Costa Rica: What To Pack Checklist

Suite case options - brought the one on the left.

• Suitcase:  Ignas is anti checking in luggage whenever possible so since I began traveling with him, I've learned to pack light. For 10 days in Costa Rica, I went with the suite case on the left. My dog Maxwell is being used for scale. :)
• Passport: Make sure that your passport will still be valid for at least 3 more months after your departure date.
• Cash/Credit/ATM: I brought about $200 in cash. I definitely spent more than that but I didn't want to carry too much.  Many places took credit cards. Ignas also has a checking account with Capital One so he withdrew cash without any additional rates. Also, a lot of places took US dollars. Stay away from currency exchanges - their rates are ridiculous, especially at the airports!
• Departure Tax: It was $28 to fly out of the Liberia airport but have cash on you because credit cards are charged as cash advances.
• Extra Bags: I brought 2 reusable tote bags with me to carry beach items or wet towels. If you're planning to pick up a lot of souvenirs, you may consider packing a collapsible duffle to put everything in on the way home.
• Ziploc Bags: I brought at least 6 gallon sized and quart sized Ziploc bags. I used them to keep things dry, dirty laundry, wet shoes, sea shell collecting, toiletries, etc.
• Cell phone: I called my cell phone carrier to let them know that I was leaving the country. I basically deactivated everything except data since Wi-Fi is widely available. 
• Hat/Handkerchief: I brought both but I should've just went with the handkerchief (see the purple handkerchief in the picture below). I rarely used my hat.
• Cameras/Memory Cards
• Hiking Snacks: Nuts, crackers, trek mix
• Small Flashlight: Essential for the night hikes and just overall handy to have.
• Pocketknife: Ignas brought this - another handy thing.
• Clothes: Mind you, I am a girl. Perhaps Ignas will post his man attire in a future entry. 
• Underwear (top and bottoms)
• Socks
• Sports bras - I brought 2 and in retrospect, I wish I had brought more. By the end of the day, my sports bra was either soaked from the rain or my own sweat. Washing them in the sink was no problem but wet clothes never seem to dry in Costa Rica so on the third day, I had no choice but to wear a wet bra to start the day - not that big of a deal but still, I would've brought at least one other sports bra.

Donning my typical Costa Rica gear.

• Waterproof pants - These were awesome. In Monteverde, it was too cold to be trekking around in shorts so these light, waterproof pants kept me warm and dry. 

Waterproof jacket by the North Face - this is a size Large in Girls, cheaper and more form fitting!

• Waterproof jacket - This was a lifesaver. Throughout our zip lining session in Monteverde, it rained and it rained hard. I was the only one who had waterproof anything in our group and after zip lining, everyone else was a walking sponge.

Spots bra, active top, active bottoms, Keen's.

• Active shorts/tops - I brought 3 of each and I pretty much wore these clothes every day. I also brought 2 long sleeve tops for layering.
• Swimsuit - I brought two pairs along with a rash guard. 
• Swimsuit cover dress
• "Fancy" clothes - I packed two summer dresses of which I only used one. 
• Casual clothes - I packed 2 tops and 2 bottoms (1 shirt, 1 tank, denim shorts, white shorts). 
• Rain Ponchos: I brought 3 which I gave to everyone else in our group since my waterproof jacket/pants kept me dry. Ponchos were a must in Monteverde.
• Shoes:
• Flip flops for the beach
• Flip flops for walking around town
• Keen's (river sandals) - I used these pretty much every day.
• Running shoes - I wore these in Monteverde since it was too wet to wear my Keen's. 
• Girls, don't bring heels - not worth it. 
• Hiking Backpack: This is a must. I got mine for cheap from Big 5. It has so many compartments yet it's compact. 
• Sunglasses
• Toilettries
• Sunscreen and lots of it. Girls, I brought a mineral foundation for my face that had sunscreen in it. Very easy to put on and won't clog pores! The boys ended up using it too :P
• Wet Wipes: I brought this huge 40 pack and though we did use wet wipes, we didn't use anywhere near 40. 
• Antibacterial Gel (like Purell)
• First Aid: Band aids (waterproof), antibiotic ointment, painkiller, stomach stuff, etc.
• Mosquito Repellant: Be aware of DEET and non-DEET products. Some people can be very sensitive to DEET. Me, on the other hand, I slathered it on. Don't forget your ears and face!
• Towel: We brought compact gym towels (yoga towels) that came with their own carrying bags and they were so handy. You don't need something that's too absorbent because you'll dry in 5 minutes by standing in the sun. You'll need it for laying down because Costa Rican sand is HOT. Since we were constantly moving from hostel to hostel, we had to have our own towel.
• Water Bottle: I brought one and in retrospect, I would've passed on it. We went to local markets several times and bought bottles of water there.
• Laundry Detergent: We never ended up actually doing laundry at a machine but I did use the detergent to hand wash my clothes in the sink. Get a pack/bottle that is resealable since you will likely not be doing one full load if you hand wash like I did.
• Binoculars: We went bird watching so it was cool to have these. Plus, they easily fit in my backpack. I wouldn't say this is a must for everyone though.
• Map: We came to Costa Rica without a good map. I had only brought a map that came with one of our guidebooks. Thankfully, Gerald, the owner of the Sleeping Indian Hostel, saved us by giving us his. Here's a picture of it. If you plan to rent a car, you definitely need a map like this. Even with this, there were times when we got lost.

