Costa Rica - Day 1

February 27th, 2011

Sunday

We flew into the small airport in Liberia.  Our trip research hadn’t presented San Jose as a place we wanted to check out and Liberia was physically much more convenient to the Guanacaste region.   Outside the airport was a large group of men, many holding signs with names on them.  And as if we were in a movie scene, we spotted one for us that read "Genaro Oliveri".  Taking a friends advice, who resided in Costa Rica for three years, we opted to hire private transportation and not rent a car.  I'm not sure if the man spoke any English or if he was just quiet in general but he grabbed our backpacks and scurried us to the parking lot where his air conditioned van was running and two women were waiting inside.  We met Betty and Laura, two sweet Canadian women who were traveling to the same ranch as we were.  I was very sleepy and chatted very little with these other passengers but in the next few days we saw a lot of Betty and Laura.   

Our van ride was a couple hours long and the exhaustion of the wedding weekend and travel had me in what seemed like a trance.  Despite the exhaustion, I enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we drove closer to Rincon de la Vieja which lies in the Guanacaste Province of the country.   Nicaragua borders the North and the Pacific Ocean boarders the West.  The scenery was less lush than we were expecting.   We learned in summer, Costa Rica is very dry.  We arrived at Hacienda Guachepelin, a working ranch where we would stay for three night.   The reception attendant picked up a walkie talkie and rambled something in Spanish and shortly a woman appeared with fancy drinks and a bottle of liqueur.  Now that's what I call a greeting!  I'm not sure what the juice was, but it was fresh squeezed and delicious.  The bottle was Guara, a Costa Rican clear brandy made from sugar cane.   A security guard helped Betty, Laura, Genaro, and I with our bags and lead us through the simple gardens of the Hacienda.

Hacienda Guachepelin has been a working ranch for over 100 years!   In 1975, Tomás Batalla Esquivel, a renowned cattle and pure bred Spanish horse breeder acquired the property. In recent years, don Tomás's children have joined their father in his efforts to further the family legacy. The property comprises 1600 hectares of land, of which 700 hectares are set aside for the conservation of the tropical dry forest; 575 hectares are used as pastureland; and 325 hectares are being reforested with species in danger of extinction. It is located at the base of Rincon de la Vieja National Park which is known for its impressive diversity of flora and fauna. It is home to two volcanoes, the Rincon de la Vieja and the Santa Maria. It is also home of the most diverse natural exhibit of secondary volcanic activity. There are fumaroles, vapor vents, sulphur vents, boiling mud pots, roaring little craters, fumarolic lagoons and waterfalls that form blue lagoons (we swam in one).  Needless to say, in the days to follow we would see some of Mother Nature’s impressive work.  

 We arrived at our room at the far end of the gardens only to discover the room had not yet been made up by housekeeping.   The exhaustion was taking over every inch of my body and I could not stand up any longer.  I climbed into the hammock on our front porch and fell asleep while housekeeping got room number 55 in order.   We stayed in a “superior room” which was simple and clean.  The bed was far from the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, but overall I’d say staying there was a GREAT bargain.  

 That evening we headed up to the restaurant (there is one restaurant and one bar) so once the sun goes down the place is very tranquil.   We opted for the dinner buffet as we hadn’t had much in the way of meals during our travels.  We quickly started to realize (and the rest of our trip proved true) that Costa Rica is not known for its cuisine.   It wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t much to rave about.  I will say the pumpkin soup I tried that night was out of this world.   We headed back to our room and called in a night.   We welcomed a much needed good night’s sleep and were very excited to begin some adventures the next day.   The only question was...what to do first?!?!