Leaving Costa Rica

 

 

Two "birds of a feather", in this case Parrots roost together.

As I get ready to leave Costa Rica and start my journey back I wanted to write down some of my impressions of my time here, and also a few regrets, or things if I had more time and hadn't had other commitments I would have like to have done. Or even if the weather had cooperated more.

First due to time and also distance I'm not going to go into Panama as I had planned. Round trip from San Jose to the end of the road in Darien is close to 1400 miles as close as I can tell. It was longer then I expected and it could take 4 or 5 days of constant travel, with border crossings to do that part of the trip. Having to be back in Michigan, preferably before Christmas, and not knowing the weather or what to expect on the way back, I've decided to start back as soon as I can. Having finished things up with school and my dental work. I also just mailed extra stuff back to Michigan I didn't want to carry with me., so I'm pretty much ready to leave. I did get some posts set up so as I travel there won't be any long gaps between posts. So even as you read this I maybe getting close to, or actually be back in the states.

First I would like to talk about money in Costa Rica and basic expenses. Like anywhere I guess if you don't shop for things and look around your going to end up paying as much, or more then you would in the states. While some things like doing a home stay, or maybe Spanish classes, staying in hotels or renting a flat by the week, or even  tours can be found at reasonable rates, even cheaper then the states, Though something like gas is  close to $5 a gallon. The malls often have a lot of U.S. brand names at U.S.prices or even more, which would make sense since those things are getting shipped all the way down here to begin with. I found the prices at the malls to be ridiculous on some things, other things like seeing a movie at the mall on Wednesdays for instance, is $2.

I mailed a box home with some gifts in it, my school helped me set it up. With Fed Ex they only do over night delivery, they quoted me $169 for a 15lb box! We called the Post Office and they said $83, and it should be there in 6 to 7 days. I did send it, but it really was just added to the cost of the souvenirs I bought to make them even more expensive then they already were. Its like if your not flying it home with you, or carrying it out of the country yourself, its not even worth buying it.They never even weighed the box, they just assessed their fee by its size and what I said was in it. So again some things are just so outrageous and others can be gotten reasonably.

A cab ride, you have to tell them to turn on the meter or they'll just charge you whatever they want to. A gas station will sell you a free map for $5 if you'll pay it. Looking for authentic Central American made clothing. Supposedly you use to be able to find Latin American made products before NAFTA, now it seems all you get is U.S. products that are more expensive then in the U.S. I'm not sure where you go to buy good local products. Some say the big central market downtown, but even their it seems your getting a lot of tourist stuff at tourist prices. I'm not sure where the local markets, and merchants are that are selling to local people. The main stream looks more and more like the U.S. with mainstream prices and nothing special to really want to buy. I'm sure one needs to find the out of way places and spend the time trying to find them. I didn't have the time, didn't speak the language, and was very disappointed over all with what I found. But again without experience in shopping here that's to be somewhat expected.

With food since my meals were part of my home stay I didn't go out to eat a lot. But my experience was that it seemed to be a little cheaper then the U.S.at some places, at others not, and your not expected to tip. Rice and beans are served all the time here, as well as chicken and fish. Their main cheese used seems to be a cross between mozzarella and muenster, its quite mild, as really most of their seasonings are. I did not get any food I thought was too spicy, in fact I loved the way they mildly spiced their food. The cook in our house  made a Lasagna that was the best I think I ever had, and even with that the flavors were subtle and balanced.

Hotels often include breakfast with the cost of the room. Expect rice and beans, eggs, coffee and fruit. Papaya, Mango, Melons and Bananas ( often fried) were the norm with maybe toast and juice (usually always freshly squeezed). Hotels range from $15 all the way up over a $100 a night depending, but over all they seem to be lower then in the states.

Directions and finding things can be very difficult until you get to know your way around. A lot of basic services or things we might take for granted in the U.S. like a motorcycle part store can be hard to find. Parts in general can be, and like most specialty items, if they carry them, expect them to be expensive.

