A Hidden Gem in Costa Rica

A Hidden Gem in Costa Rica

Here we go again, off the beaten path.  This time in Costa Rica. What inspired me to choose a town so remote?  We had been to Costa Rica a couple of times before and we knew the national parks were amazing.  So, after researching areas we had not traveled, I found this town named Sierpe that had a big national park near it.

To begin the trip, we flew to San Jose and rented a car.  Previous to arriving in Sierpe, we beach hopped down the west coast of Costa Rica.  As we were driving further and further south and getting more and more remote, my husband said, “I don’t know if this is going to be a great idea.  We have four days in this remote town.  What if we run out of things to do and get bored?”

So, we roll into a tiny town in Southwest Costa Rica and meet up with our HomeAway renter.  I’m not going to disclose the exact rental house, but I will say that we arrived at the office/house a little earlier than planned.  I mean, how can you plan an exact time when you don’t know how long the roads in Costa Rica would take.  So, we knock on the door of the office/house. A man who speaks English answers and says, let me go get my wife, she was just about to take a dip in the pool.  She will show you to the rental property.  So, we glance across the room and see the backside of said wife, who is in fact getting ready to get in an indoor pool about 15 steps away from us.  The astonishing part, was that the backside was completely naked!  Not just her backside!  She was getting ready to skinny dip in the middle of the day.  Oh well!  To each his or her own! Her husband intercepted her.  She put on a wrap dress and greeted us like nothing was out of the ordinary.   She then went to the desk, got the rental house key and said, you can follow me to the rental house.  We were given a tour of the amazing property that was situated along a river, and we never saw the renter again.  There wasn’t a need to, and that was fine after seeing her naked!

The house was perfect!  It steps from the river with a dock, we had access to a canoe, there was a pool, yet we were in the middle of nowhere in what looked like a small village.  It was so peaceful!  The backyard had lawn chairs a pool, and you could watch many varieties of jungle birds from the lawn chairs.

The next morning, we did our usual vacation mode, we woke up leisurely and had a brunch with coffee.  We decided it might be a great plan to have the brunch down on the dock by the river.  This was wonderful!  However, when we walked back up from the dock to the house, we found that we were not alone!  We heard a thundering noise across the ground.  There were at least 50 iguanas running back to the river.  They had been eating fallen fruit in the back yard.  What a sight!  Certainly, not a boring morning!

That day, we decided to get the canoe out and explore the river.  It was a serene wildlife adventure, that was just steps from our rental house!

Later that night, we went into the town of Sierpe for dinner.  There were really only a couple of dinner options, so we chose La Perla Restaurant, which was also the headquarters to set up local excursions. We booked a day trip for the next day to Corcavado National Park for $80 USD a person.

Excursion day was here!  We hopped in a boat, we were told to bring raingear, swimsuits, hiking gear, flip flops, hiking shoes and be ready to explore Corcavado. We had a total of 6 tourists on our boat and two guides.  It was a 40 minute boat ride to get to the national park.  I should also mention that this national park can only be accessed by boat.  After the 40 minute boat ride, we dropped our bags at a palapa dining area at the beach, then went on a 3-4 hour guided tour of the park.  Corcovado is a gorgeous jungle and I highly recommend you visit it!  After several ours of hiking, we stopped at a waterfall for a swim.  If you have not done a waterfall swim in Costa Rica, you are missing out.  It is so refreshing and the water temperature feels perfect after hiking. At about 1pm we hiked back to the palapa dining area and were served a lunch of cheese, bread, lunch meat, fruit and rice and many beverage options. All of the hiking done on this tour was moderate level.  The guides were fantastic to point out all the details of the jungle! The beach was beautiful and I love every minute of the isolated national park.  On the boat ride back, we discovered why rain gear was necessary!  We experienced a jungle downpour!  It was not a frigid type of rain, but is was torrential!  The rain came out of nowhere and before we knew it, the sun was shining again!  We would love to plan a little bit more time in Corcavado in the future!

