So what are the top places to visit in this exquisite destination?

These are my recommendations for the best places to see in Costa Rica:

1. Poás Volcano

Peering into the top of an active volcano is undoubtedly an experience not to be missed when in Costa Rica. Considered as one of the most beautiful volcanoes in Central America, Poás has a huge green acid crater with some of the largest geysers in the world. Only a short trip from the capital of San Jose, it can be a fun day trip destination. Get ready for some overpowering sulfuric smoke fumes and a Jurassic Park like atmosphere.

2. Manuel Antonio

One of the places I enjoyed the most in Costa Rica was Manuel Antonio. As a nature lover, Manuel Antonio National Park was a definite highlight with its tropical plants and wildlife like Capuchin Monkeys, sloths and dragonflies.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Travel & Inspiration By Adi (@adiseesworld)

Since some of the wildlife is extremely difficult to spot to the untrained eye, I recommend taking one of the local guides at the park entrance. They bring powerful binoculars – point out the camouflaged animals and provide interesting explanations about them. My visit to the park ended in the beautiful sandy beach along which the reserve is located, with Capuchin Monkeys trying to steal my food. Other things to do in Manuel Antonio town include parasailing, chilling out at café’s and enjoying the vibrant nightlife.

3. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

The Cloud Forest Reserve of Montverde, is located on a mountainous ridge some 1,500 meters above sea level. Its dense evergreen rainforests contain hundreds of animal species. The best experience I had in Monteverde, was walking along the hanging bridges in the reserve.  During the walk I was surrounded by the dense forest, hearing and seeing the wildlife, my head literally in the misty clouds. There are plenty of additional activities to take part in in Monteverde such as hiking, zip-lining and even coffee tours.

4. Tamarindo

Renowned for its’ white sandy beaches, Tamarindo is a perfect place for surfing, SUP and kayaking. A tourist hotspot, the nightlife during peak season is bustling with live music, fiestas and great restaurants. For a unique conservation activity, you can take a turtle nesting tour and watch huge Leatherback or Green Turtles nest their eggs. In line with Costa Rica’s ecotourism policy, take note that you will not be allowed to take photos or other actions that might disturb the turtles during the tour.

How to get to Tamarindo

5. La Fortuna and Arenal

La Fortuna is a town located at the foothills of the iconic Arenal Volcano. It has over a dozen volcanic hot spring resorts. I was lucky to relax at one of the pampering luxurious hot spring resorts, with its modern complex of natural pools.

La Fortuna and Arenal area have a range of other activities to enjoy like whitewater rafting and canopy tours. La Fortuna has a stunning 75-meter Waterfall worth visiting. Don’t miss going hiking through the lava fields surrounding Arenal Volcano. There is a selection of trails for every hiking difficulty level, so fitness levels shouldn’t be a concern if you are not big on intensive walks.

Useful information about Costa Rica:

• The best time to visit Costa Rica: if you want to avoid continuous rain, and prefer sunshine, the best time to visit Costa Rica is during the Dry Season. The Dry Season runs from mid-December to April. For a weather forecast by days and months.
• National currency: Costa Rican colón.
• Languages: The official language in Costa Rica is Spanish. English is taught at schools, and locals in major tourist destinations are fluent in English.
• How to get around Costa Rica: you can easily compare and book your transport options (bus, minivan, car and flights) with Bookaway.

Are you an animal and wildlife lover? If so, you may be interested reading about my volunteering at the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center.

The post Top 5 Places to Visit in Costa Rica appeared first on Adiseesworld.

Vicki Gurstein, shares one of her favorite Latin recipes – Toffee Arepa.

I encountered Arepa for the first time in Medellin, Colombia, during my trip to Central and South America.

Credit: Vicky Gorshtein

Arepa is a type of flat bread made from corn flour. In Latin America, it is a typical dish found on almost any table. It is customary to eat with a variety of fillings. Both savory and sweet.

Vicki tells a little bit about herself, sharing her occupation with us, and of course her appetizing Toffee Arepa recipe:

Vicki Gurstein, photography: Shai and Bilder

Nice to meet you, Vicki Gorshtein, I am a blogger who also  creates and teaches Latin food cooking workshops.

I help my clients and readers to be creative in the kitchen and to get to know new international cooking through my my workshops, as well as through the recipes in my blog.

My cooking workshops are my second career, in which I have transformed my love of cooking and baking into my profession.

My delicious blog has everything you want to know about the Latin cuisine. Some spices and use of special raw materials, influences of different countries on the Latin cuisine, and of course lots of classic recipes, some well known, and others that are  less familiar.

All recipes are adapted to the Israeli kitchen, and with raw materials that can be found in Israel. In addition you will find on my blog, stories and travel itineraries about places we traveled in, in South America. For example we’ve been to Pucón and the Atacama Desert in Chile, Bariloche and Buenos Aires in Argentina, Thailand, and of coarse, Israel.

So how to prepare Toffee Arepa at home:

Toffee Arepa recipe

Groceries

2 cups corn flour for tortillas (Masa Harina)

2 cups hot water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

slices of mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1.  Place the flour, oil and salt in a deep bowl.

2. Pour the hot water in, and wait for about three minutes until the dough texture is soft and pleasant to the touch.

3.  Create 6 equally sized balls

4.  Create 6 chubby slices from each ball

5.  Heat a little olive oil in a skillet

6.  Fry the slices well for about three minutes on each side

7.  Place on a plate, cut the flat bread across (similarly to Pita Bread) and place several slices of mozzarella cheese inside each slice.

