Gringo Family Says Costa Rica Their Favorite Caribbean Island

Son got along well with islanders in capital city of San Juan

The Butler family in Tamarindo with other members of their tour group.

TAMARINDO – After a week-long trip soaking up the sun and surf of Jacó, Tamarindo and Playas del Coco, the Butler family (pictured) from Topeka, Kansas unanimously agreed that Costa Rica was their favorite island to ever visit.

“Amazing all around,” said Brenda Butler of the vacation, as she applied yellow zinc to her slightly burned nose. “You can understand why so many people love this island. If they’d have filmed Lost here, it would have had a much happier ending.”

The family spent most of the winter debating where to take their summer vacation, father Bowman Butler said. In the end, the family took out a map and narrowed the decision down to three possible exotic island getaways: Hawaii, Portugal and Costa Rica.

“I was a theater major in college and always wanted to come here after seeing West Side Story,” Mr. Butler said. “All week long we were joking and singing ‘It’s so pretty, oh so pretty’, and ‘Maria, I just met a girl named Maria’, just like the Costa Ricans did in the movie.”

Of the towns visited on the trip, son Bastion Butler said his favorite stop was ol’ San Juan, where he learned a great deal about island culture and the historic Chinatown. Bastion was able to pick up several new Spanish words like chino, guachiman, playo, and ‘car-ee-peach-ah’,” he said.

“Although I’m not quite fluent in Spanish, it felt like we really understood each other,” Bastion said. “I was starting to feel like a native in only 36 hours.”

When asked if the family considered visiting neighboring countries like Nicaragua or Panama, Mr. Butler said that island hopping wasn’t really for them.

“We’re not really interested in visiting South America,” he said. “We had all we needed right here on paradise island.”