2011 Costa Rica

Location, Location, Location

It's a problem that's far more pervasive than you may realize. Especially in certain countries, and most especially in Costa Rica. Naturally I'm talking about Shaken Wife Syndrome (SWS, not to be confused with SWF).

Two flights to get into the country weren't enough. We needed to drive our 4WD rental car, a Daihatsu Bego, five hours over over roads that started bad and got progressively worse, to get to our hotel, the JW Marriott Guanacaste. That's how we first wound up with the SWS. Anywhere else that we had to drive to only worsened the condition.

Did I mention that the place is remote? Isolated? Far off the beaten path? Yes, it's all that. And more. Guanacaste is far from San Jose, the capital, and it's a drier region of Costa Rica. There is an airport that's closer, but we'd be changing hotels mid-way through our vacation, and the second one is closer to San Jose. The isolation was good in that there was very little congestion, but bad in that it took so darn long to get anywhere at all. And then there were those bad roads, and the resulting SWS.

Not only are the roads bad, they aren't marked very well at all. Somehow we occasionally got where we wanted to go, thanks in part to Google maps/directions. I should mention that these roads are considered the best in Central America. SWS must be an even bigger problem in places like Nicaragua.


Rincon

We actually did not manage to get where we wanted for our first trip to one of Costa Rica's famous Parques Nacionales. The map showed roads leading to Parque Nationale Palo Verde from Belen and Filadelfia (yes, it's pronounced the same as the one in PA). But darned if we could find them. Oh, there were roads all right. Plenty of them. But after some SWS, those dusty, rocky roads usually trailed off to nowhere.


We gave up trying to figure it out. So there we were, back in Filadelfia with no place to go. What to do? Find a different National Park in the opposite direction: Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja. After some of the worst roads yet (can your 4WD climb over these boulders?) we found the park. It consists of a dormant volcano including some hot springs, and some great hiking trails through the nearby cloud forest.


Debbie, suffering from a particularly bad bout with the SWS, didn't like the steep boulders in the path, the stream crossings, and then insisted we turn back to avoid the treacherous looking river crossing. It was still a great two-hour hike. Besides the hot springs, we saw a particularly large boa, beautiful blue butterflies, a large guinea pig-like rodent, leaf cutting ants, and army ants.





Palo Verde (Second Try)

The next day we arranged to meet a guide in Filadelfia to lead us on the correct roads to Palo Verde. We'd have never found it on our own. Once we got there, we booked a guided river boat trip on the Tempisque River.

And we were glad we did. What wildlife! First there were the iguanas. Dozens of them in all colors, shapes and sizes. The most noticeable were the large orange males. Then, speaking of prehistoric creatures, we began seeing crocodiles, gobs of them, too. Our guides thought it would be fun to feed them some chicken parts. It wasn't enough to throw the pieces, they also had to put one at the end of a stick to get the crocs to come closer still. They asked Debbie to help with this, and she actually did for a moment. But then she politely returned the stick, preferring to keep her arms and legs inside the boat at all times.

The guides pointed out several birds. A few were even familiar: great blue herons and white egrets. I spotted a large pink bird that I thought was a flamingo. The guide corrected me; it was a spoonbill. There is even a type of heron that eats the crocs. I'm guessing that it prefers the smaller ones however.

We came upon some fairly stationary howler monkeys in the trees hanging over the river. Our guides called to them in howler monkey howls, and they answered. This episode helped answer a mystery of mine: I hadn't been able to figure out what was making the scary noises during my morning run the previous day. Interestingly, the sounds the guides made sounded more like the morning monkey sounds than the ones in these trees.

Our last wildlife experience was certainly the most fun. Our boat pulled up close to another one adjacent to some trees along the shore, and we were greeted by a troop of White-faced Capuchin Monkeys. The little guys scampered onto the boats and took banana pieces out of our hands. I know this probably isn't the best wildlife management process, but it sure was fun.





Time Out
We did set aside some time for relaxation. Debbie would probably say not enough. We drove to the nearby beach town of Tamarindo a few times - there were some good restaurants there. We also thoroughly enjoyed the sunsets at our hotel. We often partially decanted our box of wine (that we'd actually packed in Debbie's suitcase) into smaller water bottles to bring them to the beach. There we enjoyed the wine with the local gouda cheese.

