Costa Rica Destinations Archives - Costa Rica Expat Tours

My First Experience of Manuel Antonio

October 25, 2016 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

I remember my first experience of Manuel Antonio back in 2001. I was working on a business deal in San Jose and I had some time over the weekend for a quick adventure. So, I asked my Nicaraguan buddy, Yuri, about Manuel Antonio. He told me he could take me there and that I definitely should see it.

So, off we went…

Back then getting to Manuel Antonio was quite a different experience than it is today. There were two one-lane and very rickety bridges you had to cross. The traffic crossing those bridges would back up forever. From time to time, during the rainy season, the bridges would be completely inundated and impassable. Nowadays, there are new two-lane bridges that make the trip much easier and a lot less stressful.

I remember that Quepos, the little fishing village one has to pass through before arriving at Manuel Antonio, gave me the impression of being just that, a dirty little fishing village. It remained that way for years. These days, however, with the ongoing development of Marina Pez Vela making an impact, Quepos has become an attraction in itself. Quepos now offers many accommodation options that are quite nice and more economical that what you will find just on the other side, in Manuel Antonio.

As soon as you get though the busy streets of Quepos and start heading up the hill and then down to the beach, what strikes you is the jungle. Up until that point, I’d seen a lot of green in Costa Rica, but nothing like this. The jungle overwhelms you. It brings you to the full realization that you’re definitely not in Kansas (or, for me, South Carolina) anymore.

Back then Manuel Antonio had already arrived on the scene as one of Costa Rica’s main tourist attractions. However, the development was far less dense than it is today. Nevertheless, there were numerous places to stay. Yuri and I had taken off on an impulse, without booking anything in advance, thinking we’d just wing it once there. It was the weekend and the high tourist season, so place after place was booked solid. We finally arrived at this one small hotel overlooking the ocean. I believe it was called La Roca. It’s still there. The guy at the reception told us they did have one room available, but with only one king-sized bed. Yuri and I had no intention of sleeping together and asked if there was any possibility of adding another bed. The guy looked at us oddly, as if wondering what the hell for? Little did we know that at that time La Roca was a hotel that catered mainly to homosexuals. In fact, Manuel Antonio made a name for itself initially as a get-away for gay people.

These days it’s much more than that, as high rollers, families, romantic couples, young backpackers, and everything in between, make Manuel Antonio a must-see Costa Rica destination. Since that first visit I founded and still operate a vacation package business and perhaps some 80% of our tours included Manuel Antonio as a destination.

Of course, the main attraction is the national park and I will never forget my first experience of it. Since then, I’ve had many others, but that first one was really special. We hired a guide to walk through with us and one of our first nature encounters was a large boa who was in the process of swallowing an almost equally large iguana. That shouldn’t have been surprising as there were iguanas literally everywhere. And the monkeys, my god, the monkey’s. Yuri had told me a little about the park, but nothing prepares you for the intensity of the biodiversity you come face to face with in that place. There’s no wonder that it’s one of Costa Rica natural wonders and its most popular national park. That’s saying a lot when 25% of the entire land area of the country is basically some form of national park.

Since my first experience of Manuel Antonio I’ve had the good fortune of visiting Manuel Antonio countless times. In fact, I live only about an hour away from it in Perez Zeledon. It seems that every time you go there now there’s something new, either a new hotel, restaurant, bar, or club. And then there’s the incredible development of the Marina Pez Vela, which is now one of the most upscale resort locations in the country and it continues to expand.

And yet, even with all that development, Manuel Antonio still manages to make you feel like you’re really in the deep and dark jungle of Costa Rica. That’s because when you’re there, you really are.

Let’s hope things stay that way!

Here’s a photo gallery of one of my early visits…circa 2003, I believe (hotel pictured is La Mansion Inn, one of my favorites)…

Manuel Antonio In a Nutshell

August 25, 2016 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

This post is the lead-in to a series I plan to do on Manuel Antonio. This one offers a Manuel Antonio overview, or a Manuel Antonio in a Nutshell…

Wait, It’s Not on the Map?

