Costa Rican Honeymooning Part 2

In part 2 I unpack our room and some of the wildlife we got to see! I have so much to share there will be a part 3 to read next week!

For the honeymoon Aubry insisted that we go out of the country. Together we agreed that we did not want an all inclusive or any high traffic mainstream destination. This criteria led us to Costa Rica, we assumed most people would be in the Caribbean in June. As a Marriott member that narrowed the search down to a handful of hotels. While Aubry was studying for finals I was comparing hotels and prices to get us booked and ready. I found a deal at Hotel Punta Islita, an Autograph Collection hotel, for their Honeymoon Suite. The picture of the view from the private pool sold us.

Travel

From Houston it’s only a 3.5 hour flight to the Liberia airport. From the airport we arranged a shuttle from the hotel to pick us up. For the first 30 minutes of the ride I thought to myself, I could have rented a car and driven us. As that thought went through my mind a motorcycle passed in between us and an oncoming vehicle. Then we passed a bus. Then we were passed by a bus. Then we buzzed a group of pedestrians on the side of the road. It felt like the land of the lawless on the roads. The speed limit signs, painted road stripes, and traffic laws felt like formalities and that drivers simply did as they pleased. All prior thoughts I had of being able to drive in Costa Rica were dead. The distance of the drive was 70 kilometers, but the drive was around 3 hours. As it would turn out, there’s no direct route because of the mountains and jungles that lie between the airport and the hotel. Punta Islita is in the Guanacaste region on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica which happens to be the volcanic side. The final 10 miles of the drive were gravel roads that felt nearly vertical and hardly smooth at times. When you arrive at the hotel gates the road becomes remarkably smooth, they just repaved that section, and the road spirals upward.

First Impression

We arrived at what could be considered the hotel lobby, everything is open air so its hard to say where one part of the hotel ends and another begins. They met us with a welcome drink that I’m not sure how to describe other than delicious. We took a seat next to the bar as they gave us a rundown of all the services and activities we would have access to, and got us setup with Joe who would help us book anything and everything. Next they handed us the key to the room, a physical key on a handmade keychain from the village of Islita. As we were guided to our room which was super close to the main building, various things were pointed out to us. A Costa Rican almond tree which is the favorite food of the Scarlet Macaw, several avocado trees that the monkeys enjoy, and we were told of a large black iguana that is often spotted near our room. It’s safe to say we were absolutely enamored by everything. The hotel could not have made a better first impression. The staff was incredibly nice, the views were breathtaking, and the room was even better than the pictures.

Room 31

Every meal, activity, and request requires you to tell the staff your room number. Each time we would say room 31 their eyes would light up and almost without fail they would say, “Ooooooo!” Room 31 is the honeymoon suite and as Joe described it, the best room on property. Words really do not do this room justice. The selling point for me was the private pool overlooking the ocean. We spent everyday by that pool attempting to tan. The sun is intense that close to the equator. I felt like Woody in Toy Story when Sid was melting his forehead, except Woody’s forehead was my whole body. If you recall the Iguana I mentioned earlier, Aubry found him while reading her book catching some rays. As it turns out, he takes shelter in the roof gap of room 31 after rain storms. During the rainy season, which is when we were there, it rains every day. The Iguana was on our roof everyday, though most of the time when we came outside he would crawl off to a different roof to warm up.

He’s bigger than the image makes him seem.

Wildlife

The hotel property is home to all kinds of wildlife. The hotel offers several paid excursions to see various animals, but if you’re patient and hang around long enough you’ll see it all for free. From our pool we got a great view of the Iguana. Also from our pool we got to witness the Scarlet Macaws fly over several times. The monkeys we saw the first time while taking a Ceviche class. They stopped to snack and rest in the almond tree above the table where we ate breakfast every morning. The second time we saw the monkeys was actually from our pool again. They were making their way through the avocado trees maybe 30 yards from the pool. The last animal is something called a Coati, a relative of the raccoon, which looks similar to an anteater. The 2 of these that we saw were both on the same day within roughly 3 hours. I caught a glimpse while brushing my teeth before the guided morning nature walk. The second and final time we saw the Coati was at the end of the nature walk as we were going up the spiral road towards the lobby area. I had been attempting to tell the guide what I saw in the morning but he could not figure out what I was talking about until we saw one. It was at this point the guide laughed at me, for good reason, because my prior description was horrible. 

Sea Turtle Expedition

 The true last bit of wildlife we witnessed was on the Sea Turtle Expedition. This is an experience you can only get from June to November as this is the window of egg laying on the beaches of Costa Rica. Our visit was early June which made our chances of seeing any turtles very slim but not zero. We loaded into an ATV after dinner and were taken to a beach. When we hopped out our guide gave us red flashlights. The red light allows us to see while also not disturbing the turtles. Our guide said we would be out there for 3 hours or until we see a turtle, whichever came first. Within 15 minutes our guide spotted our first turtle coming out of the water. The important part of this experience is that we do not disturb the turtles to keep the stress on them low and allow for their eggs to be laid. We waited for the turtle to make her way to her spot and begin to dig. As she dug the guides allowed us to get close enough to see, but kept us at a distance. Once the turtles begin to lay eggs they go into a trance like state that makes them nearly impossible to disturb. We all took turns getting close up pictures and videos of the turtle. After taking our turn our guide found another turtle and we repeated the process. The first turtle went all the way up the beach into the brush which made her egg laying take a long time. The second turtle went about three quarters of the way up the beach where the sand was still soft so she got busy laying pretty quick. The second turtle hit the sand roughly 30 minutes after the first and made it back into the water roughly 30 seconds after. Having now seen 2 turtles we began walking back to the ATV. On the walk back we saw yet another turtle. There was a chance we wouldn’t see a single turtle and in a couple hours we saw 3. The expedition was an incredible experience. As always the pictures don’t do it justice!

This was turtle number 2.

Next week in part 3 I will cover the food and drinks as well as the unique experiences we had during our 7 day honeymoon in Costa Rica. Stay tuned for more stories and pictures of our unforgettable trip. Make sure to subscribe for blog updates as soon as they come! Thanks everyone!