I had not seen Debbie since I left Virginia three years ago. She was my soccer team rep for a long time. She was also my travel companion in 2019 when we went to New Zealand with my daughter. Debbie and I decided to go on a Costa Rica trip together with Gate1. It was a fun trip. I enjoyed exploring new places with Debbie and meeting new people.
Travel Day - St José
Debbie and I took the same flight from Houston to St José. We got to Houston airport around the same time. We used my United Club passes and spent about an hour in the club, after having a mediocre lunch at a restaurant at the airport. I took a picture of the sunset on our flight.
We were picked up at St. José airport and driven to Crowne Plaza where we met our tour manager Giovani Comparaz. Debbie and I went to Fuji restaurant in the hotel for dinner. Mary, a fellow traveler, joined us. Mary hanged out with us throughout the trip.
Day 1 – Sarchí/San Carlos/Arenal
We had an orientation meeting at 7:30am to go over the day’s itinerary. Giovani said we could call him “Pana” because he’s from Panama. He enlightened us with “Pura Vida,” a philosophy of life in Costa Rica. We boarded the bus at 8:30am. This was my first time with a Gate1 trip when the group leader assigned seats on the bus. The scenery on the way reminded me of Vietnam where there are poor sections.
We stopped at the town of Sarchí, most widely recognized for its colorful and decorative oxcarts. The oxcarts are used for decoration and also as symbols of Costa Rica in celebrations and parades. We walked around and some locals spoke to us in their language. I wish I could converse with them.
The scenery to San Carlos from Sarchí was more picturesque and it also reminded me of Vietnam with terraced fields and skinny cows.
We passed by Park Francisco with its topiary garden and the Church of San Raphael in Zarcero. We could only admire the views from the bus.
Mary walked with us to “Central Market” at San Carlos after we got dropped off at Catedral de Ciudad Quesada. We stopped at a food stand where Debbie got fries and a coke and Mary got an empanada. I couldn't find anything I wanted to order, so I ate my snacks: a banana, sunflower seeds, and a United airlines waffle. We still had at least an hour after lunch. We walked around and found a smoothie place called Heladeria Romeno’s. The young lady who worked there let us use the restroom even though we didn’t plan to buy anything. We appreciated that. Mary and I each got a fruit smoothie there.
We continued on to Arenal Volcano Inn where we'd stay two nights. 
We got to Arenal Volcano Inn around 3:30pm. We were assigned a cabin with two queen beds. There are a pool and a hot tub and a trail around the property and a lot of flowers in bloom. This place reminded me of La Casa del Suizo on the Napo River in Ecuador on my trip to Ecuador and Peru in March 2020 with Patty. After resting a bit, we took a walk on the trail.
In the evening, we went to a group meeting to talk about the rest of our time during the week. Afterwards we had dinner at the hotel. I had a pear and almond salad, tilapia in white sauce, a coffee flan, and a glass of passion fruit juice which was good because it wasn’t very sweet.
Day 2 – Los Chiles Boat Tour on Rio Frio
We went to breakfast at 6:45am. After breakfast, we went to Los Chiles for a boat ride along the Rio Frio. On the way, Giovani told us that Costa Rica is a big exporter of pineapples. Their three main industries are tourism, agriculture, and technology (medical appliances). Costa Rica doesn’t have an army. They are big on education and environmental issues. They have laws to protect the environments and wildlife, but not the resources to enforce the laws.
On the boat ride, we saw monkeys, bats, birds, caymen, iguanas, and turtles. I enjoyed the boat ride even though it rained on us. It reminded me of the swamp boat ride in News Orleans with our friends Anh and Jacques, except we didn't see as much wildlife in News Orleans.
After the boat ride we had lunch at Heciconea Tours Restaurante. I had said I didn’t eat meat. Giovani gave me a plate with cooked vegetables and rice without chicken. He said I could add anything from the buffet on my plate. It’s a bonus because I loved the cooked veggies and the regular buffet doesn’t have them. We came back to our hotel around 3:30pm.
We had an hour to spare before going to the Eco Tamales Hot Springs. This was an optional tour and I am glad we signed up for it. The place has several hot pools, varying in temperatures and features. Some pool has rocks serving as chairs, some has rocks serving as platforms to lie down on, some has streams of warm water coming down your body. We spent close to two hours in the pools before we had dinner at the same complex. I loved the Thai curry soup (a hot and delicious broth) and the pana cotta, which is always my favorite dessert.
Day 3 – Arenal National Park/Monteverde
Today we checked out of our hotel in Arenal to go to Monteverde. I decided to walk on the trail before breakfast, and was surprised to find the trail was steep and muddy. When it looked too muddy, I decided to turn around and go back to our room to stretch. After breakfast, we checked out and went to Arenal National Park. We took a 2-mile walk on the paved road to a platform where we could view the volcano, which has been dormant since 2010. It was cloudy and we didn’t see the summit. I was disappointed that we didn’t take the real trails in the National Park.
Giovanni said the biological science had changed so much since he got his science degree. Now scientists think all creatures possess intelligence, including plants. He threw out an interesting concept “Nature already provides answers to everything. We just need to observe and learn.”
We had lunch on our own in Tilarán, a small town. We ate at a not-so-good Chinese restaurant. Mary and Deonne joined us. Deonne had been sick and today was the first outing she did. Mary, Deonne, and Debbie shared fried rice and chicken wings. I had a salad with vegetables and it was drenched in dressing. After lunch, the three of them had ice cream.