The weather in San Jose and the Caribbean was constant rain thru November. I thought it ended come November, but in many parts of the country the rainy season is April thru January. This was too bad because of the active volcano's and the great views you can get of them when the weather is good. In three weeks here there was maybe a couple of clear days where it would have been worth it to go up and see them. Lesson, this is the first place I have ever brought and been glad I did, an umbrella. People here usually don't go out without them. The other lesson, choose your season well, but then of course the prices probably go up as well.

Not having gotten out of San Jose enough is like not seeing the real Costa Rica with its varied geography and animals and plants. This place is so unique and beautiful in so many ways, but you have to not only get out to see it, you also need to be here in the right season, or your not going to see a lot of it. One might say like people use to say about Anchorage, Alaska, the nice thing is its right next to Alaska, but its not Alaska. The pace of life, the scenery, everything seems to be night and day when it comes to San Jose and the rest of the country. San Jose is "right next to" Costa Rica.

But from the Caribbean side, to the Central Highlands, to the mountains and volcano's to the Pacific side the country is so varied and has so much beauty and uniqueness, its not hard to see why people come from all over the world to be here, and there is such a large population of U.S. citizens down here.

 

And yes from the Simpson's on television, to men sitting around watching soccer and the Price is Right every morning, there is a lot that is so similar to other places in the world, and in ways it seems like its t.v.'s and the internet is what really keeps us connected. As I watch the Christmas trees go up in the malls, and hear all the traditional Christmas music, I realize again how connected we all are on this planet, sometimes just by our media and commercialism, for good or bad I guess. But the one thing it also does, is remind us that no matter how we express our values, we're really not that different, and we all share a common ground.

 

Our maids here at the house do their laundry by hand, and hang them out to dry. I have a sweat shirt from my trip down that Jorlenis washed by hand that has not been this clean since it was new. In some ways things seem too simple and almost backwards, but more often then not they don't "technicize" everything for the sake of having the latest gadgets. If its not broke then don't fix it. That seems to work just fine down here. We in the states tend to have to replace everything we own every 3 years or it becomes old and useless, even though its fine. Here people can't afford to waste things, and generally don't. It is a refreshing contrast to the states, though as they incorporate our values, and malls etc. one wonders how that will go as well.

This place is so unique in so many ways, especially with its nature and geography, one could spend many years exploring its great diversity. I do look forward to more trips down here, and also all of Central America. Each trip just creates a little more of an appetite for more.

 

The La Paz Waterfalls and the Jungle Voyage

 

A young Maroth?

So after having a great lunch we started hiking on the trail to the falls. Elja, the guy from Finland, got a ride in a cart which showed up and then disappeared. Like the sun, we knew we would "meet again", somewhere down the trail. We went thru a hummingbird feeding area. Like everything else, Costa Rica has an abundance of hummingbird species, something like 60. As beautiful as hummingbirds are up in Michigan where I come from, not surprisingly down here, the birds are bigger and brighter. There was an absolutely brilliant purple one at the feeder, probably 4 times the normal size of one from Michigan. I try' d to get a picture of it, but if you can get a good shot of a hummingbird, your doing pretty good. They were everywhere feeding on the sugar water feeders. Our guide said you should never mix the sugar water any stronger then 80-20, water to sugar, because it will rot their beaks. A lesson for all the hummingbird feeders out there.

We also walked by a Spider Monkey exhibit. While not native to Costa Rica, there is an abundance of monkey species here as well. One begins to wonder if there is anything that doesn't live down here.

 

Scenes along the way

The canyon leading to the falls

As the trail narrowed into a stair heading down along the river canyon we were treated to some amazing views. The rain was now mixed with mist coming off the river and the upcoming falls. Here too you got the sense that this jungle never get's a chance to dry out. Especially along the rivers and falls. Heavy rains have pounded the area continually and the rivers are all very high. In fact some of the roads on the Caribbean side of the country were closed. We would see everything that they told us we would on the tour, but we would have to back track on our journey and also deal with a mud slide that had taken out part of the road. This all added two more hours to an 11 hour day, it was going to be a long day.

