OVER LANDING COSTA RICA (our new tiny home on wheels)

We have just picked up our next tiny home on wheels. We're doing it first time driving in Costa Rica. This Suzuki Jimney is going to be our home for the next 72 hours as we explore Costa Rica. From the natural hot spring rivers deep in the jungle to the beautiful beaches on the Pacific coast.

Whoa, look at that wave.

And along the way, we'll see how this rustic overlanding setup stacks up against the more luxurious van that we're used to.

If you missed our last video, we moved out of our van that's been our full time home for the last two years and back into our suits cases to board our first international flight of 2022. Last week we landed here in Costa Rica to celebrate the marriage of our friends Raya and Louie. It's been a magical week of wedding festivities with amazing people.

But now it's time to explore more of this beautiful country.

Good morning. Yesterday we picked up this tiny home on wheels. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. We stocked up on some groceries. You think all this is gonna fit?

Well, that's a first. We've never had a police officer want to be on camera before.

Got some cash and made the three hour drive from San Jose to La Fortuna and set up camp in the dark.

It's been a bit of an adjustment living in something that's about a third third the size of the van that we just moved out of. But it's a pretty sweet setup. We'll give you a full tour later today, but we need to get going because we have a lot of awesome stuff to pack in today, which is why I'm up so early.

You won't be able to fully appreciate this at the moment, but last night we slept right here. That green forest covered in clouds, that is a volcano. So if those clouds didn't exist, we would be staring directly at the top of the Arnold volcano.

One of the reasons we are up so early is because we are trying to be the first ones at a natural hot spring. And it better be good. They didn't even make coffee this morning and I am drinking an energy drink. Caffeine is caffeine.

I've never heard you say those words before.

Coffee is my preferred caffeine. No. If we're being honest, we've never had a great experience at a public hot spring before. You don't look very relaxed. Let's just say they can be a little awkward.

We found our own semi private pool.

Like sitting in a bathtub with naked strangers. Onward. But maybe this is our time Manifesting it just nae nai naked. Just kidding. We're wearing bathing suits. We're not the first, but I think we might be the second.

We're literally just walking off the road and into the forest.

I see you staying.

I'm gonna be honest, I've never seen Kara this excited before. Coff.

Oh.

Oh.

It'S hot. The water's hot. And we're alone. Oh, it's nice. I honestly didn't think it was possible to have a hot spring to ourselves that's actually hot.

Totally worth the 5am Wake up call. I'm currently being massaged by a warm jungle river.

I have so many rocks in my pants. Without a doubt the best hot springs experience of my life.

The current is surprisingly strong.

Oh, wow. This is absolutely amazing. So the Arnold volcano that's just right up the road supplies all the geothermal activity for this entire area. And most of the hot springs have been taken over by giant hotels, turned into things that look more like swimming pools. But this is literally just a natural river.

So all the research I did, this is the only free option the area. So it gets extremely crowded, but not if you're here at 6am wow, he's so calm. So that little guy that just let us get super close, that's called a Jesus lizard. And it's called that because it can actually walk on water. Somehow it keeps its momentum going fast enough, its back feet are wide enough, that for a finite amount of time it can actually walk on water. Well, I'm not sure how the day gets any better from here. On the way out of the river, we saw a coyote, I think it's called. It's like a Costa Rican raccoon.

Best hot spring ever.

Woohoo. Back on the road.

Whoa, an anteater. Oh my gosh.

Oh, bummer. Bummer.

He was moving so slow, I don't know how he was already gone.

I didn't expect him to be white.

We're gonna see another one.

That's a better attitud.

After a quick coffee, we met up with our guide to explore the Misto Hanging Bridges private reserve, which is basically a privately owned portion of the rainforest with trails and beautiful hanging bridges.

If you're scared of heights, this is not the tour for you. We are currently 150ft above the jungle floor.

Normally we prefer to explore places on our own, but we were so glad we ended up with Carlos as our guide.

Each one is protecting a little piece of land.

It was like our guide had a superpower, like a Sixth sense for things that moved.

At the very beginning, I wasn't convinced. We were moving very slowly. He was talking very slowly. I was kind of wondering if he was all there. But then he would hear something like, he'd be in the middle of a sentence and then he'd be like. And then all of a sudden he would spot a 2 inch toad that was 20ft away. If you would have dropped us there for 24 and said find wildlife, I think we would have spotted like one thing our entire. Most of the critters we ended up seeing on our walk were small and super camouflaged. We would have obliviously walked past them all without his help. Thanks to Carlos, we ended up spotting a couple different iguanas, a poison dart frog, leafcutter ants, which we learned are actually fascinating. They basically run their own underground city with dedicated construction workers, janitors, cooks, and even gardeners.