As the days went on in Sierpe, our routine was laid back and we never felt a loss of what to do.  We canoed more, watched the birds, and other wildlife from our back yard and took several road trips around the area.

Among one of our road trips, we discovered a beautiful national park beach called Ballena in Uvita.  This translates to be whales tale beach, because when the tide is out, you can see the beach is in the shape of a whales tale, that reaches out into the ocean. There is a fee to get into the national park, but it was minimal and it was a park that you could drive to. There were restrooms and outdoor showers available.  We did pay to park, but the trip to see this beach was worth it!

Another road trip within driving distance of Sierpe, is the Nauyaca Waterfall near Dominical.  This is a must see!  The drive to get to the waterfall parking lot requires a 4 wheel drive vehicle.  After arriving at the parking lot, there is a 5 mile hot humid walk to the waterfall.  I would call this hike and intermediate level. Nauyaca is a big double waterfall with refreshing clean water that you can swim in!  This is not a highly advertised waterfall.  It’s kind of a locals hangout, with lots of families. We felt completely safe, even though we were at a remote waterfall in the jungle.

Overall, the southwest region of Costa Rica, with its lush jungle is gorgeous!  So much wildlife!   It was laid back and remote and such a refreshing way to vacation away from the big cities!

If you are interested in driving to Sierpe, it is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from San Jose.  We always bring our own Garmin GPS with the Costa Rica map microchip.  A GPS is a must for driving around Costa Rica.  Most roads are not labeled. Lastly, don’t forget that it is best to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get around the roads of Costa Rica.

Thank you for reading the ASCADVENTURES blog!  I hope that our experiences in travel will inspire you to see the world!

Asc Adventures
Angie

24 Hours in Jaco, Costa Rica!

What to do when you only have 24 hours in Jaco, Costa Rica!

First off, let’s hope that you have more than 24 hours in Jaco, because it is a beautiful coastal town in Costa Rica!  We were beach/town hopping all the way down the coast of Costa Rica, when we discovered this town.  It left us feeling like we should have planned at least 2-3 days there!  So, now we will definitely need to go back! 

Beach

Jaco Beach is world class!  Beautiful!  Best surfing location in Costa Rica we heard.  We are not surfers, but the town definitely gave us the surfer vibe.  It was certainly fun to watch all of the surfers!  It was a great swimming and sunset watching beach as well.  With little time in Jaco, we spent our time walking down the beach, people watching and seeing a great sunset!

Restaurant

The Taco Joint was a fun little stop.  It was Mexicali tacos and burritos.  It was a tiny little concrete restaurant, with amazing mural art work all over the interior. This was the best food we had our entire trip, and we had visited several areas of Costa Rica.  We tried one of each kind of taco and split a chicken burrito.  Hey, what can I say, we are foodies on vacation and we were hungry, because we hadn’t found a great meal in a few days.  (Photo credit from Trip Advisor photo gallery)

Lodging

We found a great deal on Expedia for a brand new boutique hotel called Oceano Boutique.  It was clean and the staff was very friendly.  We have often discussed that when we come back to Jaco, we need to stay there again.  (Photo credit to Trip Advisor gallery)

If you have not been to Costa Rica... Jaco, Manuel Antonio, Monte Verde and Arenal should be on your agenda.  Thank you for reading ASC ADVENTURES!  I hope we inspire you to see more of the world!

Asc Adventures

Angie

Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

Whether you have the opportunity to hike the Inca Trail, the Salkantay Trek or go via train, I highly recommend that you put a trip to Machu Picchu on your bucket list.  For my husband and I it was a trip that we will never forget.  It was money well spent!

I think the easiest way to take you on our 60 mile Salkantay Trek from your couch is to start with Day 1, and show lots of photos.  Hopefully one day you will be inspired to take the journey.