The trail gets steep

The closer we got to the falls, the wetter we got. It was hard to even take pictures because I was afraid my camera was going to get wet. It also was a lot more humid then up on the Volcano summit, and I was getting as wet from sweating as from the rain and waterfall mist. Still it was all beautiful, and going swimming would have been the thing to do.

Overall being on the tour did save a lot of time. I couldn't have found a lot of these places very quickly on my own. And having the guide to explain things was of some help. Not having to worry about the drive back was a plus too. That being said I am not use to taking a tour. While this was not a hurried tour, you did have to stick together, and any sort of self exploration was not really allowed. You saw and stopped at places that were part of the tour. The guides speal was obviously set up, and one had to sort of press the guide to actually get other information that they didn't deem part of the tour. These are the down sides. Still again it would be hard to see as much as we did trying to find these places yourself...

The La Paz Waterfalls

The upper falls

The Mist kept everything soaked for hundreds of yards around it.

 

This was the lower part of the upper falls, they were so big you had to take several pictures to get them all in.

The second set of falls down were as big as the first ones, they made four in all.

After seeing the first set of falls, we then cut away on the trail to get back to our bus. We would see the lower falls from the road. It was really getting hot now, and the trail was making us go single file the whole way. If you didn't move fast enough you would be taken over by another group. If you moved too fast you could find yourself in the middle of a family and be part of their group. Finally the trail came to an end, conveniently right at a gift shops door. You had to walk right thru the gift store to get out. I ended up buying a candle for my host family and then ran into Elja eating a candy bar. He had gotten dropped off  ahead of us and was waiting. A group of Quati's ( Central American Raccoons ) were being fed by the tourists gathered around the end of the trail. The family I had been caught in the middle of was having problems. The hike was more then the mother and father had anticipated and mother was complaining loudly. I felt bad for them, it was a rough trail, and mom was losing it yelling at her kids (her kids were 40 years old!).

Finally after getting our group all together we boarded our bus and headed down the mountain for an hour and a half trip towards the river and our jungle cruise.

As we were driving along our guide suddenly told the driver to pull over. He jumped out of the bus and ran back down the road, stopping right in the middle to reach down and get something. Camera ready several of us jumped out to see what was going on, after all we were on an expedition! He had found one of the things I really wanted to see on my trip down here, a tarantula. Outside of a python, or a jaguar, this was right at the top of my wish list, even ahead of a crocodile, which I had seen on my previous trip down in July.

Here's our brave guide letting the tarantula climb up into his hand.

He offered me to take it in my hand, I had to decline, though I did pet it.........

One of the Asian ladies allowed it to climb in her hands, everyone else, including myself declined. While our guide was out in the middle of the road I thought he was going to get hit by some wild driver coming around the corner. Another bus showed up and stopped and he brought it over to their bus to show them. Obviously not the first time all this had occurred. Still to me it was the highlight of the tour, and one of the ones on the whole trip, to see a live tarantula in the wild. After he had let it go on its way, we continued on ours.

The road coming down from the volcano and the falls was as steep and winding as most of the roads in this country. Eventually we made it to where our river boat tour was waiting for us. We unloaded and got on the boat, a rather shaky long narrow boat powered by two Suzuki 115 hp. engines. If everyone rushed to one side you got the feeling that the whole boat may tip over. Our guide grabbed a microphone, our driver untied us and we were off.

The boats tied up on the other side of the river, they looked just like the ones we were in.

The river was quite wide and there were a lot of boats tied up, most off them looked like tour boats as well. Our guide told us the river is like a road would be anywhere else. People use it to get around, and there are even "boat taxi's" for people to get from one town to the other. He said if you follow the river for a couple of hours it would take you to the river that follows the Nicaraguan Costa Rica border. The river was high and was moving fast after all the rain that they had been having.

Looking down the river, it was obviously higher then normal. It was also lower then it had been, there was debris 6ft above the current level up in the trees.

