Mother's Day Costa Rica

Even though we celebrate Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday n May, my husband decided to surprise me. We got up early, had to get dressed comfortably and got in the car. Since it was a public holiday the traffic was very calm. We drove towards Limon for about 45 minutes.

There we stopped at a local restaurant for breakfast, Rancho Roberto's in Guapiles. It was a really nice typical buffet breakfast, with options like rice and beans, chorizos, grilled white cheese and local fruit juices. Nothing fancy bur delicious and filling. At 9:30 they already closed the buffet so be sure to be there nice and early.

The restaurant has friendly service and is very clean and tidy. It is on the corner opposite a gas station, with a big grass roof.

Then we made a U-turn and drove back for 5 minutes till we reached Rainforest Adventures. And here we got tickets to go on the Aerial Tram! Since I am 6 months pregnant, this is the only safe option of adventure for now...

It was great!! Before, when I saw advertisements, I always thought of it as slightly boring. Especially compared to canopy. But what a nice surprise. Since you travel slowly through the top of the jungle, you get to see the most amazing creatures!! Insects, birds, animals. Things you never see when you race by doing canopy, neither when walking on the ground, since the creatures up there and down below are so different.

Before we started on the Aerial Tram we watched a short movie on the history of the area. We had an extremely friendly guide, called Alan, and he was very nice with our 2 year old. It was a little long for the little one, since she couldn't always find what we were looking at and sitting still for 45 minutes is a bit much for her.

Afterwards we walked a trail of 800m. Nice and easy, with toddler inher stroller at times, since the trail was built with wheelchair access in mind. Again I saw some crazy insects, including a giant wolf spider running past my foot with a big purple egg stuck to it's behind. As well as a tarantula the size of my face, with her babies in their tunnel, right next to the pathway!!

It was a lovely outing and i would recommend it to anyone, especially families with young children.

http://www.rainforestadventure.com/costa_rica_atlantic_tours_excursions/

Here are just a few of the things we saw

 

Caribbean Weekend

You never hear a lot of people refer to Limon when they talk about Costa Rica's beaches. But I found that the Caribbean side is now one of my favourite places to go.

Since my husband often has to go to Limon for business, I decided to join him for the weekend and explore that part of the country. In distance it really isn't that far from San Jose but there are a lot of trucks and buses on the road, so it takes about 4 hours to get there.We stayed at a lovely hotel called Cariblue, in Puerto Viejo, about an hour outside of Limon. The owners and staff were very friendly. It has a small restaurant and lovely 3 level pool, with a swim-up bar, where we spent all our late afternoons. My favourite part was the sloth hanging from a tree above my head as I was swimming. And then going to sleep with the howler munkeys screaming away.

It is a small town with a lively atmosphere at night and relaxing by day. You will see a combination of tourists and local surfers hanging around, riding bicycles or swimming in the bright blue ocean. Here most beaches have golden sand, but you can also find darker sand at playa negra. All along the coastline there are different beaches but all of them are nice and safe to swim. Even the ones with waves. And there are plenty of coconut trees and jungle to offer shade. We spent most of our time swimming and bathing in the sun at Cocles beach since it was right in front of our hotel. As with most places in Costa Rica there are a variety of things to do and it is know as one of the best places for snorkeling. I will gladly go there every weekend!

There are multiple small places to grab a bite as well as bigger seafood restaurants. My favourite was Coki Restaurant, just down the road from the hotel, with a nice ocean view. It has brightly coloured furniture and catches your eye at night with all their fairy lights. I enjoyed a refreshing Mojito and the food was delicious.

                                        Cheese filled yuca balls, fried yuca chips, shrimp ceviche.