Trips about Cities
Shelburne Falls
I went to this beautiful little town with my family while visiting my sister in Massachusetts. Along with the waterfall is the interesting Bridge of Flowers, which spans the Deerfield River and has a beautiful garden growing on top of it. Take a look at some of my other photographs of the town.
Alajuela, Costa Rica
Please see the first post on Costa Rica for important details about this post.
Even though our flight was originally supposed to arrive in the early afternoon, the inevitable schedule changes resulted in our arriving in the late evening and having to deal with navigating an unfamiliar country at night. The fact that the hostel we were staying at did not send someone to pick us up, as they had promised that morning, did not help the situation. In any case, a short taxi drive later resulted in our arrival at the Mango Verde Hostel, which at least still had someone who was willing to check us in to our (somewhat) dirty and uncomfortable room. Still, for $30/night it was not bad for something in the center of Alajuela and was at least reasonably safe and secure. Alajuela itself is the location of Costa Rica's primary airport and a much smaller town than the capital, San Jose, which is not too far away.
One of the great things about Alajuela was the rather large central market. Not quite as big as San Jose's, but definitely quite large and full of delicious, fresh tropical fruit. As usual with tropical countries, the bananas, pineapple, mangoes, guavas, and papayas were much better than anything that can be found in the US. The other interesting area in town was the central town square and church, both rather important in a Central American town.
Just a bit north of Alajuela is Zoo Ave, a zoo and conservation society that specializes in Central American and Costa Rican animals and plants. We were lucky enough to see many of animals later on, but it was still a good opportunity to get a preview and is definitely worth a visit. The best photographs from Zoo Ave are already in the main gallery, specifically the Red Macaw and the rather interesting tree that I have not yet identified.
Manuel Antonio and Quepos, Costa Rica
Please see the first post on Costa Rica for important details about this post.
Our first destination outside of central Costa Rica was Manuel Antonio, primarily known for the national park that shares its name. That deserves its own post, and this one will concentrate on the town and the neighboring town of Quepos.
To get to Manuel Antonio, we took a crowded, several hour bus trip that would've been nice except for the fact that Costa Rican buses are built for much shorter people than myself. On the other hand, the fact that it cost $4 was rather nice. The road to Manuel Antonio is actually pretty good, requiring one to go over only a few rickety bridges but at least lacking the potholes that some of the roads had.
One problem with Manuel Antonio was the lack of ATMs at the time (and possibly still), which meant that everything had to be paid for with cash. The other problem with the town is the lack of good tourist facilities and the fact that the locals know they can charge as much as they want and get away with it.
The town next to Manuel Antonio (which actually does have ATMs and the like) is Quepos. There's nothing extraordinary about Quepos, but it did have a very nice restaurant called Bar/Restaurante Quepos. Everything was good and inexpensive there, especially the fruit drinks, which were delicious and cheap. Going between Quepos and Manuel Antonio is an adventure, consisting of narrow roads and lots of pedestrians. Driving here would've been horrible - it was bad enough in a taxi and bus.
Manuel Antonio itself was rather uninteresting, but it did have a nice beach. Not quite as nice as the ones inside the park, but still rather good.
Jaco and Escazu, Costa Rica
Please see the first post on Costa Rica for important details about this post.
After spending two whole days in Manuel Antonio, the next morning we took a bus to Jaco. Jaco is the closest beach to San Jose, which means that hotels are overpriced (the cheapest we could find was $70/night for a slightly dirty and run down room) and the food is expensive and not that good. The beach was nice, but nothing amazing. It reminded me quite a bit of the typical American seaside resort with nothing of the beauty and remoteness of other areas in Costa Rica.
The following day we took a bus back to San Jose and rented a car from Dollar Costa Rica. While I've driven enough times in New York City that I thought I could handle driving in Costa Rica, that was not the case. While the drivers there are not that much crazier than in NYC, the roads have few signs, many potholes, and are generally winding through narrow mountain passes. The fact that Costa Rican pedestrians and drivers are both crazy does not help the matter.
The original plan had been to make it out of the San Jose area that day. However, the guides books mentioned an amazing wood workshop in Escazu, a wealthy suburb or San Jose and we decided to stop by. We eventually made it there, but ended up spending so much time getting lost that we had to stay in Escazu overnight. We did, however, find a very nice bed & breakfast there called the Costa Verde Inn, which was beautifully decorated with wood panels and wood furniture. A bit far out of town, but very nice overall.
Lankester Gardens and Turribaldo, Costa Rica
Please see the first post on Costa Rica for important details about this post.
We had a great breakfast at the Costa Verde Inn and left to find our way to the Caribbean coast. On the way there though we stopped at Lankester Gardens, a botanical garden that contains many of Costa Rica's native plants. Among their specialties is a huge collection of orchids.
After leaving the botanical gardens, we continued on our way to the Caribbean coast. Unfortunately, this is not as straightforward as one would hope, as the signs are non-existent and the maps in the guide books do not correspond to reality. After getting lost a few times, we eventually made it to the town of Turribaldo. The town is famous for its whitewater rapids, which we were not interested in, but at least it had a nice hostel called the Hotel Interamericana. Luckily, one of the owners was an American woman who was able to help us quite a bit on our journey to the coast. One of the first things she helped us out with was pointing us to an amazing restaurant called Don Parzi. This was essentially a four or five star restaurant with great service and very low prices. I wish one could get a 3 course meal in the US for $10/person.
The next day we went to Costa Rica's only archaeological site - Guayabo National Monument. I can't say it was very exciting, although the road to it was definitely a fun trek.
Leaving the monument, we managed to get to Siquerres where we joined one of the few well built highways in Costa Rica. Between Siquerres and Puerto Limon we found a pineapple farm tour and although there were no tours left for that day, we did pick up some nice pineapple jam.
Unfortunately, the highway only lasted until the coast (at Puerto Limon), from where we took an increasingly pothole infested road south to Puerto Viejo.