Costa Rica, Eco-Tourism

Costa Rica is an unbelievable place to vacation. The country is gorgeous and the people are very friendly. According to one tour guide, tourism (especially eco-tourism) has become the country's number one source of income. I think he said it used to be bananas. I think they do a great job. This was in my top vacations of all time. You can see all of the awesome activities I did in my Flickr album.

We got up early every morning, before 8 most days, sometimes earlier. It's amazing how easy that can be when you are totally pumped to live the day. It was just a great laid-back vibe despite all the activities we scheduled. I was also surprised that so many people spoke so much English. I hardly needed any Spanish, though knowing it made my life slightly easier in some places.

We went to two places. The first was called Rancho Margot in Arenal, near the volcano. I think if you go to Costa Rica and don't go to the mountains/volcanoes/hot springs somewhere in the country, you have made a big mistake. The second was a hotel in Manuel Antonio called La Mandarina, which was sufficient and had a semi-outdoor shower--which was new for me.

Rancho Margot is an incredible place. It's completely self-sufficient. This place is the last place on the long, unpaved road. It has a hydro electric plant for power. A farm for fruits, vegetables, and spices. Livestock (and is building a slaughterhouse) for dairy and eggs. Plus, they even harvest gas from the compost to use for the hot water heaters. The food was fantastic. The grounds were unbelievable. The staff was very helpful and knowledgeable about the farm and the surrounding forest. Hiking to the waterfall was one of the most fun things I've done. Zip lines, of course, are always a blast. You can imagine how much more fun they are with views of the volcano and Lake Arenal. You don't even have to imagine, here's a video of one of the lines.



Manuel Antonio is your typical beach vacation, but with a dense forest of a national park in walking distance. A fantastic place and definitely worth a trip. I thought the snorkeling was fine, but riding the jetski is fun. Surfing is tons of fun, but it's surprisingly strenuous. I got all kinds of bruised and was totally sore the next day. The forest is full of animals. About a dozen of these monkeys were right up next to us. The last thing we did was take a sunset cruise. These are pretty much guaranteed to be romantic--but I felt pretty lucky to see some dolphins swimming around. Here are a couple of videos of the animals in Manuel Antonio.