Back in March, Justin and I had the chance to spend a week exploring Jaco, Costa Rica, and the surrounding area, and I cannot wait to tell you all about it! But, since we kicked-off our adventure by spending a couple of days in Los Angeles, perhaps I should start there ツ.
Los Angeles (LA), California
As far as I am aware, travellers from Vancouver cannot fly direct to Costa Rica – they either have to connect through a major city in the United States, or through Toronto, Canada. We decided to fly through LA for two reasons: 1) it provided the shortest flight path, and 2) we had never been to LA before and thought it was a good excuse to visit the area!
Since our time in LA was limited, here is a short list of attractions we were able to see:
- Hollywood Sign: In order to see the famous Hollywood Sign, we drove up to the Griffith Observatory, as this is considered a top viewing spot. However, we did not have the best weather during this day – it was raining and overcast for the entire morning and part of the afternoon. For this reason, our first attempt to see the sign in the morning was unsuccessful. We decided to go back to the Griffith Observatory in the afternoon and while the weather had cleared up, it became incredibly busy and we were not able to find parking! Luckily the drive up the hill (as the Griffith Observatory is located on Mount Hollywood) was slow, and I was able to jump out of the car to take photos of the Hollywood sign and the views of LA. But, this meant that Justin was not able to take in the views – sorry, Justin!
- The Oppenheim Group Real Estate Office: We took a drive down Sunset Boulevard, as I was determined to see the Oppenheim Group Office in real-life! To all the Selling Sunset fans, while the office was closed that day (it was a Saturday) and I did not see any of the cast, I can confirm that the office is as nice as it looks on television! Has anyone ever been near the Office on a weekday? If yes, please tell me what you experienced!
- Rodeo Drive: Think of an expensive, luxurious brand, and you can guarantee that there is a location on Rodeo Drive. We opted not to stop here, but rather drive through and observe stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada and Dior from afar ツ.
- Hollywood Walk of Fame: While our walk amongst the stars was short-lived due to the weather, we were still able to find stars for Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys, to name a few.
- Beaches: As you probably already know, there are tons of beautiful beaches along the California coast. The first beach we visited was Santa Monica State Beach, which includes a small theme park on its Pier, and then we also enjoyed a walk along the Manhattan Beach promenade.
Other than the sights above, we indulged in some local plant-based cuisine – the baked cashew ricotta and pepperoni pizza at Pura Vita West Hollywood, the vanilla and chocolate soft-serve at Bestie’s Paradise, and we also ate at Veggie Grill. LA is quite well known for its diverse plant-based restaurants – we hope to be back in the future to try more delicious food!
Jaco, Costa Rica
The next stop on our trip was to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica! From here, we would drive for 1.5-hours to our final destination – Jaco (pronounced “Haco”). We had a private ride arranged by our hotel from the airport.
It was quite late when we arrived in Jaco, around 10:30pm – we received our keys from security and it was time to get ready for bed!
We spent our first full day in Jaco getting ourselves organized and exploring the town. Our first stop was at Claro to purchase SIM cards for our phones, and then we checked out a couple of different supermarkets to get groceries. Our go-to supermarket (we came here multiple times during our trip) ended up being the Mas X Menos – it had a large selection of produce and packaged food, and also carried other items such as toiletries, sunscreen, etc. making it a convenient one-stop-shop for tourists.
Once we had (mostly) organized ourselves for the week, we went for a beach walk along Jaco Beach and then went back to our hotel to read and swim in the pool. You will notice as you are reading this blog post that this holiday was not like some of our other action packed trips – we actually took some time to relax ツ.
For dinner on our official first night, we went to Karma Cafe & Restaurant and very much enjoyed our experience. We each had a delicious bowl, drink and the best part was carrot cake for dessert!
We were up early the next day to explore Tortuga Island – a “must see” according to the concierge at our hotel. We had to take a 45-minute catamaran boat ride to reach the Island, where we then spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon enjoying its sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters. Our trip to Tortuga included a banana boat ride, a traditional Costa Rican lunch (lots of rice and vegetables – non carne para mi), unlimited margaritas and a short self-guided hike. One of the main reasons we wanted to visit Costa Rica was to experience the wild life, and this small Island had wild pigs, deer and iguanas.
For our third day in Costa Rica, we were off to find the monkeys! Costa Rica is actually home to four species of monkeys (squirrel, white-faced capuchin, howler and spider monkeys) and we were lucky enough to see three of the species on our trip. We signed up for a Mangrove Boat Tour in the city of Quepos (about an hour away from Jaco), which took us along a water channel surrounded by Mangrove trees. We learned during the tour that Mangroves are actually very important to Costa Rica as they provide protection during severe storms.
While we very much enjoyed a relaxing boat ride through the jungle, and were able to see bats and various types of lizards throughout the tour, the most exciting part (obviously) was finding the white-faced capuchin monkeys! The monkeys were very curious and were not afraid to approach the boat or the humans. At the time, we did not know that we would actually see several more monkeys during our trip to Costa Rica, but the boat tour was the closest we were able to get – it was truly incredible!
On our way back from the Mangrove Boat Tour, we stopped at the Welcome to Jaco sign for some photos and beautiful scenic views, and at this point, we also saw our first scarlet macaws hanging out in the trees! While at the time I was disappointed we could not get closer to these beautiful birds, it would not be our last time seeing them (this appeared to be a theme for the day).
After an eventful afternoon with the monkeys, we had worked up an appetite and went for dinner at SER Restaurante (another fully plant-based restaurant in Jaco) where we indulged in delicious tacos and a veggie bowl.
