Costa Rica : 5 - 22 January 2024

Tami and Chris visited Costa Rica from 5 to 21 January 2024.  We flew from Baltimore to Miami to Liberia, which is in the west section of Costa Rica. We rented a car and spent two weeks driving around the country. We started our trip in the volcano mountains and high cloud forest, and then went to the Pacific coast for a week, before returning to the cloud forest for the last three days.  We flew out of Liberia on 21 January 2024, spent that night in Miami, and flew home on 22 January 2024.

5 January, Friday : Home to Miami to Rio Celeste, Costa Rica

We drove from home to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport and boarded our flight to Miami, continuing on to Liberia, Costa Rica.  We arrived into Liberia and caught a shuttle to our rental car company, NUCAR.

NUCAR CAR RENTAL IS A SCAM.  You will be told you have paid up-front for all fees and taxes.  That is not true.  When you arrive at the rental car pickup, NUCAR will then tell you that liability insurance is extra and they will NOT rent unless you pay these extra fees.  In addition to the liability insurance, if you do not bring written proof that you have collision insurance (which is normally covered by the credit card used to rent), they will try to charge you that additional insurance at a high rate.  Our rental ended up costing $465 extra in liability insurance for the first 11 days, and $40 each day for the five days extra at the end when we extended.  It is also too late once you arrive at the rental car location to cancel your rental, so all fees already paid would be forfeit if you decide to rent somewhere else.

Also, do not go through a third-party company, such as Priceline.  We paid through Priceline a week before we went on vacation when a very good deal popped up. We found out it was not a good deal in the long run.  We realized after receiving more details from Priceline about who we would be getting our car from, that NUCAR was a scam.  We called Priceline and were told they could do nothing for us and to call either of the two phone numbers provided by Priceline for NUCAR. We had already done that, and found that one number was disconnected and the second number was never answered (we let it ring for several minutes during normal business hours).  Priceline than transferred us to NUCAR customer service, "guaranteeing" it was the correct number.  NUCAR customer service did eventually pick up, but they told us they only served 5 locations within the US (Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc.) and had nothing to do with NUCAR in Costa Rica.

GO WITH AVIS OR HERTZ, or another internationally accepted rental car company. The cost you are quoted may appear to be more than NUCAR or some local car company, but you will pay exactly what you are quoted, without hidden fees getting added upon arrival.  After arriving into Costa Rica at the rental car business and weighing the money and time costs, we accepted the extra fees we were charged as a learning experience and moved on with our vacation.  We were talking with rental car employees and other vacationers, who said they had witnessed people spending several hours (as much as 4+ hours) arguing on the phone with Priceline and NUCAR customer service in Costa Rica.  Our vacation time is worth more than 4 hours spent inside a rental car company on the phone.  We accepted the fees and moved on.  We left NUCAR and drove south to Bijagua de Upala, next to Tenorio Volcano National Park. This is near the Rio Celeste Waterfall, where we spent one night at the Hotel Catarata Rio Celeste.

6 January, Saturday : Rio Celeste to La Fortuna

Chris flew his DJI Mavik 4K camera quad-copter in the clearing behind our cabin, and then we went to breakfast. The food was very good; it was a common Costa Rica meal of rice and beans and chicken, with normal breakfast fare such as eggs and fruit.  We checked out and loaded our luggage. As we were loading our car, a hotel employee pointed to one of our tires. We found that we must have hit something the night before; our right rear tire had deflated overnight and was flat. Chris changed the tire for the spare donut and we drove to our planned morning hike at the Rio Celeste Waterfall about a mile away.  This was also in the direction of the nearest town that we had driven through the evening before.  We paid the national park entrance fee and hiked out to the waterfall; it was beautiful with very blue waters.  After returning to our car, we drove into town, Bijagua de Upala, and found a workshop to have the flat tire fixed; the cost was $5.  This was the first and only car issue we had for the whole trip.  We headed south to La Fortuna at Arenal Volcano National Park, where we spent the next three nights at Tabacon Thermal Resort & Spa.  Our hotel room had a private deck overlooking the jungle, with a swinging seat on the deck, and large tub and giant shower in our room.  We spent the evening relaxing in the hot springs at the hotel, where we also had a great dinner.

