(Q24N TRAVEL) Nypost.com – Nobody makes love, not war, better than Costa Rica. That’s probably because — and let’s just keep this between us, given the neighborhood — the Central American nation of 4.8 million doesn’t even have a flippin’ military. Hasn’t since the ’40s, following a civil war.
Sheesh, even the Vatican has its clown-costumed Swiss Guards for security.
But that’s the thing: Costa Ricans aren’t just abnormally nice. They simply don’t scare easy. Or at all. This is even more evidenced by the residents’ obsession with whizzing down wires suspended hundred of feet in the air at 50 mph with only a smelly, sweaty helmet to “prevent” inevitable death should something go sideways.
You know, zip-lining!
If Costa Rica ever gets a space program, be sure it’ll somehow involve a very, very long steel cable — that’s just how they roll here.
Or at least that’s what every hotel brochure, tourism ad and magazine feature would lead us to believe. The way Costa Rica is so one-dimensionally portrayed, you’d think there’s nothing but a massive, zig-zagging zip course connecting its dual coasts like some jerry-rigged, interstate highway system in the trees.
It’s just plain wrong to boil an entire nation down to its particular brand of silly-yet-scary daredevilry. That’d be like saying New Zealand is nothing but bungee-jumping; England, nothing but drunken dart-throwing; America, nothing but Trump rallies.
And did we mention Costa Rica’s tourism sector grew three times as fast as the national economy in 2015?
From hot springs to haute oxcarts, here are a few ways to unhook yourself from that sketchy, rusted caribiner and explore ticos’ and ticas’ true ways of pura vida (best part: no death-waiver signage required).
Continue reading at the Nypost.com – http://nypost.com/2016/03/15/costa-rica-unzipped-the-non-canopy-guide-to-central-americas-chillest-country/
