A Family Invasion of Costa Rica

Caitlinepstein415/ April 8, 2018/ Latin America/ 1 comments

A Family Invasion of Costa Rica

When people picture Costa Rica, they often picture stunning blue water along both coasts and lush jungles teeming with monkeys and sloths. While I have spent some weekends exploring the coasts and national parks, my life in Costa Rica is not exactly what tourists typically picture. It is for this reason that I am so glad that my family was able to visit Costa Rica and enjoy the touristy area of Manuel Antonio as well as experience the reality of my life in the Central Valley.

Now, when I say my family visited Costa Rica, I mean 10 people: mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle, 2 cousins, my best friend, and her mom and grandma. I’m pretty certain I win the prize for the biggest group to visit an LIU student in Costa Rica this year, and that’s why I feel it qualifies as an invasion.

Anyways, the adventure began with the ones of us that flew in from Charlotte exploring a ghost town version of San Jose. It was the Thursday leading up to Easter, and Costa Rica’s capital was eerily empty. I led my family through the main sights of San Jose: the Plaza de Cultura, the Plaza de Democracía, Parque Morazán, the Parque Nacional, and more.

As we wandered, we finally came across a hotel restaurant in the Amon district that was open. Not ideal, but that’s what you get in the Central Valley during Holy Week. It was there that my brother had his first Costa Rican meal: una hamburguesa.

A freaking hamburger. The kid basically lived off of burgers, pizza, and wings the entire week.

From there, we hung out by the pool to await the arrival of the rest of our group and talk excitedly about what the next day was to bring.

Manuel Antonio Day 1

The next morning, we all ate breakfast at our hotel, the Adventure Inn. This hotel is located in Cariari, nearby to the airport and San Jose. The rooms were nice, they had a large pool, and the free breakfast was incredible. Many of my family members tried traditional Costa Rican breakfasts of gallo pinto and eggs, and laid out on a table for guests were native fruits to try such as granadillas and momon chinos. After breakfast, we took our shuttle through picturesque countryside to Manuel Antonio. On the way there, we stopped at the Tarcoles bridge, where tourists can lean over the side to observe over a dozen crocodiles.

Upon arriving in Manuel Antonio, we went straight to our gorgeous AirBnB, called Casa del Sol. This gorgeous 4 bedroom villa had a view of the ocean and backed up to the Manuel Antonio national park, so it wasn’t unusual to see birds, iguanas, and the occasional monkey throughout the week. If you find yourself needing an AirBnB for a large group in Manuel Antonio, here’s the link to this awesome house. The house also came with an on-call concierge, Nuria, who was incredible and super helpful when pestered by a needy group of 11 gringos.

This little guy below is an iguana that we named ‘Manuel’ (we’re nothing if not original). He hung out right by the house everyday and we befriended him with hibiscus flowers. There were other iguanas around, dubbed ‘Antonio’ and ‘Playa,’ but Manuel was definitely the house favorite.

That first day, we just lounged about, swam in the pool, and had a very delicious dinner at a restaurant in town called Agua Azul. The tuna is to die for.

Day 2

Saturday, we awoke early to head out to the Marino Belleno national park in Uvita for a snorkeling tour. This park is famous for a natural formation they call the ‘Whale Tail’ for good reason.

In this stunning national park, we took a boat out to see the natural formation up close and snorkel close to reefs full of life. I wish I had photos of the snorkeling, but we were able to see dozens of varieties of fish, including parrot fish, huge snappers, and polka-dotted puffer fish, as well as morays (they look like eels), star fish, urchin, and two giant sea turtles. It was stunning, and the tour even earned a 9 out of 10 rating from my cousin Bryce despite him being stung by a jellyfish. I guess that’s where that one point came off.

That night, we ate at the Z Poolside Bistro. It is aptly named, at there is a pool at the center. We did not come prepared with bathing suits, but did enjoy their taco bar and 2 for 1 sangria.

Day 3

Day 3 split the group between ziplining and a boat tour through the mangroves. I was unsurprisingly in the ziplining group along with Emily, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. The tour was incredible. It took us across 10 ziplines through the beautiful jungle, one of which was over a mile long. The guides were fantastic, joking with us and speaking with me in Spanish once they learned that I lived here. That day also happened to be not just Easter, but also Costa Rica’s presidential election day. The guides and I talked about who they were voting for and expressed their nervousness about the outcome.

After ziplining, we ate a delicious traditional Costa Rican meal, called a ‘Casado.’ From there, we went back to the house and hung out before joining the other group for dinner. While waiting, my mom sent me this photo.

