I traveled for 37 days in Costa Rica. It's definitely not enough time to give an intensive opinion of the country and its people as a whole. However, I thought that this week I'd share the lows and highs of my personal experience traveling through Costa Rica. LowsTraditionally, I like to start with lows because things can only get better from there. ;) I only have two complaints about my time in Costa Rica: 1. Bugs - I have always been a magnet for mosquitos. However, Costa Rica provided the generous opportunity to have my body eaten alive by lots of other insects that I didn't even know existed! Google: Chiggers. And then just know that it feels like there's ants in your pants. Fire ants. For two weeks. #tmi If you decide to go to Costa Rica, stock up on your insect repellent and remedies. 2. Prices - Compared to other places I've backpacked, I found Costa Rica to be on the more expensive side (in terms of accommodation prices and activities). I'd prefer to come back to Costa Rica on another family vacation or other cheap vacation, book a house, and have a larger budget for all the adventure activities and national parks. I think it is possible to do Costa Rica on a budget, but the activities and places that I wanted to see were pricey. The Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula costs at least $100 which includes a guide (mandatory). Unfortunately on this trip, $100 is my budget for at least a week. HighsCosta Rica offered some incredible traveling highs that I expected, and some that were welcomed surprises! 1. Natural Paradise: Costa Rica has some of the best sandy beaches I've seen along my travels. If you're lucky enough, a local will take you to a remote beach and you'll feel like you've reached paradise. 2. Wildlife: Below is a photo of an adorable sloth from the Jaguar Rescue Center* in Puerto Viejo. While I would obviously see a lot of wildlife at an animal rescue center, I saw plenty of sloths and monkeys and toucans just flying about during my bicycle rides through the towns and villages where I stayed. One time I was crossing a bridge and saw two kayakers in the river pulled over to the side. I stopped to see why they had stalled and saw that they had found a sloth that had climbed down the tree and was reaching down to the river for a drink! I don't regret not grabbing a photo because I fully enjoyed that moment. *After watching Blackfish a few years ago, I've really tried to limit my visits to zoos or any other place where animals are forced to be there for our enjoyment. Going to the rescue center seemed like a compromise since these animals were hurt and are being rehabilitated and my entrance fee goes to support those efforts. I also try to discourage other travelers from paying to ride or pet animals. Here's Why You Shouldn't Ride Elephants in Thailand (or any where else for that matter). Now back to Costa Rica... 3. Costa Ricans' appreciation for nature: I don't know how to adequately describe it, but I got this feeling that for a country that's still not on the same scale as more developed nations, there was still a respect and cleanliness to different natural areas than more developing countries. I also met people like those working at Osa Interactive Gardens on the Osa Peninsula. Projects like theirs are working hard to preserve the plants, animals, insects, and, in this case, butterflies, after destruction from local and international deforestation works. 4. Tropical Fruits: Below was my favorite type of passion fruit, the grenadine. You break the skin and then slurp out the juicy, sweet insides. It's heavenly on a hot, Costa Rican day. Besides 100 different types of passion fruits, I had tons of mangos and papayas and other fruits that I had never seen or heard of before. And since avocados are technically a fruit, you can be darn sure I also had plenty of those! What happened next?After Costa Rica, I headed to a week of transiting through Panama with pit stops in Bocas del Toro and Panama City. Bocas is definitely feeling the effects of tourism (in some not so positive ways), but different tours will take you out to the secluded islands. Panama City always gets positive and negative reviews from other travelers that I meet, but I will say the Canal is one of the coolest things I've seen. It's just so HUGE! At the end of May I landed in Medellin, Colombia. I dreamed of Medellin and spending a few months there since fall 2015, after watching a certain Netflix series that featured the panoramic views of the landscape surrounding the City of Eternal Spring. During my first week I studied Spanish in Medellin before heading to a town called Buga to do another work exchange at a hostel/brewery. More on that soon!
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