Long-haul. OK - I'd done it a couple of times since the Big Trip, but nothing that promised two weeks of luscious views, relaxed living and more biodiversity than I could possibly comprehend. Costa Rica is aptly named, with Caribbean and Pacific coastal zones split by volcanic mountains harbouring cloud forest and some of the most exotic flora and fauna on the planet. A country where sloths - half-blind, half-deaf, all-day sleepers who do little more than hang around and chew on fruit - can thrive. It sounded like my kind of place.America (the USA that is) has already taken Costa Rica to heart, of course. So dollars are interchangeable with the local currency, everyone is bilingual, and levels of convenience are high (think air-con, orthopaedic beds, overly-attentive waiting staff etc.). It also meant that additional costs (tours, taxis, and tacos) were similarly priced, catering to perceived Western budgets. As a result, we'd deliberately chosen slightly off-beat locations for most of our trip, hoping to carve out a bit of cost, cater for ourselves where possible and feel a little bit more adventurous.
So our first stop was the Pacific coast, yes, but further down than most go on the Nicoya peninsula to Nosara. Even there we stayed on the quieter Playa Pelada rather than the more bustling family beaches of Guiones or Garza. Mid-afternoon the day after leaving London, we flopped into our airbnb beach house, with crabs and a few locals (Ticos) for neighbours. The house was run by June, who lived around the corner, a sturdy pensioner originally from North Carolina, one of the many US ex-pats taking advantage of Costa Rica's stable, peaceful and beautiful living. Our little Casita nestled in amongst rainforest and was a two minute walk to the beach, under trees rustling with howler monkeys.
My task, week one, was to surf. I love open water - swimming, sailing, and even a bit of windsurfing, in my time. I never grew up on a surf-beach, but here was my opportunity to catch some waves and live out my Point Break fantasy. I fully expected to be terrible at it, but to make up for my lack of skill with my enthusiasm and determination. And that was basically how it went. I lost count of how many times I got ploughed under by the powerful breakers that wash the shore. Having a seven-foot plastic board strapped to your leg also makes wipe-outs downright brutal as I fell in one direction only to be yanked by the ankle in another and lose all track of which way was up or down. Constantly being beaten by the breakers (and without the skill to go out and tackle some real waves), the whole experience was physically exhausting. Like most sports, surfing follows the rule that the worse you are at it, the more energy it sucks out of you. My London gym habit finally paid off as I kept dragging myself back onto the board, paddling out, and trying to "pop" up into standing position and keep my balance. I also learnt why they call t-shirts "rash guards" as the constant adjustment of your body on the board rubs your skin into a speckled-red haze: with my bad technique leading to scraped knees, chafed nipples and bruises literally everywhere. But I loved it. By my third and final outing, I was standing pretty regularly on the board, surfing the little waves I could catch for a few seconds before tumbling back into the ocean. Maybe I'll never go professional, but I certainly have the taste for it.
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| Casita - our home for the week |
Monteverde was our next stop, and now we meant business with nature. Not seeing turtles was somewhat forgivable - we planned badly and were out of season. But with Monteverde there was no excuse. Fortunately, Monteverde was ready to deliver. Firstly, though, we threw down our kit down at Cabinas Valle Campanas late afternoon, having made our taxi transfer, where our super-organised host suggested a number of restaurants ( we chose Tico Y Rico for a traditional casado meal in the evening) and helped recommend and then book tours we wanted to take. On offer was also an $8 breakfast of champions that we succumbed to once: delivering chunks of banana, mango, pineapple, papaya, watermelon as a fruit starter before moving to coffee and eggs (or in Mhairi's case, pancakes...), with toast and local jams again from the rich fruit pickings of Costa Rican nature. In line with the plan, our cabina was a little walk outside of Santa Elena town, and there were more than a few taxi trips taken to get to jumping off points for the parks or restaurants. The only shame was that we had to downgrade after two nights to a less plush, no hammock+balcony cabina for a couple of sleeps due to a double booking. But the spare $50 saving went on a beautiful evening meal out at El Jardin. With a corner table, windowing onto the evening cloud forest, we ploughed through innovative Tico-takes on international cuisine. A salad with avocado, mango and coriander, joined by palm heart and beetroot was followed for me by a rib-eye steak in a chocolate and berry mole sauce. Instead of potato, fried cassava chips came on the side, and some roasted plantain nestled under the meat to sweeten the salty bite of the beef. Mhairi had a mediterranean veggie affair for her main course, after an intriguing cauliflower and mint soup starter. We loved the passion fruit and pineapple tart to finish, laced with coriander sugar and accompanied by a scoop of local vanilla ice-cream. The night rounded off our time in Monteverde before our final transfer the next day to Rancho Margot at the foot of Volcano Arenal.
