Please move on folks, there is nothing to see here....

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While Costa Rica is arguably the tourist epicentre of Central America, I paid it very little respect and consequently got very little in return. With a flight out of Guatemala City scheduled for July 7, I had to cut a few corners and Costa Rica became the first sacrificial lamb. My first night after crossing the border from Panama was spent in Cahuita on the Carribbean Coast. It seemed a decent sort of a place with a good beach, and the national park nearby was supposed to have excellent wildlife and snorkling off the coast.

When I woke the following morning to a dark grey sky dumping a deluge of rain, I decided that none of the above activities would be much good to me and that the best thing to do was keep heading north. The next stop was the capital, San Jose. There is nothing really to say about the place, other than perhaps to mention that I saw lots of solicitors. Female solicitors. Scantily clad female solicitors soliciting business on street corners.

I'm not aware whether this phenomenon was indicative of a broader cultural norm in Costa Rica, and I didn't give the possibility that much thought until the next day when I got on the bus to head into Nicaragua. I was however reminded of the blatant nature of the San Jose sex trade when I glanced across at the fellow sitting next to me and noticed that he was reading (reading?) a gay porn magazine. It was a rather uncomfortable situation in which I had no choice but to sit there and force myself to ignore his choice of literature. Needless to say, from that point onwards there was certainly no jostling for the armrest on my part.

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Photos

Frontier country
On the water near the Panama/Costa Rica border

Malaria anyone?
This was prime 'squito territory

I'm glad we didn't sink around here
There were a few nervous moments...

No fights for a wave here
Surfers at Cahuita

Palm trees, white sand. but grey skies
Playa Blanca in Cahuita before the heavens opened