Columbus called Costa Rica “the Rich Coast”—and it still is, with Caribbean beaches and Pacific shoreline that’ll take your breath away. But this nation has much more to offer, too: a year-round tropical climate, modern cities, rain forests, lush valleys and majestic mountains.

After almost 18 years in Paris, the conclusion is that my level of French is “dismal.” Recently, at the French-English conversation group that I co-founded more than 14 years ago with a 27-year veteran director of Berlitz, it was clear that, of all the people in the group, I had made the least effort.