Oh my God.

I recently had the opportunity to experience a part of the world that I thought I’d have to wait a long time to visit, and instantly fell in love. With a country. And who wouldn’t, with its gorgeous, lush scenery, year-round warm weather, and of course, the amazingly beautiful people lucky enough to call it their home?

Costa Rica. The appearance and sound of its name alone is soothing to me, even before this trip.

I had always heard good things about Costa Rica, and vowed that one day I would see it for myself. I just didn’t expect for the opportunity to come around so soon and when it did, I had to jump on it. So I decided to go on my birthday. I booked a room at an all-inclusive resort in Guanacaste, located in the northwestern area of Costa Rica, as part of an air-hotel package deal. The total for the entire thing was significantly lower than my monthly rent so, for me, this quick 3.5 day trip was totally justified.

Getting There

I took a 6.5 hour, red eye flight on a Wednesday night and arrived in Panama the next morning to take a 1 hour, 10 minute flight to the airport in Liberia. Clearing customs and immigration was a complete breeze, as the airport was not crowded at all (how can I really expect it to be when Guanacaste is more rural than Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jose?).

I had made prior arrangements for someone to drive me from and to the airport, and found my name among the few signs being held up for other passengers to see. I met my driver, Allan, who welcomed me to his country that he was undoubtedly proud of:

Not great picture quality but my name is on that paper.

https://youtu.be/Jh3MFq8zaTE

Hakuna matata! Allan was right. Throughout my entire trip, as short as it was, every local I met seemed content. Granted, they’re in the hospitality industry and are supposed to be nice to everyone but still, has every person you met as a tourist been genuinely nice? Appeared happy to do their job? Seemed like they didn’t have a care in the world? Mmhmm.

Accommodations – Hotel Riu Guanacaste (all-inclusive resort)

Around 11:30am, Allan pulled into the driveway at Hotel Riu Guanacaste, about 40 minutes after we left the airport. As he brought my luggage to me, I paid the fare and his tip in USD (as I was previously instructed), and he wished me a great vacation. I made my way into the lobby and thought, ok I’m officially here. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm, but I hoped I’d be able to get to my room early. The humidity hit me hard, and all I wanted to do was shower and relax.

The girl behind the front desk gave me a red wristband that identified me as a registered guest. I was to wear this at all times so that all hotel staff knew I was supposed to be there, and that I had access to all the hotel’s amenities. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to my room yet, but she welcomed me to hang out in the lobby to connect to the free wifi. If I wanted to, I could use the showers adjacent to the lobby, and there was a lunch buffet being served in one of the hotel’s restaurants from 12pm-5:30pm.

I opted not to head to the buffet until I could leave my stuff in my room, so I found a spot in the lobby to change out of my socks and shoes to flip flops, and connect to the wifi to let my family know I had arrived safely. I didn’t want to take a shower unless it was in my room, so I figured I could go a few hours longer of donning that layer of travel sweat.

After waiting until the official 3pm check-in time, it took an additional two hours to finally get settled into my room after a tiny, slight bed bug scare (You should do this in every hotel you stay in, whether traveling domestically or internationally. Here are tips on how to check for bed bugs from another blogger). I am eternally grateful to the staff behind the front desk for being so comforting and willing to immediately do whatever it took to make me feel at ease with my room. The room keys are actual keys with key chains…kinda cumbersome to carry around but, whatever. The decor was a bit dated, and for a 5-star hotel, there weren’t too many amenities provided (no toiletries except for bars of soap, and shampoo/bath wash combo in the shower – it smelled yummy like Starburst!), no radio/alarm clock, no coffee maker. I hardly ever use those latter two when I’m traveling so it wasn’t a huge deal, just odd I suppose.

 

Besides, when the run rises at 5:50 every morning, and you don’t have a rooster but some other exotic bird I don’t know the name of whooping early in the morning, who needs an alarm? For me on this trip, I didn’t need luxury, just a place to lay my head at night and take a shower and change my clothes. Perhaps I had already arrived with a sense of pura vida in that when it came to my accommodations, whatever was provided for me was plenty enough. Even though I was a little nervous about what little critters might have been in my room at some point in time, I had to remember this is a tropical, rain forest-y area, what am I going to expect? This is part of being in Costa Rica and if I didn’t want to embrace that, then I came to the wrong place.

