Costa Rica

Right around mid May I had the sudden urge to take a solo trip so I did a little window shopping on Expedia and discovered that Costa Rica is surprisingly affordable to visit in June.  So off I went.  It's been a heckuva year and decided I deserved some time to myself and a little adventure.  

This trip was both, for sure!  I haven't been all on my own for 5 whole days in who knows how long-- and solitude and relying on myself was already a bit of a stretch for me.  Throw in driving a rental care in a mountainous foreign country with nebulous road rules and I got to challenge myself even more.  I learned a lot in my 5 days- how to navigate Costa Rican roads, how to combine my limited spanish with hand gestures to get the information I needed, how much I miss talking to my people and sharing my thoughts with them throughout the day, how much I enjoy taking time to write and journal, how much I love the rainforest...

These photos loaded in reverse order but I'm just going to go with it.  Here- a  small  retrospective. 

The flight home.  Ready to return but already missing this pretty country. 

Driving home from Arenal through the rainy mountains-- glad I already had a day of driving the roads while dry under  my belt before tackling this insanity

My last even before travling back to San Jose was to take a sloth tour.  It was hot and buggy and delightful.  I ended up being the only person on the tour, so Elianna, the guide and I, had a great time scoping the woods for the sloths she'd recorded that morning, noting how far they'd moved, learning all sorts of new facts about them, and chatting.  We had coffee and talked for 45 more minutes after the tour - and right before I left, she brought her son (who is autistic) over to meet me.  I was touched.                                                                                                                                                                                              

That day I also swam at the base of a large waterfall by the volcano.

And hiked the Mystico Hanging Bridges.

Backtracking to the day before: June is the rainy season in Costa Rica so I was honestly surprised by how much sun and I got to enjoy.  But it did rain every day around 4 which meant evening activities were a bit damp.  No worries when you are in Arenal and the activity on the docket is visiting a fancy hot springs resort. 

Treated myself to dinner and drinks and lots of time soaking in 105 degree waterfall pools.  I could get used to this. 

Here's the treehouse Airbnb I stayed in at Arenal.  One of my new favorite places.  Big open air windows, metal roof to amplify the rainstorm, lush greenery all around.  Heaven.

Upon surviving my drive to Arenal I went straight to the lake to kayak for a bit. Sadly there was no good swimming there and also a storm started to blow in when I was at my furthest point from the docks so it was exciting to paddle madly in-- but other than that it was grand.

These pictures simply do not do justice to the mortal terror I felt while driving through the mountains from San Jose to Arenal. Please add to the mental image the things I could not photograph due to my white knuckle grip on the steering wheel:  Hairpin turn switchbacks, oncoming large trucks on roads barely wide enough for my car, and slow moving lorries that seemed like they might not make it up (or down) the 10% grade. It was a whole lot. And also very accomplished upon my survival. 

The end of my day in San Jose- a walking tour of the city.  Fun to meet some fellow Americans (all of whom were incidentally from Florida. 

It rained for most of the tour of course but that was ok after overheating myself on my adventure to Puntarenas and the ferry to Paquera.

A little beach I hiked over many rocks to get to.

The view from the ferry.

Getting onto this ferry was an adventure because there was not so much with the English speaking or English signage at the ticket office.  But I did it!

A walk through my neighborhood in Santa Ana my first evening in the country. It was surprisingly hard to navigate the restaurant scene so I ended up grabbing some things from a supermarket and picnicking on one of the divine window seats in my San Jose Airbnb room. 

(Pictured here.)

This room honestly was the inspiration for the trip because when I stumbled across it on my "window shopping" it just called out to me and I thought to myself, I need to go spend time there. And so I did.  And it was just what I needed.  Here's to spontaneous travel, personal growth, and healing one's soul in the rainforest...