Day 1 (May 12) Arrival in Costa Rica

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Arrived in Toronto before midnight and spent 4-5 hours trying to sleep in the departures / ticketing area, while not falling too asleep to guard my suitcases! (Read: no real sleep!) Finally around 4:30am, I checked to see if I could re-check my suitcase and was glad to offload it 😊 After wasting a few more hours, my plane finally took off for Costa Rica around 9:00am. Very glad for my exit row seat and my neighbour who decided to sit elsewhere with her friends, leaving a middle empty seat. (Read: an entire 5 hour flight to sleep!)

We touched down in San Jose around 12:00pm local time, and I will never tire of the view as you fly over and land in Costa Rica - mountains, jungles, green! The heat and humidity hit you nearly instantly once you’re off the plane, but it was bearable. I made friends in the customs line, and chatting made the long lines go quicker. One advantage to long customs waits: you don’t have to wait for your bag. When we made it through, our bags were already off the conveyers, just waiting for us.

I found my shuttle to get my rental car, and I was off! The rental car agency was a bit of a gong show, and not just for me. You have to give credit to the folks working there…their entire day is spent explaining things over and over about how cars and the rental process and insurance are not the same in Costa Rica as in other parts of the world. I knew I would have to add extra insurance to my rental when I arrived, and my research before I left and our prior experience had me estimating $8-12/day for this. However, when I arrived, I was told it would be approximately $30/day. With a little persistence, patience, and a printout on-hand from their website from the day before, I walked out (2 hours later) with an insurance bill of $285 for my entire 35 day rental. And when we walked outside, I found I had also been upgraded from a tiny city car to a small SUV - thank you Jose!

First thing: put the rental car place into the GPS so I can get back here! Second thing: figure out how to get out of here! After just one u-turn, I found myself on Hwy 27 heading west for my 4ish hour journey to Punta Islita. There were a few tolls, and I was glad for some leftover Colones from our last trip - just enough to pay the tolls! My first stop was in Limonal, and the first thing I head upon opening my car door was the scream of parrots. I looked up and saw 3 macaws - a blue & gold, a scarlet, and a hybrid. I stretched my legs, grabbed some groceries, and continued on my way. It was after 5:00pm by this point, and the sun was fading fast. I had hoped to make the whole trip in the light, but unfortunately that was not to be! The second half of my journey was on winding, slower roads, rather than highways, and the last 10km on rutted gravel roads. I finally arrived at the Ara Project just before 8:00pm, where I met a few members of their team and was kindly fed some dinner, before being guided to my cabin in Punta Islita. A very quick cold shower, and then collapsed into bed!

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Photos

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My ride for the next 5 weeks - glad for a 4x4!

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Hard to see, but there are 2-3 macaws up in the tree!

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My cabin - home sweet home!