Apr 16th, 2013 at 11:00AM: When you're lying in the shade of a towering palm tree on Playa Espadilla Sur, a glorious, often empty beach backed by thick forest in Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park, the temptation to remain inert can be irresistible. But it would be a shame to travel all the way to this fascinating corner of Central America and do nothing but lie on the beach. Costa Rica has a whopping 26 national ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
CentralAmerica posts
International Adventure Guide 2013: Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park
Apr 16th, 2013 at 11:00AM: When you're lying in the shade of a towering palm tree on Playa Espadilla Sur, a glorious, often empty beach backed by thick forest in Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park, the temptation to remain inert can be irresistible. But it would be a shame to travel all the way to this fascinating corner of Central America and do nothing but lie on the beach. Costa Rica has a whopping 26 national ...One Day In Nicaragua: Self-Deportation, An Active Volcano, A Dead Boa, A Dip In A Lagoon And An Art Deal Gone Bad
Mar 21st, 2013 at 10:00AM: Stepping over a dead boa constrictor with flies buzzing around it wasn't what I had in mind when I hired a guy named Carlos to take us to see Volcán Masaya, a national park in Nicaragua where you can drive right up to the crater of an active volcano. But when we piled into his Toyota Corolla on a sizzling hot morning in late February, Carlos wanted us to see much more than just the ...How Cheap Is Nicaragua? How About $2 Beers In A Luxury Hotel Minibar
Mar 11th, 2013 at 10:00AM: If I ruled the world, I would issue a decree commanding every hotel to install minibars stocked with $2 bottles of beer. But since that's never going to happen, you might have to go to Nicaragua to experience such an enlightened minibar alcohol policy.
I'm a frugal traveler – a cheapskate, if you will. And so I rarely – almost never, in fact – use the hotel minibar (unlike ...Here's How They Roll In Nicaragua
Mar 10th, 2013 at 11:00AM: Nicaragua is a beautiful country. There are stunning beaches, active volcanoes, mountains, mangrove swamps, picturesque islands and just about every type of terrain you can imagine. But on a recent visit to Nicaragua, I found all of the creative ways that people travel even more fascinating than the landscape.
There are about six million people in Nicaragua but in some parts of the country it ...Moments of Serendipitous Travel Bliss In Nicaragua
Mar 9th, 2013 at 9:00AM: I was sitting on the Che Guevara ferry, which was bouncing over choppy waters in Lake Cocibolca on the way back from Ometepe island in Nicaragua, when I heard a sweet melody drifting slowly through the humid night air like a message in a bottle floating in the lake. I peaked around the corner of the boat to investigate and stopped dead in my tracks to listen to a young man and his grandmother ...How (Not) To Walk Across The Costa Rica/Nicaragua Border
Mar 8th, 2013 at 10:00AM: You can learn a lot about a country by walking into it across a land border. VIP's enter at the airport or zoom through in a car, but when you walk across the frontier, especially in a developing country, you get a window into how ordinary people and traders travel.
Before leaving on a recent trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I tried to research the logistics of how we would get from the ...An Evening Of Costa Rican Rodeo Madness
Mar 7th, 2013 at 10:00AM: The reed thin drunk was just barely sober enough to avoid being flattened by a rampaging bull. The crowd roared when he broke into a nifty little dance, complete with somersaults and a crash but many were also hoping that he'd be trampled (see video). I was rooting for the harassed bulls to teach the dozens of insane men in the ring a lesson, but I dared not admit that to anyone. Costa Rican law ...Scenes From A Surf Competition In San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Mar 4th, 2013 at 10:00AM: I've never thought of surfing as a hyper-competitive sport. For me, it's more of a lifestyle. I'm not a surfer but I've met scores of people over the years that have rearranged their lives to be in proximity to the big breaks. I can understand why surfers might want to compete so they can measure their skills against others but the surfing culture doesn't exactly lend itself to competition.
...Braving The Back Roads Of Guanacaste In Costa Rica, The World's Happiest Country
Mar 3rd, 2013 at 1:00PM: Take a look at a road map of Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula and you'll see a jumble of squiggly lines that seem to meander in circles with no clear pattern. Before setting off in a rental car from Santa Teresa, at the foot of Nicoya, heading towards Rincon de la Vieja National Park near the Nicaraguan border, I was a bit intimidated by the navigational task at hand. And I'd heard that the roads in ...Meet Pabrö Sanchez, Costa Rica's Monkey Whisperer
Feb 28th, 2013 at 9:00AM: A good guide can help a traveler interpret the local culture. But sometimes a guide can sanitize and filter your experience by telling and showing you only what they think you want to hear and see. Pabrö Sanchez, a guide I hired through the Florblanca Resort in Costa Rica to take me to the Curu Wildlife Refuge on the Nicoya Peninsula, is not such a person.
