Sayonara San Jose; Buenos Bogota

Our final day in Costa Rica was a pretty slow day in San Jose. We figured out how to do our laundry - easier than we thought - by simply dropping it off at our very accommodating hostel. Given the consistently humid weather in Costa Rica we wanted everything properly dried (done by a machine, not air dried) before packing it up for Colombia. Then we headed for a nearby coffee shop to catch up on some emails and back-logged blog posts. Sarah was especially excited to stop at Viva Café because they had - you guessed it! - iced coffee.

The baristas told us they were jealous because we came from New York - a place they said had an "excellent coffee culture." I would've thought Latin America had a pretty strong coffee culture too, but I guess nothing beats NYC!

Around mid-day we headed to lunch at Mantras Veggie Café - we wanted to try something new and a little on the healthier side. It didn't disappoint. Sort of hard to find (like a lot of places in San Jose) but worth the trip.

Then we just walked around one last time and tried to see the last few remaining sites we hadn't seen on our previous stays in San Jose. The weather was actually great (the best we've had yet in San Jose) and we were pleasantly surprised by some of the views we got.

Iglesia Santa Teresita.

Parque Nacional.

The highlight of the day came at dinner. We met up with a friend-of-a-friend who grew up in San Jose for dinner at Restaurante Grano de Oro, one of the best places in town. We've been budget-conscious eaters up to this point so this luxurious treat was very welcome. It was a very fun evening and the perfect end to our time in Costa Rica.

Today we woke up early to get to the airport for our flight to Bogota. We over-estimated the amount of traffic and lines at security so we had a little extra time to take in the views one last time.

Not quite the same backdrop as LaGuardia.

Another thing we did not anticipate was the meal service on a short (albeit international) flight. We ate breakfast at the airport, but were offered a full meal on board (and a full open bar) even though we would only be in the air for an hour and a half. We'll have to keep this in mind for the rest of our flights coming up...

Airport security in Bogota did not take long and the taxi line was short; it took longer to get through downtown traffic to our hotel than to get out of the airport. We're staying at Hotel La Mansion which is in a residential neighborhood about half an hour's walk from the Zona Rosa (nightlife district). After we got settled in, we figured we'd walk down to check it out; felt a lot like SoHo - lotof restaurants and shops. We moseyed around for a bit, then grabbed a bite at Central Cevicheria. Sarah and I shared a couple different small dishes and all were great - if you're ever in Bogota, we highly recommend you stop by!

Beautiful sunny afternoon for a walk around Bogota.

Since we got free lunch at 11am on our flight we were hungry for dinner a little early and basically had Central Cevicheria to ourselves.

Obligatory food picture - we got the chowder, fried fish balls and (of course!) ceviche.

Tomorrow we'll explore more of the city; for now, we're beat after a long day of travel and are heading to bed!

One other note for anyone interested: after we leave each country, we are going to upload our favorite pictures in the Galleries page; you can check out Costa Rica and Panama now!

Back to San Jose

Sunday and Monday revolved primarily around getting from Bocas back to San Jose but before describing those days in detail, I am compelled to detail one of the worst meals Alex and I have ever had. On Saturday evening, after a perfect day of sailing, we cleaned up and got ready to head out to dinner. It was so nice outside we figured we would just walk for a bit and find a cute spot for grabbing a bite, deciding for the first time to “live on the edge” and not consult Tripadvisor beforehand. All I can say is, what a mistake! (Link to my own Tripadvisor review). Each dish was a letdown – limp, tough ceviche that appeared to be from a can and fish that was described as salmon but certainly was not. I couldn’t bring myself to photograph this “meal” but If you find yourself in Bocas Del Toro, do NOT eat at El Limbo on the Sea. I am certain we won’t be checking reviews before every single meal but it’s going to be hard to do after this one.

Now that I have that out of my system…Sunday was a pretty gloomy day, almost like penance for the gorgeous weather we had on Saturday. Alex wasn’t feeling well (probably from our horrible meal the previous night) so we mostly spent the day reading and ran some errands before packing for the trip back to San Jose on Monday.

Scarred from our previous dinner, we went back to Fat Boy Treats for a reliably delicious meal of cheesesteaks. 

