Guanabana

“Que esto?” I asked the local Costa Rican man who worked the roadside fruit stand outside Monteverde. I held up a green fruit that looked strikingly similar to a character out of Super Mario Brothers.

“Si. Guanabana!” he replied.

“Guanabaaa…huh? Pero, que es?” What IS it?

“Su fruta,” the man running the fruit stand replied. “Muy bueno.” It’s very good fruit.

“We’ll take it! Uno, por favor.”One, please.

He did not answer my question, but at that point I also did not know how else to inquire about it.

I carried the jagged fruit back to our shuttle, while sipping a straw that extended from inside the coconut I carried with my left hand. We were on a four-hour journey from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica – the rainforest to the beach – and I intended to ingest every bit of the local culture that I could along the way.

These moments mark my favorite parts of traveling. It’s easy to stay in nice places, find English-speaking locals and walk only down the main strips of towns. But, buying a mysterious, oddly shaped fruit from a Spanish-speaking man at a middle-of-nowhere roadside stand makes the experience much richer. I like to see the stories of the locals.

When we reached our hotel in Manuel Antonio, our backpacking trip shifted to a life of luxury. As a result of overconfidently relying on last-minute hostel availability, we wound up in one of the most beautiful hotels in town – a slightly more expensive, but still affordable Expedia.com special.

La Mariposa Hotel offers the highest ocean view in all of Manuel Antonio. The hotel is only four stories high (similar to most in the area), but rests on a hillside just overlooking the long Pacific coastline. When we entered the expansive common area deck of white tables, white umbrellas and a backdrop of bright blue ocean and skies, we agreed it would be worth the extra money…not that we had an alternative option at that point anyway. With Costa Rica’s most visited national park only minutes up the road, I just promised myself not to get sucked into the hotel luxury during our final three days.

We took an afternoon swim in the outside infinity pool, which wrapped the hotel’s front and appeared as though someone would swim off the cliff if not careful. We treated ourselves to a few poolside appetizers, then retreated to our large hotel room made entirely of wood and windows.

At night, we explored the town. We ate dinner at the most local restaurant we could find and feasted on plates full of rice, beans, fresh avocado and sweet plantains. Costa Rican dishes all appear similar when listed on menus, but each restaurant somehow makes these combinations taste completely different and equally delicious. I also took advantage of my first-ever coconut mojito, a cocktail I would gladly involve myself in again.

We watched a creepy Kevin Bacon movie on our cable television while falling asleep. The movie played in English with Spanish subtitles – a bit backwards from what I would expect in a Spanish-speaking country – but, it allowed us to further practice our Spanish skills. Realistically, I may have been the only one of our group watching more of the subtitles than the movie,

On this day, we relaxed in hotel luxury and stood over a countryside bridge to watch crocodiles swim through swamps. My personal favorite, though, was slicing through the fresh guanabana from the roadside fruit stand. Once looking beneath this somewhat unattractive fruit’s skin, we slurped the juices of its heavenly core. And, just like our day, this one single guanabana represented a perfect blend of rugged and sweet.