Back in Costa Rica, and This Time We Got Engaged!

As you can read from the title of this blog post, I had the best summer of my life! Over three years after leaving Costa Rica, where we spent a year and a half teaching abroad, Dan and I finally returned to one of our favorite countries. This blog post will recap our very short but absolutely incredible trip of a lifetime. The idea of returning to Costa Rica has been on our minds ever since leaving. It is truly one of the most beautiful countries in the world with the kindest people. Now that we've been living back in the US for over two years, our itch to travel abroad has grown immensely. Although the idea of a trip to Costa Rica began early in 2025, we didn't book our tickets until less than a month before our departure in early July.

The combination of Dan starting a new job earlier this year and my grad school classes filling the summer, gave us only a few days that worked for a trip. Even so, we knew that any amount of time in Costa Rica would be worth it. We were set to leave the night before my 28th birthday, July 3rd. However, we ended up getting delayed a full 24 hours and not leaving until 11pm on the night of July 4th due to weather at our connecting airport in New York. This was disappointing as we already had a limited trip but we knew that we would make the most of it no matter what. After a red eye to NYC, we had a short layover at JFK before flying to Liberia, Costa Rica.

We landed in Liberia around 1pm on Saturday, July 5th. Although we've flown to Costa Rica and back several times, this was our first time flying into the airport in Liberia. Liberia is in the Guanacaste province near the Nicoya Peninsula. In the past, it's been cheaper for us (and usually faster) to fly into San Jose but our tickets to Liberia were significantly cheaper so we decided to go for it. After landing, we picked up our rental car and got on the road to Esterillos Oeste. Esterillos Oeste was the first town that Dan and I stayed in together while teaching remotely for an international school in Myanmar. It is a beautiful and small costal town about a 3 hour drive south of Liberia.

Once on the road, the excitement and energy we felt were a reminder of why Costa Rica has always held such a special place in our hearts. To say we were happy to be back is an understatement. Our goal was to make it to our favorite beach in Esterillos before sunset. However, as we continued the drive, the weather was getting worse and worse. It was now rainy season in Costa Rica and the rain did not look like it was going to let up. Since it was getting dark, we decided to save the beach for tomorrow. As we got closer to Esterillos, we stopped at a shop to pick up some snacks and drinks for the night. Then, we finished the drive to our favorite AirBnB in the world.

We had plans to stay with our two amazing friends, Chris and Edel at their beautiful home. We met them over four years ago when we first came to Esterillos Oeste to teach remotely. We stayed at their AirBnB for a couple months in the Spring of 2021 and became fast friends. They are two of the kindest souls I've had the pleasure of knowing. During our time teaching in Costa Rica, we were lucky enough to visit Chris and Edel several more times but it had been over three years since we last saw them. The reunion was beautiful and we stayed up late catching up. One of the best things about their house is all of the pets that call it home. It was so much fun reuniting with the ones we already know and meeting the new ones in the pack.

I woke up on the morning of July 6th not having any idea that it would be one of the best days of my entire life! Little did I know, Dan had plans to propose later that day. We started the day with surf lessons that Dan arranged as a birthday gift for me which was so sweet. Surfing was one of our favorite activities while we lived in Costa Rica and we hadn't surfed since so we could not wait to get back in the water but knew it could be nice to have some refresher lessons. We had the most perfect morning surfing on our other favorite beach, Jaco Beach, just 20 minutes north of Esterillos. We lived in Jaco for about a month but took monthly trips here when we lived in the mountains.

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After surfing we spent some time walking around downtown Jaco and eating lunch at our favorite restaurant, Hola India. We also stopped at one of our favorite cafes for iced coffee before driving back to Esterillos.

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Since this was our only full day on the beach, we hurried back to Chris and Edel's to regroup before heading down to the beach.

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Although it was rainy season and our friends told us it had been raining heavily for the days/weeks prior to our arrival, the weather was holding out for us which we were so thankful for. As you can see in the pictures above, Chris and Edel truly have the most beautiful property and it feels like a second home to us.

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We spent the afternoon hanging out with great friends on the beach. Although the sky looked gray at times, it never rained which was lovely. Our friend Chris, had a really nice camera that he took out earlier in the afternoon and little did I know that Dan actually asked him to bring this camera along to capture our engagement later that day. He took pictures of our afternoon on the beach and I will be forever grateful for these memories. I truly did not know what was coming. Once the sun was starting to set, I went for a short walk along my favorite beach. It is truly my happy place. On my way back, I met up with Dan who was wading in the water. Before I knew it, he was down on one knee and I was STUNNED. I could not believe what I saw in front of me. The man of my dreams, my best friend, was proposing to me in my favorite place in the entire world. I probably asked him 5 or 6 times if he was serious and if this was actually happening before giving the biggest "Yes!" of my life! I was jumping with joy and couldn't believe how beautiful of a ring he proposed with.

This was truly the best day of my life, and I’m beyond grateful to Dan for planning the most magical day I could have ever dreamed of. I felt like a Disney princess, living out the kind of engagement every little girl imagines. Our friend Chris gave us the incredible gift of these beautiful photos that we can look back on anytime we want.

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After celebrating with champagne back at Chris and Edel's house, Dan and I called our families to tell them the very exciting news and then went out for dinner at our other favorite restaurant in the area, Los Almendros. You can tell from the screenshot of our facetime with Kendall that they were as happy as we were.

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We woke up on the morning of Monday, July 7th feeling ecstatic but were sad to say goodbye to Chris and Edel. We had plans for our second and final full day in Costa Rica to drive up to Monteverde where we lived and taught for a year. Along the way, we stopped at the Tarcoles Bridge which is known for its many crocodiles. Once we arrived in Monteverde, we were starving so we stopped at our favorite cafe that we would often walk to before or after school. We were so happy to see the same mother and daughter still owned it and worked there and they even remembered us!

After a quick snack, we finished the rainy drive to our friend Beto's house! Beto was one of our closest friends in the mountain town of Monteverde and so we were so excited to be staying with him and his partner, Susan along with their adorable children for the night. They live on a beautiful farm a little ways outside of Monteverde.

It was amazing to be reunited with them and we spent the afternoon exploring the farm and catching up. We had dinner plans for that night back in town at a lovely restaurant in Monteverde with a gorgeous view- Valle Escondido. We were so excited to see even more Monteverde friends that we haven't seen in years!

After dinner, we continued the night out at Bar Amigos, the local hang out spot.

We had an incredible night and made it back to Beto's house to crash for a few hours. Early on Tuesday, July 8th, we drove back to Liberia. Our flight was leaving around noon that same day.

I snacked on my favorite candy during the drive to Liberia! I was addicted to these and would buy them from the corner store several days a week.

We made one last stop for breakfast including Gallo Pinto (our fav!) before dropping off the rental car and heading to the airport.

Leaving Costa Rica engaged and more happy than ever. This trip was the most magical and memorable time in my life. I can't wait for the future with Dan and for all of our adventures to come. Hopefully, it won’t be another three years before we find our way back to Costa Rica! Thank you so much for reading and for all of your love and support—it means the world.