A three hour plane ride from Houston landed us in the capital city of San Jose, located in the center part of the country. We arrived about 1pm (MST) and waited on our next regional flight to Quepos on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
(Contrary to popular belief, Costa Rica is nothing like Mexico, nor is it connected to Mexico geographically.)
Costa Rica has two domestic airlines: Sansa and Nature Air. Sansa is actually a government subsidized airline.
Quepos is 3.5 hours by car from San Jose or a 25 minute flight over the mountains. The flight proved to be one of the best decisions we made during the trip planning process. The Costa Rican roads are very curvy, narrow and often full of pot holes. Plus, the plane ride gave us a chance to really get a view of the scenery.
It was like flying in an airborne church van.
Watch the take off here:
A quick hop over the rugged Costa Rican mountains and we were suddenly landing on what looked like a rural Texas highway.
The Quepos airport was basically an open-air building with lawn chairs. We immediately got a feel for how laid back this country is.
Our hotel, Arenas del Mar, arranged for transportation that took us through the town of Quepos, up the mountain toward Manuel Antonio, and to our resort. We would later find that choosing Arenas del Mar was definitely the best decision in our trip planning process.
The resort is basically built in the rainforest and was constructed in a way that did not disturb the fawna, flora or the area. A curvy, windy road led down to the entrance of the property, and we were immediately greeted by the happiest, most helpful people you've ever been around.
Everything is basically open air in Costa Rica. The temperature remains around 75-80 all year. We were there during the beginning of their rainy season, which meant about 3:00 pm every day, it rained or there was a thunderstorm. The rain was never really a factor. The tourist traffic was much less during this time of year, which meant we were always quickly seated when we went to restaurants.
Perhaps the most accommodating factor about Costa Rica was the fact that the sun came up every morning at 5:15 am and sat at 6:15 pm. The area of the country we were in sits on Latitude 9, so it is very close to the equator.
All of the tours and activities we did started around 7 am and we were back at the resort after lunch just before the afternoon rains, and asleep for the night by 7:30 pm. It was certainly conducive toward allowing us to catch up on our sleep!
After we checked in, we were treated to a dinner at the resort's fantastic restaurant. Thus, began our journey with Costa Rican food, adventure and awesomeness.
More of the trip to come...
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