My girlfriend and I just returned from a 10 day vacation in Costa Rica. As always when planning my trip I took in to account what kind of exercise I was going to get while I was there. Initially I was going to take along some of my smaller home exercise equipment that I can fit in my luggage like exercise bands and perfect pushups. Unfortunately there was a problem with that.

While in Costa Rica we were scheduled to fly to different destinations via a small plane with a company call Nature Air. These planes are very small and only seat about 10-15 people. Along with limited space and weight for people, there is also limited weight and space for luggage. We were told that we could only have 25lbs of luggage per person before we left. So that meant, we only took small pieces of luggage and limited amount of personal items which unfortunately didn’t include exercise equipment.

Have you ever gone on a 10 day trip with nothing but a carry on sized suitcase. Needless to say you can’t fit a whole lot in there.

We spent very little time in populated areas, but there were in fact gyms in every little town that we passed through. We flew in to San Jose and stayed outside the city the first night we arrived. San Jose is packed with gyms which included national gym chains such as World Gym, Life Fitness and of course the Mecca Gold’s Gym. On a walk through downtown Quepos we spotted 2 gyms, one of which was fairly big and had everything including a boxing gym.

Since most of our trip was spent in the very remote areas of Costa Rica like the Osa Peninsula, we had to be creative with our workouts. Actually, it did take much thought as we were hiking through the rain forest most of the time. With a back pack loaded with 4 liters of water, a first aid kit, some energy bars and a few other personal items for our few hour to a whole day hike, there was not much else needed for exercise. Intense hikes through the rain forests, national parks, up to the Arenal volcano and beaches in the heat and humidity is surely good for keeping in shape!

With the intense all day hiking trips and a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables locally grown, we felt like pillars of health by the time we left. In fact, I am sure that I burned a couple percentages of body fat while there.