Costa Rica - Boots on the Ground

Day Three: South Pacific Coast

30 June 2025, Dominical, Costa Rica

We continue our journey up the Pacific coast to the towns of Quepos and Manuel Antonio.

Google Maps

From Playa Dominical we loaded our suitcases into the mini-bus and headed north on the coastal highway towards Quepos and Manuel Antonio. Along the way we stopped at a “hidden” beach. This was probably the best of the beaches that we had visited.

Photo by Craig Ogawa

Today’s Tidbit

Through all of our travels outside of the United States we learned that knowing some of the local customs and language goes a long way to enhancing our overall experience as well as increasing the acceptance and willingness to help of the locals. For Costa Rica like all of Central and Latin America learning Spanish and basic Latin culture is key to having a joyful experience.

I never took a foreign language until I was a freshman in college and then I had a very difficult time grasping a new language. Initially I thought it was because I was learning Mandarin but I experienced the same difficulty trying to learn Spanish. I’ve tried semi-private lesson, audio courses (tapes, CD, Audible book), online courses, Spanish for Dummies but still have a very difficult time understanding and speaking the language. Through the years I’ve picked up phrases and words but still can only speak and understand simple basic phrases.