Long story short, I had an amazing week in Costa Rica. The best part of it is that I feel like I better understand the country, having seen it from The crack of dawn to the early hours of the morning.
One thing I appreciate is the rise and grind mentality of the Costa Ricans, which has an effect on the travelers as well. Last Tuesday morning, at 530am, I was the 3rd person to get through customs and leave the airport. There were already 30+ cab drivers up and at it, eager for their first business of the day. On the drive to La Fortuna / Arenal, locals have shop set up by ~630am to try to make sales to the first tourists in motion. There is so much to do in Costa Rica, so tourists often follow this early morning pattern. The one morning I kind of slept in (until 10:15), I came out to the hostel common area to people that had already been surfing and had been awake for hours.
In terms of eating, I think I did an exceptional job at experiencing what Costa Rica has to offer as well- I had the traditional Costa Rican lunches, the cheap local fruit and smoothies for snacks, and I went to the towns beach bum joints for toasted Chipotle chicken bacon avocado Cuban subs and fish tacos.
Post-lunch it appeared common to lay low, relax for a bit while the afternoon thunderstorms were rehydrating the country.
I didn't come to Costa Rica during the low season for the fiesta. However, when people from the hostel for hanging out on the front porch area, drinking Imperial and Pilsen (the local beers), and going out to the cool half-indoor, half-outdoor beach bars, I wasn't going to not go. Last night, my plan was to lay really low but while I was using the hostel wifi to check messages I met people from Hawaii, Germany and the Netherlands that invited me to come check out this live band with them. It was packed for a Monday night and a very local feel to it- might have been a college night (pic attached of them playing the Party Rock Anthem). I would be exhausted by this point of my trip but the bumpy roads connecting my destinations have some kind of hypnotic effect on me.
When it was sunny I hiked volcanoes, explored rainforests, surfed the best waves of my life and walked around towns. When it was rainy, I relaxed, watched english movies dubbed in Spanish, blogged, and conversed with travelers from all over.
Sure it was relaxing in the CR, but the concept of Pura Vida is about living a good life, bein true to yourself, getting things done and takin advantage of what day offers you.
The journey to Panama today was some sort of experience- taking a public bus, walking across the border, meeting a nice Chinese mom/ daughter combo that new how to get to Bocas, taking an hour long taxi with them, hopping on a 20 minute water taxi with rural, indigenous Panama to both sides, and finally arriving at the what appears to be funky Mondo Taitu hostel.
I'm excited to see what else Panama has to offer!
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