Manuel Antonio is a tiny strip of tropical terrain that extends out into the Pacific just outside of the town of Quepos, on Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast. It is located in the province of Puntarenas and in the canton of Aguirre. Costa Rica’s coastal highway, known as the “Costanera”, stretching from Orotina to where it meets up with the Pan American Highway in Palmar Norte, runs right by the outskirts of Quepos. This is a very well-maintained and paved stretch of highway, perhaps one of Costa Rica’s best. So, getting to Manuel Antonio from San Jose, a trip of only about 100 miles, is quite easy and these days takes roughly 2.5 hours. Playa Jaco, another popular tourist beach, is about an hour away to the north. Playa Dominical, a popular beach with surfers and nature enthusiasts, is about a half-hour south. There is also a domestic airport just outside of Quepos, with multiple daily flights from San Jose that are are quick and affordable.

A Few Things You Might Not Know

If you look on the map for Manuel Antonio, you’ll likely only see the little town called Quepos. That’s because Manuel Antonio is really just the name of the small, but wildly popular, national park that sits at the end of the tiny strip mentioned above. People often get confused on this point, but in a sense, Quepos and Manuel Antonio are the same place. However, in many respects, they are vastly different.

Quepos is a small town of around 20,000 inhabitants. The name originates from the indigenous people that inhabited the region during colonial times. Quepos is primarily a fishing village. However, it has grown over the years and now features a marina, as well as many dining, shopping and nightlife options for tourists.

The Park

The big tourism draw in Manuel Antonio is, of course, the national park. The park was created in 1972 and is the smallest, but most popular, of Costa Rica’s national parks. The park encompasses roughly 4,000 acres of land. In comparison, Corcovado National Park contains 104,900 acres. It is home to many of the jungle animals that Costa Rica is famous for. In the park you’re very likely to come across three species of monkeys: the spider, capuchin (white-faced) and howler varieties all live there. You can also see sloths (both two and three-toed), boas, pizotes (in the raccoon family), 100’s of bird species, and many other animals. In the tiny area of the park there are some 109 species of mammals and 184 species of birds. Because of the small area, it’s quite easy to cover many of the hiking trails throughout the park in a day and you’re almost guaranteed to see animals. After all, they don’t have much room to hide! That’s why the park has been such a hit with tourists and has made Manuel Antonio one of the “crown jewels” of Costa Rica tourism.

In addition to nature watching, the park features some gorgeous beaches. The four beaches in the park, Espadilla Sur, Manuel Antonio, Escondito and Playita, are some of the best in the country. At 236 feet in height, Cathedral Point, which lies between Playa Espadilla Sur and Playa Manuel Antonio, provides a panoramic view of the surrounding area and blue ocean waters. In 2011, Manuel Antonio was listed by Forbes as among the world’s 12 most beautiful national parks.

What Else is in Manuel Antonio?

Okay, so we’ve talked about the major attraction, the beautiful national park, but what else? The draw of the park has created one of Costa Rica strongest tourist attractions. As a result, Manuel Antonio has grown by leaps and bounds in a very small space of time and land area. There are now multiple hotels of all ratings, from hostels to 5-star luxury resorts. There are numerous restaurants, bars and discos providing a vibrant nightlife, as well as many funky boutique shops. Street vendors peddling a wide variety of home-made arts and crafts are also a common site. Manuel Antonio has pretty much everything the tourist could want and expect from a Costa Rica beach resort location. Despite the growth, Manuel Antonio has been able to maintain its natural tropical feel. You are very likely to wake up from your hotel room to the sounds of the monkeys playing in the trees just outside.

There are many area attractions as well. From extreme sports like white water rafting on the Naranjo River, to more gentle river cruises around the Damas Island Mangrove Estuary or on the Rio Savegre. There are several popular canopy tours in the area. Other popular tours include snorkeling, ATV, waterfall hikes, horseback rides, local culture tours, etc. The national park can be experienced with an organized tour, or you can just go on your own. Naturalist guides can be hired for a modest sum at the park entrance. It always pays to trek through the park at least once with a guide, as they can show you things you’d never know were there on your own. Manuel Antonio is a Costa Rica natural playground with a touch of the high class, which is why the tourists keep flocking there year after year in increasing numbers.

The Future Outlook

Manuel Antonio has changed over the years, but in many ways it retains its earlier remote tropical ambiance. In recent years developers have moved in and have begun to carve up the landscape with private enclaves for the wealthy. The small amount of developable area requires that development be relatively dense, compared to areas like Dominical to the south.