Rio Celeste Waterfall Hike

DJI Aerial Panorama, View from our hotel towards Rio Celeste Waterfall

Rio Celeste Waterfall

7 January, Sunday : La Fortuna

The hotel had a fantastic buffet breakfast, which we enjoyed each morning.  After breakfast, we drove north into La Fortuna to explore.  There was a sloth hanging in a tree next to the road just outside town; this was the first sloth we saw on the trip.  We then went south to the Lake Arenal Dam and to Sky Adventures in the mountains next to Arenal Volcano. On a spur of the moment decision, we decided to try the zip-lines at Sky Adventure, which ended up giving us a great afternoon.  We returned into La Fortuna for dinner, and again spent the evening at the hot springs.

Lake Arenal and Arenal Volcano, View from Sky Adventures

Arenal Volcano, View from here north-west of La Fortuna

8 January, Monday : La Fortuna

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet, and then visited Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges, just a few miles away near Lake Arenal Dam.  This commercial hike is well maintained, and includes eight hanging bridges through the rain forest. We spent several hours enjoying the jungle at Mistico, and then drove to Fortuna Waterfall in La Fortuna.  This is another commercial trail, dropping about 500 feet down into a gorge. We enjoyed the views and swam at the base of the 235 foot waterfall.  We hiked back out and returned to our hotel.  Chris flew his 4K quad-copter in La Fortuna on the return drive.  We spent the evening at the hot springs at the hotel, and had dinner there as well.

Mistico Hanging Bridges Hike

 
Mistico Waterfall                                         La Fortuna Waterfall

La Fortuna Waterfall

9 January, Tuesday : La Fortuna to Monteverde

We had only visited the hot springs at night, so after the breakfast buffet we walked around the hot springs to see them in sunlight.  We found that we had missed a whole section of the hot springs while visiting them at night, and decided to spend a short time soaking in that area.  We returned to our room, checked out, and began the drive from La Fortuna around Lake Arenal to our next destination.  We had seen coatimundis the day before, but they were even closer today.  Chris flew his 4K quad-copter on the north side of Lake Arenal.  We continued on to Nuevo Arenal and had lunch at the German Bakery in Nuevo Arenal. We drove around the lake, reaching Tilaran and then Monteverde after several hours of 'fun' roads (the mountain roads in Costa Rica are not good).  We checked into our B&B cabin at Rainbow Valley Lodge on Sunset Hill, to find an incredible view looking west from the top of the mountains.  The cabin had a hut tub, hanging chairs, a deck, and giant glass windows looking out across the mountains.  We watched sunset and drove into town for dinner at Morpho's.

DJI Aerial Panorama, View from here overlooking Lake Arenal

Cabin Panorama #1 - 9 January Afternoon

Cabin Panorama #2 - 9 January Sunset

10 January, Wednesday : Monteverde

We were looking at several hikes for this day, and eventually settled on the El Tigre Waterfalls, which is about 5 miles north of Monteverde.  Chris liked this hike, but Tami did found the trail to be ... not user friendly.  It was primitive in most places, with A LOT of vertical change.  It started with a very steep descent to the floor of the gorge, and then was up and down a lot as it wandered from one side of the stream to the other over many hanging bridges.  Tami did survive the hike, and then we had a late lunch at the visitor center, before driving back to our B&B cabin.  On the drive back to our cabin, Chris found a high viewpoint at Mirador Los Olivos and flew his 4K quadcopter for a great view of the rain-forest, including looking across the jungle to Lake Arenal and the Arenal Volcano. We picked up pizza and wine for dinner, which we ate on our deck while watching sunset.

