Today I'm headed back to the United States to spend Christmas with my family in Maryland and ring in the New Year with a few of my travel buddies from Madrid in Washington D.C. I can't wait to spend time
If there's one defining symbol of Costa Rican culture, it has to be the oxcart (ok, apart from football jerseys, coffee and cerveza Imperial, that is).
The importance of the oxcart, or carreta, dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. The elaborate, hand-painted carts were first used as a means to transport coffee beans.
While coffee is now Costa Rica's sixth largest export to the tune of $362 million annually, the crop is actually not native to the country; the Arabica coffee plant was introduced in the 1700s. The fertile soil, high altitude and cool climate of Costa Rica's Central Valley, made it the ideal environment for the crop to flourish.
In 1829 coffee became one of Costa Rica's top exports, surpassing tobacco, sugar and cacao. The capital city of San Jose boomed as wealthy coffee barons and traders made the city their base in the Central Valley.
With no railroad built until 1890, coffee producers were faced with the challenge of transporting beans from the Central Valley over steep and winding mountains to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast. Ticos solved this challenge with the use of oxcarts.
Traveling less and living more has allowed me to learn how to experience Costa Rica like a local.
Discovery Horseback Tours near Jaco, Costa Rica, is home to happy and healthy horses that are trained following the principals of natural horsemanship.
Church bells clang, railroad tracks rattle and laughter leaps down the street. On a Sunday morning, the sounds of San Jose, Costa Rica waft through the gated window in my room at Hotel Colonial, landing on my bed along with
Located on Calle 33 in East San Jose, Restaurante Sofía Mediterráneo is in the heart of the upscale Barrio Escalante, an oasis of culinary delights in Costa Rica’s otherwise mostly bland capital dining scene. The brightly lit promenade, known as
Artist Alexa Caskey is currently living in a 1988 RV with her dog and traveling around the country doing art shows and raising money for the Sea Turtle Conservancy, the largest Sea turtle education and protection organization in the country.
Note: The following is a guest post from my mom, Lea Ann Christenson, who graciously -- and safely-- drove us around Costa Rica during her recent visit. Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting my daughter Lauren in Costa Rica. To
"Don’t touch anything in the forest,” a guide says to an eager-listening group of visitors on a sunny day in the rainforest of Caribbean Costa Rica. “The forest is like a museum,” he adds. “You don’t touch anything.” This is the main
It's hard to believe, but today I am celebrating 6 months in Costa Rica! I moved to a rainforest base (relatively) near San José, the country's capital, for a job with Outward Bound Costa Rica, an educational organization that helps students learn