Woodframe houses neatly surrounding a soccer field. A few dozen bicycles parked outside the palm processing plants indicate this industry still employs quite a few people in the rural coastal areas.
Quepos, a few km. from the park, is pretty dumpy. I found the hotel down a street I call Avenida Cuerpo de Paz, or Peace Corps Avenue because it looks like the kind of poor urban area where Peace Corps Volunteers would live, or at least be photographed for publicity shots. Lots of kids playing in the street, men working on small houses, a guy overhauling a diesel engine outside the hotel which is clean and comfortable. I paid $14 for each of two nights and headed for the park. The ride was crowded but short and we passed dozens of inns, rooms for rent, hotels, bars, and cabins grabbing onto the side of the hills. The final 400 meters before the park entrance were t-shirt vendors, cabins, horse rental, coconut stands. Complete chaos.
The beach, however, is gorgeous. Lots of Europeans sunning themselves in multi-colored jock straps. Quite a few Yanks right beside them, wearing big balloony surfing shorts. Few people are stirring except on the path through the park. To enter the park you cross a spit of land that can be submerged in several feet of water at high tide. Pay your $1.40 and roam the paths or head for one of many beaches. I was disappointed in the bird population, but I soon saw an armadillo and then a sloth, high in the treetops. Army ants were porting thousands of fragments of a leaf across the trail. I climbed a hill to look out over the Pacific and of course met someone from the county where I used to work (that always seems to happen on mountain tops or cathedrals or museums). Monkeys were everywhere, and they earned their keep jumping, wrestling, eyeballing us as we photographed them. The park closed at 4 p.m., and after my two hour hike I decided the woman from Dominical was right, that I would not stay two nights but head to San Jose the next morning. That night I walked around Quepos, bought some souvenirs and fruit, and had dinner at George's Bar and Grill (Dorado burger for $2.75 and a beer). Recommended for the food and fast service. As I nursed my brew I could watch people go by (always important). Across the street was a health clinic with a large billboard 'Avoid Cholera' with a series of diagrams showing how to do just that. Costa Rica has a very good health system, one that American retirees use too. Years ago I met a doctor high up in the agency, and she said that the influx of Nicaraguan refugees during the Contra war had placed a burden on Costa Rica because they brought diseases that had been stamped out in the 1950's in Costa Rica, and that their doctors had not had to deal with them for a whole generation.
I return to the hotel in the dark. The room has a fan, beautiful hardwood ceilings (just like the guidebook promised), and is very quiet. I translate the guidebook description into Spanish for the proprietor's wife.
|
2/24/93 Quepos to San Jose
|
I overslept and woke 25 minutes before the bus was to leave. I had bought a ticket the day before ($4.20), so I dressed without a shave or shower and went outside to find the compound locked up tight at 5:45 a.m. I jumped over the metal fence with my pack and hoofed it up to the bus station in plenty of time to cool down and wait for the bus. The ride was comfortable, but if you are over 6 feet or have long legs, most of these bus seats will be a bit small. The driver used his horn every few feet and almost nailed a pokey tourist standing in the middle of a bridge.
Hotel Bienvenido is in the heart of the bus/market district in downtown San Jose. The room was $14. Very convenient, if you have just arrived and aren't sure where to go. I wandered the streets, enjoying the activity and did some shopping for gifts before I headed home. Ecuadorian musical groups were playing in the Plaza de la Cultura, selling their cassettes as they do in Boston, Stockholm, San Francisco, and probably Fargo, North Dakota. It was beautiful music, but nobody bought their recordings. A old man on a walker tried to stir up things by dancing, but nobody else even tapped their foot. The Jade Museum is housed in an office building near the National Library. I had not realized the Mayan culture spanned two millennia. Great collection of phallic flutes and figures, a reminder how sexuality always manifests itself in art.
|
My last full day was really quite nice. I took the bus to the airport and then headed for a rent-a-car outfit to try and get a car for one day. He had no cars and told me that three days was the minimum for most companies in Costa Rica. I took the bus into Alajuela, one of the largest towns in the country, and found a room in Hotel Alajuela, just off the Central Park. I dumped my gear and headed for the Butterfly Farm, started by an ex Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1980's. The tour was $9 (less for locals), and I joined a party of old Americans on a tour. The guide was fluent in English and Butterfly. I learned how to *** butterflies, how they reproduce, what sort of camouflage they use and how they can appear in one stage or another as a snake's head, a leaf, a bird dropping, poisonous berry, or owl eye. The firm exports pupae to Geat Britain according to the guide who is an MBA student at U. of Costa Rica. All of us photographers were bumping into each other trying to shoot the huge, blue morpho butterfly that never seems to stop flying. Larvae eat 60 banana leaves a day! Hummingbirds use 2000 calories a day. The guide showed us a narcotic tree called Queen of the Night; it is favored by butterflies, but the government is trying to eradicate the species.