El Tigre Waterfalls Hike

Cabin Panorama #3 - 10 January Morning

Mirador Los Olivos, Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal in the distance

 
Mirador Los Olivos looking north

Cabin Panorama #4 - 10 January Sunset

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Mirador Los Olivos looking north-west

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Mirador Los Olivos looking north-east,  El Tigre Waterfalls in the valley below

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Cabin looking east

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Cabin looking west

11 January, Thursday : Monteverde to Playa Conchal We packed up from our B&B and drove into Monteverde to have breakfast at Stella's Cafe.  It was not busy, and we had the whole outside garden area almost all to ourselves. There is a lot of wildlife all around, including monkey's running through the trees and across the clear covering over the open back deck.  We finished breakfast and then started the longest driving day of the whole vacation. We went south out of the mountains, and continued on route 1, the Pan-American Highway, making it to the Crocodile Bridge over the Tarcoles River.  We watched the crocodiles for a short time, bought crocodile tooth necklaces for gifts - paying way too much - and then drove back north, headed for our next hotel.  We spent the next five nights at the W Marriott at Playa Conchal, in Brasalito on the Pacific Ocean.  We found a restaurant in town and had dinner on the beach.

Cabin Panorama #5 - 11 January Morning

Crocodile Bridge View

W Marriott Playa Conchal View

Monteverde to Pan-American Highway, GoPro 10 4K, 11 January 2024

Monteverde to Pan-American Highway, 11 January 2024

12 January, Friday and 13 January, Saturday : Playa Conchal

We spent both days at the pool by the beach, swam in the ocean, drank boat drinks, and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.   On Saturday afternoon we drove back north of Brasilito, exploring that area.  Chris flew his 4K quadcopter from a high spot, overlooking Brasilito to the south and Potrero to the north.

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, View from here looking north towards Potrero

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, View from here looking south towards Brasilito

14 January, Sunday : Playa Conchal

We visited the pool and beach in the morning, and then set out to explore the local area. We drove south to Tamarindo and walked around that beach town, and stopped at a local store for food and drink on the way back to the hotel.

15 January, Monday : Playa Conchal

We went on a catamaran cruise, which included snorkeling, food, drinks, and sunset while cruising.  We had dinner at the hotel and spent the evening at the hotel bar with friends we had made at the hotel.

16 January, Tuesday : Playa Conchal to Liberia to Papagayo Peninsula

We had originally picked Brasilito as the location for our final hotel because it was near the Liberia Airport; we would have checked out and driven less than hour to the airport to fly home on 16 January.  We should have flown home on this day, but winter weather on the east coast of the United States was causing delays for all flights.  Our airline sent us a message that said our flights were going to be delayed and that we should re-schedule our flights unless we wanted to get stuck in an airport somewhere on the way home.  We re-scheduled the flight home for three days later, on 19 January.  We drove into Liberia to extend our rental car, and then drove a few miles to the Liberia Walmart for supplies.  All stocked up on supplies (rum), we headed for the Papagayo Peninsula, a short distance north of where had spent the last five nights.  We had made last-minute reservations at the Hyatt Andaz Resort for two nights using Hyatt hotel points.

17 January, Wednesday : Papagayo Peninsula

We relaxed at the pool all day, drinking boat drinks, and also visited the small beach. There were many iguanas.  We had dinner at the resort restaurant, which had excellent food.

18 January, Thursday : Papagayo Peninsula to Liberia to Monteverde A second weather flight delay warning happened a few days later with another winter storm, so we re-scheduled again, with our third scheduled flight home leaving Liberia on 21 January.  Chris walked around before we checked out and took lots of morning photos, including more iguanas and spider monkeys hanging in the trees by the pool.  We explored the Papagayo Peninsula beyond our hotel, and then drove back through Liberia to extend our rental car again.  We stopped again at Walmart for food for the next few days and then drove south to Monteverde, where we would be staying for three more nights at the same place we had stayed earlier in the trip; the Rainbow Valley Lodge at Sunset Hill.  We got to experience the 'fun' mountain roads of Costa Rica along a new route into the mountains.

                          
Andaz Resort, Papagayo Peninsula

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Andaz Resort looking west

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Andaz Resort looking east

   
Monteverde

Monteverde Rainbow

19 January, Friday : Monteverde

We visited the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and hiked over four miles through the jungle, seeing lots of animals, waterfalls, more hanging bridges, and a view from the continental divide. The continental divide spot was very neat; the trail was buried in low trees and the winds were always blowing hard, so the trees were sculpted to the wind.  Two observations spots poked out of the low trees, each one looking to opposite sides of the continental divide.  We picked up dinner to go from Morpho's, and returned to our cabin to watch sunset from our deck.  Chris flew is 4K quadcopter to catch photos and video of sunset from the air.

