Two Weeks in Costa Rica Part 2: Two more days in Costa Rica

This is part 2 of our first two weeks in Costa Rica, you can read Part 1: Three days in Costa Rica here.

Hummingbird makes the rubbish
weather feel better

Day Four: It's still raining and windy, we could have stayed in England if we wanted weather like this, but we're off to La Paz Waterfall Gardens today so nothing is going to dampen our spirits. I could, and probably will, write a whole post about La Paz Waterfall Gardens. It is an amazing place filled with wildlife that we've never seen in real life. There's a mixture of enclosures with different types of animals as well as wild animals in the grounds of the gardens.

Hummingbird acrobatics as La Paz

We see birds (Iris even got to feed a toucan), insects, spiders, monkeys, butterflies, snakes, frogs, orchids, hummingbirds and big cats. The most impressive part of the day was watching some of the 26 different species of hummingbird in the hummingbird garden, they flit about so gracefully and their wings are a blur. You can hear their wings beating as they whoosh past your head getting from one feeding spot to the next.

We had the buffet lunch at the garden which has a huge array of Costa Rican and American foods on offer and get chatting to fellow diners from the USA, Costa Rica and France. After lunch we see the big cats, they had been rescued from a sanctuary that was closing down and cannot be released back in the wild. This was the only downside to the day, the cages the cats were in were far too small and the jaguars and pumas were just pacing back and forth which is a sign of stress or boredom.

One of the waterfalls

We go for a drink at the Trout Lake Bar and debate whether it's worth walking the waterfall trail to take in the five waterfalls that give the park the name, we've heard it's a steep climb back up to the shuttle bus and one of us would have to carry Iris (who isn't getting any lighter!). We decide we might as well give it a go and we're really glad that we did! Even though it's dry season the five waterfalls are really impressive, ranging from 5m (15ft) to 37m (120ft). The million steps back up are less fun but will help burn off some of those buffet calories!

Nice end to the day

We drive back and have dinner in our chalet in Poás, build a fire and fall asleep on the sofa, all in all it's been a good day.

Day Five: We have to check out by midday, which we've seen before and is much more civilised than back home where you often have to be out by 10am, I think I can get used to the relaxed Tico attitude to time. We can take our time having breakfast and getting ready to head back to San José. The breakfasts are great, a typical breakfast is Gallo Pinto (Tico rice and beans), fried plantain, scrambled egg and some fruit. Today Iris had yogurt, granola and fruit (pineapple, banana, papaya and strawberries), I had American pancakes, fruit and maple syrup and SJ had a re-fried beans, scrambled egg, cheese and ham sandwich. Strawberries and blackberries grow well up here, so we have some delicious strawberry juice to wash it down.

Iris riding a bull in
San José

We drive back to San José for another overnight stay that we found on Airbnb. We decide it would be a good idea to get the car tax/insurance (called marchamo), technically we're driving illegally and if we're stopped by the police they can take our number plates off! In theory this is easy and can be done in lots of places, including the supermarket. On our first attempt we're told there is no connection to the central system, and to try again in 30 minutes. 45 minutes later we're told that the cashier is waiting for his colleague with the actual bits of paper that are used to print the marchamo, she was due to arrive at 2pm but it's now 3:15. He assures us that she should arrive soon, and definitely before they shut at 5! Another 20 minutes later and we're called over to pay, but they won't accept an international credit card so we need to get the $200 out in cash to pay.

Eventually the system is up, the special paper is in the printer, we have the cash so we were set. We need to provide the number plate, passport, and a phone number - but not an international one as it doesn't fit in the field on their system - we use a Tico friend's number as we haven't sorted out local SIM cards yet. So something that should have been a five minute job has taken the best part of an hour and a half, Tico time doesn't always work in your favour!

Whilst putting the shopping back into the car, the back window gets stuck halfway down and won't budge up or down, this is not good especially as all of the advice is about making sure your car is secure without any valuables in it. We carefully drive to our accommodation which luckily has a secure garage. A neighbour called Kelis from Venezuela let us in, she is very friendly and her son, Jose Leonardo, was keen to practice his English.

Guitar statue

We get an Uber into town to get some food and have a look around, the driver gives us tips about staying safe and which parts of San José to avoid. She also recommends Central Avenue, a pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants, but they're mainly international fast food joints and we want something different. It's fun to be among lots of people again, there's lots of life in the city, people enjoying the warm evening with friends and family, it feels like Spain. We pass Central Park, the National Theatre and enjoy the various statues along the way and soak up the vibe. We've found a nice-looking Argentinian place for dinner called La Esquina de Buenos Aires, with an obligatory stop at the climbing frame we pass on the way.

Big plate of Argentinian meat!

This is more like it! A lovely menu with too many things to chose from. This is obviously somewhere that tourists come to as well as locals for a special occasion (we hear at least three different rounds of Happy Birthday). Delicious Argentinian meat, Spanish Albariño and desserts that are on fire.

Carlo says the car window thing has happened to him a couple of times but it sorted itself by the next day, fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we're off to stay at the Mirador de Quetzales, but you'll have to wait to hear about that.