Costa Rica Adventure Activities - Part III

Costa Rica has Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, both with beautiful beaches framed by lush green forests. Depending on your expectations, and the activities that you want to enjoy, you may chose which beach is better for you. The Caribbean beaches such as Puerto Viejo, Punta Cocles and Manzanillo are specially good for relaxing vacations, while the ones in Guanacaste are very good for surfing and scuba diving. Manuel Antonio beach is one of the most visited beaches in the country and the ones in the South side of Costa Rica are virginal, wild and untouched.

With more than 212 volcanoes, Costa Rica is such an exotic wildly beautiful country. Most of these volcanoes are dormant or dead, and only 7 are active. These active volcanos are: Arenal, Irazu, Poas, Turrialba, Miravalles, Rincon de la Vieja and Tenorio. All of these volcanos are located in national parks, and they offer numerous trails and facilities to enjoy the wonders of the natural phenomena. Experience the hot muddy spots, fumarolas, thermal waters, and lava.

If you are a waterfall lover you have come to the right place. Just by driving through Costa Rica you can find hundreds of beautiful waterfalls of all sizes. Some of them are touristicly exploited, such as La Fortuna Waterfall, Celeste River Waterfall and Angel Waterfall, among others.

Canyoning in Costa Rica is all an adventure. There are three places where we offer this tour; the first one is in La Fortuna with 4 waterfalls and one drop, the second one is in Monteverde in the middle of the Cloud Forest, and finally in Rincon De la Vieja close to an active volcano located on the norht of Costa Rica.

Link: Costa Rica Adventure Tours

A little about Grecia in Alajuela

Located in the Central Valley’s rolling hills and surrounded sugar cane plantations, around 27 miles from San Jose. Grecia is a small town with a mild climate (67 to 82°F), a reputation of the cleanest town in Latinoamerica and home of several beautiful attractions.

 
One of best touristic attractions of Grecia is the vibrant Cathedral de la Mercedes. The gothic-style church is constructed of brick-red metal panes, built in Belgium and shipped to Costa Rica in 1987. The panes were shipped as individual slabs to the port city of Limon where they were carried by oxcart, piece by piece, to Grecia. The iconic church is an unusual deep red hue and is adorned with gingerbread trim.

You can also find the World of Snakes reptile museum and Los Chorros Park, a pair of pristine waterfalls set in a private reserve just minutes from town. There is also a family-run butterfly garden and, for the history buff, the Casa de Cultura museum has plenty of local folklore and colonial artifacts.

Link: Grecia

Experience the beautiful site of Santa Juana close to Quepos

If you are looking for a magic experience different to any other you have had in Costa Rica, then Santa Juana Tour is the option. Located on the mountains close to Manuel Antonio and Quespos is a beautiful road that comunicates San Marcos de Tarrazu with Parrita. When visitinf the area experience the magic of nature and enjoy a unique part of Costa Rican rural heritage.

The Santa Juana Mountain Adventure! is a guided nature tour, which combines conservation and cultural wonders, taking you along the lush, jungle-shrouded slopes of the Fila Chonta Mountains where the Rodeo, Coto and Paquita rivers are born.

The tour begins with a typical breakfast on a traditional Tico house on the mountains, then you are set for a horseback riding tour towards the sugar mill. There you will get to knoe the process of getting the sugar out of the sugar cane using oxen. The a walk in the forest before getting to a refreshing swim beneath a mesmerizing waterfalls. Try your luck at organic Tilapia fishing, and also see fascinating regional wildlife, including a myriad of birds, insects and reptiles.

Visit the rustic small town of Santa Juana, where you’ll learn about coffee and citrus production, participate in the Carbon Offset Tree Planting Adoption Program, and enjoy a typical Campesino style lunch while taking in the panoramic vista of the coastline of Manuel Antonio National Park.

Only 8 people are allowed on the tour so you can experience the peaceful site of the countryside of Costa Rica. We just visited the place and can tell you that it was a wonderful experience.

Link: Santa Juana Mountain Adventure

Costa Rica unique typical Restaurant at Limon Province

On the road from Guapiles to Limon City (Limon Province), you will find many typical restaurants ussually used by the travellers. Many of them ave the typical Costarrican foods that we have discussed in earlier posts, but there is a place that is very different to the others.

It is called Chalo.com! Its name is very funny because it reflects the virtual-internet like thinking of nowadays people. Its owner created this little place with the best humor, to give visitors a completely different view of everyday foods...including Ticos and Ticas. So in the Chalos.com Menu, also called Chalomenu.com, you can find:

• M.P.3 - Which is a crunchy tortilla with mushed beans and cheese.
• Canelonsini - A fresh tortilla with a very simple ommelet on top.
• Cuartodemilla - A fresh tortilla with "Salchichon".
• Among many others.