True to form, Costa Rica didn’t disappoint. I slept like a baby that first night. The next morning: ZERO bug bites on me. And that was without repellent.

I felt like Costa Rica had kissed the back of my hand. When I realized I was bug free…

https://youtu.be/SaszlqhPzZA

It was the day after my birthday. I was a year older and I wanted to put that previous night behind me. After a yummy breakfast from the buffet, I strolled along the beach to receive my greeting from the Pacific:

https://youtu.be/B4_U2Z-Peag

https://youtu.be/xb2oyLtXuho

Barely any of the other guests were up and about, but many staff members were already hard at work mopping floors, tending to the grass and plants, setting up tables and chairs, cooking.  The resort is pretty good about keeping guests busy and entertained, especially since the surrounding areas outside of the resort are so rural. This activity schedule was updated daily:

There is plenty to do at this resort: water sports/activities, Spanish lessons, four restaurants, a huge pool, quick access to the beach, evening entertainment, a discotheque and casino across the street, small gift shops near the resort entrance, and a gym and spa next door between its sister hotel, Hotel Riu Palace. I, of course, didn’t do half of those things. On my first full day at the resort, I walked around, getting my bearings, and stopped by the spa to book an appointment for the next day. From there I browsed the gift shops, already scoping out what souvenirs to get as Christmas presents for my family. Then I got hot so I went back to my room to change for some relaxing by the pool.

It’s quite an extensive pool. Lounge chairs for days, including ones right in the water to keep you cool as you lay under the sun, and for those of you who like the alcoholic beverages, you can swim right up to the bar and take your drinks with you in the water. The resort’s entertainment crew are a riot; these guys have endless amounts of energy dancing by the pool all day, then performing in the evening shows at one of the bars. I’ve performed in front of crowds before, but I don’t think I’d have the cajones to perform poolside while my audience was in the water getting buzzed by mojitos and what not.

Diamante Eco Adventure Park

So on my first full day, I just wandered around and relaxed. On my second (and last) full day, I made sure to do something. It’s not like me to plan a trip without planning each and every day – even planning a day to do nothing is planning – but because this trip was last minute by my standards, and because it was an all-inclusive deal, I didn’t do much planning ahead. Winging it was out of my comfort zone but, pura vida.

Raymond, one of the awesome guys at the front desk who helped me with my room saga, recommended I check out the new Diamante Eco Adventure Park. I had noticed a building up on a summit above the hotel when I first arrived, and wondered what it was. Now I had my answer: it was the Visitors Center at the park. Diamante had a free shuttle that picked up guests at both hotels every half hour and drove them 10 minutes away up to the park.

The day before, I had gone online to purchase an Aerial Pass ($68) and 1-hour ATV tour ($58) at Diamante. I didn’t know how busy they’d be, but I really hoped they’d be able to squeeze in little ol’ me.

Let’s do this.

The Aerial Pass meant I could go on four ziplines: 1) from the Visitors Center across a canyon to catch a shuttle heading up to 2) the Superman, almost a 1-mile long line going from Diamante towards another peak closer to the beach, 3) a higher zipline above the Superman back towards the Visitors Center, and 4) from the Visitors Center again to another area in the park. At the end of the 4th line was the Quick Jump. I thought this would be a really high, but it’s only 30-feet. It really is quick. I was supposed to do the Tarzan swing but for some reason didn’t get to do it. Probably because I told them I wanted to do the ATV tour after the ziplines. But anyway, here’s my amateur GoPro footage of arriving at the Visitors Center, then zipping away:

https://youtu.be/J4mO0pCM-Tc

https://youtu.be/O1VuzSJ3MqE

https://youtu.be/lTpFVHoWS9s

https://youtu.be/WO3sBeeI3dM

https://youtu.be/B7LG7ltJ-FA

A little while after regrouping, I found out I was the only one who was going on an ATV tour at the time, so I had my guide, Kaylor, all to myself. I hadn’t ever driven an ATV before, but after a quick tutorial and test drive, we were on our way. Kaylor took me around the park at first, but before I knew it, we were back on the main road that I had been on two days prior in the van with Allan. While I absolutely loved the ziplines, this had to have been my favorite part of the park, because I got to see the surrounding “neighborhood” outside of the park, and definitely away from the resort.

