EXPLORING COSTA RICA.

                                                    

                                                                                                  

    

       

           Traveling alone is my most daring adventure. I never thought I would find myself making such a decision to travel completely alone, as I have always traveled with family, friends or that special girl...but never alone to a far land. For about 8 months, I have been kicking around the idea of going somewhere far. I did not know where I wanted to go, so I drew five names of places I would like to visit and decided that I would go to the one I would randomly pick.....and the winner was Costa Rica. Two weeks prior to taking my deserved vacations from work, I booked my flight, and selected a travel agency in Costa Rica to pick and map out my itinerary of places to stay and visit without a tourist guide. Our communication was 100% via email, and she (Maria) was great, polite and quick to reply when I had a question or a doubt. I remember I did send an email with a question and she was at lunch but someone else took care of my concern in a timely fashion.....that is called, customer service. My experience there from arrival to departure was flawless to say the least. And I did add one more place to stay and two extra days while already in Costa Rica....they said no problem, we got you covered.

          Life is short and we never know when God decides it is time, so as I always do, kissed my loved ones told them how much I love everyone, gave them the keys to my place so they could feed my fish and have fun while I was gone and left an envelope to be opened only if I didn't come back home. I left from my parents home straight to the airport, I sat there, at the waiting area in a cold early morning waiting for the noon departure.....thoughtful, without a doubt of my decision, knowing that life involves sacrifices, decisions, daring, and an adventurous spirit. I boarded the airplane with an air of security, peace, inner assurance that everything was going to be ok. I sat next to an older woman who seemed to be in a bad mood, so I turned on my I-pod and played some music and at the same time opened a book I have been reading for a couple of days....." The Old Man and The Sea"....and submerged myself in reading and music while the bird soared the skies and took me to a far land......unknown and distant for me......but fascinating.

           I arrived at Juan Santamaria International Airport, around 6:00 pm.....went through the routinely process of checking in and answering questions like....why are you here? how long? etc. Past customs and check points....I headed to a booth to exchange some dollars into local currency......I was greeted by a polite and friendly person who said.....I hope your visit to our country turns out to be " Pura Vida " knowing myself Spanish, I perfectly understood his message.......I preceded to wait outside of the airport for my transportation to my first destination. A guy outside holding a card with my name and the travel agency's patiently waited for me. Being September not a lot of people are visiting this part of the World, for me it was the perfect time, as I wanted to avoid the crowds. I happened to be the only tourist heading to Monteverde  " Cloud Forest."  Driver was very friendly and informative. We had a long conversation on our 4 hour drive, we talked about life, goals, interests, family, and he talked about his country very passionately and how proud he was of every place. Two hours into our driving we stopped at a tiny place to have a cup of coffee, it was already dark, but I could see how the forest blended in with the few buildings on the side of the road. I still laugh from time to time about what he told me when we got in the vehicle to continue our drive. He went from having a smile on his face to a very serious one, and he said " Mi amigo, I have to warn you about something" and he stayed quiet, waiting for me to say something, and I did ask.....about what?  He said " It is something very serious" then he started the vehicle, shifted to drive, but did not move the vehicle looked at my face and saw my inquisitive expression, then with a serious face said "you are going to fall in love with my country" and then he had this big smile on his face and stepped on the gas pedal, and added, " It's like when you meet a beautiful woman, and you just can't help it but fall in love, don't forget that I warned you".......to be continued

arned you"