Costa Rica Pt 3 – Pacific Coast Beach Day & Casados at a Soda

Part 3 of our Costa Rica Travel Series. 

For our third day in Costa Rica we decided to leave rainforest the interior of the country and head west on a road trip towards the Pacific Coast.  This not only rewarded us with a fun beach day, but it also gave us a great excuse to get out of the resort area and explore the rest what the country had to offer.  After an early rise, we grabbed some sunscreen, a few towels, and hopped in our rental car for a cruise through Central America.

Itinerary for Day 3

  • Wake up around five thirty and admire the bright, tropical skies.
  • Skip breakfast, in the sake of time, and hope to find something along the way.
  • Hop in the rental car and head southwest from our hotel at the La Paz Waterfall Resort (about an hour north of San Jose)
  • Attempt to find a ATM / cash machine at a couple gas station and stores.
  • Fail at finding an ATM while slowly realizing that they aren’t very widespread in Costa Rica compared to Europe or the U.S.  Oops.
  • Grab some oatmeal cookies and yogurt for breakfast at a small grocery store. They weren’t aware of any ATM’s nearby, but they did take Visa.
  • After some bumpy surface roads (quite barron of ATM’s I might add) we suddenly found ourselves at the entrance to the toll highway. To our relief and surprise, they happily took credit cards. Pretty cool, considering most tolls in the U.S. won’t even do that.  They’ll also take American, although I would recommend avoiding that. We did that once at another toll, and realized later that the conversion the clerk gave us was waaay off.  Probably an accident, but we learned our lesson a paid more attention on subsequent tolls.
  • Continue to drive through the mountains and towards the Pacific coast.  In terms of general direction, the largest town near where we were head was the popular beach town of Jaco, although our actual goal was a white sand beach called Playa Blanca, 30 minutes north of Jaco.

  • Find some glorious ATM’s at a strip mall not too far from our destination and withdrawal some Costa Rican Colones.  Finally, success for the unprepared travelers!
  • Grab some snacks and sandwiches lunch from the Supermarket at the strip mall for our upcoming beach picnic.
  • Arrive at the small parking lot at Playa Mantas This was a beautiful grey sand beach with calm waters, due to it’s cove shape.  It wasn’t, however, our ultimate destination.  By parking here, we were able to do a short walk and a slight climb over an embankment. This lead us to Playa Blanca, which is otherwise inaccessible, due to a resort blocking it from road access.  Fret not though, all Costa Rican beaches are public land, so once you’ve made it over the embankment you’re all set to relax and enjoy the Costa Rican breeze.  For detailed instructions on visiting yourself, check out this blog post that we found and used to get there ourselves.
  • Say hello to the friendly “security guard”.  We knew in advance that we would need to pay to park here, although unofficially (around $3-$5 USD from what we read). I’ve read reports that people had to pay upon arrival, but we were told that there was no payment required, but we may “tip when we left” if we desired.  Wink, wink.
  • Have an amazing Costa Rican Pacific coast beach picnic and afternoon of relaxation.
  • Tip our friendly security specialist $2,000 colones (which was around $4 USD at the time) on the way out. Seriously, though – he was quite friendly.  I don’t want to know what happens if you don’t tip him though…

  • Head back in the direction of San Jose.
  • Stop for dinner at Soda el Guacimo, outside the town of Tarcoles, on the way home. Soda’s are small, family owned restaurants with delicious traditional Costa Rican food at great prices (because this is what the locals actually eat). This particular soda was had an open air layout (as many sodas do), friendly staff, delicious food and an amazing view. Here’s their Faceook page.
  • Dine on some tasty food.  I had casado de bistek (beef) and Sara had casado con pollo (chicken). Casados are a traditional Costa Rican dish consisting of rice, black beans, plantains, salad, a tortilla, and often a protein as well.
  • Drive back home to our hotel for a nightcap of Cafe Rica (Costa Rican coffee liquor)

Where we stayed: Peace Lodge and La Paz Waterfall Gardens

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Stay tuned for Part 4 where we visit a local farm for a hearty Costa Rican breakfast and return to San Jose for a reluctant flight home.

 

Costa Rica Pt 2 – Rainforest Hike, Waterfalls, and Poisonous Frogs

Part 2 of our Costa Rica Travel Series. 

Today we decided to spend the entire day soaking up what the immediate area surrounding our rainforest resort had to offer, and save our driving adventures for the following day.

 


Itinerary for Day 2

  • Wake up around six and admire the bright, tropical skies.
  • Order a traditional Costa Rican breakfast consisting of Gallo Pinto (rice mixed with black beans), natilla (sour cream), eggs, fried plantain, tortilla and Mantequilla cheese (we saw this cheese paired with a lot of dishes and it’s pretty amazing).
  • Do a rainforest waterfall hike.
  • Dodge a mid-afternoon storm by grabbing some lunch we had a slighlty fancier than usual version of casados – a traditional Costa Rican dish consisting of rice, black beans, plantains, salad, a tortilla, often a protein as well (in our case, beef).  It was very good, but we still had a visit to a local soda (small, family owned restaurants serving traditional dishes for super reasonable prices) where we could get the authentic experience of a Costa Rican meal with the locals.
  • Make friends with some monkeys, hummingbirds, butterflies, and cattle.
  • Get an amazing massage at our hotel.
  • Do a nighttime visit with some Costa Rican frogs and toads, including some poisonous frogs. Do a nighttime visit with some Costa Rican frogs and toads, including some poisonous frogs.  Frogs shown: Tiger Frog, Red Eyed Tree Frog, Green and Black Poison Dart Frog, Poisonous Blue Jeans Frog.

