I’ve done a few travels alone, all of them have been in order to help in conservations programmes and learn a bit about the country. I am a vet and I’ve always been interested in wildlife conservation. But in one of the trips I felt completely happiness in a special way.
I am talking about my trip to Costa Rica. It was a few summers ago and it lasted about one month. I went there to help the vet team of a wildlife rescue center; so I were spending all day surrounded by sloths, parrots, kinkajous and monkeys. Apart of working at the center, I had one free day each week. And I tried to get the most of that day so I had the opportunity to do one-day-trips to a few interesting places of the country. I were in Manuel Antonio, one of the most important national parks of the country; Jacó beach a touristic beach with typical surfer shops and hostals and in Cahuita, a humble coast village where you could have a walk on its natural park and dive around its coral reef.
On that trip I were constantly surrounded by amazing nature, which makes me so happy and charges my energy. I live in a big city so being in that environment for such a long time allowed me to connect again with the Earth. The stimulating and nutritious activities I had everyday made me joyful during all my stay in Costa Rica. There I got to the routine where I was so happy every day with such a small amount of material things (just the stuff that a normal-shape-suitcase can keep!). That is something that, on my way back to my country, made me started to practice the minimalism as a way of thinking. There I realised how happy I could be just by what I do, no matter at all what I have.
Also there I met a huge variety of people, and I had the luck to get along very well with some of them. So we created a really cool squad of vets from all over the world, that spent all day together laughing, telling stories and with a lot of complicity.
I guess the addition of all those things were what made me fall in love with the country on that trip. I explain myself: there are places, like where you spent your childhood or that stunning island where you spent one week, that made you have a feeling for them, a kind of connection. But that feeling is different for each special place. At least that is how it is for me, and with Costa Rica the feeling was to fall in love.
And I am completely sure that if you are a traveler, you would (at least) like to visit Costa Rica. It has a lot of lush vegetation and stunning beaches. Manuel Antonio is a huge natural park next to the sea where you can make a lot of hiking routes and watch the native fauna. Also you can have a bath at its amazing beaches and then have lunch at the restaurant “El avión” that is next to the park. It is a restaurant with a big balcony to the jungle, and it has an old war plane in the middle of it!
Jacó beach was other of the beaches that I had the luck to visit. All Costa Rica has that “Puravida vibe”, and you can see it on the people and specially on the coast villages of the country. It is like the paradise for surfers, with all the houses, shops and restaurant with designs about surf and the beach.
This was my experience, and I hope this text had encourage you to visit the country I love!
- Elena Díez
- : I am a Spanish vet. I am 25 years old and I have started to travel alone for 6 years now. I prefer to travel to countries where there are more natural spaces than cities. Currently settle in Madrid, Spain.
- : https://www.facebook.com/elena.diez.14
- : https://www.instagram.com/elenadr10/
- : adult_(19_and_over_as_of_31st_december_2019)
- : This is the first time this story has been published.