8.  Place on the frying pan and fry each side for two extra minutes until the cheese melts.

9. Plate and eat.

In my cooking workshops you can get to know new flavors, prepare the classic dishes of the different Latin kitchens such as: empanadas, Ceviche, quinoa salad and more.

I hold my workshops for closed groups in my personal kitchen in the picturesque Moshav Zippory where I live.  You can celebrate birthdays, hold a bonding activity or other occasions, and enjoy a colorful, tasty workshop in a happy Latin atmosphere.

The workshop includes preparation of 6 different dishes and is accompanied by Latin snacks, cold and hot drinks and a cocktail!  The workshop is 3 hours long, after which we eat the food prepared.

The workshop is priced at 300 NIS per person.

If you are traveling in the North of Israel around my area I would be happy to offer you an indulgent picnic basket with some Latin vibes.

In the basket you will find: corn empanadas, little Jerusalem bagels, Peruvian quinoa salad, sliced fresh vegetables, dried tomato spread, cilantro pesto, eggplant and Tahini mix spread, home made white cheese, Syrian olives, Tzfat Cheese, cold Mexican hibiscus tea and muffins for desert.

The basket also includes a small olive oil bottle from the organic Olive Press Rish La Kish, glasses, perishable knives and fork sets as well as serviettes.

The basket is priced at 200 NIS per couple, with an addition of 50 NIS per extra person. The basket needs to be ordered a day in advance and picked up from Zippory.

Find Vicki on her blog Cooking Views and on her Instagram.

The post Recipes from around the world: Toffee Arepa appeared first on Adiseesworld.

After months of travelling through Central America, I was desperately short of money. With a week left to kill before my flight back home from Costa Rica’s San Jose Airport, I had to think of a creative idea.

I remembered that a photo of a sloth which I took in Costa Rica’s National Manuel Antonio Park got an Instagram like from an organization called the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center.

Costa Rica is a more expensive destination to travel in, compared to other Latin American countries I have been to. I was lucky to visit some of its top sites in the beginning of my long trip. My route was similar to that of seasoned traveler Carmel Kamin. You can read about her itinerary of the best things to see and do on a 2 week visit to Costa Rica in her post here (in Hebrew).

So, at this point of exhausted funds at the end of a long and expensive trip, for just 30 USD per day, I got accommodation and 3 cooked meals a day, with the opportunity to take care of exotic animals I would probably never get a chance to see up close or interact with otherwise. Particularly sloths, which are one of my favorite animals in the world. So what was there to think twice about?

I was in for a huge shock.

After my amazing trip that was just fun, fun, fun, doing whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like, the Center had many rules and tasks that I didn’t at first understand.

Sleeping arrangements were in a 10 people bunk bed dorm. Volunteer chores were physically demanding, and each of the many animal species required a different treatment to be observed carefully.

When you start out at the Center, you start at the (literal) bottom end of the hierarchical task chain.

On day one, after receiving a guided explanation about the different animals I was assigned the amazing duty of – cleaning pig poop. Yay!

An hour later I was promoted to Squirrel poop.

The squirrels climbed on me, from my shoes to the top of my head. Their long nails clasped and dug into my my skin. They then proceeded to eat my phone.

Had I not been ashamed to desert the good people of the Center, I would have made a run for it.

The animals were getting better conditions then some humans I encountered on my trip. But the ones that could not be released to nature were in cages, and it really was depressing to see them like that.

Nevertheless, it was one of the most influential experiences in my life. It taught me discipline, compassion, allowed me to achieve things I never believed I could achieve and was an extremely humbling experience.

Can you imagine what it’s like preparing food for about 100 animals each day, each in accordance with their own dietary needs? How many fruit and vegetables you have to chop each meal.

Name an animal, I’ll tell you what their fasces looks like. Strangely enough, is it hardly repulsed me. It just made me understand better, what taking care of these animals meant. Those animals really needed me.

Being around these unique animals, some of which like Kinkajous and Marmosets I didn’t even know existed, was fascinating and surreal.

Minimalism became my way of life for a week.

Eating the basics of what was cooked in the local kitchen (a lot of rice and beans). No shops, no TV or hot showers. Just becoming part of a volunteer community doing non-glamorous chores and getting to witness incredible sights. Like female Howler Monkeys trying to seduce every human male volunteer walking past their cages. Or a Spider Monkey who never let go of the set of keys to the cage, which he stole and wrapped up in his tail for good. And sloths reaching and hissing for their food unbelievably fast in the middle of a stormy night.

Who knew, that the rain makes them that active.

I got an opportunity to empathize with the fright of a mother hen in her enclosure. How dependent she was on us.

I got to witness the dedication of the owners and staff in the difficult rudimentary conditions at the Center, following their dreams, and their dreams followed them (as Sarita Chinchilla the “do it all” lady of the Center kept saying to the volunteers).

I got to look into the eyes of a baby deer whose leg was broken and feel her pain and fear.

I discovered that Vietnamese pigs are curious, funny, friendly and affectionate animals. I had never really had any interaction with pigs since I live in Israel… not many of those animals roaming around due to religious reasons.

If you are ever around in Costa Rica, do yourself a favour, take a week to volunteer at the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center.

It’s a once in a lifetime experience, and I believe your life will never be the same.

In a very good way.

You can find more information about volunteering at the Center on the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center website.

Book tickets to travel from place to place in Costa Rica

The post Volunteering at Costa Rica’s Animal Rescue Center appeared first on Adiseesworld.