On April 11, 2001, my girlfriend, Jen, and I set out for Costa Rica on a
two week excursion. We wanted to trek through the rainforests of this
incredibly diverse country, as well as get a taste for the local
culture. The country is incredibly westernized, unfortunately, but many
steps have been taken over the last couple decades to ensure that the
beauty and pristine nature of this delicate environment is preserved.
Jen and I rented a car for the first week and travelled from the capital city
of San Jose up into the rainforests near the active Arenal volcano, where
we did the zipline canopy tours. From there we hit the beautiful Playa
Tamarindo on the Peninsula de Nigoya. The next few days were in the
awesome Cloud Forests of Monteverde. The next week we bused around the
west coast near Quepos, where we walked through El Parque Nacional de Manuel
Antonio, vegetated on our own beach, and hiked for miles and miles, just
to find a tiny waterfall.
All in all, it was an amazing experience and we found the Costa Ricans (or
Ticos as they are referred to), an extraorinarily friendly people.
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