The Traveling Martens

Costa Rica

San Jose, Jaco, Los Suenos

November 2008

We began our journey to Costa Rica via Miami. A quick 2:20 minute flight and we landed in a new terminal of the airport in San Jose, the capital of the country and situated in the middle of the country between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Since there was four of us, we decided to rent a car through Thrify Rental car for the week. San Jose is about 70 km from the airport. Well, that depends on what sign you are looking at on the side of the road- we laughed as every sign would have vastly different estimates of the mileage.

The road to Joca, the beach community where our wonderful friends Ron and Susan have two condo’s, is what one would call a roller coaster ride filled with third world obstacles. It is a magnificent view, but definitely scary. You have one lane bridges where you take turns going across. You have narrow two lane roads with switchbacks where the edge falls 1,000 feet down the mountain. There are parts of the road that have washed away, so you take turns using the lane closest to the mountain. As I said, definitely scary. If you travel with four people, I would suggest taking a taxi. They also have a $25 bus to Jaco from the San Jose airport. The Pacific coast of Costa Rica is full of cove after cove of beaches carved into the mountainous, jungle countryside.

Our arrival… Straight to Café del Mar Restaurant. It was a favorite restaurant, eating outside on their patio with free Wi-Fi. They cook some mean Mexican dishes for dinner, but an even better breakfast.  Local breakfast inclues fried eggs, black beans, toast with guava jam and white rice. We also like Jaco Rustica, which was a set course each meal, always including a choice of meat, vegetable, beans and rice and dessert, all for about $2 per person. Potentially the best discovery of our whole trip though, is the Linzano salsa, the national salsa of Costa Rica. It is a green salsa, unlike anything we've ever had. Not too spicy, and great on everything- meat, eggs, beans, rice. We ordered a case from the internet when we got back!

We stayed in Ron and Susan’s one bedroom condo in a little guarded subdivision. It is guarded for purposes of petty stealing, not for your safety. The town was safe and the people where friendly. We turned on the water, electricity and made ourselves at home. Everything you would expect in a little beach condo. They stayed in their other two-bedroom condo at the little subdivion next to ours. Cute little beach houses, with big front porches for all the Tico (That is what Costa Ricans call themselves) family gatherings. After our first dinner on Friday night we headed to Los Amigos, a local bar with American football on the TV, lots of drunk tourists and tequila shots. They even had a band playing great 80s music.

Saturday we woke up and finally got to see the beach and town. The main strip is about 9 blocks long. Filled with little retail stores, lots of little general markets, a Bagelman’s (American who started a Starbucks type store in Jaco) and several surf shops. Two gyms and several bars completed the town. Easy to walk or ride your bike through town. No problems parking anywhere. You can even pull your car right up the beach. Jaco is a great small town for relaxing, surfing and drinking. The 2009 World Surfing Championships are going to be in this area in the summer, so everyone is getting ready for the crowds.

We spent the day walking around town, but with the weather so nice, we ended up at a bar called El Bohio for drinks and a sunset overlooking the ocean. We stayed for hours and would call it a top 10 bar for natural beauty, surfing and drinks. They serve food too, but we cooked at home with local food almost every night. They had a local meat guy, fish guy and a grocery store. A local version of Wal-mart is also right outside of town.

Manuel Antonio is a national park about 1.5 hours south of Jaco. We went to the park on Monday and it ended being closed. But, we still enjoyed a different beach with white sand. After getting in the warm ocean water, we walked back to the car and you could hear monkeys from the park. Hungry, we stopped at a small restaurant in Quepos on our way home. More meat, rice and beans and great Costa Rican coffee.

We also visited Los Suenos. A Marriott Vaction resort that covers an entire cove and many acres. It is complete with an upscale marina, expensive condos, a hotel, golf courses, charter fishing, restaurant and yacht club. We enjoyed the sunset at a local bar a little down the beach from Los Suenos.

There is so much more to Costa Rica. From casinos to volcanos to surfing… We can not wait to go back. As the locals say, Pura Vida!