If other 6 countries in Central America are not as well known - almost everybody has heard about Costa Rica. Crystal blue water, volcanoes, amazing sunsets, lush rainforests and exotic animals. Adventure of a lifetime is promised if you 'google' vacation packages and it definitely can be true if you have the budget to make the dream come true, but as a backpacker that just came from Nicaragua - is it really worth all the hype?
Our first stop in Costa Rica was La Fortuna. From there you can do a lot of things - some are free, some are expensive. Comparing to previous countries - prices in Costa Rica are almost double. One of the most popular things is Arenal Volcano hike - as in last months we have slept next to erupting volcano and seen huge active craters - this was not something I felt the need to do. It is not allowed, but you can get a guide that helps you hike up to the summit. Is it okay to do illegal thing in a foreign country and think your pictures are worth more than a place that was and still is considered sacred by some? I would say no.
As we were trying to save money - we decided to hike to some the La Fortuna waterfall, because what could possible be better than to walk 10km in a 34degree heat to arrive to a waterfall that is so freezing cold that I can not even manage to go in it? The entrance ticket is 14$. But not only you get a beautiful view - you also get confirmation that you are as out of shape as you thought while climbing back up those stairs. It is truly a 2 for 1 kind of deal.
One of the things I really wanted to do in Costa Rica was walk on the hanging bridges and I was really sure that it is next to La Fortuna and by the map it does not look far until you realize that there are no short cuts and it takes 3 hours to get to town of Santa Elena. At least it said that it should take 3 hours - we were on a bus for 6 hours and it was only 120km.
When it comes to pricing for hostels - we stayed in Coati Place Hostel (pictures below are taken from Hostelworld app) and it was around 15$ per night/per person, which, of courses, is not a lot, but when you think it is a 7 month trip and there are 2 people on the budget - it becomes a lot.
If in other countries accommodation would be from 10-12$ and it had nightly activities, huge communal spaces and cheap hostel bars, then in Costa Rica they had the bare minimum for a higher price. Costa Rica was also the country we cooked a lot in, just because of the food prices as in only cheap food option was deep fried chicken and fries.
They say you can not put price on natures beauty, but in this case it was 40$ for Santa Elena Skywalk. It takes around an hour to walk through all of it.
Is it a nice view? 100% yes, you see so many different trees and plants. If You are in the area - you should definitely go see it.
Another way walking around in forest will make you poor in Costa Rica is if you go to Montverde Cloud Forest park (entrance- 28$). It is worth it though. And it truly is a cloud forest. They said to look around closely and maybe you can spot some sloths and we were so excited about that, went through all of the park and did not see anything. When we went out, we asked one of the workers there about it and he said he had not seen any in last couple of years. So, yeah. Here I am still 2 countries away from seeing a sloth in the wild.
If you have the budget for it - there are so many things to do around Santa Elena. Hikes, coffee tours, chocolate tours, orchid gardens, horseback riding tours, night jungle tours and many more.
We wanted to make a stop to wash all the clothing and have some home cooked meals, so we opted to stay in San Jose for a week. Cost of Airbnb for 6 nights in a guarded community was 400$. San Jose will always be the place where I first saw Lord of The Rings And Harry Potter for the 51st time.
And after that realised that we need to get out of the country because we are spending way too much money here, but before that we stopped at Puerto Viejo de Talamanca for couple of days. It is a beach town, that is very touristy. If you are having a vacation in just Costa Rica and want to spend some time at the beach - this might be a nice place to stop for a bit. If you are searching for the most beautiful beaches in the world - this one can be skipped.
When it comes to accommodations - I am not fussy, I am pretty easy going as long as the rooms and showers look okay. We usually book hostels only a couple of days before we go there, so a tent space in Rocking J's costs around 12$ per person, I think we paid around 18$ per person for a dorm in the sea cargo container( entrance in the picture below the hand( pictures are from Hostelworld again)). This place either has great reviews or horrible ones. After this place it was definitely time to get to Panama.
Thing I really did not like is how unsafe I felt there and in Costa Rica in general, which is weird when it is a very touristy country. If I would travel Guatemala and Nicaragua as a solo traveller - I would not want to travel Costa Rica alone.
Comparing to other countries we travelled to - Costa Rica might have not got a fair shot - we spent less time here because of the pricing and also because of the activities we had already done in other countries, but it also is a country I would only come back to if I would be willing to spend 3000$ for 10 days (excluding flights) and I do not think it will happen anytime soon.
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