A Vacation in the Tropical Paradise: Jaco, Costa Rica
Day 1, March 1:
Morning
The hot Costa Rican sun beat down on my arms, and I felt my pale skin turning a light shade of burnt red as the sun’s rays reached down to greet me. SPF 85 it is. My hair grew about 10 times its normal size as a wave of heat greeted us when we stepped off the plane from a 2.5-hour flight. We traded our winter coats in for two-piece bathing suits, which we stuffed 20 pair of in our carry-ons, and headed straight for the beach.
The white Florida sand we typically sink our toes into turned to black dirt that stuck between our toes like mud. The seashells we collect on the coasts of Florida turned to rocks we used as souvenirs. Mountains lined the corners of the beach and palm trees swayed in the tropical oasis we had been dreaming of for months.
The mountainous terrain wasn’t Florida anymore.
Afternoon
We walked 20 steps from our room to our first Costa Rican meal at Clarita’s. I tried my best to eat the traditional food- and by best, I mean my diet consisted of quesadillas and chicken tacos for the week. The waitress at Clarita’s brought out huge plates of loaded nachos, cheesy quesadillas and authentic tacos. This food hits different than the Taco Bell I’m used to.
Our feet hit the pavement as we explored a few markets after lunch and then headed to the beach before dinner. We splashed around in the huge waves rolling in as the sun started to set.
Evening
At exactly 5:50 p.m., watching the sunset became an unmentioned appointment in our imaginary itinerary. The sky turns a bright tangerine orange as the sun sinks below the horizon and casts a golden glow on the sky around it. As the sun sinks, the tangerine mixes with the blue sky and slowly turns to pink, which fades to purple. The scene God paints is truly breath taking. Ashlyn likes to say, “Sunsets are my love language.” When you watch them in Costa Rica, I think they become everyone’s love language.
The first night of our arrival, and Maddie’s 21st birthday, called for celebrating! We took a taxi to a restaurant downtown that lived up to its name. Graffiti covers the walls on each side of us, so it’s only makes sense to call it Graffiti. A live band played music as we went around the table laughing and sharing stories about the day.
This time around the dinner table established the tradition of sharing our highs and lows for the day. My high for the day was the turbulence we hit on the airplane- it felt like a rollercoaster, so I thought it was fun! My low was when we first arrived in customs. The guard asked me where I was going; and without hesitation, I told him, “Costa Rica” as I stood in the Costa Rica airport. Security made me nervous. The guard was not amused, but we had a good laugh about it.
After dinner, we managed to flag down a taxi (there are no Ubers easily accessible) and speak enough of what sounded like Spanish to get us back to our condo. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. We had been up since 2:45 a.m., and it was now 11:30 p.m.
Day 2, March 2:
Morning
I woke up to the sun beaming through the balcony window at 6:30 a.m. Seven girls weaved in and out of each room, flinging clothes everywhere in efforts to coordinate outfits for the day. Even the non-morning people couldn’t help but feel joyful. None of us knew what the day held, but we were excited and ready!
I slapped my electric blue Florida Gators hat on and walked out the door with sunscreen in my hand- I needed to soak myself in this stuff. We walked to get breakfast at a buffet called Soda Jaco Rustico so we could be nourished for the day’s adventures. It had the best buffet selection of eggs, meat, rice (they have that with every meal) and fruit.
A tourist sitting down at the restaurant noticed the hat I wore and shouted that he graduated from FSU. He suggested we hang out at the hotel he was staying at because it was really cool. We thought it was a little strange for him to mention, but we shrugged the comment off. After he waved goodbye, a local who was sitting near us approached our table and said the hotel was a known spot for prostitution.
That’s the story on how we almost got sex trafficked. Be careful folks.
Our tour guide for the next two days was the owner of a company called Backcountry Tours Costa Rica. He pulled up in his SUV on the street outside of the restaurant. We rode 60mph in the backseat with no seat belts or handle grips, dodging holes along the way. It was like being on a rollercoaster… without the safety bar to hold you down. Mom was going to love this story. We hopped out and started up the path at the base of the mountain. If you want to read the details about this excursion, read *here*. There were other funny moments I didn’t include in there that I will write about here.
I was the first to walk out on the boards that led to the pool of water beneath us. Our jumping spot consisted of two boards nailed together, wedged in the corner of a water fall with a large gap between the rock and the boards. Ashlyn and Lauren followed close behind.
I stood there as my mind raced with all the possible missteps I could make and each analysis resulting in serious injury or death. If I lost my balance, I could break a few bones or get a concussion. As these scenarios played through my head, the corner of my eye caught Ashlyn slipping on the board and her body going back. I reached for her but couldn’t catch her in time. She was able to reach her arms back to grab onto the stairs while holding the rest of her body up with her legs.
And that’s the story of how Ashlyn almost died (the first time), and almost killed me with a heart attack in the process.
We scaled the rest of the mountain with ropes hanging from the side and our hands grasping to the edges of the mountain rock that jutted out. It felt like real life rock climbing, except there were no harnesses; and I was in nothing but a bathing suit with wet socks and tennis shoes. It’s called fashion- look it up.
