You step off the plane and feel Costa Rica’s warm air press gently against your sleeves; a driver in a clean, air-conditioned vehicle waits with a name sign and a quiet efficiency that promises a simple end to travel fatigue. On the drive toward Alajuela the landscape rolls from airport lights to rutted roadside towns, then opens into coffee farms and shaded hillsides. The trip is as much about moving through the country as arriving — highways that cut through volcanic foothills, small villages selling fresh fruit, and the occasional plume of roadside steam from hot springs daring you to stop.