Costa Rica 1: La Fortuna & Arenal

It was February 2012, and Mike and I were standing in the searing cold blizzard at Toronto Pearson's long term parking, waiting for a bus. I couldn't help but bring my warm windbreaker with to the airport.  Luckily, I wouldn't need it for the rest of the week. We were going to Costa Rica.

Boat ride in Quepos

We travelled in a group tour, which was a first for us, with G Adventures. We chose them mainly for the price, because it's a Canada based company, and the website really inspires you to go on their Costa Rica Quest. We thought we'd see how the group experience would enhance our travels, and for this tour it certainly did. We had a great tour group of about 12 people, and a fantastic guide in Randy. In all my experiences so far, Randy is the best guide I've ever had for any group tour.

There are definitely some good reasons to go with a group rather than a self-guided tour in this country. The main reason is the roads. We didn't travel very far by distance, but at times travelling 20km could take 5 hours on these roads. These drivers change their suspension twice a year because the roads are so rough on the cars. Above that, I barely saw a road sign in the rural areas, especially on the way to Monteverde. Coming to a T intersection with no signs can be pretty irritating as a tourist, and you can't assume that the locals can speak English to help you out.

Of course there was the social aspects too, we did more partying, and Costa Rica is certainly a place to party it up. It was great to have the guide to provide us information for all the sights we visited, and just in general make sure things went smoothly.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Costa Rica is not a cheap Central American getaway. All places accept US dollars, and prices are similar to what you'd find in the states, especially around tourist areas. But you won't get people hounding you to spend money in their stores or on the streets either, and you won't be hit in the face by poverty. As the tourism board suggests, Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth. Even the poor appear to the outsider to be enjoying their simple lives, and the country thrives on tourism revenue without socially pressuring money out of your pockets. No one is asking for a handout here.

9 Day Costa Rica Itinerary

Trip Style: Group tour

Transportation: 4x4, minibus, ferry

Average daily cost: CAD$170/night (generally including tour, accommodations, all activities, all meals)

Travel dates: February 11-19, 2012

San Jose

We arrived in San Jose late in the afternoon, so we only had time to join the group introduction, have dinner with the group, and buy some snacks for the road at a local supermarket. We never got to see much of San Jose, except for the drive through it the next morning. It gives the overall impression of most South American cities I've seen though, and we never felt we were missing anything here. This was reinforced by our group mates who had spent a day or two in town before leaving on the tour.

White Water Rafting

We departed for Arenal early on the second day of the tour. Mike and I had signed up for the Adventure package which included a rafting tour. We were dropped off before reaching Arenal for the white water rafting. The coordination between our CEO (Chief Experience Officer aka G adventures guide) and the companies that provided the activities was like clockwork. We had just enough time to sunscreen up and sign a waiver before the boats were in the water and we were drifting downstream.

This rafting had some fun and challenging waves. Our boat accidentally got stuck in an eddy, well it started off intentional until we couldn't get out. Our guide had to get out of the boat and find land to try and pull us out of the tide. That was a thrilling 15 minutes for all of us, and our exercise requirement for the day. One of our teammates had purchased a waterproof action-camera for the trip. He pinned it on his lifejacket, and it fell off and was lost at the first hint of a tumble.

A photographer provided pictures of our group for purchase at the end of the trip. We purchased the group's photos and shared them amongst ourselves afterwards.

Arenal

We arrived in Arenal later in the afternoon. We checked in at the Hotel La Fortuna, which was beautiful and tropical, it felt all the more classy following our basic San Jose accommodations. The afternoon was spent roaming around town, enjoying the park, and then a group of us shared a taxi to the La Fortuna waterfall.

The trail to La Fortuna Waterfall

There's a short 15-20 minute hike from the park entrance to the waterfall, with a few viewpoints for the waterfall on the way. We brought swimsuits and the weather was perfect to hop in the water at the bottom. We sunbaked on the rocks for a bit, and were dry by the time we got back into the taxi. When we returned to the park entrance we had the ticketer call the taxi for us because there were none waiting.

La Fortuna Waterfall

We grabbed cocktails during the happy hour downstairs, then went to a restaurant as recommended by our guide. One thing I notice about the tours I've taken with G Adventures, is they tend to take the groups on outings to gringo restaurants. I'm not sure if part of this is for food safety and regulation reasons - they surely don't want to be responsible for participants getting sick - or if it's trying to give tourists what they think we want. I'm sure it's partly to provide good business for certain local restaurants, which of course charge the 'tourist rate' on their menus. I would prefer to be taken to places that feel more local.

