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Everything Grows Here

An underlying factor has boosted the Tico success story. Raising a large family in Costa Rica has never been an extreme hardship until recently. The combination of heavy rains, moderate to warm temperatures and rich volcanic soils make most of Costa Rica an agricultural wonderland. Coffee, garden vegetables and resplendent flowers grace the lands of the Mesita Central, while banana, sugar cane, pineapple and palm oil plantations dominate the low lying coastal regions. Ten foot Fica trees at our inn in 1995 are now over eighty feet high, preventing nearly every ray of sun from reaching the grou...

Costa Rican History

Costa Ricans call themselves "Ticos" cut short from "hermaniticos" (little brothers) originating in colonial times when they distinguished themselves from their neighbors for their fair skin, taller stature and lack of influence by the indigenous culture. They are proudly Costa Ricans first and foremost, and Central Americans or Latin Americans only as an afterthought.

Before Columbus

To understand the contemporary Tico personality and culture, however, we should begin with their past. Pre-Columbian Costa Rica left little evidence of human settlement. Neither the complex Aztec, Olmec nor Mayan...

Arenal Volcano

A must see for all visitors to Costa Rica is the explosive giant, Arenal Volcano, located three hours to the north-west of San Jose. A perfectly cone-shaped structure, Arenal is one of the most active volcanos on earth. Seeing the top of it is often difficult because of cloud cover. Early mornings and the dry season offer you the best opportunities. Arenal was important to pre-Columbian peoples, as more than one virgin maiden was tossed into its hell-hole crater in a sacrificial gesture to appease the gods. Arenal rested throughout colonial times until July, 1968 when an earthquake awoke it, a...

The Wild Caribbean Coast

The Pacific coast has been more popular than the very different, straight and shorter Costa Rica Caribbean coast, but this is slowly changing. The Caribbean is divided into two halves. North of Puerto Limon, the largest city on the Caribbean, the area is a lush alluvial plain separated from the long straight coast by a series of freshwater meandering natural and man-made canals and lagoons many running parallel to the beach. They form the only overland transportation network and service all the way north to Nicaragua. The coast is not great for swimming or surfing as the low waves pound the sh...

The Rugged Pacific Coast

The coasts vary greatly. All Costa Rican beaches from San Jose are anywhere from two to seven hours drive. They can be reached by public bus, private bus, rented cars, or a scenic white knuckle plane ride. Along most of the Pacific coast, surfing and deep sea fishing are quite popular.

The Guanacaste area with its open regions and cattle ranches surprises many tourists when they think of Costa Rica. The beaches here and the Nicoya Peninsula are wide open and windblown, with driftwood and some refuse strewn along at the high water mark. Several large resort projects have been built and others a...

San Jose Museum Guide

Museum of Costa Rican Art

The building is a work of art in itself, and once the terminal of the old airport at the east end of where Sabana Park is today. This art deco museum houses a permanent display of 3,200 national treasures spaning over the last two centuries. Travelling exhibits fill the remaining side galleries. In the backyard is a garden of sculptures with works from Francisco Zuniga, Jorge Jimenez and others. From there a pleasant day can be spent walking the lush grounds of Sabana Park. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 6pm, and 10am to 4pm weekends, closed Mondays...

San Jose, Costa Rica

Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, lies in the Mesita Central, an elongated valley with the floor just over a kilometer above both the Caribbean and Pacific. San Jose's greatest attribute is the marvelous year-round spring-like climate, conducive to both work, homelife and Costa Rica tourism. San Jose is basically surrounded by beautiful gentle extinct volcanos glistening in the afternoon sun like an Irish patch-work quilt in light and dark greens. Various formations of clouds riddled with sunlight drift overhead towards the south-west fortelling what to expect when they first appear to the east ...

Costa Rica Weather and Wildlife

Costa Rica travel has two seasons. The dry summer (verano) season is from December to May with many cloudless days and star-filled nights including views of the Southern Cross constellation. Coinciding with the winter in the northern hemisphere, this is the most popular season for visitors. You may be surprised how brown the landscape sometimes appears when flying into San Jose in April but after one or two downpours in May, everything is rapidly transformed into soothing green carpet. The green or rainy winter (invierno) season is a bit of a misnomer as the temperature hovers in the mid 70s y...

A Costa Rica Vacation and Tours

A Costa Rica vacation is unlike other south sea destinations where physical hedonistic pursuits are the only activity, though the country can answer those needs with flying colors. Many Costa Rican vacations limit time at any of the hundreds of pristine beaches on two warm oceans, to experience the wonders found within the country. Try tramping through some of the densest virgin rainforest on the planet, or hike to the top of a Mount Chirripo, nearly four kilometers above sea level through the chilly cloud forests, and on a clear day see both oceans at the same time. Some even volunteer to par...

Costa Rica Accommodations

Global tourism offers a sophisticated selection of vacation and accommodation choices and Costa Rican tourism has many overlapping options. The vast majority of visitors that come to Costa Rica originate from the internet, are well educated, and aware before arrival of the plethora of things to see and do. "Pedantic visitors" would often be more appropriate than just "tourists". Only as far back as 1995, we relied almost exclusively on the print media to promote our inn. By 1997, and none too soon, my seventeen year old son (el genius) built our first hotel website, we finally went on line and...