A First Person Account From CRP’s Costa Rica Vacation Winner About Her Trip.

Our first view of Costa Rica is from aloft, the verdant mountains peeking through a gauze of glistening cloud. Rain forests rush by as our plane skims closer and closer to earth; white clouds give way to curtains of shining mist, and finally, to solid land. I shake Cala awake.

“We’re here!”

Cala, my friend and partner in travel, opens one sleepy eye and then the other. It has been a long day for both of us, beginning with a 3 a.m. wake-up and a 5:30 a.m. flight. But as the stewardess announces that we are ready to deplane, I instantly feel my body snap to attention, that same adrenaline surging through my veins that always arrives the moment I step into a foreign place, a new country, the next journey.

We are in Costa Rica on an all expenses paid trip thanks to a travel-writing contest that I entered on a whim. I had written about a cross-country journey on New Years Eve, and now I was being rewarded with another journey. How fitting that one journey should lead to another.

We disembark, and immediately are ushered to our first hotel, The Lost Iguana, a stunning multi-acre complex situated amidst the forests and mountains of the town of La Fortuna. Winding cobblestone paths lead to hotel rooms swaddled in jungle. The town’s active Arenal Volcano looms on the horizon, its lava shining in pools of molten gold as the sun sinks below the horizon. We explore the hotel grounds in a sleepy daze, wandering to the open-air dining pavilion to snack on quesadillas, drifting to the poolside bar to sip on fresh fruit juice, and finally rolling off to bed, to claim a much needed repose.

The next morning I awake to the sound of fluttering; a bright blue butterfly has slipped into our room during the night and now is exploring the woven twig lampshades and wooden monkey sculptures with its dazzling wings. We rise and begin our meander to breakfast, admiring the ponds of koi and bunches of tropical flowers lining the path. Cala stops suddenly, motioning to a tree replete with ripe starfruits. With one gentle push, they all drop to the ground in a simultaneous plop, rolling gently to our feet. We toss them into the outstretched folds of Cala’s lavender dress, and take off again, down the jungle path to breakfast, where a waiter whisks the fruits from our hands and blends them into two fresh juice cocktails. We sit back and enjoy our first breakfast in Costa Rica: drinking fresh starfruit purée as the volcano billows its glistening smoke in the early rays of the misty morning.

We spend the rest of the day hiking the numerous trails of The Lost Iguana, one of which brings us to La Fortuna’s infamous “hanging bridges,” a series of dangling pathways that snake through the forest canopy. An outdoor café perched upon a cliff welcomes travelers after their three-mile hike through the bridges, and we relax over coffee, admiring the beautiful land.

In the morning, we depart early to another hotel, this one located in Manuel Antonio, a town on the pacific coast. We pile in our van and instantly the drive transforms into a safari extravaganza. Along a stretch of seemingly deserted road, we catch a glimpse of a sloth clinging to a tree, enjoying a midday nap. Halfway through the five-hour sojourn, our driver, Jorge, yelps “Cocodrillos!” urging us out of the car and to the edge of a towering concrete bridge. Far below in the murky river, a swarm of crocodiles shimmy back and forth, snaking their way around fishing boats drifting downstream.

Arriving at our resort Arenas del Mar is like entering a dream. A long slope of jungle runs from our hotel to a wide stretch of sea dotted with massive boulders emerging sternly from the water. Waves crash eagerly on shore, as if they, too, want to slither up the hill and into the hotel’s cozy beds. We stroll down the beach towards town, where cafes and craft stands line the ocean’s edge and laid-back locals rent surfboards, sell jewelry, and enjoy the day at the beach. We grab two surfboards from a green-eyed surfer, and ride the warm waves of Costa Rica, the pacific swell carrying us along the blue water.

Evening is upon us. The sun begins its final blaze as we lug our surfboards back to shore, exhausted from the day’s activity. Our time in Costa Rica has been astounding, eye opening, a whirlwind of color and sight and experience. I know this will be a trip that I will never forgot, a journey that will glisten in my memory like a wild, bright island.

That night we feast on mangoes, carefully peeling the skin off the fruit and then eating them whole. In the morning we will have to board a plane and return to the bustle of everyday life. During my final hours in Costa Rica, I take care to notice the details of my surroundings, the taste of the mangoes, the smell of the salt, the sound of monkeys playing in the trees above. These are the things that will inspire me to keep exploring the world, to go onwards and relish in the newness and freshness that every trip has to offer. And so I pack my bags in the morning not with sadness, but satisfaction and anticipation, knowing that soon I will be off again, flying forward, on another journey.

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Filed under: Reader Opinion & Stories on October 15th, 2008