Up until this moment, I had been planning to leave Manuel Antonio early Tuesday morning on the public bus so I wouldn’t miss anymore classes than the 2 I was to miss on Monday. With this photo, the others that went ziplining decided to book the mangrove tour for Wednesday, and that plan to leave on Tuesday went out the window. I had a mini crisis about missing class, but my family was able to help convince me to stay, and from there I began emailing professors and working on missing assignments. Quite possibly the best decision I’ve ever made.

That night, we met the rest of the group at La Lambretta Pizzeria, which amazingly had the only gluten free pizza I’ve come across thus far. Needless to say that between this and a Piña Colada I was pretty happy. While we ate, my family described their mangrove tour, where they saw a sloth, birds, lizards, and were able to hold a baby crocodile and have monkeys crawl onto their head. Needless to say my decision to stay was made during this conversation.

Throughout dinner and after, I was anxious about the upcoming results of Costa Rica’s presidential election. Similarly to the 2016 elections in the States, both candidates weren’t exactly great. However, it was clear to me and tons of Costa Ricans that there was a better choice. On candidate, Fabricio Alvarado, is a bigot, a racist, and a homophobe. Fortunately, around 8 pm that night, it was announced that Carlos Alvarado (yep, both have the last name Alvarado) won the election with over 60% of the vote (which is direct btw). Costa Rica rejoiced in being able to avoid their Trump!

Day 4

On Monday, we had nothing to do in the morning, so most lazed about, and I got caught up on school work I was going to miss. In the afternoon, we got picked up to go on a sunset Catamaran tour. Now, I will be the first to admit that I don’t like the beach, but there is something magical about being on a boat out on the ocean at the sun sets.

To start out the boat tour, we donned our snorkel gear again.

The snorkeling was beautiful, but didn’t compare to our trip earlier in the week, so we flippered back to the boat to leap off of it.

That’s right, there was an open area at the top of the boat where we could jump off, along with steep slides that shot you out into the ocean below.

After exhausting ourselves jumping and sliding off of the boat, we enjoyed a fish-kebab dinner and sat back to enjoy the ride and the sunset.

It was absolutely stunning, and the relaxing boat ride had Emily and I remarking that we could really stand to take more relaxing trips. In the past, we have rushed around Ireland, Italy, and London together, so Costa Rica was a welcome change of pace.

Day 5

Ah, Tuesday, my originally scheduled day of departure. I can not describe how wonderful it was to wake up and realize that I still had 3 days left with my family. That morning, we set off early for a tour of the Manuel Antonio National Park. As this is one of the most popular national parks during busy season, it was a bit crowded. Despite the masses, our marvelous guide Johan did a perfect job of pointing out tons of creatures that we could see both with the naked eye and through his high-powered scope. He did a great job of explaining about the animals and their habitats, even going out of his way to show us professional photos he had taken on a tablet so we fully understood what we were looking at. To see some of his incredible photography work or hire him as a guide, go here or follow him on Instagram at @johanchaves.

Everyone was especially excited by the sloths and the capuchin monkeys that hung out near the beach. We weren’t exactly excited by the raccoons that swept in as a pack to steal food and even an entire backpack from unsuspecting tourists, but they were entertaining.

We were also super lucky to see this female howler monkey, because they typically reside way up in the trees away from humans. Another guide on the trail was doing a howler impression, claiming that he could draw her out. She seemed to be responding, but our guide told us that she would continue to make the noise regardless of the guide. However, our guide was dumbfounded when the monkey seemed to emerge from the leaves as a result of the noises and seemingly follow us. He said it was a first in 13 years of leading tours. Huh.

After the park, we ate some good Mexican food, which is genuinely difficult to find in Costa Rica, at Sancho’s Taqueria. We enjoyed a nice view out at tables on their patio while eating nachos, quesadillas, and burritos.

In the afternoon, we took the free time to relax, and if you’re me, continue to catch up on school work. It was a small price to pay to have more time in Manuel Antonio with the ones I love. That night, we went to a local place recommended by our concierge called Tiqucia in nearby Quepos. What was more remarkable than the food was the taxi ride there and back. A smaller group of us went, so we rode with our new taxi driver friend, Olman. We met him early on in our stay, and he was so friendly that we called him just about any time we needed a taxi. He spoke perfect English, and regaled us with tales of when his grandfather owned the hill our house was perched on, his son’s life in China, and of his 21 year-old dog helping sloths across the street. It was a bit concerning when he tried to show us photos on his phone while driving around curves and such, but he was truly a great guy that we were all thankful for.

