| |
|
|
Home
> Destinations > Costa Rica > Trip Reports > Trip Report
We arrived around 10 pm on March 9th, 2003 and took the free shuttle to spend the night at the Marriott Courtyard in San Jose. The hotel served its purpose and everyone was very nice however it is a very noisy hotel. Our first morning we had arranged for a private driver, Oscar, to meet us at 8 am. We went to LaPaz Waterfalls Gardens. This was an absolutely beautiful place with butterfly garden, waterfalls but the highlight was definitely the hummingbird garden. There were so many of them and they would actually hit you in the head as they were flying past. We spent approimately 2 hours here and then we went onto Sarchi. I was very disappointed with this as i had read so much about it. The Oxcarts are beautiful but i expected more shopping. We did not really feel it was much of a destination point it was more like
1 store that was kind of a tourist trap. Anyways then we were off to our resort which was the Fiesta Resort in Puntarenas.
The resort is very pretty. Puntarenas is nothing to write home about but we picked this location because it was central for us. We had a suite which was actually like 2 bedrooms separated by a bath. We had a patio right on the childrens pool with a beautiful view of the ocean. The room was very clean and the food at this resort was an A and we are pretty picky. Breakfast and lunch was good and each evening in the buffet was a different theme and it ws delicious. They also have 2 sit down restaurants that you can make reservations at one is the italian which was good and the other is the seafood which we never tried but people raved about. My only complaint would be that they do only have local liquor and red or white wine. No variety of wines as we have had at other all inclusives.
This resort caters to mostly Costa Rican people. There are very few Americans and most everyone speaks only Spanish. The people that work in this resort are absolutely wonderful, most accomadating from the maids right up through management. People always had smiles on their faces. You are about 15 minutes from town and there is not much in Puntarenas. Each evening at 8 pm there would be a childrens show. This show caters to small children not really anything for kids in the mid to teen range. At 9:20 each evening there is some kind of dance/singing show and the kids are all so talented and work extremely hard. My husband went to the Casino each evening and there was also a restaurant/bar across from the resort that people enjoyed. The beach here is a black sand beach but stretches for quite a while in each direction however it is really not a place for beach lovers most activities center around the pool. There are many activities if you wished to partake or you could just relax - very laid back did not really have to dress. We really enjoyed this resort and even though it was not in the most beautiful area it was central to many things we wanted to do.
We saw so many animals and birds it was just wonderful. We went to Carrerra, saw the Crocodiles on the Rio Tarcoles. We did do the Jungle Boat tour but i would not recomend it. Not worth the money, boring for anyone who is not a birdwatcher and we saw more Crocodiles from the bridge. We rented a car and drove to Manual Antonio which was beautiful - took our time on the way back and walked around Jaco. The next day we took the ferry and went across the Bay of Nicoya and visited Curu Wildlife Refuge. This was a beautiful place with many trails and at least 2 different beaches. The Howler Monkeys put on quite a show for us here. The soda at the Ferry station had absolutely delicious food. We had a great time and cannot wait to go back. It is a beautiful country with nice people. Our last night we again spent at the Marriott Courtyard. Our room was slightly quieter this time but still noisy. The good part is there is a shopping center adjacent that has at least 5 restaurants in it. The time passed all too quickly and we were sad to say goodbye. After we took off we flew very close to a Volcano which was very beautiful to see.
If anyone has questions I would only be too happy to answer them. You can e-mail me at debbiesexoticports@rcn.com.
Thanks to Debbie for this trip report ...
April 2003
|
|
|