At this point I could feel the difference from anything else I had experienced on this trip, or really any river I had ever been on before. It was a tropical river with a lot more different things going on then any other river I've been on, and I practically grew up on a big river in Michigan. I finally got a small sense of what a tropical river is about, and it wasn't hard to imagine what the Amazon would be like. The air was warm and humid, and so many kinds of wildlife I have never seen before, or just on t.v., or in the zoo, all either lived by the river, in it, or over it. The sense of wildness, and feeling like you could disappear on a river into an impenetrable almost primeval forest was not much different in ways then being up in the northern wilderness of Canada or Alaska and knowing the tundra was just as vast and just as impenetrable, except for maybe the rivers that enter it. It also was not hard to imagine the early native people who lived here and made there livings in this jungle, much like they still do in remote areas of the world. That primordial feeling sort of came on me, like this is the real wildness from which we came. Almost unnerving in ways when one can imagine the early primordial man is on some level still alive in us.

I have often wondered what it would be like to paddle the Amazon. This boat ride was just giving a hint what a trip like that would be like...

After we got going we headed down river, there wasn't very much boat traffic at all, and the only people we saw were a couple of fisherman on the banks with their dogs. Our guide said there were over 5 different fish that lived in the river, I got a sense there was a whole lot more of other things living in and around it.

The Howler Monkey's, kind of far away, but you could hear their deep throated grunt really well.

We first came upon a band of howler monkey's high up in the trees. We couldn't see them very well, but our guide with his microphone made the sound they make. A deep throated sound that sort of vibrates up into the mouth. To hear a whole band of them make that noise was kind of unnerving as well. I couldn't imagine camping out and hearing that sound at night.

As we moved down the river we found a group of nesting bats on the underside of a tree. Their the smallest bats in the world at only an inch and a half long. They looked like they are part of the tree. Other animals we saw were Iguana's, a Kayen (kind of a small alligator), an assortment of birds, and a lizard that runs on top the water. Again I was on a river, but that's where the similarities ended. There was nothing here that lived in Michigan that I could tell.

The smallest bats on the planet, sleeping on the underside of a tree.

After about an hour of touring, and our guide did do everything he could to show us what was on the river, we returned to our bus after we unloading from the boat and tipping our boats captain. We had to get ready for the long trip back over the volcano and the pass in the fog and coming darkness. Normally we could have taken a quicker route back to San Jose but the road was out due to heavy rains.

Here was one of the Iguanas we saw, this one on a branch overhanging the river.

This bird which is the only bird in the world without natural oils in its feathers must dry itself off after each hunt.

They told us it would be a two hour drive back, but with heavy traffic, fog and winding mountain roads it was probably closer to 3. As we got back to San Jose and started dropping everyone off, me being almost last since I was the first one picked up, I said goodbye to Elja and wished him luck. He said he was going to be in San Jose for a week before heading to South America. As he unloaded, got a cigarette offered to him by our guide and stood there at the locked gate to his hotel entrance smoking it, us waiting to make sure he got in, I couldn't help but think again of him as being sort of an oddity. Alone at 84 traveling the world. I guess in ways it made me feel uncomfortable like that was basically what I was doing now, except I came down for school and dental work, but it wouldn't be hard to find myself in his shoes some day, and I'm not sure I was comfortable with that, judgement and clinging on my part? The more of the world you see sometimes I think the more you feel you may need to see, knowing that it in itself will never be able to fill you. I don't know but I think there is a certain loneliness that comes with travel, and when you expand your travel to countries, cultures and languages your not use to, it can kind of amplify that feeling. I remember feeling it in Alaska sometimes like out on the Aleutian Islands, their hauntingly beautiful, and isolated with some of the most extreme weather on earth. Cold, wet and lonely is how I described them once.

So we said goodbye to  Elja and wished him well, after another stop it was my turn and I said goodbye to the kids from Houston, they all gave me a rousing farewell, and we wished each other well. I thought too of Mo Mo the Syrian guy seemingly without a home. I hope he can travel again in the middle east and that he takes that overland route he was talking about. Maybe he can find his people and a part of himself again. A journey we all seem to be making in one way or another.....

A banana plantation along the river, the bags are wrapped around the bananas to protect them from birds and insects.