Day 6 – Last Day in Manuel Antonio

On our last day, some went for a tour of a Spice Plantation while the rest of us (surprise surprise) laid around most of the day, alternating between the pool chairs and the pool itself. After being layabouts for most of the day, those of us that went ziplining went on the acclaimed mangrove boat tour. Our guide Pablo and our driver Agosto took us through the plentiful mangroves and pointed out lots of animals.

 It was early on in the tour that we heard a loud splash. Upon turning around, we noticed that our driver was gone, and had supposedly dove in the water after something. He emerged with a small crocodile in his hands. My family and I shared looks at this as my family had described a very similar situation just days earlier. Our driver seemed a bit more dedicated to the act, but we’re convinced it’s the same croc nonetheless – one that they keep around the boat for shows like this. Nevertheless, we were happy to be able to hold the 2 year old croc.

After this, we were then delighted to come across a large group of capuchin monkeys. When we got to them, they were already climbing all over tourists in 2 other boats. We didn’t have as many chances for monkeys to climb onto us as for some reason our guide only brought a single banana, but I was happy with the single monkey that crawled across me. (BTW it’s totally illegal to feed monkeys in Costa Rica, so don’t tell on me).

After the monkeys, we were fortunate enough to come up on 3 sloths: a female, a male, and a baby. The male and female were up and moving enough to give us a peek at their funny faces, but the baby was curled up in a tree. When we were trying to point, Emily even remarked that she originally thought the sloth was a pile of dead leaves. It was tiny, and we were amazed that the guides were able to point it out.

From there, we went to the restaurant Barba Roja, where we met up with the others and enjoyed casado dishes, the best mixed fruit drink ever, and some sushi. The restaurant has a great menu and a stunning view of the sunset. It made for a great last night in Manuel Antonio.

A Day in Heredia

The next morning, we packed up and bid farewell to our beautiful house for the week. We made the 3 hour journey to San Jose and from there made our way to Heredia. In Heredia, our first stop was my host family’s house.

There, my family family was able to meet my host family. Most host mom is just about the sweetest person alive, and made all 11 of us feel welcome with water and fresh watermelon. She was also a good sport with allowing me to try to translate for everyone. It was priceless to see both of my moms in one place, and I think my mom came away from it feeling better about the wonderful people that I get to live with.

Next, everyone got to experience my walk to school. It was a hell of a time trying to get everyone across streets, but we eventually made it to the LIU Global Costa Rica center. At the center, they were able to see my ‘campus,’ which in reality is just a big house perfect for 18 students. I walked them through our common area, the backyard, the kitchen, the big classroom, and the upstairs study area. They were also able to meet some of my classmates, who were probably surprised by the inundation of lots of tall people into the school.

From the school. I took them to the central park of Heredia, which is only a block from the school, as well as a fútbol store, a grocery store, and the central market so they could pick up souvenirs and see where I do my grocery shopping. After they became laden down with coffee and sweets to take back to the states, I took them to Comidas Caribeñas Moms for my favorite dish in all of Costa Rica: chicken with Caribbean sauce, rice and beans (it’s cooked in coconut milk!), and patacones. This amazing restaurant caters meals for the school as most of us can agree that Caribbean food it to die for, and I knew I needed to share it with my family.

After dinner, we grabbed some popsicles and ice cream from a local place next door, and then it was time to say goodbye. The van back to the Adventure Inn dropped me off at the stadium in Heredia, and a message from my mom when I got home informed me that she cried after I left. It’s never easy saying goodbye to my family, especially my mom and Emily, but I’ll be home in less than a month! Besides, my mom and I FaceTime pretty much every other day, and Em and I FaceTime once a week just about every week, so I still am able to keep up with my 2 favorite people.

I am so unbelievably grateful for the time I was able to have with my family this week. The time to relax and do touristy things in Manuel Antonio was invaluable, but I truly enjoyed giving them a glimpse into my life in the Central Valley. I know that they all walked away from the experience with a better grasp of what it is like to live and go to school here. They all had these different ideas of what everything was like before coming, but their preconceptions were shattered, and that’s what traveling and living abroad is all about.

I can’t wait to continue to travel to new places and show them to family and friends. If you ever find yourself wanting to travel, reach out to me – in the next few years I’ll be in Spain, Italy, China, potentially Australia, and more for school, and from there, who knows?

Lastly, before you go, check out this video of the trip that my talented best friend put together!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoucJI5pCKI&w=560&h=315]