The only problem with all the relaxation was the bugs. It didn't take us long to figure out why our balcony came with a huge roll-down screen. By not using it at night, our entire patio was covered with small bugs. They came into the room at every opportunity. And those evenings on the beach? Our feet became covered with bites, probably from sand fleas or something like that.

The JW Marriott was so high-class, it was low-class. The idea, I think, was to blend in the with surroundings, and also incorporate local architecture. Somehow it generally worked, and the food and service was fabulous.


Arenal

Back to exploring. Now it was time to visit Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal and nearby areas. This time we took a fully-guided tour.

If you look up volcano in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Arenal. It's a cone-shaped one - as classic as they come. We took a boat across the adjacent lake, had lunch, then hiked in the rain forest at the base of the volcano. Our guide for the hike had barely survived the last large eruption in 1968. Many didn't. The mountain's been quiet for a year now, but going to the rim to look down still isn't permitted.

During the hike we learned that army ants invade local houses a couple times a year. Our guide said that when this happens, the people just have to vacate for a day or two. And when they return, the cucharachas are all gone. We saw some of the army ants, but stayed out of their path.

We looked for, but didn't see any sloths (but did see some later). Our guide told us that they sleep for over 20 hours a day, making them the world's laziest creatures. The Mayor of Columbus, whom we'd just met and was part of the group, corrected him. "No," he said, "My son is the world's laziest creature."

I had introduced myself to a guy who I'd seen wearing a Columbus Marathon jacket. Had he run it? No, "I started it," he told me. When I asked what that meant (did he start running it and not finish?, start in the organizational sense?), he told me that as mayor, he was the official starter of the race.

Our tour continued to some hot springs and gardens, followed by dinner, and then the long ride home.


Southward Bound

Since it was four hours to anywhere, it was no surprise that it took four big ones to reach our second hotel, the Los Suenos Marriott. This place is probably swankier, and definitely better located. But better location also means more congestion, and less peace and quiet. And swankier doesn't necessarily mean better service and food. Not that I'm complaining - this place was great anyway you slice it.

The beach town that's close to this hotel is called Jaco. We didn't like it as well as Tamarindo, because it was busier - more difficult to park and get around.


Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio is one of the most heavily visited of Costa Rica's National Parks for good reason: although it's small, it does have truly beautiful beaches and rain forests, and it's fairly easy to get to.



Before visiting the beaches, we hiked the rain forest looking for wildlife. We only saw one monkey, but plenty of sloths, raccoon-like mapaches stealing food from picnicers, iguanas and a Jesus Christ Lizard.

We also hiked on and around the beaches. There are several, and they're all wonderful.



Parque Nacional Carera

Carera was the closest one yet. This is simply a deep, dark rain forest. And what a great hike we had there!

We saw many creatures large and small, but the most fun and exciting were the scarlet macaws. We hadn't seen any for the whole trip until earlier that morning when they were in the trees just outside our hotel room. It was a good omen.

When we saw them in the park, they were also high in the trees, but also flying around and making a huge ruckus. All their squawking almost seems like a kind of wild party. And the colors are as beautiful as advertised.







Our Adventure

We didn't go for the ATV, Canopy Tram, Zipline, Parasailing adventures. Our hikes, watching stuff go by at it's own speed, was adventure enough for us. And then some.

Thank you very much anyway.


Ticos

The Ticos get it. (That's what Costa Ricans call themselves.) They've figured out that if they take care of the planet, it will take care of them. In the early 1970's, they set aside huge amounts of land for their national parks and reserves. These are now paying them great dividends in the way of eco-tourism.

Just about every Tico we talked with recited their country's values: the environment, education and health care. Although this sounds a bit like brainwashing, it would be in a good way. And these are indeed the country's budgetary priorities. Nothing left for military (it was disbanded years ago) and very little for infrastructure (hence the SWS).

90% of their power comes from renewable resources. Beaches can, and do "earn" a blue flag designation for cleanliness (both litter and water quality). The drinking water was good, the food was good, and the people were fairly gracious.

Why can't we be like this?








For more, please see my running blog entry. And you really should.