Delicious cheesesteaks in Panama - one chicken, one steak.

Not pictured is the $0.75 cherry cupcake I scarfed down immediately afterward. So delicious I almost forgot about Saturday’s dinner. After a late lunch, we headed back to our hotel to relax and get organized. Later on, we decided to take a walk and grab a drink to watch the sunset. We perched at La Buga and had a really nice time enjoying the scenery.

Last sunset in Bocas.

Street view from La Buga.

Afterward, we finally checked out the falafel stand run by the Jewish Chabad next door, which was cheap, tasty and satisfying. We’ve been really impressed by the different types of cuisine we’ve found throughout Costa Rica and Panama so far.

We woke up on Monday at 6am to get ready for our 13 hour day of travel back to San Jose. Having already done the Panama / Costa Rica border crossing, we felt much more prepared for what was to come. Unfortunately, I felt pretty sick the entire day and my stomach was really tested when we drove past a putrid garbage dump covered with vultures and pouring onto the main road out of Almirante. Having powered through that odor, I was tested once again when we had to walk the last half mile to the border - a protest had shut down the road! Once we finally reached Puerto Viejo and had lunch (plain cheese quesadilla for me please), I started to feel better so the journey back was a lot more pleasant.

Tired and hungry we arrived in San Jose just as the sun was setting. We checked back into the Costa Rica Guesthouse and shared a burger at our dependable local spot, Craic (funny enough, we found this place randomly without Tripadvisor and it has become a staple while in San Jose!) Tomorrow is our last day in Costa Rica but we are excited to be heading to Colombia after that.

Top Takeaways - #2

With less than two days left in San Jose (we head to Panama tomorrow and will be back only briefly before heading to Colombia), below are a few more thoughts on our time in Costa Rica.

Sunset view in Manuel Antonio.

1. Working out while on the move is difficult but doable. Alex and I have been trying to do 15 minutes of exercises in our hotel or hostel room each morning to start the day and accompany the heavy walking we've been doing, but it's different than a scheduled, sweaty hour at the gym or Physique 57.

2. Likewise, it's easy to find yourself eating and drinking more than you otherwise would. As with any vacation, we want to try new things and indulge a bit, but we still have 350 days to go!

3. Heat and humidity make you tired (but it's hard to sleep). You'd think after going to school in New Orleans I'd be used to the rainforest weather, but not having access to AC seems to be a differentiating factor.

4. Everyone has an interesting travel story. We were surprised at first by the number of people we met who were traveling alone or for long periods of time, but now look forward to swapping stories.

5. Your body clock really does change with your surroundings. In NYC Alex and I would try to sleep in as late as possible, have dinner around 9 and go to bed at midnight. In Costa Rica we are always up by 6:30, have eaten dinner by 7 and are in bed by 9:30.

6. The smoothies in Costa Rica are incredible. For USD$2-3 you can get a fresh fruit smoothie with local ingredients just about anywhere. Even Alex has started to request them!

7. We feel pretty safe 99% of the time. After being warned repeatedly about theft and abysmal driving conditions in Costa Rica we have been surprised to the upside on both issues. Maybe we have just been extra cautious but so far so good.

8. I miss salads. So far this has been one of the hardest things to track down. Fast food (and pollo frito) is everywhere but health food doesn't seem to be big here.

9. Double check opening and closing times / days for all planned attractions. I swore I had looked up this information for Manuel Antonio National Park but somehow missed that the Park is closed on Mondays. Lesson learned.

10. Technology is good and bad. Feeling connected is great and we love being able to communicate with friends and family (and update the blog!) but we still haven't escaped our standard tendencies to "check in." We hope to be a bit better about turning off and tuning out as we go.

Peak: Relaxing at the Oxygen Jungle Villas

Pit: Missing Manuel Antonio National Park (we'll check the schedule next time!)

Next Stop: Bocas del Toro

Last Day in Manuel Antonio

Happy Bastille Day! Today is also National Mac & Cheese Day in the U.S., according to Sarah. She is sad that there aren't any restaurants that serve Mac & Cheese in Manuel Antonio (at least that she could find...and trust me, she looked hard) so we started the day with her second favorite treat of the moment: iced coffee. After our coffees, we headed down to Manuel Antonio National Park. 