I backed out of jumping at least four times at this particular waterfall. It was the highest one. As I went to make the leap, I stepped off the board and within a few seconds felt the rush of icy water come over my head. Along with the feeling of icy water came a stabbing pain that felt like knives poking through my knees.
I scrambled up to the surface, everyone cheering because we finally made the jump. I managed to swim over to the rocks where I could rest my knee. It was already bloody and turning purple. Battle wounds! The rush from my adrenaline made the nerves in my knee shake like crazy. I was able to hike the rest of the way down the mountain with slight discomfort, but it did ache every step.
We stepped off the mountain, filing into our guide’s car and stopped for an appetizer before the meal we were about to devour. The fresh pineapple was dripping with juices at each cut of his pocket-knife. It was the best pineapple I’ve ever eaten.
Afternoon
Lunch was high in the mountains at a place called Bar Cantina el Tajo. The floor was dirt and the restaurant door-less. Chickens, dogs and cats roamed around the tables as we looked out over the mountainside to see a peek of ocean and a valley of luscious trees surrounding us on all sides.
We rode back home and spent time before dinner laying out by the beach. The waves crashing against the shore is peaceful and soothing. It’s calming after a day of high-strung nerves.
Evening
Later that night, we ran across downtown, attempting to avoid being hit by cars, and stopped to get some gelato at Heladeria El Barco. I got “crunchy,” which tasted like cookies and cream with beads of graham cracker mixed in. Ice cream is the way to my heart!!!
As we walked through the doors to our condo, the adrenaline numbing the pain had finally worn off; and we went to the store to purchase hydrogen peroxide. The screams of girls pressing the medicine on their wounds echoed through the house, and I tried to suppress mine as the cotton rubbed against my skin. My wounds were not only on my knee but my butt was scratched up BAD. I scratched it sliding down rocks on mini waterfalls, and now it was bright red and close to bloody. It was that night I learned that only true friends will pin you to the bed (I was scared) and hold your hand while they rub hydrogen peroxide on your butt for you. LOL.
Day 3, March 3:
Morning
The sun streamed through my bedroom window the next morning. I moved to sit up and realized the challenge in doing so. My back is sore, my arms are sore, my stomach aches and my butt stings a little. I flipped the covers back. Purple and blue surrounded my kneecap with slight traces of red scratch marks. That wasn’t going to feel good to walk on. I moved to climb out of bed and realized the full effect of that statement. I definitely needed to get that looked at when I got home.
We still had a full day ahead, and I wasn’t going to let this stop me. No time for the weak! Suck it up and move on (that goes for a lot of other things in life too). Near mid-afternoon, the same tour guide picked us up for our next adventure: ATV riding up a mountain.
Afternoon
We went to Soda Garabito for lunch, which was a buffet-type lunch. It had a lot of options to eat, including a ham and cheese sandwich, which is what I got. Ordering off menus in Costa Rica isn’t too difficult if you can pick out the words that are similar to the English language.
After lunch, we went to the fruit market around the corner to kill time and get smoothies. We waited on the street corner for our guide to come. When our guide finally arrived, we piled into his car and headed off to our next adventure.
The bandanas that wrapped around our face hung low over our nose and mouth to block out the dust that stirred from the ground and lifted up into the air. The two braids I styled my hair in flew back in the wind as my thumb pressed down on the gas. We straddled the semi-automatic ATV as we made our way around the back country of Costa Rica.
We made a stop under the trees and listened for the sound of monkeys. They hopped from branch to branch as they ran to greet us, welcoming our arrival. We fed them bananas and watched as they grabbed the pieces to nibble on. It was the cutest thing ever. We also saw a few sloths in the trees further along the path. I can hear the sound of check marks being marked off my bucket list by the second.
A stop along the ocean led to climbing along a private beach. The shouts of hermit crab races and cheering echoed throughout the empty beach. I was more interested in shell searching. I found a broken conch shell to scoop up and put in my backpack for later. Souvenir.
Black rock form along the side of the ocean that is shaped from fallen volcano ash. Waves broke against the rock wall as they crashed against it. We passed small tidal pools with old coral reef and starfish lounging at the bottom.
As I continued to follow the guide, he told us we would be climbing to a cave. But to get to the cave required a little bit of climbing. It was low tide and “easy” to get to at this time of day. I had an uneasy feeling; but I also have a terrible fear of missing out, so I kept following. I stepped down off of the rocks and into the ocean to grab onto the rock wall that was to the left of me for support.
The waves kept rolling in and crashing into me, threatening to carry me out to sea if I let go of the rock. Stepping from rock to rock was like a game of hopscotch except I couldn’t see the rocks because of the constant crashing of waves that made it impossible to see. So, I just hopped and hoped for the best.
I made my way into the shallow cave and skipped over stones that littered the dark cave floor. The moment we sat on the sand at the back of the cave is when my anxiety started creeping in. If the tide swept in I would be trapped here. I didn’t like it. I quickly jumped up and started making my way back towards safety. Scaling waterfalls yesterday didn’t scare me but climbing into a cave sure did. It’s weird how we don’t know fears we have until we’re put in situations that cause us to fear them.
