Pura Vida en Costa Rica

Well, we have made it safely to our third country on this tour - Costa Rica. And from our first impressions it is certainly as beautiful as advertised and lives up to its name of "Rich Coast". From what we have seen Costa Rica is much more afluent than its neighbouring countries. The country is modern, the roads are for the most part decent, and the homes and commercial buildings are well kept and well constructed. Even the poorest houses here would be luxury accommodation for most Guatemalans. You can even drink the water from the taps here which we have been doing for 10 days now with no ill affects. We heard from some travellers that they avoid Costa Rica because it is just too much like the USA and getting more so all the time. There is no doubt that CR does not have much in the way of indigenous culture or obvious poverty but it is still a developing country and we definitely are not in the USA!!

After a good flight from Belize City via San Salvador on LASCA airlines which even served free cocktails, we arrived here last Thursday evening about 9.oo pm. San Jose airport was a modern and well organized terminal and we went straight through immigration and customs, stopping at one of the plentiful customs agents to get our passports stamped before heading off. I wish some Canadian and American airports were as efficient with customs and baggage handling.

Our taxi took us to Alejuela, a small city about 30 kms NW of San Jose. We had decided to stay here for a couple of days as it was close to the airport and a quieter spot than the busy capital. We were soon checked into the La Rosa de America in a comfortable little room in one of the bungalows on the hotel grounds. We were delighted to find the temperature to be very pleasant, around 22 or 23 degrees which was a relief from the sweltering night time temperatures we'd had in Belize.

The next morning after an excellent continental breakfast, we enquired about a tour to the nearby Poas Volcano. (As an aside, I think it's strange that many Spanish words that are similar to English end in "o"....directo, centro, expresso,....etc., but for our word Volcano which already ends in "o", the drop the final letter leaving it just "volcan"). Anyway, we found we could hire a guide with a vehicle for the day to take us to Volcan Poas and also to the La Paz Waterfall gardens, a destination that had also been recommended to us. So about 9.00, our guide for the day, a fellow who was originally from Panama but now lives in CR ("Just call me Pana") showed up with his mini van. He spoke reasonable English which has not always been the case with guides on this trip.

We began our ascent up the slopes of Poas and stopped at a coffee plantation on the way for a cup of the local brew. Luckily we had a clear morning and we had a magnificent view over the Central Valley and could see the city of San Jose in the distance. The hills surrounding the city as far as the eye could see were covered in green except for miles of fields covered in huge black plastics sheets where flowers of all kinds are grown for the international market. Pana told us that many flowers are even exported to Holland which I thought was the floral capital of the world.

We continued the steep climb along the narrow road leading to the volcano park and about 45 mins later pulled to a stop at the parking lot outside Poas. Poas is a semi dormant volcano with a huge crater now filled with water. A short hike to us to a view point over the crater and we were greeted with a stunning vista below.

Inside the crater was a blue lake, and along the sides of the crater smoke coming out of the fumeroles, as well as deposits of yellow sulphur here and there. All this was surrounded by black, jagged, rock, the hardened lava from past eruptions. And around this were huge banks of clouds rising from the surrounding valleys. All in all it was an arresting sight. Continuing on another trail we walked about half an hour through the forest to a lookout over a lake, then back to the Visitor Centre. We stopped to look at the educational exhibits, which included pictures of Poas showing the changes over the last century.

Next stop was lunch. Pana took us to a local restaurant which served comida tipicas. We started with delicious refrescas fresas made with ice and fresh strawberries blended together. Our “casadas”, meaning marriage, consisted of rice, black beans, fried plantains, some fried potatoes with special seasonings and a choice of chicken, beef or pork. They were very tasty and filling. This was followed by rice pudding seasoned with cloves (no shortage of carbos in these meals!), and all for about $18 for the three of us.

Feeling quite stuffed we drove about 20 minutes to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. It had been highly recommended, with good reason. We were a little taken aback by the high entrance fee of $29 USD but the park proved to be worth it. In fact, if you had only one day to spend in Costa Rica, this would be a good place to visit to see a little of the best aspects of the country.

