7 days in Costa Rica.

Driving

We booked three hotels hundreds of miles away because Google Map told us it only took a few hours to drive between them. When we got there, we realized Google Map was way too optimistic in its estimates. Normally in US, you drive over the speed limit, but in Costa Rica you drive way below the speed limit. Therefore, we were driving 5~6 hours in 4 days of the trip.

Hyundai Tucson 1.6t

The original SUV the rental car gave us was some brand that I couldn’t recognize. When checking out, we found that the screen of the infotainment system frozen when the car was fired up. The manager apologetically told us he would upgrade our car to a better one for free. Here it was: a Tucson. Looking at the 1.6t badge I was worried about the engine would be too weak. Indeed, when I pressed the gas pedal really hard, for a second, I could only hear the engine humming, nothing else happening. Then the horse got its butt kicked and ran faster. But by no means was the magnificent turbo lag the reason why we would be crawling on the road.

Slowing down

The road really wanted you to slow down. It goes through a lot of single lane bridges, small towns and unpaved segments. And it’s shared by pedestrians, bicycles, and animals.

After I forgot the time schedule suggested by Google Map, the car worked just fine. Why do you need a B58 and ZF transmission when you are driving under 30 mph most of the time?

It’s in the water

Besides the slower pace of everything, people there were nicer too. It’s true that most of the people we interacted with were in the tourism industry, but that alone couldn’t explain it. We also had a road trip in Mexico, it was a very different story. Same Spanish speaking, developing economy, heavily relying on tourism, Costa Ricans found peace but Mexicans did not. It must be something in the water.

Even the dogs in Costa Rica were calmer. They were casually walking on the street and crossing the road. You would rarely hear any barking. There was a scene when a dog was trying to cross the busy road, he tried but had to back off due to the heavy traffic. One driver stopped his car and waited for the dog to pass. The dog waited. The driver’s arm reached out of the window and waved to the dog: go ahead! The dog still hesitated, as if saying: Nah, I’m not in a hurry. I couldn’t help thinking: I should have brought Lucy here, she would love this place.

Great Internet

One thing that really surprised us was how good the internet connections were. In most of the places we went to in Costa Rica, even on the trail, the mobile network coverage was good and speed was decent. Every hotel had high speed Internet. I can’t remember how many times I checked into a hotel in US and the WiFi was just barely usable. Not in Costa Rica. I finished Yellow Stone Season 1 at night in three hotels (including a tree house) and never experienced buffering. Bravo! Whoever built the Internet infrastructure in Costa Rica did a great job.

Peninsula Papagayo

We spent a couple of days at the Andaz Costa Rica resort and had a great time there. The hotel, scenery, and service were all impeccable. We had quite low expectation for food in Costa Rica, but that turned out just fine.

The hotel

Sunset

Animals

Pedal boarding

Rappelling

It’s the first time we tried rappelling. The Chief Worry Officer, Ryan, my 10 year old son, whined and moaned all the way when we drove to the site. Is it raining there? Are we going to be late? Is it too dangerous? What if we catch cold when we get wet? Obviously excitement, fear and anxiety were battling in his head. Once we arrived at the first waterfall and saw how far we had to drop, I started to worry about Ryan. If he got really scared and refused to jump, there’s nothing I could do about it. Chief Worry Officer can easily torpedo our supposedly fun and exciting sport. I had to confess that when I took the first jump, I had to overcome my own fear. Will Ryan chicken out? To my surprise, Ryan took his first jump without any fuss. He was even giggling. Maybe ignorance is a blessing? Or he had outgrown the baby image in my mind but I just hadn’t realized it? Anyway, rappelling was a blast, a highlight of the entire trip.

Ryan getting ready

Dropping

Lizard and our guide

Waterfalls

Zoo

It’s a bit like Safari park in San Diego zoo, a tractor hauling two cars brought us close to the animals and we could hand feed them with carrots. A huge difference was that we were allowed to feed them as much carrots as we wanted. We bought 6 packs of carrots!

Blue Jay

While we were waiting in line, a Costa Rican blue jay came to say hi.

Giraffe

Goat

Most of the goats were behind the fence. However, there was one little baby goat running round. Not sure if he jumped out or sneaked out of the fence. He got to eat a lot of carrots.

Zebra

Cattle

Despite the threatening long horns, cattle is very gentle. If I came to the zoo with no carrots, they would probably still lick my hands.

Ostrich

This big bird didn’t have good manners.

Magical Tree House

A tree house is definitely not only for children, otherwise, why did I like it so much?

Every morning the staff brought to the table outside of the door: three pieces of plantains for the bird feeder and hot coffee. Then you just put the plantains into the bird feeder, drinking hot coffee and enjoying the bird show.

At night, one staff took the guests for a walk and showed us a few animals around the hotel. He really tried to find scorpions but scorpions were a bit shy that night. Seeing a sloth, a few frogs, ants and a tarantula, we were pretty satisfied.

The tree house

Birds

First of all, the birds knew the drill. As soon as I put the plantain on, they arrived. And there’s definitely pecking order at the feeder. Want free food? You got to fight for it.

Sloth

Believe me, it was a sloth. You are looking at its back.

Frogs

The guide was very careful not to point the flashlight directly onto the frogs, for the light could be too hot for them. It was a bit unfortunate that no girl that night was brave enough to kiss a frog, we weren’t able to bring a prince home.

Tarantula

I’m pretty sure this homeowner was using biochemical weapon to defend his home.

Leaf cutter ants

The Best Plumber Award

I have been fixing the toilet in Ryan’s room for many years. The little monster usually runs to me elated and yelling: the toilet is jammed, as if he has just climbed to the top of Mount Everest. Then he will watch me fighting the disaster with a plunger. The sucking noise and the dancing wave are the show for Ryan. And it always ends with the flushing sound and swirling clean water.

But at the tree house, the professional plumber met his challenge. Right above the paper roll, the sign said: please throw the toilet paper into the trash can, including the soiled ones, in both Spanish and English. Of course the little monster paid no attention and the toilet was stuck. Now I had to unclog the toilet without a plunger. Ask for help from the hotel staff? What excuse do I have? Too late to pretend I don’t understand English. Staring at the water, I thought long and hard to find something as the substitute for a plunger. Plastic water bottle! After some experimentation, the filled water bottle started to work. Although cumbersome and inefficient, pushing the bottle into the hole and pulling it out did produce some suction. With a ton of patience, the toilet was fixed.

I told my wife I should win The Best Plumber Award of 2022. She agreed.

Arenal Volcano

Up in the air

Hiking

Lake

Final Thoughts

Ryan is at the age when he is old enough to participate in a lot of activities and appreciate scenery and animals. But not old enough to appreciate history and culture. Therefore, we try to pick places of natural scenery and interesting animals to visit. Costa Rica didn’t let us down. It was a really fun trip.

Do I want to live there? Definitely no. It’s too hot and humid for me. Grown up in an area with distinct four seasons (think of Missouri), spent time in cold places (think of Buffalo, NY) and finally settled down in California, I can only deal with 70 degrees dry weather now. Do I want to visit again? Why not! But probably not in a while, there are so many interesting places to go in the world, even when only looking for natural beauty. See you later, Costa Rica! Next time, I will rent a better car.