This was supposed to be a friends vacation, with two of my best friends, but for absurd visa reasons, I ended up travelling on my own. I was very disheartened and the journey from Rome to San Jose, included a cancelled flight, three stopovers and an emergency landing, for a total of 24 hours.
However, as I woke up in my anonymous, yet very comfortable hotel room at the airport Courtyard Marriot the sun was shining and I finally felt the holiday mood.
After an hearty breakfast, I set off to the next door Walmart to get my hands on a local SIM card. The process was not the easiest, it required acquiring the card, then activating it with a phone call, providing a lot of information including my passport number, then buying credit separately. I doubt I would have made it with my not so good Spanish, if it wasn’t for an incredibly nice young man who worked there and was kind enough to dedicate some of his time to this lost tourist.
That was probably the last difficulty of this trip. Everything about this journey was easy, pleasant and safe. So, if you are a woman planning a similar trip, provided the usual precautions that you would have in every place, I can confirm that Central and Caribbean Costa Rica are definitely good destinations. I reserve to speak about Panama, because all I have visited was Bocas del Toro and this is not enough to form an opinion, although I had a lovely time there too and I will recommend some spots.
My first destination was the Orosi Valley in Central Costa Rica, home of the Volcano Irazu, land of coffee and gorgeous mountains. I picked an hotel in the middle of nowhere – a special talent of mine, you’ll see if you keep following – which I reached with Uber.
Now, this was one of the nice aspects of this trip. I did not want to rent a car by myself and I found several easy ways to move around hassle-free. The journey took around an hour costed less than 40 USD and the driver was very friendly, we chatted and listened to music together.
Hotel Rio Perlas Spa & Resorts was my home for three days. The place looked like wonderland: surrounded by the mountains, a stream crossing its grounds providing a continous soundtrack, a natural thermal water pool and the amazing Morfo butterflies constantly dancing around. To me it was the the perfect place to unwind, plan the rest of my holiday, read, enjoy nature.
I explored the area by booking a private tour with the hotel, it was expensive, I think 100 USD, but I had the guide for me only, from early morning until well past lunchtime. He took me to all the main sights, the volcano, Cartago cathedral, the ruins of the church of Ujarras, the dam, passing through the coffee plantations and stopping for coffee and cake at a lovely quirky café, which is actually the café of a small guesthouse called the Orosi Lodge.
After this first taste of Costa Rica, where I got to know more about the culture and the country, I headed back to San Jose, but just to be picked up by a shuttle and reach Tortugero passing through the imposing nature of Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. I did this, and almost all the rest of my movements in Costa Rica, with Caribe Shuttle and I can’t praise this company enough. They are efficient, punctual and with an amazing customer service and very reasonably priced. I certainly owe it to them too, if my journey was so effortlessly pleasant.
Tortugero was one of the highlights of my journey, however I did find it difficult to find reliable information about how to get there and around, so hoping to make it easier for the next person, I summarised my experience here.
I stayed in a beautiful lodge the Tortuga Lodge & Gardens and from there took the turtle tour, which at the time of my travel, i.e. September, meant going at night to see these giants laying eggs. It was moving. A big applause to the Costa Ricans for treating nature with the utmost respect; they have very strict rules and active surveillance during these tours to ensure the animals are not disturbed and after the Wild West experience that was Sri Lanka in that regard, I really appreciated it.
My last destination in Costa Rica was Puerto Viejo de Talamanca which I reached from Tortugero with a transfer, entailing three hours on a small boat and one hour in a taxi. The details of that transfer are in the Tortugero TripAdvisor review linked above.
Oh, how I loved Puerto Viejo! It’s a laidback village of Rastafarian vibe, populated by surfers and many Europeans who chose to relocate in this distant land. The shore is one amazing beach after the other and many bays of quiet waters, suitable for snorkelers and sun worshippers.
I moved around using an old-fashioned bike landed by my lovely host, the owner of the Relax Natural Village, took a beautiful and very instructive chocolate tour at Caribeans, ate in some very nice spots, such as Mopri and Koki beach restaurant and bar and enjoyed some beach life with some fellow travellers met there.
After four days of this absolute bliss, I crossed the border into Panama, archipelago of Bocas del Toro. The border crossing is a bit iffy, but again Caribe Shuttle was top and the employees helped us through the different offices and escorted us along the bridge that joins the two countries. The transfer included the boat to the main island of the archipelago, Isla Colon.
From Bocas dock, I was picked up by a small lancia that took me, in approximately twenty minutes, to the less known Isla Cristobal. That was the only miss of my trip. The island is really secluded and, at least where I was, there was no way to move around if not by using the hotel lancia, which was crazy expensive, and there was pretty much nothing to do at the hotel or in the vicinity.
I am specifically not mentioning the hotel, because it is a family business and I feel uneasy giving bad publicity. This and the other reservations in this trip were made through Booking.com (except the last night in San Jose), which I find very reliable and proved very flexible when I had to make several changes due to my friends last minute cancellation (Booking and all the management of the different hotels were amazing in terms of customer service when it came to waive the reservation fees, they all acknowledged the force majeure). However in this case, either I was not careful enough when reading the description of the facilities, or those were not properly described for what they are. Bottom line is that I was in the middle of the jungle in a very small guesthouse, not an hotel. The place was beautiful and the bungalows furnished with impeccable taste, but there were no amenities, it was very rustic and insects dominated, so it was clearly not for me.
Nevertheless I got to see some impressive jungle, mangroves islands and a private cocoa plantation, before I moved back to Isla Colon and to another middle of nowhere place, this time with all the comforts of a proper lodge. I spent two days in the dazzling Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge. There I got to see some amazing sea corals and marine life and spent a day at the perfect Starfish beach.
My last day in Panama was spent in Isla Colon proper, referred to as Bocas Town, where I re-joined some friends met while travelling. I didn’t like Bocas Town, it’s cheap and load and too young for me, but admittedly it is a good place to base yourself and explore. From there you can take taxis and the like to go around, book inexpensive tours to the other islands and numerous water sports, or for more upscale tourism, rent boats to take you around. I had a very tasty lunch at Café del Mar, a great burger at Capitan Caribe and a good rest at Hotel Bocas del Toro.
The following morning, I made my way back to the border and to Puerto Viejo and after a few hours pleasantly spent at the designated pickup beach resort, took the following shuttle to San Jose where I stayed at Hotel Grano de Oro, a very good choice. I loved the place, had a glorious dinner at their very chic restaurant, and a lovely breakfast in the courtyard, before making my way to the airport and embarking to Miami.
In Miami I spent one night at the Mondrian South Beach and then moved to my family in Delray Beach, therefore I have not many tips to offer on Miami, but I tried an excellent restaurant in Boca Raton, Farmers Table.
That is all for this holiday, which was the longest I ever took by myself, making for a very interesting personal learning experience, along with the cultural journey.
If you enjoyed the reading and found the tips interesting, stay tuned for more.
And if you have questions, do reach out.
A presto
Veronica Edit 