Leaving Costa Rica

Yesterday we drove down to the beaches about 40 km from Liberia.
Soon found out that people don't actually swim and sun at these beaches. There are hotels there but most people swim at the pool.
Well the beaches aren't that pretty anyway .. Not like at Quepos.
Playa Coco is a neat little town sort of like Key West ... Restaurants music and souvenir shops.
We went back and hung out at the pool .. Then went back to Morales for wing again - hopeless place for restaurants here.
Thankful to be leaving today for MIA and then drive back to Naples.
Won't be home till around 9pm

Liberia

In Liberia for 2 nights just to catch flight back to MIA
The drive down from Monteverde was along a very bad unpaved road for about an hour to each the main hwy.
Was a nice scenic drive.
Staying in Best Western. Is cheap but water pressure is hopeless.
Really nice pool though.
Downtown area is nothing much with 2 police on each corner.
We had a bite to eat last night at Morales Bar. The wings were good.
Breakfast included at hotel is fine.. Under a nice tiki hut by the pool.
Very windy in Liberia.

We will drive down to beaches for the day- about 35 km.

Monteverde goodbye

Leaving Monteverde and heading to Liberia. Room was quite cold last night and had to sleep in the sweatshirt I bought here. Very windy too. Will be happy to get back down to warmth again.

Selvatura Park

Will likely go to the butterfly garden this morning and then head over to Selvatura. That park has zip-lines but they are only for fun, so won't bother doing that for 45 dollars and will instead do the platform walk through the jungle. Last night we had dinner at Trio. It was the most interesting food around and here and the nicest looking place in town. We'll go back tonite. Seemed reasonable priced but I believe the portions are small so ends up to be around the same as everywhere else in CR... expensive!

At end of day we plan to go to the Frog exhibit ... seems to be the only place where we will see any frogs.

Monteverde/Santa Elena

Drove up north from Quepos, stopping to look at some scenic views with Macaws and Jaco beach.

The last 18 km of road up the hill to the town is not paved and very rough.

Staying at Arcos Iris. Pretty rustic, no hair dryer, no fridge, but they do have a TV.  No A/C or heat and it's quite cold at night. Had to buy a long sleeved T to layer up on top of a few T-shirts and the only thin long sleeve shirt I brought with. Daytime highs are only around 70.

Most places have wifi but the one in the room is the worst.

Breakfast is not included with the room and is a buffet for 7 dollars and only till 9am, so we walked down the hill to a restaurant, The Common Cup.

We are going on hiking trails today at the Monteverde Cloud Forest. My right foot is blistered from the Zumba at Quepos because I only have some old crummy running shoes that are not suitable to dance in. It's going to be a rough day to hike.

Quepos

Nice beach here in Quepos / Manuel Antonio National Park. We are staying at the Hotel California. The hotel has a nice pool and restaurant next to the pool. The rooms are nice and there is wifi but it's pretty pricey.
Finding out that everywhere is pretty pricey ,... hotels, restaurants, T-shirts...

The park was a disappointment .. too many people and not enough animals.

The food is just so-so so far, but I'm not big on chicken and fish.

The biggest thrill was meeting Marianna the local Zumba girl and doing Zumba with her ... one night on the terrace outside my room and the next night at a restuarant down the road.

Tomorrow we heard out to drive to Monteverde.

Flight to Quepos

Sitting in the waiting area for flight to quepos - 20 mins on Sansa air - a small plane where they weighed the people with their carryon bags

Free wifi in this tiny room

Sent from my iPhone

San Jose

Spending the night at the Hotel Presidente downtown San Jose before flying out to Quepos. SJ is a dump and is expensive.

Costa Rica

Heading to CR this morning for some jungle fun and photos.