Panama & Costa Rica 2013

Costa Rica day 1: getting to the cloud forest

We'd arranged a water taxi pickup at our dock for 7:30. It was still raining when we woke up, and our path was flooded. We carried the bags out onto the dock but there was no sign of a boat. We retreated when a wave rolled across the end. We trekked 15 minutes on the beach path in pouring rain, over plank bridges, dodging breaking waves, through 8" deep puddles, carrying 3 rolling bags to the town water taxi dock. We got a boat to come over from Bocas by standing out on the dock and waving for 5 minutes. We got across, walked a couple blocks, and got a cab to the airport just in time to check in for our flight... except it was delayed.

We flew into the small airport in San Jose, and thought the car rental place would meet us there with the car. Instead, they took us to their downtown office and told us they'd given away our car and didn't have any more. We got our bags and walked about 9 blocks through downtown San Jose to another car rental place; they didn't have cars either. We got a car on the third try, and set off for the cloud forest.

We stopped in San Ramon for snacks and a SIM card, and checked out the church. A few km later, we turned off onto a potholed road; we stopped twice for cows. After about 20 minutes of driving through thick fog, we finally arrived at Villa Blanca. A guy took our bags in a cart, they gave us hot towels and fruity drinks, and showed us our fireplace and two person Jacuzzi tub. It was even nicer than we expected. The restaurant was good but a little too fancy for everyday. We ate there the first night, and got room service or takeout on our way back for the other nights. Evan loved the jets in the tub, and took at least one bath every day.