Visiting Costa Rica of Central America in Spring

Visiting Costa Rica of Central America in Spring

Sachi (Sabyasachi) Ghosh Dastidar

April 2024

In the spring of 2024 Shuvo, Sumedha and their daughter Shriya Lakshmi decided to visit the colorful nation of Costa Rica and take their parents/grandparents with them. For grandparents it was their second visit to the land and region. Going from New York in the middle of cold spring to visit warm spring of Central America was quite revealing and enjoyable. So, we headed there with a direct flight from New York City after school closed for Spring Break on Friday in April of 2024 arriving at Costa Rica close to midnight, reaching the hotel at Puntarenas on Pacific coast past midnight. Hotel was about 90 minutes’ drive from the airport. Hotel sat on the coast bringing beautiful view of the roaring ocean with huge waves. On weekend the coastline was full of visitors, with some sitting under the trees, while others laid under bright sunshine for a tan. Because of the roaring and big waves, swimming was prohibited at that beach although many went for surf riding. It was a great pleasure just viewing the ocean waves with its sound.

We decided to visit many places, from coastal forest to hilltop places to watch waterfalls – they were preictally dry then, to national forests and forest lakes, to small towns and villages. One had to be careful in two-lane roads as it connected through curves ups-and-downs of hilly areas, and at night it was pitch dark. Some of the roads were covered by trees similar to roads of tropical areas of India, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Amazon. (At one tourist spot we felt there were hackers, which we thought is not normal in Costa Rica. In addition, we had bad experience with our U.S.-based airline. On the other hand, we were surprised to learn from our car rental local guy that he is now a vegetarian and following pacifism of Indigenous Faith from India.) Deep inside one forest we visited a chocolate factory, now a tourist attraction, started by an Italian, and another place with a tree house, butterfly space and a garden with 70 varieties of flower and fruit trees started by a young American.

Visiting places was fine except when wi-fi wasn’t available as very few residents spoke English. They tried to help us with their warmth. Normally roads were fine, except in the late afternoon traffic jam from the entrance to the capital, then the road heading to the airport had extraordinary traffic. Early evening in San Jose was fine as it had streetlights, unlike in the rural areas where it was pitch black after 6 pm. We enjoyed the evening just by sitting at the hotel shed and watching the evening sky and enjoy the ocean breeze.

Here are some pictures for our trip: