Costa Rica
Monteverde, Poas, & Arenal
November 12-22, 2022
Day 1
We kicked off the second leg of our international travel in Costa Rica by landing in San Jose. We picked up our car rental late at night and headed off to La Paz Hotel. It was difficult to drive late at night on unpaved roads, not really certain if you’re on the right road and if your cell reception is going out.
When we got to the hotel, Rosti the dog followed us to our room and we had one of the best nights sleep we’ve had in a very long time. We left the fireplace on all night.
Day 2
We woke up eager to see the property in daylight and realized that our hotel was more than just a hotel, it was also part of a national park and a major tourist attraction in the area. We were able to see the predatory animals, the bird sanctuary, a sloth station, the butterfly reserve, waterfalls, a private walk through the estate, a trout pond, a hummingbird garden, a nocturnal reptile area and many more attractions. We were basically staying at private Costa Rican zoo.
We had lunch at the trout spot, where you are able to pick up a fishing rod from the wall and fish for your own lunch. It was raining outside so we had a few drinks and enjoyed our lunch overlooking the rain.
The rain subsided so we decided to do our walk around the estate property that ran into the forest and along the waterlines. The hike was absolutely naturally breathtaking and we had it mostly to ourselves which felt special. The walk was less than a mile, but it had many ups and downs and because of the recent rain the waterfalls were full of life. There was constant mist around us, much like at Iguazu Falls.
We rested for a bit in the room before heading out for dinner. We got to the main restaurant early so we could have a few drinks, and thats when we found the dart board. We had fun playing darts every night before dinner.
Day 3
The next day we took our car out and drove to our first tour in Costa Rica: a coffee plantation tour at Doka Estate. It was about 45 minutes from the hotel and, again, all roads were basically dirt and unpaved. There were a number of sink holes to watch out for and cell/navigation reception was not the best. We had a slight difficulty finding the place, but when we did the GPS took us to basically the back entrance. One honk on the horn and a sweet old lady comes out of the house to open the gate and let you through.
We took a backlot tour of the plantation and got to see some behind the scenes action.
We learned the coffee making process, from picking it, to de-skinning it, planting it, growing it, washing it, drying it, roasting it, etc. We even got to pick some coffee beans from the trees and try coffee raw. After our coffee mill tour, we finished up with a cup of coffee, of which neither Max or I drink. We hopped in the car and decided to see what all the buzz was about with the Starbucks coffee hacienda just down the road.
The Starbucks Plantation Hacienda Alsacia - the Starbucks coffee farm was very well architected and ready for tourists to come visit. They had a higher up view over a little valley, so we sat and had a glass of wine (ha!) while we looked over the valley and the waterfall below. The food snacks were great and so was the service. Although you don’t go to Costa Rica to get Starbucks, it was worth the stop. On one hand it was nice to see Doka Estate, a legacy player in the game, as well as see how Starbucks has come in and modernized a number of things.
We made our way back to the hotel, went to the bar, played darts, ate dinner and waited for our evening tour of the nocturnal reptiles.
At around 9pm we met at the lobby, grabbed flashlights from the hotel and went to the nocturnal habitat to see what creatures we could find. We saw a number of frogs of all different shapes and colors. It was really miraculous to see them out at night, with all their radiant colors. The only part we weren’t expecting was to see the sea of bugs and roaches that the frogs eat at night.
After seeing the nocturnal reptiles, we had enough time to go back and take a look at the big cats. We got to see a few of the jaguars playing with each other, which was really run to see since normally they’re sleeping unless they’re eating.
Day 4
We woke up early to head out to see the Poas Volcano. The hotel let us know that the weather was not favorable at the moment and they recommended waiting. We knew this was our last day in this area, so we took our chances and went out anyway.
About a 20 minute ride later and a 10 minute walk from the beginning of the park, we finally reached the Poas volcano. We couldn’t see a thing due to all the cloud cover and also a lot of steam. Ha! The only thing we noticed was that there were a number of people having to clear their throats because of the gasses.
We set our sights back to the hotel and stopped at a local spot before returning to the hotel.
We had traditional Costa Rican food (chicken with fried cheese on top, with a side of rice and black beans) and some of the street dogs came into the open-air restaurant to beg Max for some scraps. He obliged.
We made it back to the hotel do more drinks, darts and dinner.
Day 5
We took one last walk through the incredible butterfly reserve before heading to our next spot in Costa Rica: Nayara Gardens near Arenal
It was about a 2 hour drive from the Poas area to Arenal and showing up to Nayara Gardens made it easy to tell why the hotel is consistently named one of the top 15 in the world. You are always greeted with a “pura vida”. Upon checking in, we got upgraded to the adults only resort area, which I guess is a lot more expensive than the regular part of the hotel. Our room was in the Tented Camp adults-only area and it was flawless. The design, the privacy, the natural hot springs just outside the room, the massive bathroom, etc. There was very little left to be desired from the hotel room.
