We haven’t traveled internationally in a little while so we decided in June to look for something exciting. Being so close to the border affords us the opportunity to look at airports in Tijuana as well as San Diego. There just so happened to have been a trip from Tijuana to San Jose, Costa Rica in October for $155 roundtrip. It was a short Thursday through Sunday trip, but heck for that price why not.
The Cross Border Express is a secured border crossing that allows people to skip the traditional border crossing and go straight from San Diego to the Tijuana Airport or vice versa. There is an additional cost of $15 per way, but from a time standpoint it cannot be beaten. We went through the entire process in less than 15 minutes and most of that was just walking across the border in the air-conditioned bridge.
Tijuana airport is surprisingly nice. With the border not being the nicest of places our expectations were low, but as soon as we walked in we were shocked that it actually was nicer than Terminal 1 in San Diego. We ate a torta, which was delicious and we were on our way to Mexico City. The flight landed early and so we began our 17-hour layover by checking into our hotel. The good news was that Uber is in Mexico City so we called an Uber and were to our hotel in a jiffy.
Most 5-Star hotels should have an individual that speaks more than Spanish at their front desk, but not at this place. We struggled through language barriers but eventually got our room. We were escorted up to our hotel by this random English speaking woman. Both Grant and I thought she was an employee staff, but come to find out she was a resident of the hotel. There are two towers – one that is for guests and the other is for owners. It was all very strange and it definitely got weird when Grant tried to tip her for the service. We politely ushered her out of our room as she clearly wanted to stay in chat.
Our first stop was to the Zocalo in Mexico City. This was their city center and outdoor mall. It was hustling and bustling and something that we had not seen on our previous trip. We walked around and saw some really interesting characters. We stayed and wandered around for a little bit before we hopped in an Uber to La Proveleta.
The last time we were there it ranked on my top 5 steaks I have ever had. This time around it was bad. Like the top 5 worst steaks I have ever had. There was clearly a change that went on so this restaurant shall never be mentioned again. After that disappoint outing, we went to go get a churro from the same place we went last time. Unfortunately, it was closed. So the whole evening left a bad taste in our mouth figuratively and literally.
The next morning we got up and headed to the Mexico City airport. I am sorry, but one men’s bathroom with 4 urinals and 4 stalls for 10 gates is not enough. We boarded the plane and got the aisle and middle seat. The problem was that there was a large Mexican man who was put in the window. This individual did not fit into one seat. The armrest could not be put down and so he extended into Grant’s seat. These seats are not very large to begin with and as the plane was going off he encroached more and more. Eventually, the man was laying on top of Grant and he was wearing him like a blanket. I offered to change seats and so I got to endure that the last hour. The 4-hour flight felt like an eternity, but we had officially arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica.
All the sites that are out there say—use Uber. It’s cheaper and easy to use. What they do not tell you is that Uber is ILLEGAL in Costa Rica! So when we made our way outside we were accosted by taxi driver after taxi driver. Pushing through the hoard we were advised by the app to meet at the bus station. Huh? That’s strange…so we asked where the bus station was. The driver was there in no time and he politely asked one of us to sit in the front. Odd, so we asked why? He said it is because Uber is illegal in Costa Rica, and we must act like we know each other to avoid penalties. Cool!
We arrived in now time to our resort, Xandari Resort and Spa, and were greeted with coconuts. It was off-season in Costa Rica so we knew it would be a little empty, but we were not expecting to have the whole resort to ourselves! Our room was great, nice view, beds were fine…there were a salt-water pool and Jacuzzi right outside our door. The coolest feature of the property was that there were 5 waterfalls on-site that we could trek to.
After changing from our airplane clothes, we were off with a bamboo walking stick in hand to the rainforest. We made it to the first waterfall and then the rain hit. We were ill-prepared as the rain caught us off guard. Instead of turning back we trekked deeper into the rainforest to see the additional rainfalls. Soaking wet we made our way back to the pool where instead of hosing off—we cleaned ourselves in the community pool we commandeered for ourselves.
That evening we headed back to the main lobby where the restaurant was attached. After having lackluster food in Mexico we were crossing our fingers that the food here would be good. Thankfully it delivered. Again, there was more wait staff than guests as Grant and I had the entire place to ourselves. Upon returning home, Grant was the first to try the bathroom toilet. When you flush the toilet – it talks back. I really thought that the food was not settling well with Grant. It wasn’t until I tried it that I realized what was happening.
The main reason why I booked this trip was my desire to go white river rafting. We had done this in Tahoe recently, but it was a little to calm for us. We had a private driver who drove us the two hours to the tour. We were the only two people at the rafting company. So instead of getting in a large raft – Grant and I both went in small kayaks with a personal tour guide. They were a lot of fun and all of us fell out a few times. My tour guide actually fell out the most, which is probably scary for most people. They let us cliff dive in some of the deeper parts and we concluded the tour with big smiles on our faces.
We ate lunch at a local eatery and again were the only people there. The whole city was a ghost town. After eating, we went on a chocolate tour, which was really cool. We went through each and every step of making chocolate. But what made it really cool was that we actually did each step that we could. Granted it was like a cooking show on TV where we “grounded the cacao beans” and then came out the fine grain result, but it was still cool. We got to try the cacao drink of the gods and then we added the sugar and ate the paste, then through the magic of Costa Rican chefs we got to eat the bars. It was chocolate overload, but a really fun experience.
The driver picked us up from the tour and we went back to the hotel. After parting ways with him, we hung out in the pool and jacuzzi just soaking in all of Costa Rica. There is something so peaceful about hanging out in a pool in the rain. The next morning, I woke up super early and cleaned the entire hotel room. Grant woke up to all his clothes folded and myself packed and ready to go. We cleaned the bill up with the hotel and Uber was there in a jiffy to take us to the airport.
Just a side note—Costa Rice is very expensive. For a third world country, the rates that they charge foreigners are ridiculous. There is a large western influence in certain areas (predominately tourist areas). Maybe I am just a little bitter that we spent $35 at the airport on a 6-inch Quiznos sandwich and a ¼ pound Smashburger and fries.
