My sweetest followers and visitors,
First of all, Merry Christmas to you and your family! Let this be a day filled with love and time for each other. Because you have been so patient, my Christmas gift to you: Costa Rica blog post! I hope you ‘ll enjoy it and share it with your friends and family, because sharing is caring!
I cannot believe my first over the ocean holiday is already a beautiful memory. The Pura Vida lifestyle caught me under his spell and mesmerised me in every place I have visited. It is hard to choose my favourites because I think every memory I have made is special in one way or another, but I am going to try anyway.
My first favourite was the National park in Cahuita because it is next to the beautiful Caribbean beach and you see a lot of amazing animals for real. We saw raccoons, capuchin monkeys, snakes, sloths, termite’s nests, basilica, Oropendola’s (birds with a golden tail), Toucans, which is my favourite bird. We saw two types: Kill bill and Choco toucan; you can imagine I was beyond excited to see them both. If you think, “Wow, she knows a lot “ No we just had an awesome guide who helped us finding animals. The fact that the beautiful beach peaked in from time to time, made heaven on earth.
My stay was the Cariblue jungle & beach resort in Puerto Viejo. I adored this place because of the hammocks and the room with sliding doors; where you could relax while looking at the animals. The hotel is in front of the beach and not far from the cosy village, where you can feel the Caribbean atmosphere.
I always found boat trips relaxing and the next village is only accessible by boat. Tortuguero is a village at the amazing river/lagoon Penitencia and there I stayed in the best lodge in town.
The Evergreen lodge is a rainforest heaven where your room in the middle of the rainforest. The first thing you hear and smell is pure nature and it makes you totally relaxed. Two things I strongly recommend are a kayak trip on the river and in the rainforest (which is for free in this lodge) and a night excursion on the beach to see the turtles. I did not expect to do this kind of excursion but they were both magical. On the turtle excursion there are no camera’s allowed to you have to believe me on my word, that this is a once in a lifetime experience.
The third and last favourite: Frogs heaven, really stole my heart. José, a passionate man guided us proudly in his “wild” garden. We saw tree of the cutest frogs and they were the best models in the world. We also saw a snake, learned about plants and saw some beautiful birds. An amazing experience! José is great guide and an awesome photographer. He will make sure you leave with the perfect photo. Also if you visit this project you support the local kids educationprogram!!
If you want a dream stay, the Sarapiquis rainforest lodge is certainly the place to be. The infinity pool is pure heaven and the rooms have an amazing Hispanic colonial and indigenous atmosphere.
I could talk hours and hours about this amazing experience, but if you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica in the near future, these are places that won’t disappoint you. But the most important rule when you want the Pura Vida way of life is wherever you go, go with all your heart.
XO
Mellowantsmore
Special Thank You to fellow traveler Johnny Rypens to lend some of his photo’s.
Stay
http://www.cariblue.com
http://www.evergreentortuguero.com
http://www.sarapiquis.com
Support
https://www.facebook.com/frogsheaven/
For those of you who are curious but not sure of there Indiana jones level, I strongly recommend doing this trip by a tour operator like neckermann. Or similar. Why? It is adventure with the C of comfort.
XO
