thoughts to blog

Costa Rica 2010 (Thoughts)

I’m not going to lie… I’ll put it right out there and say that this recent trip to Costa Rica was my first time that I have left the good ol’ USA. I’ve been land locked for all of my adult life and growing up there were no opportunities to go abroad. So getting a passport and traveling to a foreign country was definitely an exciting first experience.

I want to talk about a few experiences and feelings I had while taking in all of the Costa Rican culture.

Schools

While we were in Monteverde, we saw plenty of kids going to school and we talked with some our hosts about schooling within Costa Rica. In Monteverde, teenagers in high school are groomed to either take on their family farm or become thrown into tourism (eco or hospitality). Of course it is one opinion, from one young man who grew up in Monteverde, but he seemed to be fine with having a long shot of going to college. I can’t quite grasp how I feel about this… On one hand I can understand that it’s a realistic choice to further push them to excel in an easily attainable opportunity (tourism). On the other hand it feels incredibly limiting.

But I also saw something I didn’t expect, that he chose to work as a host at this hotel because it paid 4x what his work on his family’s farm would have. He was also business savvy, wanting to work his way up to managing/owning a business in Monteverde. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Wildlife

I’ve never seen or been around such a vast diversity of wildlife. The cloud forests, rain forests, beaches, and even urban areas were bursting at the seams with plants, animals, and insects. Many instances where we came face to face with wildlife that had only been previously known about from pages of a National Geographic. Riding bikes down a dirt road and being ganged up on by Capuchin monkies. Laying in bed at night in a cabina and being terrified by Howler monkies. Riding a boat taxi along side of a mother whale and her baby. Watching a Jesus Lizard run across the water… Swinging from a vine on a large tree in a cloud forest. The list goes on and on.

Roads

The roads in Costa Rica (and I would imagine lots of other countries) were hard to travel on. GPS proved to be helpful only as a compass and high level map as most roads were undocumented or the map (to it’s disadvantage) would route us to roads that were unfinished. There were lots of places where the roads were improving and more were being built, it was tough because a lot was not yet open. The traffic is insane, but I loved driving in it.

Housing

Due to a mishap with our GPS (outlined above), we were given a chance to spend a few hours to drive around and tour (read: we got lost) rural Costa Rica. It was amazing to see how people lived on their land. Lots of dogs, fences, and small houses. The infrastructure (water, electricity, internet, etc) were built up. I would imagine because of a combination of The Banana Company and tourism. It felt very family oriented and lots of agricultural plots of land could be seen right off the road.

As far as housing for tourists, there were plenty of choices ranging from nice hotels to small, secluded, beach front cabinas. I felt at ease in the hotel but the cabinas took a while to get used to. Out on the beach, it was noisy (animals and waves, but a good thing) and pitch black. I’m talking zero visibility.

Language

The official language is Spanish. It wasn’t terrible difficult to not know Spanish and travel to even remote areas, like our beach spot of Playa Zancudo. Mostly because, again, the country is driven by tourism and most places took USD and spoke limited English. It would have been nice to know Spanish, as our friends we met along the way made things easier by communicating faster with locals.

People

A local of Costa Rica is called a tico. Ticos are generous and very helpful. With a tourism focused country, I would imagine it’s a prerequisite that you have to be a people person in order to be born or live there. The places we visited, were surprisingly not filled with beggars and road side souvenir stands, though every store/soda had a few pieces.

Food

Of course I had to say something about the food. Lots of rice, beans, fruits, and meat. The typical or casado plate is a traditional meal with rice, beans, plantains, salad, tortilla, and a piece of meat. It’s served everywhere and ranges from 2000 colones to 3800 colones ($4 to $7). I myself had arroz con pollo for four meals, one of my favorites.

Reflection

As an American citizen, I have lots of opportunities and privileges that are afforded to me just by being born here (among other things that are equally as important). I also have the privilege to hop onto a flying vehicle and travel/tour other countries and observe their cultures. This gap really shows itself when you travel abroad, especially when you travel domestically within the same country via an airplane as it was filled with Americans and not Costa Ricans.

It definitely puts things back into perspective and is a breath of fresh air on many levels. You start to remember what you have, what you don’t have, and how often you take things for granted.