Costa Rica - A Beautiful Place

GTAce · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

I've been on two mission trips to Costa Rica. One in the summer of 2003, the other in the summer of 2004. Being that neither of these were touristic trips/vacations, I can't say that I really traveled a whole lot, but I definitely saw some beautiful sites.

Here are a few pictures from the summer of 2003. I don't have many pictures because I didn't have a digital camera at the time, thus few pictures on the computer.

This picture is inside a church (BEAUTIFUL churches in Costa Rica)

This is right outside of that church. Great garden with trimmed hedges

This one is at the hot springs at the base of one of the volcanos. Most of the stuff here (vegetation in particular) is placed/planted by man, but the rivers and springs are 100% natural. They've got everything from very very cold water to scalding hot water. Definitely something you should check out if you are in the mood for a relaxing venture. (Also a tasty restaurant located here...if you would like more info on this place in particular, let me know)

Another picture of the hot springs

Those are all the 2003 pictures I have...Here are the 2004 pictures (many more)

Now, as I said, both of these trips were mission trips, so the bulk of our stay was not touristic, seeing all the sites. Here I'll show you the "darker" side of Costa Rica. It is a third-world country, so most of the population doesn't have much money

(the majority of these are in a town called Alajuela...it's very close to the capital, San Jose

While they might not have money, it seems they do know how to use that money to construct beautiful buildings

Sorry this one is sideways. This is a picture of a castle that has still been standing since the revolution in Costa Rica. The holes you see in the wall are in fact bullet holes.

Traditional dance

Here is some of our group playing soccer with some of the children. These kids live for soccer...a couple of them played with us - barefoot - on the gravel streets. We ended up buying them all a new pair of tennis shoes before we left.

Here are some of the children at a local school...They're at recess. They loved seeing us, the "gringos", as Costa Ricans like to refer to Americans

This is one of my favorite pictures for obvious reasons. We went to a FABULOUS restaurant in the mountains. Behind the restaurant was a blacony with a view of the entire city of San Jose - capital of Costa Rica. I took this picture with a long exposure, to capture all of the light...You'll notice the headlights of a car crawl across the bottom left of the picture

Back to the streets of Alajuela

We made this little boy an Atlanta Braves fan!

Here is one of us rapelling (sp?) in the forests - definitely a must if you like adventure. Canopy tours, as they call them, are huge in Costa Rica. Basically, you walk through the rain forest (length depends, our tour was about 2 hours). You zoom down many zip lines, rapell (sp?) down trees, etc.

And now, another beautiful feature of Costa Rica - the beaches. The water is beautiful, the sand is beautiful, the scenary is beautiful.

Mountains surrounding the beach...

And that's all I have, hope you enjoy them!

Jonathan · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 185

Welcome to the Travel Forums GTAceand thanks for sharing those great photos, they really help give a feel for the place! :D

staticfate · Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Edmonton, Canada

Is that last picture taken in the gulf of Papagayo? cos it looks like exactly the view i had from my room...I stayed at the Giardini. I just got back from Costa Rica two days ago and I had an amazing time! Im planning on posting some pics soon...

mdenisefern · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 19 Location: margarita island

wow thanks for the pics!!! they are great .... I had a friend who was from Costa Rica but didn't know how beautiful it is there..some of the pics looks like here in Venezuela especially the one of the street view with the little shops and stores ....

thanks again ! :D