As our previous blog posts mentioned, we struggled with our Costa Rica trip. Please don’t get us wrong; Costa Rica was beautiful, and the people are incredibly warm. What we found was that it was very similar to many places we explore regularly, living here in the Yucatan.
That said, we blogged about our time in San Jose at the beginning, middle, and end of our 14-day Costa Rica trip, our time in Tortuguero, and a review of our other Costa Rica hotels—it just took us a while!
Our Favorite Things!
We’re ready to wrap up our Costa Rica experience with some things we loved. Several things were done as part of our Gate 1 Travel 14-Day Kaleidoscope of Costa Rica trip, one of which was an incredible find when we ventured off on our own!
EcoTermales Fortuna
https://ecotermalesfortuna.cr/en/home/
This excursion was one of the Optional Tours on our trip. It was during our time in Arenal and was probably the highlight of this portion. It offered time in a local hot springs with a buffet dinner of local Costa Rican food.
Four different pools of water range in temperature from 91 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The water comes from beneath Arenal Volcano and is filled with calcium and magnesium.
Much of this family-owned property was once used for agriculture and livestock. Seeing the hidden potential of the lands, the family created a complex with hot springs focused on sustainable practices and culinary excellence.
The buffet features authentic Costa Rican flavors, with much of the produce coming from the property’s organic garden.
The facilities are impeccably clean, with bathrooms, changing rooms, and lockers close to everything. The buffet was modern, with well-placed food information signs in English and Spanish. Everything was clean and well-stocked, and the food was delicious.
We highly recommend a visit here.
Scarlet Macaws
Souvenir + Restaurante Mi Finca / Plaza Limonal
This one is a bit harder to nail down as it’s not an “attraction”.
Located south of Cañas, on the Pan-American Highway, you’ll find Rotonda Abangares – a traffic circle. On one side of the circle, you’ll see Plaza Limonal. A modern strip center with a Taco Bell, Subway, Papa John’s, a few other stores, and an EV Charging Station. Just across a side street called Calle Estaca, you’ll find a local restaurant and souvenir shop called Mi Finca.
In the Mi Finca parking lot, up in the trees, are dozens of incredible Scarlet Macaws. Rumor has it that someone raised a few Macaws, eventually letting them loose, only to have them return and keep growing in number.
Whatever the reason, it was amazing to see so many in the wild, right in the mix of a busy restaurant and a traffic circle. They were beautiful and a perfect rest stop along the highway.
Naans & Curries – An Ethnic Indian Restaurant
During our stay in Tamarindo, we had a free night with dinner on our own. The town’s main drag, where the hotel was located, had great shops, bars with karaoke, and restaurants.
Looking at a map online, we saw an Indian restaurant nearby. We love Indian food and don’t get much here in Merida unless Mark makes it, so we headed off to find Naans & Curries a few streets away.
TRAVEL NOTE: While the main drag through town was paved and had decent sidewalks, roads coming off to the side became hilly, dirt roads with potholes and no real sidewalks. Just two blocks away from the hotel, most of it was on a side road, and it was bumpy.
Naans & Curries is a small chain with six restaurants across Costa Rica. It combined a covered palapa and a small fully enclosed glass space along the road.
For starters, we shared Vegetable Samosas and an Onion Bhaji; rather than ‘haystacks’, which we often see, these were more patties.
For entrees, Chuck went with his standard Saag Paneer, which is the standard to which he holds all Indian restaurants. Mark went for Lamb Rogan Josh, as Chuck doesn’t eat Lamb, so Mark often orders it out.
All of the dishes were excellent, flavorful, and well prepared. We agree that it is the best Indian food we’ve had outside India. The atmosphere and service were as good as the food.
So, if you are near any of their restaurants in Costa Rica, we HIGHLY recommend a visit.
Hanging Bridges Tour
Selvatura Park – https://selvatura.com/
This was another Optional Tour through Gate 1. Chuck does not do heights well, so we knew this was not his option.