Manuel Antonio has become one of Costa Rica most upscale resort areas, more-so than nearby Jaco or Dominical. It is probably not the preferred destination for tourists wanting to do Costa Rica on the cheap. Where will this growth lead Manuel Antonio in the future?

One thing’s for sure, if your talking about the “tiny strip”, as I’ve referred to it a couple times above, there’s just not much room for a lot more development and growth, unless it goes upwards and becomes even more dense. That type of development will likely be met with fierce local opposition. Proponents of continued growth will have to play a delicate balancing game between development and retaining the natural wonders that attract people to the area in the first place. Much of the growth will likely have to go towards Quepos and the surrounding area, as a result of the fact that there’s more room to grow in that direction.

I’ll conclude this piece on Manuel Antonio in a Nutshell with this thought…

Manuel Antonio is surely to remain one of Costa Rica’s top tourist attractions for years to come. And its aura as an attractive location for expats and foreign investors, will likely only increase as well.

My 10 Favorite Costa Rica Beaches

December 24, 2014 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

Awhile back I stumbled upon a Travel + Leisure article that included two of Costa Rica’s beaches in their list of the “32” best beaches on earth. The two that made the list are Playa Montezuma at the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula and Playa Grande on Guanacaste’s “gold coast.”

While those two beaches are certainly nice beaches…I am not sure why those two were chosen to represent Costa Rica as opposed to many others that I believe could (or should) have been chosen.

So, I decided to put in my own 2-cents with the following list of my favorite Costa Rica beaches. The below list contains my top 9 (other than the one on the T+L list that I would also include).

Oh and later on in the post I will let you know which of the 2 that T+L listed that I would definitely include on my list of favorites.

So, here goes…

Southern Caribbean Beaches

Cahuita National Park – the southern Caribbean of Costa Rica certainly has some of Costa Rica’s most scenic beaches and Cahuita National Park is definitely one of them. It is a long stretch of white sand, crystal clear and calm water, with a great hiking trail loaded with flora and fauna.

Mazanillo-Gandoca – I have written before (most notably in my eBook) about this place. It is at the point where the southern Caribbean coastal road ends. It is private wildlife refuge with some of the most fantastic beach landscapes you can find anywhere. There are countless coves where you can generally have a beach all to yourself. The refuge is also great for hiking with a ton of biodiversity.

Southern Pacific Beaches

Playa Hermosa (the one south of Dominical) – this is my favorite beach to go to that is close to where I live in Perez Zeledon. It is a long and (at low tide) wide beach that is great for walking, biking, sunning and, especially, surfing. Located between Dominical and Uvita.

Marina Ballena National Park – This is where you will find the famous “whale’s-tail” formation. It is basically a rocky sand-bar that fans out to form what looks like a whale’s tail. That is quite ironic since the open waters where it is located are some of the best in the world for spotting migrating humpback whales. Best to always go at low tide to be able to hike out to the end of the whale’s tail.

Cabo Matapalo & Playa Pan Dulce – These two are located on the southern tip of the Osa Peninsula. It is not that easy to get to, but if you can make it there, well worth it. It is a great place to visit if you happen to be spending a few nights at the Lapa Rios Eco-lodge.

Central Pacific Beaches

Manuel Antonio National Park – How can you have a best beaches in Costa Rica list and not include this place? It is one of the most visited national parks in the country and is a veritable “natural zoo” with an extraordinary amount of wildlife. It also includes several spectacular white sand beaches.

Playa Blanca – this is a gorgeous crystal white sand beach that is located inside the Punta Leona Resort. It is consistently rated as one of the cleanest beaches in the country.

Nicoya Peninsula Beaches

Playa Samara – one of Costa Rica’s widest beaches. Samara is a happening little beach town and, unlike Jaco, this place also has a really great beach to boot. Well worth a visit.

Playa Guiones – Surfer’s paradise, hand’s down, but also just a really gorgeous beach.

And finally, drum roll please, the one on the T+L list that I would also include is…

Playa Montezuma, also on the Nicoya Peninsula – Okay, I will admit T+L got it right with this place. Truly one of Costa Rica’s best beaches and coolest little beach communities. I love Monte-fuma!

