Inside the Most Peaceful Country with No Army

Costa Rica is the most peaceful country on the planet. A nation that is 126 in size, but is home to over 5% of all life on Earth. Here, nature doesn't just surround you, it overwhelms you. From exotic wildlife, volcanoes that rise through the clouds, and the lush rainforests that overflow into the ocean. This country has chosen peace over conflict for over 70 years. Being the first ever nation to abolish its military so it can invest that money into reforestation. Today, over a quarter of Costa Rica's land is preserved and protected forever. But what really separates Costa Rica apart is its people. A culture built on simplicity, on slowing down, and actually being present. It's a way of life here summed up in two words. Pura vida. So guys, welcome to Costa Rica. And since that does translate directly to rich coast, we had to start this adventure off here on the beach. And for the past few days, we have been here in Santa Teresa, which is this awesome surf town with great waves, good cafes, some waterfalls, and awesome to explore with this bad boy right here. But now what I am most excited about with this trip here to Costa Rica is heading into the jungle and seeing more of this biodiverse country. Costa Rica, which is one of the smaller countries in the world, is home to some of the most biodiverse animals on the planet. As you can even hear some of that behind me. And sadly, now it's time to return the ATV, get a car, and drive six hours to La Fortuna. Vamos. So if you guys saw my previous Costa Rica video, you would know that I was really shocked with how expensive Santa Teresa was. For even to rent that ATV, it was 70 bucks per day. Now we got a rental car on Expedia, which was significantly cheaper. And now we are driving about five hours off to La Fortuna. And our first stop is somewhere magical. After five hours of driving, we made it here to Mistico Park. And my gosh, this place is so peaceful. And now the mission is to see as many exotic animals as possible. We are doing the self-guided tour. So Chris. Chris is on telescope duty. I guess I'm gonna use this to our advantage. And like, if I was a sloth, where would I be? Now about 10 minutes in, and we have not seen a single person nor seen a single animal yet. But now we are finally able to start hearing them. Really hoping we find a sloth for Chris. 20 minutes later. We still have not found any animals yet, but we just found this very wobbly hanging bridge. We're pretty high up, but you do get this incredible view of the volcano. This is our first time seeing it. And wow. You see it? Okay, at least we are starting to finally see some beautiful birds. Just call me Brett the Bird Whisperer. Yeah, that actually kind of worked. Keep it up. I'm doing this because Brett's being modest, but this group spotted the parrot that we found, and it was because of you. You spotted it. So Mistico Park, absolutely beautiful. So much greenery, and it was an amazing hike for a couple hours. But besides seeing a couple of birds, we didn't see too many exotic animals. So unfortunately for our first day here, nothing too exciting. What about if you called that guy? You think I should call him? Do it. Hola, Hugo. All right, cool. So we just made here to Arenal Mundo Aventura for a night tour. And we have a very special squad with us. Hugo. Hey, how are you doing? And we have our guide. We have Otto. And Ronaldo. And then Ronaldo! Ronald. Ronald, yes. Perfect. Can I ask you what we're gonna be able to see on this tour? Some frogs, probably some snakes. So that's mainly our focus today, but we never know. Anything dangerous I should be worried about? Yeah. Nah! All right, let's go into the jungle. Ronald, how would you say it sounds tonight? Can you hear a lot of animals? Yeah, I can. Feed it to my bones. Ronald is the frog whisperer, I believe. What is that? This is the cane toad. The biggest toad in Costa Rica. Maybe I see the toad as a princess coming, you know? So yeah, this is the poisonous land here. And look at the skin, the skin is very rough. It's stuck. Oh! They jump and die very well. We got another one? Yes, a beautiful one. Wow, that's beautiful. Wow! I feel like we're inside of our planet on Netflix right now. This is insane. At first, I didn't know how beautiful the frogs would be, but that was by far the most beautiful frog I've ever seen in my life. The red-eyed tree frog is one of the beauty frogs that we have in the rainforest. Cross fingers and let's try some glass frogs. Glass frogs. Yeah. All right. What'd you find, Hugo? Another red-eyed tree frog, but this one is better than the other one. Wow! Oh my gosh. All right. We found our first poisonous frog. I'll let Chris get close to this one. Have you ever had a frog death? No. This one is poisonous, but not for humans. Wow, and it's that small, it's that little red thing right there. It is, it is another. The poison dart frog is poisonous by the diet. Eating small mites and ants that provide the poison, the skin. The skin is with poison, it's a neurotoxin. Guys, Ronald has no fear. He just stuck his finger straight into this termite family. Smell it. Smell it? Smell it, smell it. Smells great. What? All right, we found our first snake. Wow. Ronald, so we just