Two previous commentaries referred to our vacation to the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica in the northwest part of the country bordering on Nicaragua the North and the Pacific Ocean on the West. Our vacation only allowed us to see and experience a small sample of what is available in Costa Rica or even in the Guanacaste province. However, we have to say we completely enjoyed our trip and are pleased to recommend it to others. We travelled with our oldest grandson, and part of the enjoyment was how appreciative he was of the trip.

We planned our visit based on recommendations of a friend who has had two trips to Costa Rica. We settled on an Apple Vacation with Broadlands Travel that included a chartered direct flight on Frontier to Liberia, Costa Rica.  Our resort, the Hilton Papagayo, was about thirty minutes away from the airport on a cove on the Pacific Ocean. We were very pleased with everything, although we had trouble finding our transportation at the airport. An entrepreneur earned a well-deserved tip by leading us to the Swiss Travel agent wearing a distinctive orange shirt. Swiss Travel arranged our transport to and from the airport and the tours we took while at the resort. Don’t be confused by the “Swiss Travel” name, because it is a Costa Rican company. They have an extensive web site for travel and many activities in the country.

We were told on our short bus ride from the airport to the resort that we had arrived in the dry season, and I asked about the several fires we saw. Some fires were described as accidental and some were intentional to clear the land for new growth that comes with the rainy season that would begin in a month or two.

We arrived at the resort and were transported to our bungalow, which only had a king sized bed. The resort was full because four of the teams participating in the FIFA under 17 women’s soccer tournament, so a larger room wasn’t available. We were sent a sleeper bed that became a source of jokes. We said it had a memory foam mattress that never forgot, since it had a grandson body-sized indentation for the entire stay. The outside temperatures were quite warm for Coloradoans, but we kept inching the control on the powerful air conditioner higher until we finally weren’t chilled.

The visit was made quite enjoyable by the friendly and helpful staff. David at the front desk was always eager to provide help.  The resort is large, the hills are steep, and the resort provides carts to take you to and from your bungalow to the restruants or other destinations. One cart driver, “JJ,” was particularly impressive. He always remembered we were staying in Bungalow 320 each time we asked to be delivered from our evening meal back to our sleeping quarters. We enjoyed the “no extra charge” refrigerator stocked with sodas, beer, and bottled water.

Meals were impressive at the four restaurants and grills at the bars. We decided the great hamburger at the Ritual bar was our favorite lunch meal. The burgers went well with the Imperial beer on draft, the margaritas, the sugary iced tea, and the many fruity alcohol-free drinks for our grandson. La Cosecha had an extensive breakfast buffet. Reservations were required at the other restaurants for the evening meal, but we didn’t have too much difficulty with that. The entrees were small portions, but were of high quality. Evening meals were accompanied by as much house wine as you wanted.

There is a long list of tours arranged by Swiss Travel. We selected the “Megatour,” ($125 each) which involved a long bus ride to the coastal mountains where there is a one and a half mile long zip line above the jungle, a long and steep water slide, a horseback ride through a dauntingly steep area, a soak in hot springs, and the ride back to the resort. There was also a wonderful lunch buffet. There were some steep slopes to be climbed that were a challenge to the older of us and some incredibly bumpy rocky roads to be endured. Another day we did the Palo Verde National Park tour ($79 each). There was a boat ride on the brackish Tenipisque river where we saw plenty of crocodiles, iguanas (those were everywhere) howler and white faced monkeys (one with a tiny baby on its back), and birds to include two beautiful macaws.

Sylvia, our tour guide, switched from descriptions in Spanish and English with ease in her impressive commentary during the hour and twenty minute bus ride both to and from the river. She told us about the people and economy of Costa Rica (tourism provides over a quarter of the GDP). She told us about the rice and cane fields worked by the migrants from Nicaragua. The cane fields are burned the night before harvest to remove the sharp leaves and to drive out the mice, rats, and snakes. One type of snake is the very poisonous fer-de-lance. Hawks and eagles have learned to watch the edges of the fields for prey as the fields are burning. We saw many cattle, and they were dominantly Brahmas. We traveled through the towns of Liberia and Filadelfia (yes, it is really spelled that way), and they did not look prosperous. Sylvia said every little town is required to have four things:  a Catholic church, a primary school, a soccer field, and a bar.

We spent one mid-day at the beach and were amazed at the millions of small clams with a variety of colorings of their shells washing up in the surf and then reburying themselves. We snorkeled near the rocks on the south side of the cove adjacent to the resort, but only saw a few fish. Cleaning the very fine, black volcanic sand from our beach shoes, feet, and legs proved a bit of a challenge. However, who is complaining when there is limitless draft beer, sweet ice tea, and alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks to be enjoyed while looking out at the cove on the Pacific Ocean after snorkeling? We have one wonderful picture of our grandson “holding up the sun setting into the Pacific” after a remarkable day of activities and relaxation!

We frequently spent relaxing time sitting on the porch of our bungalow and watching the lizards of various sizes and the iguanas, including an impressive fight between two larger ones. There were three small raccoons that seemed baffled we weren’t feeding them. There were occasional flocks of lorikeets, although they seemed to seldom land in the close trees. We found we had made a mistake by not taking enough sun lotion in our checked in baggage. We ran low and paid $48 for a spray can of SPF 70.

Evenings in our bungalow were spent reading and watching the FIFA soccer matches on television. We found an English movie with Spanish subtitles one night. There was a CNN channel that was in English, but we only watched that briefly a couple of times, since we didn’t miss the news. We were baffled that many of the people sitting by the pool were intent on watching their hand held devices. Our grandson, who loves the ipad he left at home, was happy swimming and sitting at the swim up bar called the Fuente De Vida (Fountain of Life, or, less literally, Meaning of Life) and watching the bar tender feed strawberries to an Iguana.

Our trip came to a too early end, and we chose to buy our required exit fee for $33 each at the hotel instead of waiting in line and paying $29 at the airport. The airport was mobbed, and we had to work hard to finally find a place to sit while we waited for the plane. Three Panini’s, one bottled water, and a small Gatorade cost $58. It made us appreciate the wonderful food and drink that came with the total price of our all-inclusive visit at the resort.

We had a wonderful vacation and want to return with other grandchildren in the future. My wife read a copy of this commentary and said that it did not successfully describe how much she enjoyed the vacation. She said she wasn’t certain what should be added, but she said,” it should be better!”

There was an article about a trip to Costa Rica in the Denver Post shortly after we returned from our trip. We thought out trip was better than the one described, although our location did not have surfing. Our resort was about a half hour from the Liberia airport compared to the three hour trip described in the Post article.  Our air travel on the Apple Vacations charter on Frontier Airlines was much less expensive than what was listed in the article and was a direct flight from Denver. (The flight is only available from February to August 2^nd at the last check.)

Next week:  Costa Rica costal fishing trip