This weekly wrap-up covers our journey from April 28 to May 4. We spent the week camping around Costa Rica with a rental from Nomad America.
Favorite thing we ate: Again, lots of “camp food” this week, but we had some delicious pantacones (fried plantains) topped with tuna and avocado in Playa Hermosa [above left]. Yum!
Favorite thing we drank: All the coffee!!! Obviously. (Says Megan.) Jonathan has really been enjoying naranjadas, which are like lemonades but with orange. His favorite has actually been a bottled “Naranja & Nada” drink commonly found at local gas stations.
Favorite thing we did: Megan adored staying at a small family-owned coffee farm in central Costa Rica [pictured above]. The cooler weather was a welcome change from the hot, humid coast, and there was lots of downtime for reading, hiking around the farm and drinking local coffee. Jonathan’s favorite thing from this week was playing with all the dogs at the coffee farm!
Biggest splurge: We paid $42 each to do a guided wildlife tour at Manuel Antonio National Park, but it ended up being worth it. This included parking, the entrance fee and the tour, during which we saw a lot of wildlife (so many sloths! plus the coolest bird we’ve ever seen – pictured above right) and met an awesome family from Seattle. Overall, we didn’t love Manuel Antonio (unpopular opinion! we know), so having the wildlife guide really made the experience worth it. We should note the park includes beautiful beaches; however, we had just spent the past few days wild camping along the coast, so we’d gotten our fill of beach time.
Best deal: The coffee farm we camped at for two nights was only $10/person per night. This was definitely a steal! It included a private tour of the coffee farm, all the coffee we could drink, use of the entire house (including a bathroom with hot water! whoop!), and we were welcome to take eggs from the chicken coop or vegetables from the garden at any time.
Biggest oops: When driving from the coffee farm to San Jose on Friday, Google Maps took us on an awesome 4×4 journey. We were bumping along narrow dirt roads through coffee farms, hoping we wouldn’t meet another vehicle because there was no room to pass. Then … our Google Maps went wonky and couldn’t find us. And we did meet another vehicle. The driver came to our window and said, “Estan perdidos, no?” Um, si. Muy perdidos! He very helpfully provided directions back to the highway, and then Jonathan showed off his driving skills by backing up along the narrow road until we could turn around. Don’t worry, we made it to San Jose eventually! And Jonathan got to put that 4WD Low to good use one more time before we returned the car.
What we’re reading: Megan finished Where the Line Bleeds and Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. She is currently reading Searching for Sylvie Lee, which is also one of her most anticipated summer reads this year (shameless self-plug!). Jonathan finished Dear Mrs. Bird, which satisfied his need for a light read.
Total walking distance: 23.7 miles
Total driving distance: 218 miles (ish)
Up next: Colombia!
So cool! Thanks for sharing. Where did you look to find ideas, like staying at a coffee farm and renting a 4×4 camper?
I saw a picture of a 4×4 rental from that company on social media about a year or so ago and was intrigued…so I started researching it. The coffee farm is owned by friends of Nomad America (the 4×4 rental company), so they are the ones who suggested them to us as a potential stop on our route. With your rental you also get a local cell phone, so it was easy to message the owners from the road and ask if we could come by the farm and stay a few days.