Nicoya Peninsula Tico Moments

We passed through several small towns, each of which was bustling with activity—one small café (soda) after another was filled with locals celebrating the weekend. Open hearths with happy flames, roofs thatched with techno-colored tin and aluminum scraps, and kitchens that doubled as slaughterhouses. It was all so new to me. The bus to Nicoya continued through the hills over bridges, barely wide enough for the tire treads. Then we took a ferry and another short ride to our hotel. We arrived around 9 p.m. and decided that we needed a good nights rest for the next day’s activities. Our room was submersed in a tropical jungle and nearby was a jellybean shaped pool and adjacent hot tub. It was drizzling but I decided to go for a swim. After some laps, I propped myself up by the side of the pool and had my moment. Toucans were singing in the trees, warm tropical rain was sprinkling down on my head, and a waiter had delivered a fresh mango juice beside me—it was the kind of scene that belonged on a the cover of a travel book. I could have sat there for hours. The view of the misty jungle, the smell of freshly falling rain, and the sensation that I didn’t want to leave—I was in paradise.

Keenan Lee / Chatham, New Jersey