Costa Rica was my very first country! I went there at the age of 16, armed with a disposable camera and very little knowledge of the rest of the world. My old neighbors, who I had grown up with, invited me on what turned out to be a life-changing trip. They made absolutely sure that I had an amazing time, but simply being somewhere so different was an experience in itself. Tropical rainforests, active volcanoes, unfamiliar wildlife, and a completely different culture were all things I had never experienced before. Instead of coming home satisfied, I came home wanting to see what else was out there. That trip eventually grew into my goal of seeing every country in the world.
Hopefully you can forgive the photo quality considering this trip was in the mid-90s! These are some of the oldest photos on my site, taken long before I knew anything about photography. The images above show some of the rainforest I explored, with a wild toucan on the right. For a 16-year-old on his first trip outside the country, seeing wildlife like this in the wild was incredible. I also encountered plenty of other animals, including several venomous snakes such as pit vipers. Costa Rica will always be a special place for me, and I’d like to return someday and experience it again with a few more decades of travel behind me—and a better camera.
In Costa Rica’s mountainous rainforests, it seemed like I came across waterfalls constantly. The waterfall on the left was one I simply happened to spot in the distance, which was part of what made exploring the country so memorable. The waterfall on the right is part of Los Chorros, reached after a short hike through the surrounding forest. There were a fair number of people swimming when I visited, and one guy had even set up a canvas and was painting the scenery. At the time, places like this felt completely removed from anything I was accustomed to back home.
One of the highlights of the trip was Poás Volcano. The crater was steaming when I visited, with a striking blue-green lake sitting inside it. I had never seen an active volcano before, and standing at the edge of a volcanic crater was one of those experiences that made Costa Rica seem like an entirely different world. I also visited Arenal, although bad weather blocked the views of the volcano. I did spend the night at a resort with natural hot springs, which certainly made up for some of the disappointment.
The photo on the right is from Tortuga Island, which I reached by boat. The island offered snorkeling, swimming, and kayaking in a tropical setting that was equally unfamiliar to me at the time. I spent plenty of time swimming and snorkeling, although I didn’t yet have a scuba certification. Between the volcanoes, rainforest, wildlife, waterfalls, and tropical coast, Costa Rica packed an enormous amount into my first experience abroad. More importantly, it left me with the feeling that there was an entire world of places like this that I knew almost nothing about—and I wanted to see them.
