Adventures abound in sunny Costa Rica for any unprepared explorer.  Wanna poke your head inside a volcano?  There are dozens to choose from!  How about getting a Hollywood-grade tan?  Head to the beaches - that’s right, beaches in the plural, beautiful, smooth, sunny beaches.

My adventures in Costa Rica began in the capital city of San Jose (I know - I kept singing “do you know the way to San Jose? tururururu tu tu tu”) where there was a massive statue of a really fat, albeit really sexy, lady in a red dress.  I also enjoyed the painted cow exhibits, which wound their way down from stateside, but...  

To be totally honest, San Jose isn’t my cup of tea.  Looks pretty dilapidated, overcrowded and not at all like the hub of prosperity.  Instead, I fell in love with the magnificent Costa Rican countryside.

Okay, so I didn’t get to bathe in the hot springs, but I did get to take a boat ride down a very wild sort of river, with bizarre creatures (yes, I’m talking of my fellow tourists) and a gator or two just lying about, looking bored. 

I found the Arenal volcano to be a highlight, primarily because I was high on raw coffee beans since we had stopped at a coffee plantation on our way to the volcano, and because the very act of looking into the jaws of potential fire seems to be an exciting sort of thing to do.

We took one of those coffee plantation tours, we also went into the jungles, sat astride some sort of cable car thingy and gazed at many kinds of birds.

I was not too thrilled when we came smack upon a snake - some hideous non-poisonous variety, and tried to contain my hysterics thereafter.  I felt better after climbing over hanging bridges and trampling mossy undergrowth to come upon a dazzling display of waterfalls.  

The food in Costa Rica was so so, but that could be my sheer bad luck more than any fault of the local cuisine.

Oh, some of the other really cool things one can do in this awesome green jewel of a country include riding, surfing and bird watching. 

Why you should go there: amazing forests, volcanoes, beaches and wildlife diversity and at least a dozen other cool things

Adventure worthy attraction: rafting, hanging bridges, treks through national parks, scuba diving and snorkeling, coffee plantation tours