Lessons from Costa Rica

• The transportation method called ‘jeep boat jeep’ does not involve jeeps but 9+ passenger vans
• Vans getting stuck in the mud leads to great footage and entertainment
• A rainforest can get too saturated with water.
• Getting into cars with strangers is safe and fun
• You can actually get “rained in” in a town or hotel
• Galoshes can be the best thing you buy on a trip; people may laugh at you, but they are only jealous
• You can buy two right shoes and still wear them all day
• Sticking a hair dryer in your jeans is a smart way to dry them
• Sticking a hair dryer in your shoes is not a smart way to dry them
• Recycling is great except when you can’t throw toilet paper in the toilet
• Karaoke bars along the side of the highway are fun for both the drunk people singing and the sober bystanders, especially at 2 in the afternoon
• Bars along the side of the highway does not seem like a good idea
• Mudslides can cause 3 hour traffic jams and 3 hours of fun
• Sloths sleep for 20 hours a day and are great subjects for pictures
• Raccoons who are looking for food will bite your hand if you offer it to them (I wasn’t the idiot tourist who learned this the hard way)
• Some clothes don’t dry even after sitting out for a week
• Wet chewing gum is disgusting
• Oreos in Costa Rica are made with crack
• A “massage” usually means either a ride on a bumpy rode or sex; beware of the kind offered for free from dirty men
• Waterproof cameras aren’t that great when they don’t have a flash
• 80’s music is still very popular in Costa Rica
• League inflation exists in Costa Rica
• Costa Rica is pura vida

A special thanks to Christa for providing the idea for this post