First impressions of Costa Rica

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Last sunday we arrived in Costa Rica. According to Columbus, Costa Rica is a rich coast because of a huge collection of gold in the past. Nobody believes this story because nothing is found since then... But one thing is for sure: Costa Rica is a rich country because of it's beautiful nature and pristine coasts. For a couple of days, we stayed in Alajuela and on monday we took a bus to San Jose, the capital, because Gyanendra needed to get a visa for Nicaragua. After that, we had a look around in the city, but it's not the most interesting city. So besides changing busses and going for a second time to the embassy, we don't have to be there anymore.

The transportation system in Costa Rica is well organized, much easier than in Cuba (and no overbooked busses).

On Tuesday we went to Volcan Poas, an active volcano (last blow-out at 1953, and later on minor eruptions) at an altitude of 2704m. Again it was very easy, and cheap, to take the bus. We arrived around 11 and what we were afraid of became true: we could hardly see the crater because of the clouds (see picture 1). But anyway we could smell it's sulfurous damps and after hanging around for some time even taste it. Then we went for a walk to another lake (an old and inactive crater) through the could forest, where we saw some squirrels. There we had more luck: only a few clouds and a better view (see picture 2). But even more better: when we got back to the main crater, the clouds were gone and we had a fantstic view of the muddy and steaming crater (see pictures 3&4). We could see lots of smoke coming out of the crater, the smell was terrible and lots of people were coughing, we could also feel our eyes burn. But the view was super fantastic - what a beautiful nature!

On Wednesday we took a bus to Quepos, at the Pacific Coast. On the way we crossed a river where we saw at least ten crocodiles taking a sunbath at the riverbank. Later on Zoe saw some kind of lizard (iguana?) which was about one meter long, also a few smaller ones and some nice birds. Wildlife spotting just from a public bus, great! In the afternoon it started raining for a few hours, so we wore our poncho-type-raincoats to find a restaurant, walking through the streets like two ghosts.

Thursday we went to Manuel Antonio National Park, a small park at the seaside, but attracting too many tourists. So we decided to go early, we arrived at 7, just when the doors got open. So for some time, we felt like we were alone in the park, spotting some hummiongbirds (kolibris), monkeys, a kind of deer, agoutis (a kind rabbit), sloths (luiaards, just hanging high in the trees without moving), iguanas, some nice butterflies (a very big, clear blue one) and wasberen (we don't know the english name). When we wanted to see some monkeys, we could just take something to eat and they would come automatically. Besides that, there were fantastic views of the coastline. On our way back to the exit, we saw another type of small monkeys, a group which was crossing the road, but high in the trees, means jumping (flying) from one tree to another. Spectacular!

In the afternoon, we took a bus to Dominical, when we arrived in the rain. From there we visited the Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge, a park much less visited by tourists. It was a very beautiful walk through the forest, again we saw some of the same animals as the day before. And also lots of leaf cutter ants, curious how thousands of them cut leaves into small pieces and bring it to their home. We learned that they are a very important part of the ecological system of the forest. After that we ran away quickly from Dominical to another village - Uvita. Because Dominical was a very small village, crowded with american surfers and party lovers, with only hotels and restaurants, not even a bakery. We found the atmosphere not interesting.

So we are in Uvita know, where we are having a relaxing day today, walking around and taking rest. Tomorrow we'll visit the Marino Ballena National Park, where we hope to see some dolphins and whales and where we'll do some snorkeling.

Besides this all, we are getting used to rice with black beans, fresh fruit juice, soggy white bread and speaking Spanish!

See more pictures below!

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Comments

[kirsten uhlig]

waw!
Ziet er allemaal geweldig uit!! geniet nog van al wat komen mag. kirsten x