Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

6/30/24

Our trip to Costa Rica has been in the planning stages for almost a year! It was a celebration for my daughter and nephew’s high school graduation. All together there were 4 different families traveling.

I heard rave reviews from fellow travel agents in my agency about Memorable Costa Rica. I reached out to Melany there, and she helped me put together the perfect vacation! We knew we wanted to see both the volcano and rainforest areas, as well as the beach. We settled on this itinerary:

June 30-July 4–Hotel Arenal Manoa (near La Fortuna)

July 4-7–Tamarindo Diria (Tamarindo)

This itinerary had us flying into San Jose and flying home from Liberia. The most difficult part of planning and booking this trip was the airfare! The pricing was crazy and we didn’t know when to pull the trigger on buying the tickets! I’m glad we waited a little bit, because the price coming home dropped over $400 per ticket!

We flew from Baltimore, and our flight was at 8:50 a.m. We left our house around 3:00 a.m., so we would be there 3 hours in advance. We parked directly at the airport. There was barely a line to check in, and barely a line for security! The line to check in did grow quickly once we were through.

Our flight was about 4 hours and 45 minutes. It was uneventful, and my family slept for most of it! Upon arrival at the San Jose airport, we headed to customs. We did not have to fill out any forms on the plane. We stood in line for over an hour waiting to clear. We got our luggage and headed outside to find our private transportation.

In our reservation confirmation, they indicated that we should exit the building with our luggage and look for a sign with my name. I should have taken a picture of the craziness just outside of the doors. Tons of “taxi” people trying to get us to go with them. My advice is to not make any eye contact at all and just keep moving! I spotted my name, and made sure the person had Memorable Costa Rica on her shirt, which it did. She gathered the 14 of us together and told us to just keep walking behind her and do not stop to talk to anyone. Multiple people tried to get us to go with them, even when they saw us following her. They were barricaded off for the most part, but leaning over the barricade.

Our bus pulled up, and they loaded our luggage for us through the back side window.

Once onboard, she welcomed us, gave us all a hat, and told us about the snacks and drinks that were available to us. She also had two little Costa Rica informational books for the 2 kids that were with us! This was a nice surprise, as I had no idea what to expect! She exited the bus and left us with our official tour guide, Alfredo.

Besides these snacks, there was a cooler filled with bottled water, beer and soda. It was a pleasant surprise and we were all thankful after a long flight!

The drive from the airport to our resort was about 3 and a half hours. We stopped part way through for a bathroom break and our group wanted to buy some beer to keep in the room. There was also a souvenir store there. It seemed to be a popular spot since there were other tour buses there.

This view was just across the street! Such a beautiful country!

Our tour guide’s name was Alfredo. He stayed with us for the entire drive. Our driver was Jennings or Jenkins?? Alfredo was AMAZING! He told us so many facts and details about Costa Rica, from the vegetation to the food to tours and so much more! He did explain that the first part of the drive was pretty flat and easy, and the second part would be windy and hilly. My family was personally prepared for this because I had read about the crazy roads. We had taken Bonine already.

Alfredo was not kidding! After this stop, we resumed driving and it was super windy, and super hilly…up, down, and fast! Some people started not feeling great and we did have one victim. They did have sick bags on the bus for us, so that should have been our first clue! Ha! Our driver seemed to slow down some after this incident.

We arrived at our hotel around 4:45 p.m. Hotel Arenal Manoa is in a serene and secluded location surrounded by breathtaking views of Arenal Volcano. It has four different types of suites, a hot spring pool and a regular pool. There are three different restaurants as well, one that served complimentary breakfast each day.

Everyone needed to show their passport to check into the hotel. The staff at the front desk was super nice, friendly and informative. They let us know about two happy hours that happened every day. 4-5 p.m. at one location on property, and 5-6 p.m. at another.

She confirmed the rooms with me, noting that two of the rooms had recent high school graduates and one room had a birthday. That would be important later! I only conveyed this information one time to my contact with Memorable Costa Rica, Melany. I took a photo of the map at the front desk. There was a QR code for the wi-fi and the restaurant menus and tours.

Each building pictured, houses two suites, each with their own private patio.

They loaded all of our luggage into a van and transported us to our rooms. That is one thing that I loved about the resort. If you needed a ride anywhere within the resort, you could call and they would send someone.

We arrived to our rooms, and before we even got into our rooms, we saw our first sloth! The drivers ushered us over and they had binoculars with them in the van.

We were staying in a Junior Suite. The suite featured two queen beds, air conditioning, complimentary wi-fi, flat screen tv, safe, mini-fridge, and a private furnished terrace. It was very clean and spacious.

Immediately upon opening the door, we found this little treat for my daughter!

There wasn’t anywhere to put our luggage really, and there wasn’t really any storage. So we put one suitcase on the chair, and other on the small table.

One important note, you can’t flush toilet paper in Costa Rica, in most places! This hotel included. So all toilet paper went into the trash can. Their systems just can’t handle it. I was dreading this, but it actually was fine. They emptied the trash can each day.

The bathroom was huge!

The view from our room was AMAZING! Every room in this resort had a volcano view. Here the volcano is covered with clouds. Later in the week we could finally see the entire thing!

It was my father in law’s birthday during this part of our stay. This was waiting for him in his room!

Such a nice surprise!

The grounds all around the resort were BEAUTIFUL! This was just outside of our room.

The entrance to the spa:

The walk over the bridge to the restaurant:

We were really hungry, so we decided to check out La Saca, one of the sit down restaurants, right on property. I think dinner hours were just starting, because we were the only ones there!

This restaurant is open air, and ala carte off of a menu for lunch and dinner. The scenery is amazing!

Let’s have a quick talk about water…

They will ask if you want still or sparkling water. Still water is bottled water. If you want tap water, you have to ask for tap water. There is a charge for bottled water. After this trip (and several others to various countries), I will say to go with the bottled water if possible! The tap water here in the La Fortuna area was good, but once we got to Tamarindo…not so good! The bottled water is worth it, trust me!

Here is the dinner menu:

My youngest daughter ordered the chicken fingers and fries. She liked this!

My oldest daughter ordered the Tagliatelle with cilantro and basil pesto. She loved this!

I ordered the Rib eye. It was delicious! The chimichurri was reallllllly good, and I loved the vegetables!

My husband ordered the Albardado seaweed tuna. He liked this!

Because the restaurant was open air, it was humid. Just keep that in mind! It also can be slightly buggy. So wear your bug spray, and I travel with a mini handheld fan always, sooooooooo…

We finished dinner, then met up with some of our group. They had gone to happy hour and then to the pizza restaurant on property. The pizza place has all outdoor seating. We got a kick out of the little lizards coming out onto the tv screen to try and find bugs!

We were super tired, so headed back to our room to get a good night’s sleep. Costa Rica is a two hour time difference for us. We also knew we had to get up early and figure out our excursions since we didn’t have anything booked yet!

Up next…Costa Rica, Day 2!