I came back from Costa Rica totally obsessed with Toyota Land Cruisers

I came back from Costa Rica totally obsessed with Toyota Land Cruisers.
We don’t get a ton of time off here at Throttle House. Generally though, that's OK. Because as you would expect, our job (while very busy and difficult sometimes) barely feels like a job. But occasionally, James, myself, or one of our hard working team members takes a very well earned holiday. At the beginning of this month it was my turn for a little trip, as my dear friend’s destination nuptials had me take a week away with my wife. We hopped on a plane and headed for 8 days of exploring the mountains and coasts of Costa Rica.

I’ve been to Central America numerous times over the last few decades, feeding my hobby of strapping a cylinder of compressed air to my back and acquainting myself with all manner of fishes, eels, and corals while logging many casual and recreational scuba dives. Even though I did manage to get a few dives in on this trip (and ticked the box of seeing a proper shark in the wild), our Costa Rican adventure was mainly land based. If you have been to Costa Rica, you’d know that’s where over half of the fun is.

Upon arrival in Liberia (Costa Rica’s smaller, more northern spot to land direct flights from Toronto), we rented a new-ish Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and headed inland to Monteverde, a mountain town right on the edge of the famous Cloud Forests. Long story short, we spent a couple days exploring the area, hiking, driving, and routinely picking our jaws up off the floor after being completely flabbergasted by the biodiversity and beauty that is the Costa Rican landscape. We saw tons of wildlife (including a pit viper, sloths, and monkeys), walked across suspension bridges that wove their way through the pristine waterfalls of El Tigre, and drank the best coffee we had ever tasted.

But by the time we headed toward the pacific coast into the Guanacaste region and right into the Nicoya Peninsula for the wedding, my wife was absolutely utterly done with hearing about Land Cruisers. I was obsessed.
They were everywhere. The fabled 70 series dominated the landscape. With 80 series LCs filling in the gaps. They all had snorkels, roof racks, ladders and bull bars. It seemed like they all were lifted on at least 33” tires. I saw one Defender for every 100 Land Cruisers. One G Wagen for every 500 Land Cruisers. The only other brand that seemed to have similar usage was Mitsubishi. It was a country of indestructible, dependable off-roaders. For a very, very good reason: the roads in Costa Rica are horrible.

Other than the major highways connecting the cities, (which are mostly beautifully paved), the bulk of the roads in the country are dirt, gravel, smashed-potholed-old tarmac, or a combination of all three. The rainy season is biblical in Costa Rica, and every year the roads are washed out, screwed up, and covered with debris. Unless you live in the major cities, you need a capable vehicle or you might find yourself stranded.
In our little bit of touring we did, we spent most of the time on absolutely abysmal roads; some high in the mountains with no guard rails, and many that actually required at least the ground clearance of the Land Cruiser Prado we rented. On several occasions, spotty service resulted in google maps taking us on roads that involved actual river crossings. I didn’t actually think I was going to get a chance to practice bow-waves on this trip.

The necessity for dependable durable vehicles, and the answer to that requirement being mostly Toyota Land Cruisers left me absolutely smitten. While my good friend and his new wife were gazing lovingly in eachothers eyes, I had the same dreamy stare over my shoulder toward the parking lot where a decked-out 70 series troop carrier was being unloaded to refill the wedding venue’s supply of avocados.
As we got to the coast, things got even cooler. Down there, old Land Cruisers are used for getting from A to B, but “B” in this case literally stands for beach. Strapped to the roof racks were surfboards. I think that's what did it, now that I think about it… and I don’t even like surfing. I tried it, and it felt like doing back-to-back 100 meter sprints, where if you get really lucky in between the sprints, you get to stand on a thing for a moment before nearly drowning. But seeing a couple surfboards strapped to the outside of a 90’s Land Cruiser that’s trundling over potholes, dodging fruit stands and stray dogs, all the while confidently emitting the low whistling sound of a turbo diesel engine absolutely rewired my brain.

We are heavily Land Cruiser deprived over here. Especially in Canada. But they’ve been a mainstay in Central America, the Middle East, and Australia for decades. And as if a prayer has been answered, the Land Cruiser is returning to North America this year. But I can’t wait. I need one. So I’m literally in the process of looking for one to import as we speak. In fact my phone that's sitting next to me on my desk just buzzed with a picture from our friends at Eclection Auto where James got his Century. Except the incoming photo isn't a V12 limo. It’s a 1994 Land Cruiser Prado. And I think I'm going to pull the trigger.