Airport shortly after noon, rented a car (without 4-wheel drive) and headed for Chachagua, which is about 10 miles SE of Lake Arenal. We drove through the town of Zacero (Marker A on this interactive Google map), which has an interesting topiary collection (right photo). We ate an early dinner in a small restaurant in a town along the way (Florencia?). The hotel (Marker B) is located about a mile from highway 702 over a very rutted road. Fortunately we arrived before dark. The hotel cost a total of  $244 for the three nights. It is on a 250-acre ranch at the edge of the rain forest. There was very lush vegetation, but there was no way to get very far into the rain forest. We had our own small cabin (left photo). The cabin was not very special, but the shower was. It is the room with the large windows in the photo. It was full of plants -- it was like showering in the jungle. Unfortunately there was no air conditioning, but there was a large ceiling fan.

July 19th we drove on our own to see the area near the Arenal Volcano (left photo; Marker C). The volcano became active with a large eruption in 1968, and it has remained active ever since. It was not very active when we were there. We walked around the park at the foot of the towering volcano. The top was always surrounded by clouds from the steam coming out of the top of the volcano. In theory one could see the top of the volcano glowing at night, but this required clear skies. We spent about an hour walking on trails that ranged from volcanic rock to sandy soil. We did see a long line of  leaf ants scurrying along the ground. Toward the end of the day we stopped at a hot springs (Baldi) near the volcano. It was more like a series of ponds with a small stream running between the ponds. It was a pleasant way to end the day.

On July 21st we took a tour of  Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge near the border with Nicaragua. The area is similar to the Everglades with lots of marshes and wildlife. A guide took us in his SUV from the hotel to the refuge. It cost 38,400 colones ($150) for the four of us.  The guide had an amazing ability to spot wildlife while driving down the highway. Once at the refuge, we took a short trip in a boat.

Manuel Antonio Park

Manual Antonio is probably the most popular destination in Costa Rica. It has gorgeous beaches (right photo; Marker D) with wild monkeys  running through the  plants next to the beach. The entrance is unusual. There is a small inlet to be crossed. Depending on the tide, one can either wade the 20 or 30 yards or  use one of the small boats.

We stayed the El Parador Hotel & Beach Club (left photo; Marker E), a very nice hotel located between the town of Quepos and the park. It was also at the end of a very rutted road quite a ways from the main road. It had a wonderful pool (right photo). One edge had a very low wall giving the impression that the pool extended into the ocean. There was also a bar that you could swim to. Early one morning I took the opportunity to watch the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer pass overhead. Because of the 22-degree inclination of its orbit, it is never visible in Maryland, but went nearly overhead in Costa Rica.

San Jose

Summary