Costa Rica

Home About Mara Belize Botswana & Namibia Brazil Costa Rica Italy Morocco New England Poland Russia

And I first saw the trees!
The truffula trees!
The bright-colored tufts of the truffula trees!
Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.
And under the trees, I saw brown bar-ba-loots
frisking about in their bar-ba-loot suits
as they played in the shade and ate truffula fruits.
From the rippulous pond
came the comfortable sound
of the humming-fish humming while splashing around.

- Dr Seuss

 

Best of Costa Rica

Best Beach Manzanillo

Best Bird Scarlet Macaw

Best Book One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Best Trek Across Corcovado

Best Rest Ojo del Mar, Osa Peninsula

 

Destination: Costa Rica

The low guttural bellowing of the howler monkeys echoes across the treetops and you wonder if it was wise to venture out into the jungle at the crack of dawn. You spot the black furry creatures in a nearby fig tree, feasting on fruit. You make your way out to the deserted beach, where the magnificent frigate birds are circling high overhead. Less-than-sonorous squawking gives away a pair of scarlet macaws, alighting from an almond tree. Morning has broken in the coastal rain forest. Read More...

It's a Wild World...

The highlight of Costa Rica is the opportunity to see amazing bird and animal life in its natural element. The best places to do so include Corcovado National Park, on the Osa Peninsula; Manzanillo National Park, on the Caribbean coast; and the Tortuguero canals, also on the Caribbean coast. Click here to see photos of some of the creatures I spotted.

Pure Paradise

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica - I had spent the day lounging on the black-sand beach and biking through the monkey-infested rain forest. When I pedaled up to the Pure Jungle Spa, I was salty, sandy and sweaty. My host, Denise, did not bat an eye.

The spa itself -- just south of Puerto Viejo on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast -- is set in an open-air, thatch-roof hut, lit by lanterns and surrounded by rain forest. Denise ushered me into a Bedrock-style shower with an open window offering a jungle view. I half expected to turn on the water by tugging on an elephant's trunk. Read More...

Mara Vorhees is a writer and photographer who blogs about food, music and adventure around the world.She has written guidebooks about Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Morocco, New England and Russia for Lonely Planet. Click here to read more about Mara.