My trip to Costa Rica


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Published: July 8th 2010
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Trip to Costa RicaTrip to Costa RicaTrip to Costa Rica

school in tortuguero village, costa rica
Last month, I traveled to Costa Rica. I am currently taking a Travel program and this was a way to get first hand experience with this amazing country! In total, we were 29 people. We spent 11 days and we traveled almost everywhere in this small country. We traveled with Swiss Travel (they are a really good travel agency in Costa Rica). They followed us throughout our itinerary. Jorge was out travel guide and he is the best travel guide I have had. He has passion in his job and has a lot of knowledge on flora and fauna in CR. It was amazing.

We first visited San Jose (the capital) and the city is beautiful. It is full of history and has a rich culture. We visited the Metropolitan Cathedral (which is the largest church in Costa Rica), the Gold Museum and the National Theater. We walked down the central avenue and visited the Central Market where we had the opportunity to shop and eat great food! We stayed at the DoubleTree Cariari Hotel. It is not to far from downtown and you can always take a taxi if you decide to go there (taxis are really cheap - $2 to $6 USD). Our hotel had a nice lobby, the rooms were average sized, there was a casino, a restaurant, a pool and a jacuzzi, a room where you can access internet (you have to pay extra) and it also had a small souvenir shop.

The next day we traveled by bus to Tortuguero which is located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We stayed at Pachira Lodge and this is the interesting part: the only way to get to this Lodge is by boat...yes by boat. It is located in the middle of the jungle. If you ever go to Costa Rica and you are a nature lover, you have to stay at this place. You wake up in the morning and the first you listen to is to monkeys. They are everywhere. Its amazing. It also rains a lot in Tortuguero; it actually rained everyday. We visited Tortuguero National Park (by boat) and also Tortuguero village which is located by the Caribbean ocean. I was completly surprised with the beaches in Tortuguero. It was my first time seeing the Caribbean ocean so I was expecting blue, clear water and light colored sand. But no....not here. The water isn't clear and the sand is dark. If you are lucky enough, you can see the famous green sea turtles nesting at night (there are tours available). Unfortunately, I went in May and they nest in June/July. In Tortuguero, you can see many animals such as howler monkeys, Jesus Christ lizards, caymans and tucans.

After Tortuguero, we visited Arenal. We stayed at the Magic Mountain Hotel where all the hotel rooms have a perfect view of the Arenal Volcano (the most active volcano in CR). The most incredible thing is that you can actually see the volcano spiting lava at night! It was the most incredible thing I
i've ever seen. We visited Arenal Volcano National Park. We went for a 1hour walk and climbed to the top of a hill where we get pretty close to the volcano and also had an amazing view on Arenal Lake (the largest lake in CR). We took some time in Arenal to take tours (which are cheaper if you purchase them with your tour guide than through the hotel...btw). Some went kayaking others, like me, went horseback ridding to La Fortuna Falls. It was my first ridding a horse and I loved it. When we got to the falls, there was no point in taking our clothes off to swim because it started raining a lot. We got completely wet. It was actually fun. The next day, we visited Tabacon hotsprings which was really relaxing.

Monteverde came next, and this was the "adventurous" part of our trip. We stayed at El Establo, a hotel located in the mountains and had an amazing view. In Monteverde, we took the sky walk tour which has the famous suspension bridges...and yes, they shake a lot!! Me and a couple of friends ended up purchasing a tour through our hotel: the canopy tour. It cost us $35 ( i believe) to go zip lining, rappelling and swinging like Tarzan!! It was completely worth the money!

Last place visited (we stayed for 3 nights) was at an all-inclusive resort just on the beach of Tamarindo, Guanacaste. We stayed at the Barcelo Langosta. Honestly, its not the best all inclusive resort you can stay but it was ok. It had a large pool, a hot tub, a smaller pool for kids, a bar, a disco, entertainment such as dancing classes, aqua aerobics and bingo. They have a lot of different tours available. Some people from my group went surfing, others spent the afternoon on a catamaran and went snorkeling.

I loved my trip to Costa Rica and I hope to go back some day!

Patricia Da Costa

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