By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
The east coast of Costa Rica is a super chill destination. The lush rain forest, the reggae music and slower pace, The ocean front bars and restaurants, and the stray dogs.. that are welcome in most public places. At first I was surprised that dogs were allowed in the restaurants. But I do love dogs, and was happy to see them happily lounging on the patio at their leisure. The dogs quickly became part of the experience. One day, my kids and I took a long hike along many beaches and decided to stop for dinner at one of the beachside cafes. On vacation it's easy to forget what time it is, so by the time we were finished eating the sun was going down, and we still had the long trek back to the beach villa where we were staying. We got back on the beach to walk back, with the sloths hanging from the trees and the monkeys screeching in the distance. As it got darker, the tide was also coming in and making parts of the beach disappear. My son was very afraid of the ocean at night! The sound of the waves was very loud, and he refused to walk near it any longer. At this point he made me walk with him through the jungle instead. I did not like this option, as to me there are a lot more scary things in the jungle at night, then the beach. But I did it anyway. Singing loudly, and swinging my hands around as not to run into any snakes or spiders, or poisonous frogs . My son was crying, and distraught which only made things worse. When along came one of the sweet stray dogs from the beach that we had met earlier. He came right up to my son, and my son grabbed onto his back, and the dog led the way. My son quickly stopped crying and we enjoyed the rest of the walk back to our villa. The dog led us right back to where we were staying, and then stayed on the porch for the night too. The next day we saw our friend the dog, and his buddies on the beach, they came by and said hi before they went to cheer up other children and tourists. It was so cool to see how the dogs are allowed to have their own lives there, living free on the beaches and the peoples hospitality. We were very grateful for this late night tour guide. & fed him a nice snack as a token of our appreciation before he went on his way.