Dear USA: You Don’t Own the Word ‘America

Dear USA: You Don’t Own the Word ‘America

By John Quam, Editor in Chief When I first moved to Costa Rica almost twelve years ago, I was stopped mid-sentence by something small but world-shifting. I’d casually said I was “American.” A Tico friend smiled and, with no hint of sarcasm, replied, “So am I.” It was...

Wellness: Superfoods – Guanabana

Wellness: Superfoods – Guanabana

Costa Rica has a way of weaving guanábana into almost every part of daily life. You sip it as a cold fresco after a long surf session, lick it off a dripping ice cream cone at a beach fiesta, and see it piled high in market stalls beside plantains and papayas while...

Think it Over

Think it Over

  Moving to Costa Rica is thrilling, bewildering and wonderfully human all at once. I learned early that the country rewards those who arrive curious and willing to adapt. The moment I caught myself repeating, “That’s not how we do it back home,” I realised I was...

Costa Rica’s Bush Medicine: Backyard Cures You’ve Never Heard Of

Costa Rica’s Bush Medicine: Backyard Cures You’ve Never Heard Of

Most travellers come for surf breaks, hanging bridges and rumbling volcanoes, then stay for gallery nights, marimba in the plaza and ceviche still singing with lime. Step behind a tin-roofed home, though, and you’ll find another strand of Costa Rican life: a backyard...

Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) in Costa Rica: Taste, Trails & Trade

Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) in Costa Rica: Taste, Trails & Trade

Costa Rica’s dragon fruit—known locally as pitaya—touches everything travellers and residents love about the country. You can chase adventures on backroads to sunlit trellis farms, feel the pulse of culture at feria markets, sip magenta mixers in beach-town...