Join me, Olga Saenz, in my bilingual podcast about Costa Rica, where I share insights, local secrets, and cultural experiences to help you plan an enjoyable trip. You can listen while multitasking and immerse yourself in the beauty of my unique country!
First of all, let me state that I’m not an English native speaker, so there will be mistakes. And I guess that’s part of the charm, isn’t it? I mean, I’m Costa Rican, sorry, my first in mother tongue. My first language is Spanish, so I can even speak some real close to perfect Spanish, but not even in there.
So anyways, I’ll tell you about why I think it’s a good idea to create a travel podcast about Costa Rica.
First of all, I don’t know about you. You know, whenever I plan a trip, I love to inform myself about everything in the place I’m visiting. Like when I went to Mexico, to the northern area of Mexico, I learned about butterflies because I was traveling to the sanctuary, but I also learned about the revolution of Mexico, you know, the Pancho Villa things.
And I learned everything that I could on souvenirs to bring. You know, why is this important and not that? What are the most iconic places I’d like to see? Why not go there and go there?
I love to soak myself in information about the place where I’m going.
So thinking about this, this is probably my main reason to create this travel podcast. And most importantly, because I’m not a travel agent.
You see, I am a writer. I’m interested in writing. I’m interested in getting to know people who want to learn about my country and about everything that it has to offer.
I might even get into some other countries because I’ve visited some, but I will talk about Costa Rica mostly.
So anyway, having said that, let’s go into the second reason for me to make the Costa Rican Travel podcast.
2. We don’t have time to read nowadays.
So let’s see the one thing that is happening now with reading.
You know, one of the things that I’ve noticed living in San Jose, downtown, is that I live right in the middle of town by now at least. And one of the things that I’ve noticed differently from places like Monteverde or in the southern part of Costa Rica, the country areas of Costa Rica, in the cities, people don’t have time. Basically, everybody’s so busy. We are all into working, shopping, and keeping up with the social media; you know, we’re super busy.
And time to stop and watch a documentary; time to stop and read a book or a travel guide about where we’re going to. It’s something that we don’t have anymore somehow, you know, if we have a spare time, sometimes we just like to get into TikTok and just scroll and just go on, scroll through videos.
We all do that. Feel guilty; don’t feel guilty; never mind. We do that now.
There are periods in everybody’s lives when we have time, but we cannot use it.
For example, when we are in a traffic jam while driving, or when we are washing clothes or queuing at the bank, there is little that we can do but listen. That’s the one thing you can do. You can listen.
And because you can listen. This is the second reason why I do this, because it’s a way for you to be informed about Costa Rica without having to stop your life while doing it.
3. You can also read this in a blog.
The third reason, which is really good about this travel podcast about Costa Rica, is that you can also read it because I am transcribing everything here to my blog, olgasaenz.com, so either if you found me on SoundCloud or you found me on Spotify, YouTube, or Instagram, you can also find me on my website, and you can see all the transcribed blogs with pictures and even more information sometime.
You know, sometimes I just complete it. So that’s the other reason.
4. I know Costa Rica, and whatever I don’t know, I know who knows.
The other reason, the fourth reason for me to write and make the Costa Rica travel podcast, is that I know Costa Rica. Oh boy, I know this country. I have been all over it, like from coast to coast, border to border, small towns, big destinations. I am a nomad; you see, I’ve lived in several of these places from one month to years and years.
I’ve lived in many of the main Costa Rica destinations. So I know them by heart.
I know how to get there. I know the best routes. I know everybody. And that’s the other party. If I don’t know the place. I know who does. That’s the other thing, you know, tour guides were like a guild. We know everybody.
And if we don’t know a tour guide from, let’s say, I don’t know, in South Africa, I know a guide that knows a tour guide that can get me hold of someone in South Africa. That’s what happens with guilds, and tour guides are a great guild. So that’s the other thing I know about Costa Rica, and whatever I don’t know, I know who does.
5. I will give you a lot of information to plan your trip.
The fifth reason is because listening to a podcast about Costa Rica will help you plan your trip in an easier, more entertaining way.
And for this reason, although I’m not a travel agent, I want people to enjoy Costa Rica, you know, and there are things that we don’t get about Costa Rica when we see it from the distance, especially when we don’t live in places with mountains. Costa Rica has these three mountain ranges right through the middle of it. And you have to play with these side roads, landslides, rivers, forests, and, you know, all the things in between.
So that’s the other reason to listen to a podcast about Costa Rica.
6. I don’t only talk about Costa Rica, but everything comes from the Costa Rican point of view, unavoidably.
The only thing that, the other thing, the 6th reason, is because I don’t only talk about Costa Rica, but unavoidably, I talk about movies, books, stories, you know, things that inspire me, and so on. But everything seen from a Costa Rican perspective, unavoidably. So everything is seen through the pura vida eyes, through the Costa Rican state of mind.
7. The podcast is bilingual.
Then the 7th reason is that it’s bilingual; you know, these podcasts will go into Spanish. And sometimes I make little differences because I love to be spontaneous. You know, I have the script, of course, and I’m reading it, but I’m only seeing like titles and then developing the ideas.
And so whenever I do it in Spanish, first of all I will do it in Costa Rican Spanish. But on the other side, I will add information there that you can’t find here. You may find it, though, in the transcribed blog, in Spanish, which may be a little bit different from the one in English.
8. I am not biased; I don’t sell trips.
8th reason, I’m not a travel agent. I write and paint for a living; hence, I am not biased. Of course, I will recommend you to, if you ask me, you know, if you ask me, hey, can you plan my trip? I will tell you, I can help you with all the information you need.
And if you like, I can get you in touch with some of the best travel agents in the country, honest, acknowledgeable people; you will be in the best of hands.
And I will never guide someone to someone I don’t know or I have never operated with.
And I will get a commission on that. I mean, let’s be honest, I will get a commission on that.
But that’s not my main goal here. My main goal is to write, to talk, and to sell podcasts.
Let’s face it. So, I mean, everybody’s here for the money, but there are other ways.
Of course I can sell products. I sell my paintings through the website for a living. I need to eat.
But my main goal here is simply to write and talk about Costa Rica and for people to have the best of times in our country.
So, having said this, take a look around the website olgasaenz.com, like my name, but you can also see and follow my social media where I post my podcasts.
I don’t do them like three times a week or every day or every Monday. I do them whenever I feel like doing them.
But I’ve written a lot, and I am transcribing everything so that it will be a big podcast. So having said that, have a great present moment whenever you’re listening to this and have a great everything. Pura vida. Have a wonderful day now.
