EXPLORING COSTA RICA WITH TWO YOUNG KIDS
The objective for the last leg of our Costa Rican adventure was RELAXATION! Our time spent in the mountainous area around La Fortuna and the delightful rainforest around Quepos was packed full of excitement. We were having a blast! But after all that adventure, we were ready to slow things down and lounge in the sun on some gorgeous Costa Rican beaches!
Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls
Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Uno
Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Dos
Pura Vida in Costa Rica – Quepos & Manuel Antonio
Playa Hermosa
For the last part of our trip, we wanted to find an AirBnB where we could see the beach and spend most of our trip relaxing. We found a beautiful house right on Playa Hermosa, just south of Jaco on the Pacific coast. After a couple hour drive from Quepos, we were checking into our lovely home for the next few nights. The house was newly built and was modernized more so than any of the other places we stayed. (Helloooo, A/C in all the rooms!) We had gorgeous views of the beach and a private swimming pool. The heart of Playa Hermosa was just a few minutes away, with a some beachfront restaurants and stores for essentials. Our stay here felt luxurious.
Initially we thought that we would spend most of our time here at the beach in front of the house, but we learned that Playa Hermosa is a big surfing destination due to the large waves. Meaning, no bueno for kids to play in the water. A slight bummer, but the house pool was the perfect remedy to that and the kids still got some quality time playing in the beach sand. It was honestly fun to watch the skilled surfers in the ocean right in front of us. Lots of the surfers would camp out on the beach from their vans, so we got to see people living that quintessential #SURFLIFE… I admire the dedication, but I’m more of a soft bed and A/C girl!
Day 6
Since 2021 was still the middle of the pandemic, there were requirements for reentry back into the US. At that time, fully vaccinated adults and all children needed to provide negative test results taken within 3 days of your return flight. (This requirement changed to ONE day the week after our trip.) Since, sadly, we would have to go back home eventually, we scheduled COVID-19 tests for our first morning in Playa Hermosa, just within that 3 day period.
We made our test appointment online for a lab facility in Jaco. When we arrived, there was already a line at the door and they hadn’t even opened yet. We were glad we made the appointments because many of the people there were walk-ins and would be tested as the lab had time. The kids were brave, and our tests went smoothly. We received the results via email later that day – all negative! Woohoo! Not that I was really worried, but it was still a relief to get the official negative results.
Surfing in Jaco
One of the big attractions in Costa Rica is the great surfing conditions all along the coast. Many places offer surf lessons for novices, like us, and we heard that some places would even teach kids as young as ours. The kids were so excited about surfing and throughout the morning kept yelling “Surf’s Up Dude!” So after our COVID tests, we found a surf shop nearby and booked lessons for the whole family for later in the morning. We did a little bit of sightseeing around Jaco in the meantime. Jaco is one of the bigger towns in this area, set in the back of a little curve in the coast line. While we waited for our surf lessons, we stopped at a roadside stand selling fresh coconut water. The kids were so excited about their coconuts but only took about one sip each, haha. Not their cup of tea! The roadside stand was perfectly situated around a bend in the road that gave us amazing views overlooking Jaco from across the water, so Scott and I enjoyed the refreshing drinks while we admired Jaco and the surf we were about to take on.
The surf lessons were a blast! We had three instructors for our two hour lesson, one for Scott and I, and one for each kid. They were all very friendly and enthusiastic and made the experience so fun. It was also exhausting, but we all made it up on our boards to ride in a wave at least a couple times. Scott and A were probably the most successful. Seeing my little 4 year old standing up on her surf board made my heart so full! A and I got tired the earliest, so she played in the sand while I tried to get videos and pictures of Scott and J. I was also a little bummed because during one major wipeout, I lost my watch, so I kinda wanted to stick to the beach after that. J probably had the most fun out of all of us. No matter how many times he crashed, he was ready to go back out to catch another wave. I’m not sure the instructor knew the workout he was getting into with this guy! I would absolutely love to go back for more surfing again. I can see how addictive it is because that rush of riding the wave back to shore is awesome.
