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Published: June 18th 2006
I am not sure I can actually express how amazing Costa Rica is. Despite being a believer that short-term periods of being abroad can have incredible impacts on people, I am still thrown by how much I got out of only 10 days. I'll give you the personal, rather than professional version of this site visit to the land of plantains, coffee and cacao....
San Jose I only got a glimpse at what San Jose has to offer. We were there less than a day - mostly driving the Avenida Central, and spent the first night at the Airport Hampton Inn. Nicer than the US ones by the way - big thick white duvet covers. I know - not expecting heave blankets in a Central American country, were you?
Our short time in Costa Rica brought us to Sunday Mass at la Basilica de los Angeles. Imagine if you will the largest church you have ever been to (ok - Southerners...imagine the size you go to ever week) with people filling the pews, and standing in ever breath of a space they can find. As visitors we hovered near a doorway, trying to get a glimpse of the
virgin who the church honors. Interestingly, there were women involved in the service reading prayers, etc at the front. It is the first time I have been in a catholic church, particularly in Latin America where this was the case.
I have to say that despite my knowledge of Spanish, it was harder than expected to follow along with all the echoes, and specific vocabulary.
The history of this iglesia is unique, based on the story of a stone in the image of the virgin found sitting on a rock where the church now stands. The actual stone (or a replica of it...who knows?) is in a lower room for all to see in
el cuarto de los milagros (the room of miracles). This room, in itself, is pretty amazing. The walls are lined with trophies, medals, and little silver pieces in a variety of shapes. Some in the shape of body parts, others in the shape of books, or other objects. It is called the room of miracles because it represents all the miracles that have occured when people have come to pray to the virgin, and their hopes have been realized. They donate the articles in
Street of San Jose
Only got to see San Jose from the bus...thanks. There are thousands in the room, and who knows what percentage these represent. Costa Ricans make a pilgrimage every year to the Basilica on August 2nd. Did you catch that?
every year! The Basilica also has an area out back with a fountain of holy water. I watched as mothers splashed their adult children with water, and heard the story of an old man who comes every day after his night shift to soak his feet so that he will be able to walk and work again the next day. Caught up in so much belief and faith, it was hard not to believe myself....I followed the lead of a catholic friend on the visit and took advantage of the healing nature of the holy water. And yes, my shoulder felt better.
Turrialba Our path from San Jose took us to Turrialba - the home of our host guide. In Turrialba we visited CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza) a tropical studies center where MC has a student doing a practicum this summer. We met up with her, and got to explore a bit of what CATIE does every day. Along with Master's and PHD programs,
they are leaders in sustainable rural development focusing on everything from coffee to cacao, to livestock to watershed management and a beautiful botanical gardens. Looking around Costa Rica you see a diversity of ecosystems and environment, but it is so much more complicated to ensure that the variety of life co-exists than I could have ever imagined. The landscape illustrates how every little piece of land is lush...and productive.
El Rio Pacuare Turrialba is home to the Rio Pacuare - a river where Costa Rican Athletes train for whitewater olympic sports. We rafted class 3 and 4 rapids that rivalled the Kicking Horse and the Ocoee rivers! I have to say that it was a breathtaking river valley (yes dad, it beats your river valley) and I don't even have pictures to illustrate it. A class 3 rapid called
Rodeo bucked me out at the speed of light. Fortunately I was the only swimmer, and our river guide got me back in before many of the others realized I was out. Talk about an appropriate name for a stampede city girl like myself. Lunch was an amazing picnic of fresh mango and pineapple on one of the
Coffee Tree
This is where the heavenly stuff comes from... overturned rafts. Rafting left us on a high for our short ride to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. Here we stayed at a Sustainable Tourism Tropical Center. The housing was built to mirror the structural foundations of the indigenous people of the area (The Cabecar were the ones we could see from the river, but I'm not sure which ones the housing was based on). Water was heated with solar panels, hotel shampoo was biodegradable, and the whole thing was located in the middle of the rainforest. It apparently has a sustainability rating of 3 of 5, and they are currently making changes in the palm leaf roofing so that they will get a rating of 5 this year.
La Selva I had never been to a rainforest before. Yes. You can hear a tree fall in the rainforest. Words absolutely fail me about the breathtaking nature of the life around you while you just stand there in awe. From tree-cutting ants, to snakes and poison dart frogs...and the hugest trees you've ever seen! You also sweat from places you didn't know you have sweat glands. Apparently rainy season is the time to be in the rainforest....but next time
He's cute, but poisonous
Stay away from the poison dart frog - even if he looks good in his blue-jeans. I might consider dry season. By the way, if you are planning to go, make sure you don't wear sandals. In some places they aren't even allowed, but really there are too many hazards for your feet. Google Bullet Ants to hear about the 3 days of pain that will follow...BTW, I strongly recommend taking advantage of the incredible rainforest guides that OTS has to offer for rainforest tours and boat excursions. They are not only knowledgeable about birds, insects, plants, animals...but they have the eyes trained to see things you would never see otherwise. They can even find howler monkeys by their smell.
