A visit to Costa Rica is synonymous with zip-lining. It's easy to see why with the cloud forests, jungle and mountains, not to mention the adrenaline-pumping side effect that will make anyone feel like the can conquer the world! Well, I was just in Costa Rica and guess what? I DID NOT GO ZIP-LINING!
What?
Call me crazy, but not doing the numero uno activity in this beautiful Central American country forced me to find many other activities that were more my speed. It's not that I didn't want to go, it's just that I have been zip-lining before and it became low on the priority totem pole (my crippling fear of heights didn't help either).
So what else can a person do in Costa Rica that does not involve zip-lining? Well, there are countless activities! Here is a list of things I did as well as things you can consider if you end up visiting:
Monteverde:
Hanging Bridges Tour - A few of my travel companions and I went to Selvatura Adventure Park hanging bridges canopy tour for a $35USD self-guided walk along eight suspension bridges through the cloud forest. The bridges were quite well-made and sturdy, not as scary as I anticipated. I had pictured swaying wooden bridges, but these were metal and help up with several thick cables, which only allowed slight movement, great for someone who has a fear of heights. Between the bridges, you walk along a path through the forest. If you are lucky, you may find some native critters. I was lucky enough to see (and closely follow for a short time) a coati, which is a cousin to the raccoon. It was peaceful taking the hanging bridges tour and I definitely recommend it. You can also go zip-lining above the trees at this park if you'd like.
El Trapiche Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane Tour - El Trapiche is a family owned and operated coffee plantation and where we took our Coffee, Chocolate, & Sugar Cane Tour, costing a worthwhile $33USD. Upon arriving, we noticed how busy it was with all the people in the gift shop, which is where you pay. It turns out, many people were waiting for their tour to start. After paying, we were called for our tour, which we had made reservations for prior to arriving - definitely a must for a busy place like this! Our tour guide walked us around the plantation, first stopping at a small field of banana plants and sugar cane, which was growing across the path. He described how the banana trees take 9 months to grow and produce the fruit, then die. Meanwhile, baby plants around the base of the "mother" plant, grow and become the next generation of banana trees. This was so interesting to me! Sugar cane was another big crop they grow here, and they make a fermented sugar drink (liquor) called GUARO. Guaro is essentially moonshine and can be quite strong. They sampled this to us at one point along the tour, and, quite frankly, it tasted like what I imagine paint thinner to taste like. Coffee is the main attraction of the tour, our guide showing us everything from the coffee plants (and we could pick a coffee fruit and eat the white pulp around the hard seed inside - the pulp tastes somewhat sweet), to where the beans were fermented then roasted. We were shown how people go about picking the coffee fruit, using baskets tied around their waists (picture below of me trying one of those on). Also on the tour was an ox-cart ride, but only six people were allowed to go on it. I aggressively jumped at the chance and made my five travel companions also go on the cart ride. It was just down the hill, but so much fun. I felt like a kid again! We then went to a building where the chocolate was made. From viewing cacao pods, to seeing how the beans ferment, then taste-testing cacao in both powder and paste form. There was also a sugar house, where we saw the oxen in action - the two beasts who had driven the ox cart were then tethered to the mill, which pressed sugar cane as they walked in a circle. The sugar cane press expelled juice. Did you know it takes 20 sugar canes to make 1 kilo of brown sugar? There were workers making sugar cane candy in hot cauldrons. They then had each of our groups line up at a table and poured the hot caramel liquid onto the wax paper in front of us. Our job was to take the goo and mix it with the knife we were provided in order to make sobado, a fudge-like caramel. It was so sweet and we were allowed to take it home. The end of the tour brought us to the family's home into a large kitchen set up for dozens of guests. It's a large open kitchen. The family had prepared gallo de arracache, a traditional Costa Rican specialty of the root vegetable arachache mixed with herbs and meat (I had the vegetarian version) and served with a homemade tortilla. And what would this tour be without a fresh cup of coffee? The coffee was bitter but good. If you don't like coffee, they also have lemonade. After our lunch, we walked over to the gift shop where I purchased some bags of coffee and a coffee/cacao body scrub, all reasonably priced. All-in-all, this was an incredible tour with loads of sampling for the price. I highly recommend!
