Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 7

I love it when I yell to taylor “don’t forget to wash your hands after touching the horse poop” and someone else will call out “did you hear your mom?” That’s life on the farm. 3 of the women decided one day that the main house where the owner lived, near the gardens, was a gun free space and that they would be the ones to tell Taylor so I didn’t have to always be the one giving him the rules. Because it takes a village. By gun I mean stick, by the way! I’ve overheard one 20-something guy a few times saying things like “it’s always a good idea to listen to your mom”. There are no other kids here, which would certainly make it more fun for taylor. But having other adults, even adults ... read more

First new adventure since 2010!! Even selecting the country for this post was odd!! So far…Exploring a new country with an energetic, strong willed child is fun, exciting and oh so stressful at times…the way I do it at least!! I like to go with the flow and live locally. This makes planning hard!! So I chose to do almost no research, book 2 nights on a beach on the Pacific coast of CR and see what happened next!! Was told it was family friendly and a single friend I meet every year in India was supposed to meet me the day I arrived. Turns out she didn’t make the 8 hour journey in one day and instead arrived 3 days later due to traveller’s diarrhea attacks!! So day 1 I dragged taylor around in the ... read more

We crossed the border from Nicaragua by foot as the sun was going down. We had a brief discussion with the sleepy border guards and then waited for the public bus. Immediately it was evident we were no longer in Nicaragua. The buses were more modern and comfortable, the roads were smoothly paved, people had to wear masks in indoor spaces. When we got to the small village not far from our auberge, the Cabañas Castillo, we descended from the bus and started walking the the twenty-minute hike with our big bags. We didn't have to walk for very much longer until someone stopped for us in an air-conditioned sedan and offered us a ride. We gladly accepted. As they dropped us off, they gave us their phone numbers and said if we needed anything, just ... read more

In the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa is a small beach town that attracts tourists for its clean beaches and surf scene. I traveled to Santa Teresa from Samara by a shuttle (the public bus infrastructure is not good here). My hostel was on the main road (Santa Teresa has just one road where everything is available). I spent 4 days there, enjoying the beaches, the sunsets, hanging with other travelers at the hostel. And I began to realise that this trip is becoming about Chasing Sunsets. Will let the sunset pictures explain why. I also did a day trip to Tortuga Island, famous with tourists for white sand beach, Aqua Marine waters and snorkeling. You go there on a boat ride from Montezuma, another small beach town half an hour away from Santa Teresa. The boat ... read more

I left Monteverde for Playa Samara. Playa in Spanish means Beach. This time I took a shuttle (Interbus) as the alternative of public bus was changing multiple buses which I wasn't keen on doing. The shared shuttles cost typically about $55-60 but are point to point (hostel to hostel), so are convenient. They also operate an interesting system by which the drivers don't have to spend time away from their families. Basically all shuttles in that network converge at one common point, passengers are shifted from one shuttle to another so that the driver from a particular location goes back to his location. So I came from Monteverde to the common point in one shuttle, shifted to a shuttle which had come from Samara (with a local Samara driver) and reached Samara on that. Pretty simple ... read more