OurBiggerPicture

By the time we got to the Osa Peninsula, jutting off the Pacific Coast just above Panama, we have crisscrossed the entire expanse of this country. We have seen so much beautiful wildlife in the national parks, but driving slow and meandering around, I see this country differently than I did before. Much of what we see out the window is not rainforest and monkeys - its pineapples fields, banana plantations, miles of palm oil plantations, patches of bald mountains…and cows. Thi

Cool mountain air. Cool camping. The coolest bird. The air doesn't feel like air anymore. It feels like a hot, damp, wool sweater we put on every time we do more than sit still. We are so done with the heat and humidity. It makes us lethargic and cranky. Locals we talked to also complain that this is an unusually oppressive October. Awesome. So we opened the map to look for higher ground and cooler temps. Only a couple hours north from here are the mist-covered peaks of the T

John has a friend, Sam, who owns a home down here on the central coast of Costa Rica, close to Uvita. Before we left the States we had lunch with Sam in L.A., and told him it would be great to meet down here if the timing worked. Once we got close to crossing the border, we emailed Sam and told him we would probaby be here in October. Sam said October is the ONE month he never comes to Costa Rica. October is the hottest and most humid month, with the most rain. And here we ar

We thought San Jose would be a good spot to get a few things done to the truck. It’s a big city with all the global businesses and services. So while in San Jose, we planned to pick up our new camper batteries that we had shipped here, have the truck serviced at the Toyota dealership, and fix a flange weld that attaches the bumper to the truck frame. It broke somewhere in the Monteverde area in northern CR. Also while in San Jose, we planned to enjoy a nice hotel room and eat

Costa Rica is said to be a great country for adrenaline junkies. We’ve had a few adrenaline rushes since we got to Costa Rica, and not all of them have been pleasant. The first one was during our border crossing from Nicaragua into Costa Rica. A few days before we crossed, we read about a guy who had overstayed his vehicle permit in Peru by one day - and the border officials impounded his motorcycle. He was in a mess trying to get it back; red tape, fines, lawyers, etc. I sa