Pre Day 1

After several hours of flying over night and into the wee hours of the morning, we arrived in the Cuzco airport.  We then found a taxi to go meet up with our trekking company, Alpaca Expeditions.  We met, got our duffles of hiking items packed, stored away our excess luggage with the trekking company and discovered that it wasn’t quite time to leave.  We were there about two hours early.  So, we went sight seeing in Cuzco for two hours.  I know some of you are reading this and thinking, you didn’t arrive two days prior to your trip, so that you could acclimate?  No we didn’t.  We didn’t have the time to take off to make that happen.  So, we took altitude medication prescribed by our doctor, and we were completely fine. 

So here we are with 2 hours to spare.  First stop was a coffee shop on the square, because as I had stated, we had been flying all night!  This coffee shop overlooked the city and the coffee was so delicious.  Either that or we needed a coffee really bad!  

It was delicious and came with a little brownie bite!

For the remainder of the time, we just walked the streets of Cuzco in awe of the architecture.  Then we found our way back to Alpaca Expeditions office.  It was now go time!  We took a van ride for several hours to the first campsite.  

As we settled into our glass roof cabin, the Alpaca crew prepared a nice dinner for us.  After dinner, we immediately went to bed with dreams of “what have we got ourselves into?” going on in our head.

I wish we weren’t so tired, I would have stared out at this view all night!

The glass roof cabin was simple, but it had electricity!

View of the cabins.

Dinner the first night.

Day 1

The first day of the Salkantay Trek is claimed to be the hardest, as you hike up and up a mountain side to reach the summit at approximately 15,500 ft.  So, let’s recap, just 48 hours or less, we started our journey at 900 ft above sea level.  That’s a huge change!

The first bit of our journey was a hike up to Humantay Lake.  Even if you do not want to hike the entire Salkantay Trek, I would encourage you to do a one day trip to Humantay lake.  It was breathtaking!

Go to Humantay Lake in March to see all the spring flowers!

The rest of our morning was hike, hike, hike, all up hill, all navigating large boulders and rocks.  The trekking poles we rented were a must.  The toughest part of climbing to the summit was the lack of oxygen in the air.  I started counting my steps, to force myself to keep a steady pace.  100 steps then rest and breath.  50 steps then rest and breath.  Yes, my step count was shorter and shorter, but I just kept pushing through.  We had trained for this.  We were completely capable.  I just needed a little breather every so often.  Then, before we knew it, we had reached Salkantay Pass!  We had reached the summit!  Which lead to a photo stop, and a breather!

As you can tell, it was very foggy up at the pass that day, and at 15,500 ft we needed our coats.  Note these are just our rain coats and not our winter coats.

Right after the Salkantay Pass, we worked our way to the lunch stop on top of the mountain.  Alpaca crew had a tent set up, and they were cooking away preparing lunch.  This crew was amazing!  They carried our totes with all our gear, cooked for us, prepared camp, and so much more!  

Corn

Bread and Soup

Chicken

This was all made in a small green tent over a cooking stove!

The rest of the day was a downhill hike to our campsite.  The area as we came down out of the mountain was green and lush with large boulders spread here and there.  I have never journeyed to Ireland, but this part of the trek gave me the feel as if I had just stepped into Ireland.  

We arrived at a campsite with a view of the mountains, and had a very filling dinner.  This location had an ice cold shower if you wanted to use it, or you could just use the tub of warm water and the wash cloth they give you to get cleaned up.  After a long day of hiking, it wasn’t any trouble at all falling asleep in a tent with a sleeping bag on the ground.  

March on the Salkantay trek is very wet!  This is the trail with water running down it!

Our campsite

Dinner

Day 2

This day was advertised as one of the easiest days.  This was true, because we were heading downhill and through the jungle most of the day.  It started out as a very peaceful journey through the jungle.  However, throughout the day, we dealt with crawling over landslides areas, figuring out how to cross creeks that could usually be walked across, but now they are raging rivers coming down the mountain!  At one point, we had to take off our boots and socks, roll up our pants and wade through an ice cold mountain river to get to our trail.  Brrr!  What we now know, is that we were the first trekking group of the season.  So, in hindsight, it might have been a little less wet, if we would have booked at the end of March.  However, I don’t regret going when we did.  