There was a beautiful lodge overlooking the valley and the sights, and it looked as if it would be a delightful place to stay if you felt like splurging at $300 USD per night. We explored the beautiful gardens with labeled plants. (I’d been wanting to go to a botanical garden and this filled the bill.) Next, we entered the huge butterfly enclosure, where they raise butterflies of numerous types for export. We saw dozens of strikingly coloured and patterned mariposas, but what really astounded me were the chrysalis. Many looked like very fine Venetian glass, glittering in gilded shades of greens, blues and gold. There were some pretty caterpillars as well.

A massive aviary, several stories high contained parrots and macaws but unfortunately it was in the final stages of completion and not open yet. We walked through a garden area devoted to hummingbirds, and there was no shortage of the jewel-toned creatures flitting around and alighting at the many feeders. I always thought hummingbirds were tiny, but there were some quite large ones here. Next we stopped at a building with a snake exhibition. The exhibits and the guides were very informative and we saw close to a couple of dozen of the native species, including the deadly fer de lance. Luckily these guys were all in terrariums.

The trail led us to a typical Costa Rican farm house of a century or so ago. It looked quite comfortable. In the stable were two oxen, and one of the decoratively painted oxen carts which are a part of CR’s heritage. Next we found the frog rooms, constructed with ponds and waterfalls and trees particularly interesting, and saw a number of brightly coloured poison dart frogs and other not-quite-so-dangerous relatives.

Robb was busy with the camera at all these displays and got some excellent pictures – even of the tiny frogs using the macro lens feature on the camera. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to post some of them to the blog soon.

Finally we reached the most spectacular part of the gardens – the waterfall park. A series of well-engineered trails, bridges and stairs led through the rainforest, past, under and around five waterfalls and the river connecting them. The falls ranged from 75 to 125 feet high. It was awesome, just like the pictures of Costa Rica you seen in guidebooks and travel magazines. A shuttle bus took us back to the entrance to the gardens and we spent a little more time revisiting some of the areas. By this time, clouds and mist were descending as the late afternoon sun bathed the park in orange light, giving a mystical appearance to the whole area. All in all it was a very satisfying day of sight-seeing and made us eager to see more of this lovely country.

We had a light meal at a cheap and good nearby restaurant. Hearts of palm are very common here (something to do with all those palm trees?) and I had a great salad of them for $4.00. I’ll be taking advantage of this delicacy here.

Saturday morning we spent by the pool before taking a taxi into San Jose for our next two nights. If we had been on an organized tour we would probably be spending one night rather than two in each spot and rushing from attraction to attraction. However, that soon becomes exhausting and doesn’t allow time to absorb the atmosphere of a place before moving on, so I’m glad we are doing it this way, especially considering that we are on the road for an extended time.

Our taxi driver had some trouble finding our hotel, the Don Carlos, near the centre of the city. This proved to be a common problem, probably partly due to the fact that people don’t put much stock in street numbers and addresses. We read that only recently had sign posts been instituted, and they seemed to be pretty inconspicuous, verging on invisible. Our driver was conscientious and reduced our fare because he had to stop for directions and backtrack a couple of times. The hotel proved to be quite charming, with paintings, sculptures, courtyards and fountains, and very helpful staff. I became very fond of the place and looked forward to returning to it – it was like a second home – as we did twice during our travels in Costa Rica.

I was not quite so impressed with the city itself during our first walkabout that late afternoon. It seemed like another busy, chaotic, not immediately interesting city. A great pizza and salad dinner, with a glass of wine, made me feel better about the place. As much as we were enjoying the local food, it was very comforting to have a pizza. The next day I saw San Jose in a better light. We visited the excellent Art Museum housed in the attractive old airport building, walked around the huge Samana Park, and walked back to the hotel. The two museums I most wanted to see were closed Sundays. Robb was not particularly distressed about that. I was lucky to get him to the Art Museum.

The next day we were off south to Manuel Antonio, so look for our next entry......