Side Note: When we met nearly 23 years ago, Chuck was petrified of climbing a ladder. While climbing a ladder is not his favorite thing in the world, he has managed to take a hot-air balloon flight over the Masai Mara, a helicopter ride to a glacier in Alaska, navigate Machu Picchu, and climb the Great Wall of China.
The Selvatura Hanging Bridges Tour is a 1.9-mile cloud forest trail combining walking trails and eight suspension bridges. The suspension bridges range in height from 36 to 180 feet in the air, offering views above the trees and of foliage and water below.
Mark went along with friends on the trip. The birders in the group enjoyed the experience, and it was great to see natural beauty from these heights. For the price (about $42.00 US at the time), it was a great morning away from the resort to explore nature.
We also had the option to include a zipline tour before the hike. Mark passed on this one, just not ready to hang in the high air. After watching people from our group zip past, it was a good decision for us.
Cafe Monteverde Farm and Roastery
One of our favorite stops on the Costa Rica trip was a visit to the Cafe Monteverde farm and rotastery.
Cafe Monteverde is family-owned; it consists of an association of 21 families with deep roots in coffee, agriculture, and education. Coffee came to Monteverde in the 1930s, and the descendants of those families actively promote and develop Fair Trade practices in Costa Rica.
We started with an excellent lunch of typical Costa Rican food made with fresh ingredients from their gardens. The food was probably some of the best local food we’d had. Of course, following some delicious ice cream, we had terrific coffee.
The tour included excellent information on the production of coffee, from the seeds to the cup, and the guided coffee tasting was incredible.
While Chuck doesn’t drink coffee, it was still a fantastic experience to watch Mark make some purchases to take home with us.
El Lagarto BBQ – Manuel Antonio Costa Rica
Our last night on the road included dinner at El Legarto, a BBQ restaurant just a short drive from our hotel in Manuel Antonio. The restaurant and adjoining deck overlook the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, arriving after sunset, we didn’t get to enjoy the fantastic views.
This is BBQ in its purest form: seasoned and grilled over a blazing wood-fired grill with no added sauces—what many now call Live-Fire Cooking.
This Wood-Fired BBQ uses locally raised meats free from hormones and agrochemicals and seafood sourced from artisanal fishermen in the Central Pacific.
For Mark, this was especially dinner and a show. Upon entering the restaurant, off to the side was a HUGE wood-burning oven. This immense creation had an upper chamber, branded with the restaurant’s name, where woods were stoked and burned to create embers for the multiple grills below.
The cook stoking the fire also added foil-wrapped baked potatoes to the lower portions of the oven, cooking them, tending the fires, and shifting the embers to everyone below. The grills below were staffed with cooks preparing steaks, fish, seafood, and vegetables.
Dinner
After settling in, we were served a delicious non-alcoholic mixed fruit drink, warm bread, and prepared Edamame.
Earlier in the day, we had preselected our entrees to make serving a large group flow more smoothly.
Chuck chose the Pork Ribs, perfectly grilled, served with grilled Squash, Tomato, and baked Potato.
Mark chose the grilled Mahi Mahi, served with the same side. This fish was sweet, moist, and perfectly cooked.
Side Note: Whenever we travel, we try to experience as much local food as possible to embrace local flavors and cultures. On this trip, Mark’s one rule was, “Whenever there is a choice, choose Fish,” as we don’t get a lot of fish in Merida. While the Mahi Mahi was outstanding, the Steaks coming off the grill looked and smelled amazing.
Whatever you choose, you won’t go wrong with La Lagarto – and go before sunset.
Done!
Yes, we’re finally done sharing our Costa Rica experience. It was fun, and we’re glad we went.
Since this trip, we’ve had two other trips and explored more of the Pueblas and archaeological sites across the Yucatan. And we’ve got some fantastic new adventures coming soon.
Next, we’ll share our 14-day England and Scotland trip, which took us from London across England and Scotland. We visited seven cities in total and took in lots of incredible excursions along the route.
Thanks for following along!
