March 12, 2017
It is 8pm, we are half way home and sitting in the Houston, Texas airport. Next leg, direct Sacramento.
Costa Rica is a wonderful country. With no military to consume great sums of money, the government is able to provide nearly universal education and health care. Tourism is increasing as are quality medical services, especially dental and elective surgeries. Money flowing into the country from these sources exceeds income from agriculture. We saw many middle class homes, some high end neighborhoods and some shanty towns too. It looked like the sort of place we would wish for most countries. If there was no purpose in having a military, more countries, especially small ones, could take care of their people and build a healthy infrastructure. Sounds like utopia, but it is happening in Costa Rica, so why not other places?
Unlike most of our travels, this was more vacation than usual, with emphasis on fun activities rather than history, people and culture. As we met mostly staff, who are always friendly and helpful, and other tourists, who are foreigners like us, it is hard to give an opinion about Costa Ricans, or Ticos, as they call themselves. However, we recommend visiting the country. It is beautiful in all its varying landscapes from high mountains and volcanos to rain forests and rivers to tropical plantations and ocean beaches. Activities abound to keep everyone engaged from the highly active to the most sedentary. There is much more to see and experience than we had time to absorb and we would happily return, if there were not so many other places to see.
Next stop for us is Iceland and Greenland in July. We will not need sunscreen.
Sunset from our room at Playa Cativa
Adventures with Julia 