La Fortuna (located near the Arenal Volcano Park):
Baldi Hot Springs - There are no shortage of hot springs in this volcanic town, but we chose to go to Baldi after purchasing a $50 pass from a tour operator in town (a deal compared to what you pay directly to the hot springs and it included dinner). That evening we checked in to this beautiful location, which has a large locker room where you can rent a small locker for $3USD, restaurants and bars in several locations, and apparently there are 25 thermal pools on the property, but we saw only about ten. This place is gorgeous and high-end! There's a hotel you can stay at if you'd like (of course we were not staying at a place anywhere as nice as this). It's essentially a resort that you may choose not to leave if you come for a visit. What an oasis! Several pools have swim-up bars, but the drinks are rather pricey, over $10USD for some. There are three waterslide you could choose to go down as well, but I will tell you, the middle slide is the fastest - in the midst of sliding down, my body became air-borne and then landed with a thud, hitting my head. I was then expelled at such a high speed, landing onto my back. The next day my shoulders and neck were sore and I had a headache - someone suggested I had whiplash. If you go, unless you are daring, go down one of the other slides, not the middle one! The others are fast enough to give you an adrenaline rush. I loved exploring the pools here as each one is different from the other. There are waterfalls in some. One has a cave with water pouring down through the ceiling in some areas. Some are hotter than others. It was so much fun! After several hours in the pools, it was time to go back to the locker rooms and change for dinner. Dinner was up the hill, past the waterslides and in what looked like a massive open-air tree house. It was a lovely location. Dinner was buffet-style and okay, but nothing to get excited about. Food was cooked for the masses, but there was something for everyone. There are many other hot springs in La Fortuna, but this was the only one I went to and can speak about first-hand.
Cooking Class & Dinner - booked through Desafio tour company, we decided to do a cooking class with dinner and, honestly, I am so glad we did! Desafio offers dozens of activities such as canyoneering, white water rafting, horseback riding and other adrenaline-pumping things to do, but my friend and I love food, so we opted for that. Through the tour company, dinner cost $44USD and it was worth every penny. We were picked up and then brought back to the headquarters where we hopped into an off-road vehicle. The reason for this is because the farm where the cooking class was being held is up a nearby mountain, on which much of the road is dirt. Upon arrival at Granja Eco Turistica Victoria, we were greeted by a man in his 20s who gave us a tour of the place before cooking. Our tour operator, Cesar, stayed with us the entire time and served as translator. We walked through the kitchen/dining area to a cage out back that had two marmoset monkeys that were rescues. We were given slices of apple to feed these adorable critters. (I have fed monkeys before at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles years ago, but it was exciting nonetheless!) The young man also stated that they have a few AirBnBs on the property as well as some cows, also rescues. They have a garden growing all sorts of vegetables and sugar cane, with the same type of oxen-operated sugar mill to press the cane. The ox were elsewhere, so two of us pushed the bar around in the circle while my friend fed the sugar cane into the machine. We were then able to sample the sugar juice, which was sweet and delicious. Now it was time to start cooking. There were two ladies, one older and one younger, who guided us in Spanish through the cooking process. We were to help make picadillo, a traditional Costa Rican dish, but before that, we were handed glasses of guaro! Nothing like getting a little tipsy and then trying to be helpful while cooking! It ended up being not a full-on cooking class where we do everything from start to finish, but more like we help the two women here and there - chop these vegetables, measure the rice and put it in a pot with some spices, make dough balls and then press into tortillas before throwing them on the grill. They had already made the pork and chicken, so we had nothing to do with that. It was then time to eat! The food was delicious. What a great experience. Not only was the food we helped make incredible, but the eco lodge was in a gorgeous location where we saw a spectacular sunset.
SUP Boarding - Another Desafio activity we chose to do was stand-up paddle boarding, also known as SUP boarding, costing us each $65USD. It's something I have wanted to do but never have. My friend and another girl in our group had gone in the past and talked me into trying it for the first time. I'm so glad we did! The morning of the day we left for our next location was the time we chose and Desafio picked us up at our hotel. There was a family of 4 and a young guy from Switzerland already in the van, so a bigger group than we had become accustomed to on these tours! We were dropped off at Lake Arenal, which is the largest lake in Costa Rica at 33 square miles. It was an overcast day and a little bit chilly outside, especially being in a swimsuit and life jacket. We hopped on a boat and were brought out to an area in the lake where we took turns throwing in our paddleboards and oars, then jumping in and hopping onto the boards. The water was cold! Our guide taught us how to use the oars. We paddled along the shore of the lake for over 3 kilometers, and it ended up being a lot longer than we anticipated. It was so much fun, easier than I thought it would be, and also a good workout. By the time we reached the dock for the boat to pick us up, it started to rain. Under the cover of the boat, the guide had pineapple ready for us to snack on along with water and beer if we so chose to drink that at 11 in the morning.
