My wife, Sandra and I started each day sipping Costa Rican coffee out on the balcony of our apartment. After bringing home a bottle of Cafe Rica our mornings got off to an even better start.

Café Rica is the country’s unique liqueur, a delicious elixir distilled from coffee, and sold exclusively in the country. It is available in supermarkets and souvenir shops in the tourist areas. The bottles are packaged in a burlap sack, a miniature coffee bag.

The first morning we were eagerly preparing our coffee and Café Rica when a tiny gecko exited the burlap liquor sack and hid behind the refrigerator. Imagining the tiny lizard’s journey from the plantation into our apartment became a breakfast pastime. Read more