Robert and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Costa Rica! 9 full days of relaxing in the sun. What could possibly be better than that, you ask? Okay, how about 9 full days of sun plus an abundance of exotic animals! I love animals of all kinds and I certainly got my fill in Costa Rica. During our trip, we saw four types of monkeys, a caiman, crocodiles, two- and three-toed sloths, red-tailed squirrels, iguanas, lizards, tons of birds, crabs everywhere, exotic fish, a bright yellow sea snake, a baby boa constrictor, and dolphins, which swam right up to our boat. Although most of our time was spent simply relaxing on the porch of our cabin, we did do many fun activities in Costa Rica, several of which I had never done before. We took a couple of scenic trips in a Cessna airplane which was really fun (after I got over my initial fears.) We took several boat trips, and did some snorkeling and a ton of swimming. One day, we visited a really neat animal sanctuary in the remote jungle, Santuario Silvestre de Osa, where we saw lots of monkeys and some other animals. The goal of the sanctuary is to rehabilitate rescued animals so that they can be safely released into the wild (and for those that can’t be released, well, they get to enjoy a happy and long life in the beautiful sanctuary.) One of the best moments of the trip for me was when Lulu, a friendly howler monkey at the sanctuary, crawled up my leg! Perhaps the most exciting thing that we did was the Sarapiqui Canopy Tour. This tour included a nice drive through the misty Braulio Carrillo National Park, a boat trip up the Sarapiqui River, where we saw lots of monkeys, a short horseback ride and then a completely exhilarating canopy tour. For the canopy tour, you are put into a harness that gets hooked up to cables high up in the forest. From there, you are sent hurtling through the jungle. It was a blast!

So, you are probably wondering how the food was in Costa Rica. In short, the food was great! This was a pleasant surprise because everything that I had read prior to the trip indicated that Costa Rican food was very limited and plain, consisting mainly of gallo pinto (beans and rice), some meat and fish, and fruit. While I did have gallo pinto on several occasions (and it was very good), we weren’t really in a position where we had to eat traditional Costa Rican food every day. The bulk of of our trip was spent in Zancudo, a very small, laid-back town that is home to about 300 native Costa Ricans and a significant population of American, Australian and European transplants. This mix of people results in a wider variety of restaurants and foods available. In fact, the restaurant that we went to most days is run by a couple from California and, although their menu features a few traditional Costa Rican items, they also offer a huge number of really interesting, non-Costa Rican seafood, meat and vegetarian options. Zancudo is known for its sportsfishing so I made a point of eating lots of seafood during the trip. We did have a really yummy Costa Rican style meal during the canopy tour: fresh corn tortillas, rice, black beans, stewed potatoes, chayote squash, salad, fried bobo fish (which our tour guide, Victor, had caught during our trip up the river – can’t get much fresher than that!) For dessert that day, we had plantains in sugar cane.

We ate out for most of our meals, but I also did a little bit of cooking. Our cabin was equipped with a small gas range and just enough utensils to allow me to produce a some really good food. It was pretty hot in Zancudo so I kept my meals simple. Eggs, potatoes, fruit and delicious Costa Rican coffee were my standard breakfast. We had some really good tropical fruit smoothies (whoever thought of installing blenders in the cabins was a genius!) I made fideos one night using actual Latin American fideos noodles instead of cheater capellini like I normally do. Served with chunks of pineapple and what I like to refer to as my “tropical salad” (lettuce, carrot and hearts of palm in a lime vinaigrette), it was just like a meal I would have made at home. Although, eating on the porch of our cabin at sunset overlooking the ocean made me feel worlds away from home. I’ll have more stories from the trip and a few restaurant reviews later on so stay tuned!