La Fortuna, Costa Rica – There must be hundreds of Mariposarios in Costa Rica. It seems that every town has a butterfly house, where you can witness the life cycle from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Last year we went…
Playa Carrillo
Playa Carrillo, Costa Rica – I strongly believe in the wisdom of “If it ain’t broke…” especially when it comes to kids. (Because let’s face it, it will be broke soon enough.) That’s why we decided to return to the…
Turtle Tour
Playa Camaronal, Costa Rica – A few years ago, somebody gave us this children’s book that follows the life cycle of a hawksbill turtle, Tammy the Turtle: A Tale of Saving Sea Turtles, by Suzanne Tate. The story tracks Tammy…
This trip just got a whole lot better
Playa Carrillo, Costa Rica – The grandparents are here! The grandparents are here!
Westward Ho!
Puerto Carillo, Costa Rica – We survived a six-hour drive across the country to the Pacific Coast. Once again, Tres Hermanas BBQ was perfectly placed to be our stopping point. My restaurant review from last year still holds true. Bonus:…
Rio Sarapiqui
Chilamate, Costa Rica – Life in this part of the country revolves around the river. It has long been an artery for transportation and trade, a source for fishing and – most importantly for our purposes – the go-to destination…
Life in the Rainforest
Chilamate, Costa Rica – Our first stop in Costa Rica is Chilamate, located on the Sarapiqui River in the country’s Northern Lowlands, a rainforest-covered region that was in danger of being completely converted to banana and pineapple plantations. With the growth of ecotourism,…
Journeys & Arrivals
Alajuela, Costa Rica – One of my travel truisms is that all the best places are hard to get to. You can’t just take a direct flight to paradise. It requires multiple flights, perhaps on tiny airplanes. Or – even better – multiple…
Central America on a Shoestring
Somerville, Mass – This beautiful new book showed up on my doorstep recently, featuring a new and improved Costa Rica chapter, written by yours truly. It’s just the thing to get us all excited about our next trip to Costa…
¡Fiesta!
Somerville, Massachusetts – A few weeks ago, the boys brought home from school the book ¡Fiesta! by Ginger Foglesong Guy and René King Moreno. A simple English/Spanish counting book with colorful illustrations, it shows preparations for a party, especially making and filling…