Evening
We safely returned back to the ATVs and spent the rest of the evening eating pineapple at a lookout over the mountain. Some of the girls tried termites (which are apparently a good source of protein and make your breath minty). I didn’t because there was no way I was going to eat that. Golden hour was beautiful on top of the mountain. The whole city lit up around us, and the ocean reflected the glowing colors of the sun that started to set.
We rode to another place that was higher on the mountain and watched the rest of the sun sink down from there. A lighthouse flashed into the distance. The view was breathtaking.
It was dark when we rode our ATVs into the barn. It was past dinner time, and we were starving. We walked into Taco Bar with tennis shoes caked in mud, shirts drenched in water and sweat, hair blown all over the place like we took a blow dryer to it, and faces smeared with dirt. I think the word “classy” defined us in that moment. Swings hang from the roof of the bar, and strings of lights hang over the patio tables. It’s an adorable atmosphere with amazing tacos and smoothies. Highly recommend.
Day 4, March 4:
Morning
We had one more full day of touring, and we used it to explore the other side of Jaco. We heard there were ancient ruins in the mountains called El Miro. It was about 3 miles from our condo to the other side of Jaco, so it didn’t take us long to get there except that we didn’t know exactly where we were going.
We stopped halfway to pick up breakfast at Pachi’s Pan. Food is important, and these girls weren’t going to skip a meal! After ordering, we headed upstairs to sit at a balcony that overlooked downtown. I’m obsessed with bread- croissants, baguettes, any type of pastry. I’m not lying when I claim the ham, egg and cheese-filled pastry was the best meal of the whole trip. The thick egg had layers of ham on the inside of a soft, flaky pastry that created hot strings of cheese when I bit into the bread. Highly recommend these, too.
We finished eating and continued walking down the beach, enjoying the breeze and each other’s company. Our feet sunk into the sand and the water seeped into the sores on our feet. We crossed the highway and found a path leading up the mountain. It was STEEP. Every move ached because our bodies were still recovering from the previous day’s excursions. I decided to run a portion of it. It’s better to get it over with quickly than slowly suffer with pain- rip it off like a band-aid.
The top was a beautiful view of the city with ruins from an old structure that once served a purpose we no longer know. Monkeys jumped from limb to limb in the trees above us. The view of the city from this side of town was beautiful. Graffiti is painted over every piece of the ancient structure. Usually this looks messy; but somehow, it appears to be a unique form of art here.
We headed back down the mountain (it was a lot easier going down!) and caught a taxi half the way back home. Our bodies were too tired to put in any more effort without crumbling to the ground.
Afternoon
We changed into our bathing suits and spent a few hours laying in the sun, the heat baking our skin. It was past lunchtime, and we began heading back to Clarita’s to satisfy our growling stomachs. I got chicken Cesar salad, and it was amazing- definitely a comfort food for me. Our view of the beach as we sat at a patio table in the sand made for a relaxing atmosphere. We spent about two hours eating and talking. One thing to note: The service in Jaco is not rushed. You have to be very patient everywhere you go.
The pool was our playground, and we show no signs of being near 21. Our handstand challenges and front flip competitions most likely confused anyone lounging near the pool. I don’t think that’s typically what college students find themselves doing on spring break. LOL.
Evening
The whole town seemed to come out for our last sunset. We lay our towels out on the beach and cherish our last sunset together. This place and the adventures were great, but it was moments like this one that I cherish the community more than the adventures. The sun slowly sinks down below the horizon as we let the memories of the trip sink in.
Our last dinner was at Hotel Tangeri’s restaurant, Ranchero Bar Tangeri. It had a wide selection of options to choose from, which I chose pizza. We spent time going around the table talking about our highs and lows from the day and the trip, and also the things we learned about each other. Dinner is always ~quality~ time, which is my love language so I love every minute of it. Put down the phone and have intentional conversations at the dinner table.
Day 5, March 5:
We woke up to the sun rising over the mountain, a golden glow peeking through the leaves of the palm trees that swayed in the slight breeze of the otherwise still heat. The waves rising and crashing as they broke along the shoreline.
A taxi arrived at the gate of our condo to take us through the hour-long drive to the airport. At our request, the driver stopped at Pachi’s Pan for one last taste of the pastry goodness. I would be happy if I ate those every day for the rest of my life.
We got to the airport and checked in for our flight. It got delayed multiple times. We spent time looking back at pictures and shopping for more souvenirs in the gift shop.
Conclusion:
Costa Rica was one of the best spring breaks I’ve had. Most of us were pretty much strangers to each other, but we came back best friends. Most of us are over-committed, exhausted college students; but we came back adventurous college students ready for our next adventure.
If you ever get the chance to go to Costa Rica, GO! You won’t regret it. And you just might scale a few waterfalls along the way.
2 Comments
ปั้มไลค์
Like!! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest.
Ginger Houck
Loved traveling along thru your memories. Glad y’all had a safe, fun and lifetime memories.
You have such a way with words, hope you will have all your writings published.❤️❤️