Costa Rica with Kids

A few years back, we joined our friends for a vacation of fun in the sun. We had a great time with this couple, Juan and Jolee, who are our great friends, and their kids. The group was four adults and four pre teens (ages 8-12). We had a great trip together to Kauai a couple of years before and were hoping for more of the same.

There is a lot to see in Costa Rica. The two coasts are very different. Most will want to see a cloud forest, some sloths and a monkey or two (hundred). Our friend had previously worked for a yoga resort in the town of Nosara and liked the area a lot. We decided to do one week in that area and a second week further south, sticking to the Pacific coast to avoid excessive driving. Four wheel drive vehicles are recommended.

The second week of our Costan Rica adventure, we spent in Uvita, but more on that later. Nosara is in the Nicoya Peninsula in the northwest part of the country. There is a closer airport, but we had a 5-6 hour drive from San Jose, which most people will fly into. When we checked in to our airbnb, the holler monkeys were everywhere in the canopy of trees overhead.

Nosara is an interesting town: lots of yoga spots and a few eateries that cater to tourists but it is decidedly chill. The main road is a dirt road with huge pot holes. I never saw too many people about. The holler monkeys were making their usual racket and bouncing around in the trees and power lines between trees. After we dropped the bags, we walked down the road to a great lunch spot: Beach Dog Cafe.

Delicious drinks and bar eats and the group was happy. After lunch we kept walking to the nearby Playa Guiones. The weather was a little weird. It got pretty dark in the afternoon at the beach. We had the beach all to ourselves and the everyone was playing in the surf. After hanging out at the beach for a while, it started raining but given the nice temperature, it was somehow magical. Nobody was grumbling and we hid from the rain for a bit under a structure sitting on the beach which had palm tree fronds for a roof. Then we took our time wandering back to our rental house.

Once we got back to the house, it was time for a dip in the pool and some fierce family battles at the foosball table.

Playa Guiones is famous for ideal surfing conditions, which was a major reason we chose this spot for our first week. This beach produces waves that break consistently close to shore which did allow all of the kids to get up on their boards and ride a few.

We rented a couple boards for the adults and a lesson for the kids. The surf instructor was great with kids. Even the old people were able to catch a wave. This did not go as well when surfing in Portugal, so I agree this is a great surf spot for beginners.

The lesson lasted an hour or two and then we surfed as a family for a while afterwards. One the way back home we bought some locally made instruments that the kids attempted to make music with. I can remember a couple of coconuts going down. There is not a lot going on in 'downtown' Nosara but it has just enough beyond that incredible beach to keep you occupied.

The next day we opted for some horseback riding from a local outfit in town. It was a beautiful ride along some paths through the jungles behind the beaches and including a stretch along the sand. The horses were not all well trained and Juan's horse bit Tracy's horse's ass then that horse took off down the beach- if it had been one of the kid's horses, it might not have ended well. Like a lot of these adventures, you laugh like hell afterwards especially if their was a little element of danger or dependig on how sketchy the whole adventure is.

The next day we headed south from Nosara towards our second rental house in Uvita. Along the way, we stopped for lunch near the famous park Manuel Antonio. This park is famous for capuchin monkeys amongst other wildlife. It is on our itinerary later in the week. We got on the road early and got into the park area in time to check out El Avion for lunch. This restaurant was built out of a cargo plane that was sold by the US to the Contras! Remember Oliver North? We had a great time and everyone dug the airplane lunch with a great view.

The house we rented in the hills above Uvita was spectacular. The reason we stayed in this area is this house. I liked what I read about Uvita and knew I wanted to visit the nearby Manuel Antonio but we did not have to leave this property to have a fabulous week.

This place had beautiful furnishings but was mostly about the outdoor spaces and the view. The first night we got there, it was getting dark and the dirt road winding up this hill to this property created some real anxiety. By the end of the week, we were ripping up that road but it was pretty scary that first night- definitely 4WD only.

The house sat above a canopy of trees that featured many monkeys and an occasional toucan. You heard the monkeys a lot more than you saw them (unlike Nosara where they appeared to dangle from every tree and power line).

Hammocks all over the place, multiple areas to lounge with cocktails, views out to the whale tail beach that makes Uvita Beach famous, and obviously the outdoor shower had some kind of driftwood sculpture fixture. Anything else is slumming it.

The infinity pool looked out over the jungle. Why would you ever leave? We did a number of excursions but spent much of every day relaxing amongst the wildlife and watching the kids splashing around.

