Pura Vida

Cancun

We had no expectations for this all-inclusive tourist destination, which is why it mostly surprised us pleasantly - creative street art, a local salsa dance festival with the finest street food, pleasantly air-conditioned supermarkets, and turquoise seawater. This made us forgive the overpriced snorkeling with a life jacket over the underwater museum.

Love is in the air

The next destination was Costa Rica. After the laborious two-hour wait in line, we were asked for proof of departure at check-in. Proof of departure? That can't be true! After all the discussions with various employees, we ended up in the back office of this "budget airline" and were given the opportunity to book the bus from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to Panama. But we didn't need the confirmation of travel. Nobody wanted to see it in Costa Rica - unfortunately.

We had an unforgettable sunset on Cloud 7 in the airplane - how quickly you can forget all the excitement beforehand.

Crazy, Crazy

We don't have much to say about the first night in San Jose, except: "Yuck, gross, luckily we're only here for one night!"

However, there is much more to report about all the other places we discovered in beautiful Costa Rica.

In La Fortuna, a region in the interior of the country, which is rather cool, we met our Aussie friends in the Ecolodge "Princesa de la Luna". Who would have thought that a shared evening would turn into two weeks of fun! For outdoor enthusiasts, this place is simply fantastic, as there is so much to experience. Our program looked like this: walking on suspension bridges; a steep, forbidden hike with refreshing relaxation in the crater lake; pure adrenaline when zip lining over the jungle; occasionally just forgetting the time while observing and listening to the animals and nature from our lodge. In the evening, we treated ourselves to a bath in a natural hot spring. Pura vida!

The Pacific

Thanks to Izzy and Carlos, our journey continued comfortably by car to Santa Teresa, a cozy and relaxed paradise. We spent our days snorkeling on Tortuga Island, surfing, enjoying delicious food at the "sodas" (inexpensive local restaurants), refreshing coconuts, fruit juices, and cocktails, walking barefoot to the waterfall in Montezuma, and having lots of fun, fantastic music, and interesting conversations.

We thought that there must be more beautiful places on the Pacific coast besides Santa Teresa and we were absolutely right. We reached Manuel Antonio by car and ferry.

We had never had such an incredibly beautiful view from our room before - wow!

The white beaches were shining and in the national park we saw countless different animals and plants. A huge zoo full of surprises, hooray!

The last evening with our friends was approaching. It was almost a strange feeling to be alone again - but also nice! We celebrated our unique time with a stone oven pizza, numerous rounds of "Yatzy," and Piña Coladas to finish - mmmh, it was delicious!

Rain, Rain, Rainforest

Our journey took us further south to the Corcovado rainforest. It definitely lived up to its name. Rain, rain, and more rain. It was an unwise idea to hike through the jungle in flip flops in bad weather, because the flip flops got stuck in the mud with a torn strap - goodbye mess. Eventually, we made it to a farm in pouring rain, where we could arrange a pickup service.
We enjoyed the tranquility in our bungalow and the variety of animals and plants, but we were definitely ready to head to the Caribbean coast after these two days.

From Crocodile to Downward Dog to Cobra

The skin color of the people in the southeastern part of Costa Rica made us realize that the climate here is different. The first stop was Cahuita, where Rezi gave yoga a second chance. After having a bad experience with armpit-haired hippie women in Hawaii, he was pleasantly surprised and relaxed this time.

Coffee Rica

Already in the 19th century, the caffeine-containing bean helped Costa Rica become one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America. Not only with coffee, but also with kilometer-long banana plantations, people here achieve high profits in exports. Even today, coffee and bananas, together with tourism, are still one of their most important sources of income.

We will miss you, beautiful country

Puerto Viejo was the small town that brought us a lot of joy in the last days in Costa Rica. We got free rental bikes from the hostel. It feels like the Caribbean when you can ride a bicycle in swim trunks or a bikini on the wire for half an hour in the morning to go diving. Rezi obtained his diving certification in Punta Uva. Dési had already done this with an advanced course almost three years ago in Asia. Soon we will be able to dive together and explore the underwater world, we are really looking forward to it.

Looking back on our time in Costa Rica, we note that it is very diverse, beautiful, particularly clean for Latin American standards, and unique. It has mountains, rainforests, many animals, good waves for surfing, beautiful beaches, and relaxed people who know how to enjoy life.

The ode to Costa Rica is: "Costa Rica, you were fantastic - we will miss you, beautiful piece of the world."