Learning how to travel in Costa Rica

Wow! It’s been two years since I took my trip to Costa Rica, and I’m just getting around to writing this article. Talk about procrastination! To be fair to myself, I hadn’t even started the blog yet at that point. But once I had started it, I kept meaning to write this and show a few pictures.

This trip was my first international trip, alone, traveling light and simple, not speaking the local language and with very little planning. Just the way I want to travel! But this would be the test of whether it was a style of traveling that I could handle. Instead of describing my trip in detail, I’m going to touch on points as to how this journey shaped my future travels.

Traveling Alone

The pool underneath Catarata La Fortuna

You’re never really alone when you travel… or very rarely so, as there are always people around to chat with or interact with in some way. And being a foreigner usually causes great interest from the locals if you choose to let them in. Other travelers are also very open to going on adventures or hanging out with you. So don’t fear that you’ll ever be alone unless you really want to be. Rather what I mean by traveling alone is that I came on this journey by myself without a travel partner.

What I like most about this is the freedom it gives you. Most people aren’t comfortable with no planning or preparation or have different physical comfort needs. So whenever you travel with another, you both have to compromise on those things. You may want to get up early and rush out to see a particular sight while your partner wants to have a leisurely morning followed by seeing a different sight. What do you do? How do you compromise on the plans? While compromise is an outstanding skill to learn and when I need to do it I can compromise with the best of them… I really enjoy not having to compromise and instead have the complete freedom to choose my path at any point in the day.

A cafe surrounding a tree

Another drawback to traveling with someone is the automatic social bubble it places around you. You have someone to talk to, so there isn’t a need to reach out and chat with someone else, and while you’re both merrily chatting away the other person that you don’t know but has an interest in talking with you to find out your story is usually wary of intruding into that circle. Not that it is all that difficult to avoid this pitfall, but it does take some conscious effort and is easy to fall back into at any point. I found that I really like the way traveling alone forces me into interactions with everyone around me, and how much I discover about myself and everyone else by breaking out of my shell.

And finally it opens opportunities to experiences that a pair or more of people might not be invited to. Of course it is also true that it closes some opportunities too, but I would guess that more opportunities are opened than closed as it is easier to accommodate for a single person rather than a few.

Traveling Light

For this trip I only packed a backpack; which in this case was a 55 liter one that I had maybe 2/3 full. From that experience I decided to drastically reduce the size of my pack and bought a 27 liter pack that has served me very well on my other trips. The reasons: Carting a large backpack onto buses and around town is a pain in the ass… or back, and I found that I didn’t really use as much as I had thought I would.

Simplifying the things you carry around with you, also simplifies the mental energy you spend worrying about those things, thus freeing you up to the pleasures of what is happening around you and not stressing about your “stuff”. This can easily carry over into your normal life too. Think how much more peaceful and relaxed you’d be without so much stuff in your life to worry about.

Traveling Simply

A beautiful locally known swimming hole

This is probably the driving factor for the two previous topics of traveling along and traveling light. I really like to live and thus travel simply. I don’t need a five star hotel room, a gourmet meal, and the latest fashion to feel great. Give me a blanket under the stars, a basic meal, whatever works to keep me dry and I’m just as happy as a bug in a rug. But this isn’t the way most others enjoy living so if I want to travel like this I have to do it alone.

This is where traveling turns from adventure into a part of my spiritual journey. How simple can I get, how much can I strip away to find the real me, what does it take to be happy? They are all questions I have, and I am still exploring them and peeling back the layers of my personal spiritual onion. I find that challenging myself on all aspects of my life cause me to learn things that drive me deeper into my true self.

Not speaking the language

An orchid collector showing one of his favorites

Not speaking the local language is probably the factor that keeps many people from venturing to other countries that they might like. I understand the fear, but in most cases it is highly unfounded. If you are willing to try to learn and can grasp the basics while reading a phrasebook, you’ll be just fine. People are helpful and friendly everywhere you go.

With a willingness to learn and ask questions, people will open up to you and help to teach you their language. We are all superb linguists when we have to be and it will come much faster than you think. At the barest of minimums, there are universal signs and body language for getting your message across, so even without speaking a single word you can make your needs or feelings known.

I know that society is complicit in stoking our fears of the unknown and we run all sorts of various scenarios in our head about the bad things that can happen to us and how if we don’t know the language it will be so much worse… Just realize that those fears are horrible edge-case guesses and jump in with both feet. Soon you’ll have actual experience to go from and you’ll also find that the world is a wonderful, not a scary place.

By the seat of my pants

The orange kneed tarantulas were huge

Of my international trips, I definitely planned this one out the most. After my experiences in Costa Rica though, I found that I don’t need to plan as much and in fact enjoy not planning or researching so that I am more in the moment as I travel instead of spending mental energy ticking through the various sights I ‘must see’ or time-lines I have to meet. It does occasionally cost a little more to not pre-plan, but it can also save when you can take advantage of opportunities you weren’t previously aware of. You also might miss that ‘must see’ destination, but so what? Ticking a list of things to see or do in no way compares to truly enjoying any moment of your journey or life.

What I learned

Stop, slow down, look around, enjoy each moment, drop your expectations, open up, speak up or quiet down each in their own turn, live, love and laugh.

Namaste my friends