We left Buenos Aires about 10 days ago for the tropical climes of Costa Rica. You can’t help but be relaxed when the sun is always shining and the pool is always inviting. We met my brother David and sister-in-law Stacey at a lovely AirBnB on a mountain overlooking the Pacific. Aaaah. The only hitch was the construction right next door, but we managed.

We arrived in San Jose on Friday, Feb. 21, and spent the night near the airport since we weren’t keen on driving up a mountain at night. We tried that on a previous visit and it was a bit stressful. Saturday, we got our rental car and drove the two hours to the house. There’s always a little issue at first. This time it was that we didn’t know we needed a clicker to open the gate to the parking spot. Luckily, the maintenance man was on the lookout for us.

A couple of hours later, David and Stacey arrived. Yay! We had already made our first trip to a grocery store in the town of Jaco. Saturday afternoon traffic was a bit hairy, but we managed to get provisions for dinner and breakfast the next day. We had also made sure the pool was perfect for when they arrived by taking a little swim (and that is the only reason we took a swim – we are that selfless).

Sunday, we went to a better grocery store and then Stacey and I walked up the hill to Hotel Villa Caletas, a luxury hotel whose services we were allowed to us. We found out that we could go to their beach, but we couldn’t take their shuttle. We’d have to drive it. We did make reservations for dinner on their lovely patio. We ended up going back the following Sunday, but early enough to see the spectacular sunset.

Monday, Stacey had booked a boat tour to Isla Tortuga, or Turtle Island, with snorkeling, subwings, lunch, and chill time on the beach plus, a quick stop to see the first monkeys of our trip. Our captain was a bit wacky (flat Earther, anyone? I mean, why would you bring that up to clients and then start talking about how “they” are “hiding something” at the South Pole? Whatever, nutty guy – well he was Dutch!!!), but we had a great time. The Pacific was warm and we saw plenty of fish. We had reserved lounge chairs on the beach and just relaxed. BTW, it’s called Turtle Island because it’s shaped like a turtle, not because there are turtles there. As an aside, our tutor later told us that a few days later, a boat pulled up to the island and two men with guns robbed all the tourists. Oops. Glad that wasn’t our day there.

Tuesday, Stacey had booked us (notice a pattern?) (“us” being Susan and Stacey – the men folk had to stay at the luxury AirBnB and suffer with only a pool) a half-day spa package at the Serenity Spa at the hotel and we got massages, mud wraps and mini-facials. Aaaah. We had a reservation for dinner (booked by guess who), but Steven was feeling a bit under the weather, so the three of us went after what would become our traditional afternoon of lounging by the pool. There’s a ton of grilled food in Jaco — meat, chicken or fish — and just a bit of vegetarian fare. The real pull is not the food, but the view of the beach and sunset. We weren’t disappointed.

Wednesday, Stacey let us down and we had to come up with a plan by committee. Steven was working (boo!), so we decided to go to Carara National Park, which was just a few minutes away by car. Stacey wanted to get in some exercise and we thought maybe we’d see some wildlife. We had limited time, because Stacey also had to work (double boo!), so we didn’t get a tour. Word of warning: If you are going to a national park here, you have to get your tickets online, in advance. The park is jungly and way less popular than Manuel Antonio (more on that shortly). We had a nice walk and saw a deer, but we are by far not great bird-spotters. We were laughing because we read reviews of the park online that said things like “didn’t see any wildlife, one star.” “I could hear the road, one star.” We enjoyed it and decided to go back later in the trip.

Thursday, we had a big day planned. (No, Stacey didn’t plan it. This time I did.) Steven had opted out because he’d been to Manuel Antonio before, so it was the three of us again. We made the 1 hour, 40 minute drive to meet our guide, Mop, at 10 a.m. The drive was easy and the tour company, Manuel Antonio Nature Tours, gave great directions to the parking area, even sending a picture of Mop, who has been doing tours for 25 years and definitely was able to spot all kinds of animals we would have walked right by including a tree frog that we could barely make out when he showed it to us through the monoscope that all the guides carry. We hit all the usuals: two- and three-toed sloths, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchin, howler monkeys and squirrel monkeys, plus lots of birds, lizards and a couple of snakes.

From Manuel Antonio, we drove over to Bonding Coffee Roaster Cafe and Hotel for a lunch we had booked to go along with a chocolate and coffee tour through Terra Travel Costa Rica. They were also very communicative, even sending a video of the last mile of the drive to the chocolate farm. The lunch was fresh and flavorful and we easily made the drive to the tour. Only one couple plus the three of us had booked the tour, so we were able to ask all our questions. We tried chocolate seeds, Aztec hot chocolate, and made sundaes with fruit, cacao, and our choice of cinnamon, ginger and/or tumeric. David and I even extracted the juice from sugar cane. It was tons of fun and we learned a lot about chocolate growing and production as well as coffee, which we also got to taste. We drove back, rested and then hit another beachy restaurant for dinner, this time with Steven (yay!)

Friday was kind of a bust. I had read about a town called Puntarenas (not to be confused with Punta Arenas, Chile) that allegedly had lots of restaurants and shops. It was about an hour and a half, but we figured, why not? Some local cruise ships leave from there, so we figured at the least it would be touristy. Well, it was a lot of nothing. Luckily, there was a beautiful beach to walk along, so there’s that. Not every excursion is a winner, but I’m not really sure why it was billed as a great spot. Maybe it was before the pandemic? Anyway, we got out of the house for a bit and got some exercise in. Of course, we went to dinner at the beach and the sunsets really never get old.

Saturday, we saw a toucan! It flew right past our pool and into a nearby tree. Yay! It was the one big bird we hadn’t seen as a pair of macaws seemed to fly past daily. We had decided to go back to Carara , this time with a guide (and Steven). It was well worth it! We went to a different section of the park which was less crowded and saw lots of birds we never would have found. We all agreed that we’re not interested in becoming birders, but when we’re in nature, we love to see birds.

Once again, we found ourselves wondering what to do for food. We have various dietary needs and wants, so it could be tough. Steven found a place, Roberto’s, which is basically a one-man soda (or an open-air, small restaurant that serves “comida tipica” or local food, which consists of rice, beans, fried plantains and maybe a protein. The soda was at the base of a waterfall hike. Roberto was warm and welcoming and plied us with fruity rum drinks (at least Stacey and I) before serving up a big plate of traditional food. There’s also a couple who live on the property who grow cacao and sell chocolate and cacao nibs flavored with different spices. Of course, we bought some.

We headed up the mountain to the waterfalls, crossing a stream several times. We didn’t make it all the way, since I couldn’t and David and Stacey didn’t want to leave us sitting on a rock for hours, although it’s so beautiful, I don’t think we would have minded.

We wanted to make it to the hotel restaurant for sunset, so we drove back up the hill. Wow! Enough said.

Our last full day together was Monday, a perfect day for relaxing by the pool and in the pool. David and I braved the grocery store and the busy no-traffic-light intersection to make sure they had food for Tuesday night, since Steven and I were leaving with the car. We said a sad, but see-you-soon, goodbye to David and Stacey on Tuesday afternoon to head to the next stage of our Costa Rica adventure.

Sorry I’ve been un poco perezosa (a little lazy) in getting this done. Our next installment will continue with the days we spend in Costa Rica after we left Jaco and headed to Santa Bárbara to meet our Spanish tutor, Marcela, and her husband, Junior, face to face!