Refurbished Hip
Here are some of my Costa Rica photos! We took so many - I tried to pare them down.
Seems like most people come to the country and head directly for the coast, but we took a few days to explore the mountains in the middle of the country first and it wound up being my absolute favorite part of the trip. We stayed in a rural village on an organic farm that ran a sort of hostel/rustic B&B. I say rustic because they didn't have any hot water and we stayed in a "cabina," which was just a simple wooden structure with a few lights and a basic bathroom. Just getting there was a feat in itself. 10+ miles of 4WD gravel road down a mountain side. I'm pretty sure it was my version of paradise. Mountains, rivers, waterfalls, warm sun and non-humid mountain air. The woman of the farm made us fresh coffee (grown themselves) and gallo pinto with eggs for breakfast every morning. We did some running through the village on the "road", which was amazingly hilly/steep. The locals looked at us like we were a bunch of gringos locos (which I suppose we were) while out running.
After a few days in the mountains we headed for Dominical, which is a surfing town on the Pacific. We rented a house in the middle of the jungle, which was just a few minutes from the beach. The temperature difference between the mountains and the coast was astounding. So hot down there. I only did one run through the jungle and I'm not sure I've ever sweat so much. We did surfing lessons, which turns out really isn't my thing, but it was fun to try.
These are loosely in chronological order.
Day 1 hiking in the jungle.
Touristy Poas Volcano -- beautiful, but too many people.
View from the farm in Providencia. This could be a trail running mecca, I imagine.
La cocina.
Outside view of la cocina.
Our cabina.
On a run through Providencia
Our house in the jungle on the rain forest preserve, just up the road from the beach.
Toucans everywhere! We would sit on the deck with a beer at watch them come and go.
Running is dumb.
Are we there, yet?
Beautiful! I hear it''s a great place to retire to.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Sue
Nice... looks very relaxing...now back to reality!
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
Le professeur de trail
Very nice. That view of the beach (assuming it's from the house you stayed at) is amazing.
But I have to say those trying to climb that waterfall...
Thanks for sharing!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Nice! We visited Costa Rica in 2011 and stayed in Volcano Arenal area. We never made it to the coast, but there so much to do. I do have to ask though... where is your zipline photo?!!
In dog beers, I've only had one.
Jamie -- the view of the beach was just a short 2 minute walk from the house. We didn't actually have an ocean view out the front door.
Yes, way too much to do! We could have stayed another few weeks...
LOL. Here you go, XT.
No trip to Costa Rica is complete without the obligatory zipline tour!
Honestly, I found ziplining to be pretty uninspiring. I wouldn't do it again.
Uninspiring? That was the last thing I would call it, though we did something called the skytrek near the volcano and it was crazy high with some longs runs, I think a few nearly 1/2 mile? It was pretty fun but I nearly shit my pants the first long run 500 feet above the canopy.
It was fun and the lines were nice and long, but you were going too fast to observe anything and not fast enough for it to have that rollercoaster thrill pit in your stomach.
Although I did get to do one line upside down which was pretty fun.
Looks like a great trip. My daughter may be moving to San Jose when she graduates college in a couple of years. Looks like I might have a lot of stuff to explore when I visit.
Take Charge. Train Harder. Suck Less. No Excuses.
Cool! What does she want to do in San Jose?
Tim
Looks like you had a great trip away from the winter weather.
Did you go through a travel agent or make plans on your own?
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
We did everything on our own. Rented an SUV (and GPS -- very important), bought road maps, did our own internet research, etc. It was helpful that I speak a little Spanish too!
Looks like paradise.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL