Costa Rica:
The Beautiful Jungle
I came to Costa Rica to relax for a few days and see my wife for the first time in nearly two weeks after my first extended work trip in more than a year of the pandemic. Despite the lack of travel, the last 10 months have been the busiest of my career, so this break was much needed.
Having arrived a few hours earlier, Leah picked me up outside the Liberia airport. At first blush Costa Rica appears to be a normal Latin American country. To a person, every friend and colleague I spoke with about this trip who had been to Costa Rica raved about how beautiful and exciting the place is. First impressions didn’t come close to the expectations that had been set. Interesting for sure; beauty we would not see for a while.
Instead of being picked up by the resort where we would stay, we decided to rent a car and make the drive ourselves. Starting out, partially deliberately and partially by mistake, we drove through the city of Liberia a bit. Liberia is dry, flat, and somewhat sprawling. An active downtown of restaurants, bars, and breweries appeared to attract locals but not many tourists. Driving deeper into the city revealed sparse development, dilapidated buildings, seemingly happy and active teens, mixed in with some rough living. The assortment of falling-down drunks, literally, outside of the AA office was classic. Seemed like we were back in Oakland. But unlike Oakland or any other so-called “Third World” country we’ve been to, not one time in our travels were we ever approached by people or children soliciting donations or handouts. Never did we see anyone who appeared homeless.
We finally turned around and got going in the right direction. The first half of our trip would not be on the beach, but deep into the core of the country in the Arenal Volcano. The drive is normally three hours through the countryside, but as usual, Leah and I somehow turned it into a journey. Our travel time doubled — we drove for six straight hours before we’d reach our destination.
While America is debating President Biden’s Jobs Plan, it seems as if we landed in a country that recently passed its own infrastructure bill. There were endless miles of highway expansion and improvement projects that occasionally made for frustrating traffic.
Most of the drive on the main highway was through farmland and open fields. After a few hours the dry desert feel gave way to more tropical terrain. After driving nearly an hour in the wrong direction after missing a turn, we asked a police officer for directions. We were advised to take a shortcut, one that would lead to an adventurous yet harrowing, twisting drive through mountains, villages, and towns. There was a point where we questioned if we would make it. It was getting dark, some roads were completely unpaved and unstable, and we had no idea where we were.
At times the road was newly paved and the scenery was nice, other times the street that could hardly fit one vehicle was forced to fit two, with one being a large truck. For a short stretch, there wasn’t a road at all, just rocks to drive over. Signage was a joke, our GPS was not working and it was now dark with no streetlights.
Eventually, we arrived! It was now pitch black and we couldn’t get a good look at the property. After a quick meal, we were off to our villa, which was spectacular, including a large deck with a hot tub, hammock and lounge chairs.
We woke up the next morning to the sound of birds singing. A peek outside revealed paradise!
The Nayara Resort is set in a rain forest. Lush green tropics, beautiful and unique flowers, and plants, gorgeous exotic birds. The enormous property boasts a lovely cafe, several pools, natural hot springs, hiking trails, many restaurants, and a wine bar!
Glad we explored the country on our extended drive because it is hard to leave the room and nearly impossible to leave the property.
There were questions to which I wanted to try to find answers. Though this was no research mission, I wondered how this Central American country has escaped the intractable violence that plagues its neighbor Nicaragua and other nearby Latin American nations.
Costa Rica has no standing army. After a civil war in 1948, the government decided to disband the army. The country was able to invest more in education and health care for its people. Costa Rica has the most well-educated populace of any Central American country. This may be the answer to how Costa Rica has been able to avoid the disastrous pitfalls of several fellow Central American nations. Other contributors are that Costa Rica doesn’t seem to have received any American interference like so many other Latin American countries. It also has been lucky to have had a few very good leaders after gaining independence from Spain in 1821. This forward-thinking leadership dedicated nearly 30 percent of the country as protected lands decades ago, and built the infrastructure for the thriving eco-tourist economy that exists today. Costa Rica also benefits from a thriving export business of their local crops: pineapple, sugarcane, and bananas. Littering is a crime and there is hardly any of it — the country is clean and no one seems to be unable to meet basic needs. Even with its significant poverty, Costa Rica is an impressive little country all the way around.
Our first full day in Costa Rica was laid back. A little bit of work in the morning then off to explore our expansive resort. A long meandering walk took us to brunch, a game of pool at the cafe, a dip in the hot springs, a short but glorious hike where the cicadas were literally as loud as a stadium full of cheering fans, then off to a private hot tub, and finally, the gym.
After a long workout, we showered and changed for dinner and a wine tasting at the Wine Bar. Another lovely setting, the Wine Bar offered Spanish Tapas paired with wine or a blind wine tasting game. I chose the game. Three Cabernets and the goal was to guess the country of origin. I felt ready for my sommelier test after correctly determining all three. But it was the Portuguese red blend that came later that was the sumptuous surprise.
As planned, day three unfortunately was a workday. Ironically, it was the one day of thunderous rain. But after working all day and into the evening we did take a swim under the rain drops. And when the rain broke momentarily, a relaxing lounge in the jacuzzi.
On our last full day at this resort, we couldn’t leave without taking in the iconic Costa Rican activity — zip lining! A short drive from our hotel but far back into the jungle, we arrived at the adventure park. After a very long air tram high and deep into the rain forest jungle we began seven different zip lines, five of which were a quarter mile long. Leah hated the experience but endured for me. I loved it! Exhilarating with amazing views.
We woke very early the next morning, packed, put our luggage near the door and met our awaiting tour guides for a floating safari. A two-hour drive to the northern border with Nicaragua to take a boat ride on the Rio Frio (cold river) — that was perfectly warm.
The three-hour ride on the river was a journey into nature’s paradise. A floating safari that lived up to the expectations as the best in the country. In addition to more beautiful birds, we saw three different types of monkeys: the chill howler monkeys, the circus act flying through the air and grabbing tree limbs spider monkeys, and we got pretty up close and personal with the cute, agile “white-faced” cappuccino monkeys.
There was also the Jesus Lizards, named for their ability to run on top of the water. The river was also full of caimans, in the alligator family. Thanks to some fancy equipment our tour guide brought along, we were able to snap some amazing photographs.
After arriving back at Nayara, we packed up the rent-a-car and drove back to Liberia. This time taking the correct route we discovered that, had me not missed our turn on the way up, it would have been a much easier and shorter trip. During the drive, we listened to podcasts on the history of the country and Costa Rican travel adventures.
For the next four days, we just chilled at the very nice Andaz property on the coast. While it paled in comparison to the Nayara, yet was somehow more expensive, it was still lovely. In addition to too much work while in such a beautiful setting, we also swam, snorkeled, jet skied, and drank delicious local coffee.
There was also the issue of the creatures. A note about the bugs: they are plentiful, they are very large, and they make a lot of noise. Some of them also leave bites on the skin.
Then there are the many iguanas crawling around and popping out of bushes. Many of them are huge! But they are harmless.
Though it may sound like the line of a stand-up comic routine, it was not intentional: after eight glorious days in Costa Rica, I left back to the states, my plane departing an hour after Leah’s mother arrived. They’d go on to stay another week, I’d get back to work.
