Costa Rica

First things first. I am running behind on my door art pictures. Karen changes our door art pretty much daily. So here are some recent pictures. 

Much thanks to Tristan who used her extreme talent and her Cricut cutting machine to create a 3 dimensional, mix and match  kit. Very cool!

So today we are in Costa Rica. Conquered by Christopher Columbus’ forces in 1503, Costa Rica was a colony of Spain for 300 years. After the Mexican War of Independence, the county separated from Mexico and declared itself autonomous in 1848. 

A hundred years later, their civil war resulted in a stable democratic government, which is based in their capital, San José. They have (proudly) not had a military since that time. 

Today, Costa Rica’s economy relies primarily on tourism and technology. They are best known for their incredible National Parks, and their commitment to generating a vast majority of their energy using renewable resources. (i.e. Hydropower, geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar.) 

The nation is considered one of the safest countries in Central America. With a low crime rate, Costa Rica has become a major destination for expats. 

The country is very eco-friendly. 55% of Costa Rica is rainforest, and there are 32 national parks which occupy 30% of the country. Generally, builders are not allowed to cut trees, and are required to build around them when constructing new homes and businesses. 

The county’s 5 million residents refer to themselves as “ticos” and “ticas”. These lucky citizens’ cost of living is 30% less than their North American neighbors, and their taxes are much lower too. While there is a whopping 70% tax on automobiles, this does drives the right behavior regarding mass-transit. Luckily, the roads here are much improved over their neighbors, and the bus system is one of the best in the Americas. 

Unfortunately, about a hundred years ago, politics and corruption caused the trains to shut down in favor of the trucking industry. There is currently a big push to bring back passenger and freight trains. This will revolutionize the country. 

Speaking of taxes, there is not any taxes on most properties here. (Only houses over $200,000 are taxed.) 

The local currency is Costa Rican Colón, with an exchange rate of about $1 US dollar to $500 Colón. However, the US dollar is widely accepted, and most prices are listed in dollars in commercial businesses. 

Our visit took us to the the Puntarenas,  a bustling little seaport town on the country’s southwestern coast. Puntarenas (pronounced “poon · tuh · ray · nuhs) translates to “Sand Point”. It has a population of 100,000, and is a great jumping off point for touring jungles, volcanoes, and river expeditions. 

It is worth mentioning that this location is not the tourism hotspot that makes up other parts of Costa Rica. Most of the local adventures are pretty rugged and unrefined in this part of the country. We chose to spend the day in the rainforest/jungle on a tractor jungle tour that provided a visit to a remote resort village, and a little mall on the way back. 

On the way to the jungle, we passed over a river with many crocodiles. We also saw many farms. We are here during the dry season, and it is hot!  However, as we drove to the south, we drove into a higher elevation area that is still in it’s rainy season, and it cooled down and got greener as we went.

In the miles and miles of fields that we traversed, farmers switch back and forth between planting watermelons and rice, depending on the seasons. We visited during watermelon season, and at a stop along the way, we enjoyed a taste. Yummo!

Bananas are the country’s biggest export crop. Interestingly, in the 1920s, a fungus wiped out nearly all of the bananas in South America. Their conglomerate “United Fruit Company was forced into bankruptcy It re-emerged as Chiquita, and it is still the largest banana exporter in the world today.

Speaking of food, as you know, Karen and I are foodies, and we generally make an effort to try the local specialties. In Costa Rica, rice and beans are served in some form or fashion for every meal. We learned that all restaurants are called “sodas”, because Americans always asked for “sodas”.  Somehow, this was   misunderstood, and the name stuck as their word for “restaurant”. And so every where you go the signs on buildings say “Soda”, indicating that they are a restaurant. Ironically, generally, these restaurants no longer offer sodas, as natural juices are kinda the big thing here. 

So we were looking forward to drinking a  famous Guaro Sour, made with Cacique, a clear sugarcane liquor. Add club soda, lime juice, and a dash of sugar over ice, and it doesn’t get more refreshing.

Our food choice was to be a Costa Rican tamal, which is similar to a Mexican tamale, but it is wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. Unfortunately, due to timing and location considerations, we were unable to have cocktails and snacks during our visit. Oh well. Now we have a reason to come back!

What we did get was a really nice and very informative Jungle and River Wagon Tour. We saw lots of beautiful rainforest, a few critters, and a luxury jungle resort.

We especially enjoyed learning about the local termites. Their giant nests hang in the trees, all of which have dark streaks running up and down the trunks. This discoloration is due to the termite highways just under the bark. It turns out that it is much to hot for the termites to walk around in the open, so they create their own little tunnels inside the trees, which are used to get them down to the underbrush leading to other trees. 

Also, if you smear the nest on your skin, it acts as a repellent. If needed, you can throw the nest on your fire, and it will keep the bugs away overnight. Good to know if you get lost in the jungle.

Anyway, while it was hot, and our stay in this port was short, we felt that we got a nice little taste of this beautiful country. The local folks were very inviting, and we look forward to visiting again down the road. 

Thank you again for keeping up with our adventures. On to Guatemala, but that’s another story…
 – Mike

”Older women… are worth it.
– Lee Child, “Jack Reacher’s Rules”