Costa Rica’s economy is based on tourism, so that translates to easily organizing whatever you want…and I got to see many things in the week I was there.

Two short hours from Miami is San Jose, capital city of Costa Rica.  About an hour and a half after checking into the hostel, I was being whisked away on a zip-lining excursion.  High up a nearby mountain about 20 minutes outside the city, there is an awesome set of 17 zip-lining platforms with fabulous views of the city down below.  Our guides and  photographer were great and made the whole experience exciting and fun.  After an hour of working our way up the mountain to the first platform, we spent the next 2 hours working our way down, enjoying the scenery and wildlife.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious traditional meal of rice, beans, salad, chicken, chips and salsa, and plantains.  The tour took a lot of energy on our part (plus we were still a little jet-lagged), so that meal was a much-needed end to the day!

zip lining!

The next feat to accomplish was to see a volcano 🙂 There was only 1 bus a day that went to the Irazu Volcano (now dormant and a national park), so getting up early was a must.  The round-trip bus ride cost $8.00 and took about 2 hours, but it was awesome…at some points we were above the clouds!  Once at the park entrance, we had a few hours to walk around before getting the bus back.  It was amazing to see these huge craters, now inactive, and imagine how hot and colorful everything must have been when the area was active with liquid hot magma.  Now all that remains is black soil with a few bright green plants in a freezing cold environment…this volcano is very high up.  After taking plenty of photos, we still had time to grab a bite to eat and do some shopping at the tiny gift shop before getting the bus back to the city.

Irazu Volcano

Even though I’m a fan of the day trip, hanging out locally is just as nice.  San Jose is a big, beautiful, spread out city with many awesome parks and buildings and simply walking around for a few hours should not be forgotten about!

A trip to Costa Rica couldn’t be complete without a visit to the beach, so Jaco…here we come!  We were advised against going to a few areas, due to road construction and transportation availability.  Since we wanted to do a day trip, Jaco beach on the Pacific coast is what was settled upon.

Jaco Beach (Black Sand)

Once again, I was on a bus, this time for 2.5 hours, and the scenery was the most breathtaking I’ve ever experienced.  I was literally on the side of a huge mountain, switch-backing my way through as I passed tiny mountain towns, farms of every kind and bottomless valleys down below.  The scenery was so stunning that I couldn’t tear my eyes off the view outside my window, even though I desperately wanted a nap.

The town of Jaco seemed like any other small beach town, only not overly pristine.  A nice, raw, natural element was an uncommon but welcome sight.  There were small shops and inns, tiny cafe’s and undeveloped land.  It was a black sand beach, which was awesome to experience, but it also made the environment extremely hot.  Compared to being freezing cold the day before by the volcano, it was weird to be in a bikini, on a beach, thinking that I was wearing too much clothing 🙂

For my last full day, I decided to do another excursion, but this time it was an all-day affair.  I got picked up early to meet the group and we made our first stop in the town of Grecia.  We saw a metal church that was brought over from Belgium piece by piece.  It was colorful and spacious and clearly the prized possession of the town.

church in Grecia

The next stop was Sarchi.  This was an artesian town where the locals sell their crafts and brightly painted items in co-ops.  I purchased a bunch of little things (wooden bracelet, postcards, magnets) all for $5.00…I do love a bargain!

We had a delicious lunch at our next location before coming to the scenic stop right in front of Arenal Volcano, which is still active.  Apparently volcanic soil is very fertile, and our guide pointed out all the different kinds  of plants and trees we passed, including almond trees, guava, sugarcane, coffee plants, teak, cassava, rice, plantains, pineapple, papaya, etc.

Around the base of the volcano are lots of different hot spring resorts, naturally fed by the heated water.  Our group was broken up and I went with 3 “ticas” to the Baldi Hot Spring resort.  We had a few hours to swim, relax, and eat dinner before getting picked up and returned home.  Although I didn’t see any spewing magma, there was still some majesty to swimming in a hot spring with an active volcano looming overhead.

a little slice of heaven

And if all of these wonders weren’t enough, I’d return for the aroma.  The entire country smells sweet…like everyone is baking cookies at the same time.  Considering my sense memories are pretty strong, I’d love to experience that sensation again!