Surfing was a great workout – we were all BEAT after the lesson. And despite copious sunscreen and only being on the beach for two hours, we were all sunburnt too. Scott must have been the most dedicated out of all of us because his ribs were also pretty banged up from landing on his board so many times. We stopped for lunch on the way home and then we all crashed for afternoon naps. That night we had scheduled a night tour at another rainforest park called Rainmaker, but when we woke up from our naps, we just could not muster enthusiasm for the tour. It was about an hour drive from the house, and we really did not have the energy. It was sad to cancel the night tour because we did want to see all the animals that come out at nighttime (and we had pre-paid), but it was the right call. Instead, we enjoyed a quiet dinner and played a little on the beach in front of the house. Not a bad alternative!
Day 7
Our only goal for the next day was to continue unwinding! Morning coffee overlooking the ocean and then beach time and then pool time. Nothing better than that.
We also really got to appreciate the wildlife around the house on this day. We had several sightings of two large parrots that live in the area. You could hear them flying by because they loudly squawk at each other like an old married couple. And the other major wildlife were the DOZENS of iguanas that live on the tile roofs of the houses. They would sunbath on the roof or in the yard. Occasionally a couple would get into a skirmish and one might fall off the roof. No worries if that happens, they just climb the stairs to the upper balcony and hop back onto the roof from there. We were fascinated by the iguanas and even named the biggest one Lizard King, which was appropriate because he had to be 2.5 feet long. Lizard King wasn’t shy about being around us in his kingdom either – at one point he walked across the yard, went right past us on the patio, and calmly navigated the stairs to the balcony to get back on the roof.
For lunch and some souvenir shopping, we drove into Jaco for part of the afternoon. And then came back to the house for more swimming. We enjoyed strolling around the central Jaco area and found some nice shops – a mix of touristy souvenir places and some local craftsman shops.
That night, our last night in Playa Hermosa, we caught a spectacular sunset! I think that clear evenings like this must be rare because the beach was full of people capturing the gorgeous colors. After dinner at one of the local places, we came back to the house for some night time swimming (and one more misadventure – I broke my toe when I stubbed it on the stairs in the pool, ha). Besides Scott and I suffering some minor injuries, our time in Playa Hermosa and Jaco was the perfect end to our trip. By keeping the first parts of our trip more busy, we were ready for the time to wind down and really enjoy the Pura Vida lifestyle.
Day 8
None of us were ready to leave the beach and drive back to San Jose. I could have stayed at this house for another week! We soaked in one last morning in this paradise, swimming and lounging in the hammocks. Unfortunately we had to get back to real life, so eventually we loaded up and hit the road for San Jose. We would be spending another night right by the airport because our flight was very early in the morning.
We made another stop at Crocodile Bridge since it was on the way, and we enjoyed lunch at one of the many sodas along the road. Because nothing about our long drives can be easy on this trip, about halfway to San Jose, we hit MAJOR traffic. According to our maps app, there was an accident miles ahead of us. There were already refreshment vendors walking up and down the lanes selling their wares. This seemed like it was going to be a looooong wait. Using our phones, we found an alternate route and decided to take the chance on the backroads. We were not alone – there was a steady line of cars doing the same thing. But remember our drive leaving La Fortuna? Yeah, same geography. The steep, curvy roads had me motion sick again. At least it was worth it! We made it back to San Jose with only a slightly longer drive time.
By the time we got to our hotel and Scott returned the rental car (again, an hour and a half ordeal because of traffic), it had already been a full day. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and made sure our luggage was ready to go for the morning. That was about all we had the energy for, and I’m sure the kids were happy with the downtime too.
Costa Rica was one of my favorite vacations of all time! It was perfect for our family, especially with the kids’ ages. The variety of activities kept things exciting and the unique wildlife was a continuous delight. Travel with the kids does make some things harder, but seeing these experiences through their eyes adds a richness to travel that I couldn’t have imagined before. We tried to fit in as much as we could on this trip, but of course, there was so much left to explore in Costa Rica. Until our next trip – Pura Vida!
Costa Rica November 2021
Overview – Pura Vida in Costa Rica
Part 1 – La Paz and Blue Falls
Pingback: Pura Vida in Costa Rica – Quepos & Manuel Antonio – Wherever the Birds Fly