Arenal Arenal can really be described with 2 words:
Active Volcano. When I lived in Mexico City, the volcano in Puebla was 'active' too. There it translated into ashes on cars in the morning (in lieu of dew) and in your tacos. In Arenal, I didn't experience any impact from ash, but the hot lava running down the sides of the volcano were impressive in the night skies! During the day, you could see the crevasses down the eastern side of the volcano where the molten lava has burned it's way down. Our day
Centro Neotropical de Sarapiquis
This was the sustainable indigenous designed hotel we stayed in. was filled with a canopy tour of the rainforest. This entailed travelling by ziplines hundreds of feet above beautiful forest and gorges, over waterfalls, and speeding our way from treetop to treetop. As the only spanish speaker around, I took advantage of the opportunity to practice with the locals who were there to ensure our safety. They weren't outright negative towards Americans - always polite, no rude stares, comments etc. Until I told them I was Canadian. At that point, it was apparently safe to share their happiness that I wasn't American and rolled their eyes at the others. For the first time ever I felt offended on behalf of Americans. These were good Americans! Not the stereotypical travellers that Americans are perceived to be. But standing back to think about it...doing this canopy tour, how were we any different? How, as a Canadian, was I any different from them? How were we any different from other travellers? How do these canopy guides tell "better" travellers from others? I still don't know. We can try to stay in hotels trying to ensure the sustainability of the rainforest, ensure our money goes to the local economy and not large outside corporations.
El Volcan Arenal
You can see the grooves where the lava has flowed. No night pics...sorry! We can be conscious of the impact we try to make as travellers. We can be respectful, use their language, try to learn from the Costa Ricans around us...but in this circumstance I couldn't see how to be different from anyone else.
In the evening we went to the Tabacon Hot Springs and boiled out all of our aches and pains, and sat in awe as we watched the volcano's lava boulders fall....from the natural springs.
Monteverde Cloud Forest We were only in Monteverde for an afternoon and night. It took us all morning to get there by boat and jeep on the crazy dirt pot-holed trail they call a road. This road is the center of a contraversy right now in Monteverde. The locals need better roads they say. Their cars are in disrepair, it is hard to get anywhere within or outside of Monteverde as it stands. But on the other hand, the bad roads have been one of the best things for the community, they also say. They have allowed the community to better control the growth of the tourism industry, limiting the numbers of people that are able to come to Monteverde. Before
Canopy Tour
You see that line that goes across the waterfall? We ziplined across on that! One was 900ft across. arriving, it was described to us as a culture like Asheville, NC - lots of local artists, concern for the environment, etc. Over dinner we had representatives of the Monteverde Conservation League join us to discuss preservation along with eco tourism. Our guide Madri translated for one side of the table, while I did for our side. The conversation gave us an opportunity to learn first-hand about the challenges of monitoring tourism growth, and hear about the attitudes of locals. Way to complicated to explain here, but happy to talk to you more about it if interested.
Tamarindo The last 3 days of the trip were dedicated to trying to put us educators back in the role of a learner, and to try and experience first hand the concept of Pura Vida. Everywhere you go in Costa Rica you will hear locals say it to eachother....often in a different way, and a different context from the last time you heard it. Pura Vida (literal translation: Pure Life) governs the lives of Costa Ricans and represents the philosophy by which Costa Ricans live their lives. (sorry about all the "lives" in there). I am not sure I can write
a definition and get it right - because it doesn't really fit one definition - it is a feeling. The closest I can come to explaining it is "living in the moment" but that doesn't do it justice. An example given to me explaining the concept is this: 2 Costa Rican kayakers are in the whitewater rapids of the river. One of them does an amazing, difficult maneouver successfully. Both kayakers are genuinely happy about this experience. On the other hand 2 "western" kayakers are in the river, and the same thing happens. One of the kayakers is successful in a difficult maneouver, and the other sees it happen and is disappointed that he didn't do it first. Not a true story, but I can see it happening. For us, the Pura Vida lesson came in the way of surfing. Having never spent enough time near an ocean to even see surfers, much less try it myself, I was ECSTATIC to be able to try. And learner I became. The first lesson is to get over the fear of falling. Fortunately, as a diver, I had 12 years practicing that. Surfing is the perfect sport to learn how to be
Team Costa Rica 2006
When in Rome...Oe Oe Oe Oe Ticos Ticos! a learner again. Because you fail. You fail a lot. More work goes into failing, and getting out there to where you will
possibly succeed than anything else.
And it is fabulous! You live for that one brief moment that you are standing on the wave - gliding on the water, above the sand and sea - balancing precariously. You live for that instant that you have your balance enough to look around and think - wow. I can look around. Your arms hurt (board rash is killer - long-sleeve rash guards are a must). Your legs hurt (board rash again...relax your knees on the side of the board as you paddle). Your jaw might hurt if you get hit in the head with your board (seriously - don't let go). But it doesn't matter. You go back out. For hours on end. If you think surfing is a sport of hot bodies riding the waves...well, I saw some out there...but as a learner, you will not look like that. And you will love it. I guarantee.
Pura Vida: watching the others you are with get up for the first time and feeling happier than you were when you got up for the first time. Swallowing water as you cheer for someone and feel what they are feeling.
So, as you can see, I found a sport that almost rivals high diving in terms of fun...
There is so much more to say - after all - I haven't said anything yet about fried plantains, hawaiian pina, gallo pinto, the seafood feast delivered by the most proud chef ever, the strong coffee, the aguas, or the dulce de leche, chocolate covered ice-cream by Dos Pinos....Nor, have I talked about cheering for the Ticos as we watched them play Germany in the 2006 world cup. But maybe that is for my memory only.
Hasta Luego Costa Rica!
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Diego Ortiz
non-member comment
Gracias
Very satisfied with your comment about my home country, Costa Rica. It's nice to know you liked it. Whenever you want to come again just send a message to diego2890@hotmail.com, i live very close to la basilica and I can help you visit some places. Muchas gracias por dar a conocer las bellazas de nuestro pais!!