A little bit of adventure, a landscape which offers perfect walking pleasures, a destination which is not overrun with tourists. These were the demands we had in our holidays! And this was exactly what we found in Costa Rica – and a lot more. This central-American country located between Nicaragua and Panama is a mere 51,100 square kilometres large but offers a huge variety of wild life, animals, plants and not least the famous volcanoes.

Just like most tourists do, we started our round trip in San José and spent the night at a small B&B: at Villa Arboleda. It was nice and toasty in the morning when we hit the Interamericana heading for the Turrialba volcano. Less than one hour later, after we had left the tarred highway, we were completely lost. The potholes in the roads were as large as garden ponds and road, place-name or signs of any kind were nowhere to be found off the highway. For this reason, the 35-kilometre stretch to our new accommodation for the nights to come took us five hours. When we arrived, it was bucketing rain – exactly what we needed! As soon as we got out of the car, we found out ourselves why everyone in this country seemed to be wearing rubber boots.

The next morning, as a compensation for all the unpleasant events, we were so happy as to enjoy the breathtaking and rare view of the steaming volcano against a cloudless sky. We laced up our walking boots, had some ‘gallo pinto’ (rice with black beans, the typical Costa-Rican breakfast) and set out for the summit accompanied by Fausto, a local farmer. On the 7-kilometre trip we were able to marvel at nature’s stunning play of colours: a radiant blue sky, lush green grass, white cotton clouds, and red and yellow flowers by the wayside made the journey a true highlight. However, the sight down into the bubbling crater filled with yellowish steam made our flesh creep. After all, this napping monster is absolutely unpredictable and could erupt any moment. On our way back we were in for another special treat: we saw our first quetzal – one of those proud and colourful birds which are really shy and generally prefer not to be seen.

The day at Turrialba became quite symbolic for our entire holidays. In Santa María de Dota, we saw more birds than we could count. Along the coast of the Pacific, we watched absolutely stunning sunrises and sunsets while sitting on white, grey and black beaches. Volcanoes, gigantic climbers, pelicans, storks, cows with floppy ears, lizards, snakes, coffee plantations, fresh fruit, cloud, dry and rain forests: that is Costa Rica!

And the people? They have their peculiarities like we all do but what is even more characteristic is that they live life at a slower, more peaceful pace. During the first two days, when you think that you have to see the entire country in a fortnight, this attitude can drive you nuts. But after a while you adopt the Tikos’ – that’s what the Costa Ricans call themselves – calmer way of life and decide to come back some time or other to see the rest of the country. Having taken this resolution, you suddenly have all the time in the world to enjoy the landscape when you have gone astray once again.

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