Costa Rica was absolutely fabulous. I loved it. The beaches were beautiful, the water was a clear green, and the waves were large enough to slam me to the ground. I was once so bowled over from a wave that I received a very nice gash on the back of my head from the rock I hit on the bottom of the ocean. I could see my feet in the water.
We watched a beautiful sunset from Villa Caletas, near Jaco. We went on a zip line through the treetops, hiked three hours down to a waterfall and back (which made me painfully aware of how out of shape I was), wandered for a couple hours through Manuel Antonio Reserve looking in vain for el mono (a monkey), and we lay prostrate in the sun on beautiful beaches.
We saw tucans, coati, fish, a huge sea turtle, green poison arrow frogs, termites, ants, a roach, crabs, iguanas, bats, blue morphos, various other insects, lots of birds, and sloths.
I read three and a half books. I did not get a sunburn, but I do have blisters on my feet.
I tried the local liquor, called Quaro, which is oddly somewhere in between rum and vodka. It is bueno. The food, which involved a lot of fish, was wonderful. The people were very nice.
It was not an expensive trip and we were able to go somewhere fabulous and international with beaches. I think everyone should get up and go. Right meow.
–Jane, rested but not quite ready to face the world