Puerto Viejo and Cartago, Costa Rica

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Hello friends! From Bocas Del Toro our crossing into Costa Rica was rather uneventful, and far better than our crossing into Costa Rica from Nicaragua, probably taking a fourth of the time (30 minutes or so in all). The crossing was an old metal railroad bridge over a river with wood boards put over it so 18 wheelers could drive over the bridge and made it easier to walk across. From the border we caught two different buses to get to Puerto Viejo, a total of about two hours on buses. The highlight of our trip from Bocas to Puerto Viejo was passing along seemingly endless miles of banana plantations owned by Chiquita banana company. I've heard before that bananas are grown in bags filled with fertilizer to keep them from being infested by bugs, but witnessing this first hand was something else. It just goes to show what monoculture farming will do to crops and how far backwards we have fallen with regards to our food system. I should note that in certain areas of Central America have seen them realize the benefit of shade grown coffee and incorporating other crops into their coffee farms.

Puerto Viejo had some golden years leading up to the "great recession" where tourism and real estate started to boom. However, since the economic decline in the U.S. and the majority of the developed world, Puerto Viejo has not seen the tourism it is now set-up to accomodate. Thus, prices were slightly depressed and we had our pick from several quality restaurants and hostels. The other advantage for us with this decline is that it was not packed with tourists - the lack of tourists has been a fairly consistent theme throughout our travels. The blue waters off Puerto Viejo's coast were wonderful. We did some shopping around the town and found some unique items to Costa Rica that we had not yet seen in other countries, which is always fun to see. Since Puerto Viejo was only a midway point in our travels to meet Amy's AFS host family we only spent one night there and caught a 9am bus for San Jose, arriving around 1:30. It is worth noting that 12 hours before we were ready to go to Paraiso (From San Jose to Cartago to Paraiso) Amy was told that her family had recently moved to Cartago - good thing since our plan was to just go to Paraiso and walk to their house. It would have been quite intersting to knock on the door of the new owners and then try to figure out what our next move would have been. Instead we were told to give her host brother (Alberto) a call when we got to Cartago and they would come pick us up.

I must say that upon our arrival to San Jose the guide book was correct - the bus stations are spread out across the city and navigating is quite cumbersome. To catch our bus to Cartago we had to walk a mile or so to the next bust station. As a tourist (or a local) the bus system in San Jose could certainly use some centralization or another bus that runs between stations. A Taxi would have cost $6, thus Amy and I decided to walk the mile. As it turned out we got to see the central downtown area of San Jose and the walk wasn't that bad, but not convenient for sure! We found our bus for Cartago, and headed to meet Amy's family. Upon our arrival in Cartago we learned that the phone system was down - there went our plan to meet them in Cartago and call them. We tried both pay phones on the streets and asking a local to use their cell phone, both out of order. We were shown to a cafe with wireless so we could send them an email letting them know we were in town and Alberto had already sent us an email saying the phones were down. We let him know where we were and after 30 minutes or so they were at the cafe.

Meeting Amy's host family and spending the weekend with them and their extended family was a great experience. We did so much that I can't touch on all of it, but will touch on a few highlights. Their new house was in a very nice neighborhood and upscale for a Costa Rican house. It was nice to settle in for a few days and enjoy some creature comforts that we take for granted on a daily basis in the U.S. For me, it is exhausting to listen to everyone talk and try to keep up with the conversations (learning spanish is tiring). I estimate I catch about 75% of what they are saying, but it is tiring to have your brain "turned on" like that all the time. I really struggle when there are multiple people talking at once and essentially lose track of the entire conversation when that happens. We went for lunch or mid afternoon coffee each day at one of her extended relative's house. It was really interesting to get a look into what Amy's life was like at 16 in Costa Rica - definitely different than what a 16 year old experiences in the United States! The family is very close knit and as I understand the family gatherings that we took part in are staples of the weekends. Halloween is a new addition to the Costa Rican culture, and the first time her family participated was while we were there. On Saturday night (the 30th) the neighborhood kids got dressed up and went trick or treating in the neighborhood. It was fun to watch the newness of Halloween unfolding in a different culture - candy was still the centerpiece of the evening! We enjoyed a Cartago soccer game by the U.S. equivalent of the MLS (NFL, NBA, etc.). Costa Rica has 11 soccer teams of which one of them is based out of Cartago. It was a very exciting game in which Cartago won 3-2 with a goal in the last 10 minutes (check out the video of the game in this post). It is worth noting that watching soccer live is a lot of fun! Also, the field seems much smaller and the game much faster than it does on TV (and from playing club soccer in high school).

We also had the priviledge of going up to Volcan Irazu, 20-25 miles from Cartago. This Volcano is considered active, with its last major eruption happening in 1963. At Irazu you can essentially drive up to the top and take a 1km walking trail along the rim of the Volcano. As we ascended up, the clouds were getting pretty thick and I wasn't sure if we would get to see much and as it turned out when we arrived the visibility was awful. However, after 10 minutes or so the weather seemed to be clearing and we walked along the rim. At last, the clouds lifted for a bit and the turquoise water in the crater of the Volcano was visible - it was amazingly beautiful and the first Volcano crater I have seen from above. On our way down from the crater we stopped at old Sanitarium for the area. The sanitarium has been reopened as a visitor center with little to no renovations. Seeing it in its original state was very interesting and a little weird. I'm told that the show ghostbusters (Discover, TLC, whatever channel) came to do a show at this location at found two ghosts - who knows if it is true but it seems that the locals certainly believe the place is haunted. During our drive up and down the Volcano it was clear that Cartago (and the Central Valley) is an important part of the agriculture business for Costa Rica - I'm sure the Volcanic ash helped fertilize the valley. The black dirt in the fields is a gardeners and farmers dream and something that I'm sure the midwest and farmbelt of the U.S. would love to have.

We also took at trip to Orosi, a quaint town where Amy's host sister Melissa works as a doctor. The town sits in a gorgeous valley with a river running through and grows some wonderful coffee. While there we visited an old church originally constructed in 1766 but almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in the early 20th century. It was then reconstructed to its current form almost immediately after the earthquake. Also, we spent some time with Melissa's boyfriend and family while in Orosi.

We did all of our visiting and viewing of the Central Valley in two days (Saturday and Sunday) - it was a whirlwind couple of days. We are heading to the San Carlos (La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano) area for a few days and then hopefully to the Pacific coast before we head back to Cartago to stay with the family for another two nights before we head back to the states. We'll see how our plans change.

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Photos

Irazu
Volcan Irazu - Amy's host father and brother brought us here.

Panama to Costa Rica
Crossing the river that separates Pnama and Costa Rica. Hard to believe but 18 wheelers cross the same bridge we were walking on.

Flora
This is from our hostel in Puerto Viejo. There had to be 20 different kinds of flowers just at our hostel!

Bites!
Somehow the bugs continue to bite me but not Amy! This was after a night under a mosquito net! Hmmmmm....I think it didn't work!

Volcan Irazu
Amy and I at Volcano Irazu, a half an hour or so outside of Cartago.

Irazu trip
Amy with her host dad and brother (Alberto for both).

Sanitarium
Just like the states, Costa Rica had a sanitarium for TB patients. It was predominantly left in original form for visiting.

Coffee and Treats
At Amy's host aunt and uncle's for some mid-afternoon coffee and treats.

Halloween
New to the Costa Rica scene is celebrating Halloween. This was Amy's host family's first Halloween. From left to right, Valeria (host sister), Melissa (host sister), Janette (host mother).

Soccer Game
Cartago is in blue

Birthday Party
Lunch birthday party with Amy's extended host family.