The gardeners are putting the leaves in smaller pieces, chewing, making a dough.

We saw teeny tiny microbats, a hummingbird in her nest. Yeah, that was crazy.

Also, we can almost see the entire Arnold volcano. The crazy thing is the last time it spewed lava was in 2010. But I can remember as a child my parents traveling to Costa Rica and coming back with pictures of that volcano spewing lava.

It was lava ink all day, every day until 2010. Well, I don't like to say erupting because when you think of a volcanic eruption, it's like catastrophic.

Okay.

It was lava E. It was lava E. Speaking of volcanoes, I just want to take this moment to flashback to Vanuatu, when Nate made me literally stand on top of an active volcano. Like the earth is spitting burning lava into the air right now. Real quick, I want to say a big thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this video. In case you've never heard of BetterHelp, they're the world's largest therapy service and it's 100% online, which means no matter where you are in the world, you can talk to your own licensed professional therapist from the comfort of your own home or camper. And what's really cool is you can message your therapist anytime, whenever you need them. Better help has over 20,000 therapists with a wide range of expertise. So in order to get matched up with the one that's right for you, all you have to do is take a quick quiz and answer some questions about yourself. Then BetterHelp will match you with whoever can best meet your needs, and you can start communicating with them within 48 hours. But don't worry if you're not connecting well with your therapist. They make it easy and free to change to someone new if you need to. Therapy is safe. Such an amazing tool and it being online not only makes it more convenient, but also a lot less intimidating. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than traditional therapy. So if you're ready to join over 2 million people taking charge of their mental health, you can get 10 off your first month at BetterHelp if you use the link in our Description below. Just betterhelp.com K&N. That's better. H E L P. Okay, back to the video reminder. We've been up since 5 o' clock and it is 1:15 and I am sorry.

Starving.

So we've seen signs that say sodas everywhere. There are at least 30 on this street alone and we learned that a soda is a local Costa Rican restaurant. They're usually family owned, they're usually open air like this. And they pretty much all serve the same thing. Costa Rica food. We've ordered about half the menu and we are going to do a little mini Costa Rican food tour for lunch today, starting with. Gracias. Fresh passion fruit juice.

Try not to show up. I'm borderline hangry right now. Gracias. Este. El tamal. Hot. So this looks way different than tamales that I've had in the past. It's got vegetables on top. It has rice, chicken. Whoa, baby.

Also, this brown sauce kind of smells like steak sauce.

The added seasoned rice and vegetables just changes everything. Now for the biggest empanada I've ever seen. This is so huge. Okay. That's just not a category of its own. Whoa, baby. This is beautiful. So we got a bean and cheese empanada.

Hot. I'm burning my hands. This is unlike any empanada I've ever had. It's made out of corn flour, so it almost tastes like fried cornbread with beans and cheese. So good.

This is called casados and it is Costa Rica's national dish. From what we've read, it typically comes with a pile of rice, a side of plantains, a little pico salad, a protein. We got chicken, beans, and some chips.

I don't think this is how you do it. There's a lot of cilantro in the pico salad. It's amazing. We have one last dish, which I think I'm most excited about. Ha. Tacones. These are smashed and fried plantains and I'm so excited. They make them into these little pancakes and then you get all these little bowls and you put like the beans, the avocado and the pico. And a little bit of cheese on top.

Correct, Correct. Mm. So satisfying. I feel like this is like Costa Rican comfort food. I don't know what to eat now. We have so much food.

Wow. Costa Rican food is amazing.

I'm so full.

We did definitely way over order and attempted to eat all of it with traveler's diarrhea.

Yeah.

Before we leave La Fortuna, there is one more thing we have to.

Well, it didn't look cool, but it was a lot of fun.

I chickened out. I was enjoying my coast, drinking coffee by the waterfall.

Okay. From here we have a four hour drive to the Pacific Ocean.

Costa Rica. I find it funny that we technically just said goodbye to van life and then immediately turned around and rented whatever you call this thing. In our first four years of international travel, we only rented a camper twice. Once in Banff and once in New Zealand, because that's what everybody does. Our default was not van life. But when we decided we were going to spend an extra week exploring Costa Rica, our minds immediately went to, of course we're going to rent a van. Speaking of van life, if you're curious about our beloved parents in our beloved van, they're thriving.

I'm so proud of them.

