Costa Rica Day 1: Flight in, Drive to Puntarenas

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The flight into Costa Rica was gorgeous. We flew in from the Pacific side so we were able to get a look at Puntarenas, a five mile long peninsula on the west coast, which would serve as our home base for a week. Looking down all we could see was green. Lush green forest covering mountains and plains that were crisscrossed with rivers, I couldn’t wait to get in the car and be on our way.


A lot of things I read before I went warned against renting a car, warning that there are few signs, huge pot holes, and very rough driving conditions. Good thing I am not a wuss, nor do I listen to every warning fired off by others online. Most people aren’t very capable, plus I have driven in many countries around the world, so I felt good about renting a car. We were put into a small SUV and with Sophie as my navigator, map in hand, we took off to Puntarenas, some 120 km away. Right away we could realize that all of the warnings were accurate. The roads were two lanes with a nonexistent centerline. Traffic flew passed us in some cases, and in others there were cars driving no more than ten km per hour for no apparent reason. The drive was beautiful though. Driving through the hills of Costa Rica surrounded by rainforest is an experience worth having. After two hours we arrived at our destination. I used my Hilton Honors points to secure us a week in a suite at the Double Tree Puntarenas, an all inclusive resort. The place was beautiful, and after eating the cookie they give you at check-in, we made our way to the room, threw on our swimsuits and took a walk around the resort. There were four pools, several bars, a couple of restaurants, a stage for some of the nightly acts, a disco, gym and much more. We grabbed a couple of drinks and lounge chairs to catch some rays and relax. After swimming over to the bar and crossing off a few drinks on the drink list we made our way over to the ocean to watch some of the locals surf, and body surf, the waves that were crashing in on the shore. After a few minutes we could see some of the colors of the sunset stretch out across the sky behind the big cumulous clouds forming in the distance.


After sunset we made our way back to the room to unpack and have a shower before dinner. It had been a long day traveling so we had a drink before setting down at dinner; we ate there in the resort at an expansive buffet that had all kinds of different choices. We both ate too much and were ready to crash after a long day. With an early start planned for the next day we made our way back to our room for a good night’s sleep.

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