Before we'd even arrived at Curu, ...The World According To A Costa Rican Cab Driver
Feb 27th, 2013 at 10:00AM: I would never think of getting in a cab in my hometown of Chicago and asking for a lift to Indianapolis, Iowa City or Milwaukee. But when I'm outside the U.S. without a rental car, I sometimes resort to long-distance taxi rides as a way of getting from point A to point B. On a recent trip to Costa Rica I took a three-hour taxi ride from Heredia, near San Jose, to Manuel Antonio National Park and ...Releasing My Inner Gringo In Costa Rica
Feb 21st, 2013 at 10:00AM: I try not to be the stereotypical ugly gringo when I'm in Latin America. I tolerate leisurely or downright rude service, I use my poor but functional Spanish, and I try to go with the flow, bearing in mind that things are just different south of the border. But no matter how hard I try, there are occasions when I can't help but act like a gringo.
My first, and hopefully last, real gringo moment ...An Unforgettable Coffee Tour At Finca Rosa Blanca In Costa Rica
Feb 18th, 2013 at 12:00PM: Coffee! It's the most addictive drug in the world. Many of us could barely function without it, but have you ever toured a coffee plantation? I hadn't until I stumbled upon a coffee plantation and inn called Finca Rosa Blanca near San Jose last week. We were set to arrive in Costa Rica just before nightfall and the idea of immediately heading south to our first stop, Manuel Antonio National Park, ...Has Mañana Arrived For Nicaragua?
Feb 10th, 2013 at 10:00AM: Travel writers have been hyping Nicaragua as the next big tropical paradise for years. The New York Times listed it as one of 46 places to go in 2013. A host of travel magazines have promoted it as a cheaper Costa Rica without the crowds. And CBS brought some of Nicaragua's natural beauty into American homes three years ago by filming a season of "Survivor" in the country.
But an article in the ...Photo Of The Day: Antigua At Sunset
Aug 3rd, 2012 at 6:30PM:
Tucked in a valley in the central highlands of Guatemala, the colonial town of Antigua is one of Central America's greatest treasures, as well as one of its best budget travel destinations. The town is captured magically at sunset in today's Photo of the Day, taken by Flickr user Adam Baker from his perch at the Earth Lodge, an eco-resort and avocado farm located just outside the city. ...Adventure Vacation Guide 2012: Belize
Jan 4th, 2012 at 9:30AM:
Belize is the only country in Central America with English as the official language. The small country, measuring 180 miles long and 68 miles wide, is a popular vacation destination for tourists whose native language is English. But Belize is good for much more than just lounging in white sand while watching the shimmering teal waves roll in and out while drinks, ordered in English, are ...Versalette convertible travel garment will revolutionize your packing list
Dec 7th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
When you're living out of a suitcase, the less items of clothing you have to pack, the better. That's the thinking behind The Versalette, a convertible garment from {r}evolution apparel that easily goes from a shirt to a skirt to a dress to... well, basically anything you can imagine. For a female traveler with a packing list of basic white tees and khaki cargo pants, it's a dream travel piece. ...Photo of the day - Cathedral dome, Antigua, Guatemala
Aug 19th, 2011 at 5:30PM:
Ponder today's Photo of the Day, by BaboMike. What looks at first glance like some sort of space-age cushion is in fact the interior of a cathedral cupola dome in Antigua, Guatemala. That this stark simplicity depicts a cupola dome seems improbable at first glance; after a sustained gaze, however, the surprise fades. What else, one wonders, looks simultaneously like itself and like something ...In Transit TV on the hostel's demographic
Jul 16th, 2011 at 2:00PM: Every budget traveler has been there before, the tired, dusty hostel, the new group of road weary travelers and the parallels, the parallels the parallels. Suffering from the shockingly high hotel prices in Moscow years back, Gadling Labs ended up at a hostel that just wasn't stirring our kettle. No surprise, a tenacious young Australian wooing Japanese girls with his guitar, a few drunken Western ...
Latin America on a budget: Suchitoto, El Salvador
Apr 12th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
We launched Gadling's Latin America on a budget series last week with a post on Antigua, Guatemala. This week, we check out the impressive budget-friendly credentials of Suchitoto, El Salvador. Suchitoto is a well-preserved colonial town overlooking a scenic reservoir, situated about thirty miles from San Salvador. Suchitoto is a peaceful town that moves at its own quiet pace. It's beautiful, ...
