Pura Vida in Costa Rica

Whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hiking, zip lines and hanging bridges, volcanoes, beaches, sloths and monkeys. It was a busy week in Costa Rica! This was our number was destination, we sent more guests to Costa Rica every year than anywhere else. And this was not my first visit but it had been over 7 years since visiting. So I was very overdue for a visit. I was on a scouting mission and traveling along with a alumni travel director. We were inspecting activities and hotels for an upcoming trip. I arrived 2 days in advance to head to Manual Antonio and do some serious hotel inspections. We visited 14 hotels in a day and a half. Talk about getting in your steps! Then back to San Jose to meet my travel companion. I got to see sloths up close in Manual Antonio National Park, try the local delicacy "Lizano", and watch an amazing powerful thunderstorm.

First on the itinerary was white water rafting on the Pacurare River. Back in 2006 I rafted on the Sarapiqui. That particular trip has been in April and the water level was low, which made for a relaxing trip but not much in terms of rapids. This time I was traveling in August, after several months of the rainy season. And the rafting was definitely more enjoyable. It was a solid class II/III rafting trip. And we had perfect weather for the trip as well.

We drove back to San Jose as we needed to do some hotel inspections. It is almost 3 hours each way so lots of time in the car! Ideally you would overnight in the area the night before to avoid an obscene wake up time and also the night after to really take in the area. In the morning we visited Poas Volcano, just an hour away. There was a little activity as you will see in the photo. ANd that afternoon it actually did have an "eruption event". Apparently a huge poof of gasses, steam, and particles erupted almost 1km high.

Next on the agenda was Monteverde. In my previous trips I had never been to this region. It is a cloud forest and known for its night hikes and numerous orchids. We did a great night hike seeing lots of frogs, spiders, snakes and birds.

From here we headed to Arenal and took a bike ride around the volcano. We also visited a coffee plantation and had a delicious lunch. We also went ziplining and to the hanging bridges.

Last up was Guanacaste. Here we had a really special day planned, going to the Blue Zone region. It is a location where the age expectancy is significantly higher than the rest of the world. We had coffee at the home of a lovely women I was surprised to learn was in her late 90s. While there a neighbor, he was only 92, came with a basket. He dropped off some plantations he had for her and took some fresh tomatoes from her garden. We learned this is how they live, all growing different things and sharing. Then at 4:00 PM we headed to the community center. Each day they all meet here. Some days, as this day, there were some health officials from the town who did a few check ups and spoke in general about some health tips. Then everyone stood and the music started. There was about 10 minutes of stretching together followed by 30 minutes of salsa dancing! Clearly it is a combination of community, being active, and staying busy that keeps them so young.

Our last night in Guanacaste I met up with our ground operator, who by this point working together is really just a wonderful friend. We had a beer and guacamole overlooking the beautiful country. Costa Rica is not big - about the size of West Virginia - but so diverse. There are mountains and beaches and volcanos and cloud forests. You can do it all in one country. I departed from Liberia the next morning. Hopefully I don’t wait another 7 years to get back to this fantastic place!