Costa Rica (the red country on the map below) is about the size of West Virginia and is positioned between Nicaragua and Panama, with much of the country having coastlines along the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Numerous volcanoes, rain forests, cloud forests, and coffee/spice farms populate the terrain.
There are two main airports to fly into in Costa Rica: Liberia and San Jose. Both offer a wealth of activities and sights to see within a couple of hours. We ultimately chose to fly into San Jose (#1 on the map below), because that's where a personal contact lives that is going to assist us with renting a vehicle. Once we figured out which airport, it was then easier to put together our itinerary.
We've got a couple days in Alajuela to explore Poas Volcano (2) and a waterfall. Then we will head to La Fortuna for a few days to check out Arenal Volcano (3) and so many other fun things in that area.
Then we hope to settle in a little bit into our work/school routine at our main base in Bejuco (4). Bejuco is right on the beach, nestled between the popular destinations of Jaco and Manuel Antonio.
Because this is a longer trip, we had to structure in time to work and school. We are hoping to stick to a schedule of doing that 8am-1pm each weekday. That will hopefully leave further adventures for the late afternoons and weekends.
Our bags are mostly packed and we are getting some final trip prep items checked off the list!
