Mini-Festivals You’ll Only Hear About Locally: Costa Rica’s Best Days That Aren’t on the Big Calendars
Suggested lead photo A late-afternoon street scene: a cimarrona brass band leading a mascarada (giant papier-mâché heads) past a town church, with spectators on kerbs and mountains in the distance. What counts as a “mini-festival” in Costa Rica? A mini-festival is a...
Costa Rica’s Exports in 2026: The Country You Tour, and the Country the World Buys From
What are Costa Rica’s biggest exports in 2024? Costa Rica’s export story in 2024 is led by medical and precision manufacturing first, and tropical agriculture second. Goods exports closed 2024 at about US$19.9 billion, with precision and medical equipment as the top...
Seafood Without the Tourist Trap
Coastal Costa Rica does seafood brilliantly—if you order with a bit of strategy. The “tourist trap” version is usually the same three things everywhere (overpriced mahi-mahi, rubbery calamari, and a ceviche that tastes like it was assembled in an airport lounge). The...
The Last Great Offshore: March’s Wind Windows and How to Surf Them Like a Local
March mornings in Costa Rica have a particular sound: a quiet hiss of groomed foam, a few early scooters, and that first zip of wax being peeled like a promise. People call it “dry season” and leave it at that, but surfers know March as something more specific—a month...
The Affordable No-Scalpel Lift: Avatar Lifting Therapy for Brighter Eyes and Firmer Skin (With Minimal Downtime)
If the words “eye bags”, “hooded lids”, or “crepey skin” make you reach for sunglasses on perfectly good days, you’re not alone. The tricky part is this: lots of people want a visible lift, but not the “I’ve had something done” look, not the stitches, and definitely...
Costa Rica in 2026: Seven real-world tips that make your trip better
Scroll any travel group right now and you’ll see it: Costa Rica questions everywhere, and answers that swing from “don’t go” to “it’s flawless”. The truth is less dramatic and far more useful—Costa Rica is brilliant, but it rewards travellers who plan with their...
What’s It Really Like Living in Costa Rica in 2026?
Costa Rica has a way of sneaking up on people. You arrive for a “quick look”, you have one too many late-afternoon coffees with a view, you realise you’ve stopped checking the news every five minutes… and suddenly you’re pricing up sofas and learning the difference...
How Costa Rica Says Goodbye: Velorios, Processions, and the Quiet Rules Behind a Tico Funeral
What makes death and mourning in Costa Rica feel so different? It feels different because grief here is shared out loud and handled fast, with neighbours, family, faith, and practical law all moving in the same direction. In many towns, a death doesn’t become a...
Those Zany Sloths
Fun Facts About Our Official Mascot Sloths have become Costa Rica’s unofficial national mascot, emblematic of the pura vida lifestyle. They are just so darn cuddly! Here are a few obscure sloth facts you may not have already...
Costa Rica’s Vultures: The Sky Janitors With Solar-Panel Wings
If you’ve spent any time on a Costa Rican highway, beach road, or farm track, you’ve seen them—big dark shapes riding invisible elevators of warm air, barely flapping, as if the rules of effort don’t apply. Then you spot the truly iconic moment: one perched on a fence...