We went on to Monteverde, taking the Pan American Highway for a portion of the trip. Beautiful scenery on the way. We encountered a beautiful rainbow as we entered Monteverde.
It was about 5pm when we got to our room in block 500 at El Establo. This hotel is big. It has blocks of rooms that are far apart. From the reception desk to our building is a long uphill hike, passing the gym, the pool, some private residences, and blocks 100-400. Debbie and I decided to go to Thomas and Thiago for dinner. Giovanni had pointed this place out on the way to our hotel. He said it was his favorite place. It took us forever to walk down to the street. The steep downhill was hard on Debbie. The restaurant turned out to be a gem. Debbie had a filet mignon. I had tuna tartare and seafood soup and a cocktail. Debbie let me have a taste of her food. I was on the no-meat diet since January. On our way back, we didn't walk but took the shuttle from the reception area.
Day 4 – Selvatura Hanging Bridge/Coffee Farm
We planned to call for the shuttle at 7:30am to get to breakfast at 7:45am. We got up early and took a walk to the spa to explore. Once we got to the spa which was closed, Debbie said she needed to get back to our room. She suggested for me to explore on my own and that’s what I did. I explored the restaurant area and then took the trail next to our building going downhill towards the breakfast area. I encountered a bunch of coatis on the trail. I was a little afraid that they’d attack me, but they did not. I kept going down and explored the gym, the pool, the peacock enclosure. I decided to keep going to the breakfast area.
We talked to Cindy and Sandy at breakfast. Cindy says she’s my height. I asked Debbie to take a picture of us.
After breakfast, we left after 9am for the Selvatura Hanging Bridge tour. There were a total of eight bridges at different heights and lengths throughout an area of the tropical rain forest, ranging from 55ft. to 111ft. in height and 187ft. to 515ft. in length. The third bridge was the highest and the fourth bridge is the longest. I loved being high up with the tall trees looking down. I loved seeing the orchids and tropical plants and trees.
Near the end of our walk, we started to tell Giovanni that we’d like to see a sloth. Someone said he wouldn’t go home until he saw one. Giovanni said he had a tent in his backyard. Right after that, we saw a large sloth! When it was still at the beginning, it looked just like a blob and I didn’t realize that was a sloth. When its arm first moved, I had no idea what part of its body that was. Not until it moved again that I saw its shape and it was an amazing sight. I used Debbie’s iPhone to take pictures and record videos.
After our walk, we went to the Café Monteverde coffee farm for lunch and a tour. We learned about how they harvested the beans, separated the beans from the outside, washed them, dried them, and later roasted them at different temperatures (light, medium, or dark roast). They may also use the whole beans without separating out the seeds (natural), or they may not wash the beans (honey). They only offered these 2 varieties of natural or honey in medium roast. We got to taste the light, medium, dark, natural, and honey varieties. I bought a bag of dark roast whole beans and a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans. They do not offer decaf coffee.
We got back to our room around 4:45pm. After showering, I walked to the spa to inquire into getting a massage but that didn’t work out. I started to take a walk on the trail going uphill but it started to rain hard. I waited a bit and it didn’t stop raining. I eventually walked back to our room without cover. We saw coatis right outside our balcony.
We left at 7pm for Morphos Restaurant for dinner. We sat across Jeff and Cindy. I had a salad, fish with rice and bean, a fruit plate for dessert, guava juice, and a red wine. It was raining a lot today.
Day 5 – St. José
Today was Valentine’s Day. I texted Tom a Valentine greeting. We set our luggage out at 6:30am and had breakfast at 7am. Deonne and Mary joined us. The bus came at 9am and off we went. We passed by Caldera. We stopped at the restaurant Las Lapas in Montes De Oro so that the 25 people who had three extra days with Gate1 could get on another bus. The rest of us headed back to St. José with Monica, our new group leader. We took group pictures on Limin’s and Giovanni’s cameras. We said goodbye to Giovanni who took the 25 people to the beach.
We returned to the Crowne Plaza Hotel and were able to get into our rooms right away. Debbie and I at dinner at the hotel restaurant, sitting outdoors. I ordered a fish ceviche and papaya drink. Debbie ordered a melted mushroom plate and a coke. We rested until we met with the group at 2:30pm for a city tour led by Monica. We went to the Gold Museum and entered the National Theater.
Afterwards we had dinner at Miliano’s. I ordered a mushroom crepe, tilapia, passion fruit mousse, a glass of pineapple and mint, and a glass of red wine.
Travel Day - Austin
Debbie set her alarm at 2am and we said goodbye at 2:45am. Her flight was before mine. She had to fly to Los Angeles instead of Houston. My departure from the hotel was not until 5am. I got up around 3:30am, made coffee, packed, and went through some FB postings before going down to the lobby to return keys and take the shuttle to the airport. Michael, Laura, Mary, and I went on the same shuttle. I gave part of my box lunch to the driver. I went through security quickly and had three hours to spare.
I started to play chess puzzles at my gate when Debbie texted to see if I was at the airport. We were only a few gates away, so I went to her gate to sit with her until she boarded. Susie from California was with her. Mary was taking the same flight with me to Houston. She came over to sit next to me at the gate. We looked at the art display of cars on the wall and tried to determine which car we would like to have among them. I tend to go for the bright and colorful ones.
We landed in Terminal E in Houston and had to transfer to Terminal C. I stayed with Mary until we got to Terminal C. Mary walked with me to my gate and stayed with me for a while. I got back to Austin around 3:30pm.
I hope Debbie and I will have another opportunity to travel together again.