But, Wait! The nature... In Monteverde that's what it was all about. We spent a quiet afternoon with serpents and lizards in the serpentarium, where we revelled in all the animals Costa Rica contains that could cheerfully poison you. Out in the real forest we hit both Monteverde reserve - a pure cloud forest park, the eponymous area that everyone has to visit. But we also visited Curi-Cancha - a smaller reserve that backs onto the Monteverde park, that contains transitional rainforest too, and slightly less-beaten paths. In fact, we did Curi-Cancha first, and our guide Adria was immense. Hugely knowledgeable, hugely passionate and, as he will admit, somewhat lucky, he had spotted two of the main birding draws before leaving the car park - the resplendent Quetzal (the national bird of Costa Rica that indeed
first drove tourism to the cloud-forest mountains) and the Three-Wattled Bell Bird. Super-powerful telescopes gave us perfect views to admire these amazing animals, and it was thirty minutes before we started to walk up into the woods. Then we saw hummingbirds, guans, a russet ??? and even a tiny hummingbird moth (a disguise so that predator birds will think it's a real bird and not eat it...). We learnt about different types of plant life, particularly the avocado trees (though, not all 93 species that Costa Rica has); we saw an inch worm and the chrysalis of a ?/ butterfly. We even shone a light down one dark burrow and saw the furred body and legs of red-kneed tarantula mother, guarding her brood of eggs. Another active nest was less chilling - we put a mirror over the top and buried at the bottom were two day-old nightingale chicks that immediately started to blindly beg for food, thinking our noise and commotion was their parents returned with a worm. Taking a guide had made all the difference, and really exposed the huge richness of Costa Rican wildlife.
The next day in Monteverde, our independent progress was less bountiful in terms of animal-spotting, but we could go at our own pace and breath in the forest some more. It was also lucky that I had worn a pink t-shirt. Attracted by bright colours, I had a hummingbird hover around me, working out if there was any nectar to be had. Following Adria's advice from the previous day I held out my finger and the little bird perched on it for a quick rest. Finally, he decided there was no food to be had and moved on. We also picked up a poisonous centipede, who's defence mechanism is to curl up when threatened, and then release almond-scented cyanide if unrolled. And last, but not least, we came upon another tour and an over-excited tourist whispered to us, We've found a sloth!! Sure enough following the direction of their guide's telescope, high, high in the tree-tops was a black furry ball. Dripping with damp, looking like a growth on the tree branch, a sleeping sloth was planted firmly, motionless but for the wind across its fur. We counted our blessings - even though he was far away and didn't do much, we could have missed him entirely.
