Traveling Costa Rica in a car
A 16 day road trip through Costa Rica with surfing, beaches and great food
Exploring Costa Rica
My girlfriend Patricia Pinto is a yoga teacher and the founder of Love Surf Yoga retreats. Every year she hosts a one week surf and yoga retreat at Boca Sombrero in Costa Rica and this year I decided tag along.
We wanted to see more of Costa Rica, so we booked an extra week and decided to make it into a road trip. This is our journey.
Arenal Volcano
Our car broke down on our first night in Costa Rica. Luckily for us, we were helped by local cops who even tagged along for some of the ride into our hotel.
Good thing my girlfriend speaks Spanish! Exhausted, we drove through what seemed to be the bumpiest of roads. Most of the smaller roads are terrible and you will definitely need a 4x4 in order to get around.
After a day of hiking through the Arenal National Park, we decided to drive around the Laguna de Arenal, and ended up in the beautiful hills of Monteverde. The dramatic hills were filled with wind turbines and the light was bright and yellow. A must go to place in Costa Rica.
Playa Hermosa
We drove down the coast line through the crocodile infested river of Rio Tarcoles and ended up at Playa Hermosa, a black sand beach with an advanced surf break. We chilled and hung around the small bars and swam around the warm waters.
Uvita
We arrived at Parque Nacional Marino Ballena, a national coastal park which translates to National Park Whale Beach, named after the shape of the coastal line which resembles a whale tail. We took a boat around the coast where we saw dolphins and visited a hidden beach that can only be reached by boat.
Boca Sombrero
After three days of driving we finally arrived at the retreat. Boca Sombrero is a beachfront yoga/surf center with pools, raised tents, and beautiful wood houses around the property. We stayed in the house below, only a 5 minute walk on the beach to the retreat center.
Surfing in the Osa Peninsula
The surf break has a left and right wave and a middle channel perfect for paddling out. It even has a A-wave if you paddle far enough. It is a unique and easily accessible surf break.
Wild life in Osa
A group of us took a boat trip to a wildlife sanctuary, where we hung out with monkeys, sloths, toucans, and many other animals.
The Osa Peninsula is one of the most biodiverse places in the Western hemisphere, and you can see and hear the wildlife all around you, from seeing exotic birds, to hearing the sounds of monkeys.
Rio Chirripo
After the hot days surfing and hanging out in Osa, we decided to head into the mountains for a refreshing break. We drove through Indian reservations and ended up in Chirripo lodge, a space located alongside the Rio Chirripo, with incomparable views of the mountains around us and a background noise of the river flowing.
Irazú Volcano
We left the following morning to go to the Irazu volcano. Googling the volcano shows images of a blue, almost green puddle of water inside the center of the volcano, but is now gone, due to the warm weather. We were told that the volcano had been dry for about 6 years.
You’ve reached the end
If you are interested in knowing more about Costa Rica or some of the locations, feel free to contact me.
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