So, you’re looking to plan a trip to Costa Rica? Here are some fun facts to help you plan your itinerary.
Costa Rica sits comfortably between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America and is home to a little over 5 million people, with over 50,000 of those being American ex-pats. It has long been touted as one of the most biologically diverse and beautiful countries in the region and is home to an astonishing array of wildlife.
Costa Rica was a country we, quite frankly, hadn’t been that excited to visit. Oh yes, we’d heard all about the lush jungles filled with exotic wildlife, but it seemed too clean, too touristy, too “ex-pat”. Well, having just returned, here is a quick photo Costa Rica preview depicting a snapshot of our two weeks roaming from the capital city to the jungles of the Caribbean coast, an untouristed small town high in the central hills, and finally the ultra-touristy Pacific.
Recently we’ve been feeling in a bit of a funk. With a long and busy high season behind us life had slowed down at work but we were finding ourselves spending every weekend with errands, doctor’s appointments, and the like and began to fully realize how errant we were in not planning a fall vacation. With Costa Rica still two months away…an eternity when in a funk, and fall weather turning to winter my mood was grim.
The crisp morning air caused me to snuggle deeper into my sleeping bag and Ryder and Jim continued to snooze in peace. The heat from our bodies formed thick condensation in contrast to the cool and it was tempting to ignore my body’s nudge to make a break for the portapot located a short distance away.
Although we’ve traveled to Puerto Vallarta dozens of times and called the city home for a bit in 2016 until the last trip we’d never taken advantage of one of the very popular walking food tours put on by Vallarta Food Tours. I wish we hadn’t taken so long! What a great few hours with new friends wandering and eating our way through several neighborhoods.
After a light breakfast of street tamales, we headed to nearby Lazaro Cardenas Park at 1030am to meet our group. Our fearless leader was Joana, a native of Puerto Vallarta. We all chatted as we headed to our first stop for breakfast tacos. Yes, for everyone not familiar with truly authentic Mexican cuisine, breakfast tacos are a thing!
Continue readingWe recently headed to Puerto Vallarta for a variety of reasons, but food, food, and more food certainly became the theme of the vacation.
As regular visitors to this scenic city by the sea, we had many old favorites to return to but also discovered new haunts that were all spectacular. Truly, in 10 days we didn’t eat badly a single meal. A normal trip south finds me cooking the occasional breakfast or dinner but not this time; burned out from an extremely busy summer I declared my time as head chef in the family on hiatus. I advised Jim we were simply going to be “forced” to eat out every meal. He announced himself up for the task.
As we drove home from the airport, I marveled anew at the vast difference between the look and feel of Mexico as compared to our home in Oregon. Gone was the dramatic and contrasting colors and back were the endless neighborhoods wrapped in tones of beige, white, and grey.
Returning to Puerto Vallarta was a given. Although it’s been nearly four years since we last graced her beaches, PVR has always felt like a second home and it took mere minutes upon landing to release a deep sigh of contentment. We were home.
Many stories and photos are to come shortly but first off a short post highlighting the extraordinary color that breathes life into every moment of this remarkable country.
The lessons of living each day to the fullest never seem more important than now when I suddenly realize months have gone by since I’ve paid any attention to this blog. Life races by at warp speed and if we don’t pay attention entire months and years can fly by and suddenly we’ve had another trip around the sun.
It is nearly impossible to believe it’s been thirteen months since we said goodbye to Aspen and welcomed into our home this big, anxiety ridden sweet boy. The general rule of adoption suggests there is power in the number 3.
Lesson 1: Believe us, it sometimes takes longer.
I sat cross-legged, focusing on my breathing. Breath in. Breath out. My online yoga coach gently guided the practice and then said “search for your serenity”. My mind immediately jumped to one year ago, a time when the entire world was spiraling as a global pandemic began killing hundreds of thousands. As incongruous as it seems, my memories of April 2020 are some of the most peaceful and serene of any in the last few years. The exact image that brought me peace; remembering the pure contentment on Aspen’s face as we watched the sunset over the bay.
Anyone who follows us on our blog or social media knows it’s not new news that we are huge foodies. Every day at some point discussions fall to food and we reminisce of steaming bowls of breakfast noodles in Asia, luxurious butter chicken in India, pizza in Italy and, of course, endless Mexican street tacos.