Where we stayed: Peace Lodge and La Paz Waterfall Gardens

Top Rated Costa Rica Travel Guide on Amazon

Top Rated Waterproof Travel Map of Costa Rica

Stay tuned for Part 3 where we drive across the country towards the Pacific coast, exploring some towns and mountains along the way.

 

Costa Rica Pt 1 – Landing in San Jose | Driving to the Rainforest in a Downpour

Part 1 of our Costa Rica Travel Series.

 


Itinerary for Day 1

  • Take an evening flight out of Baltimore, bound for Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica (connection in ATL).
  • Arrive in San Jose the next morning around 11AM
  • Pick up our rental car.
  • Sharpen up our Central American driving skills by cruising through downtown San Jose
  • Drive about an hour north from San Jose towards LaPaz Waterfall Gardens and Peace Lodge Resort
  • Navigate through an afternoon rain forest downpour.  This happened every day around 12:30PM.  The following morning we would awaken to a perfect reset of bright sun and clear blue skies.  We quickly learned to plan our outdoor activities between 6AM and Noon, followed by storm watching in the afternoons.
  • Arrive at the Peace Lodge hotel.
  • Lounge on the balcony and try to absorb the fact that we made it to Costa Rica.
  • Head out for a fancy Costa Rican dinner.
  • Get some much needed sleep and prepare for our upcoming day of rain forest exploration.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we do a rainforest waterfall hike and see how Sara does face to face with poisonous frog (spoiler alert: they become best friends).

Top Rated Costa Rica Travel Guide on Amazon

Top Rated Waterproof Travel Map of Costa Rica

Sara Goes to Ireland Pt 4 – St Patrick’s Cathedral & Dublin Airport

Join Sara & I as we travel around Ireland.

For the fourth and final day of our travel adventure in Ireland, we have a handful of hours to explore before heading off to the Dublin airport, so we decide to check out two Dublin landmarks that we hadn’t seen yet – Dublin Castle.

Itinerary for Day 4

    • Check out of our room at the Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.
    • An early morning visit to Dublin Castle
    • A gander at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral
    • Head to the Dublin International Airport

Sara Goes to Ireland Pt 3 – Travel Tips, Castles & Temple Bar

Join Sara & I as we travel around Ireland.

For the third day of our travel adventure in Ireland, we share some Ireland travel  tips over breakfast, then head south from Dublin, towards the Wicklow Mountains and Lough Tay (Loch Té in Irish) for a day of exploration, followed by a night on the town in Dublin’s Temple Bar district.  Along the way, we discover some ancient castles, one in ruins, the other still standing (complete with a functioning moat).

Itinerary for Day 3

    • Have some coffee & porridge in our hotel room at the Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin.
    • Head south on the highway towards the Wicklow Mountains
    • Visit Lough Tay and the surrounding forests.
    • Picnic along the River Liffey near the Ballysmuttan Bridge.
    • Head further south towards the town of Wicklow to visit the ruins of Black Castle.
    • Head north back towards Dublin, visiting Drimnaugh Castle along the way.
    • Visit Dublin’s famed Temple for for some bangers and mash & and pint of Guinness.
    • Return to the Clontarf Castle Hotel for some drinks at the Knight’s Pub before heading of to bed upstairs.

Stay tuned for part four, where we head into Dublin one final time for an early morning visit to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a hearty breakfast at the Dublin Airport, before heading back home to the states.

Sara Goes to Ireland! – Pt 2 Cliffs of Moher & Castle Ruins

Join Sara & I as we travel around Ireland.

For the second day of our travel adventure in Ireland, we head west from Dublin, towards the western shoreline and the stunning Cliffs of Moher.

Itinerary for Day 2

  • Have a quick spot of coffee and some porridge in our hotel room at the Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin.
  • Head west on the highway towards Galway and ultimately, the Cliffs of Moher.
  • Exit the motorway near to town of Ennis to explore the ruins of Clare Abbey, an Augustinian monastery founded in 1195.
  • Continue on towards the west coast of Ireland, enjoying the sights.
  • Explore the Cliffs of Moher.  There is a path along the cliffs that runs from the village of Doolin all the way to  the village of Liscannor, with the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Center in between them (which is where we started from)
  • On the way home, stop in Limerick City, Ireland for some fish n’ chips and a pint at Dolans pub and live music spot.
  • Return to Clontarf Castle Hotel.

Stay tuned for part three, where we head south of Dublin to further explore the Wicklow Mountains followed by a night out in Dublin’s famed Temple Bar area.