Costa Rica pushed us in ways we had never experienced before.

This wasn’t an all-inclusive resort.
It wasn’t a cruise ship.
It wasn’t close to home.

It was two full weeks of navigating a new country, where menus were often in Spanish, preparation required real conversation, and months of research led up to every reservation.

We rented a car and drove ourselves along winding roads in La Fortuna and across the country to Playa Hermosa in pouring rain. There were monkey-crossing signs on the side of the road. It felt adventurous from the moment we landed.

Planning this trip stretched me. Translating menus. Emailing restaurants. Double-checking ingredients. Using apps I never used before to communicate with restaurants. It was during this process that we ordered the Equal Eats allergy translation cards — and they became essential.

We chose La Fortuna and Playa Hermosa intentionally — places where we could balance adventure with preparation.

And then we lived it.

Rainy season meant rain.

But it also meant:

–Ziplining through the jungle with monkeys overhead
– Horseback riding and hiking to waterfalls
– Walking on hanging bridges
– Spotting sloths in the wild
– Driving side-by-sides through mud
– Catching mahi mahi and cooking it fresh before wildlife could steal it from the fire

It was muddy. It was loud. It was unpredictable.

And we did it.

Safely. With food allergies.

Costa Rica will always be the trip that showed us we can go farther than we think — with preparation, communication, and courage.