This was it. The last 24 hours of my 17-day trip through the Osa Peninsula and Golfo Dulce. Last month, during the planning phase, I was positive that by the sixteenth day I would be exhausted and ready to return home.
Now that the trip was drawing to a close, I found the exact opposite to be true. This little corner of the world, and all of the amazing people that I had met in it, energized me – and the idea of heading back to Liberia made me want to cry.
Vincent and I took the …

Location: Golfito, Golfo Dulce, Pavones, South Pacific »

Activities: Pacific Beaches, Shopping »

We met Gunter, a German turned Costa Rican citizen, at the Gilded Iguana Bar and Restaurant at 9:00 a.m. for our ATV adventure. I have to admit, I was disappointed to discover that he only had two ATV’s, meaning I would ride on the back of his as a passenger. Luckily, after 15 minutes, Vincent couldn’t handle the overwhelming dust in his eyes, and handed me the keys to his vehicle.
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I had lost my sunglasses the previous day, and following the guide’s four-wheeler meant squinting and literally eating his dust. Fortunately, the adventure was so …

Location: Nicoya Peninsula, North Pacific, Samara »

Activities: ATV Tours, Bird & Wildlife Watching, Shopping, Yoga »

My background is in cultural anthropology, so I was eager to begin the day’s tour to the Bribri Indigenous Reserve. The Bribri are Costa Rica’s largest indigenous group, though census studies estimate that only 10,000-35,000 Bribri remain. What they lack in numbers, they make up for in their wealth of culture: the Bribri are a close-knit people, mostly living without Western influences including electricity, running water and other basic technologies, and have therefore retained many of their ancient traditions.
The word “Bribri” has six distinct meanings: the tribe, the culture, the region, the language, the municipality …

Location: Bribri, Puerto Viejo, Southern Caribbean »

Activities: Chocolate Tours, Indigenous Reserve, Shopping »