Fancy lunch 

As day 2 progressed, we were to make our way to the hobbit house lodging.  We hiked 16 miles that day, which was further than was planned for that day.  We hiked jungle, mountain, through rivers, through creeks, and took a cable cart ride above a raging river to the hobbit house lodging.  Our trek that day was longer due to some of the spring time conditions on the trails.  But, finally after a long day, we had real beds, a lukewarm shower, a hot tub, electricity and dinner.  The hot tub and the shower were the best!

This hobbit house hotel was such a quaint place!

Day 3

So, as we were beginning this day, our guide told us that this would be a light hiking day.  We started with a short hike to a coffee plantation and had a hands on experience with a local learning how to make coffee.  Then of course we got to drink coffee and eat lunch.  

After making coffee, we spent the rest of our day hiking up the side of a mountain switch back style, until we arrived at our mountain top campsite.  On this leisurely hike day, we hiked 12 miles.  This was when the idea of Machu Picchu really started to feel real.  Just across the mountains in the distance, we had a view of Machu Picchu.  It still felt so surreal that we were even there and experiencing this.  How did they build that city up on that mountain?  How did it stay hidden for so many years?  So many questions in my head as we looked at the mountain panorama.

Our chef

Tent camping

Dinner

Ancient ruins

Tent camping with a view

Dinner was a big spread of several choices.

Three days in, we are looking so tired, but so happy!

Selfie with Machu Picchu far in the background.

Day 4

It poured down rain on us, while we were making the two hour trek straight down the side of the mountain.  The trail was slick, the trekking poles and full on rain gear were a necessity.  Slow and steady, slip sliding down the slick muddy trail, we made our way to level ground.  I did not have blisters on my feet until this day.  The trail was just so steep that my toes were constantly pressing on the toe of my shoes.  Ouch!

Once we reached level ground, we hiked for several hours along the railroad tracks.  Literally hiking on the rough rocks of the railroad tracks in the pouring down rain.  I would say that our hike was a lot of fun, until Day 4.  On this day, the type of hiking was not difficult, but our feet were wearing down as we hiked on the sharp rocks by the railroad tracks.  

At last, we made it to Aguas Calientes, but we had to walk our muddy, stinky selves through the center of town, looking wiped out, as we made our way to a hotel.  This was the day that I wasn’t sure if my feet could take another step.  But, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  A wonderful hotel room with a hot shower and dinner at a restaurant.  

After showering and feeling refreshed, we checked out the local market on the way to dinner, and found a few souvenirs along the way.

Day 5

After 60 miles of hiking up mountains, down mountains, through jungle, rivers, creeks, up and down Incan stairs, and along railroad tracks, this is the day we had been waiting for!  I never really knew how awesome Machu Picchu would be until I caught my first glimpse.  

We woke up and caught our Machu Picchu bus at 5am.  Upon the first to arrive into Machu Picchu, we had our amazing Alpaca Expeditions tour guide educating us and leading us through Machu Picchu.  Words can not explain how special this place is.  As I have mentioned before, if you have the opportunity in your life to see it, don’t miss it!  I’ll just let the pictures do the explaining for now. 

Reflecting on the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu 

What I learned this past year after hiking 60 miles in 5 days to Machu Picchu...

I initially trained and trained for hiking through the mountains, which was a good plan.  However, I realized that without being mentally tough, we would have never accomplished the hike.  At times in the altitude we were just breathing and taking one step at a time.  On those occasions my mind was not on the end goal.  I was setting small goals.  Hike 100 steps and take a breather.  Do it again and again.  Until at last it was day 5 and we were walking around this majestic place called Machu Picchu!  

So, in life, we need to remember to set small goals, be mentally tough and keep pushing one step at a time.  Life is not all about the big end goals.  We must enjoy the journey along the way.  I hope you all have big dreams!  But, most of all I hope you have small goals and are enjoying every minute of your journey!  Remember to stop, look around, take a deep breath and enjoy this wonderful world!

Thank you for reading the ASC Adventures blog, I hope this encourages you to get out and enjoy the world!

ASC Adventures

Angie