Pura Vida, Costa Rica
9/3/14 - 9/13/14
This September, we entered the world of howler monkeys, striped iguanas, and unstoppable rain. Hello, Costa Rica!
Panamerican Wushu Tournament (Wednesday, Sept. 3 - Sunday, Sept. 7)
We first began our trip at Irazu's Best Western hotel in San Jose for the 10th Panamerican Wushu Tournament. Rolando competed in three events:
- Long First (GOLD)
- Spear
- Straight Sword
Overall, Rolando did a great job (JIAYOU!) along with the rest of the USA crew--congrats on receiving the most gold medals!
Quepos (Monday, Sept. 8 - Thursday, Sept 11)
Up at 5am and ready to head to our next stay in Quepos, we scrambled to determine how to safely transport there by bus while lost in translation. 'Cuanto es?' (How much is....?) became our new starter phrase. After our 3 hour bus ride, we were dropped off in Quepos wearing our giant travel backpacks and not knowing a lick of Spanish. It definitely felt like a game where we had to use hand gestures and broken Spanish to find a phone to contact our host. We eventually met up with our Swedish host, Tomas, where he drove us to our stay at Villa Malinche. Fancy, right? Our rental was actually a studio we saw on Airbnb that had a beautiful view of the jungle and ocean, not to mention the super modern interior. Overall, the studio was the epitome of relaxation--fully equipped with hammocks, jet spa, king sized bed, and my favorite, the floating dome chair. The roads to the studio were extremely bumpy and filled with potholes. Regardless, the studio was well decorated and modernized.
We did a bunch of events at this location Canyoneering Tour and Kayaking Tour which were both extremely fun. The Canyoneering Tour was definitely worth it. We had a chance to do various activities to highlight: waterfall rappelling and monkey diving. The Kayak Tour was awesome especially because we went during off season. We were able to book a kayak all to ourselves which allowed us to have more fun and freedom to play around with the rapids.
Unfortunately during the trip Rolando's camera gear was stolen at Cafe Milagro which sort of ruined the mood of the trip. Which is also why we have limited photos of Costa Rica... In the end Quepos was alright. San Manuel National Park and beaches were awesome. The sand was soft, water warm, and the scenery was magnificent.
Arenal Volcano (Thursday, Sept 11 - Friday, Sept 12)
HOT SPRINGS! After a long bus ride (with a transfer in San Jose), we finally reached Arenal. We stayed at The Springs Resort which we had sushi and drinks in the hot spring. Eventually we had to jump out of the hot spring because of lightning dangers. The following day we took a canopy tour which had some really nice long lines up to 350 meters. Afterwards, we explored the town and which was your regular run in the mill tourist trap. After walking around and hitting up other local Soda, we hit up Baldy (which in my book is a must) to enjoy their various hot spring pools.
San Jose (Friday, Sept 12 - Saturday, Sept 13)
After Baldy, we took a private van to back to San Jose since we weren't able to catch a bus at the time. The van was not that expensive but it's a good idea to go with a larger group to split the cost. After arriving in San Jose we enjoyed the Hilton Hotel and the following morning our trip ended as we left from SJO.
-Pura Vida!