Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

A minute to stop and smell the roses… or, when in Costa Rica, the bromeliads!

A few perceptions from our doorstep in la fortuna, costa rica:

1. Sunshine! The rainclouds have departed and we are left with the arenal volcano, exposed, with sun beaming on its eastern/green side.

2. Flora-galore! Bromeliads, tropical plants, grasses, palms, and fruit trees in sight. Stems, stalks, and leaves of a variety of shapes and sizes – all of which are too stunning and green for even the best camera to capture.

3. Dampness – from the morning’s rain.

4. Sounds of trucks passing by, bringing fresh produce to the local “super” (supermarket) or “pulperia” (corner store). I secretly hope these trucks have brought fresh bananas, papayas, and mangos – my husband and I’s favourites. Bananas – to put in the small tree out the front of our house to attract the birds (a variety of tanagers, flycatchers, and orioles), papayas – specifically for the toucans (on cloudy/rainy days), and mangoes – well, the mangoes are for our own sheer enjoyment. Yum!

5. Kids running about. Often a rough match of futbol (if someone brings a ball out to play), otherwise, a round of marbles or a game of tag with the lonely dogs who wander the streets and roam about the neighbourhood in search of someone who will give them food (which, is usually my husband or I, since we seem to temporarily adopt a handful of dogs when they wander over when hungry and leave when full).

Now it is raining again, a hard downpour rain unlike the warm summer sprinkle we had this morning. And, in the 10 minutes that have passed since I first sat down to write this post, the sunshine and the rain have switched places like they seem to do every day in la fortuna around this time (mid-afternoon).

The kids have gone inside to wait out the rain, the trucks have come and gone, and the birds have flown home to their nests. Just another day of beauty and humility in the rainforest.

QUESTION TO COMMENT ON: What beauty are you currently appreciating from where you are?

Pura vida!

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