Blogs from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 8

MOVING ON It was an uneventful and speedy journey to the our next destination and we were entertained on the way by our drivers, Roderico and Andreas. They had been up since 4 am that morning monitoring Scarlet Macaw numbers around Tárcoles before coming to pick us up. We passed more long rows of African Palms all along the roadside but also noticed several rice fields as well - they need a lot of rice here with all the rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Roderico said that they grow rice in the rainy season and then plant vegetables, like melon and gourd products in the dry season, so get a ‘double crop’ from their fields. Some years though when the weather is drier than normal they have to import rice supplies from China ... read more

DOMINICAL We left the Osa Peninsula and headed north passing through great stretches of land completely dominated by African Palm plantations. Our driver, Sergio stopped in Palma Norte so that we could stock up on a few supplies (wine) as we were heading to an area with no nearby grocery stores - well no stores at all of course. Dominical was once a quiet fishing village but was now a popular area for surfers bringing in a younger set to the area. Although we were here out of season and did not see many ‘tourist’, young or old. HACIENDA BARU We had booked a week at Hacienda Baru, a large private nature reserve just off the road. Its amazing how close to a road it was yet straight away it was like you were in the ... read more

Ok so I'm writing this a little late but the final month has been a busy one! My first stop in Costa Rica was Monteverde. I had a few connections on my way from Nicaragua and the last one involved a three hour wait for the afternoon bus. I met some German travellers and we tried hitchhiking but it didn't work so we gave up and played cards using one of our backpacks as a table. We also saw a massive iguana who looked hungry so I gave him some leftover chicken. Monteverde was a lovely place, very much geared towards tourists but it didn't feel too busy when I was there. I went to Santa Elena, Curicancha and Monteverde cloud forest reserves. They were all very beautiful and reminded me how much I love being ... read more

In the afternoon, we headed to the Damas Mangroves for our Kayak tour with Tucanes Tours. We drove past huge African Palm trees on our way to the Mangrove. Palm oil is one of the many exports of Costa Rica. When we finally reached the Damas Mangroves, we were given life jackets and paddles. After a brief safety demonstration, we were off. On the tour, we learned about the different mangroves. The main three mangroves are the black, red and white mangroves. There were also mangroves that we saw that looked sort of like pineapples. Although, Renata and I had difficulty maneuvering the kayak to avoid mangroves, we always seemed to escape tight situations. It was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again. For dinner, we headed over to the local Falafel Bar ... read more

This morning, after breakfast, the group headed to Don Juan Coffee Plantation to learn how Costa Rican coffee is produced. At the plantation, we discovered the difficult economics of growing coffee. Much work is involved but very little money is made in coffee production. During the coffee harvest from November to February, ripe coffee cherries are hand-picked. Each cherry contains about one to two coffee beans. Workers get paid based on the weight of coffee they pick. Most of the coffee pickers are from the neighbouring country Nicaragua, and receive minimal earnings for their hard labour. Furthermore, coffee farmers receive very little income to justify having a coffee plantation. Most of the money goes to the big corporations that buy the coffee and sell it for 3-4 dollars a cup. Farmers have to support themselves by ... read more