#1. Three Weeks (Not) Coasting in Costa Rica

A four-wheel drive jeep, a map, two-lame years of high school Spanish, and a few thousand Colones--that's all we had, and ever needed for a dramatic adventure in a tropical Eden. No private tour packages--the few prearranged bed and breakfast accommodations were made online and typically, not found in travel books like Fodors. We traveled where and when we wanted, explored the country freely with only a vague notion of a destination. We travelled some of the worst rutted, unpaved roads imaginable, forded rivers, had our jeep wedged between boulders on a down-hill slope, slept in a shack on the side of a volcano, and saw some of the most unique plant and animal life imaginable. Let's get started....