So we drove to a spot called Don Juan's Camping Area, thinking it would be, you know, a campground. It kind of is, but it's more like a guy's fenced in front yard. We're the only ones here, and this was the only place that the car would fit. I think it's just a guy that put his house on Google Maps as a campground.

I love this kitty. You have the biggest kitty. Oh, okay. You want someone?

It's 82 degrees.

Is it really zero wind? Oh. We'll see you in the morning.

Good morning. The guy who rented us this car told me that this type of coffee maker that I'm using this morning is the exact type of coffee maker that his grandmother used to use. This is the traditional way that they make coffee here in Costa Rica. Morning coffee's ready.

Those roosters crowed all night. I specifically remember hearing one thinking, oh, the sun must be coming up. Looked at my watch, it was 3:30 in the morning.

I cannot tell you how many times I've used my phone as a makeup mirror. I don't recommend it. It's better than nothing. Before we head off on our next adventure, I'm gonna give you a full tour of our Costa Rican tiny home on wheels. We've Been living out of it for a couple days now, and we've learned that it's pretty, pretty simple, but it has a few neat features. Starting with the inside. It's pretty much a normal cab, but they've added a few nice touches. First one being this mini inverter. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and it only works when we're driving. And they gave us a phone with the local SIM card. So we have Internet. And they went ahead and downloaded I don't know how to use an Android. They went ahead and downloaded the Waze app, and they've saved a bunch of places to camp. And come on. We also have a WhatsApp group with the people we rented the car from that we can text anytime if we have questions. They've given us lots of tips, so I thought this was a great touch. One thing I have noticed living out of here is how much I did not appreciate the space we had in our van. In the cab alone, there's so much stuff at my feet right now. Like, we have shoes and drones and toiletry bags and cups. There's just nowhere to put any of it. In the back, they've taken out the seats, and this is all storage. Thankfully, because our stuff barely fits back here, we keep our suitcases and backpacks on top, and then on the sides, we're just stuffing a bunch of little things like toiletry bags, bathing suits, toilet paper, a hoodie. Like we would need that. They've also provided these things for us. We have a giant cooler, which is great for so many reasons. Obviously, it keeps all of our stuff cold, but we're also using it like a pantry. So we put even, like, our cereal and coffee and things that don't need to be cold in here. Night one, we saw a giant cockroach back here, and it disappeared into the abyss. So this is just a great way to seal off all of our foods and keep as many critters out as possible. And on this side, we have all the camping gear we could ever want, conveniently in this box. They provided us with a beach mat, a couple hammocks, a machete to survive in the jungle. He said this is to cut firewood with. If you're curious what the. The bathroom situation was in our camper.

Nature. But thankfully, both campgrounds we've stayed at have had toilets, so we haven't had to use this. But we're ready if we need to. Extra propane for the stove, backup stove, lots of pots and pans that fit inside each other. A backup Coffee maker. I love these people. A little broom to keep tidy. Plates, cups, bowls and mugs. Dishwashing stuff. This cute little bag has lots of utensils and a cutting board, cutlery and another cutting board. They gave us about four different kinds of lights because it gets very dark in the jungle at night. And last but not least, we have this rope for whatever you need rope for. So, yeah, like I said, everything you could ever need to camp. Alright, moving on to the outside of the camper. On the driver's side, we have this awning. And the rental also came with two chairs and that mat so you could create a nice little hangout space on the side of your car if you weren't parked next to a fence. Over here on the passenger side is where things get really exciting. Without a doubt, the most unexpected feature of this camper is the outdoor shower. It is geniusly simple. All you have to do is get the hose and screw it in, then turn on the water and.

Darn it. Oh, here we go. Here we go. See, we just went to the beach spraying off our feet. This is all I've ever wanted in a shower. And now for the grand finale, the rooftop tent. When we were traveling around in our van, we saw this setup a lot. And I was always curious about it. Like, how comfortable are they? How hard is it to take up and set down? I mean, set up and take down. And I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised. Setting it up takes about five minutes. Putting it down takes a little bit longer, but it's pretty simple. Up here we have about a 3 inch foam mattress which has been decently comfortable. There are two windows on the either side for ventilation. If there's any wind at all, which last night there was not. But it wasn't too bad. They provided two brand new pillows. We each got a sheet and a warm blanket in case it does get cool. We've also been using the light they provided that charges by usb, which has been really nice. At night, before we go to sleep, Nate's really gotten the hang of putting it up and setting it down, so I'll let him show you how that works.

You did it again.

I did. It's so hot.

