A beach with no footprints is like the start of a New Year.
© Robert Long

Unburied on a Costa Rica Beach Walk

Travel busts up routines and sends you off in new directions. Travel over the New Year does even more: it inspires you to set a new direction back home.

My New Year’s trip took me to Costa Rica—a democratic country with no standing army, a 79.9-year life expectancy (higher than the US), and an environmental record unsurpassed in the hemisphere.

Costa Rica, smaller in size than West Virginia, has 933 miles of coastline and beautiful beaches for finding insights to treasure.
© Peter Hermes Furian/iStock

And there’s more—Costa Rica has a free and mandatory education system with a literacy rate over 96%. I was sure to learn something!

I did. All the adventures of the week came together in the world’s best New Year’s resolution. It occurred at the end of the trip as I walked down an isolated, untouched Costa Rica beach on New Year’s Day.

But before I get to that, consider the inspiration . . .

The Audacity of the Howler Monkey

This big guy’s got no problem speaking up.

A howler monkey sounds off in the Costa Rica forest.
© Sheron Long

His cry travels three miles across the canopies. The howl is bold, deafening. It curls your eyebrows and makes your skin run off. I double dare you to take a listen!

For anyone trying to find a voice, a howl like this is resolution inspiration. And the way the howler takes hold of things with its tail and stretches out for a looonnng reach—well, that’s to be admired, too.

Reaching out, taking risks—all in a day’s work for the daring howler monkey
© Sheron Long

Avian Determination

So many New Year’s resolutions are for the birds. There’s no way will power can outlast a desire for beer and chips. But the birds of Costa Rica help you think bigger. “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” they seem to say.

They spread their wings and chart their course.

A blue heron takes flight.
© Sheron Long

They step out.

This great egret finds its stride—it has places to go!
© Sheron Long

The go forward with determination.

“No stopping me!” says this bare-throated tiger heron.
© Sheron Long

These high-flyers know where they’re going. Are they following a New Year’s resolution or have they found the inner determination that points the way no matter what time of year it is?

The Vigilance of the Iguana

Even more fascinating than Costa Rica’s smiling crocs are its Ctenosauras, or black spiny-tailed iguanas. As the world’s fastest lizard, the Ctenosaura clocks in at 21.7 miles per hour—fast enough to get a speeding ticket in a school zone!

It’s the iguana’s alertness, however, that helps it regulate everything from its speed to its temperature to its color. In this 33-second video, the vigilant Ctenosaura says, “No danger today. Let’s just be meanderthals.”

If the video does not display, watch it here. 

This watchful iguana thermoregulates all day long, taking care to move from sun to shade to watch its temperature. No matter where you spot it, its scaly hide and spines have a kind of perennial attraction, but the spines become a fetching orange when it’s time to mate.

A beauty, the Ctenosaura grows to 4 or 5 feet and sports black rings on its tail.
© Sheron Long

What does all this have to do with New Year’s resolutions? More than you might think—the iguana’s daily vigilance on speed and temperature plus its seasonal attention to maintaining the species is surefire inspiration for taking good care of yourself.

Back to the Beach

The creatures who share our planet surely have insights for us, and there is no better place to learn from them than in Costa Rica. This tiny country with only 0.03% of the surface of the globe has 5% of the world’s biodiversity—more than 50 different kinds of hummingbirds as just one example.

After a week of nature watching, the inspiration of these creatures began to gel into a powerful New Year’s resolution. Perhaps it came because the road through Santa Rosa National Park was so treacherous and took so long.

Rocky, rough road through Santa Rosa National Park
© Sheron Long

Perhaps inspiration struck because the beautiful beach at the end of the road was all my own.

Untouched beach at the end of the risky road in Santa Rosa National Park—worth the journey!
© Robert Long

No matter, as I considered all the silly New Year’s resolutions people were making this day, I thought about the bold howler monkey who speaks up and takes risks, about the birds who chart their course, and the iguanas whose watchful attention to their own well-being leads to long life spans.

And that’s when it all came together.  Oh, I see, like the diverse species that populate Costa Rica, we are all so different, but with boldness and determination and care-taking, we all have the power to make an impact. This New Year’s, the world’s best resolution is simply to mess up that Costa Rica beach and make your mark on the world.

Leaving an intentional footprint on the world
© Robert Long

Enjoy this post on why “pura vida,” the Costa Rican greeting and goodbye is so special. 

For full information on Costa Rica, visit Essential Costa Rica, the country’s official tourism board. To learn more about the howler monkeys, birds, and reptiles of Costa Rica, visit Anywhere Costa Rica. See more wildlife at Costarica.com. 

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