A Snippet of Costa Rica

We visited a number of provinces, but my favorite was Guanacaste. It was miserably warm there in June, but the landscape was gorgeous, navigation was easy and there were many wonderful restaurants, hidden vistas, plentiful wildlife and gorgeous beaches. 

Guanacaste Province

We flew in to Liberia, rented a car and traveled to Playa Del Coco where we stayed in a two-bedroom condo, with full amenities, for around $60 a night. You could see the beach from the condo, there was an accessible roof with an amazing view, and tiny restaurants, shops, stalls and mercados dotted the town. Others on our plane talked about their all inclusive hotels, with planned trips and no need to leave for anything. I think we probably got a better deal.

The area has been destroyed, in a way, by cattle farming. It's not like it was a few hundred years ago, but it is still gorgeous. Everything is so green and Guanacaste trees dot the fields. The cattle are adorable and full of character. Green Iguanas and Black Ctenosaurs are everywhere, as well as a vast number of birds. Our town was a nightly roost for raucous Boat-tailed Grackles. During one of the afternoon rains green parrots took refuge in a tree in the courtyard of our condo.

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One "secret" place a local told us about was Llanos de Cortez. We stopped on the way to Monte Verde in Alajuela and it was well worth the detour. Hardly anyone was there when we visited and it doesn't seem to be terribly well known among tourists. Comparing it to the local Midwestern swimming holes (Haha, quarry swimming. -_-) there were next to no similarities. The area was cared for, only a single piece of trash in site. It was peaceful, no cars rumbling by, no one shouting. There we few paths, with much of the undergrowth left untrampled. There were delicate fungi, moss, tiny waterfalls, a single colorful feather caught in the tree branches. 

Here I am, in front of the main falls.

There it is, a snippet about a trip that happened over three years ago.