“Hand me those snacks!” This was my husband’s request not because he was hungry, but because there was a defiant horse blocking the rolling, winding and bumping dirt road that leads to the Viento Fresco Waterfalls, which flow roughly halfway between Arenal and Monteverde. But alas, that horse had no interest in plantain chips and stood its ground, moving only when it and it alone finally decided to move.
As the Tarantula Hawk Wasp summed up the CR wildlife spectrum quite well, so did the stubborn horse symbolize our adventures in driving around Costa Rica: Expect challenges around every bend. Even after the horse stepped aside, we found ourselves essentially off-roading to the waterfalls parking lot…in our Suzuki Vitari. Gratefully, we have some off-roading experience and made it out unscathed from the hike. Well, the car did at least.
We expected bumps and traffic and obstacles, but I don’t think we QUITE understood besides the admonition to not drive at night. Used to driving in rural-ish, mountain-ish terrain, on generally neglected roads, I guess we thought we were seasoned enough. Perhaps it is more useful for me to summarize these traffic obstacles: Roads that suddenly change to one lane immediately after a sharp turn; hard-to-see speed bumps; a pack of coatis chilling out on the road while two lanes of traffic patiently waited; construction on major roads where both lanes are shut down for extended periods; an abandoned, broken down bus blocking one lane of a narrow row going into a blind turn; every road around Monteverde apparently having been repeatedly shelled for years (not really, but..); stopping in a busy town to let a lady with a baby carriage cross the road, only to have every car behind pass at a high rate of speed, barely missing the family; motorbikes, motorbikes EVERYWHERE; extremely liberal interpretation of traffic laws and customs; and the damn horse, of course.
The point of this is not to complain. Rather, I feel obligated to give notice to the unsuspecting tourist hoping to rent a car in CR. If you’re patient and living the pura vida, you’ll probably be fine, but I can confirm having sworn off any future CR driving. That stress thrown on top of an aggressive agenda proved a little too tiring in the scheme of things, and I feel it my duty to share. You’ve been forewarned!
Travel Notch 