Park in Arenal town centre

The next day we had lunch at the restaurant across the road from the hotel entrance. We spent about $3-4 each on Casado - rice with beans, plantain and fried meat. This was my favourite meal of the trip. And no one got sick from it either (or for the whole trip, for that matter).

Canyoneering

As part of our adventure pack, we had arranged to go canyoneering in Arenal. This was a lot of fun, scrambling our way down the streams and absailing down some small waterfalls. The last waterfall was a tall one, and we took more of a leap of faith and glided to the bottom of that one. You can't bring your own camera for this activity because it's guaranteed to get wet, but the tour provided a photographer that sold us the photos at the end of the tour.

Canyoneering

There was a hiccup at the end of the canyoneering tour, when it was unclear if transportation had been arranged for our group or not. We all just ended up walking back into town instead of waiting to see what would happen.

View on the drive to Canyoneering

I only wish we had the time to also climb the Arenal Volcano, the people that did the climb said it was challenging but worth the sight at the top.

Hot Springs

On the third night in La Fortuna our group visited the local hot springs. Dinner was included, towel service was at a minimal extra cost but we brought our own. The lower pool had a water slide and wet bar service. The upper pools were smaller and quieter, and they got warmer the higher you walked uphill. One of the hotter pools also had a cold dunking pool next to it, so you could slip between the two. If you're in La Fortuna, these hot springs were relaxing and clean.

Arenal Volcano as viewed from the Hotel La Fortuna

After three nights in La Fortuna, we spent the next day travelling to Monteverde.

Next: Monteverde

Mornington Peninsula

Melbourne has access to several winery regions, the most popular being the Yarra Valley in the North East, and the Mornington Peninsula in the South East. Here I'm going to focus on the Mornington Peninsula as far as you can throw it for a day or weekend trip.

What I love about the Mornington Peninsula, is that no matter the level of drought in Victoria, this coastal area is always surprisingly green. On the way out, I'm usually in a hurry to leave the city, so I take the M11 south and follow signs towards Red Hill. Once you exit the highway, you'll start to see wineries. Stop in at any one of them and they can provide you with a map of the area.

Most wineries provide inexpensive (and sometimes free) wine tastings, and most will comp the tastings if you decide to buy a glass or bottle of wine. I've only ever had good experiences at the wineries I've tried so far. So far I've enjoyed a delicious charcuterie board at Hickinbotham of Dromana (shared easily between 4-5 people. They also had a chocolate tasting plate that I'll have to go back for). We also shared a selection of tasteful desserts at Darling Park Winery - these guys were fantastic, still serving us food when we arrived at 4pm (their kitchen was closing), and they even gave us some complimentary limoncello shots.

On our way through the winery district, we found a cherry and berry farm that was selling fresh produce. He offered us to try the fruit and it was so good that we brought two buckets each of cherries and blueberries back home with us (most of which didn't make it to Melbourne before getting eaten).









From here, on one occasion we also visited a Hedge Maze, and that took the better half of the afternoon. It's best to get lunch elsewhere beforehand, or bring a picnic for this one, although they do have a cafe available on site to purchase food too.
What I liked about this place was that not only did it have two hedge mazes to navigate, but the gardens that the mazes lead to were enchanting. This is definitely a great experience for kids, but my friends and I in our early twenties still enjoyed it too.

Garden at Ashcombe Maze

A more mature alternative, would be to visit the Hot Springs. This is probably best done early in the morning (when the water feels a bit cleaner from the overnight maintenance), but can be done in the evening for a spectacular sunset view from the top pool. We went in the late afternoon when the ambient temperature had cooled down, and most of the pools were still fairly busy at that time.

On the return drive to Melbourne, I like to drive along Purves Road through Arthur's Seat State Park on the way home, for a stunning view of Port Phillip Bay. From here you can follow signs back to the M11, or head to the beach for a while and take the Nepean Road along the coast for as long as you like.

Switzerland 3: Stelvio Pass & Bormio

Monday, September 17

This is the day! Pretty much the whole itinerary revolved around today, the day we did the Stelvio Pass. As mentioned previously, this has absolutely got to be one of the best drives in the world, as featured on Top Gear. Be aware, many roads in this route are closed in winter.

