Costa Rica - Renshaw Style - Day 1 & 2

When Jared and I were first married we backpacked Belize and Guatemala.  At the time we were in college and dirt poor.  We spent twelve days hitchhiking and camping across the two countries on a shoe-string budget.   Looking back we spent $60 to snorkel and that was our "big expenditure".
It was on that trip we fell in love with Central America and for years we talked about another visit, but kids came and between babies, nursing, sleepless nights and Jared's masters program on top of working, world travel was not exactly at the top of our list of priorities. 

This September will be our 10th anniversary and it was due time.  We decided during the spring that Costa Rica would be our first choice but we couldn't find tickets and sitters to match the dates we needed.  Disappoint we purchased tickets on a whim to Washington D.C., mainly because they were cheap...and we are cheap, so naturally that's how you plan a vacation right?!?

Then last month we found tickets to Costa Rica out of O'hare for $370/ticket and we decided we had to do it.  Luckily our DC tickets were through Southwest so we could bump them six month (maybe I'll get luckily and see the cherry blossoms next year ;)  We had three weeks to plan a foreign vacation, thank you Trip Advisor! And this was it.....eight days of Pura Vida!

Day 1 - Meet the Yaris
We flew into San Jose airport and picked up our rental car.  The manual cars were drastically cheaper than the automatic transmissions.  I grew up on a manual but haven't touched one in a decade and Jared doesn't drive one at all.  So naturally we booked it (because I thought it would be like riding a bike, I would jump in and we would smoothly roll out of the parking lot....right???)  So when everyone else was pulling out in a mongo 4x4 automatic, we pulled out in a Toyota Yaris with a stick.

To make matters worse it was rush hour in San Jose.  A place where all road rules, warnings and common sense are optional.  Throw in gigantic hills, bikes, motor bikes and my lack of clutching skills and it was hot hell mess on wheels.  I was in tears as we drove aimlessly attempting to find the road out.  There are no addresses or road signs/names.   Everything is off waypoints, most from the Catholic church.  For example your hotel would be 1km west, 300m north of the church, next to the laundry place.  Great for a small village, not so great for a large city.

Things got better when we left the city....and then we hit the mountain roads.  The landscape was stunning - lush, rolling, mountains laced in fog.   The roads were still paved but incredibly narrow and so steep that trucks would stall out going up....which meant we would stall out....which meant I had to clutch start on a hill that made my driveway back home look like child's play.  The curves were so tight every so often a bus or truck came the other direction it would create a pinch point and the other lane would have to stop and back down to let them pass.   We stopped at a road side restaurant to let the clutch cool and ate our first casado meal (rice and beans).  It was this shack that had a million dollar view and I instantly fell in love.  We had stepped out of the slum of the city and into the cover of National Geographic.  It was only about 80 miles to our first destination but took us 3 1/2 hours to drive it.

Day 2 - Survived to see La Forturna- Arenal Volcano Area

We survived the drive and still had part of a burning clutch left for the rest of the week.  Our first two nights we booked at Cabanas Rucstico.  For the price I was expecting a shack in the woods, but much to our surprise the cabin was beautiful.  The owner was a true craftsman and the detail and design were beautiful.

Saturday morning we got up and went white water rafting on the Sarapiqui River.  It had rained the night before so we had some 4+ class rapids which made for an excellent run.  Our guide was great and the other couple we were teamed up with were really laid back.

 We stopped to do some cliff jumping.  Jared jumped...I valued my life more and did the walk-of-shame down to the river (which the photographer was more than happy to document).

But to redeem myself I "Rode the Bull" through a few sets of rapids.  Yes that's me, Miss-worry-about every-possible-way-to-die, sitting on the front of a rubber raft lurching through raging water in a third world country. 


This way my favorite part of the trip.  I love being on the water (not in the water), paddle in hand creates such a different experience in an environment....and it didn't require a clutch.