For our fourth day in Jaco, we signed up for a tour of Carara National Park. This Park was not actually on our original itinerary, as we were planning to go to Manuel Antonio National Park instead – which is a much more well-known park in the area for experiencing wild life. However, we are very grateful we did not pass up the opportunity to go to Carara National Park!
Our hotel concierge recommended JungleXpeditions for touring Carara National Park, and the owner, Mauricio, was the best tour guide we experienced during our trip. Our visit to the Park was scheduled for the early afternoon, and on our way, Mauricio made a road side stop at a scarlet macaw nest (remember how I said we would see many scarlet macaws on the trip?) – there was a family of these beautiful birds living inside a hole in a tree. Mauricio had a very powerful telescope that allowed us to see the birds up close, and you could even take pictures through the telescope.
Carara National Park is considered to be a transition forest – where dry and tropical climates collide – making it an excellent area for observing wildlife. You can read more about transition forests here. We were greeted by various types of reptiles at the Park entrance, along with one of my favourites, a two-toed sloth. Other animals we saw at Carara National Park included: howler, spider and white-faced capuchin monkeys (yes, we saw all three!), an owl butterfly, northern ghost bat, more scarlett macaws, an orange-collared manakin, turquoise browed motmot, and a snake – unfortunately, I did not take notes on the specific type.
The snake incident was kind of a funny story, actually. Mauricio had suggested Justin and I stand next to a very tall tree for a photo. We started walking towards the tree, Justin a bit ahead of me, and then all of a sudden Justin started screaming and ran back towards Mauricio. He was so shocked he barely got out the word “snake” – Mauricio, myself and the other person on our tour were dying of laughter. As we inspected the snake, Mauricio confirmed it was not poisonous and that it had just eaten – you could see the belly was full. The snake had apparently made eye contact and hissed at Justin, which is why he got spooked! I am sure we will be telling this story for years to come ツ.
While we were absolutely thrilled with our trip to Carara National Park, the one animal we did not see (which was very high on my bucket list for Costa Rica) was a Toucan. Mauricio told me he would try to find a Toucan on our drive back.
Carara National Park is also very close to the Tarcoles River, which is home to approximately 2000 crocodiles. We had originally hoped to go on a crocodile tour (which in hindsight, I am glad did not work out), but instead, Mauricio brought us to the Crocodile Bridge, where we could view these massive creatures from a safe distance ツ.
On our drive back to the hotel, I could tell Mauricio was looking hard for a toucan (I made it very clear how much I wanted to see one). At one point as we were all chatting in the van, he quickly pulled over and said “Michelle, here is your toucan.” We all jumped out of the vehicle – I turned on my camera and Mauricio setup his telescope, and of course in that moment, the toucan flew away. We got back in the vehicle and Mauricio was actually able to follow the toucan. We made another road side stop and started looking, and yes, Mauricio found the toucan… only for history to repeat itself – by the time we got setup, the toucan once again flew away. I was quite disappointed as I did not actually get to see it, but I had not given up hope – I knew there would be more opportunities to find a toucan.
The next day we actually went to visit the other National Park in Costa Rica – Manuel Antonio. This Park is much more popular for tourists than Carara – this was evident, as our tour bus was full! While we were able to see a lot of wild life at this Park, our group size made it difficult to see things through the tour guide’s telescope and we were not able to take pictures on our phone through the telescope. The park was incredibly busy with other groups, as well, which meant we did not see any birds – we definitely did not see a toucan. I much preferred the intimate group size we had for Carara National Park.
Our trip to Manuel Antonio also included a traditional Costa Rican lunch, as well as some time at the Manuel Antonio beach. On our walk from the beach back to the Park entrance, we saw several white-faced capuchin monkeys as they climbed trees along our path – apparently the monkeys here are not afraid of people, and will even open up your backpack!
For our final day in Jaco, we attended the Chocolate Experience at Vista Los Suenos Adventure Park. During the Chocolate Experience, we learned about where the cacao plant grows (along the “Cacao Belt,” which is near the equator), the different species of cacao trees (23 species, 7 of which are found in Costa Rica), the process by which cacao becomes chocolate, and we even got to make our own chocolate. Costa Rica is actually not a big producer of chocolate – they only produce about 0.7% of the world’s cacao! Costa Rica is much better known for growing coffee; however, we were not able to participate in a coffee tour during our trip.
Following the chocolate tour, it was time to head to San Jose for our final night, as we had an early flight to catch in the morning. We actually received a ride from our Carara National Park tour guide, Mauricio, as he also offers airport shuttle services. One other request I had for Mauricio was to find me another toucan ツ.
When Mauricio picked us up, he had mentioned he spoke to some other tour guide friends and was made aware of a toucan nest nearby. As we slowly started making our way down a dusty dirt road, we saw a small bird flying from tree to tree – it was a toucan! We pulled over, got out the telescope and I watched the bird fly back and forth with the biggest smile on my face. It was actually very interesting to watch the toucan fly as it would start to “fall” when it stopped flapping its wings – apparently the toucan’s beak is so heavy it actually has a hard time flying!
Finally feeling like my time in Costa Rica was complete, we continued onward towards San Jose, making one final stop at Playa Pogeres to take in one final Costa Rican sunset.
And with that, I will end this blog post. This was definitely a long one – if you are still reading, thank you for being here! I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Costa Rica and that it will provide you with some ideas on what to do when you visit the area of Jaco!
Always grateful,
Michelle
Exploring With Gratitude 