Costa Rica Trip - Part 3 Uvita Beach Cabin and San Jose

Our first night in the cabin was loud and almost a battle field....the cabin was right next to a marshy area so it was infested with bugs. We were constantly spraying on bug spray. The ocean waves and random rain showers were very loud since our windows just had screens on them not glass. And the air was very humid and hot....so if we weren't swatting at bugs we were sweating and sticky. But even with all that I enjoyed our little cabin on the beach. It was fun waking up to all the bird calls and monkey noises in the morning.

The first day at the cabin we took it pretty easy...hanging out in the morning and then swimming on our beach, and looking for sea shells.

 

 

At lunch time we walked down the beach to try and find a restaurant the cabin caretaker told us about. We found one but wasn't sure about it. So we walked back to the car and drove to a nearby Soda that had nachos and then we went shopping at the grocery store and found some Tres Leche Cake....so yummy.

 

Tres Leche Cake....yummmm

The afternoon we hung out on the beach, playing with hermit crabs and then that evening we ate some sandwiches and relaxed in out rooms....until Jeanette and Becca started yelling. They had the downstairs room and when they had come out to get something they found our living area full of visitors....crabs...lots of crabs...they made their home in holes all around the cabin.

After another loud damp night...fighting bugs and a migraine...I woke up the next morning kind of exhausted. But this was the day were were going to drive inland and up into the mountains to one of the last native villages in Costa Rica. The natives made their living carving traditional masks and weaving bags. The drive up was breathtaking. The road was dirt and ran along the top of a mountain ridge. The people of the village were very friendly and their artwork was very pretty. I bought a couple masks and a set of bow and arrows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home we stopped at a buffet resturant...the food wasn't that good....and when we got back to the cabin, while the others went swimming again, I took a nap and tried to get over my migraine. That late afternoon the heaven's opened and the rain came down...and didn't stop coming down...we were stuck at our cabin for the rest of the evening. So we played some Phase 10 and when I went back up to my room I discovered that our ceiling had sprung a leak...it was a very wet humid night.

 

 

The next morning we drove into the nearby village of Uvita for breakfast. And then we went down to a national park called Whale Tail beach. We hiked out to the "Whale Tail" and did a little bit of gift shopping. Jeanette, Becca and Matt wanted to go swimming at a different beach but Cari and I were a bit tired so the two of us relaxed back at the cabin while the others were out swimming. Then we left the cabin early for dinner trying to get out before the nightly rain fall started. We found great place to eat that also served some Churchill ice cream.

 

 

 

 

Then we went back to the cabin to watch one last sunset on our beach and start packing up. We were leaving for San Jose in the morning. It was our last night at our cabin.

It rained hard again that night so all of us didn't get much sleep and were up pretty early the next morning. We packed up the car and said goodbye to the caretaker. On the way out we ate breakfast at the same place we ate the day before. Then we started our drive up into the mountains. Matt and I were wanting to buy hammocks so we stopped at a couple little shops that sold them.

 

 

The road into the mountains was paved and we traveled pretty quickly but every now and then we stopped to take pictures of the amazing views.

 

 

We reached San Jose about mid-afternoon and traffic was a little crazy. San Jose is a huge city and trying to find the apartment/townhouse we rented for the night was quite the adventure. But we did find it and we very pleased at how nice it was.

We started our laundry and decided to try and find somewhere to eat. Everyone voted on PF Changs...and we ventured out to try and find it. After a few wrong turns and heavy heavy traffic plus heavy rainfall...we found it and enjoyed a wonderful meal. For dessert we all split a huge chocolate cake.

 

After dinner, Cari and Matt dropped the rest of us off at the apartment while they took the rental car back. We had a shuttle picking us up at 2 am the next morning. It took the three hours to get the car back because a big hole had opened up on one of the bridges on the freeway...traffic was going at a snail's pace. We tried to get our bags all packed up with all our souvenirs. And then tried to rest.

2 AM came all too early and we found ourselves outside on the curb waiting for our shuttle. No one was outside. We saw a few wild dogs but nothing else. Our shuttle arrived and we arrived at the airport with plenty of time. We walked around the gift shops and grabbed some last gifts.

We once again flew back through Panama City. On the way in I got some great shots of the Panama Canal and the city.

At the Panama City airport we had to go through customs again and then we settled in for our long long flight home...I watched two movies and read books.

 

This was an amazing trip and I made new friends and am so glad to have gone. I can't wait for my next adventure.