Fluella Pass

Now I'm sure there's a few routes that can be done here. You need to know what route you plan to drive before leaving. We found that the GPS kept trying to stick to main roads and avoiding the whole point of today's drive. So we had to tell the GPS to take us to random places along the route in order to stay on track.

The drive from Davos to Bormio

We began our drive heading east out of Davos, towards the Flüella pass (28). This is the most important step to get started in the right direction. The Flüella pass was spectacular, with silver rocky mountains for turn after turn, and a couple of clear and calm lakes to stop at. I wanted to get out of the car every minute to take pictures, until Mike got fed up and refused to stop - he was excited to see the Stelvio Pass. We turned right at Stradun (27) and followed this all the way to the Mount La Schera tunnel, as per the GPS instructions. We felt a little anxious waiting at the tunnel entrance, not quite sure where we were or where the tunnel would lead us. We waited about 10 minutes for the one-way traffic from the other side to come through, then entered the tunnel. The tunnel runs about 4km, and is dead straight the entire way. That alone makes for an intriguing time, with absolutely no variation in what you see for 10-15 minutes, just the car in front and in the rearview mirror, and the lights flying past.

Fluella Pass

When we exited the tunnel, the scenery had changed drastically. The grey pebbled mountains gave way to an expansive still-water lake and abundant spruce trees. And oh yeah, keep an eye out for those marmots! Those cute little guys were spotted a few times just off the roadside.

Marmot on the roadside!

From here, we followed the GPS directions to Bormio. We passed what initially looked like large touristy ski towns, and then progressively smaller local mountain towns. The alpine Italian towns just became more and more surreal until we finally reached Bormio.

Stelvio Pass

We quickly checked into our hotel, then continued to Stelvio, with Mike so anxious to drive the pass that even lunch had to wait!

Stelvio Pass

The Stelvio pass, when driven from Bormio, just becomes more exciting the closer you get. Honestly, I can't adequately describe the feeling of driving up and down those hairpin turns (mainly because it was Mike driving), but the exhilaration was as anticipated. The only way it could have been better was if we were driving an Aston Martin. That would have been cool.

A toll for the pass was introduced in 2013, just for the tourists. Be careful driving the Stelvio pass, there are a few hold ups with cyclists (how or why they cycled up that I'll never understand), motorcyclists, cars and buses. The buses do a three point turn at every hairpin turn, so if you're stuck behind one, it can kill the fun for a bit until you can pass.

We reached Stelvio, which is a tough town to drive in, with the roads only barely fitting a single car going one way. We struggled to park in the half-parking-spot at the only restaurant we could find in town. The pasta there was that perfect texture of fresh homemade pasta. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the bee that stung me killed my spirit for a little while there. I survived, and we headed back to Bormio, very happily, the way we had just come.

Stelvio

           

Above is a video of the Stelvio Pass. Apologies for the poor quality - the upload size is limited so it appears compressed and pixelated, but on the small viewer you can get the point. Any solutions someone can offer for this would be grand.

Bormio

Bormio is an Alpine spa town, and we stayed at the Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi - which has the best reputation for a spa hotel that I have ever seen. The hotel had several decadent indoor and outdoor baths, pools, spas, and saunas which we were able to enjoy at our leisure. Usually admission is about $50 per person, but it was included in our hotel stay (we splurged on this). Even if not staying at the hotel, it is worthwhile to visit the spa for a half day or so. With the hotel being high upon a mountain, the outdoor pools have breathtaking views of the town and valley below.

We spent the afternoon exploring the old town of Bormio. This is another city of cobblestone narrow pathways, stone buildings, courtyards and archways. We decided to have dinner in town, and being Italy, most restaurants appeared to be closed. We found a pizzeria that was open, where we had a fairly ordinary pizza.

I regret not having dinner at the hotel restaurant. The prices were moderately expensive, at about mid-20's for a main. The restaurant was in a glamorous dining hall, beautifully decorated and furnished, providing an atmosphere of prestige. We ordered dessert, and were presented with a platter of delicate candies as a palate cleanser before our dessert arrived, even though we hadn't had dinner there.

Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi

View from Bagni Nuovi

Our comfortable stay in this premium hotel topped off the best travel day of our Swiss vacation.

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