The Spanish first laid eyes on the coast of Quepos and Manuel Antonio in 1519, in a ship commanded by Hernán Ponce de León (nephew of Juan,…
MANUEL ANTONIO, Puntarenas — When the Spanish first laid eyes on this spectacular coast, its masters were the Quepo (sometimes called the Quepoa, or “los Quepos”), said…
MANUEL ANTONIO, Puntarenas — I came to Playa Biesanz for a three-hour beach/mountain hike with two expert guides to see centuries-old “turtle traps” that almost nobody has…
While recently perusing Facebook I noticed an upcoming event that piqued my attention: a tour of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Costa Rica, organized by a group…
PRUSIA, Cartago — On the way home from visiting Sanatorio Durán, the abandoned old hospital said to be the most haunted place in Costa Rica, I received…
SARCHÍ, Alajuela — Sarchí is the birthplace of the brilliantly painted oxcarts that are a national symbol of Costa Rica, and the Eloy Alfaro oxcart factory is the epicenter.…
SANTA ANA, San José — The soul of this place comes alive when viewed through the blue eyes of Héctor Aguilar — architect, antiques dealer and prolific profiler…
SANTA ANA, San José — It’s a geographic mystery 455 years in the making, but most historians agree that the first Spanish settlement in Costa Rica’s Central Valley…
When the 89-year-old man with his belly protruding from his half-buttoned tropical shirt poured me a full shot of contraband guaro at 10 o'clock in the morning,…
SANTA ROSA NATIONAL PARK, Guanacaste – On March 20, 1856, some 400 mercenaries from the U.S., Germany and France arrived at Hacienda Santa Rosa in northwest Guanacaste after…
