Roamology

Welcome to Roamology, the website about long-term travel. This site will include content not only about long-term travel, but how to arrange your life so you can enjoy it.

Montezuma was our final destination outside of Jaco before we left Costa Rica. It's a bohemian little town where the hippy spirit is still alive and well. While there, we took a boating tour that took us to a neighboring island where we swam and snorkeled, and after a delicious and healthy homemade lunch, we spent the day on the shore, playing volleyball and making sand castles.

Our next trip was a trek to the Arenal Volcano, in the North, North-Western portion of Costa Rica. Like travel to any part of the country, making our way to the volcano was slow going, but it was worth the effort. Arenal, known to be Costa Rica's most active volcano, had it's last major eruption as recently as 1968, and it continues to smoke, sometimes bubbling over, almost on a daily basis. We had the opportunity to stay on the charred Western side of the volcano that afforded us a spectacular view of not only the volcano itself but the valley that separated us. Small clouds would regularly cluster around the peak particularly in the mornings and evenings. Pairs of wild parrots and small flocks of birds often languidly traversed the valley, giving the scene an ethereal essence. And the quiet... to sit and listen to the sound of peace, one simply knew that they were far away from everything.

On occasion, we went on excursions to other parts of Costa Rica. Our first was to the Caribbean coastal town of Puerto Viejo. Our guides told us the Eastern side was not as well maintained, and they proved to be right. The roads were rough at best and riddled with enormous pot holes at some stretches, making travel slow and sometimes nerve-wracking. Nonetheless, the ride was enjoyable and very different from anything our children had ever experienced. When we arrived, we found a charming place called La Costa de Papito with little private bungalows, owned and run by an American man and his Costa Rican wife.

Costa Rica was the first destination on our tour of the world. We stayed in a party town called Jaco, which at first impression seemed to be small and quaint, though after traveling around the country, we realized it was sizable! We rented a very comfortable condo just 2 blocks from the beach, and most days, our boys would have their breakfast, do some homework, and head down to the sand and surf to do a couple of hours of boogey-boarding. They were in heaven...