Back in the city park I walked around and leaned back with my binoculars and watch a family of green parrots bicker in the palm trees and on the nearby church. They yammered and played until dusk when even more people came to enjoy the park. A troupe of traditional dancers, accompanied by guitars and accordions, performed in the park. It gave me a great pleasure to watch them for a short while. Later that night a 27 member band played for an hour while several hundred of us listened. Kids played or sat up at the musicians' feet. Palm trees rustled, and taxis stopped to listen to the music. I strolled around the park during the last two numbers, and for some reason I felt like Fred Astaire in 'Flying Down to Rio' stepping around a tropical park to the sound of a big band.
I'm glad I was away from computes, electronic mail, television (for most of the trip), and American papers and magazines. It was a total diet change for this information junkie, and my new input of sounds, tastes, smells, and sights and personal reflections were the substitute. I feel like changing my work ways: less computing and more people. At the same time I am thinking about how to do the electronic version of this trip report so that the reader can see some of the pictures as well as read the text.
Estimated cost of the 10 day trip, excluding the frequent flyer airline ticket: Hotels $106, Taxi/Bus $13, Food $60, Souvenirs and gifts $100.
Afterword: This contains recommendations for the prospective traveler.
learn some Spanish
normal health shots and malaria drug taken before, if you plan to visit Atlantic region where bananas were grown. Very few cases of malaria in C.R. but more in Panama and Nicaragua.
Costa Rican tourist Assn. in the U.S. was not helpful and only sent a superficial pamphlet, in spite of a more detailed request. However, the airport office in San Jose was extremely helpful in all ways and got me a room just as I got off the plane. Also had maps and magazines for tourists.
waterproof case for valuable papers. $5.00 Wear it around your neck. Good if you travel alone and plan to swim or shower and don't have a safe place to leave the money/documents. However, it is warmer than a cloth or nylon container.
|
Of course this is very personal but you might consider this advice: binoculars (light weight). I used them all the time and had I not talked to a bird watcher I would not have known to bring any.
beach towel. All hotels supply a towel but some are about as big as a hand towel. You can also buy some big toucan or parrot towels once you get here.
camera and film (35 mm or video) Film is cheaper in the states. If you want to shoot the wildlife you will need some big lenses. I got a few shots with my automatic 38 to 110 Olympus, but big telephotos are a necessity. Whether you want the burden of thof that gear is something else.
I took a snorkel and mask but did not get to use it this trip. Next time I plan to head for some nice reefs on the Pacific coast.
umbrella. Even in the dry season, it can rain a great deal.
shoes: for the wet I had rubber boots with leather uppers (L.L. Bean made these famous). Everyone else used all rubber boots which are cheap, but I guessed my shoe size (11 1/2) would be hard to find. I also carried low cut hiking shoes and surfer shoes. In C.R. cowboy boots, sandals, and other shoes seemed to be cheap.
ear plugs: for noisy hotels (or the traffic outside)
clothes: I only saw a few people in San Jose in a coat and tie, but many women were very nicely dressed. You can be casual without being a slob. If you wash clothes in a sink, they may take more than 24 hours to dry in a humid hotel on the coast. If you are in a group or have a lot of clothes most hotels will have some inexpensive laundry service.
Food: if you crave anything special bring it with you or look for it in a San Jose supermercado. Biggest bargains: fresh fruit in season and 'plato del dia' in restaurants. Bread and pastries are very cheap; beer and soft drinks are comparable to U.S. prices. Wine is higher. A fifth of 12 year old rum is $5.00. Water: I drank the water at La Selva and used pills or bottled water elsewhere. That may be overly cautious but I had no stomach upset at all during or after the trip.
Books: I read four travel guides and browsed two others. I bought Beatrice Blake's 'The New Key to Costa Rica' and found all the advice to be useful, or as someone said about the Lonely Planet guide, 'His reality corresponded to mine.' Lonely Planets prices were outpaced by inflation even more than Blake's indicating that the research was more recent for Blake's book. However, since prices are so reasonable, that may not matter whether a hotel is $20 or $22. Once you are in country pick up some of the travel tabloids and a copy of the 'Tico Times' for a good sampling of local news, letters from tourists and ex-pats, and tales of crime, bribery, and news of economic success and failure. Lots of investment schemes aimed at you: pacific land, 'learn teak growing in your spare time', retirement seminars and the like.
Check your local library for history and geography books such as the American University country guide for Costa Rica. Bone up on the American adventurer, William Walker. He was one of the first in the line of gringos to disturb the peace of Costa Rican life (Robert Vesco, Ollie North, John Hull came later). With so much strife going on elsewhere in Central America you will appreciate the love of peace and peace-making that the friendly Costa Ricans have had for many years.
Steve Cisler, sac@apple.com
March 6, 1993.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rec.Travel Library
More on Central America
More on Costa_Rica
|
|
