(19 – 21 Jan)
We landed in San José late afternoon and went to collect our rental car. We had done fairly extensive research about renting cars in Costa Rica as the reviews are incredibly mixed – some say an SUV is required, while others say a standard car will be fine. Most agreed that most of the rental companies try to rip you off with hidden insurance costs.
We originally decided that we would chat to a few few rental companies on arrival, see what they had to offer, and then make a decision.
An hour before our flight however, we changed our minds and decided to book a 4wd Suzuki Jimny through Payless online. Walking around from vendor to vendor would waste time and online we seemed to be able to control which insurance options we wanted.
They also had a shuttle at the airport that took us straight to their office near the airport. The lady that met us at the airport was very friendly and immediately offered suggestions of what to do and where to go (we hadn’t booked anything besides the first night and car). The shuttle driver was also great. He mentioned a few of his favourite places (that we’d never heard of) and definitely helped to shape our decisions.
Picking up the car was smooth enough, and we’d managed to get a sim card, so with the guidance of our frenemy Google maps, we headed to our studio apartment for the night.
San José is quite spread out and has a number of different suburbs. This is probably driven by the mountainous landscape. Our suburb seemed like a cross between industrial and residential, probably not where you’d choose to stay as a tourist for a few days. But the studio apartment was fantastic! Very spacious and it even had a washer/dryer which came in very handy.
We ventured out to get some takeaway dinner and snacks and then spent a few hours planning our week.
Originally we wanted to go to Uvita and Manuel Antonio National Park (beach areas down the south coast) and then head to La Fortuna (rainforest area in center of CR).
However, the weather forecast for Uvita looked a bit sketchy so we started to research the other suggestions we’d received. Our shuttle driver had mentioned Montezuma, which is a lesser-known beach town/area on a peninsula to the north west. So after a bit of Google research, we figured out our plans for Costa Rica:
1. Head to Jaco (‘hucko’) for 1 night
2. Head to Montezuma for 2 nights
3. End in La Fortuna for 2 nights
We left around 8 in the morning and started the drive to Jaco. The road system was quite interesting. They drive on the right (wrong) side of the road, yet all the overtaking seemed to be done on the right-hand lane (usually the slow lane). Or perhaps they just do whatever works.
It was a bit confusing at first but our experience of driving in the middle east soon came into play.
We arrived at an unexpected toll gate (thanks for the warning Google) and realised that we didn’t have any cash with us (slow learners after Cuba). Panic ensued (while blocking the toll lane for other cars behind us), but luckily Alika managed to find some leftover US Dollars stashed in her purse, which is generally also accepted in CR. Massive sighs of relief and off we went… And passed through about three more tolls!
We arrived in Jaco and headed straight to the beach. It was a bit underwhelming – quite busy and looked a bit seedy with a couple of tattooed, gangster-looking ‘car guards’ offering to watch our car. We weren’t overly keen to leave all our belongings in the car under their watchful eyes.
We called the guesthouse we were going to check into later and luckily they said we could check in early and use their facilities – a much better alternative.
The weather was great and the facilities were quite nice, so we spent the day relaxing at the pool, reading and swimming in between.
Jaco is a cool little beach town with loads of restaurants, surf shops, clothing shops, souvenirs and spa’s all along the main road, which is a short walk from the beach. So for lunch, we took a walk into town and stopped at a place called Ridiculous Burgers. They have extreme gourmet burgers with loads of different options, including some literally ridiculous burgers. We settled for some of the more normal ones.
After lunch we walked around the town appreciating the many murals graffitied on the walls and went hunting for the famous painted wings.
We went back to the guesthouse and continued our lounging at the pool.
Towards the end of the day we saw an incredible sunset from the side of the pool, with the help of a little stream that ran alongside the guesthouse.
For dinner we went for some ‘authentic’ Thai food. The restaurant had very good reviews and we both felt like some Thai food. The food was actually really good, although it definitely had a Costa Rican twist – probably to do with certain ingredients not being available.
The following morning we left early to head off to our next stop, Montezuma.
Wandering Watsons 