saw a glass frog. Why is it called a glass frog? Is it because if it falls, it'll break, or? No. This is a good joke. People call it a glass frog because they are transparent in the belly. If you put it in a glass, in a window, you see all of the organs in there, and also the heart jumping. So you can see its heart beating, though. Yes. You can see that. So what's he doing? Is he carving my name into the tree? No, it's a rubber tree. What? I've never heard of a rubber tree before. What? That is what we call chiclet, like a gum. People are doing, this is latex. People are doing gloves. People are doing- Condoms? Yes. This is no baby's tree. What did he say? So Ronald just pulled this right off of the tree, and yeah, it feels like a rubber glove, some type of latex, or a condom. But rubber is always a kind of sap. Rubber is a dry sap. When you are eating gum, you are chewing a saffron rubber tree sap. When you're chewing gum, it's coming from this tree? Yes. Right. It's coming from this tree. What in the world? So Costa Rica is home to over 500,000 different living species of plants and animals, making it one of the most biodiverse places on earth. And that didn't happen by accident, but rather a gamble. It's the result of a country that chose conservation over conflict. In 1948, after a brutal civil war, President Jose Figueres Ferrer abolished the military, becoming the first nation to do so by law. That decision freed up resources to protect land, restore forests, and invest in nature. It was a risky bet, but standing here today, it's clear that bet paid off. So late last night, we checked in here at the Mountain Paradise Hotel, and I did book it last minute on Expedia and had no idea that it was gonna be this massive, beautiful resort, since I did only pay a rate of $135 per night since I did bundle my trip together using Expedia. So if you do book your flight and rental car and then your hotel, Expedia will give you a massive discount off. So yeah, pro travel tip hack, if you are booking an adventure like here to Costa Rica, highly recommend using Expedia, bundling it all together, since it did save me hundreds of dollars this trip. This place is like staying in the real life rainforest cafe. So you have all the nature right here where you can even see some animals. You have your hot tub outside on your patio. Then we have this pretty authentic room with two big beds. I love it when a hotel gives you a good elephant towel. But this is probably my favorite part of the hotel. Last night, I was exhausted, came into the bathroom to shower, and found out that they have a full-on waterfall shower. Also, I did want to give a huge thanks to Expedia for sponsoring this video. If you guys do want to book this hotel or any of the other hotels we booked here in Costa Rica, I will link them all down below. All right, well, another thing that's awesome about this property is that you can see a bunch of wildlife right from the resort. And look at what we just found. We found a massive piggy. I don't mean to be rude to him, but this is like the sumo wrestler of pigs. Look at his stomach down like that. All right, well, that was nice to meet some of the other guests here at the hotel. Hopefully we'll see that pig at the pool later. But for now, we are going on an epic Costa Rican adventure. Should we bring the pig? That pig's not gonna make it. And what happens if I get hungry? So why I was so excited to come here to Costa Rica is because it's just Mother Nature showing off. And with it being a fairly small country and its density, it is the most biodiverse place on the planet. And with being from the concrete jungle of New York City, I am so happy to be here in the Costa Rican jungle. And we are back with Arenal Mundo Aventura. And we have the best guide in all of Costa Rica with Hugo. Hey, how are you doing, guys? So Hugo, where are we going to first? We're gonna be visiting La Fortuna Waterfall. There is only two ways to get there. Also, I know he's got some surprises for us. So I know we're doing some zip lines and we'll see what else we get into. We're gonna be safe though, like last night. Let's see it. No, no, for sure, you're gonna be safe. I have to say, one of my favorite things so far about Costa Rica is all of these hanging bridges that just feel like you're on a trampoline. All right, so if you do want to come here to La Fortuna Waterfall, highly recommend coming here with Hugo's company since there's a bunch of people across the river that it's a bit too crowded. There is only two different ways to get here. And the best way to do it is four-hour trails. How tall is this? 65 meters? 