Corso Lechería

One of the great highlights of traveling through Costa Rica, is meandering through the streets of the capital city San Jose. Yes, everyone wants to hit the beaches and rain forests, but a day or two spent in the capital gives a little foundation to the adventure. A ton of markets on the streets to shop in, with anything you can think of! Some markets are formal and ongoing, but most are Pop ups where haggling is the norm. Vibrant colors, wafts of food and warm characters line the streets around the plazas and parques. Highlights here are the archealogical museum, the national theatre, plaza principal, Central market...... Gran Hotel is a great place to stay in the center of town too... In the historic area, the hotel sits right across the street from the national theatre, where you can catch great symphonies and ballets.... The old feel to the hotel makes you think you are sitting at the bar or outdoor restaurant, waiting for Hemingway to join you about his latest Latin American Adventures!

This is the best taco stand in the world. Period. It’s located on the main road in the dusty beach town of Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, near Malpais. You have to get into the hot sauce at this joint. On offer was chipotle mayo and some sort of aioli or pesto-based sauce, but the stuff in the green bottle is liquid gold. It’s basically pureed fresh jalapenos with something to give it the perfect amount of sweetness. Squeezed over grilled fish that was delivered by a guy on an ATV just moments before, this is your ideal lunch coming in off the beach. View the full album!

Some experiences in life immediately have that once-in-a-lifetime quality. For years, my birdwatching boyfriend spoke of the elusive Scarlet Macaws. How desperately he wanted to see them in the wild (they’re quite limited in their range). Last year, we got married in Dominical, Costa Rica. After making a last minute decision (at the San Jose airport!) to forgo a honeymoon in Honduras, we drove south without a destination in mind (‘winging it’ would be too apt). South of Jaco, off a stretch of Route 34 where mountains meet ocean, a pair of macaws streaked the sky. I screamed for my husband to stop. He didn’t believe me. In Costa Rica, he said, most macaws lived in Osa, 150 miles to our south. But then he saw them too: dozens of birds in the trees, making their rounds from jungle to ocean like they owned the air. If I wasn’t yet a birdwatcher, I was quickly converted while the macaws squawked and soared above us. Evening neared but the macaws still hadn’t tired of their life as birds. Sun setting, we returned, begrudgingly, to our car and drove on, stopping for ‘casado’ at a roadside ‘soda’ (a family-run restaurant) before meandering up the hills of Uvita to our ultimate honeymoon: Rancho Pacifico, a boutique eco-hotel nestled in jungle overlooking Playa Ballena. We didn’t see the macaws again, but their presence lingered, reminding us, like the lessons of love, of the importance of spontaneity and perhaps, dumb luck. The irony: they’re the national bird of Honduras.

Asian culture is popular in Costa Rica. This Thai-inspired guest house in Santa Teresa was a gem: the rooms were cheap, the Thai food was delicious, and the bar area attracted friendly locals and travelers. Readers will appreciate the copious amounts of books in the lounge area. Hammocks hang upstairs; and, best of all, the hostel is a 5-second walk from the beach. When I arrived, musicians were strumming guitars in the central tree house. Magical.