Highlighting our Costa Rican Honeymoon in 2016

With everything that went into planning a wedding, we made two definitive decisions about how we were going to handle our honeymoon: 1) we were not going to travel far since we just wanted to get to a destination and relax and 2) we didn’t want to do any of the planning since the wedding had taken everything we had. Austen did a search on the University of Texas message board, Orangebloods and found a recommendation for Tramex Travel. They arranged everything from the accommodations to the excursions to transportation.

Travel tip: If you decide to work with a travel agency, inquire whether or not they charge fees. Most of the time, they do not charge fees since they “work on commissions the hotels and wholesalers pay them.” They also “receive deals directly from hotels and tour operators that you may not have access to.” Read more here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/do-travel-agents-really-save-you-money-actually-yeah.

La Fortuna / Arenal

When we first arrived at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica 2 days after we committed our lives and our travel budgets to each other, we stayed at a local Hampton Inn due to how late our plane arrived. The following morning, we were picked up and driven about 3 hours to the Arenal region of the country. On our way, we stopped at a coffee farm (and sadly, neither of us drank coffee at the time) and La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park. There, we saw a wide array of animals from the iconic red-eyed tree frog to a jaguar, as well as the stunning water falls that made up the park.

After visiting the adventure park, we completed our journey to Arenal Nayara which, we soon found out really lived up to its hype, was rated the best resort in Central America as recent as 2020. We were welcomed with a flight of tropical drinks. We had a personal hot tub on a patio overlooking the rain forest. From the walking paths just outside our room, we could look up into the trees and spot sloths and tropical birds. Everything about the hotel was incredible.

After a full day of relaxing by the pool and partaking in the delicious meals at the restaurants on site, we went on a white water rafting excursion on the Rio Balsa. If you want an adrenaline rush, this is a great excursion to go on and we really don’t regret doing it. However, we’re not as adventurous as we use to be so in our minds, that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We were given several instructions prior to taking our raft out on the water and the most important one was if you get close to the rocks, lean into them and not away. I’m sure you can tell where this is going…

Away we went on our raft which was filled with an instructor on the back and six tourists spread out throughout the rest of the raft. The instructor would yell out for a specific side to row while the other side would sit back and enjoy the ride. It was all fine and dandy until we got extremely close to a rocky wall with one particular rock jutting out just enough for my entire side of the boat to think we were going to get pummeled in the face by it. Naturally, we all leaned away from the rock which in turn, flipped the entire raft and everyone in it. Since we were in extremely shallow, rocky water, we were instructed to point our feet in front of us and lie down on our back until we got to smoother water which is a feat in and of itself if you found yourself in the water with your feet behind you. One particular gentlemen did not heed the instruction and arrived at the smoother water all bloodied and bruised from his shins slamming into the rocks.

Again, we do recommend experiencing white water rafting at least once in your life and maybe if we’re talked into it enough, we would try it again but speaking from experience, make sure you listen to your instructor.

The following day, we went on a very rainy hike on the Arenal Volcano trails. There were very few people on the trails, likely due to the weather and inability to see the entire volcano but it was a great hike nonetheless.

We also decided to go zip lining which is one of the more frequent excursions we do when we’re traveling. Zip lining is not only an adrenaline rush, but it is also a great way to see aspects of the country you’re visiting from a complete different perspective.

Manuel Antonio

After 5 glorious days in the La Fortuna and Arenal area, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to our second Costa Rican destination, Hotel Parador at Manuel Antonio. On our journey, we crossed over the main bridge over the Tárcoles River. This bridge is also known as “puente de cocodrilo,” or “crocodile bridge” due to the dozens of crocodiles that line the riverbed.

The Manuel Antonio area was everything we expected the La Fortuna area to be. We fully expected the rain forest to be swarming with animals but instead, we found the beach had many, many more when we were visiting. Hotel Parador was inundated with iguanas and monkeys. We were even blessed to see a sloth up close and personal, as well as be awoken every morning by a howler monkey.

Fun fact: howler monkeys are so loud that in the right conditions, can be heard from 3 miles, or 4.8 kilometers away.

We loved Manuel Antonio. From the beaches to the animals, we were relaxed the entire time and enjoyed soaking up the beauty of the area. While on the beach, we were surprised with all the monkeys that were looking for food handouts. One cheeky little monkey was even caught digging in someone’s bag and stole a roll of Oreos. The monkey climbed up in a tree, licked the cream, and dropped the cookie. The monkey also hissed if people got near since he had laid claim to those decadent cookies.

Since the two of us also have an extremely hard time sitting still, we decided to go parasailing one of the days we were in the area which admittedly, will also be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Although beautiful, if you get any sort of motion sickness, this is not the adventure to go on.

The final excursion of our trip was a visit to the Tocori Waterfalls by horseback. The ride was beautiful and surprisingly, also nerve racking. It had rained so much in the area that the trails were extremely muddy. There was more than one time on the ride the horse would sink six inches to a foot into the mud which gave the undeniable feeling of falling. The journey was worth it though. The waterfalls were breathtaking.

Costa Rica is one of our favorite destinations. We loved it so much on our honeymoon that we took our oldest daughter to a different part of the country just 3 short years later when she was 11 months old. The country is stunning, the animals are unforgettable, and the people are welcoming. We can’t wait to go back!