Costa Rica 2022

Donna and I recently took another trip to the wonderful country of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a modern and safe Central American country that has so much to see and do. On this trip we hiked in the rainforest around a Volcano, swam near a waterfall, enjoyed a volcanic hot springs, and walked in the cloud rainforest canopy on hanging bridges. We visited the Pacific side of the very diverse country this time. Like all travel now days we had our ups and downs but in general had a wonderful trip. We also had a great guide who gave us a great tour for both days we toured the country. We also had great conversations with locals about their country and ours.

Getting to Costa Rica

We flew into Liberia (Guanacaste) airport using Southwest Airlines and it was very easy to do so in this stage in the Pandemic. Costa Rica no longer requires any paperwork or Covid testing before entry into the country. All we did was provided our passport and answered questions like when is our return flight was and we were in Costa Rica. Things continue to change for the better in most countries in the world in this regard.

Hiking the Rainforest, Waterfall and Hot Springs

Our first day of touring we were picked up right on time by our wonderful private tour guide Armando Wright (+506 7089 9155). He came right on time in his very nice SUV and we headed over to Rincon de la Vieja National Park. There we took a long hike out into the rainforest surrounding the volcano. While hiking we saw boiling cauldrons of water being heated by the active volcano, colonies of leaf cutter ants climbing huge trees to get leaves to take back to their nests, we saw giant toads, and lizards. As we continued our hike we heard some rustling in the trees and we looked up and saw White Faced monkeys in the trees. There were about four of them up there. Throughout the walk we could hear howler monkeys in the distance but never saw them. We also saw many different species of birds. It was extremely humid as you might expect so if you take the walk be ready for that for sure. The trail was very well maintained and it was a great walk! Afterwards Armando took us for another quick walk down into a canyon with a huge waterfall also in the rainforest. We walked over some hanging bridges and we went down to take a quick swim. The water was very cold even in the humid rainforest but it was still a nice quick swim. Our final stop was a nice swim in volcanic hot springs. We warmed up as we took a quick dip in different pools with different temperatures. All heated by the volcano. We skipped on the volcanic mud on our skin but that was available. Our last stop before we headed home was a nice buffet lunch at the local resorts restaurant. Our great tour guide took us back to the hotel where we rested for the evening.

Cancelled Tour and the Monteverde Cloud Rainforest

When you travel you have to be ready for anything to happen. There had been a yellow alert put out for possible heavy rains due to a tropical system going through the country. We arrived at the very beginning of the rainy season. Up until this point there had only been a little rain. Not really anything that we aren’t used to in Houston. I was checking our booking for the next day and saw there was a notice that the tour company wanted to cancel because of too much rain in the mountains. I got in contact with them and they decided to cancel and there were no other tour available to us. I then contacted Armando to see if he could take us on a tour very last minute or recommend something else we could do. Armando graciously agreed to take us to the Monteverde Cloud Rainforest as there were no major flood issues going on. He gave up his normal day off to help us out. We were very grateful to him. We were picked up and we headed the couple hours up into the mountains. We made a stop at a very nice coffee farm to try some of the great local coffee and pastries. We visited the Selvatura Adventure park in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. There are many things you can do there from Zip Lines, Butterfly Gardens, hanging bridges, Sloth Habitat and more. We decided to do the Hanging Bridge Hike and the Sloth Habitat. We headed out on our 1.9 mile long hanging bridges hike into the rainforest. It was cooler but still humid up in the mountains. We walked through dense forest where we encountered 8 different hanging bridges up in the canopy of the forest. We could look down and see the rainforest floor below us. It was a beautiful walk. We heard monkeys once again in the distance but never saw them. We did once again see many different birds while walking. Its amazing how dynamic the weather can be in Costa Rica. When we started our walk it was very sunny but as we got to the end of the walk the clouds that looked more like fog started to drift through the forest. We finished up our peaceful and nice walk and then took a guided tour of a Sloth habitat where they take care of Sloths that could not survive in the wild. We learned a lot about the Sloths and the butterflies in the habitat. We learned about the Owl Butterfly that has a snake in its camouflage so while it rests predators will stay away. In every stage of its life its camouflaged. Its eggs look like water drops on a leaf, its cocoon looks like a dead leaf, and its caterpillar looks like a stick. After our tours a little rain came and we saw our former tour group at the park (so much for it being too rainy to take us on the tour). We headed back to the hotel to the beautiful views of the Pacific coast and mountains!

