Like the rest of the globe, travel has largely been on hold since early 2020. While we’ve been lucky enough to get away a few times since then, our destinations have been westernised, sanitised and with limited adventure.
Today however, we arrived in Costa Rica, a destination that’s long been on our bucket list. Sandwiched between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America, it’s an environmentally progressive country. Large swathes of the landscape are national parks, smothered in dense rainforest and home to massive biodiversity; 5% of the world’s species of flora and fauna. It’s waters are widely protected, and with rich resources such as geothermal and hydroelectric power producing 98% renewable energy, Costa Rica is an eco-tourism Mecca.
After an 11 hour (very much non-ecological) flight from London, we arrived at Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría in San Jose. A UK-style 1 hour wait for baggage later and we transferred to our hotel, the ironically named ‘Balmoral’ (synonymous with a famous luxurious 5* Edinburgh hotel – it doesn’t live up to its namesake). There, we met our guide for the next week, Arlet. We dumped our bags and despite it being 2am for us, met up with our companions for dinner.
A very small group, but typically far-flung, we were joined by Darlene, a 75 year old ex-school teacher from Calgary, Canada; Dylan, a 25 yr old Australian Visual Merchandiser from Brisbane who is travelling around South and Central America; and Cindy, a 61 year old Taiwanese lady who has lived in California for 30+ years. A very mixed bunch!
A quick bite to eat in a local (very good) Tapas restaurant and it was off to bed for us.
Travels with Sklaroffs 