Adventure Journal about Costa Rican provinces: Puntarenas, Guanacaste
For this first entry we will be traveling to the province of Puntarenas. The beginning of our journey starts in Escazu, a Town near the highway that connects the central Valley (where all the main large cities and capital of the country are located) to the coastal provinces, Guanacaste, and Puntarenas.
To reach this province by car it’s fairly simple it should take less than a 2 hour drive to reach the coast, and start enjoying the beaches. Puntarenas is our longest province and has a large number of beaches along its coast line.
The coastline offers a variety of natural features that stand out, its not only that it houses some of the best surfing beaches but it has places that not even the nationals get the chance to know. Travelling to islands like Isla Tortuga, Isla Del caño, Isla del Coco, San Lucas which used to be a Jail now it’s just part of our culture and history, you can still visit it and its kept in its original conditions for travelers to visit.
To visit all the beautiful beaches in this Province would prove hard to do in a single trip, yet there is a list of some of the best beaches you could visit, Playa Hermosa, Playa Esterillos, Playa Bejuco, Playa Matapalo, Dominical, Palo Seco, Puerto Jimenez, Manuel Antonio. Searching this names will bring beautiful images and stories in any search engine. Since I’ve lived all my life here I know some of them, I have yet to know them all, but I grew up going every weekend for the most memorable years of my childhood going to my family’s “finca” in Playa Esterillos. Our large property surrounded by large tall trees, an estuary that bordered most of the properties and a short walk of the beach, these were my weekends.
Hotel Costa Paraiso, Esterillos Oeste Yet all the other beaches are a few minutes’ drive from where we stayed playa Hermosa, Jaco, Herradura. All nice towns and beaches to visit if you’re in town. Jaco is the popular beach town, herradura has the large Marina, with beautiful home estates, and playa Hermosa all the surf you could ever want. And mountain bike trails, come out of the coast and right up next to the coastal road we have MTB park, Trillos colorada are a few places to mention, and natural attractions, but there is much more, waterfalls, rivers and hotels and homes to visit, all beautiful. The hotel I visited is now located were my family had their land, and you can see the creativity in the design and ingenuity of the place and its people.
