We had high expectations before coming, about the food, about nature, about the people. So here is our opinion in a nutshell:
We loved:
- the nature: boom! Bang! Wow! It’s amazing. Wild jungle, tropical trees everywhere, the cloud forest with its very own ambiance, gorgeous coastlines, amazing waves…all this coupled with great locations, set in the midst of it all (our Osa Peninsula AirBnB definitely gets the top spot!)
- the animals: so many that we ve never seen in the wild before and many of them so upclose that we could discern the smallest details of their beautiful camouflage. Sloths, toucans, quetzals, macaws, snakes, spiders, scorpions , bats, howler monkeys…. many of them going about their business either right in front of our noses or passing through “our” house or flying just a few feet above. Thanks to some great guided tours we got to see and learn a lot. Above all, waking up to howler monkeys and macaws every morning. That’s pretty cool.
- the country s motto: Pura Vida is really felt everywhere, during our three weeks there we encountered only friendly, smiley, patient and helpful people practically without exception. Life is plenty, life is good, everything is easy going.
- the fruit: granted, we were there at the perfect time of the year to have the yummiest of the best that Costa Rica has to offer: papaya s, limes, passion fruit, mangoes, mamòn chino, pineapples ….. we possibly exaggerated a bit with the amounts we consumed every day, but we have no regrets!!
- the surprising discoveries: from new vegetables and fruits to actually understanding how cocoa is processed we were, once again, amazed by how much we didn’t know!
What we expected to be better: the food. We were a bit surprised by how bland and lacking in creativity the food offering was overall. We like to dive into local culture and try out the local places vs the hyped fusion style cuisines but we were somewhat disappointed. Across the country, we encountered practically the same menu, and the same flavors. Casado with chicken, Casado with shrimp or Casado with beef. Even the guacamole lacked pep. In the end, it worked out great that we had mostly rented Airbnbs with great kitchens which allowed us to cook up a little zing with the fabulous ingredients which we could literally pick off the trees around us, so full of flavour! On the upside of the drab restaurant food, these three weeks made us appreciate the – for us surprisingly- good food in Guatemala even more!!
In summary: if you love wild nature up close in all its splendour (and crawliness), Costa Rica is definitely the place for you!
Pura Vida!