The place is also known by its Choco Chalo, which is a chocolate milk beverage with some extra ingredient, which secret wont be shared with the visitor. So if you want to try it, you must trust the owner and enjoy the flavors.

So, as an oxymoron, Chalos.com is an unique typical restaurant in the area. With its little "ranchito" it invites friends to come over and have a "gallito". A place to enjoy a different experience eating the same foods that always share in our houses, and share them with foreingers.

¿How to get from Costa Rica to Panama by bus?

Costa Rica ha Costa Rica is well located, so when you are planning your vacations you can consider visiting more than one place at a time, and make the most of your money. For example, you may plan coming to Costa Rica, stay 8 days or so, and then visiting Nicaragua, Panama, San Andres (Colombia), or even a little farther as Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia (Cartagena) or Dominican Republic, etc.


A few days ago we talked about how to get from Costa Rica to Nicaragua by bus, we also talked about the possibility of going to South America by road (which is not possible yet because of the Tapon de Darien). Now we want to discuss how to get to Panama by bus from Costa Rica. In Panama, there are many places that are beautiful, some are very close to Costa Rica frontier. One of this place is Bocas del Toro, located on the Caribbean side, just 50 minutes from the frontier with Costa Rica.

From San Jose, you can take a Sixaola bus that gets you to the Frontier, and then complete the rest of the path with local taxis and boat taxis. Bocas del Toro is a archipielago, with many islands of all sizes. It is such a beautiful place, where nature is exhuberant and amazing. It is also a good place for surfers.

You can also try and visit Boquete and David, on the Pacific side, also located around one hour from the second frontier of Costa Rica "Paso Canoas". David is a medium side town where you can find cheap merchandise. Boquete on the other hand is full of beautiful gardens and a bunch of nice adventure activities. To go to David, you can take the bus to Paso Canoas, or just de Tica Bus that goes to Panama City but that makes a quick stop in David.

Check the itineraries of Tica Bus at their official site. Of course, if you want to flight more confortable, you can choose to pay for an airfare, which are not very expensive and are way faster. Going by bus to Panama City takes around 16 hours, getting to Paso Canoas from San Jose takes 7 hours, and going to Bocas del Toro from San Jose by bus takes 6 hours.

Coronado Mountain Biking Routes in Costa Rica

Coronado (Vazquez de Coronado) is a still rural place close to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. It is a great place to practice mountain biking. There are many different routes depending on physical level required. The main biking route to Coronado is the main street that leads to the beautiful gothic Catholic church of Coronado donwtown. The most adventurous ones, continue the road towards Las Nubes de Coronado, where the landscape its a dream, with "potreros" and farming houses. Farther tan Las Nubes is Cascajal, where the paved road ends and the graved road begins.

There are many others, but one tat I personaly like a lot is the path that begins in Dulce Nombre, towards La Gallera, and detours on a graved road that leads to El Rodeo. on the way, which is hard, you will see amazing landscapes, beautiful houses, cows walking around, a Paintball location and a hidden bar in the mountains. Once on the top you can end the route down hill towards the Coronado Church or you can continue to Chocó further into the countryside.

Along te road, on weekends you will see a few people walking the same route and small groups of bikers proving themselves with this medium hard route.

For more information about the Canton you may visit the Coronado Municipality. Sometimes they have information about the races and competitions done in site. Or you can also buy the local news paper called El Coronadeño, which have important news about the events in the area.

If you want to try any of these routes or any other in the country you may visit the numerous options available. For more information about Costa Rica biking routes, please visit Banana Adventure Tours.

Local Cinnamon Bread from Reposteria La Canela

Looking around in San Jose for places that are interesting and that have something to say different to the usually touristic stuff, I found this little bakery located close to the UCR (Universidad de Costa Rica) in San Pedro. If you ask around, everyone will tell you is the best bakery ever.

Around 3 kilometers from San José Downtown, this bakery called Reposteria La Canela, has been selling its unique bread for quite a long time; it is a bread based on Cinnamon and honney, but with many other ingredients combined to make it delicious and very different to the bread that is sold everywhere in San Jose.

If you have a chance to walk around this area, made specifically to serve the necessities of the UCR students, visit this bakery and try its unique Cinnamon bread, enjoy the graffiti’s that decorate the surroundings and buy cheaper souvenirs on the street sells of the local artisans. These products are made for Ticos and Ticas and not for tourists, so you can find pretty amazing stuff, proper from the Costarrican culture of the young people.

They still don´t have a web site, but soon they will build one so you can check in advance what you want to try when you go.