It’s impossible not to notice the clouds in Costa Rica. Sometimes big, billowy, floaty mounds of marshmallow, other times mystical and low-slung, whether sailing over the Pacific or kissing the jungle, their puffy presence can be perennially felt. But it’s not the clouds that are different, it’s you.
People talk of the Costa Rica downshift likes it's a mysterious thing that just happens as soon as you clear passport control, like you fill your lungs with the chrysanthemum-scented air and, bam, you're struck with a vortex like calm usually reserved for unicorned places like Sedona. And even if you’re not into that sort of thing, even if you’re a Type-A traveler who would never leave the country without an international calling plan because God forbid you miss a text while you’re in the jungle, arriving at the Liberia airport in Costa Rica is like taking a Xanax and one of the side effects are more salient clouds.
First, follow the clouds to Las Catalinas, a dreamy destination in the northwest Guanacaste province that’s planned to perfection. Not that the coastal oasis sprung organically. American internet millionaire and mountain biker Charles Brewer and his partners set out to create a walkable eco-town following the New Urbanism philosophy on the 1,200-acre ocean-side plot, and he’s doing it one hacienda-style McMansion and cobblestone pathway at a time. Surrounded by crescent beaches and 20 miles of hand-cut hiking and biking trails and staffed by at-your-service concierges and housemoms who whip up breakfasts and tropical smoothies, the growing town is like a resort version of Airbnb that lets you live in a sustainable community with all the indulgences of hotel life. Heck, as well as rentable flats and villas with as many bedrooms and bathrooms as you need, there’s a hotel and spa in the works and an activities list that makes Phoenix feel pedestrian. Chase clouds while catamaraning along the coast, helicopter over the Santa Rosa National Park and spot a rare butterfly or actually swim with a mega pod of spinner dolphins rather than just spying them through binoculars.
All that adventure can work up an appetite that only a beachfront restaurant can satiate. Pull up a chair or hammock at Limonada, the culinary command post at Las Catalinas, and sip back a jalapeno-infused margarita made with fresh passionfruit and lime juice while deciding between the snapper ceviche or the octopus gazpacho to start. Costa Rican cuisine isn’t flamboyant or flambéed, but it is a feast of locally sourced and fresh-caught ingredients, tasty in its toned-down simplicity. And don’t be surprised if a few margaritas in the clouds change to a kaleidoscope of tropical colors. Thankfully, the next-day hangover seems less near the equator.
When you get sick of the languid, lazy clouds lingering over the Pacific and the mango-colored sunsets that go with them (if that’s even possible), there’s a whole other side of Costa Rica to explore, a place of coffee plantations and verdant sloping hillsides. The chill vibe is the same, but the cloud formations turn from fluffy to fanciful, with vapory cloud forests at eye level that looks magical in daylight and mysterious under moonlight. These are the next clouds on the agenda.