A special mention should be made of the other tour we took in Monteverde - to the San Luis coffee plantation. Coffee is one of my addictions, and Costa Rica is (of course) one of the premium growers. The government took the view that it could never compete in terms of quantity so since the 19th century has been growing the best beans it can. From the start they have focussed on lower yield and higher quality, with all plantations grown under canopy cover so that bigger trees take the hit of the diluvian rains and the precious topsoil is nurtured. We saw the coffee growing process, grounded in the small scale family-run finca, from start to finish. Our guide Greivin knowledgeably explained how coffee roasting was done both in the past and now - his tale mirroring the global story of how commercialism has often sought to increase quantity and reduce quality. Only now does the finca see requests not just for the shelled green beans that have been fast dried for mass coffee output, but also for the full beans that take 22 days to slow dry and have sweeter mouthfeel followed by a long wine-flavoured aftertaste. Our tour finished with a cup of their black honey coffee - from beans that are dried naturally, so that the caffeine and oils make the beans sticky and dark as the water slowly evaporates. We drank a lot, buzzing with the caffeine but eager for more as the brew had little bitterness and we had accompanying chocolate cake to get through. San Luis is an authentic little family outfit, selling its coffee to our Western demands, but happily living with its own fresh produce right on its doorstep for everything else - avocado, banana (7 types or more...), mango, orange, lemon, guava, papaya, pineapple... and more and more and more... It is a fruit lover's paradise, but the fruit we love most is the coffee berry.
And so we finally made our way to Arenal. The plan was a little bit altered - we'd spent quite a bit of money to stay at the Rancho Margot lodge, as a luxury stay to end our trip. Having said that, the ranch is about 40 minutes drive from La Fortuna, where most backpackers end up, situated above a little village called El Castillo and exudes a sense of solitude and oneness with nature. As indeed it should - the ranch is dedicated to self-sustainable organic living. Not only do they grow and rear almost all their own food, they create natural insecticide from wood fungus; they make their own soap and cleaning products; all the gas is natural methane from animal waste; and that waste is turned into fertilizer. Plant waste is composted, with the heat of the process warming all the water, and all electricity is supplied by hydro-plants installed on the river. The ranch itself is a verdant paradise with plants and animals everywhere - even the roofs of the buildings are covered in vegetation, so that the whole estate feels like a part of the land it inhabits. All meals were included, sourced and served up from the farm. We arrived for lunch and realised immediately that this was our sort of place - they serve pizza and salad as a starter for every lunch and dinner. The quality of vegetables was amazing; almost addictive in how fresh and vitamin-packed it tasted. I found myself going back for plate after plate after plate.
We spent our days at morning and evening yoga, with a punctuation in-between for some other activity. On our first day, we took the ranch tour where we learnt the detail of how the farm is set up, including close encounters with the pigs and chickens that ended up on our plates the day after. The next day we took a kayaking tour, the hulking figure of Arenal Volcano swirled in cloud and brooding on the shores of the lake, where again we saw again a whole menagerie of birds - neotropic cormorant, ringed kingfisher, cattle egret... Our guide Michael, from the ranch, again talked knowledgeably about the history and ecology of the area and kept our minds awake as our bodies tired with the paddling. All too soon, it was time to leave our little paradise. Sitting on the balcony of our bungalow, it was tempting to think that, come the Apocalypse, Rancho Margot would be a pretty good place to rebuild from.
The journey home was long, and we had ample time to adjust from relaxed country-living to the energy of London. It was also interesting to reflect on the richness of Costa Rica. The numbers are just astonishing. In Europe we have 6 types of kingfisher - in the world there are 96 and they can all be found in Costa Rica. We have one UK wren - in Costa Rica, 28. They have 10+ types of edible banana tree, the 90+ types of avocado tree. All in all, with such a tiny landmass (and some help from their tropical location) they sustain a huge range of biodiversity - a richness that the UK has completely lost, and continues to lose. While Costa Rica has its problems - we learnt from a taxi driver about government corruption and problems with healthcare - one of their biggest challenges is climate change. Outside of their control, world changes in climate threaten the nature that provides all their eco-tourism and renewable energy sources (which provide 100% of electricity in the country). They may be a poorer country than the US and the UK, and they may have taken the route of ecology to sustain industry (tourism) as well as the more noble cause of conservation, but ultimately they are trying to build a more sustainable way of living as an entire country. In that sense they are light years ahead of us.
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