It's not easy for me to describe Playa Zancudo, the town where Ryan and I like to call home for a few weeks each winter. Yes the beaches are beautiful, and the weather nearly perfect, but that's not everything.

You just have to see it for yourself. To meet the locals, to experience the fishing and the natural environment, and to look a scorpion in the eye and not be afraid (among other things)!

It's bit of an art to go from enjoying the "comforts of home" to immersing yourself in this Costa Rican lifestyle of bugs, scorpions, dust, intense heat and humidity. Take it from me, a girl who loves to eat brie and sip Prosecco.

However I can also sit in the back of a pickup truck sporting a thick layer of sweat and dirt as we drive 40mph down a dirt road, nearly getting bumped out of the truck with every passing pothole. 

Without a doubt, every trip we make to the southwest Pacific Coast of Costa Rica has been memorable in it's own way, but this year in particular was one for the books. 

So here we go, a rundown of the good, the incredible and the somewhat terrifying events of our 2019 Costa Rica Fishing Adventure.

3) Sleeping With Scorpions

Scorpions in Costa Rica are not poisonous. Their bite is similar to a bee sting. Nevertheless, scorpions are pretty intimidating looking with their big claws, and I would like it if I never encountered another scorpion ever again.

John D. Silva (who's written these MFCC articles) snapped the above photo of a scorpion during the MFCC group trip. The scorpion had been sitting on a kitchen towel on the counter for who knows how long, and when John went to pick up the towel, it of course thought it was under attack and stung his hand.  Of course all is well now, but at the time, I'm sure it couldn't have felt very good!

John's wife Michelle also had a run in with a scorpion!  As she was falling blissfully into sleep she soon felt something on her chest. Apparently a scorpion was trying to snuggle up next to her for the night. Thanks to adrenaline, Michelle instinctively swatted the scorpion onto the floor, where it was eventually dispatched by John's foot.

Jane Simpson found herself in a similar situation. A scorpion landed on her during the night, unleashing a quick bite before getting swatted away.

As mentioned earlier on, scorpions in Costa Rica aren't poisonous, and really aren't anything to be concerned about. However I'd prefer to never see them!  It also quickly became a nightly ritual to do scorpion checks before falling asleep too!

4) Don't Smile At The Monkeys!

One of the first things people will tell you when you see capuchin monkeys is to never show your teeth. You can smile, but it needs to be a closed mouth smile. You can talk to them, but only if you talk to them as if you are basically a ventriloquist.  

The reason for this is because capuchin monkeys show their aggression with their teeth. You might think one is smiling at you with those gleaming white fangs of theirs, but in reality they are more or less hissing at you like a cat. That is your first warning.  

I stopped my horse and looked up into the trees, so happy to be this close to monkeys, smiling with a full set of teeth as I waited to see my first glimpse of what I thought were howler monkeys (pictured above). 

Before I knew it, one of the bigger monkeys jumped down to a branch that was at eye level.  to my surprise, it was not a holwer, but a capuchin! The monkey glared and hissed at me with his fangs in full view.

I was terrified, but my horse could not of cared less!

I could hear the other monkeys making their way down to me, so I kicked my horse to go forward and we got out of there in the nick of time.  I turned around to see the whole family staring at me, all glaring their teeth.

We chose a different trail home that day.

5) The Food

One of the best parts of traveling to Costa Rica is getting to enjoy all the fresh foods.  Everywhere you look, there are mango, lime, papaya, plantain and other sorts of fruit trees.  There are also wonderful people in town like our friend Nadia, who is originally from Italy, who bakes up fresh focaccia breads and pizzas, and can even make you homemade pastas, raviolis and lasagnas.  

About an hour down the road is a little surfer town called Pavones, where you can find fresh salads, juices, sandwiches and the most amazing iced coffee, blended with frozen banana and cacao nibs.

The fresh fish is of course abundant as well.  At almost every restaurant, you will find fresh ceviches and of course fish dishes of either a whole cooked fish or a filet.

On our second groups last night, we were treated to a delicious coastal Italian dinner at Macondos, a restaurant owned by Daniel, who lives half of the year in Italy.  The dinner consisted of giant boiled and seasoned shrimp, fresh bruschetta, pastas with a spicy red sauce and a delicious Alfredo sauce made that morning, and fresh-caught tuna steaks and mahi mahi.  It was an incredible dinner! 

For our MFCC guests, every morning they were treated to a traditional Costa Rican breakfast, consisting of eggs, gallo pinto, fried cheese and fried plantains.  The fried cheese was definitely everyones favorite!

For lunches, it was usually a quick salsa with some tortilla chips, or if you have leftover beans in the fridge, a quick tostada works too!

With all this fresh food, it's no wonder I returned home feeling better than I did when I left!

Coming Up Next Saturday

I hope my stories gave you more of a chuckle than a scare, and showed you just how incredible this part of the world really is!

Coming up next Saturday at 9:30am is a new Costa Rica post by Ryan about an enormous jack crevalle he hooked from shore on light tackle. 

This fish nearly spooled him and took  Ryan 30 minutes to get in.

And if you're ever interested in seeing this piece of paradise for yourself, then let us know! 

Please stay tuned!

Happy Traveling