Two Sisters and a Mother in Costa Rica Day 1

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On February 24th, my daughters and I all flew into Liberia (LIR) airport, Costa Rica from different locations: Colorado, New Hampshire and Florida, for a weeklong celebration of my turning 70 in June. We had rented a Hyundai Creta 4x2 automatic car through Adobe Car Rental, a local agency located a few miles from the LIR airport. This agency was recommended by Mytanfeet, a company written by a Costa Rican couple, that offers recommendations of places to go, tours and other valuable inside information.

Since we arrived at different times from different locations my NH daughter and I who were first to arrive were able to leave the airport in the Adobe Car van to pick up our rental car (about a 3/4 hour process), in time to return with the car and anxiously wait for our Colorado gal. Her plane was delayed so our departure from the Liberia airport was later than we had expected.

We had been cautioned not to drive over the mountainous roads to La Fortuna in the dark but since we were leaving at dusk, we had no choice. I would not recommend driving the Nuevo Arenal road (142) unless it is a sunny day. The roads are not lit at night and there are blind corners, switchbacks with one lane bridges appearing out of nowhere as well as long unprotected drops at the side of the mountain road that thankfully we did not see until our return trip (in daylight) to Liberia four days later. My daughter Mandy did an excellent job keeping us on the road while my daughter Kate did a great job navigating with very few signs to mark our way in the dark.

We did make it in one piece around 9pm, though stressed and tired, to the Hotel Arenal Manoa Hot Springs Resort in La Fortuna and thankfully the hotel restaurant, La Saca, was still open. We drove to our room, parked the car and walked down to enjoy a nice meal in the open air restaurant before retiring for the night.

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