We went on so many unmarked dirt roads that passed by schools, houses, local eateries and businesses. I passed by dogs and chickens on the roads, who didn’t even flinch as our ATVs zoomed by. The cows didn’t get spooked by our revving engines, and the local ticos and ticas who lived in the area even waved at us. Did Kaylor know them? I have no idea, but this ride felt beyond amazing. It was a little scary going through a few streams (I thought I would almost tip over backwards trying to cross one of them), but once we went from water through mud and then back on to dirt and paved roads, I kept thinking, I NEED AN ATV!

We passed other tour groups about to go on horseback, other tours on ATV from other companies, then drove along the beach. At one point it even rained. I’m not sure why I wasn’t given anything to cover my face. I only had my sunglasses. I tried following Kaylor’s exact tracks throughout our tour, but following him at a close distance with my face exposed meant I was getting dust and mud in my face. But I didn’t want to fall too far behind him because I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back if I got separated. It’s a little nervewracking to be on the main road, turn to look behind you, and there’s a long line of cars, buses, and trucks right there. It was like that one-lane traffic scene from Dumb & Dumber. But none of those drivers even honked at us. Ah, the patience of ticos. Pura vida.

At the end of the video of me finishing the Superman zipline, you could hear me say I wanted to commute to work that way. Well, if I can’t zipline, I want to commute by ATV. I mean “all-terrain vehicle” is no joke. But I do see how they can be dangerous. Because I could control it only by my hands and fingers, I couldn’t record decent footage on my GoPro! I only have the handheld mount, so holding that and maneuvering the ATV was really difficult, especially since it was my first time driving one. Dang it, I should’ve bought the wrist mount! But even then the video would’ve been shaky. Either a helmet mount or a chest harness would’ve been best to capture my perspective of where we went. I’m so bummed I didn’t get any good footage! I would post the only ATV footage I have here, but you might throw up.

Sadly my hour came to an end, and I went back to the Visitors Center to get the pictures the staff took of me ziplining, buy a few more souvenirs, and wait for the shuttle to take me back to the hotel. I thanked as many team members as I could, and vowed to return again one day (this time with a better camera mount!).

The guys that made sure I was safe & secure at Diamante. Thanks Henry, Kevin & Donnie!

Renova Spa

A spa appointment is a must for me on almost every vacation. Usually I book a body treatment (whichever one resembles the very first body treatment I ever received: the Elemis Salt & Ginger Lime Glow) and a massage. Here at Renova, I booked an 80-minute Green Tea & Ginger scrub, followed by a full body relaxation massage ($120), after my day at Diamante. Because I was getting that body treatment, I wanted to do it as late in the day as possible; for anyone who’s ever gotten a body scrub, you know how luxurious your skin feels all over. I didn’t want to get it earlier in the day and then sweat it off from the humidity. I couldn’t anyway, because I had been ziplining and driving an ATV through mud and dust. When I booked the appointment, it was after I had booked the Diamante passes. My last full day then consisted of adventure during the day, and a pampering in the early evening before dinner.

After returning from Diamante, and a quick shower and lunch, I walked over next door and checked in at the front desk of the spa. I expected to be taken to the actual facilities, change out of my clothes and into a robe and slippers, but instead I was told to sit on a chair by the entrance until Elisabeth, the massage therapist assigned to me, came to get me. Even when she took me to the treatment room, I didn’t get a tour of the rest of the spa. Perhaps it was because my appointment was at 5pm – maybe they were running out of time? Weird, because they closed at 8pm. That was a bit of a disappointment. I don’t feel like I got the complete spa experience.

Elisabeth let me settle myself on the table and then began the body scrub. GOOD LORD I LOVE BODY SCRUBS. If you’ve never had one, it might hurt at first, but once you get used to it, it feels like any impurities living on the surface of your skin are brushed away. With some spas, you then step into a shower to wash all the salt off. Your skin feels completely new.

After I rinsed off in the shower, Elisabeth applied moisturizer to my skin to lock in its new glow, and then continued on with my massage. You can imagine how great that felt after a morning of adrenaline rushes. Let’s just say by the time it was over, Elisabeth had to wake me up from the table. I had no idea I had fallen asleep.

My overall spa experience could have been better. At other spas, the massage therapists tell me I can stay as long as I want and use whatever I want at the facilities. Here though, I didn’t get any of that. But, I’m grateful for the body treatment and massage I received. Elisabeth did an excellent job of making sure I left with my body feeling relaxed, and my skin feeling polished.