By far the best part about the tent is that you never have to remake your bed. You can just leave all the bedding in place, sandwich it up, and then when you open it back up, your bed is already made and it's ready to go. To set the tent up and to take the tent down is the exact same six Steps just in reverse order. Step one is to remove the little metal rods that hold the windows open. Step two is to push the little U shaped rod back under the bed. And then, literally, it's as simple as pushing up on the ladder to sandwich the entire tent back together. From there, you just tuck the 10 in and make sure none of the fabric is sticking out. This is probably the worst part. Then all you have to do is throw the COVID back on, zip it up, and you're ready to go.

Oh, no.

The zipper just came completely off. I take it back. This is the most annoying part.

It's not good.

How in the world am I in to fix this?

I kid you not. There's a channel on YouTube dedicated to zippers. We're not alone in our struggles.

Like, all the way.

I'm too tired to even celebrate. We just spent an hour trying to get that tipped.

Okay, today's goal is to find a nice, beautiful camping spot on the beach. But before we head in that direction, we have one more stop that I am super excited about. Thankfully, this stop is pretty far away from where we plan to get in the way.

Water better me.

Oh, my gosh. That thing is massive. You are not getting me in the water.

For obvious reasons. This place is called Crocodile Bridge, and it's literally just a bridge on the side of the highway where for some reason, a lot of crocodiles congregate. I didn't know they got that big. You have to be here in person to appreciate the size of these.

Look at that.

That is the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life.

Yes. As if these things weren't scary enough, we just watched one slowly start swimming and it literally disappeared into the water. Like, who knows how many are underneath the murkiness that we can't see. I'm never getting in a river for those.

My life while we were standing on that bridge was the moment that we hit 3 million subscribers on YouTube.

So crazy. We remember exactly where we were when we hit each milestone on YouTube. And it's so fun that this one was on a crocodile bridge.

One million subscribers was in Fiji. Two million subscribers was in a hotel room in Las Vegas wondering what we were going to do with our lives.

Because of COVID we've been reminiscing on our trip to the Amazon back in 2017. And if you missed that series, I mean, we weren't great at making videos back then, but that was literally the craziest trip we've ever taken.

It was like a 10 times wilder version of what we're experiencing here in Costa Rica. Jungle milk.

Oh, that's weird. 2016 is the year we set aside to go travel. At the end of that year, we had no money, and we were actually living, losing money each month. But we made the decision to keep traveling. And I remember being in the Amazon and just being like, we've got to make this work. We got to keep going. We have to figure this out. And, like, here we are, even though we're not on Amazon. Like, I've been thinking about that trip so much and, like, who we were at that time.

If you don't think about what you're eating, it's actually pretty good.

And then to hit this milestone of 3 million subscribers while we're here, like, it just feels right.

I mean.

And I love you. Thank you. Can't believe it.

No way.

To help you appreciate why I'm so excited about this spot, let me read you this text that we got from the rental company this morning. We wanted to remind you that the next three or four days are some of the most busy holidays of the year. It's Easter weekend, and the Costa Ricans take it very seriously. This makes everything a little more crowded. Also campsites. If you're already enjoying a nice location, we recommend you stay put and enjoy it if you don't necessarily have to move, since most places will be busy and crowded. Mostly the beach somewhere here. It also said, like, you should go to the mountains if you really want to enjoy yourself. And pretty much anywhere you drive is going to take twice as long. They were definitely right about that. Getting here was only supposed to take about an hour and a half, and it took four. But we came anyway, and we got a great beach spot, and I was so excited. Whoa, look at that wave.

Wow.

I've never seen a wave that big. We had to drive down the beach quite a ways. There are tons of people camping here. But this is great. I'm so happy.

I think this is home for the night. Not sure if you're actually supposed to camp here or not, but seems like a lot of people are setting up tents and settling in. So. See, if we get woken up in the middle of the night, I'm home.

I'm not leaving this place. I'm not leaving. I just had a really yummy iced coffee. We have 3 million subscribers. We're camping on the beach. We're gonna make best friends with the Costa Rican family tonight. They're gonna cook us dinner, and I'm gonna hold their baby. And, yeah, it's gonna be great.

Just as we sat down to enjoy the sunset and reminisce on the last six years that have led us to this point, someone locked the keys in the car, and it turned into this whole thing. I've never seen this done before. Oh, is that thing stuck now? Yeah. Oh, no.

Magic. Oh, my gosh.

Gracias.

Gracias. You have the keys? Perfecto. I'm gonna take care of these now.

What a sunset, huh? You can still kind of see it. There it is.