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SalveMonos (which means Save the Monkeys) is a small nonprofit organization in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica (primarily the Tamarindo and Playa Hermosa areas) created in 2004 by two local business women, Patricia Sterman and Simona Daniele, and their husbands, Larry and Pino.
Karol Allard joined the group and started a northern arm of...
Costa Rica’s Poas volcano recently reopened after being closed since a sizable eruption in April 2017. I previously wrote about volcanoes in Costa Rica and making the move to live here, but thought I would elaborate on Poas just a bit further.
The Poas Volcano National Park was the second most-visited park in Costa Rica (Manuel Antonio is first...
Something you will notice in Costa Rica is that there are butterflies everywhere! Unless you are in the concrete jungle of downtown San Jose, it is unlikely that a single day will pass without seeing a butterfly.
One guidebook says that “there are more butterflies in this tiny country than in the entire United States.” There are more than 1,200...
Most of us love animals, and most of us want an up-close-and-personal encounter with Costa Rica animals. Here are some of the best places for that:
Right here in Playa Matapalo, only 17 minutes south from Playa Hermosa, is the El Diamante Adventure park. The park is an incredible wildlife animal sanctuary with jaguars, pumas, and various...
Costa Rica's taxes, enacted into law over a year ago, are now being implemented. If you own property in Costa Rica and rent it out when not using it, it's crucial that you have already been contacted by your property manager, CPA, lawyer, or anyone else managing your affairs in the country.
Let's begin with some background. For years, those who...
You know that feeling of discovery you have when you visit a place for the first time? Every turn of the road is a revelation, each day the light and sounds are new to your eyes and ears. It’s easy to feel the thrill of discovery as you crest the headland and head down the hill to Playas del Coco Costa Rica, but it may even be more exciting to...
Here in Costa Rica, we have our own version of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Remember the fairy tale? Jack trades the family cow for magic beans. His angry mother tosses the beans to the ground, and during the night the magic beans sprout into a giant beanstalk. Well, in Costa Rica we have the Guanacaste Tree. It is also in the legume family, and...
In Costa Rica, there is one dessert menu item that is an international success: Tres Leches (“Three Milks”). It is a vanilla sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream and topped with whipped cream or meringue. Definitely not for the lactose intolerant
While Costa Rican food is always...
In perfect harmony with the relaxed tropical location, its smooth, subtle rhythm accompanies the palm trees swaying above it. Across town its toe-tapping beat keeps time with the pace of the village square. In San Jose’s concert hall, it performs a classical composition alongside its peers in a symphony orchestra. Which instrument boasts such...