Costa Rica 2019
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View from Playa Mantas, near Garabito, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. 14 August 2019.
On June 29th William broke his leg putting a large question mark on our planned trip to Costa Rica. When we saw the orthopedic surgeon and told him that we planned to leave on August 10th he said that he did not believe William would be able to go as he would still be in a cast and unable to safely get around. We told the doctor that was not an option and that he was going as the trip was in celebration of William graduating high school. We were hoping that at best he would be in a walking cast that would at least allow him to get around and go swimming.
By the two-week follow up with the doctor healed enough that the hard cast was removed and replaced with a walking cast. By the time we left William had been walking around home without a cast at all for over a week. We made William wear the walking cast on the flight down to Costa Rica because it was bulky and didn’t fit in the suit case well. And that was the last time he had it on. We were able to do everything we wanted! Go William!
Our trip to this wonderful country in the southern part of Central America was fantastic. Over the next few weeks, I’ll gather our thoughts and photos and post them to our website over the coming weeks. For now, We’ve posted a collection of our best photographs here.
In 1991 Russell and Mary visited Costa Rica for a two-week honeymoon. Returning 28 years later and retracing some of our steps with our family was special for us. Our first trip was mainly in the northwest part of the country, spending five days each in Quepos, Liberia and San Jose. From each of these locations we took day trips to other locations. We took the same approach this time except we spent 4 days at each location and the two final days in San Jose. Here is our itinerary.
August 10 – Flight from Philly to San Jose. Picked up rental car and drove to our hotel (Hotel Punta Leona) which was about 5 km north of the resort town of Jaco, on the Pacific coast.
August 11 – Chill day, swimming and relaxing.
August 12 – The original plan was to go to Manuel Antonio National Park. However, it was closed and it was raining heavily south of Jaco. Revised our plans and visited Carara National Park instead.
August 13 – Manuel Antonio National Park with a celebration dinner at La Luna, a fine restaurant near Quepos. The morning was bright and sunny. The afternoon saw rain with an attitude.
August 14 – Travel day. Used the morning for one last swim in the ocean. Afternoon drive to Blue River Resort only a few kilometers from the Nicaraguan boarder.
August 15 – Mary and the kids became zombies after sitting in the hot springs and taking baths in lava mud. Wasted day…
August 16 – Day trip to Santa Rosa National Park.
August 17 – Day trip to Rincón de al Vieja National Park.
August 18 – Travel day to La Fortuna.
August 19 – Chocolate and coffee tour, explored town of La Fourtuna.
August 20 – Arenal National Park.
August 21 – Children’s Eternal Rain Forest.
August 22 – Travel Day to Hotel Bougainvillea, near San Jose.
August 23 – Mary, Emily and Paddy explored downtown San Jose. Russell and William went up to volcan Irazú.
August 24 – Fight home. 5:00 PM: arrived in Philly. 5:20 PM: on the way home the family dropped Russell off at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester to see the Union play DC United! Philly crushed 3 to 1.