Bring a GOOD Costa Rica map, especially if you are renting a car and driving yourself around.

I think these are the essentials. Keep in mind that you can probably buy most things there.

The Sleeping Indian Hostel

The Hostel makes up the second floor of this building.

The Sleeping Indian Hostel was the first place we stayed at during our trip to Costa Rica and it was actually my first hostel, ever. Staying here was a bit of a gamble because I booked this place in a hurry on the same day we were flying out. (We had been so swamped with work that we hadn't booked a single thing for the trip but we agreed that we should at least secure a place for the night we flew in.) I found this place on hostels.com and booked two nights after skimming through the few reviews and pictures... and I am so glad I did! This place ended up being one of the unforgettable highlights of the trip.

First of all, location. The Sleeping Indian Hostel is one street off of the main road through town. It is adjacent to the La Fortuna de San Carlos church so the balcony provided a pretty view of the church and the town park.

We had two rooms to choose from. One had a queen bed but only a small window near the ceiling. The one we decided on had two twin beds but also two huge windows. By pushing the beds together, we had the best of both worlds. Both rooms had its own private bathroom and shower (the shower was a Gerald shower, which I will explain further in a future post but basically there was hot water). Our room didn't have a closet but I rarely find myself using hotel closets anyway. The wall hooks and hangers sufficed (actually, I don't think I used those either).

The common area of The Sleeping Indian Hostel.

The common area was beautiful, kind of an odd word for a common area but that's really what it was. The hammock, the furniture, the colors and the sky lighting all made me wish that we were staying there longer. There was also a kitchen with everything you would ever need: coffee maker and Costa Rican coffee (yum), stove, fridge, utensils, rice cooker, plates, etc.

Gerald, on the left, is the owner of The Sleeping Indian Hostel.

The owner, Gerald, is honestly reason enough to stay here. He is one of the friendliest people I have ever met and he set quite the precedent for Tican hospitality. He was extremely knowledgeable about Costa Rica and all of its natural wonders and we were privileged to hear a few of his fascinating lectures. For example, we told him about the different animals we saw at Arenal National Park so he told us everything about them: their biology, reproductive processes, roles in the food chain, etc.

Gerald was also very attentive and generous. On our last night, we were all in the common area having another fun discussion on Costa Rican nature when Ignas expressed his wish to see the red-eyed tree frog (this frog is on the cover of every Costa Rica guidebook). Gerald said, "I can't have you leave without seeing a red-eyed tree frog!" And boom, off we went on a free night hike, which ended up being the best guided hike we took during the whole trip. Also, before we left, he saw that we didn't have a good driving map so he gave us his. Nicest guy ever!

A few other things to note: There was no a/c but we never found it unbearable. The fans that were provided were enough to keep us comfortable. Also, The Sleeping Indian had it's own private parking area but we also parked on the street and it was fine.

Lastly, let's talk money. At $15 per person, per night, this place was amazing. I would HIGHLY recommend staying at The Sleeping Indian. I know that when me and Ignas go back to Costa Rica, The Sleeping Indian will definitely be our go-to hostel in La Fortuna. THANKS GERALD!

Click here to check out more pictures from The Sleeping Indian Hostel on our photo gallery. Also, check out The Sleeping Indian Hostel's Facebook page.

Costa Rica 2012 is finished!