We hopped in the hot springs to enjoy our room for a bit before heading back to the hotel lobby for a cocktail at the bar. We had a few cocktails, opened up the Scrabble box and played a game before eating at the Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. The Mediterranean food was some of the best I’ve had in my life.
Nayara was really just incredible in every way, and the rest of our trip was incredible because of it also. We enjoyed live music while we ate dinner and had a great night’s sleep.
Day 6
The next morning’s yoga class was at a solitary standing open-air structure overlooking the jungle. Class was completely full and the teacher was great. Went to yoga the next morning, outdoor space
That day we took an excursion out to the Lava Fields of the Arenal Volcano and it was incredible to see the remains of the last volcanic eruption. We took a 2 hour hike through the lava fields, learning about the volcano, the surrounding plants and animals, and saw all kinds of wildlife. Perhaps the most exciting was seeing the leaf-cutter ants marching one by one back to their ant farms. The natural park around the volcano is really well built out, we could have spent another hour at the park having lunch, but we ran out of time and had to head back to the hotel.
We had dinner at another one of the restaurants at the hotel, a Japanese sushi restaurant that was in another part of the resort. After dinner we went out for a cocktail at another part of the resort to a restaurant called Los Amores, which also has live music. There are 10 different restaurants to dine at while staying at Nayara Gardens and they’re all spectacular.
Day 7
We spent this entire day relaxing at the pool and enjoying the hotel.
Later that evening we signed up to do a rum tasting at the hotel lobby and we played scrabble slowly between our rum tasting lesson.
Day 8
It rained almost entirely this next morning, but we were undeterred from enjoying ourselves. We hopped in the hot springs in front of our room and enjoyed the pool in the rain. We packed up our bags to head to the final region of Costa Rica that we had planned to stay: The Cloud Forest. Many Costa Ricans we told that we were going here had told us this was their favorite part of Costa Rica.
The drive was long and not entirely fun, again referencing the non-paved roads and the sink holes in the middle of the roads. After a bumpy, stop and go, 3 hour drive, we finally made it to Monteverde and checked in at our Hotel Belmar.
The drive took the energy out of us, so we took a mini nap before exploring the area around us.
Just downstairs from the hotel is almost like a beer garden, so we decided to start off before dinner with a trip to the beer garden. Quickly we saw that a lot of locals were already there, having drinks and small appetizers/tapas. A local musician came on and we decided to spend the rest of our evening here. The power went out a few times in the middle of the set, but he kept singing above the music and the people in the beer garden helped sing along and clap to the music.
Day 9
This day we had signed up to take a tour of the farm that belongs to the Hotel Belmar. A 40 minute bumpy car ride took us out to a remote farm where we saw all kinds of farm animals (goats, pigs, cows, dogs, chickens, donkeys), learned how cheese is made, learned how to extract juice from sugar cane, and had a snack at the farm to end the tour. Our snack was melted farm cheese on a hand made tortilla/sope.
We finished off the day with a tour of the garden on the hotel property and the chefs cooked a meal from us using ingredients directly from the garden.
The sunset was flawless, so we sat on the patio of the restaurant and had a cocktail while waiting for dinner.
Day 10
Perhaps one of the most fun excursions we did in Monteverde was the rainforest walk adjacent to the property. It was there that we were able to hike through the rain forest, see some ancient trees, see butterflies that can only be seen in Costa Rica, along with other exotic birds and land mammals.
We geared up with climbing equipment and tree climbed using ropes, belts and pulleys to the top of the tree into a canopy. From there we could look over a lot of the rainforest and see trees growing on top of trees.
The rainforest walk ended with us being in a “curiosity garden” where there were collections of bugs, fungi, colorful feathers, butterflies and other living organisms to look at under a microscope. There were mini sandwiches waiting for us at the curiosity garden along with some fresh mint tea.
We recharged back at the hotel Back to hotel for lunch and a beer. We had a big night ahead of us at the Treetop Dining Experience San Lucas.
The San Lucas restaurant is so architecturally different from anything we had seen in Costa Rica before. Every table is separated into its own glass house, so every “room” is its own glass house and separate from all the others. The culinary journey they took us on was also unlike anything we’d seen in Costa Rica (of course the French do this well). Watching the sunset from the private glass room we were dining in was a lovely way to end our trip in Costa Rica before heading to Mexico.
Next time we visit, we plan to check out:
The beaches