travel // Costa Rica + Anywhere (part 1)

Ok, who’s ready to talk about where you should go on your next vacation?? If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that last month I had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica thanks to an amazing travel company called Anywhere. The trip itself (and working with Anywhere) was so spectacular that today we’re kicking off a 3 part series allll about my travels to this amazing Central American country.

Since 2006, Anywhere has made traveling super easy by taking care of all the planning. And when I say ‘all of the planning,’ I mean it! Basically, when Anywhere reached out to me, they asked me and Sean to fill out a super-fast survey on their site to give them a bit of an idea of what we’re looking for. For example, we could select whether we wanted the trip to be romantic, relaxing and spa-like, full of adventure… or a mix of everything!

I’ve never traveled to Costa Rica before, or to Central America for that matter, so I really loved that Anywhere was able to show me the best of the best and curate it to my own tastes.

p.s. how cute is the ‘sloth money’ as I came to call it?? Costa Rica gets an A+ in the currency design department.

We started by booking our flights (duh). If you’re located in Seattle, Delta recently expanded their offering so that you connect through LAX and then fly directly into San Jose, Costa Rica. It was super easy. We chose to take the red eye flight in order to maximize the amount of time we could see, smell, and EAT.

Once we’d booked flights, I handed over those dates to the team at Anywhere and they custom tailored a trip to include all of our favorites.

Keeping reading to check out all of our outdoors adventures, gorgeous views, and way too many photos of the beautiful flora of Costa Rica.

We arrived first thing in the morning and were whisked away to tour the Espíritu Santo Coffee Farm. As a huge coffee drinker, it was really amazing to see not only how coffee is grown, but also how it’s harvested. We were also treated to a traditional pouring of coffee that was harvested from the farm itself. Believe me when I say this: I’ve never had a better cup of coffee in my life!

Oh, and they put me to work picking coffee beans. I wasn’t exactly the fastest they’d seen…

After that, we had lunch at Canopy San Luis while en route to our hotel for the next few days. It was our first truly local meal of the trip and started a theme for us: mostly just general shock over how fresh and beautiful the fruits were and how flavorful the meat in Central America is. As we continued the trip, the food (and drinks!) just kept getting better and better.

Oh, and the funniest part of this entire trip? I’m allergic to pineapples. And yet, I was surrounded by their deliciousness every day! It would have been torture if it weren’t for all the other amazing fruit to distract me.

The first portion of our trip was located in the Arenal region, right at the base of the Arenal volcano! We stayed at the Kioro Suites & Spa and our room even had the most incredible view of the volcano. The photo below was actually taken from our private balcony.

While staying in Arenal, we visited the Tabacon Hot Springs, which were amazing. I’d never experienced natural hot springs before and it was truly one of the most relaxing experiences of my life. We went at night, which was so romantic and the perfect cap to our first day in Costa Rica.

Our second and third days in Costa Rica was allllll about adventure: rappeling, rafting, and ziplining! Anywhere knew that Sean and I were up for adventure, so they made arrangements to make sure we were exhilarated. I will never forget floating down a river while iguanas watched from the treetops!

After finishing up our ziplining adventure, we packed up our bags and headed to the next destination: the peaceful serenity of the jungle at the Lost Iguana Resort.

Imagine walking into your hotel suite and being greeted with this view. Stunning, huh?

This suite was by far one of my favorites of the trip. All of the details were just too perfect: a gorgeous outdoor shower (for 2!), an outdoor soaking tub, and French doors that opened up to a private view of the jungle and volcano.

During our stay at the Lost Iguana, I realized just how breathtaking the flora and foliage of Costa Rica truly is. This was my first time traveling in a jungle so I was totally blown away by the saturation of colors and just how vibrant and unique each plant was. So many flowers and leaves I’ve never seen before.

Sean and I would be walking down a path and I’d trail behind, trying to capture photos of each flower and leaf I saw. These are just a few of the photos!

This is only part 1 of my entire trip recap, so be sure to check back next week for even more.

Many thanks to Anywhere Costa Rica for sending us on this trip. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting content that keeps Jojotastic going.

photography by Jojotastic.