I’m a little late in posting this, but I thought I better get back at it, before too much time passes. I was looking back at all the travel posts I have, and I can’t believe I still haven’t posted anything about my love of Costa Rica. I first discovered CR about 6-7 years ago when my sister and I went backpacking there on vacation for 3 weeks. We loved it then (except for traveling with a strange friend of hers who was a total buzz-kill) and I love it even more now. My friends from Grand Cayman liked it so much they moved there full-time, and as a result I have been there multiple times over the past few years and it’s definitely one of my destinations of choice to get away.
I bought some property down there about 3 years ago, partly as an investment, partly to have a reason to go there more frequently, to visit my friends, and to see how much I really like it. There are a ton of Canadians living there and it’s becoming a more popular destination than Florida for retirees. The people (Ticos) are so warm and friendly that it is easy to just slip into the lifestyle as though you’ve always been there.
There are tons of gorgeous spots in Costa Rica, and the country isn’t so big you can’t get around, but the roads make it quite a challenge. On the mainland, everything is paved, so it’s okay (once you get used to the daredevils in the passing lanes and the teetering semis climbing the winding hill roads), but over on the Nicoya Peninsula, which is where I head, the roads aren’t paved yet, so that’s a whole different story. In the dry season, it’s not too bad, mostly washboard bumps and very dusty, but in the wet season, many of the roads are impassable thanks to the hundreds of raging rivers that are created in the paths of the roadways. I generally go in January and in April, which is still the dry season, so don’t usually encounter this, but last year my friends were trapped in their little town for a week, because the river had cut off the bridges on both sides of the town – and she was 8 months pregnant, to boot!
I bought property right along the west coast in a gorgeous little spot called Nosara. It is on the lower third of the peninsula and about a 5 hour drive from San Jose, or a quick 40 minute flight. The Costa Rican government is learning from the mistakes they made on the mainland allowing too much development, so Nosara is one of those spots where they have restrictions on building, so much of the land and coastline is still very wild and pristine. No structures are allowed to be built within 300 m of the water, which rules out the big hotels who want to build on the beach, so the beaches are virtually untouched. At night, everyone in Nosara gathers at the beach to watch the sunset, which is a blazing orange ball of fire sinking into the Pacific. It’s amazing and very comforting, a real sense of community.
