Costa Rica 2002: The Costa Rican Adventure

Note: You can click on the symbol on the navigation bars at any time to bring up a map of our route. From this map you can jump directory to the corresponding days in our travels.

The trip to Costa Rica in 2002, henceforth known as the Costa Rican Adventure, came about as an idea of my friend Nicole. She had wanted to visit there for a long time for reasons that even she is unsure of. Knowing that I had both the vacation time and sense of adventure to join her, she asked me if I wanted to go. At first, I was unsure. Costa Rica? Wasn't that a place full of crime and kidnapping? What was there? Why would I want to go there?

After some extensive, albeit rushed, research on the web, I learned a lot about Costa Rica. A very small country, about the size of the state of West Virginia, Costa Rica contains six percent of the world's biodiversity. Cool. Costa Rica has several active volcanoes (some of which are active almost daily), and relatively low crime. Cool. Costa Rica has lost of highland and lowland rainforests, beaches on the Pacific and Caribbean, rainy weather, rough roads, friendly locals, sloths and lemurs. Sloths & lemurs? Very cool!

Now I was exited. I read that there are two seasons -- the wet, rainy season and the other wet, slightly drier "high" season. A four-wheel-drive vehicle was recommended and virtually required if you would travel much in the wet season.

It was done. I negotiated a good price on plane tickets and a surprisingly good price on a 9-day rental of a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. That was it. No arrangements for lodging. This would be an adventure... on a budget.

Day 1 - November 15, 2002

I took the day off and drove to South Florida to meet Nicole. One of her friends drove us to the Miami International Airport and we were off... after Nicole was searched by security where they confiscated the Leatherman Multitool that we had forgotten was in her backpack. The ensuing search was both exhaustive and inefficient. Of course, I felt much safer knowing that she wouldn't suddenly decide to use her pliers on me or on the pilot or attack us with a screwdriver or can opener -- she does have a temper sometimes.

The dynamic duo lifts off! 

The flight from Miami to San Jose International airport was only a little more than two hours and went smoothly. After collecting our bags we headed straight for the rental car agency. Here we encountered our first friendly local. The rental agent was very friendly and helpful. The smallest (and cheapest) 4-wheel-drive vehicle, the Toyota Rav-4, was unavailable, so we were offered a free upgrade to a Toyota 4-Runner, which we gladly accepted. As it was already getting dark, we asked for a recommendation for a place to stay nearby. The agent gave us a recommendation and spoke briefly to his non-English speaking colleague who would take us to our vehicle. The agent said after we got our vehicle we could follow his colleague to the hotel. A nice gesture, to be sure. After changing some money, at what seemed to be a most favorable exchange rate of 173 colognes to the dollar, we collected our 4-Runner.

The recommended hotel was close to the airport, and quite nice. It was also a bit expensive for the conservative budget we had prepared. We sheepishly asked if the desk clerk could recommend a cheaper accommodation. Not only was he happy to do so, he called on our behalf, explained that we were his friends and negotiated a better price for us. Wow!

Since it was dark, we were glad that the motel was close by. Although hidden down a moderately shady looking alley, the place was very nice with beautiful flowers and a cute, garden look. The proprietors here didn't speak much English and I realized I was going to need every bit of my poor Spanish. The hotel restaurant was closed for repairs so we were taken to a small local grocery (literally about 4m x 2.5m in size) where we bought some bread, butter and water... our first Costa Rican meal!

After our feast, we decided to settle down to sleep. Nicole settled in quickly while I made the mistake of looking under the covers where I found the dirtiest sheets I've ever thought about sleeping on. I won't go into the details for your sake, but I didn't sleep well at all that night and vowed that reasonably clean sheets and a pillowcase would be one of my few criteria for the rest of the trip. In the morning, we would load up and head for our first destination -- the Volcán Arenal.