A Pacific Corporate Retreat Adventure in Costa Rica

This year, the company I work for decided to send us on our corporate retreat to Jaco Beach, Costa Rica. Every year, they arrange some sort of retreat to some wild place for all of us over-achieving employees, to show their gratitude and support. It’s always been fun, and the truth of the matter is that we do indeed deserve it – after all, working around the stock market is no piece of cake. Last year we were taken over to Mexico, and it was a total success. However, none of us expected the level of awesomeness this retreat would reach in Costa Rica.

The long, black town car pulled up out front of my 40-story building, and as I walked toward it, I felt the cold air penetrate my thick winter coat, under which I was wearing my Hawaiian shirt with pineapples and bananas – yes, I was ready for a tropical vacation! Before checking in my luggage, I took off my coat and put it in my suitcase – this was goodbye, for now. We made our way to the gate and before long went onboard the plane. As the plane took off, I thought of the wonders that beheld us all upon arrival in Costa Rica. An amazing vacation rental, gourmet food, the beach, the ocean, adventure activities, exotic cocktails – there was even a party boat in Jaco waiting for us! I closed my eyes and dreamt of all that was about to be realized in paradise.

The plane touched down in Costa Rica at noon, and after a quick back and forth at immigration, we were received by our very own personal concierge and a couple of large Mercedes Benz Sprinter vans, fully air conditioned, to take us to Jaco Beach. After an hour and a half, we arrived in Jaco, and were dropped off at our awesome vacation rental. It was a big, big house – about 20 rooms and private bathrooms, a game room with fun stuff, a huge fully-stocked kitchen, large flatscreens TVs all over, an outdoor pool facing the ocean – this would be great! We were introduced to the VIP chefs we had booked, as well as bartenders, and before long we each had an exotic, delicious cocktail in hand, and were sitting by the pool relaxing. My boss showed up an hour later, welcomed us all, made a speech and officially set the start of our retreat.

We started the retreat with a series of team building activities promoting trust, cooperation, and problem solving. Although we were all already used to this sort of thing, it surely had a different feel doing it all under the tropical sun, by the beach. Our last activity was rope pulling on the beach, which was tiring, but a whole lot of fun! My team lost the tug-o-war, and we all sat down on the sand and sipped on some frosty coconut juice – delicious! We went over to a restaurant in town called Green Room for lunch, where I had a grilled octopus with citrus sauce –to die for! After lunch, we all walked over to the beach for a swim in the ocean, and some much-needed relaxation on the tropical sands of Jaco. We rented kayaks and did some ocean kayaking which was magical – the scenery was one of a kind. Exhausted, we rowed back to shore and went off to a beach bar called El Point, where we indulged in Happy Hour – the frozen Margaritas there are the bomb! We sat on the beach and watched the sunset, an amazing one, at that. I had never seen so many colors before, the transitioning of the colors from yellow to orange to red to purple – truly mesmerizing. We walked back to the house, where we found a string quartet playing, cocktails being served, and the smell of food was in the air. My boss appeared, made a speech, and before long we sat for dinner. The Chefs showed up with plates of gourmet food, and boy, did I enjoy that! My favorite dish was perhaps the grilled prawns with basil sauce – unique and flavorful. After dinner, we all relaxed poolside under the starry Costa Rican sky – what a marvelous place this was!

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to the smell of breakfast. The Chefs had prepared a Pinto (black beans with rice, eggs, plantain), a typical Costa Rican breakfast item, which we all devoured alongside our spectacular Costa Rican coffees. Quickly, we headed out to our vans and were transported to the countryside, and stopped by a river. After having been geared up, we went on our white-water rafting adventure through the wild waters of the Savegre river, a total blast! Tired but satisfied, we went for lunch at a typical Costa Rican restaurant where I tried the tortilla de queso, a large corn tortilla stuffed with cheese – delicious! Next, we went horseback riding through various terrains and finally ended up in the jungle, where we would face our next challenge – a waterfall! Once again, we were geared up accordingly, and then one by one, we rappelled down the face of the waterfall. Now, that was pure adrenaline! After our climb down, I took a refreshing dip in the blue lagoon of the waterfall, and as I stared out into the dense, green jungle and listened to the soothing sounds of the birds and monkeys, I thought to myself, “Wow, this is what paradise must be like!”