Day 0 - Trip Overview

 

clockwise from the top: Steve, Krista, Dave, Andree

Who was traveling? 

Two couples:  Krista (the blog writer) & Steve live in Vancouver, Canada, and Dave & Andree live in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The four of us have been friends for over 30 years, and have been on many trips together, including a 2022 trip to CR. We are all in our sixties but not yet retired. We like to think of ourselves as reasonably fit but were glad for our large bottle of extra-strength ibuprofen and a couple of sturdy walking sticks we found on the beach.

Why a blog?

I wanted to share our trip in hopes of giving other people a little bit of enjoyment and maybe some helpful information. There is nothing sponsored on this blog, though I do think KIND Bar should give me some kind of remuneration.

Costa Rica 2023 Itinerary

This was Steve’s and my fourth trip to Costa Rica and our second trip there with Dave & Andree. Our goals for the trip were to visit places we hadn’t been before with an emphasis on wildlife, birds, nature, walking, the jungle, and the beach. 

1 night - San Jose (Alajuela)

2 nights - San Gerardo de Dota in the Talamanca Mountains 

3 nights - Uvita

1 night - Sierpe (across the river)

5 nights - Drake Bay (including a night in Corcovado Nt’l Park)

5 nights - Cabo Matapalo area (near Peurto Jiminez)

1 night - San Jose (Alajuela)

What did we pack?

All of us traveled with carry-on luggage, which included an alarming number of KIND Bars. Click here if you'd like to see my packing list .

I admit, I am a bit self-righteous about traveling only with carry-on luggage but I was humbled at the gate in Vancouver by an Air Canada agent who said my bag was too large for the smaller overhead bins on the plane to Denver and it needed to be checked through to San Jose. Aggg!!! Panic set in as I watched my carefully curated drip-dry clothes being wheeled away to the bowels of lost luggage hell. I was cautiously hopeful when the United app showed my bag had been loaded onto our connecting flight in Denver, and heaved a sigh of relief when I finally saw it safely spinning on the luggage carousel at SJO. 

A few words about …

Food

My husband and I often say “well, we don’t go to Costa Rica for the great food”. Like everywhere in the world prices have gone up, and while I don’t mind paying for good restaurant food, I haven't found a lot of it in Costa Rica. Because of that we booked places with kitchens wherever possible and did a lot of our own simple food prep. And, going on the principle that you can never have too many snacks, we also brought several boxes of KIND Bars, and trail mix with us from Vancouver.

Just a few of our snacks from home

Lost count of how many bags of these addictive Yuquitas we bought in CR

We also really enjoyed the fruit in Costa Rica, and when you shop at produce markets it is reasonably priced and good quality. Every morning we made a big fruit salad for breakfast with mangoes, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, and bananas. 

Accommodation

The beauty of traveling with another couple is being able to share costs and in our planning, we looked first for places that we could share. Two bedrooms were a must, and two bathrooms were preferred (we did share a bathroom at two places). And, I am always a sucker for an outdoor sitting area with a good view. Our budget was $300 per night total ($150 per couple). We paid slightly more than that in Uvita, but generally, we were well under our max nightly budget.

Money

All prices are listed in $USD. 

Over the course of seventeen days, we went to an ATM twice taking out about $350 worth of Costa Rican Colones each time (you can also withdraw $USD at many ATMs). Most of our accommodation was paid for in advance, but for other things, we used credit cards wherever possible and cash with smaller vendors.

Credit cards were commonly accepted, except with smaller vendors and in the more remote parts of the Osa Peninsula like Drake Bay. I used PayPal twice on the trip; once to pay the balance on accommodation in San Gerardo and the other for snorkeling in Drake Bay.

Our route through Costa Rica