Yay! I am finally finished with my video montage of our Costa Rica trip! It was a lot of fun for me to make, as if re-living the trip. I hope you enjoy it!

Arenal Volcano National Park

Volcan Arenál was our first major attraction of Costa Rica and the only volcano we explored during our trip. We stayed in the nearby city of La Fortuna and drove our rental car to the National Park, less than 30 minutes. Arenal used to be quite an active volcano, giving spectacular shows of spewing magma and smoke every night (Google pictures because they're stunning). Unfortunately, it’s been dormant since 2010. Still, the volcano’s perfectly shaped cone and the views of Lake Arenal made this activity well worth it.

Picture from Arenal Volcano Inn: http://www.arenalvolcanoinn.com

Admission into the park was a $10 parking fee. For the first part of our hike, we took the Las Coladas trail to the end but on the way back, we took the El Ceibo loop. Our trail can be easily completed in two hours, definitely less if you don’t plan to take too many pictures.

The end of the Las Coladas trail is on the volcanic rock.

Most of the path is wide and well-maintained, except for the short section that takes you up above the forest at the end of the trail. Here, the path is on the volcanic rocks and there were a few rocks that weren't as stable as they looked. Test your footing! The view at the end of the Las Coladas trail was the best on our hike with picturesque angles all around.

Our group in front of Arenal Volcano.

The walk through the forest was beautiful and on the loop back, we saw the amazingly huge Ceiba Tree. We didn't see too much wildlife during our hike but we did see different birds, butterflies and coati. After our hike, we drove to the Mirador lookout point for a few more pictures.

Ignas with the Ceiba Tree.

Overall, I recommend dedicating a half day to visiting the National Park but not any more than that. There really isn’t anything else to do besides the trail, while the possibilities in the nearby area are endless (zip lining, waterfall rappelling, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, kite/wind surfing, hot springs, etc.). Don't forget to bring water and snacks for the hike.

Mauricio aka Our Daihatsu Terios 4WD Rental Car

Our sexy beast in front of Arenal Volcano.

Before the trip, I was completely against renting a car... but that will be for another blog post. Today, I'm going to tell you that we did rent a car for our trip and his name was Mauricio! We picked up Mauricio, our Daihatsu Terios 4WD, as soon as we landed in Liberia. I was hoping to do some driving on the trip but unfortunately, Mauricio was a stick shift so the driving was left to the boys. Since I can't tell you much about how this thing actually drives, I'll tell you about what it was like to have a rental car in Costa Rica. Driving around Costa Rica was definitely an experience in itself, and I was just a passenger.

A side view of our bad boy.

First of all, there are no addresses or street names. Directions are given using landmarks and respective distances. This is the "address" of our first hostel: North of the church, next to the post office, second floor... Yup, seriously.

A dynamic duo: Travis the driver and Ignas the navigator.

The signs for directions were often ambiguous and it would always be a group effort to decipher their meanings. For example, we would come to a fork and there would be a sign on the right side of the road immediately before the fork. The sign would have our destination and a "left arrow" but we had to interpret whether that meant to take the left road or to take the road to the left of the sign. This was especially difficult when we drove at night, which we did a lot of despite all of the warnings I read about. Luckily, whenever we were at a completely loss, local passersby would point out the way. It really made me appreciate our overhead signs in LA that always point in one direction: downwards onto the correct road.

Also, while driving around Costa Rica, you will quickly be introduced to the "Costa Rican massage," and it isn't a pleasant one. Most of the roads, if you can even call them that, are unpaved, rocky, and insanely bumpy... like possibly-hitting-your-head-on-the-car-ceiling kind of bumpy. Hence, the "massage" you will feel from sitting in the car. We drove around cliffs, through the back country and we also forded rivers. (I'm proud to say we literally forded the Rio Grande! I'll post a video of this later.) This definitely added to the sense of adventure.

Of all the rivers we forded, this one was probably the most shallow...

In retrospect, I'm very glad we had Mauricio throughout the trip. It made things extremely convenient and it allowed us to fulfill our craving for exploration to the fullest. Two final tips: get full coverage and bring a good road map. Yes, BRING one. The owner of our first hostel saved us by giving us his and I don't know what we would've done without that thing.