Conversations with Locals

Like we do whenever we travel we talked to the locals about their country and about our country. Costa Rica is a mostly peaceful country where we have never felt unsafe on our two trips there. The State Department lists Costa Rica Currently as a level 2 out of 4 “Exercise Increased Caution” due to crime. While crime can happen anywhere in the world and Costa Rica is no different from talking to locals and what I’ve seen it is a safe country. I am not saying crime is not possible there and that you should let you guard completely down but I can tell you in all reality it is as safe as back home or safer honestly. I had conversations with locals about the string of violence in the US and the growing unhappiness in the country. While Costa Rica and no other place in the world is perfect but I found Costa Rica to be happier and healthier than the US in some ways. We talked about healthcare and how Costa Rica actually ranks higher than the US in healthcare and is far cheaper than back home. In Costa Rica like in much of the world they have Public and Private hospitals. The public hospitals are free for residents but if you do not want to go or wait for the public hospitals you can go to the private hospitals and pay. It was mentioned you could get private health insurance for a low as $13 a month. While healthcare is available to anyone who lives there, there are things that a very expensive in Costa Rica. Cars all have to be imported so are very pricey, clothing can be expensive and electricity bills are high. A lot of US citizens come to Costa Rica to get medical care and many US citizens come to live in Costa Rica as housing costs less and in general the cost of living is less for US citizens than back home. We had other people want to know what we thought of our time in their country and we let them know we were impressed and really enjoyed their country. Donna and I have considered (just talked about it) moving out of the US and living abroad and Costa Rica would be a good place to move that’s for sure!

Costa Rican Cuisine

We have found we really love Latin American and Caribbean food! When in countries like Costa Rica the fruit is so good and fresh compared to back home. We have tried fruits not usually available back home like Guanabana (soursop) and Tamarind. We mostly had them as great juice drinks. In Costa Rica we tried a great dish called Casado! It came with a steak or chicken, beans, rice, salad, a fried egg and plantains. Latin American Steaks are very tasty with onions and spices on top of the steaks. In the Dominican Republic we had salsa on the steak. They are really good. We also had a great breakfast dishes. The breakfast in Costa Rica kept us filled until dinner time. It consisted of Pinto Gallo, eggs and bacon. We really like Pinto Gallo and brough home the special sauce used in it to try to make it at home. Its rice, and beans with special seasoning and sauce used to make it. Its really good. The soups of Costa Rica are also great. We got the Lima Soup that was like a tortilla soup. I wish we had more food like Costa Rica’s in the US!

Coming Home

Coming back into the US is much more difficult now days than visiting another country is. While most countries in the world have removed the Covid Testing mandates the US is one of the few refusing to drop the rule even for vaccinated citizens of the United States. I have mentioned before that this is all just hygiene theater as the testing really does not help keep variants out of the country. So like we have done for the past year we took our pre-departure Covid test one day before we were set to come home. We both tested negative and we also had to fill out the Attestation form where we stated that we tested negative for Covid. At the airport we had to give them contact tracing information like phone number, address and email. We have traveled internationally extensively and never been contacted about Covid. I have to wonder if its even used or if its just more hoops my home country is putting us through before we head home. We made it back home with no problem from this great trip.

In Conclusion

We had a great trip to Costa Rica and we really enjoyed the warm and friendly people, great natural sites and the great food. Costa Rica is a country I heavily recommend people visit at least once in your life. I also want to recommend if you go to Costa Rica and you are looking for a great private tour to use Armando Wright. He did great and really saved us when we were looking for a last minute tour. He uses WhatsApp so you can contact him through his phone number +506 7089 9155 to inquire about a tour.