Return to Alajuela Tropical Hostel en Costa Rica

Are you going to Costa Rica, and wondering about a place to stay when you first arrive, a place to acclimate and to get your bearings? We have a suggestion: Alajuela Tropical Hostel near SJO.

Staying in a hostel is different than staying in a hotel, but we prefer to stay at places that allow kitchen access, and generally we find the advantages of staying in the more personal small hostels to outweigh the differences with hotels.

As Hostelworld says 'No place is perfect,' but for our needs, this one pretty much is.

This time last year we spent 5 1/2 weeks in Costa Rica. As we did last year, we stayed at the the wonderful Alajuela Tropical Hostel again, was great to see Alonso in his new location! Many reviewers find the experience to be like staying in the house of a Cosa Rican friend, and we do as well.

Alonso is a local, a 'Tico,' is bilingual, and knows his country and his business very,very well.

If you would like give it a try, book it online with Paypal here: Alajuela Tropical Hostel Once you book you must email your flight info to arrange for the included free airport pickup.

Early to rise....

We got up at 5am in Austin for our 8;20 flight, brother Reggie kindly gave us a ride to the Austin airport. We had an hour layover in Houston, arrived in SJO at 2:00pm, and were a little tired, so it was so great to see Alonso's familiar face appear rather than having to run the gamut of taxi drivers at the airport door.












Alonso's new location (a walled suburban house) has a comfortable shady front patio with a very nice tropical garden where time to time we could here parrots screeching. Everything we need to prepare for the rest of the six week trip --banks, food stores, pharmacy, camping supplies, etc -- are all in walking distance. The entry to the subdivision has security guard and his place is on a dead end street so its fairly quiet. As you walk up the street to his house you can see the old red cathedral dome in the distance.




Former park ranger Alonso picked us up at the Airport in his antique yellow Land Rover, which he uses to conduct tours of the Poas volcano, animal refuge, winery (!) and other attractions of the local area. He had a Netherlands couple waiting in the Land Rover who he was dropping off at the Ojo de Agua, an old established spring fed swim park .

The day was a partly cloudy cool day in the central valley. The cloudy sky was nice, added drama to the surrounding green mountains.






Big trees and tropical flowering plants line the trees of this upscale area of Alajuela, so makes for pleasant walking.

What his guests can't find on their own, Alonso is more than happy to assist them with. Alonso is truly committed to excelence.

Thanks, Alonso! See you at the end of the trip!

More Adventure with Safari Mike: Luangwa Lions Lounging, Male Giraffe Necking

Lounging Lions of Luangwa

Because the park entrance fee is good for 24 hours, we were able to do both a late afternoon and early morning game drive with Mike. He had been working for Born Wild Foundation in Malawi. According to Mike, this organization was founded by the actors from the classic movie.

When we set out on the early morning drive, Mike informed us if we saw lions, be prepared to sit and watch them for a couple of hours. We said that would not be a problem for us. He had been on several safaris at Flatdogs and had yet to see any lions. And, afterall, since he had been working for Born Free wildlife conservation in Malawi for several years, we simply had to help him study his lions! We had noooo problem with that idea at all!

We drove through parts of the park we had not been to but were not finding any lions. We would get hopeful when we would either see very little in the way of wildlife and what looked like an animal alerting as if there might be a lion around.

Finally we came on a safari vehicle and stopped and asked them if they were seeing anything. They said there were lions right back where they had been. As we approached the area where they had been, we saw a giraffe sitting on the ground. We wondered if the lions were still there because the giraffe did not seem concerned. We drove into the clearing and there they were! It was 10 lions in two groups sitting on the ground.








Suddenly, they got up and looked like they were getting ready to start hunting. Some began to move out and others went plunk, back down on the ground! They moved into several groups and began to do what according to Mike they do 80% of every day------resting! Mike hopes one day to become a safari guide and has a book with facts and figures about the various animals.

Mike drove from the open area where some were resting, "off road!" ,to a place where another vehicle had gone. They turned around and left, we saw nothing, turned around barely missing trees and such, when Laura cried "look", two lions were coming up behind us. They, too, went plunk, and began to rest. We watched them for some minutes up close and personal, and it was thrilling, I tell you.

Then off stage, we heard a thundering of hooves. What was that?
Later we learned from the folks in the Flatdogs game drive vehicle that the lions all of sudden got up and chased the giraffes! No luck, though.

Just after we heard the hooves another self drive vehicle drove up, this one carrying people in muslim dress, one man driving, three women passengers. Laura commented that the back window had been broken out, and she wondered if by elephants. As if the man read her lips, he began telling us that they had been in a lodge near Flatdogs and had left oranges in the back. Oops, seems that "Wonkie Tusk" had been busy....

We then spent the next two and a half hours ,moving between and watching the resting lion small groups. Many times they were very "cat-like" in their behavior--rolling over and stretching, preening and cleaning and yawning and stretching. It was all very entertaining!





Male Giraffe "Necking"
We also came up to three male Giraffe doing the strangest thing. According to Mike, the males were "necking." They were butting each other with slow but great force, apparently in preparation for the mating season. Mike told us that male Giraffe are distinguised in part from females by the hair being worn off their horns.