I just couldn’t sit by and allow only two of Costa Rica’s great beaches to get recognized over all the others. Even with my list of 10 above, there are many more that are worth visiting. Let’s face it, Costa Rica has some of the best coastal real estate on the planet

Thankfully, unlike most places in the world, here the beaches are generally not for sale.

Flickr Photos of Costa Rica Beaches

Post by CRG

Chorotega Pottery in Guaitil

June 9, 2014 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

A while back I opened a store in San Jose selling Costa Rican Indigenous arts and crafts. The name of the store was Costa Rican Artisans. Well, I don’t have the physical store any more, but I still sell the stuff via an online store.

In the process of opening the store I visited all the indigenous reserves around the country and made a video of each expereince.

The one below is about the making of Chorotega pottery in Guaitil, a tiny little pueblo in Guanacaste. This town is famous in Costa Rica for its unique pottery. While there are no more remaining members of the Chorotega tribe, the folks in Guaitil carry on the heritage of their ancestors much in the same way it was done 1,000 years ago!

Almost everyone in this pueblo is in the pottery making trade and there are numerous shops and stands where you can buy a piece. It is also a great idea to take the time to actually see how it is made.

Guaitil is a great place to visit if you’re going to be spending time in Guanacaste.

Stay tuned for more of these homemade videos featuring Costa Rica’s indigenous tribes and their amazing arts and crafts.

Historia de Una Vasija

Corcovado Costa Rica Experience

June 6, 2014 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

Here’s a little home-made video I did a while back of my Corcovado Costa Rica experience.

In it we pay a visit to Drake Bay and Sirena Station in the heart of Corcovado National Park, one of the best places to see Costa Rica wildlife up close and personal.

We spent the weekend at Drake Bay and stayed over at the Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp. We took the boat over to Sirena Station and there we saw lots of wildlife, including a Danta, Peccaries, Ant Eaters, Deer, lots of birds and other critters. It was also absolutely gorgeous.

This is without a doubt the wild side of Costa Rica, but for nature lovers, definitely worth a visit.

Costa Rica Rivers – Cabeza de Agua

June 4, 2014 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

Costa Rica is indeed the land of many rivers. Where I live is no exception.

With the highest mountain (Cerro Chirripo at 12,533 feet) less than an hours drive away and the beach only about half that time, you can imagine that there are many Costa Rica rivers running through it. And sometimes quite ferociously at that.

That’s the main attraction of Perez Zeledon for this Costa Rica Guy.

In May I visited one of my favorite waterfalls in the area, Nauyaca Falls.

It is one of most beautiful I’ve seen in all of Costa Rica and also, usually, one of the best for swimming and diving off the rocks.

You can do the falls in one of two ways, by horse or by foot. I have written in the past about the horse-back option.

By foot, the predominantly mild hike is around 45 minutes. There can be a lot of mud during the rainy season as the trail doubles as a horse path.

You may see some animals, such as white-faced monkeys and toucans along the way.

It began lightly raining as we embarked on the hike. That might should have been taken as an omen of what was to come.

When we arrived, the fall was certainly pumping harder than during dry season months (December through April), but not too strong and still with its normal beautiful turquoise green color.

When we first entered the water it was possible to swim up to the fall, climb up the first level of rock ledge and dive off.

We did that a few times, then just rested there, taking in all of nature’s beauty.

Suddenly I began to notice that the quantity of water was increasing and organic river trash was accumulating at the base of the fall.

In a flash the water turned rust brown and the fall began pumping at an alarmingly strong rate. I decided to get the heck out of there and dove in. The current heading downstream was overwhelming. I would have been taken right down the river to who knows where if I had not been able to get a hand-hold on a rock near the place where we would normally exit the water.

What had just happened is what in Costa Rica is referred to as a “cabeza de agua.” I believe in English the appropriate term is flash flood. It is not an uncommon experience in the wet season. They can be deadly.

The thing is while it had been raining a bit at first, well into the hike the sun came out and by the time we reached the fall, it was completely dry.

Doesn’t matter. A cabeza de agua doesn’t occur due to rain where you are, it’s what’s happening up there in the high mountains that causes this phenomenon. And up there it could be raining cats and dogs and you’d never know it.

So, if you’re in Cost Rica during the rainy season, be careful with those gorgeous Costa Rica rivers…they can turn dangerous in a flash!

What is My Favorite Place in Costa Rica?

