Costa Rica Stories: The Complete Guide
All 20 Episodes of Two Years, by Theme

A country about the size of Kyushu and Shikoku combined (51,100 km²) that holds roughly 5% of the world's species. From the origin of the name "Rich Coast" to safety and everyday life — start with the big picture.

The town where I was posted for two years. Life with a host family, among people who call everyone "mae."

A system where physiotherapists can open private practices, an educational "yardstick" very different from Japan's, and improvising in a clinic with almost no equipment. Healthcare as I saw it from the inside.

The biggest event of the year in a largely Catholic country. Wrapping tamales, firecrackers going off, and a festival of light coloring the streets.

A Christmas package from Japan got stopped at customs. Twenty-eight mochi rice cakes, held until the Ministry of Health gave its blessing — the reality of mail and tariffs.

What happens to your kids' education when work takes you abroad? The Japanese school in San José, and a day spent running covered in colored powder.

Rice as the staple, soy sauce surprisingly easy to find. A roundup of the Central American dishes I ate over two years.

Two hours by bus to the famous volcano on the national coat of arms, hoping to see its green crater lake. What waited at the summit was a wall of white fog.

Buses and a boat to the Osa Peninsula. Scarlet macaws, a tamandua, sea turtle tracks in the sand. An early-morning walk through "the most biologically intense place on Earth."

Holy Week, when the whole country takes a break. Beaches, jungle, and wildlife at Costa Rica's most popular national park.

I headed to the coast with no plan at all — and ended up at a national park where, at low tide, the beach stretches out in the shape of a whale's tail.

A boat tour through Caño Negro, then on to the cloud forest of Monteverde. Sloths, a turquoise-browed motmot, and a night tour.

The arribada — olive ridley turtles nesting en masse. Fourteen hours on buses after getting the word, only to find nothing but empty eggshells.

Over an hour up mountain roads from San Vito. A village clinic with a single treatment table, and the healthcare gap Costa Rica still carries.

I built an ankle-foot orthosis by hand for a stroke patient. No parts in town, so I drew up plans and ordered the uprights custom-made. The finished brace weighed 700 grams. Where my research began.

Custom-ordered metal uprights, a footplate cut from a sandal, a baseball elbow guard for the calf piece. The technical companion to #8.

The month after building the brace, I visited the national rehabilitation center in San José — and the sights I wished I could bring back to my town.

The Spanish I learned on the ground. A perfect oral score on the B1; a thorough beating on the B2 at the end of my term. A learning roadmap, for the record.

Saying goodbye to my last patient, the final report presentation. A record of the day I left San Vito.

January 2025, back after ten years. San José full of new high-rises. I couldn't make it to San Vito. But the Pilsen was as good as ever.