San Jose, Costa Rica

I always forget how wonderfully serene this country is until I step off the plane. Taxis meander their way to the customer’s destination. Bromeliads line the sides of the streets. Fields of lush green grass as far as the imagination can ponder. Natives are genuinely interested in your business.

My hotel is fashioned after a Spanish Hacienda. It’s in the middle of no-where and that’s exactly why I love it. That….and the toilets with the perfect curvature to fit your bum…..and the red geraniums that line each buttermilk-coloured window box…and the brass fixtures found throughout….and Isabella—the Spanish tapas restaurant that makes your mouth water come dinner time.

The morning is my favourite time at the hotel. Not because the sun is up at 6AM or the howling monkeys often beat the sun. No, it’s the fresh brewed coffee and warm winter breeze (yes, it’s still considered winter here) on the Antigua terrace that makes for the perfect moment. I start with an appetizer of mango, followed by an entrée of watermelon, concluding with desert of pineapple. Meanwhile, the local squirrels conduct their dance…trying to sneak crumbs from the visitors while the wait staff delicately attempts to shoo them away without disrupting the breakfast of the guests. It’s a beautiful tango…a passionate relationship that often results in pushing and pulling and giving and taking.

It’s still the rainy season…so it rains EVERY day. And I mean buckets. The entire country is a tropical rainforest. The rain starts around 3 in the afternoon and is preceded by thunder equivalent to the synchronous rumblings of 1 million hungry stomachs. It’s unnerving yet welcomed in the same breath.

The country’s GDP is greatly dependent on the amount of rain received. This year has been light on rainfall and the rainy season will soon end in November. Small crop shares and hence trade opportunities for a country in which the average annual income is slightly less than 3,000 USD can prove devastating.

It's the peaceful quiet moments filled with the sounds of nature--criquets chirping, birds welcoming the warm rays of morning sunlight, and monkeys frantically calling--that make this country wonderful.