FIVE THINGS TO DO IN LLANO BONITO
This is my compiled list of five things to do in Llano Bonito, Costa Rica. As well as, it can be a guide for making the best out of your rural living-condition experience.
On your sole, get set, GO! In Llano Bonito, there are routes and passages that you can discover by foot with a hiking companion of course. I personally wouldn’t go alone, two minds are better than one. I like to hear someone with a different view set as me and can point out things that I might otherwise have not seen with my own eyes. Along the unmarked path, sometimes there are no sidewalks, along the hills, you can get a taste of the edible berries and fruits from trees and bushes. Not sure what they are, but it’s good to have a local person guide you on what fruits that can be eaten. An unfamiliar fruit I had tasted was a “Manzana de agua” (translated as water apple in Spanish) every day the weather is different and you can always guarantee that the same place looks different. Sometimes you can be walking through the mist and fog, or have lightning and thunder in the background.
Goal! There is a solo outdoor fótbol (soccer in Spanish) field in Llano Bonito. It is bigger than the indoor soccer field located within the elementary school of Llano Bonito. Every Friday evening, the female and male soccer players would have a game there. My homestay brothers play a family soccer game every Sunday with their cousins after church in the outdoor field. Sometimes there is a serious soccer game played on a Sunday there. People of all ages would gather to watch it behind the fence or sit on top of their cars.
- Play dress up and find the needle in a haystack. There are little shops that you can find and buy used clothing. It is sometimes
called “tiende de ropa Americana” ¢200-¢300. You can find interesting patterns and fabrics from the mountain pile of clothing. It really is a workout and like finding a needle in a haystack as I mostly watch the girls pull clothing out of the pile and help with the pulling and stacking as well.
- Its good to get out of the district once in a while. Take the bus to the nearest canton, such as San Pablo or San Marcos. The cost of a bus ticket is approximately ¢900 Colonies.
- Attention all Coffee Lover out there, visit a coffee plantation and learn how it’s processed and how they do it here in Llano Bonito. It’s a 24-hour non-stop coffee assembly from November to February and sometimes March. Local families and workers that come from the nearest country such as Nicaragua during this time to help out with the coffee picking and production. It is also the summer season and time of harvest for the coffee plants.
By: Sherry Ing, Centennial College Massage Therapy student currently in Costa Rica.
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