Pura Vida

---

"Pura Vida" or "pure life," that´s what you see and hear everywhere in Costa Rica. And I can understand why.... I have never seen a country with such concentrated natural beauty. Painted green with rainforests and fringed with white-sand beaches.... In a word, it´s gorgeous!

Costa Rica is very different from the rest of the places I´ve visited in Central America. First, it caters more to tourists, hence it is filled with many more tourists and more Americans than I´ve seen anywhere else. Second, poverty is not as strong or as evident. Third, there is more care and conservation of natural resources, less littering, etc. Fourth, so many people speak English, they are actually surprised when I speak Spanish! Lastly... Probably because of all the tourism, Costa Rica feels more diverse, but almost lacking in a strong national culture. This is not a negative thing, it just gives it a very different feel. Ryan and I keep joking that after some of the places I´ve been, Costa Rica seems like the "girly" country. But I´m not complaining.... Costa Rica is the perfect place to experience "la pura vida!"

After three or four days on the beach in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua with Deborah, Jim, Tom and Ruth, I sadly said goodbye. But then I happily made my way to San Jose, Costa Rica... to meet Ryan! We stayed one night in San Jose and caught a bus for La Fortuna the next morning.

La Fortuna is a small town at the base of Volcan Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica, and maybe Central America. (I´m having a hard time remembering all these random facts at this point...) We could see the volcano spewing smoke and sparks of lava every night. We hiked to Las Cataratas, a waterfall set back in the jungle, and swam in the pools and stream beneath the falls. We visited Baldi Hot Springs, which offers ten different pools of mineral water at various temperatures with swim-up bars and a Club-Med-like atmosphere. Ryan and I agreed that it was not really "our thing," but we had fun and enjoyed it nonetheless.

After a couple days, we jeep-boat-jeeped our way over the mountains and across Lake Arenal to the towns of Santa Elena and Monteverde. We met Freddy and his wonderful Costa Rican family at our hotel, which was aptly named after Freddy´s son Eddy. We shared some wine on the balcony, and promised Freddy that we would write about Cabinas Eddy so their new venture might be included in the next Lonely Planet (I have to remember to do this!) The next morning, we failed to get up early enough to visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, so instead we visited the Children´s Eternal Rainforest and a trail called Bajo del Tigre. We saw an agoati (sp?) which looks kind of like a big guinea pig with longer legs, some parrots and other birds and a pack of white-faced monkeys. Monkeys were our goal so we left the trail happy! We were amazed at how empty the forest was and were happy to have slept in for the experience. Later that day, we left for our Aventura Canopy Tour. We zoomed across 19 zip lines through the forests, a repel rope and a tarzan swing that had both of our hearts racing. The Ticos sending us down the lines left us with little confidence in the harnesses and ropes that held our lives in the balance, but it was a thrilling and awesome adventure, just like we were promised.

The next morning we were able to arise to our alarms to catch the early bus to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and we were so glad we did! Our first few feet into the forest we encountered an enormous tree that reminded me of "save the rainforest" posters from my childhood.... It was incredible! Every inch of the forest was so green and lush. There were beautiful lookout points and all kind of birds, flowers, and huge and colorful butterflies. We crossed a somewhat scary suspension bridge, and spotted howler monkeys and an orange-kneed tarantula, the highlight for me! I was freaked out, but also in awe. Eventually, we caught a bus back to town and then another to San Jose, where we stayed at Tranquilo Backpackers and ate a much-needed and fulfilling dinner at Cafe Mundo.

The next day we were off to Puerto Viejo, a little beach town on Costa Rica´s Caribbean coast. We rented bikes and road two towns over to Manzanillo, a tinier beach town just south of Puerto Viejo. We ended up snorkeling in the reef right off the beach, and walked through the forest to watch the sun set over the water and palm trees. We saw howler monkeys on the bike ride there and back, and I started to feel like monkeys are as common as cats in Costa Rica - they´re everywhere!

The next day we visited Cahuita National Park, where we walked more than the proclaimed 7 km through the forest and along the beach. We swam in the warm waters of the Caribbean and saw even more monkeys. This time the white-faced ones were everywhere, and they were not afraid. At one point, Ryan and I were, as it seemed like they were following us through the forest, leaping through the trees above and in front of us. They seemed almost domesticated at one point, and came right up to us and to a local guy whose drink they decided to steal. On the way out, we saw a coati, racoons and another highlight of the trip... SLOTHS! At this point, that was our goal and Ryan spotted them right above my head in the trees. There were two of them, fighting or we couldn´t figure out what... and I decided they are the funniest looking creatures I have ever seen. They move so slow! And their faces look like little old men with bad haircuts and unibrows. When we got back to our hotel, we discovered another sloth living in the tree right next door.

This morning we said goobye to Heidi, the very sweet and very German owner of our hotel, and left for Panama in the rain. More on the border crossing and first impressions of Panama later.... Much love to all!!

---