Tuesday Voice: A trip to the northwest coast of Costa Rica

The end of the beach

By Ed Rogers

Costa Rica is divided into territories not unlike our counties or states. We live in the Cannon of Alajuela, in the Central Valley. To the west is the Cannon of Puntarenas. Alajuela is mountainous, cool, and green. Puntarenas is on the down slope of our mountain range and runs along the southern coast. The terrain goes from the green forest to hot beaches within a few miles of each other.
    A large mass of land to the northwest of us is the Cannon Guancaste. The land has few mountains and reminds me of the southern part of Texas where I grew up—flat, open country, men on horseback, and cattle roaming the fields. I could not help but think, This is not Costa Rica. However, that is the beauty of living in this wonderful country—there is something for everybody. If you don’t like one place, move a few miles down the road and you’ll find a whole new world.
    My daughter and son-in-law and his parents came to visit us last month. They landed at 11:30 a.m. on April 22 at Juan Santamaria Airport, which is near the capital city of San Jose. At the top of the hill from my home is the restaurant EL Jardin. There we met the van chartered to ferry us through Guancaste (Texas) to the coastal area of Playa Conchal, the location of one of the premier resorts in Costa Rica.
    The Westin Golf/Spa Resort is an all-inclusive hotel. It has six restaurants and as many bars. The service and the staff were top notch. A beautiful white sand beach awaited us, and the hotel staff brought our chairs out and placed them where we waned—either under the shade trees or in the sun.

Our daughter Shelley under our shade trees

You can lie around enjoying the sound of the sea all day, or walk to the North end of the beach, where there is a large rock formation jettisoning out into the Bay of Conchal.

The north beach

There you can swim with all sorts of fish and pick seashells until you can't carry anymore. Or, if saltwater and sand are not your thing, you can lie around in the cool waters of the pool, where you can swim to the bar for an all-included drink.

There are also zip-lines, crocodiles, monkeys, horseback riding, ATV rentals, and fishing trips to be had for an added fee. We went on the zip-line and the crocodile and monkey tour.

A zip-line in Costa Rica (photo from Wikipedia)

A croc boat

This croc was on the move

The monkeys were all over us

Monkey wanted more food from Tony

We had a wonderful time and other than the heat we enjoyed ourselves and met some very interesting people along the way.
    My daughter booked the tours through a gentleman by the name of Erik Garcia—one of the hardest-working people I’ve seen in Costa Rica. Once he meets you, he never forgets you. He can book tours for about anything in Costa Rica. But so can a lot of other people. Unlike the others, Erik is willing to lose a dollar today in order to make two dollars tomorrow. We were all set to go fishing (not a cheap thing to do), and I asked Erik to book us a half-day charter at about $600. He could have done it and made money, but instead he told me we would be wasting our money because there were only small fish to be caught on a half-day trip. It seems it takes a full day to get to where the big ones are. The price was more than we were willing to pay, but if deep-sea fishing is something that you truly want to do, then $1,600-1,800 might be worth the trip.
    All beaches in Costa Rica are open to the public. To reach the beach from the resort you must pass through a guarded gate. As you walk to the beach you will find vendors and massage tables scattered among the trees. They sell t-shirts, handcrafted towels, dope pipes, and trinkets of all kind. The first price the vendors give you is never the right price and they are surprised when the gringos pay it. The prices charged are fair, even if you don’t try and bring them down. You will pay more for the same thing in the shops.
    We picked a spot, with a great view and all day shade. The sun will cook you down here. It needs to be taken a little at at a time.

Warm water + sand = fun

    Erik’s wife, Gigi, gives therapeutic massages. Her business was set up under the same shade trees, which we had began to call home. She started with a price $35, but came down to $20. The slow time of the day is the best time to shop for the right price. I enjoyed a very relaxing hour under her skilled hands. You can email Erik Garcia.

There was a saying in Texas: "No matter where you are going, it is a long ways." So is Playa Conchal! My advice to anyone going to visit the Westin is to fly into Liberia and take the shuttle to the hotel. My daughter and son-in-law landed in San Jose and endured a 5-hour trip over the great highways of Costa Rica. (There are no great roads in CR.) Living closer to the Westin, our side of the trip was 4 hours. For those interested, the shuttle from San Jose for six people costs $240 one way, $480 round trip. The bus service in CR is very good and you can go anywhere very cheaply. Just keep an eye on your bags. Never put them under the bus. Always overhead and across from you. This way, looking up, your property will be in sight.
    If you are looking for a fine place to stay and just relax, and you can afford it (the rates are better in April), the Westin is a good place to hang your hat. For the most part the staff all speak English, the food is more like the States, there are mostly all Norte Amercanos, so there are plenty of people to talk with. However, if finding Costa Rica is your goal, I’m afraid the Westin is too American for that.

The end

                              Until next time, Pura Vida from Ed & Janie
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Copyright © 2013 by Ed Rogers

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