We are Ligia and Rodrigo: nature-lovers, hiking enthusiasts, and parents of a little explorer called Eithan.
We are both from Costa Rica. A country that we love because of nature, the people, and the effect that has on the people that visit it.
We have worked in tourism in our country since 2007 and we fell in love working with travelers from all over the world since then many of them we can call them friends and still be in contact thanks to the blog.
So let’s start from the beginning.
Before we even had a baby with a passport, we were just two young adults in love working together in a travel agency…
Our Story
To make a long story short: We met each other in our college years.
We worked together in a travel agency in downtown San José.
Ligia was finishing her final project at university to graduate with a degree in tourism. At the same time, Rodrigo was finishing his certification to become a tour guide.
We found that we had something in common: We both loved to be outdoors in nature (always wet or dirty, watching animals and screaming because we just saw a bird).
Our friends thought we are so weird because we almost never visit a shopping center or watch series.
After nearly 2 years of dating, we got engaged, and 6 months later (yes that was fast) we decided we still really liked each other and gathered all our family and friends together to CELEBRATE this thing called love.
So we got married continue exploring Costa Rica every time we can.
We moved forward with our careers and life, got different jobs in tourism over the years.
Ligia got a job as an international volunteer coordinator and was attracted to work on social projects. Even her last job that she did for 6 years was as an administrator on a Children’s NGO.
Rodrigo from working every day in nature as a tour guide for several years had to step out of his comfort zone and switch to a travel tech company where he gained valuable experience in technology.
From those experiences, we realized that we love to help travelers to design and plan authentic experiences in Costa Rica.
Just right the pandemic started, in January 2020 our little explorer Eithan joined the crew.
Explore Tikizia Story
Well, everything started as a hobby: hiking, photography, discovering new places in Costa Rica.
We both love traveling, and working in tourism lets us mix work and fun. So we started to document the new places that we have found along the way.
So we started a little site back in 2016… before that, we had tried two different projects that didn’t work but without knowing what we were getting to Explore Tikizia has been our baby before our real baby.
But wait let us tell you how Rodrigo started taking wildlife photography and Ligia writing blogs.
Rodrigo was a tour guide and working for a travel agency he met Mr. Andrew, a 90 years old man from Oregon who was doing a birdwatching tour with him. He was passionate about wildlife photography especially birds and encourage Rodrigo to try it.
He took the advice and got his first professional camera a Nikon D90 and from there Rodrigo fell in love with wildlife photography.
In Ligia’s case, she didn’t have clue how to write but when we visited a new place I love to hear stories. She was the one who interviews the business owners, travelers, and any person that she met. She asked tons of questions and wrote first in a journal and then here.
We started to get more and more questions from readers, help them with their itineraries, do tours together, and even had the chance before COVID to meet some of them when they visited Costa Rica.
We are so thankful for this little site that has connected us with people from all over the world.
We love to work with travelers who are passionate about:
- Travelers who want to connect with the locals
- Travelers who are looking for not so touristy experiences
- Travelers who want to feel part of the daily life of Costa Rica
- Travelers who enjoy nature and hiking
Here at Explore Tikizia, you can find information to plan your trip in Costa Rica, free resources on places to visit, off-the-beaten-path routes, ideas for your Costa Rica trip, and paid services like one-one session and planning itineraries.
You can see more of what we do in:
In other matters, we love to know new places, learn about other cultures and languages and read a lot.
When we are not working you can find us hiking, reading, looking for ways to decorate our house.