Snuck in a shot before Elisabeth came back

Cuisine

I’m not 100% sure I ate any authentic, Costa Rican food. Can you really have authentic food at an all-inclusive resort? There were a ton of choices every day, per meal. Here’s most of what I ate starting with breakfast on my first full day. You tell me:

The food was alright, but there was no meal where I thought, ok I have to get more of ____. Plus in hot/humid weather, I don’t have much of an appetite. If you think I didn’t eat much, I can almost guarantee I came home heavier.

Going home

My flight leaving Liberia was at 11:30am, but my transportation was going to pick me up at 7:45am. That meant I had to pack as much as possible the night before, which I needed to work on considering I tried to bring back as much of Costa Rica as I could in the form of souvenirs. I knew the trip would be short, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad to be upstairs in my room packing while I could hear all the fun and entertainment below me, just below my balcony. Every so often I would peak out the curtains and step out to see what people were applauding, but I couldn’t see the show from my vantage point. There was even a brief fireworks show.

“This is so not pura vida, what I’m doing right now,” I said to myself. But, I had to do this. There was a lot to pack and not much time to do it in. A 7:45 pickup meant I should be checked out of my room at 7:30, just in case there was a line. I knew my driver would wait for me even if I wasn’t ready by 7:45, but I didn’t want to seem inconsiderate.

Check-out of course was quick and painless, and my driver, Jose, found me in the lobby before I could even sit down and wait. I boarded the van and there we were, pulling away from the resort. Like Allan from a few days prior, he didn’t speak much English. But he sensed that I was feeling a bit down because my vacation was coming to a close, so instead he put on some music. Occasionally we conversed, but all I wanted to do was stare out the window to soak up as much of Guanacaste as I could before we reached the airport.

The small airport was of course nearly empty when I arrived. I thanked Jose for his service, and after checking in and going through an easy security checkpoint (where even the TSA agents asked why I was sad and when I would be coming back!), I sat waiting at the gate. Reflecting on my weekend, and doing a mental checklist of who I might have forgotten to get gifts for, I forced myself to go to the huge gift shop (run by the same company that ran the shops at the resort). I needed a shirt for my mom (I bought everyone else in my family a shirt). Plus perhaps a little retail therapy for me. At the gift shop I met Johan, who helped me find a really cute shirt for Mom, plus helped me pick out some CDs, since I had asked if they sold any of the music they were currently playing in the store.

I’m glad I went into this store and met Johan, because he really lifted my spirits. We talked for a bit about my visit, how much and how quickly I became enamored with Costa Rica – I mean hell, I bought two CDs of Costa Rican music that I didn’t even listen to beforehand. I told him I felt bad about not knowing enough Spanish, but he responded warmly with “Oh it’s ok. All you really need to know is ‘hi,’ ‘how are you,’ and ‘pura vida‘ – that’s it!” I told him how I couldn’t wait to come back and he said he’d be waiting right there for me. Ok that’s more than one local who said something about me coming back. This humble pride – if that makes any sense – that Costa Ricans feel for their country is really touching. I told Johan, “You guys are obviously doing something right here, the world could learn a lot more from Costa Rica.”

It was Johan’s first day on the job! He’s awesome.

Seriously. They have to be doing something right if they’ve been considered the Happiest Country in the World at one point. Even if they don’t hold that official “world title” today, the people of Costa Rica are doing life with swag. They don’t sweat the small stuff, and are grateful for all they have, no complaints. They are committed to protecting and preserving wildlife, climate and the ecosystem, and of course, a peaceful and progressive way of living. In fact, I felt a lot safer there than I do in some parts of the U.S. Pura vida.

Alas, my plane arrived and I flew back to yet another connection in Panama (this time longer than before, at 4-5 hours). I finally arrived back home, walking through my door, suitcase in hand, around midnight, after a full day of travel. While I was grateful to be back home safe and sound, I missed Costa Rica so bad. I was only gone for a few days but it was enough to convince me that, even if the scenery wasn’t great to look at and the temperature was unbearable, it’s the people of Costa Rica that easily make it a favorite among travelers. I would go again. There’s still so many parts of the country I want to see.

I could tell you much more details that I’m leaving out. But Costa Rica is one of those places where you can’t be told about it, you have to experience it. That being said, I highly recommend visiting Costa Rica if you ever have the opportunity to go. It’s waiting for you.

Pura. Vida.