Next day, we managed to leave the house... to go to the beach. There are a number of beaches around Uvita.

The Costa Ballena coastline offers some tasty little beaches with protected swimming spots, hidden beaches and surfing, if that is your goal. The most famous is Playa Uvita, but we first hit one 15 minutes down the road called Playa Ventanas.

This was a great spot with a couple of rock caves and lots of sand, with nobody around. The backdrop is a typical scene for Kauai enthusiasts like ourselves: green jungles diving into the surf.

The second stop for the day was Uvita Beach. We have been looking at this beach for a couple of days so it was time to walk the famous sand bar. At low tide, a sandbar emerges that is the same shape as a fluke on a whale that extends a km into the ocean. The walk is great and the water around the sandbar is totally chill.

The next day's activity was a great hike with a couple of local guys who supplemented their income by giving small group hikes on their property. This hike took you by two waterfalls and the commentary from our guides was priceless.

I reassured my wife that the dangerous animals were in the big park to the south, Corcovado .One of the guides answered the kids question about snakes by saying that there were indeed fer-de-lances about occaisionally. He had even been bit once but survived due to some luck (antivenom was located in time)- not the story I wanted Tracy to hear. Minutes later (10 minutes into the hike), the boys encounter something

on the trail.

They asked the guide what kind of snake they almost stepped on- of course it's a fer-de-lance. I pointed out that it was only a baby. 'Those are more deadly' said the helpful guide. Relaxation was over for the trip for Tracy (the huge bugs didn't help either).

We hit both waterfalls and took a dip under the bigger one. The water is freezing if you are standing at the bottom of a waterfall but if you are lucky enough to do it, you better.

One of the falls was small but the big one demanded getting right up close. This one was tall enough to bring the cold water down with some force. Pretty exciting, especially for the kids.

The trail went on for a few more miles before ending at with a what looks like an old quarry that had a couple of spots where you could jump into this stream from either about ten or thirty feet. Everyone took a leap or two with most of the kids doing the thirty footer. I was definitely impressed because it looked and felt like a huge leap. This finished this awesome hike with style! Back at the starting point, they made us a chicken lunch off of their own farm. It was damn good, too.

The next day we drove back up the coast to Parco Nacional Manuel Antonio. It was about the monkeys. This park is small but is the most visited park in the country due to its pretty beaches and trails where you have a great chance to see sloths and monkeys. There were a number of trail loops by the park entrance. We took the longer one initially.

We covered the four or so miles and saw nothing but a racoon. We diverted later to the main trail that goes to the beach. Lots of tourists by the beach seems to mean lots of capuchin monkeys. They were all over the place once we knew where to look. They are one of the most intelligent species, well known for using rocks and leaves as tools and for their social structure.

They will steal food from backpacks of beach goers who are not watching. Mostly they seemed to be living in a chaotic world, making tons of noise and running around in small groups. They were a riot. If someone gets too close or does something they don't like, you will hear about it. We also saw sloths, a green (likely poisonous) snake and an animal we couldn't identify. Good times.

The next day, the kids voted for some zip lining but the old people were a little skittish. We found one that was fairly chill and everyone enjoyed sliding through the canopy. The guides showed us a few sloths up in the trees and during the ziplining, one of the huge suckers slowly climbed down which is a rare sloth sight- some action!

And for one more animal sighting, Mila was thrilled to have this huge insect crawl up her arm. She had been chasing (and catching) nasty bugs all week. This was to be our last adventure in Uvita. We will never forget that house or week.

We had one more stop: San Gerardo de Dota. This is a valley located in the direction of the airport so I planned this one extra stop to split up the drive. Unlike most cloud forests in Costa Rica (like Monteverde) which are often on a 1 or 2 week itinerary, this one is relatively free of tourists. We found a cute little motel and while checking in, they told us there was a bird watching outing available in the morning. Only the youngest kid, JT, was up for the 5 am start.

This valley is actually famous for birdwatching due to one species: the Resplendent Quetzal. This beautiful bird is a famous one for the birder crowd and there were about a dozen very excited people along with us following these cool birds. We saw quite a few, so apparently we were lucky again.

The drive back was scenic until we got to San Jose and got lost a little bit. That was some hairy driving but when why not one more adventure? This vacation remains the favorite of all of the kids involved. Tracy is still not happy about all the bugs but otherwise the old people loved it too.