Manuel Antonio:
Beach Playa Espadilla - On the outskirts of Manuel Antonio Park, and at the end of the main road of the town sits this beautiful public beach. We rented chairs with umbrellas, so bring cash if you go and want a chair. It was hot but beautiful! Reapplying sunscreen every hour is a must. I think my friend and I only reapplied once and had the most interesting sunburns which highlighted where we missed. Oops! There is no shortage of vendors approaching people on the beach. Some were selling large wooden bowls (um, no thanks, not very beachy) or for $1USD you can get fresh coconut water in the coconut. After you finish drinking, they will even cut the coconut open so you can eat the meat. So worth it! There was someone else selling sarongs and many adventure vendors selling anything from surf lessons to parasailing. There are plenty of shops and restaurants close by and the vendor we rented our chairs from said we could save them from being rented out to someone else if we left our towels on them. We did that and we were able to go back to them after lunch! And if you step off the beach to the billboard just before the park, you may be able to see some monkeys - we saw several the first evening we were there.
Parasailing - I faced my crippling fear of heights by parasailing, not ziplining. My friend and I had been watching the parasailers all day. I'd even walked down the beach to see how people took off, wearing life vests and sitting in a harness which was attached by a long rope to a boat. I noticed how terrified some people looked. My friend really wanted to go, after all, it was her birthday. As the day went on, the chances of growing grew slimmer. Then some friends of ours who also happened to be in town met us at the beach and convinced us to go. But by this time, the sun was setting. My friend said she was going to look for the guy who was selling the parasailing rides, and if she saw him then she would take it as a sign it was meant to be! And she saw him...and I went into panic mode. Cost was $60USD per person, which wasn't too bad and the ride was to last about 20-30 minutes. So, off we went to pay and get fitted for a life vest and harness. I was freaking out on the inside. One of the parasailing operators told us how to get airborne...1. run, 2. move our hands from the bar the rope was attached to onto the rope, 3. lift your legs when you get to the water. Once it was "go time," we were in the air so quickly. It was incredible being so high up in the sky, and also quite terrifying. My inner monologue went something like this: "Holy crap, the boat we're tied too looks so tiny, like a toy! How is this safe? What if the line snaps and we fall onto those rocks or cliff down below? Holy shit! What if the boat slows too much and we lose the wind in the sail and fall to our deaths?" And on and on my mind went. Other than that, it was quiet and warm up there and it almost felt like we were moving in slow motion. When the ride was over, we were slowly lowered into the water (it was almost dark by this point and of course my anxiety-ridden mind was saying, "OMG, what If there are sharks in the water?"), where we were picked up by a jetski. I was shaking with adrenaline by the time we landed on the beach. What a rush! Now, there are quite a few vendors along the beach that offer parasailing, so I suggest talking to a few of them to see who has the best price. The first ones we had talked to said it was $75USD per person, and the ones we went with offered it at $60USD per person. It was worth it for an unforgettable experience with my best friend!
San Jose:
Gran Bingo Multi Color for Karaoke - Granted, I didn't spend too much time in Costa Rica's capital city, BUT we did go out one night for some karaoke. Walking into Gran Bingo Multi Color, located on the main walking street running, I had no idea what it was as we first saw slot machines, then went upstairs to a large bar with an adjoining room where a comedian dressed in drag was giving a show (all in Spanish), and then went upstairs to another floor, passing by what looked like a combo cafeteria/bingo hall, to a room where we grabbed a table and started requesting karaoke songs. Honestly, I did not go on stage to sing, but I cheered on my travel comrades from my seat. It was a great place for karaoke and we had loads of fun! Apparently there are several karaoke bars in the city and it's quite popular. Give it a try if you're ever in San José!
As you can see, there are plenty of things to do in Costa Rica without having to go ziplining. But if ziplining is something you want to do, it's everywhere...and I hear it's incredible!
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