Cloud Forest Hike

Continental Divide at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Atlantic to left, Pacific to right

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Cabin looking east

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Cabin looking south

DJI High Dynamic Range Aerial Panorama, Cabin looking west

20 January, Saturday : Monteverde

We split up this day.  Tami wanted to take a plantation tour, and Chris wanted to hike through the jungle more.  Chris dropped Tami off at Don Juan’s Coffee and Sugarcane Tour, and then drove to Treetopia Park, where he hiked the Hanging Bridges Skywalk.  There were many bridges and spider monkeys on Chris' hike, and a very bright double rainbow on the way back to our cabin for dinner.  We could not stay on our deck for sunset, as we had a night guided tour at the Monteverde Wildlife Refuge that started right at sundown. This was only a one mile hike, but we went slowly and saw many animals, including sloths, birds, spiders, and several vipers.

Treetopia Hike

Monteverde Sunsets, Time Lapse, 19 & 20 January 2024 + Rainbow, Time Lapse, 21 January 2024

21 January, Sunday : Monteverde to Liberia to Miami, USA

We drove back from Monteverde to Liberia, trying a slightly different route down off the mountain than they we used on 11 January.  The second half of this road was not good.  If you ever drive in Costa Rica, you will experience many roads that are "not good".  They will appear with the same markings in Google Maps as good roads; just don't trust those markings.  The video below shows this drive from Monteverde down to the Pan-American Highway.  We returned our rental car and took the shuttle to the airport.  NUCAR customer service was very good; the return process was quick, as there were no damages to the car, and the shuttle back to the airport was also fast and efficient. Airline check-in was very fast, but the passport control was backed up.  It snaked throughout the terminal, taking almost an hour of waiting in line.

Monteverde to Pan-American Highway, GoPro 10 4K, 21 January 2024

Monteverde to Pan-American Highway, 21 January 2024

The airplane for the flight from Liberia to Miami arrived into Liberia a few minutes late, but there would have been no problem making any connections if it had moved to the gate when it arrived. Instead, it sat on the runway tarmac for almost 2 hours before boarding. This delay caused us to miss our connecting flight from Miami to Baltimore.  When we arrived into Miami, the ticketing agent rebooked us for the next available flight to Baltimore, which left the following day at 7:30 PM.  Tami was confirmed in a first class seat (we had paid for first class), but Chris' seat was in coach.  The agent tried to blame weather for the delay; when an airline can blame the weather, they are not responsible for hotels or food during the waiting time. We pointed out that weather had nothing to do with it, as the plane was at the airport, but just never boarded.  After arguing a bit the ticketing agent relented and provided a hotel by the airport.  That hotel had a checkout at 11 AM, so that would have meant that after checking out the following morning, we would have sat at the airport for 8+ hours waiting for our flight.  Chris' high Marriott status was not accepted by the hotel, since it was being provided by the airline, so it would not allow a late checkout.  Instead of going through this, we spent our own Marriott points for a hotel in Miami Beach, which did provide a 4 PM late checkout.  We took an Uber from our airline-provided hotel by the airport to our own hotel at Miami Beach.  After arriving at the Miami Beach hotel at almost midnight, we walked two blocks along Miami Beach Boulevard to find a restaurant for a late dinner.

Chris biked around Miami Beach in the morning while Tami joined a work conference from the room, and then we had lunch at the hotel restaurant.  We checked out at 4PM and then took an Uber back to the airport and checked in for our flight.  The ticketing agent changed Chris' seat from a confirmed coach bulkhead seat (with lots of legroom) to a first class seat, but we found out when we arrived at the gate that this change had not been done correctly.  Upon arriving at the gate, the gate agent said Tami had a first class seat, but Chris' ticket had not been put properly into the system. At this point, their were no seats on this flight at all, so his coach bulkhead seat and first class seat were both gone, and Chris was now ticketed on the next flight several hours later in a standard coach seat.  After arguing a bit more and waiting for any open seats due to missed connections by other people, the agent found a coach seat for Chris.  Eli picked us up at BWI and drove us home.

View from the roof of our Miami Beach hotel towards the ocean