June 19, 2013 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

My favorite place in Costa Rica? That is a question I tend to always get from Package Costa Rica customers I am privileged to meet and chat with. That happened more frequently in the past when I lived in San Jose, but less so now that I live in Perez Zeledon, far removed from either of the two international airports.

So, I will take a stab at an answer here. Because, believe me, it ain’t an easy question!

I love it all! Okay, I know that is a cop-out answer. So, let me force myself to be a bit more specific. I do love it all, but I love some parts more than others.

Three Places I really really love:

Northern Central Zone (including Arenal) – actually I love the entire northern central zone from the volcano to Upala, just south of the Nicaraguan border. Back when I used to have to make border runs to renew my visa (before I received my residency), I always went through this area rather than down the Pan American (boring) highway. Why? Because it is lush and green, exotic and intensely tropical, and adventurous. Places like Rio Celeste just outside of the little pueblo known as Guatuso, Caño Negro, and of course Arenal itself, make this section of Costa Rica one that I truly love and never grow tired of.

Manzanillo-Gandoca Wildlife Refuge – There are few beaches in Costa Rica that can rival the beauty of this place. You have to drive to where the southern Caribbean coastal highway (the one that runs through Puerto Viejo and other beaches to the south of it) comes to an abrupt end. Then you park and start walking. And you can walk and walk and what you will discover is, to put it simply, paradise. And there are very few things to disturb your experience of it. I have never been to this place when it was crowded. Usually you can find your own little private beach nestled within a cove with a combination of interesting coral formations teaming with colorful fish and crystal clear pools of warm ocean water. Just thinking about it makes me want to go there right now!

The Southern Zone – Well, what can I say. These days, once again, I am a southern boy (southern Costa Rica that is). I currently live in Perez Zeledon, which is the largest city and gateway of the southern zone. What do I love about this area of Costa Rica so much? I guess the fact that it is still largely undeveloped. This part of Costa Rica is the wild part. From the rugged Talamancas, to the Fila Costeña-hugged southern pacific coastline and on to the dazzling bio-diversity of the Osa Peninsula, this place is just everything I always dreamed Costa Rica would be. Jungles teaming with wildlife, pristine crystal clear unpolluted rivers barreling down mountains on their way to the sea, people who are all smiles most all the time, these are the qualities of Costa Rica that hooked me 12 years ago. And in my humble opinion, there is no place that better exhibits them than my beloved southern zone. I have to add that it is home to Costa Rica’s highest mountain, Chirripo, a place that is very near and dear to me (I have scaled it twice).

So if I am forced to pick my favorite place in Costa Rica – and you are going to force me, aren’t you? – it would have to be (drum roll please) the southern zone! Now, please don’t ask me to get more specific than that!

But if you must, it would have to be filtered down to that narrow and hallowed patch of rocky soil, the summit of Cerro Chirripo – a place that is extremely hard to get to, but worth all the trouble.

Post by CRG

Guanacaste…more than beaches!

May 28, 2013 by Costa Rica Guy Leave a Comment

Guanacaste Costa Rica is one of the country’s seven provinces. Located in the Northwest side of the country and famous for its white sandy beaches, this region has much more to offer than white sand and waves.

Costa Rica would not be the same without it, for it is here where we find elements of great importance to the folklore of the nation. The marimba music, their dances and their “tortillas palmeadas” enrich the lives of locals and lift spirits of visitors.

Pottery made in the ancient Chorotega tradition from baked clay is sold throughout the country, but comes primarily from the small Guanacaste town of Guaitil. The Chorotegas (indigenous people now extinct) used the same methods thousands of years ago.

The province is named after the national tree which has its origin in this region.

Guanacaste is home to one of the last remaining tropical dry forests, the most threatened ecosystem in Central America with only two percent of its original coverage. It also has volcanoes, natural lagoons where tourists can swim peacefully and even hot springs. Guancaste Costa Rica is all about the tourism, with hotels of all categories and tour operators that allow experiences as diverse as diving trips, snorkeling, fishing, natural history walks, bird watching and turtle nesting, boating, surfing, rafting, horseback riding , canopy and rappel.

It is easy to get there. Liberia, the capital of the province has its own international airport.

Consider a visit to Guanacaste Costa Rica and experience its ancient traditions and gorgeous beaches!