Costa Rica again....... Gotta be honest that I wasn't super excited about this one. This was my third trip in 6 years to Costa Rica and I really didn't think I would come back this soon........But I did. I just didn't really feel like a third trip was going to be worth the time. Between the first two trips I had spent over three months in the country, and its honestly not that big of a country. I think the population is around 5 million, and it feels like you can get to any point in the country from San Jose in about 4 hours. But nevertheless I went and guess what? Its a pretty great place! 

The first half of the trip I attended a wedding with a friend and enjoyed some company that were also invited to the wedding. The wedding took place in Manuel Antonio. Its a fun little tourist beach and nature park. I had been there before so I kinda knew what was in store. I got a couple beach days in along with some surfing.

I left Manuel Antonio to check out a active volcano and to enjoy some hot springs that I had heard about. This part of the trip was kinda a waste just because I only spent about 12 hours in the town. But the 12 hours were pretty fun because I went to this amusement park/hot spring place that was virtually empty. I was able to go down slides I didnt wait in line for, into pools that were occupied by one or two people. The bar tender told me in the high season they have about 1500 people in the park but today there were around 30.

When my 12 hours were up I headed to a beach town called Samara. This is probably my favorite beach I have visited so far. The town is pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned. Its probably one mile by one mile in dimension. So there is no need to deal with buses, taxis, or even bikes. There are four or five hotels and the same amount of bars and restaurants. Everyone is super lay back and helpful and best of all friendly. I had a couple good days surfing and burning the crap out of my back, then it was finally time to head back to the airport.

The bus ride to the airport was pretty rough. I basically stood in the bus aisle for 4 hours. The bus was sold out and it was pretty much my only option. By the time I got to my hotel that night I could not be more in love with sitting. I saw a movie the night before I went home for about 5 dollars including popcorn and a soda. I stayed in hostel that night and enjoyed hearing backpackers come in and out getting to where they were heading.

So would I come back for a 4th trip? Probably not..... not because I didn't enjoy myself. But then again that's what I said last time.