65 meters high, yeah. So that is where everyone else is enjoying the waterfall from. And if you come here with a Reynal Mundo Aventura, you have all this space to yourself. So now we are channeling my inner Tarzan as we are about to zip line across the jungle over a waterfall. Probably the most beautiful place in the world that you could do a zip line. Scary? Not at all. Good. That's for the guys. All right. Is it scary? Holy. All right, Chris, I'll let you go first. I feel like a sloth right now. Ready? I think so. One, two, let's go. What if I change my mind? Woo! Let's do that again. So first we hiked down the waterfall, then we zipped lined across the waterfall, and now we are about to rappel straight down. Chris, I know when we did some bungee jumping in New Zealand you were a little bit scared. How are you feeling about rappelling? I mean, I feel like I'm just back in the situation again. No other way but straight down. Are you glad you did bungee jumping? So I think- Definitely more prepared for that, but I've never rappelled down a waterfall. Like I'm normal. I'm used to like the rock wall at the YMCA. I'll see you on the other side. Yeah, why do I always have to go first? You know. I just move my arm? Yes. Okay. Oh. That's good for you. Okay. Oh, we're good. Oh, I see. There we go. I can do that. Oh my. Okay. Wow. It's actually a nice view. Wow. Okay. That first little jump is scary, but you just gotta keep looking at the view and moving the rope. Oh. Okay. Oh. Okay. I'm like jumping. Yeah, it's a little slippery. Whoa. Oh. Woo. Oh, now I'm like feeling the waterfall now too. Wow. Okay. Oh yeah. Woo. Okay. Woo. That was so much fun. Chris got the job done. Now it's my turn. Loyalty is about having a good relationship with your mother. Yeah, but we're gonna put it in. Good, good. Hey guys. So I'm now currently in the middle of this sketchy ladder next to the waterfall. Because after we were pulled down, now we are climbing this ladder back up. The adventure does not end in Costa Rica and I am not complaining. Woo. So another reason why I wanted to do the zipline course with Arena Mundo Aventura is that their zipline course goes through the middle of the jungle, where right now we are about to zipline across another waterfall to then trek, to then zipline again to make it back to where we started. So if you are looking for a zipline course here in Costa Rica that goes literally through the middle of the jungle, this is the place to do it. This is the longest one. I'm guessing by this sign. All right, how far is this one? One kilometer long. That means 0.6 miles. Love the math. Thank you for us Americans. Time to fly like Tarzan. Vamos! So fun. After that super adventurous day, we are now ending the day with a very traditional Costa Rican meal here at a soda. Not to be confused with this kind of soda, but that's what they call the local traditional restaurants. I went with a costado, has some rice, plantains, chicken, beans, pico de gallo, even some pasta. So yeah, can't really go wrong with a Costa Rican meal out here. The food has been delicious. From the adventures, to the beaches, to the exotic animals, the thing that stood out the most to me about Costa Rica that made it actually worth the hype was its people and their pura vida way of life. Pura vida means everything, our lifestyle, basically. When you arrive in a meeting, you say pura vida. When you leave the place, you say pura vida. Somebody from Ireland, you ask, are you pura vida? For Costa Ricans, be like, let's keep doing, you know? It doesn't matter if things go worse or go bad. Here, like, oh, your tire pops, pura vida. Like, it's gonna get fixed. Since like 60 years, people are using that expression. I like it because it's very positive. It reminds you to be present and flow with life. We express it with the simple fact that life is the best there is. Saying pura vida is because you feel great. It's an expression of joy, it's an expression of satisfaction. Yo comprendo un poquito, un poquito. Pura vida. Pura vida, Johanis, pura vida. Pura vida. So good morning, guys, from Costa Rica. I did just want to quickly thank you all for supporting this channel. Since very soon, we are about to hit 1 million subscribers and I have just been reflecting a lot on this trip about how crazy it is that I still get to do this for my job, where about eight years ago, I went all in on trying to become a travel creator and making these videos for a career. And I had no idea that it was even possible. If you guys did see my previous video from Santa Teresa, where we talked to digital nomads, it was a really great reflection point to talk with them and even share my story of how years ago, I was staying in hostels, trying to build my first business and just dreaming of getting to travel the world for a living. And I will say my best piece of advice I can give to anyone who's aspiring to travel the world or become a creator is that it really only takes one opportunity. Where for me, I had about 18,000 subscribers and Sony reached out to me, asking if I would make a video for their newest camera, the RX0. They gave me a $10,000 budget and I decided to spend the entire thing flying me and my best friend to Thailand to film an epic commercial, or at least epic for the time. Since from that moment on, I had no more doubts that I could turn this into a career. So just a little reminder that success isn't overnight. The opportunity may be, but it's the preparation that takes years. So with this being my last video for 2025, I did just want to say thanks to all of you guys who have been supporting the channel and I am so excited about what 2026 is going to bring. More adventures, more business opportunities and just more life. So that is going to be it for 2025. See you guys next year. ♪ Like oh, we got this ♪ ♪ It's gonna be so big ♪ ♪ Don't know where we're going but I don't really care ♪