Our hoped-for good nights sleep was rudely disturbed at around 03.00 by shouting and banging in the room upstairs from us. Lynn was so concerned that she called reception, who in turn called the Police. Eventually, things calmed down and we slept until 05.45. We found out from the receptionist in the morning that she had gone to the room and then called the police! A fire-crew happened to be in the area and 5 large firemen knocked on the door of the room which quietened things down, and then the police turned up as well. The woman victim, wouldn't press charges however.
After breakfast in the hotel we caught the shuttle to the airport at 07.00. Checking in was painless and after I was given special permission to keep my shoes on, we almost cruised through security until a women stepped on Lynn's foot. Lynn had taken her shoes off to go through security. When we inspected the damage, we discovered that one of Lynn's nails was broken off and there was blood!. After a being given a band-aid by a man from security, we went to find some more band-aids.
The flight proved to be quite full, although we had a seat spare in our row. The flight was roughly 3 hours and at first we headed across the Gulf of Mexico before crossing the Yucatan Peninsula and down the coast towards Belize. The barrier reef along the coast of Belize was clearly visible. Not too long later, we came into land at Liberia in northern Costa Rica.
Immigration and customs proved to be simple and after a brief unpleasant encounter with an aggressive car rental salesman, we found our rental company representative who quickly loaded us into a minibus and dispatched us to the Dollar rental depot. Here we were efficiently dealt with by Maurizio, a trainee at Dollar. About 30 minutes later we were installed in our Suzuki Jimny 4x4. It was a bit basic, but for 2 of us, it was just fine. In addition to the usual fitments in the car, there was also a special lock for enable locking the car into reverse as a secuity measure when parked.
We headed towards Liberia town and found a Subway and popped in to collect some lunch. Once through the town, we ran into roadworks. We'd been warned the the Police are very strict on speed limits and for the next 50km we were stuck doing between 30-60 kph. We encountered quite a few local drivers who clearly weren't concerned about speed limits or double white lines!.
The route 1, or Pan-American Highway, took us south through Bagaces, Canas and Limonal befdore we turned off near Rancho Grande and headed east towards Monteverde. After about 25km, the road gave out. We have previously driven the 700 km long Dempster Highway in the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada and thought that was bad at times, but nothing compares it to the rock hard surface of Costa Rican mountain roads! Most of the journey was done at 20-30 kph!
Entering Santa Elena, the road becomes paved again, what a relief after all that banging and shaking. After checking directions in the middle of Santa Elena, we quickly found the Hotel Ficus Sunset Suites just a couple of hundred metres south of Santa Elena. The receptionist was expecting us and quickly assigned us to (and took payment for) our room, number 241. This proved to be at the very top end of the property spread up a steep hill. Once inside, we realised what a fantastic view we had. From the wrap-around balcony, we could see clear down to the Gulf of Nicoya about 50km away! The room had two kingsized beds, and enormous dressing room, a smaller room with washbasin in and a huge room with toilet and a massive walk-in shower. The trees and bushes below the room proved to be a haven for a range of exotic birds too.
After settling in, we drove back to Santa Elena and found a restaurant, the Tree House, for dinner. The restaurant was built around a huge Ficus (rubber) tree. The food, service and beer was excellent although a little pricey. Following dinner, we briefly visited a supermarket for some bottled water and managed to find a Gelateria for some pudding!.
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