Serene Costa Rica

Many people ask me what my favorite country is out of all the places I have visited. Although I do not have one favorite country, Costa Rica has to be on the top five list of countries I love. It is one of the most serene places I have ever visited. It is the most biodiverse country in the world! And get this, it is one of the handful of countries without the military. How cool is that? I know, I sound like an advertisement for the Costa Rica Tourism Board😊

So let’s get to it. We spent the 2009 Christmas in Costa Rica. Based on initial research, I decided to make Liberia our base for this trip. Liberia is in North-West Costa Rica, right on the coast. We flew to the capital city of San Jose, so it was a few hour drive to our hotel.

Here comes the manual…

It turns out that when I booked the rental car, I just assumed that I would have an automatic gear car. Well, that was a wrong assumption! They gave us a manual shift 4-wheel drive car. Now, it had been 20 years at that point since I had used a manual shift car. After some tests in the parking lot, and probably some damage to the transmission, we drove off to our hotel.

The drive to the hotel was beautiful. Our hotel was right on the ocean and the Hilton staff was nothing short of amazing (more about that later)! After we settled down, we decided to go to the town to get adjusted to the area. To our surprise, everywhere we went, they insisted that tap water in Costa Rica was the purest in the world. They want to discourage bottled water so much that bottled water was twice as expensive as soda. I thought that was strange, but you must appreciate their willingness to take a stand on the quality of their water (it didn’t matter much to us because we didn’t want to take chances with tap water in a foreign country).

Beans Anyone?

Being vegetarian, we soon found that Costa Rica is a vegetarian-friendly country, but every meal contained black beans and rice. Now I love black beans but there are only so many meals you can have with black beans and rice. Our son, Ish, hates black beans so the poor kid had a rough time the entire trip.

There is so much to do in Costa Rica and each region is so unique that it has its own weather system!. On the first day, we decided to go check out the rainforest. I had never been to a rainforest before. It looked like the trees were 100 feet or taller. There is hardly any space for sunlight to go in, so I guess the trees keep growing taller. We hiked to a waterfall on our way into the rainforest. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

We decided to take it easy the next morning and relax at the hotel. That afternoon, we went on a zip line adventure. We decided to try the longest zipline in Costa Rica at close to one mile. The zipline consisted of multiple sections building up to the longest line. There is a river that runs below this longest line. It was an exhilarating experience.

It was time to check out the volcanoes the following morning. I told you, it is a diverse country! After an hour or so drive, we reached the volcanoes. They had some hikes around the area and a natural hot springs that the kids enjoyed. That evening, we asked the hotel staff if they could set up a beachside dinner for us. They were really sweet. They set up a nice table and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the beach. Hats off to the Hilton staff.

We decided to relax at the hotel for a day to enjoy the beach and pool. After a nice relaxation, we were off to Palo Verde National Park. Palo Verde is known for bird watching and my wife enjoys watching birds. We had booked a river cruise at the Palo Verde National Park for bird watching. I put the address in my GPS and off we went. Or so I thought! We were passing through some sugarcane fields. There were no paved roads, and I was just following the GPS. Everyone thought we were lost, but I thought we were headed in the right general direction so we stuck with it.

Industrial Detour…

After about 30 minutes or so, we came to an open field. There was this big factory of some kind. I figured it was probably a sugar factory since it was in the middle of all the sugarcane fields. I asked my wife, since we seemed to have a lot of time, if she was okay if we ask for a tour of the factory. I thought it was something unique and the kids would never get such an opportunity. So, we went it the factory – I just pretended like I belonged, so the security guy waived us right in! Once we arrived at the main office, I asked my wife and daughter to stay in the car and took Ish with me. We took some candies that we were carrying with us inside. We went straight into the General Manager’s office. After a small chat, I saw a picture of a young girl on his desk. I offered the candies to his daughter and the next thing we knew, we were given a guided tour of the sugar factory!

After an hour or so, we continued to the Palo Verde National Park. Our tour was starting from this place where they had an old-fashioned sugarcane juice machine carried by bullocks! How cool was that? Both Ish and Chiti had so much fun (they forgave me for dragging me through the sugar factory)! After some fresh sugarcane juice, we were finally on the boat— bird watching. Well, that was an exciting day, to say the least. There was something for everyone that day.

We were leaving the following day for San Jose for our flight that evening.

Bribe Again!

We were going through a small town. They had some construction going on so there was a detour sign. I followed the detour sign. There was no sign of a detour end. So, I went the wrong way for about 20 feet and realized that I needed to move over. There was a local cop waiting for us when I moved over. He pulled us over. I explained my position and he asked for our passports. One thing I have learned during all my travel is that you must guard your passport at all costs. I said, how about we talk instead? He asked me to come out and meet him behind a wall. My wife was not too excited, but I assured her it would be fine. I went behind the wall. He asked for $100. I offered him $10, and we settled for $20!

We continued to the airport. Along the way, we saw a roadside coconut vendor, so we stopped for some fresh coconut water. That was refreshing.

What a trip that was. Unforgettable for sure (I still remember it like it was yesterday after 13+ years). What was your most memorable trip? What do you remember about it? Please do share your experiences. See you at the roadside café somewhere….