Our 9-Day Itinerary

Our trip to Costa Rica was the first itinerary I had ever planned. All of my prior vacations had been planned by someone else (e.g. cruises and family road trips). On top of that, I knew very little about the country when we booked our flights. With the incredible deal that we knew could disappear at any moment, it was a buy-now-plan-later decision to vacation in Costa Rica.

To be honest, planning the trip was almost as fun as the trip itself. It had become my hobby to learn everything about Costa Rica, research possible destinations and pick up basic Spanish. I checked out books at the library and read countless blogs and articles online. Then, I began our working document.

Our Google Doc for our Trip

Our Google Doc on Costa Rica was divided into the regions of the country: North Central, Central Valley, North Pacific Coast, Central Pacific Coast, South Pacific Coast, North Caribbean Coast, and South Caribbean Coast. There were two major factors we considered in our outline: 1) the length of our trip and 2) the airport we were flying into. San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, is where most international traffic comes through but we were flying into Liberia airport which is much further north. Not wanting to spend money on domestic flights nor spend too much time traveling, this immediately ruled out the southern part of the country.

My roommate, who had recently spent 2 weeks in Costa Rica, also suggested that we skip San Jose completely. She said that if she had to shorten her trip to a week, she would choose to sacrifice her time in San Jose to see/do other things instead. We agreed, thinking that we would check out the city when we flew into San Jose airport on a future trip.

We also decided to rule out the Caribbean side. We only had enough time to visit one side of the country: Pacific or Caribbean. Since surfing was a must and the best surfing is on the Nicoya Peninsula, the Caribbean would also be added to the future trip to-do list.

Our 9-Day Itinerary for Costa Rica

From then on, it was a matter of connecting the “Must See/Do” with the “Best of Costa Rica” and that revealed the major destinations that would guide our itinerary: Volcan Arenal, Monteverde, and Mal Pais. Mauricio, aka our rental 4wd SUV that we would pick up in Liberia, would take us between destinations.

Between the lack of free time to do further planning (work was crazy for me and insane for Ignas, to say the least) and a craving for spontaneity, this actually ended up being the extent of our planning. Though, the day we were flying out, I did book a hostel for the first night. I wanted to be certain that we had a place to rest after our red eye flight and plan the next move. After that, we would wing the rest.

For the most part, we actually stuck to this itinerary but we also did a lot more than the blue line implies. That will be for the next blog post... :)

Costa Rica: The Land of Pura Vida

Rio Celeste, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Pura Vida is the motto of Costa Rica and every aspect of the country proudly embraces this idea. Pronounced "poo-rah vee-dah" (and not "pure-rah vee-dah"), this slogan embodies the easygoing and lighthearted nature of the people. Pura Vida means "full of life" or "good life."

I couldn't have picked a better place to go for my first international trip without mom and dad (I hardly travel, though that's definitely going to change!). Costa Rica is truly a rich coast of volcanoes, rainforests, jungles, rivers, beaches, hot springs, waterfalls, wildlife, characteristic towns and amazing people.

Katy Geissert Library, Torrance, California

It all started when I saw an unbelievable deal for a round trip ticket to Liberia, Costa Rica and before the day was over, our tickets were booked. With six months to plan, we figured there would be plenty of time to iron out the details.

Despite my anticipation for the trip, the months flew by and before I knew it, our trip was two months away. To plan out the itinerary, I went to the library and checked out every travel guide they had on Costa Rica and a few other books on Spanish. My roommate had also recently traveled to Costa Rica and her testimonials were a valuable resource.

Two days prior to our departure, we finally decided upon a rough route for our 9 day trip. On the day of our flight, I booked the hostel for our first night. We decided to wing the rest.

By the time our trip was over, I had fallen in love with the land and everything in it. Costa Rica is a wondrous place that should be on everyone's destination list. A vacation here could be enjoyed by families, couples and groups of friends alike. Furthermore, I would highly recommend Costa Rica if you want to travel on a budget. I have yet to do an official calculation but I would estimate that I spent about $1000 during our whole trip, including the flight (though I realize we had an incredible deal).

Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

Upon our return home, Costa Rica was immediately added to our "must visit again" list. Ironically, I had never considered traveling to Costa Rica prior to seeing the once-in-a-lifetime deal because I hear so much more about other popular travel destinations. Now a week after our trip, I still haven't stopped thinking about how beautiful and extraordinary this place is. I am so thankful that we graced the surface now because we will definitely be coming back, hopefully many times!

Pura Vida!

-Heather