In April 2006, I decided to take an extended weekend trip to Costa Rica. It was one of my dreams to explore a rainforest! This trip was done on my own, using local tour companies I found on the web and booked prior to arrival. My B&B and base was in San Jose, the capital. Although rainy season can cause problems for travel to the mountainous rainforest regions, my week was blessed with good, mainly sunny weather. Upon late arrival at the B&B, I dined on my vegan travel supply of trail mix and fruit purchased at home and at the airport. Time for sleep.

Early the next morning, I chose to first visit the Tortuguero Rainforest in northeastern Costa Rica with a local tour company. We lucked out with good weather..no blocked roads! On the way there, my tour stopped at an animal reserve in the woods. We saw poisonous, red-eyed frogs up close, multi-color toucan birds, gorgeously vibrant flowers, and indigenous fruit. Well worth the stop! When we arrived at the tour’s starting point, we got onto a small boat with an awning and slowly cruised along the waterway to our destination. During our journey, there were many sights to behold..sloths among the trees, horses and flamingos along the water’s edge, birds on the grassy shoreline, and many indigenous plants. Why there was even a family of crocodiles in the water. One of them jumped, spread its jaw wide open and snapped its mouth shut before it could come over and eat us!

We drove by village communities.

Finally, we arrived at Tortuguero Rainforest. We got off the boat and preceded to walk into the forest. I was fortunate enough to see several white-faced, capuchin monkeys scurrying among the treetops! That was the absolute, high point of the trip! After walking along the beach, we got back into the boat and headed to a nearby small island stop to fuel up the tank. We were given coconuts with a straw and were grateful to have this soothing beverage to replenish us as we cruised back in the tropical heat.

It was a late evening arrival back in San Jose. Prior to my trip, I had found a couple of vegetarian restaurants on happycow.net but they were closed when my tour arrived back in town. Instead, I found small cafe where I had a salad and side order of veggies. Vegans do not despair! I was on a mission to do alot of sightseeing at many destinations, during a brief, weekend trip. There was not much time for me to dine..not my goal. I enjoy spending my long weekend trips running around like the energizer bunny, soaking up as many sightseeing tours as I can!

I will be honest. Costa Rica is not the easiest place to find vegan cafes in the small villages. However, there ARE vegan-friendly dining establishments in town. San Jose has about a dozen or so vegan-friendly or vegetarian restaurants. Some examples are Comida Para Sentir, Nirvana, Mantras Veggie Cafe and Tea House (Costa Rican cuisine), and Soda Amitabha.

At this point we proceeded to head back to town. Along the way, we stopped for beverages and snacks at an outdoor cafe. It happened to be adjacent to coffee-growing plantations. Very scenic.

Costa Rican coffee is known to be of good quality. I purchased macadamia and cashew Britt snacks which are basically dark chocolate covered nuts. The Cafe Britt company makes coffee and dark chocolate covered nut snacks which are very popular all over the country and can even be purchased at the airport. They come in small packet size pouches. Its a great snack for vegans as they travel on a long journey to the rainforest in their tour buses.