With 4 percent of the earth’s wildlife species, vast tropical rain forests, and live volcanoes, it’s no wonder Costa Rica attracts so many visitors. It’s a haven for Toyota Land Cruisers. If only the country were easier to navigate. The roads take forever to get you anywhere, but that’s part of the charm of this country. This was our second adventure to Costa Rica. We rented a 2004 100 Series, 24 valve, turbo diesel Land Cruiser that kicked ass, this vehicle flew down the highway, we got a speeding ticket to prove it. After bribing the local authorities, we were back on the road again. The roads are a difficult to navigate, even with a map, one lane highways, very few road signs, and this is on a main highway, just wait till you get on the small dirt roads. We recommend traveling in daytime if you have never been there before.

This trip to Costa Rica we had decided just to try to pick one location and just hang out, enjoy the beach, go surfing, snorkeling, fishing, and take in some of the local wildlife. We headed toward the Nicaoya Peninsula, to the pacific side. Steve, a customer, who has become a good Cruiser friend had invited us down to his quiet little beach town. Steve has owned and restored quite a few Land Cruisers, and has a couple of 60 wagons in Costa Rica and will soon be taking down his recent purchase of a 45 Series Troopy.

As soon as we got into town we started to meet quite a few local Cruiser owners. With all the Cruisers around, Steve’s house started to be the popular place to stop & talk Cruisers. It was suggested that while we were still in town that we could set a side a day to have a “Cruiser Clinic” so locals could talk tech, have their Cruiser checked out for general maintenance, and problem areas. Advise and ideas were tossed back & forth, and afterward we finished our day with a great BBQ & crab boil.

One of the Cruiser Bob’s we met was Capt Isaac, a 60 series owner and the capt of sport fishing boat. Iassc invited us out for a day of sport fishing. We did not catch any Sailfish, but on the way back in we hooked into four 20 pound Tuna’s. They were beauties! We had some incredible fresh Tuna’s dinners for the next few nights.

One evening we took a side trip and visited the largest turtle reserve in the world, there were literally thousands of turtles laying eggs. Sorry photos were not allowed. Costa Rica has more protected areas than any other country in the world, they are very ecology minded. When it was time to head back to San Jose to catch our plane home, we decided to head into town a day early, it’s a full days travels and from past experience the roads and conditions are hard to predict how many hours it may take you to get into San Jose. When we arrived in the city we decided to visit San Jose’s Top Toyota Dealership, Purdy Toyota. They have very nice facility, large showroom, parts dept and plenty of Toyota Land Cruisers for sale. We were greeted by one of the top managers Julio, who to our surprise use to work for Toyota Motor Sales in Southern California and had visited Specter Off-Road numbers times. Several years ago Julio returned to his home country of Costa Rica where he continues to work for Toyota Motors. We were privileged to have a private guided tour of the owners incredible car collection. There were quite a few Toyota Land Cruiser race cars, tow trucks and even a rare 2002 Toyota GT. They also had a very rare FJ25 which was said to be the first FJ25 that was imported into Costa Rica. This FJ25 had very low miles and was in very good condition. We scored a great Paris Dakar 2004 poster, a very cool gift. The trick was to get this poster home, the airplanes just don’t like to carry these type of items, but with some luck, good connections and a strong will to get this cool poster home. We are happy to report it was hand carried home and is on display for all visitors to SOR to enjoy!

Costa Rica has something for everyone, beautiful beautiful flora, fauna, great beaches, friendly people, rough roads and Land Cruisers. We encourage you all to go out and travel while your young and can enjoy the experience. This is our 13th country to visit, every where we go there are Land Cruiser owners and fanatics that love their cars, it’s a common thread that binds us together. We encourage you all to “just get out there!”

-- Marv & Kay Spector