Tropic Getaway on Horseback

I love horseback riding, so when i saw Daniel Ramsey's article on "Costa Rica Escape-- on Horseback," it instantly caught my attention. His quick idea to take a vacation, away from daily stresses, proves to be a magical escape.

We drove for about half an hour and arrived at the Sugar Beach Hotel. The hotel is right on the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by banana trees, all sorts of birds and is visited at night by giant sea turtles. And yes, the sand really is like sugar.

We set off -- walking and trotting at first to get acquainted with our mounts -- along one of the many trails in the sparsely populated province of Guanacaste. This area, on the West Coast of Costa Rica, was formed 60 million years ago by volcanic eruptions that left behind the magnificent mountain range through which we rode. When we reached the beach, one of 17 we would explore during our stay, we cut loose in a superb gallop along the sand, with surf curling at our feet and erasing our footprints behind us.

It was a new experience for us but obviously not for our horses, who seemed to enjoy the swim as much as we did. I couldn't believe that after years of lessons in a ring ("Heels down, Daniel, and shorten your reins.") I was actually swimming with a magnificent horse in the Pacific Ocean!

Monkeys went about their business with barely a glance. Trees and plants that I kept in pots in New Jersey grew to massive size around me. A cousin of my puny office potted palm stretched more than 50 feet high, with a six-foot trunk. When I turned in after my first day on the Costa Rica trail, I realized how much there is to life that is exciting and delightful - and how much I loved riding.

Costa Rica However You Please

Ethan Todras-Whitehill has a nice overview of Costa Rica's myriad travel opportunities on NYTimes.com. He calls the counry a "Rorschach test for travelers."

I think this is a solid analogy because--with so many drastically different ways to enjoy the "Rich Coast" nation--depending upon whether you elect "adventure" or "respite" as the theme for your trip, your choice will reflect what you hope to get out of the experience.

The article covers the three big draws of Costa Rica travel sector. These categories, as he refers to them, are "Eco-Tourism," "Adventure-Tourism," and "Luxury Tourism." Enjoy the sample:

Planning a trip for myself and my father last November, I set myself a challenge. How many Costa Ricas could we sample in just eight days? I settled on three: the rich primordial forest, the adventurer's playground and the beachfront paradise. After subtracting travel time within the country, we would have a day and a half to two and a half days at our chosen location for each one, time enough for a taste, at least, of the country's riches.
...
Twenty-seven percent of Costa Rica's land area is devoted to national parks and reserves, one of the highest percentages for any country. Monteverde, which is the primary place marketed to eco-tourists, is between two reserves — Monteverde and Santa Elena — deep in the Costa Rican highlands. It is well developed, with hotels, several restaurants, shops and art galleries. It even has an asphalt road connecting the two reserves and villages between, which is curious since the four-hour drive through farms and orchards to get to the area from San José is rocky and rutted — a result, locals say, of an earlier desire to keep down the number of visitors (now, most would prefer that the government pave the road). It is an oasis of infrastructure amid the rural and the wild.
(Photo courtesy of Michael Nagle for The New York Times)