{The Tranquila Archives}

Costa Rica is one of the most visited countries that there is. Statistically, this is not incredibly accurate; however it is difficult to find an even amateur traveler who has not spent a week on the coast of this tropical paradise. The internet is brimming with information and photographs of the most popular beaches and trendy towns. I wanted to write a quick post about some really cool places to visit or information that I have picked up living in Costa Rica and conversing with the locals that may not be as easy to find in the over saturated blogging world. Overall my experience here has been a bit more on the backpacker-local side rather than your average gringo tourist. These are some of the cool things I have read about or been to that are not typically listed on the major tourist sites! 1. Guayabo de Turrialba I'm not sure if I ever got around to writing about this on my recaps of my time in Costa Rica, but my friend Grace and I took a 13 hour day trip to see this archa

Over a year and a half ago I woke up at 3:00 am and grabbed a cold pancake from the kitchen.  I brushed my teeth, grabbed my bag, and walked out the door towards the highway outside of my homestay.  I walked down the road to the corner of my study abroad school and called a taxi to the bus station.  At 5:45 am as the sun rose over the San Jose skyline, my friends and I took a 13 hour bus ride to the oldest city in Nicaragua. At Customs on the Nicaraguan side of the Border When I first arrived in Granada, Nicaragua, I was immediately surprised at the size of the buildings and the spacious streets, both of which were twice as large as in the city we had just left.  Everything is pale pastels and there are horses carrying carts down the historic streets. As we dismount the charter bus and make our way towards our hostal, we cross through the main square of the city, filled with locals in the park, selling street food and homemade crafts, children blowing bubbles and running thro