We were sad to learn that the park is closed on Mondays. We hadn't thought to check the schedule beforehand, but you can be sure we'll check for every other park we visit from now on. Disappointed but not discouraged, we made the most of the situation and decided to spend the day on the beach right next to the park. Hardly a terrible outcome.

A Pelican greeted us from a nearby rock.

There were a bunch of rock formations on the beach and just off the coast.

There were lots of creatures around - especially crabs like this guy.

It cleared up even more as the day went on; really turned into a great day at the beach.

Sarah quenched her thirst with a coconut right from the beach.

We headed home when we were ready to get out of the sun (and to seek shelter from the thunderstorm that was about to roll through). Once the rain passed, we headed out to grab some dinner at Ngo, an Asian take-out restaurant in town. I know we've been saying this a lot, but the food was just amazing. Unlike any Asian food I've had before - the Vietnamese / Chinese owner borrowed styles from all over the continent to create a very unique flavor. The sweet and spicy chicken we got was the special stand-out through: the light dough that breaded the chicken made it taste like a General Tso's chicken donut. Might sound a little weird, but it was out of this world. 

We also loved the Singapore Noodles - the slightly sweet taste was a great balance to the spicy chicken.

Tomorrow we head back to San Jose to return the rental car, re-group and then head to Panama first thing on Wednesday morning. 

Iced Coffee At Last!

As we went to sleep last night in the jungle - again secluded from any city buzz - we really noticed all of the sounds surrounding us: not just birds, cicadas and monkeys but also the pouring rain, lightening and thunder accompanying a rainy season storm. We woke pretty rested around 7am and since it was still raining, we hung around our apartment for a bit, just reading and catching up on some news.

Around 10am it started to clear up so we headed into town. After a few days of relaxing by the pool we decided to hike the 45 minute uphill walk from our place to our lunch destination: Falafel Bar (the #1 rated restaurant in Manuel Antonio according to Tripadvisor, which has yet to steer us wrong). Unfortunately, the place was closed - maybe because it was Sunday? - so we walked across the street to the only open restaurant we had seen so far: Café Milagro. We stopped just to catch our breath and rehydrate, but then...

OMG ICED COFFEE!!!!!

Obviously Alex got a massive "espresso shake" - which is code for "espresso plus two scoops of chocolate chip ice cream" - and drank most of it in two sips. That said, I still want to mention my amazing iced coffee - the first I've seen on this trip - which I purchased for less than $2!

After sweating our way into town and wondering where the iced + caffeinated beverages were over the past two weeks, I was THRILLED to have an amazing ice coffee experience. In a move 100% expected by Alex, I have already demanded we stop here every day while in Manuel Antonio.

We decided to stay and grab a quick lunch before the World Cup Final aired at 1pm and lucked out with a delicious meal: while the chicken sandwich was definitely nothing to write home about, the quesadilla was incredible. Definitely enough to feed two people for lunch (and for only $9). We then quickly headed to a nearby bar where we could watch the game and came across El Avion - a bar that is built around a U.S. SPY PLANE.

Sketchy plane shot down in Nicaragua, then purchased for $3,000 and turned into a tourist spot.

I am convinced this is a CIA coverup but Alex swears on tomorrow's iced coffee that this is not the case.

A natural CIA pilot, obviously.

After Germany finally (sadly) beat Argentina, we made our way to a small spot perched above the hills to watch the sunset. (Even though I know we have posted a bunch of sunset pics and it is only 2 weeks in, I can't resist!)

Sunset in Manuel Antonio never gets old.

We hiked the remaining half hour home and after reheating our delicious pizza leftovers from Uvita we knew it was time for some laundry. Lucky for us, our apartment had a clearly marked washing machine. Unlucky for us, the directions were completely in Spanish and the design was 100% counterintuitive:

You have to remove the wet /soapy clothes from the right to the "spin" section on the right.

After an hour of doing laundry, drinking wine and figuring out how to microwave delicious leftover pizza it was time for sleep - hoping for less thunderbolts tonight!